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2012 Of Mice and Mayhem!

"Sometimes You Feel Small"
I've been asked to pick out my strongest piece to turn in for a feature. This is a bit of a tough call for me as I feel a little biased. But it has made me look back at this year in my personal work (no records, commissions, etc) and remember what an amazing creative year it has been for me. It's a bit like connect the dots when I think about it and it all started with that little guy up there. I was given a blank piece of wood to create a piece for "For The Love of Kettle" show- a donated piece which would be sold for $50. From there it was all mice and mayhem...
"Sometimes You Feel Small Part 2" on view at Kessler until Dec. 31st
This was my next piece and one that I allowed the public to follow from start to finish. I documented the blank canvas and each days work to allow everyone a peek behind the wizards curtain. You can see my first experiment with the krylon backgrounds and super detailed little animals making an appearance along with some signature shapes.
"The World of Traceable Ghosts"
Bam! Pow! Pink just exploded all over everything! Took my work to a next level with vibrant colors and my new background technique. Animals starting to play a feature role in my psychedelic landscapes. This was supposed to be published in Origin magazine but as of yet I still don't know if it has been. Now on view at {NEIGHBORHOOD} in Bishop Arts.
"The Path of Fruitfulness"
My love of color gets full play on this piece. Honestly when I started the background I hated it and wanted to stop. It looked like a tye dyed shirt. But I kept going and amazed myself with the results. The beloved roly polys and the Wheel of Joy...a bit of Yin and Yang and the first piece in the "Path of" series....
"The Path of Intuition" SOLD
I was on full throttle now, no stopping the painting machine and in this piece I feel some magic happened. Spent a lot of time on 3d mushrooms (not LITERALLY) and started adding more "natural" elements and the recurring theme of fruit and fruitfulness appearing. This painting snagged me a $500 prize at the Latino Arts competition!
"The Path of Patience" SOLD
By this time it has dawned on me I am in the middle of what an artist calls a "body of work" or a "series" and you know what you need to do a "body of work"? Patience, grasshopper. A virtue you would do well to hone. Apparently insects are still fascinating subject matter for me and I'm reading up on spirit guides and symbology.
"The Path of Diligence" on view at Kessler until Dec. 31
After seeing how small the grasshopper piece looked hung in a gallery I decided I wasn't going to be the girl ignored at the party so I went BIG and HORIZONTAL. I am starting to play with the idea of my interpretation of DNA, Biology, weird molecular strands of pearly things. Bees and Cranes and everyone very busy staying alive. The moss and lichen was  my new Goliath and I labored over those details to really make the painting pop.
Then....life got crazy and I had work orders to fill. The big personal paintings started getting snatched up (YAY!) and a little demand was created for my work. That is how I'm ending the year, BUSY and WANTED. All this work is either sold or showing somewhere but....which one is my strongest?!
And to think a little mouse brought all this about!




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