WATERBABY'S CIRCUS

Experimenting with poured acrylics.  

 

Lake Anza, watercolor on rice paper              

Yes, it has been awhile. Nearly three months in Brazil, where it isn't always samba and sunshine. Winter storms, mindboggling bureaucracy, and a public transportation system that doesn't always go where you want to go; everything seems to take at least twice as long as it should. It all balances out though. There's lots of great stuff too. Like the art supply store and gallery that's not far from me here, Arte Cedraz . I've met some wonderful artists that I paint with every Friday. I decided to leave my watercolors back in the States this time, since it appears no one in this area works in this medium and quality paints and paper are hard to find. So it's been acrylics for awhile. The painting above was a small warm-up piece I did there. This represents a fairly typical rural scene, more commonly seen in the interior states like Minas Gerais.

Aaaaaaaaaaaah . . . . That's just me heaving a great big sigh of relief. Even though I know that that year-end blitz of too-much-to-do, too-little-time is coming, and try to downsize and minimize the stress factors, I still get caught up in it. Cards never got sent, packages didn't get mailed til after Christmas (it's in the mail, no really, you know how the Post Office is), and now I want to finish decorating, while everyone around me has all their assorted holiday crappage thrown out/packed away/put out on the curb. I guess I just move to a different (slower) beat. On a lighter note, after two months of eating like a sumo wrestler caught in a burning marijuana-field downdraft, I've lost three pounds since Sunday, after starting to eat more sensibly. No ice cream, no cookies. No white flour stuff, pasta, pizza. Just wanna lose another seven pounds. Time to get in shape for the annual migration to Brazil. Gotta dust off the old bikini. Figuratively speaking, of course...

Acrylic, 4x10" This is a small piece I did over the summer. The Bay Trail runs along the east side of the San Francisco Bay, and this part of it lies between Berkeley and Richmond. The marshy area has been pretty much restored and is home to all kinds of birds and other things that like Bay wetlands. I miss the warm weather, I want to go outside and paint.

The annual jaunt to Mexico is going smoothly, Hurricane Rick made his threat and passed on, fizzling out into a "tropical depression". Glad I didn't do something sensible like cancel. Sometimes my gut instincts are right though mostly they just get me into trouble. There were clouds and light sprinkles when we touched down late Monday afternoon. The wind picked up in the night, and waves were crashing. Sandbags were waiting just in case, and in the morning, there wasn't a surfer or jetskier to be seen. Not even a cruise ship. I stayed inside, tracking the storm, catching up on some reading. More showers off and on, by Wednesday, it appeared that Cabo was out of Rick's path and bits of sky were appearing. But the storm had left Cabo with colors I hadn't seen here before: the clouds were purpley, and the water ranged from ultramarine blue to turquoise to almost a citrine green. And Cabo's famous rocks, instead of being rock-colored, had a blanket of gr...

Some of you may know I have a daughter in her senior year at UC Berkeley. She and her two kids have been living at UC Village, a housing complex for student families. So she's been in a position to know firsthand how difficult it can be to have to juggle not only your classes and studying and working but also the needs of a family. And she knows what disasters can happen when things like paperwork and computer records get fouled up and a student loan payment or grant doesn't arrive when expected. Then if student fees, including rent, aren't current, you can't sign up for the classes you need to be a full time student to qualify you for your next loan disbursement, and - then what? So many problems to get through, so much frustration and stress, but especially so if children are in the picture. Sometimes all you needed was to make it through another week, but how? Until just recently there was no safety net for these little emergencies that happened too frequently. Many ...

Just a quick sketch from the Blake Estate garden last week. A foggy day, muted colors, sketched with a non-waterproof pen. Kind of gave it a rained on look.

Teasels in Fall Watercolor, 24x30" The El Cerrito Art Association's Annual Show went off without a hitch last weekend, with a record number of entries and healthy sales. The above watercolor was recognized by the El Cerrito Chamber of Commerce with a very nice award. I'm so happy, because this one was a struggle and almost went into the recycling bin. But as other artists have noted, the process of creating your work is similar to raising kids, in that there's a really ugly phase they put you through before you can see the fruits of your labors. So glad I stuck with it! Then, another surprise - a Second Place in the Acrylics division for one of my plein aire paintings! This one: Kellers Beach Acrylic, 11x14" Too much good stuff! And it only got better - this one sold. Sorry to see it go, but there's more where that came from! The past two weekends have found me out painting in the Napa Valley wine country and I'll be there again this Saturday. The fall co...

Sorry, Chicago, and everyone else. But how can you compete with this?

El Cerrito Art Association 33rd Annual Art Show & Sale Reception & Meet the Artists Friday, October 2, 2009 7:00-10:00 pm Champagne will be served Art exhibit and sales Saturday, October 3 12:00-7:30 p.m. Sunday, October 4 10:00-4:00 p.m. El Cerrito Community Center 7007 Moeser Lane in El Cerrito, CA I'll be showing my acrylics: as well as three new watercolors. I'll virtually see you at the reception!

Yes, I have been remiss in my postings lately. But for good reason. I've been painting my tailfeathers off! As well as matting, framing, hanging and everything else that goes with it. I'm finishing up 6 pieces (3 watercolor and 3 acrylic) that will go into the annual El Cerrito Art Show & Sale next weekend, and now have paintings hanging at Jack London Square, Oakland, the El Cerrito Dept. of Motor Vehicles (a captive audience for sure), and at the Oakland Chamber of Commerce. And trying to squeeze in some actual painting once in a while. So this was one I did over the summer: Acrylic, 11x14" This little church is the first thing you see as you come into the tiny town of Nicasio in Marin County,located about a halfhour drive north of San Francisco. It's a favorite of artists of all media, a scene that probably hasn't changed all that much in the past hundred years.

At China Camp Acrylic, 11x14" So I've been doing a bit of plein air painting over the summer, both in watercolor and acrylics. When I returned to China Camp on the San Francisco Bay, it was only with the intention to continue learning how to handle acrylics, but after many hours of struggle, the painting above began to take shape. So much so that I decided to frame the resulting small exercise, and then submitted it into a show. Imagine my shock when I learned it had won first place in the acrylics division at the Napa Town & Country Fair! It looks like there's no turning back now. Onward!

Here we are, enjoying the end of summer vacation before school starts for all of us. Koko and Jasmine and Lily are in the water on their floaties. Poor Auntie M will have to go back to work for another year - feh! She's the one that looks washed up on the shore. Camping takes a lot out of you!

The annual camping trip happened last week. Every year, my sister and I go camping, accompanied by various children, grandchildren, friends and occasionally a husband/boyfriend. But mostly it's just us girls. And always it involves some kind of water to play in. This year we went to Scotts Flat Lake Campground in California. Hot, lots of trees and wildlife. Besides the usual birds and grey squirrels and ground squirrels, we saw deer and ducks and geese. The best part was the night that a baby bear ransacked our coolers and got away with some of our food. The worst part was he got into the Hershey's chocolate bars! Luckily, he either got scared off by my sister waking up, or he just had his fill and left, leaving a trail of food into the woods. We found most of the box of chocolate the next morning, but some bars were so full of disgusting bear slobber they were beyond being salvaged. The stump sketch above is posted especially for an artist whose blog today also includes ...