Lyrical Landscape

It was another windswept day at the Palo Alto Baylands. I noticed a significant increase in wildflowers and variations in the colors of the landscape, including more yellows, yellow greens, russets, and violets. In this painting, I left more translucent passages than I have previously; in particular, the sky is all translucent and the water is mostly varnish wash!

Completion of Plein Air Painting: After The Varnish Wash

This is the completion of the previous varnish wash painting. Some of the underlying wash shows through and is contrasted with thicker, opaque paint.

First Stage of Plein Air Painting: Varnish Wash

Here is an example of the drippy, varnish wash I've been describing in previous posts. The wash is translucent like a watercolor painting. I will leave some of this wash in the final painting to provide a translucent contrast with more opaque passages of paint.

Windswept Day At The Palo Alto Baylands

It was another cold, blustery day at the baylands.
The clouds were moving, as were the trees, grasses, and water. It still feels like winter, these last few days.
In this painting, I started with a varnish wash which is very fluid and drippy. After it dries, I add the next layer with thicker paint and allow some of the thin, translucent varnish layer to show through. In the sky, mountain, and water I used quinacridone red, cobalt blue, ultramarine blue, and carbazole violet. The lighter clouds have titanium white with a touch of cadmium orange. The trees are mixtures including: payne's gray, carbazole violet, and green mixtures. The foreground includes: carbazole violet, russet (mix of carbazole violet and cadmium orange and white), various oranges (hansa yellow orange, cadmium yellow orange), and greens mixed with yellow/oranges.

Translucency With Oil/Varnish Washes

This painting started out as a very fluid oil/varnish wash of various colors. Much of the foreground is the original varnish wash! I am painting on mahogany luan panels that I've prepared with three coats of acrylic gesso. The size of this painting is 9"x12". The wash for the sky was rather light, so I painted over this with cobalt blue, ultramarine blue, carbazole violet for the sky and transparent red oxide/titanium white mixture for the clouds. Carbazole violet was brought into the foreground as a wash in some of the dark areas, in order to harmonize with the sky and darks of the trees.

En Plein Air: Further Refinements

This is the other 'blustery day' painting I refined in the studio. I intensified the sky with cobalt blue and brought this color into the distant foreground, along with carbazole violet mixtures and cool greens. I warmed the violets and greens as I came forward in the foreground and added oranges and yellows, as well. I left a great deal of transparency in the trees.

En Plein Air: Further Refinements, Part 2

I'm continuing to refine three of the plein air landscape paintings I painted last week. This was another of the "blustery day" paintings. I warmed up the trees with touches of quinacridone red, as well as warming up the sky with this color. I'm working for a warm/cool vibration here in the sky, mountain, trees, and foreground. I cooled the receding foreground with blues, greens, and violets and brought the foreground forward with warm oranges, hansa yellow orange, transparent red oxide, warm green mixes, and cadmium yellow orange.

En Plein Air: Further Refinements

I refined three of my recent plein air paintings.
This was one of my "blustery day at the Baylands" paintings, previously posted. I warmed the mountain with some quinacridone red, as well as bringing in more greens, violets, and oranges into the foreground. Some cobalt blue was added to the upper sky, as well as refinement of the clouds with violet and quinacridone red shadows.

Painting Like There's No Tomorrow!

I painted for hours today in my solarium. There's something about getting into the rhythm of painting where there is no sense of time. I love when this happens.
I finished up a painting I started a few days ago at the Palo Alto Baylands. I was interested in the very dramatic, darker sky of that day. In particular, I'm drawn to the raspberry and blue violet colors in this sky.

Blustery Day At The Baylands In Palo Alto

It was a wild, blustery day at the Baylands today. There were about twenty of us out there, painting away while the wind blew. Several easels blew over, as well as palettes and paintings!
It was exhilirating! I felt so alive! I was interested in capturing the big sky, dramatic clouds, windswept look and the beautiful greens, violets, and oranges of the foreground with impasto strokes.

Another Fabulous Day At The Palo Alto Baylands

The California Academy of Painters had another fabulous day at the Palo Alto Baylands! We started our spring quarter under the guidance of two extraordinary artists and teachers: Brigitte Curt and Jim Smythe. The day was clear and sunny and with no clouds to speak of. Being artists, we took artistic license and painted in clouds to our hearts' content! Master artist and teacher, Jim Smythe, discusses the concept of the division of space ("where is it? what is it doing?"), rhythmn, color harmony, and so forth. Included are the two 6"x8" studies I painted today, and a view of the baylands.

First "Big Sky" Painting

This is the first "Big Sky" painting I did on February 26, 2009 at the Palo Alto Baylands. I felt initially intimidated by the 'big sky', as I don't usually focus on painting clouds. It was a beautiful, slightly wild winter day with enormous, ever changing cumulus clouds. With great appreciation for natures' beauty, I relaxed into the process and started going 'down river', instead of 'up river'. It became a meditation and one of the most wonderful, gratifying experiences I've had painting!

Two Oil Landscapes in Three And A Half Hours

I painted two oil landscapes today in my solarium while listening to raindrops dancing on glass.
One is a variation on a painting I did on 02/26/09 at the Palo Alto Baylands called "Big Sky". I'm working with cloud shapes and warm and cool variations in the sky (bottom painting). The other landscape (top of page) is also from the baylands and is one I started a month ago! I made some significant changes to the foreground trees (simplified them and changed the color) as well as generally adding more paint, all around! A very enjoyable day!

Figurative Collage: Finis!

I finished the figurative collage of two women in conversation. Meanwhile, ten pieces of my art were placed in a gallery in Capitola, California called Phoebe's Gallery (collage and oil landscapes). Additionally, eight original collage pieces are on display at Harmonics, Inc in Sunnyvale, California until early April.

Figurative Collage: Ongoing Work

I'm continuing to work on the figurative collage I began last night of the two women in conversation. Here are two pictures of my progression so far today. I enjoy the process of creating collage; it is like piecing together a puzzle (very different from oil painting).

I'm Working On A New Figurative Collage

I'm working on a new figurative collage tonight. The image is of two women in conversation. I'm working out the dark/light pattern at this point. In creating collage, I find an interesting interplay between intuition/impulse and a more left brain, logical approach that considers composition, pattern, shape, values, and line. I also find that creating collage takes more time (for me) than painting alla prima/impasto in oil.

"Phantom of the Opera" and American Girl

My daughter, Kimberly, and I had an incredible mini vacation last weekend in Pasadena. My sister, Kim Hillis, drove us straight to American Girl in Los Angeles, as this is one of Kimberly's favorite places. We looked at dolls and got the Kit Kittredge and Chrissa DVDs and had lunch at the restaurant there.
Our last night in Pasadena, we attended "Phantom of the Opera" at the Pantages Theatre. It was a wonderful production and Kimberly has been singing the songs ever since!
I got a great creative surge from this trip. Upon returning to Aptos, I painted two multi-figure oil paintings in one night which I will post soon (they're still wet in the studio).

"Going Green" Art Exhibit at Harmonics, Inc

Eight of my collage pieces were juried into the "Going Green" exhibit at Harmonics, Inc in Sunnyvale, California by art consultant, Carol Dabb of Los Altos. The show runs for three months and features art that has either a green ecology theme or is made with green materials. My collages are made with found materials, corrugated cardboard, paper, threads, tree bark, papyrus, and burlap.

"Painting With Passion" Workshop with Ursula O'Farrell

In late November, I attended a two day workshop on abstract figurative oil painting given by Ursula O'Farrell. Ursula taught us (a group of twelve artists) about working with a premixed palette, which greatly facilitated one's ability to paint quickly from 5 and 15 minute poses! The workshop was so intense, I was literally dripping in sweat by the end of the day (like the guy in "Broadcast News"!). We were definitely in a state of flow, looking up and wondering where the hours went at the end of the day. There was such good energy and creative leaps that several of us want to continue painting together!

Pasadena Pops with Family and Friends

I just got the pictures from the Pasadena Pops in July with my sister, Kim Hillis, my daughter, Kimberly, and my dear friend, Christopher Coffin. Christopher is owner of Christopher Coffin Design (http: //www.christophercoffindesign.com) . He is also an art consultant and was the first person to recognize my painting: "Thinking Woman", which is now in a collection in Pasadena. I believe this recognition by Christopher was the catalyst for my decision to exhibit my work. We had a lovely night at "In the Heat of the Night" by the POPS. I especially enjoyed the powerful voice of Nmon Ford (opera trained), piano performance by Daniel Lessner, and the poet raconteurs/balladeers Steve Connell and Sekou Andrews (the Misfit). At the end of the evening, Kimberly and I gave Christopher and Kim each a mermaid/merman art doll I designed and signed.

"Stars" Benefit at the Museum of Art and History

These are pictures from"Stars" at the MAH. I rode up from Aptos with the amazing painter and my dear friend, Ursula O'Farrell and her husband, Mike. We talked to Peter Orr (President of the Board, MAH) and Paul Figueroa (Director of MAH), who both produced a lovely event.

I ran into a collector of my work , Anne Hayden, and met her husband, Frank. I heard the great story of how they met while skiing, and that they share the same last name from birth!

There were hundreds of people there. Lots of food, wine, music, and great art. Ursula's painting was in the live auction and generated much excitement. It was a lovely night.

A sweet moment: unbidden, a lovely woman walked up and said: "I saw you from behind, and I love your gown" (the gown is compliments of Jen Berry). Thanks, Jen!

Peaceful Day Painting at the Baylands, Palo Alto

I almost didn't go. I knew I had only an hour and a half to paint. It's an hour drive. I told myself: just go , even if only to say "hi" to Brigitte and Marian and Kathyrn. Just go; commune with nature. I went. I was alone for most of the hour and a half. It was heaven. It was total peacefulness. All my friends showed up around 11am, as I was readying to leave.

What did I learn? I'd rather show up and risk disappointment or even "failure" than regret not going for it. In death/dying circles, the message is clear: we tend to regret more the things left unsaid, undone, and that never happened much more than the things done that were "mistakes".

The great improvisational jazz musician Miles Davis said: "there are no mistakes".

Interview on Stanford Radio Program

I just had an interview in my office with Angela Castellano, a Stanford student, for her project on art and medicine. She said it's like NPR's "Story Core". Angela is interested in the intersection of medicine and the arts. She heard my story in Larry Zaroff's "Women in Medicine" class at Stanford in October. Larry asks me, as well as Amy Kendrick, MD (AIDS specialist) and Wei Zhou, MD (Assoc. Professor, Vascular Surgery at Stanford) to be on a yearly panel to discuss our lives/experiences in medical school, residency, and in life as doctors.

I'll post the recording or transcript when she gets it to me. She has the raw material now and is working on polishing/editing for the final program.

Rereading "The Art Spirit"

I'm rereading Robert Henri's "The Art Spirit" for the fifth time. I love this book. It reminds me to breathe, to feel, and to express the joy I feel. Henri says the brush leaves a trace of the state of mind of the artist at the moment of contact with the canvas. Aren't we constantly leaving traces of our thoughts and consciousness? Interestingly, the Reggio Emilia educators in Italy (who have shown the world the amazing artwork young children can create) talk about documenting the traces of children's thoughts and ideas to bring visibility to them and to honor their importance. The traces are available, then, to be seen and revisited and built upon. Isn't this creativity?

Day One of Encore: Open Studios

I had a lovely day today. So many wonderful people visited my studio, including many artists. My friend, and fabulous artist Ursula O'Farrell and her husband, Mike O'Farrell came by. What an inspiration Ursula is to me! I love her work and she is so supportive and encouraging of my work. She is a catalyst for going deeper, pushing further, and taking risks.

A lovely and enchanting artist I met the first weekend, Christianna Hunnicutt, came back and brought an entourage of students and colleagues with her. I had a delightful discussion with these women and was so honored that Christianna came back!

I am increasingly inspired and catalyzed by meeting so many wonderful people at these Open Studios! I think this will further fuel my painting and collage work.