Happy Birthday Carole!

Today was Carole's birthday, and we celebrated creekside at Abuelita's Restaurant in Topanga Canyon. Carole is one of my artist friends, and you can see her fabulous artwork on her website. Debbi was there, too. Debbi paints animal portraits and landscapes, and also has a website showing her work.



It was a beautiful California evening, and I enjoyed sharing it with these two very special women.

Hawthorne Berries?

I'm overdyeing one of my mold-dyed pieces with soaked hawthorne berries. At least I think these are hawthorne berries. I bought them at an herb store in Chinatown, and the box was marked hawthorne berries, but the package said D.H. Berry. I thought hawthorne berries were smaller than this, but maybe these are Chinese hawthorne berries. Who knows? I'm hoping for a golden yellow color.

When I'm working with mold and natural dyes, I feel like either a mad scientist or a witch (in the good sense of the word) brewing up potions. I always have pots of weird stuff boiling on the patio in my backyard. The worst was the blue-green algae. It smelled like a swamp, and got even smellier when I heated it up.

I have an idea for collaging together different pieces of mold-dyed and naturally-dyed fabrics, and I'm anxious for the mold-dyed pieces to be done so I can start playing around with it.

Topanga Canyon Gallery

I was at the reception for the "Gardens to Delight" show at Topanga Canyon Gallery this evening. Nice group of artists, and interesting artwork. Some of my artist friends come from having been involved with this gallery, and even though I'm no longer a member there, I still go to the openings to see the people I know. Check out this gallery the next time you're in Topanga.

Dirty Work

Aha! I think I found what the Ann King painting needed -- mud. A conservationist's nightmare. I rubbed mud over it to take the color down and to make it look old. Much better, don't you think?

Ann King Painting

I'm trying to decide if this painting is done, or if I need to do something more to it. It's for the Ann King Memorial Show at Topanga Canyon Gallery, and it's a silhouette of Ann. 26" x 38" or so. It's wrinkly because I haven't stretched it yet. I kind of like the simplicity, and I'm leaning towards not messing it up by overworking it.

Day of the Dead Painting

I'm working on paintings for a "Day of the Dead" show in October. This is the extent of my knowledge of anatomy! I was inspired by Basquiat's childlike drawings and his fingerpainting technique. Next I'm going to put some phosphorescent highlights on top so it glows in the dark!

Ann King Memorial Show

Topanga Canyon Gallery is doing a memorial show for my friend, Ann King, who died in June. Her work is fabulous, and this will probably be the last chance to see and buy it. I've been invited to be in the show, too, along with gallery members and other artists who knew Ann. You may want to consider making the trek to Topanga to see this show.

Transparency

In our artist discussion group tonight, Lyn said that she sees the primary themes of death, alienation and loneliness in my artwork. She can even see some of my feelings about animal abuse and suffering in my recent red pieces.

And some people see blood and violence in this painting, even though it's not what I consciously intended:



Lyn said that my feelings often come through in the titles of my work, if not in the work itself.

I had no idea that I'm so transparent, and I'm surprised that people can read me from my abstract work. We're not talking narrative artwork here. Lyn got all of this from abstract work. Lyn is right that these are central themes in my life, but I wasn't aware that I was expressing them in my art. They must be leaking out subconsciously into my work.

Dolores Littles Interview

Lyn Southworth interviewed artist Dolores Littles at our artist discussion group tonight. Dolores does fabulous hand-painted glass plates and reverse-painted glass paintings backed with her hand-dyed silk fabric. You can see her work at the Contemporary Crafts Market in Santa Monica every November and June. The following is my transcription of the interview.

Lyn: This is an interview with Dolores Littles. Dolores is a glass painter, and we’re going to find out all about what she does and why she does it. First question for Dolores. Going back to your childhood – coming forward – what were the major experiences or influences that combined to make you an artist?

Dolores: My childhood, huh? One thing I remember from childhood, I always read comic books, and tried to draw pictures from the comic books. That’s when they were really busty women and long shiny hair. And drawing that shiny hair was really exciting to do. My little sister thought that was the greatest thing since hot buttered toast – that I could do these things.

Dolores: Then I remember getting ready to move from our home in Jamaica, Long Island, and a neighbor across the street gave me a box of oil paints. That made me feel so important! He believed in me. He bought me a box of oil paints, and professional ones, too. I kept them for years.

Dolores: Those are two major things in my life that made me think about being an artist. But I still didn't think I could draw. Even though I was doing so, I didn't think I could draw. I couldn't sit down and sketch you. I've since learned better.

Lyn: You certainly have! You do beautiful work. You make reverse painted glass plates, and I don't think that most people really know what a reverse painted glass plate is. Could you explain how the plates are made, all the way from the inspiration, to getting the design, or the rooster, in one case, on the plate, all the way to the final piece? How do you do it?

Dolores: I buy plates that are already made – clear glass plates. Some of them are just smooth and plain, some of them have texture on the back, some of them are lumpy and bumpy. And the plate really sets the tone for what I'm going to do. Like when I did the rooster plate, it was the way that it was set up that made me draw a rooster on that plate.

Dolores: Reverse painting on glass is actually taking a plain glass plate and painting on the reverse side of it, so that when you turn it over, you've got this wonderful image on the right side. It's something that's been done for centuries. They've found things in Egypt that were reverse painting on glass. People were painting portraits on it during George Washington's time. They've found some of those things . . . unbroken! Glass is pretty resilient.

Dolores: My ideas come from the plate, and that's all really it.

Lyn: So you have to put the paint on in reverse order, according to what you see on the front?

Dolores: Right. Whatever you want to be seen first goes on first, and then you work backwards. It's really not working backwards, you're laying colors side by side because if you were laying colors one on top of one another, you wouldn't get to see them. So it's really side-by-side painting that you're doing.

Lyn: And then you have to bake them?

Dolores: I fire them in the oven. The paints that I use are Liquitex Glossy Enamel, and they're made for painting on glass, and some ceramics. They're low fire. You only heat them up to 325 degrees for about 45 minutes, and then it's ready.

Lyn: They're beautiful. Third question. What is the main inspiration for you at this point in your creative life?

Dolores: Main inspiration. I think my friends are. I look at you and Cassie and Rob, and I'm inspired by those things that I see you doing. Making art all the time, and getting stuff done, and making a difference, and doing good art. There's a lot of art out there, but some of it's pretty awful! So it's great to see people I know who are doing great things, and it inspires me to do things.

Lyn: You're an inspiration to us, too. I hope you know that. What are you planning for the future?

Dolores: I want to work less, but make more. I'd like for my art to be out there in the general public, mass produced, in one way or other. Where I can just do the original drawing, or painting, or what have you, and it gets reproduced and sold to millions. Not millions – maybe thousands. I don't want to be greedy!

Lyn: You're not painting the thousands, though, but one plate.

Dolores: Right. I'm less able to do the quantity that I used to be able to do. I want to sit back and rest for a while, and let my art just do it's own thing by itself.

Lyn: That sounds like a great goal.

Dolores: Now if I can get that done – that's another story!

Lyn: Thank you very much for sharing, not only your childhood and your process, but what you've got planned for the future.

Dolores: Thank you very much. It was a pleasure.

Google Earth

Have you heard about the new Google Earth program? This is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. It's a seamless satelitte view of the Earth, and you can zoom in on any place on the globe. You can fly from one place to another, and it looks like you're actually flying, in an animated kind of way. You can see a lot of cities in detail, right down to the houses and the cars on the street. You can search on your home address, and it will take you right there -- from a satellite point of view. It's incredible.

Go to the Google Earth home page, and download the free version of their software. You must have a new-ish PC (Windows 2000 or Windows XP) and a high-speed Internet connection (broadband or cable). MACs not yet supported.

Still Life with Cat

I know, I know . . . this is turning in the sleeping cats blog. Sashi continues to amaze me with her creativity in finding new places to sleep. Lately she has taken to the fireplace mantel. It seems that she has to find a new spot every few days. What happens when she runs out . . . does she start over with the old spots?

New Cat Beds

Just when you thought I wouldn't dare post any more pictures of sleeping cats . . . wrong! Last Friday Sashi was given a new tent bed by her friend Maria, and she hides out in it most of the time now.



In the meantime, Cinnamon and Enzo are rediscovering the beds that Maria brought them last winter. Maria is the patron saint of cats.






I had put the beds away for the summer, but believe it or not, it's starting to get a little chilly here at night now. Strange weather for August. So I brought the beds back out when Sashi got her new bed, so that no one would feel bed-deprived. Thanks to Maria, I now have eight beds for three cats!

Happy Happy

Hey! I finally received an acceptance letter in the mail today, after a string of rejections. This piece:



is going to the Maude Kerns Art Center in Eugene, Oregon for a Day of the Dead show October 21 - November 11.

And today is my half birthday! For those of you not in the know, that's halfway through another year. My friend Ron wished me a half-happy day this morning. Or perhaps that's half a happy day. Whatever. I think I'm on a roll.

Backyard Mystery

Last night about ten large pinecones simultaneously fell from the top of the Norfolk Island Pine in my backyard, along with the tips of two branches.



These things are heavy, weighing at least several pounds each.



And they're falling from the top of the tree, which must be three or four stories high.



Fortunately no cats were in the vicinity at the time.

What would cause them all to fall at once, before they were ripe? Did squirrels chew them off? And if so, what were the squirrels thinking? The pine nuts in them haven't developed yet, and they're full of sap and sticky.

Daydream

I've been daydreaming about a concept I call "Artist Cohousing" -- a group of artists living in community together and sharing resources. Not that this hasn't been done, but I haven't found such a community that I feel is right for me. Perhaps I will have to create one.

I borrow my vision from the European concept of cohousing, which is spreading throughout the United States, the experiments during the 1960s with intentional communities (also known as communes), and the American tradition of struggling artists grouped together in the least desirable parts of a city. But this will not be an artist ghetto. If those of us who own homes here in Southern California pooled our real estate resources, I think we could afford something quite nice.

I envision it as being semi-rural, but also near a large city, if that's even possible. It's my fantasy, and I can envision whatever I want! Naturally there has to be a Whole Foods Market nearby, unless we get really ambitious and decide to grow some or all of our food. I think between six and twelve artists, along with their significant others. Off the grid -- wind and solar power. A large piece of property with small separate homes for each of us, and a large shared studio space. Straw bale construction. Maybe other shared space, too, such as a common room, kitchen, and laundry facilities. There's the potential to share other resources, like vehicles and equipment. Need a van occasionally to haul paintings around, but don't want to own or rent a van? Use the community's van!

I would like to live with other people who share my interests and have a similar vision of being able to create a better world for ourselves. Are those people out there? Are you one of them?

More Rejection

I was rejected for membership at Gallery 825. 140 artists applied, and 28 were accepted. I submitted these two paintings:



and these three slides of paintings:



What do you think? Not a cohesive enough body of work? In hindsight, I probably should have submitted five woven paintings, because those are the paintings that people seem to like the best. I took a chance and submitted some of my newer work, and lost. I was hoping that the newer work would be seen as worthy, but evidently not -- or at least not by this jury.

Rejection is never a happy ending, but I can't say that I'm upset about it. I had mixed feelings about being a part of Gallery 825, and perhaps, on a metaphysical level, that's why I didn't get in. My cats still love me. What does it really matter in the bigger scheme of things? Life goes on.

Oranges and Onions and Cucumbers, oh my!

I started a new compost piece today, and this time I sandwiched it between sheets of Plexiglas so the opossum can't get to it.



Then I put it in the darkest part of the yard, underneath the Norfolk Island Pine tree.



Now comes the hard part -- waiting.

More Sleeping Cats

Here's another classic sleeping cat picture made for the blog:



This is Cinnamon squeezed onto a woven bag that was tossed on the bed. They seek out the weirdest places to sleep -- the scratchier and harder, the better.

Ann King Drawings

I bought two of Ann King's drawings from her "Cancer" series yesterday. She kept a visual journal of her experiences with fallopian tube cancer. The first drawing is from when she was initially diagnosed with cancer in July 2000.



The second was done during her second chemotherapy treatment in September 2000. She would always take her sketch pad with her to the hospital and draw while receiving the chemo.



I think the drawings are fascinating, and I love that they're so personal. Some people couldn't live with this kind of art, because it depicts painful and unpleasant parts of life. But to me it represents Ann's courage to face cancer directly and express her feelings about it.

Dog Looking for Home

This is the dog that my friend Noreen Castellani rescued about two months ago. He has recently acquired the name Benny, and he's very sweet. Yes, I know . . . this is turning into the dog and cat blog. So what? You can read Benny's entire story including many pictures on the Frontline Foundation website. Benny started hydrotherapy to rehabilitate his shattered elbow, dislocated hip and cracked pelvis in Ray and Noreen's pool this week, and from the looks of it, he's taken to the water quite nicely. He's still looking for a home, but not just any home. Noreen wants him to go to a home where he's cherished, with someone who can give him lots of attention and love. Benny has been through a lot in his first year of life, and Noreen feels that he deserves something special now because of it. Benny was lucky that Noreen saw him being thrown out of a car. She has spent countless hours and thousands of dollars helping this dog to recover. Thank you, Noreen. I'm inspired by and in awe of your love and concern.

New Sleeping Place

It didn't take Sashi long to find the pile of scarves waiting to be dyed on the dining room table. I know, I know . . . more pictures of cats sleeping. But they're so cute and innovative in their selection of sleeping places. I almost hate to disturb her by taking the scarves away to be wrapped and dyed, but I've got a lot of inventory tied up in that cat bed.

Ann King's Artwork

I went up to Ann King's house in Topanga this morning to see her artwork. You may remember that Ann died about six weeks ago, and her artwork has been selling like hotcakes since then. I bought this small self portrait that she painted on the cover of a pad of Arches watercolor paper:



Ann's house is for sale for 3.5 million, and it has a studio to die for. I took pictures of the studio while I was there:






The studio has a view of the garden, the pool and the mountains.

Ann's artwork is very personal and autobiographical, and for that reason I don't think it sold well while she was alive. But now that she's gone, people who knew her want it as something to remember her by.

It has made me think about the purpose and reason for art. Art that is very personal can be more difficult to sell, but ultimately, I think it has more meaning than art that doesn't reveal much about the artist. How personal can I get with my work and still remain commercially viable? Or do I have to have two bodies of work -- the impersonal for sales, and the personal for immortality?

Topanga Canyon Gallery will be having a memorial show of Ann's artwork September 20th through October 16th of this year.

Christmas in August

I did the underdyeing for seventy silk scarves yesterday.



I'm getting ready for the holidays and my fall studio sale. Today I shibori dyed sixteen of them.



Now they have to dry on the poles to set the pleats before I can remove them and dye the next batch. This time I'm using synthetic dyes, and the colors are brighter than the ones I did with natural dyes. So far the colors are turning out great!