this week i did a number of collages.  first, i will start

by saying i love college.  i have been asking other artists 

to teach teach me.  i have a couple of future dates where

i will lean from them but while i am waiting for 'lessons'

i decided to try again on my own.  here is what i have done 

so far.  i am loving the process. 

i start out before the crack of dawn with a cup of tea

in my studio.  i start by selecting images from my large

collection that jump out at me.  

i follow a loose story that begins to develop

through the images.

i cut and glue pieces to the background

some acrylic is added

and the story develops

and deepens.   i have found the process

deeply satisfying.

this week i went to the printers fair at the international

print museum in carson, ca.  here are a few images i took there. 

i hope it's been a lovely weekend.

posting late with friends at paint party friday.

hello!  i have been besieged with

computer issues for the last two weeks.

you know how it goes.  just when you think 

it's over, you find something new to contend 

with.  but i remind myself, that it's a first

world problem and go on with life but there

are times when it's just darn frustrating.

the good news is that i can post today and for 

that, i am grateful.  after days of doing not creating art,

i felt rusty.  i decided to go simple using a stabile and 

white gesso on these two drawings.

on my birthday i attended a weekend workshop with misty mawn,

one of my favorite teachers.   i love the creativity she brings in her

soulful style and have taken many online and in person workshops

with her.  through writing prompts, poetry, symbols and the three primary 

colors plus white and black to create values, i painted two paintings.

i have been wanting to push my art and  experimenting with adding a story 

to my paintings. the writing brought me back to a time when,  for years 

i wrote daily,  first journaling, then poetry and fiction, then back 

to journaling.   i didn't know that i missed it so much.  

this is an underpainting yet to be completed

hello

and  in my journal.

in both northern and southern california

there have been tragic unconfined fires.  i was

at a local arboretum celebrating my birthday with

friends the morning the anaheim hills fire broke 

out.  we saw a change in the sky and left the area

to go to lunch.  

after lunch, the sky had changed. i have several

friends who had to evacuate their homes.  luckily,

they are all safe but everyone is not so lucky. 

your prayers are welcome for the victims 

who have suffered losses and for those who are

uncertain about their homes. 

posting with the lovely eva and kristen

at paint party friday 

sometimes i stop working on a painting when

it seems to be done or i do not know where to go next.  

i have been working on some of these almost 

done paintings.  here are progress shots.

both were very soft and light.  seeing them 

from a distance on the wall, they almost faded away.

but i loved the details as i got closer but i wanted to 

be able to see more from afar.  working on these reminds

me of processing a photo in a dark room.  if you have ever

done this, the photo comes to life slowly in a chemical 

bath.  you can choose when to stoop the processing by 

taking it out and neutralizing the chemicals.  there is a little

magic in watching the photo images.  i get the same feeling

coming back and painting slowly adding color.

i would love to hear your opinion on this 

second painting.

i stopped here with the painting but 

when i fiddled with the photo this was the results.  

do you have a preference?

posting with eva and kristen's paint party friday

i will be late in responding to your comments this week.

i just discovered that my computer lost thousands of photos 

and i am sure this will take hours of work to restore them.  

wish me luck

welcome!  it is  friday, the auspicious day 

of the autumnal equinox.  i do love this season.

even in southern california, land of eternal sunshine,

a slight shift in the light, in the breezes and the beginning

of early morning and afternoon crispness can be detected. 

today i am showing you more  map girls drawn on thomas guide pages.  

with the frequent and common usage of cell phones, maps have become

all but obsolete and i have found a new use for this paper that i cannot 

throw out.  the first image i posted last week but i thought they would

be fun seen together.  one of my friends predicted i will be continuing a

new collection as i did with teabags last year.  perhaps!  i title them by the

page numbers.  they are all the same color but the lighting changes the outcome

on the screen.  i don't mind that.

posting with paint party friday friends. thanks so much 

to eva and kristen for hostin.

last week with tech support week!  my hard drive needed 

replacement.  that's understandable but what is not is  that i was unable 

to post on my blog via my cell phone.   i spent hours trying 

and even hired someone who  was also unsuccessful.  i have done it before 

when on vacation so there must be a tiny trick i missed.  all that as an 

apology for missing last friday.  i was especially remiss after being 

selected as the featured artist on paint party friday.  thank you kristen and eva!

tribe

this painting sat for over a year.  i came back and finally

finished it.  i rarely finish a painting in one sitting. 

i am surprised with other artists can.  i actually like the 

process of starting, giving it some time.  when i come back 

to it, it is like a new painting and i see it again with fresh eyes. 

i save everything!  especially paper.  now with the

use cell phones, paper maps are all but obscure.  

i recycled my thomas guide using the pages for collage.

here, i tried drawing a map face.   

playing around

with collage

watercolor 

and marker and pen gestures.

and ending today with a tea bag portrait.

posting with kristen and eva's paint party friday 

a week in review

i found my father's moldy college yearbook.   every time i opened 

the pages my nose would run and my eyes watered.  this is not a good thing. 

i tore a few dry pages out to save and painted this teabag from one of 

the images.  the year book brought back memories of my father

studying late at night after he returned from his job of stacking 

produce at the downtown los angeles market.  he had just started college

when world war II broke out.  my father and his family were interned 

for four years.  when he returned to resume his life.   i never understood 

why he was always tired  and always busy.  now i know

 that he was trying to better himself to support his family. 

i took a charcoal drawing class with kara bullock. 

here is what i drew over the weekend. 

this is mary nomura.

she  was known as the songbird of manzanar.  she was 14 when she and her 

family were interned  into a camp in manzanar, californiana.  her singing 

brought enjoyment and entertainment to the  10,000 japanese americans

 in the camp.  mary has loved to sing since she was a child.   

to mary, a day without singing is not worth living.  

i attended a screening of the documentary, a songbird of 

manzanar by cody edison at the la louvre gallery in venice, california.  

the filmmaker and mary were present for a moving, inspiring and 

uplifting evening in which i saw mary as a spunky, lively, honest, charming 

and elegant woman.  can you believe she is over 90? she sang two songs, 

one of them was embraceable you  from the movie.   the song is embedded below 

for your pleasure.  you will get a sense of this lovely woman as she introduces the piece. 

Embracable You

thank you for visiting. i enjoy hearing from you.

i am posting as i do weekly with friends at paint party friday

hosted weekly by eva and kristen