Black and White Mood

Have you noticed that I've been in a black and white mood lately? If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you may have seen a lot of black and white art in the making. I have been working with Sumi ink and paper a lot in the last few years, but it wasn't until I hung my drawing wall at my Lay Low show at Seeing Things Gallery that I saw just how much I was using this medium.

Keeping it simple with Sumi ink, a rag, brushes and a palette

A few months ago, I was approached to do a show called Shelter. This dual exhibition was to take place at two galleries. The first show at Works Gallery opened last weekend and the second show at The Citadel Gallery opens this Saturday night, April 12th. For the Works show I submit a drawing, titled Buried History. It shows a living room underground, the living room of my childhood. It shows my dad's records, mom's books and my grandmother's black floral loveseat. We had to get rid of all this furniture due to financial circumstances and moving when I was young. It's actually one that I almost wanted to keep, but it sold so I will let it go.

For The Citadel show, each artist explored the idea of sanctuary and creativity. The initial idea was to create an installation that shows your creative space. At first, it seemed too easy. I have lots of interesting things in my studio, including my paint-covered studio desk, little vintage nicknacks and natural objects like driftwood and rocks. At some point I came up with the idea to draw my studio instead. It was for a mix of reasons. For one, I thought about how I could live without my desk in my studio for a whole month? I've been wanting to do an installation for awhile now. I also loosely had an idea to draw my show at Seeing Things Gallery, but decided against it. I am so happy I finally made it happen with my piece We Have Overcomplicated Things. The title comes from the drive I have to simplify my life and minimize this past few months. I am in the process of cleaning my studio and plan on having a much more calm and clear workspace, much like this art installation.

We also got a lot of rain in the Bay Area recently, so maybe these overcast skies had something to do with all this black and white too!

This has been quite the project. It was all painted freehand. Mistakes were made. They were erased, covered up, left. I definitely planned some things in advance but a lot of it was carried out intuitively and spontaneously. Very satisfying to not have any pressure but from myself. It’s been a test of my patience and a will to roll with mistakes. This little installation shows how I feel when I am in my creative space. Everything feels expansive, good, simple.

You can see the show at The Citadel Gallery. Opening reception is April 12th from 7-11pm. Can't make the show? I will post an image of the work on the day of the show.

Spring Cleaning Cliche

Some cliches exist for a reason and I definitely think spring cleaning is one of them. Every year, I dedicate some time to minimizing and cleaning up after myself. It's weird though, I never consciously think of it as spring cleaning, but a few months into the new year and right before taxes are due I always seem to purge myself of junk I don't need.

The before!

I don't know what it is, but I can be so nostalgic about things. For example, I just found an article on Bill Callahan from 1999. Why? Yes, it is nice to look at these things and remember a time. Yes, it is nice to have every art supply known to man, but do I use all of it? No. Do I need to save art materials for a future date? No!

As I get ready for some new things in the coming months, I am so happy that I will have yet again less stuff. I used to think having endless art supplies and keeping random stuff around was necessary, but no way. I'm over that now. I can't wait to show you when I'm done in a few weeks! After taxes, of course:)

The Planning Phase

There are times where I feel like I am not doing much. In reality, it's a little bit of lots of things that are working toward something bigger, but it becomes such a blur. That's how this approaching April is feeling. As usual, the year is going by way too fast: the projects I want to accomplish are not as far along as I would like, I wanted to have my taxes done back in February and I panic as I see the year rolling by and not getting a proper start on my children's book. I like to let things happen, but sometimes a little bit of a guided path is necessary.

View from a recent hike on Saturday in Napa's Skyline Wilderness Park

With the first quarter of the year being done, I think I need to acknowledge what I have accomplished so far:

• Applied for an international art residency
• Applied for the West Elm/Minted design challenge
• Applied to be a contributor to a new magazine
• Opened a shop on my website in addition to my Etsy shop
• Ran my first giveaway
• Nearly completed my redesigned wholesale line sheet
• About to have my work in one new store
• About to have my portraits in a wedding guide
• Close to launching my travel paintings
• Close to launching my tote bags

So this brings me to a public to do list. If I let you know what I am doing, I will be far more likely to do it. I made a public list at the beginning of the year, so here's another one.

The list!

1. Complete drawings for my Shelter show
2. Edit and add ALL custom portraits to my website
3. Deep dive into the rest of my taxes
4. Shoot stylized photos of my art prints and their packaging
5. Order business cards and postcards
6. Write to stores for wholesale (past and potential)
7. Print my first few tote bag designs in April
8. Sketch and write one new page for my children's book
9. Finish a few Skillshare classes
10. Add more designs to Society 6
11. Try out Spoonflower

Some of these items are ongoing, but I definitely want to accomplish most of them in the next month!

What do you need to get done?

American Arts Incubator International Art Progam

Yesterday, I applied to be an artist in the American Arts Incubator program. It is a partnership between ZERO1 and U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). This incredible opportunity chooses artists to travel to Laos, Mongolia, the Philippines or Papua New Guinea to collaborate on an art project with locals. The community-driven project address a local issue culminating in a digital or mural art project. The selected artists will work with underserved youth in the communities through workshops and projects. I hope to be a part of this life-changing program. I have been dreaming of participating in an international community art project and this would be the perfect opportunity to fulfill it.

The project asks artists to state a preference or tie to Laos, Mongolia, the Philippines or Papua New Guinea. My tie to Papua New Guinea is through my grandfather. He lived there for six months after he met my grandmother in Australia. He wrote her letters, courting her from PNG. I would love to the opportunity to travel to the place he loved so much and work with people to creatively educate the community.

Dog Days and Total Reinvigoration

Dog Days refer to the hot middle months of summer. While it's not technically summer here in California, it has been remarkably warm and it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere, so that's why this post got that title. This is a portrait of Brutis, a very fine dog I had the honor of painting. It was one of a few Valentine's Day gifts I was commissioned to paint. He has the best color coat and sweetest disposition.

Brutis

I rarely get sick, but I managed to catch a mild cold this past week. While it's not been too bad, I'd prefer feeling 100%. I think all the homemade soup, mandarins and a few hot toddies helped me get over it nicely.

It's been a very busy week, but different from what I'm used to. I'm reorganizing how I schedule my finances, time and projects. I keep looking for the finish line, when it's done and I get to paint and experiment. I'm trying to be super organized this year and I'm learning to be less busy and scattered as I was in 2013. So far, I really feel the difference.

Midst all this planning, I have cooked a few amazing meals and spontaneously decided to paint the front door of our house. I allowed myself to only choose from leftover colors from a public art project I did last year. I went with 'Navajo Red', a reddish orange color. For some reason, painting the door caused a light bulb to go off in my head and I realized I want to be more creative in all aspects of my life, not just with my art making. I feel like I have been so bogged down in the little details that I have been largely ignoring all the other ways I can make life awesome.

The new orange door

I was too excited to wait until the door was finished, but you get the basic idea. It turned out more orange than the rust I thought it would be, but orange is the color of health, beta-carotene, passion, adventure, transformation and increases creativity and appetite. Sounds good to me. 

What do you think?! I love it!