Art Plunge

Last week to catch ARTE LATINO at LuminArte Gallery- the show closes on April 6! This month has been nuts, really can't believe it's already over. My health issues and ER adventure really set me back this month on where I need to be for paintings for the shows. I'm trying to finish up some commission projects I took on so I can get back to the work at hand- massive amounts of paintings for WAAS Gallery and Baylor. Hopefully wrapping up all commissions this weekend and hitting the canvas fresh on Monday. The Arte Latino show is closing this week so if you've yet to check it out please go give it a peep! :) My health has been up and down, since the giant cyst is on my ovary the pain and problems I have are cyclical. I feel like a ticking time bomb set to detonate next week. I'm pretty fearful, especially is its as bad as the last one which sent me to the ER. So I'm taking extra special care of myself and not eating anything that would exacerbate the probl...

"Use What You Got"  acrylic/krylon on canvas 24" x 24" This is the latest finished piece I did for the upcoming shows. I wanted to discuss the beetle and it's symbology. Beetles are often thought of a symbols of protection, because of their hard little shell or armor. Here are some observations on beetles from the symbolic-meanings.com site:  symbolic meaning of beetles (at-a-glance): Progress Simplicity Persistence Stability Methodical Contemplative Practical Grounded Potential Security Introverted Protection Solidarity Beetles speak to us of groundedness. They move with bellies always close to the earth, and so  their wisdom is sacred and deep .  They are connected to the core of earth, and so they are rooted in their knowledge about the way of life and nature. Beetles also talk to us about steady, gradual progress.  Observing them, they do nothing without pragmatic, methodical movement. Beetles impart messages such as: “Get t...

New morning, new attitude... I have successfully kicked caffeine to the curb. I haven't even had tea. This was the one addictive vice I had and I kicked it. I gave all my coffee to my Mom yesterday and all the headaches, dizziness, foggy brain stuff- it's over. I had to find something to replace my morning coffee ritual though. I like to sit here and check my emails while I drank my only cup of the day. Now I just go straight to the blender and make either fruit smoothies or almond milk/banana shakes first thing. Caffeine is bad for me on all levels, one it promotes an environment for cysts- which I have and am trying to shrink. Two, it is bad for my stomach lining -which I'm trying to heal and rejuvenate. My next step is to radically eradicate sweets from my life. Heartbreaking. I've done this before so I know I can still eat healthy sweet stuff (bananas, fried bananas, frozen bananas, coconut, apple, etc) I just need to learn to cook differently.  I'm goin...

Self Portrait I've erased this blog five times. Obviously I'm in too dark a place to write something nice and uplifting. However, I know that this is a very low time for me and there will be a very high time again. I have to paint my arse off and shrug off the heartache, illness and worry. I have to paint. That's all I need to be focused on.  That's where I'm at, painting. If my lights get shut off I'll paint outside in the sunlight. I'm resilient dammit, I will kick this thing!

"Release" acrylic/krylon on canvas  12"x36" (reserved/sale pending) Just finished a new long format piece and started on it's brother -which I hope to finish today. I actually took this one outside for a bit to work on it. I have a very hard time staying indoors when then weather is as beautiful as it's been lately. It's also been rather windy and not really conducive to painting with quick drying acrylics out there so I wasn't able to stick it out too long. But it was nice to get a taste of what the coming days will bring and allow me to stake out the best spot for my outdoor studio by judging where the sun is at what times of the day and where the shade is, etc, etc. Tonight I finally get to see the show up at LuminArte since I missed the opening. It's really weird missing an art opening- YOUR art opening. It feels like you were waiting for a birthday party that never happened. So I'm super excited I get a do over. :) If anyone i...

The weather in my part of Texas right now is gorgeous... Every day brings with it a little more recovery and healing. The four days spent bedridden and ill really messed me up and even my back injury was inflamed by the whole ordeal. I've been walking around elderly style with my back out of whack and my right leg not quite in sync. But today feels much better! So much better that I'm going to work outside today for as much as I can. I've been researching my diet and cleaning that up bit by bit, the hardest blow was breaking up with coffee. Although over the years I had slowly weaned my caffeine addiction (quit sodas, and was down to only one cup of coffee in the morning regularly) I didn't know just how strange it would be to not make a beeline to my coffee pot every morning first thing. I felt lost. The first few days sucked, headaches, foggy head and dizziness. That was quitting ONE cup in the morning! Geez, I can't imagine what anything more would have ...

So I just read my last blog post. All the signs were there. No energy. Not feeling it. Pushing myself to go on. Story of my life. I really need to start listening to the things my body is telling me. Sometimes I just have to not work so hard. I just surfaced from a horrible, horrifying and painful experience. For years now I have suffered a chronic and mysterious pain. The doctors could never give me a solid lead on anything. Ive been through sonograms, MRI's, CT scans, cameras inserted in places they shouldn't be- you name it. I've heard I might possibly have a uterine fibroid but if so it would be too small to be creating such pain as I was having. On a level of 1-10 what kind of pain would that be? 200. The kind of pain that makes you understand why someone with chronic pain just doesnt want to continue life kind of pain. And nothing helped. It felt like I was being murdered with a sharp knife in the right side of my gut every month for years kind of pain. I took Ibu...

Carrying a heavy load? Me? ALWAYS! I know this is going to be a great productive and creative year for me. My art is wanted by several venues right now and my job on the planet is to create, paint and make paintings appear. I've been so focused getting works ready for gallery showings that I havent been able to do "affordable" art or focus on small commissions right now. Hence why theres a big beautiful termination notice sitting next to me on my work table. Nothing will make you appreciate the wonder of fire on your stove and being able to cook or take hot showers than a termination notice. AI AI AI! But no fear. Like I said, I know good things are on their way to me it's a matter of juggling, being patient and WORKING MY ARSE OFF! My fingers are crossed some of the newer works sell and I do have some freelance jobs that are going to save me this month. A graphic design job popped up and a mural gig. Ah, the ol' mural crew! I'll be up on ladders and fl...

"The Path of Nurturing"  36" x 36" acrylic/krylon on canvas Just finished another piece yesterday, a good sized canvas that I had started on 2/25 (my Dads birthday). I painted the Cerro de la Silla mountains (Saddle Hill) that loom over Monterrey. Monterrey is my Dads land and where he now sleeps. I'm not going to get into all the symbology and details of this piece but hopefully it evokes a peaceful feeling of perseverance, nurturing and life.  Finally got all the paintings prepped and ready to hang and today is DROP OFF DAY! The studio will be bare of art once again so it's also START ANOTHER PAINTING DAY! And this time I'm going to start two at once and see how that works out for me. It's time to pick up the pace! I'll be working on a new horizontal kind of format. I noticed some of my works have very strong horizontal compositions if I crop  them a certain way. For example: So I got some canvases shaped just like this to play a...

I am on the formal invite! Jumping up and down! If you read my last sad post you might be thinking at this point I'm bipolar or something. Sad. Jumping up and Down. HA HA! Yeah, maybe.... It's a new month and I'm watching the calendar days shrink down and my future art shows getting closer. I now have a full 4 months until my show at WAAS and about 3 until Baylor. You might think that's PLENTY OF TIME for an artist to make paintings but I'd have to kick you in the shins because that's not true. In order to pay rent and bills you have to sell works or go to work. This will take time away from you getting work done for your shows. So in a nutshell it's hustle time, time to dance around the bullets being shot at my feet and get that paintbrush moving a little faster. There's a prospective mural project I've been invited to work on which is $$ I NEED to keep my lights on and also a freelance graphic design gig is surfacing I should take as wel...