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.

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