Weekend in the North Bay - Pt. 1 Bolinas

October 24, 2014 in Adventure & Hiking

I like doing wacky things sometimes, like driving up to the North Bay coast two days in a row, with two different sets of people. The drive is maybe 2.5 hours to Bolinas and 3.5 to Cazadero. Let's start with Bolinas.

Gospel Flat Farm - This is a family farm. We live here so please smile and say hello.

We started by heading to Gospel Flat Farm, a family run farm in Bolinas. I had never stopped here before, usually because I beeline for the beach and on the way home, it looked closed. I learned they have a 24 hour farm stand that operates on the honor system. I love Bolinas even so much more now.

Look at all that kale! Their farm was beautiful. So many good things growing here.

The reason we came to visit the farm was because of an art show title Nature Babes. I knew of one of the artists from Instagram. Chris and Claudine came along with us and as you can see, they had a blast. We were lucky to spend their 5 year wedding anniversary with them. I enticed them with the following question: "Wanna go to an art show on a farm with wood-fired pizza and wine in a small beach town and have a killer dinner and pie at the Coast Cafe afterward?"

Who could say no?

Wood-fired pizza with toppings from the farm

It was nice to meet Maria Schoettler in person. We follow each other on Instagram and I must say, these kinds of things make you love the internet. Her work is so lovely. The textures and colors are pure bliss.

Lindsay Stripling, part one of two of one artwork

Linday Stripling, part two of one artwork

Aren't these pieces gorgeous? Lindsay Stripling created this diptych of an invasion of a campsite. Looks like the wolves and turkeys took over everything.

Emily Ritz created highly detailed watercolors with ink details. You can see the scale of this one by looking over at that window sill. The work is really insane closeup. So much detail!

You know I love a good A-Frame. Another one coming in Part 2 of this weekend:)

31 Days to Spain - Week Two Wrap Up

October 15, 2014 in Sketchbook

Well, this week had a couple hiccups in the daily art project. That's okay though, since I don't like following rules anyway. I've been swamped with work between projects and preparing for the trip. I am trying to make 2015 awesome and fresh so I am cleaning out the house and studio as well. I put waaay too much on my plate, but that's how it goes sometimes.

October 8th - Moonrise

In my last blog post, I spent the day with a lovely friend in SF. We watched the moonrise. I actually painted this on the 9th, so it was the start of getting off schedule with this project.

October 9th - Fern Block Printed Tote Bag

I got started with this fern print Friday morning with the help of Oscar, my sweet coworker (his paw seen here). I had been mulling over making these for awhile since I've had the bags for a screen printing project. A fundraiser for a friend was the catalyst for getting them going. I made 10 block printed bags total.

October 10th - Bags on the wall

Here are some of the 10 bags I made for a fundraiser for a friend battling cancer. They are printed on organic cotton totes. I hope to have screen printed versions in the new year with new designs. I love our neighbor's garage wall. The peeling paint and varying color make a great backdrop for photo shoots.

October 11th - Sketches from a post on a weekend in Bolinas

Here are a few sketches from a day spent in Bolinas. My next blog post will be about my awesome weekend in Bolinas and Cazadero. Keep your eyes peeled for that one. We saw a fox on a hillside on the side of the road, an amazing art show in an A-frame room on a farm and of course, the bay and hills.

October 12th - A-Frame in Cazadero Sonoma County

Another sketch from the Bolinas and Cazadero weekend. I saw this mid-century modern decorated home during an open house. It was on a nice sized property. Again, the next blog post will be covering this amazing weekend.

October 13th - Plant Art

I call this my meandering plant project. The pieces are for a small works art show in SF. I really liked the simplicity of the plants and the white background, but I figured it needed something else.

October 14th - More Plant Art

I painted another plant sketch for a small works art show in SF. More leafy greens here!

I'm having so much fun with this project so far! However, I am noticing my perfectionism creeping in. Each day, it should be whatever it is, yet I am trying to create clear outcomes. It's a work in progress. Literally.

Pattern Inspiration in San Francisco

October 10, 2014 in Adventure & Hiking, Inspiration

On Wednesday, I went to see a friend in San Francisco. We didn't have much of a plan, but we were thinking something like lunch and checking out the sunset at Land's End. My friend Gabby is a crazy-inspiring person. She has a lot going on in her life right now and actually kind of always does as a traveling, swimming (she just swam to Alacatraz!), pilot who is starting a company with her man. The day was like a breath of fresh air for the both of us. I won't write too much since the pictures speak for themselves.

More mussels... and look at that hole pattern in the sand too.

Fractals, dude. It always amazes me how this pattern exists so commonly in nature. Blood vessels, trees, lightning, snowflakes, this repeating pattern occurs everywhere.

The view of the Golden Gate from Mile Rock Beach. You can see the mussels on the rocks here.

We ended the night at Top of the Mark, the 19th story bar and lounge at the top of the Mark Hopkins Hotel. We wanted to sit with a view of the moon and at first we couldn't see it. After a few minutes, we saw it peek out from behind this building. We drank martinis while a jazz pianist played. Of course, the picture doesn't quite do it justice.

Such a good day and night.

31 Days to Spain - Week One Wrap Up

October 08, 2014 in Sketchbook, In the Studio

This post is jam-packed with goods! Daily art from the last week AND a link to the big studio clean up to prepare for my sale next week. If you haven't heard about the studio sale, you may want to sign up for my newsletter so you can hear this kind of news directly in your inbox AND get the extra special discount on my studio sale. You can sign up at the bottom of this page.

Let's get to it!

October 1st

The first day of my daily art project was featured in my previous post on what art supplies I will be bringing to Spain. They may change, but it was good to get started thinking about it.

October 2nd

For Day 2, I completed a montage painting of Iceland. This is something new that I am offering. You send me photos of your most memorable trip and I create a group of images for you to remember it by. The art measures 11x14. You can find the listing in my shop.

October 3rd

I wanted to come up with a personal way to thank my customers when they order from me online. I decided to carve this block print "From the Studio of Frances Marin" so I can include it with every order and handwrite a thank you on the back. Usually, I write a note, but I like having this stamp on the other side now. I love personally thanking all of my super customers! I just sent off my first order with one in it!

October 4th - Studio cleanup and Dream Studio Sketch

My last post covered the start of my studio cleanup AKA Studio Redo. After spending all day working on it, I went home and sketched up how I dream for this studio to look when I'm done for Day 4. Of course, my real dream studio would probably be up in the mountains or by the sea or a lake, but I am quite grateful for this awesome little space for now.

The gold brick wall will remain for now.

October 5th

I am struggling working on a painting of my old bedroom/studio from age 23, so instead I painted the first bedroom I moved into after moving out of my parents' house at the age of 19 for Day 5. It was a single mattress on the floor with purple sheets, stacks of books everywhere and a Bob Dylan poster above my bed. The room was really tiny, so that's about all it could fit.

October 6th

I am working on a painting for a show about your favorite place. The concept can be from childhood or now. My first thought was the sweet white fringed hammock in my backyard. I may not stick with this theme, but for Day 6, I thought it was just fine.

October 7th

You may have heard the news: David Lynch is bringing back Twin Peaks 25 years later. Us rabid fans are thrilled with this news. I sketched out his wonderful face and some snippets of the show for Day 7. So looking forward to the return of Twin Peaks in 2016!

That's all for this week!

Studio Redo!

October 06, 2014 in In the Studio

I knew I was going to head into my studio to clean it up Saturday. It has been cluttered and overwhelming lately.

A before shot of the studio. Dirty and disorganized.

What I didn't realize is that I was going to repaint it. I certainly didn't dress for it (ruined my fave vintage shorts) and it was in the 90's so I broke a really good sweat. I moved into the space with it already painted this fairly obnoxious shade of yellow. I decided to repaint it awhile back, I just wasn't sure when I would get around to it. I wanted my studio very simple (and not bright popcorn butter yellow!) so I could focus on the artwork. After working in this studio for about 3 years, I thought it was time.

Up on a wobbly ladder, precariously painting in sandals.

There are other aesthetic issues with the space, including the way the wood paneling was painted over with a couple of inches of wood showing. That black cord is for my ceiling light and isn't particularly lovely either. I'm going to find a solution for that sometime soon. As you can see, the yellow paint was applied in some sort of faux textured style too. Yuck! It's gotta go.

Because brick is more time consuming to paint, I decided to try leaving the brick wall gold for now and see how I feel about it. By day two, I realized that I had just enough white paint to cover only three walls, so it worked out that way anyway.

I thought I was done with manual labor for the day... However, I went home and after relaxing for a few hours, decided to clean up the back area of the yard. I have been dreaming that this area would become another art studio or a usable workspace and storage for art and carpentry projects. It's such a nice space, minus all the thorny vines, endless spiders and filth. There's even a built-in table and electricity back there!

I worked on this area until the moon came up. I even got up on a ladder to clean off the roof. That white corrugated roof? Covered in leaves and caked in dirt before I worked on it.

All in all, a good hardworking weekend!

In cleaning out and dressing up the studio, I had some pretty amazing insights. For one, I was reminded of how much I love manual work: painting, being on a ladder, removing nails, moving furniture around, sweeping out rooftops and gutters. Two, I realized that as I work through projects and challenges, I absolutely love the process of figuring things out and using my intuition to see what is or isn't working. Three, the feeling of renewal from moving things around is so rewarding. When I was a kid, I shared a room with my sister. When it got messy, I would kick her out, close the door and go buck wild moving furniture and organizing it my way. I'm sure she loved it since I did most of the cleaning. I then surprised her at the end of the day with a brand new room. I think I did it because I always have to be making or designing things AND because I love surprising people.

A sneak peek on how it's looking so far. I am sooo happy about it.

Stay tuned for more progress next Monday!

Also, if you haven't heard, I'll be having an art sale next week, so I'll be needing to go through old art, newer art and supplies to get it ready. If you want a reminder about the sale, sign up for my newsletter and you will be emailed about the details. Otherwise, follow along on Instagram for updates.