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.

Open Studios: Encore Weekend

Well, I'm preparing for Open Studios tomorrow and Sunday. I just finished a painting of a girl on a horse, in oil,yesterday. It's quite wet. Can I place it in a frame for the exhibition? I did another painting of a girl and a dog which started out very experimental. I was investigating using the brush more like the Russian painters do, holding the very tip, loading the brush with paint, and using a very fluid, rhythmic movement to mass in the big shapes (Jim Smythe told me about this). I liked the feeling of this, though it felt awkward, at first.

I had a studio visit today from a wonderful artist, Hilary Scardino. Hilary works in watermedia, pastel, and charcoal, as well as mixed media. I visited her studio last weekend and loved and was very moved by her work. Some of it is quite abstract. I seem to love everything she does. She really puts herself into the work and is very experimental. Some of her work is sculptural (nails on board with geometric designs). Our visit was inspiring to me. It's so great to meet a kindred soul.

Open Studios: First Weekend

I just finished the first weekend of Open Studios. I had a great weekend. On Saturday, there were intermittent showers and gigantic, dramatic cumulus clouds. The day started slowly, then crescendoed by late afternoon. Lots of people came by on Sunday. I met so many lovely people and saw old friends, too. A collector from Silicon Valley came over and purchased one of my favorite collages: "One Step After". Four or five people have their eyes on their favorite paintings. Many artists and psychotherapists visited, as well. Paul Figueroa (the executive director of the Museum of Art and History in Santa Cruz) came by to help me choose a work to donate to the museum's benefit auction "Stars" which is December 6, 2008. He was lovely and kind and brought with him three lovely people who are involved with the museum, as well. Right upon their heels, came a beautiful and wonderful artist, Suzanne McCourt, whom I had met in the spring and who gave me a solo exhibition at her Surf City Coffee house in May. All in all, I had a fantastic weekend.

"Horse Whisperer" Collage: Finished!

It's finished! I changed the ghostlike, light papyrus to a warmer, rust paper. I altered the top of the hat, using the Mexican bark paper and I threaded black and gold throughout the composition to unify it.

Much has been written about the issue of when a work of art is "finished". Is it ever really finished? There are stories of great masters going into museums with brush and paint, because something about the painting bothered them; they wanted to change the painting after they had looked at it or thought about it over time! Some say there is no finish, only interesting stopping points.

"Horse Whisperer" Collage In Progress: Part 5

I've got the background laid down and I'm weaving black through the picture. I'm not sure about the man's face, though. The papyrus is a bit light, making him look rather ghostlike. I like how the threads of the papyrus come out at the mouth (an accident...or was it? Carl Jung might call this synchronicity or a calling from the deep unconscious or "imago ignota" (unknown image: all the antecendets we are born with that are not/cannot be articulated verbally). Anyway, it happened spontaneously, and made me think of a "horse whisperer".

"Horse Whisperer" Collage in Progress: Part 4

Well, I decided to remove the burlap and use the marbled Mexican bark paper instead, which I feel is more interesting in terms of visual variety, a sort of counterpoint to the darker face. I've also laid down background papers. We'll see where this goes.

"Horse Whisperer" Collage In Progress: Part 3

I've added the cowboy hat and I'm looking at potential papers for the background. I'm not sure I'll stay with the burlap for the horses' neck; perhaps I'll use a lighter value, Mexican bark paper I have on hand to differentiate it more from the horses' face (for greater variety)? These are the kinds of questions I ask myself as the collage progresses.

Horse Whisperer, Part 2

I'm adding darks to the collage now. I'll be threading the black through the compostion, for unity and connection. I haven't adhered any papers to the support canvas yet. I'm still playing with ideas of how I want the collage to look. This part of the process is quite subjective and intuitive, yet there is an underlying awareness of design principles upon which I am playing.

Beginnings of New "Horse Whisperer" Collage

I started a new collage for my "Relationship" collage series. The concept is that of a horse whisperer connecting with a horse. I've observed a few amazingly sensitive individuals who have this gift. The horse senses she can trust this human with her life, and thus a deep bond is formed. Much like children, horses know which humans are compassionate and which ones they can rely upon.

I began with an image in my mind of a horse and a man eye to eye. I roughly sketched this image onto the canvas, using a graphite pencil. I used a 24" x 30" canvas support, adhering handmade and machine-made papers (Egyptian papyrus, Mexican bark papers, mulberry paper, silk tissue, etc) with artist's tape, to explore the image and the dark/light pattern using various papers. I'm experimenting with burlap for the neck, though I don't know if I'll keep it for the final collage. When I'm sure about using a particular paper in a particular shape, I will adhere the paper with acrylic matte medium. It will be interesting to see how this collage takes shape.

Final Touches on Figurative Painting: Video Demo

Twelfth Video Demo of Figurative Oil Painting

Eleventh Video Demonstration of Figurative Oil Painting

Tenth Video Demonstration of Figurative Painting

Ninth Video Demonstration of Figurative Oil Painting

Eighth Video Demo of Figurative Painting

Seventh Video Demo of Figurative Oil Painting

Sixth Demo Video of Figurative Oil Abstraction

Fifth Video Demo of Figurative Painting Process

Fourth Demo Video of Figurative Oil Abstraction

Third Demonstration of Painting Process

Second Demo Video of Figurative Oil Abstraction

First Demo Video of Figurative Oil Abstraction