See My Art in These Upcoming Exhibits

I have four paintings that will be on exhibit starting in May. (August 2021 update: Two of the paintings are still available, see below for details. If you’re interested in purchasing, please contact me!)

“Sea/Sun/Set.” Mixed media on canvas, 18 x 24 inches. Included in Art of Water V at James May Gallery. May 1st - July 31st, 2021.

“The Dancers Dance the Dance.” Mixed media on paper. 7x10 inches. Included in Mujeres Mujeres Mujeres at Raices Taller 222 Art Gallery in Tucson, Arizona. May 1st - June 12th, 2021. SOLD

“Completing the Thought.” Mixed media on canvas, 12 inches diameter. Included in Neuroanatomy at Stone Valley Arts, Poultney, Vermont. May 15th-June 27th, 2021. SOLD

“Brain in my Heart.” Mixed media on canvas, 9x12 inches. Included in Neuroanatomy at Stone Valley Arts, Poultney, Vermont. May 15th-June 27th, 2021.

TV Journals - Spring 2020 and Spring 2021

Almost every night, we watch the news. And almost every night, I sit with my sketchbook and draw some of what I’m hearing. I draw the words that I hear, sometimes the people I see on the screen, sometimes just things that pop up into my mind. (Usually because someone on television will use a noun or a verb that I decide to draw.).

Last Spring, when the morgue trucks and moving trucks became a fixture on the streets of New York City, this practice was a way for me to hold on to sanity. When the US death toll went over 10,000 in early April, I decided to start noting the ever increasing number every night. (At that point, the US death toll was virtually indistinguishable from the New York City death toll.) And when the death toll hit 100,000 on May 28th, I stopped.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Then, I was using simple materials — brush pen, black ink. (I have a neat hack on this that I’ll share below.) It was all I could manage in that moment.

I took a little break from this practice, roughly between the election and the insurrection. I was mainlining news at that point nearly constantly and didn’t want to make any art about it. (There are a lot of flowers and cats in my journals in that period.) Also, I’d started weaving. Any repetitive fiber art is an enormously soothing activity to do while watching upsetting things on television!

Anyway, the news hasn’t gotten any less upsetting, really, but I picked up the practice again.. Now, however, I’m in the mood for color, which maybe is a hopeful sign? Some then and now images from the sketchbook for your viewing pleasure.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Materials: The 2020 journals were made with black ink in a brush pen. I love Kuretake brush pens, but I try to stay away from anything non-refillable.(Because the environment, and also because I’m cheap. ) These waterbrush pens, or anything similar, can be filled with any kind of ink. (They’re not really meant for this purpose so if you’re moving around with them, I’d keep them in a plastic bag in case of leaking. But this wasn’t an issue in 2020.) After extensive trial and error, my favorite black-black ink is Noodler’s X Feather.

The journals themselves are 9x12 Artist’s Loft sketchbooks from Michaels. They are also totally affordable, good quality, and get the job done. The 2021 journals are on magazine pages, which I cover up totally with Posca pens and then Copics and Tombows.

Stretching my Sizes!

This month in the studio, I’m experimenting with different shaped substrates — and really pushing myself on size.

Up until now, I’ve preferred for my work to be intimate in scale. Back when I was taking studio art classes, my teachers were always urging me to get larger paper, larger canvas, and I kept resisting. Eventually this led me towards making jewelry, where I was really working on a small scale. I was wearing magnifiers every day, and, for a time, I was in heaven.

When I set jewelry to the side, I returned to working pretty small — my max is usually 11 x14 inches! One of my friends pointed out that I like to work in book size. This is true. (I also like to make books.)

But for some reason, as the pandemic has worn on — for reasons I haven’t quite really been able to pin down — I’ve been feeling the urge to work larger and to take up some more space. So, when one of the teachers I admire offered a class called “Big and Little” — all about scaling up work, I was immediately intrigued and signed right up.

I didn’t expect that the first step would be to work in different shapes, but i felt very enthusiastic about that. This piece above, still in process, is six inches in diameter, so still pretty small. BUT, I have purchased 12 inch round canvas…and even larger square and rectangular canvases. (like…18x24 inches gasp!). So now I’ll want to use them. More as it happens!

Februllage 2021

Over on Instagram, I participated in a month-long collage challenge during February. I generally feel like I can make my own prompts — I even taught a class about that! But this challenge has been really really fun. Here’s what I made:

Stratified Paintings

I’m working on a series that tell subtle stories. This one, called “Power Set Upon” was made in response to the events of January 6th, 2021.