Winter Branches

I love the austere poetry of winter branches sketched against the sky by nature.

Art Happens

Greetings. It's a quiet January day in the studio. Even the parakeet seems to be in a gathering her thoughts kind of mood.

Art is one of the best ways I know to sift through the experience of life. I think, in fact, that our lives are part of the artwork of the world.

I've been traveling over this last week, which was one of storms, earthquakes, and politics, work, ideas and family. Navigating my way through everything as best I could, the events of the week were woven together by moments of beauty : In the branches of a tree in a parking lot, in the sparkling sidewalk in North Beach, in the Chinese child huddled up against his fathers legs as they both press against a wall to wait out a downpour. It was beautiful how fast, and how much the world gathered up to rush and help Haiti. It was beautiful to hug family, to hear laughter, and to meet people who are realizing their dreams, and who are just beginning to dream.

I didn't have a camera with me this week. But that's okay. The art still happens.

Words, Paint, Flowers...

Thank you to all of you, for your words of enthusiasm, regarding the upcoming workshop! I look forward to working with those of you who have registered to attend. I think it will be inspiring for all of us. There are still some spaces, for those of you who are considering.
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I've been thinking about which samples of my work I'd like to pull out and bring to my workshop at the end of the month.
This is one of my favorites. The blossom was incredible. A photo certainly could suffice to remind me of it. However, painting the print took me deeper, still, into the flower, creating a relationship rich with new understanding and awe. I got to know each petal apart from the whole, and in the process, discovered a rainbow of subtle whites, and pastels. In my attempt to keep the delicacy of the living flower, I tried to teach my hand to be sensitive in the strength and direction of my strokes.

"I dream of painting and then I paint my dream" - Vincent Van Gogh