Happy New Year! Free desktop wallpaper to help ring in the new year

December 31, 2014 in Resources

I want to wish you an awesome new year! Here's to new adventures, expanding and growing.

Textures and Patterns of Cádiz

December 17, 2014 in Adventure & Hiking, Inspiration

There's no shortage of texture and pattern inspiration in Cádiz. From old and crumbling to new and shiny, beauty is found everywhere here.

Love this scene, but what really gets me are the swirling marks in the white area.

The corrugated roof is perfectly dirty and aged.

There's something about the shades of greens and blues in the window above.

I could have done a whole post on the doors here!

Yes, even the gray brick street caught my eye.

Inside a historic bull fighter's bar. So much to look at in this place.

Ah, the pattern of these stones in the plaza near my house are mesmerizing.

Spotty pink bricks on the studio rooftop with moss growing between.

Linea de Costa Art Residency in Cádiz, Spain Pt. 1

November 05, 2014 in Adventure & Hiking, My Art Shows

This is my fifth day in Cádiz, Spain and I'm in love with this city. I felt right at home. The pace, the food, coffee, air, ocean and people are magnificent to say the least. I battled through some jet lag for the first few days, but I'm doing great now.

The studio view from the huge rooftop terrace.

I'm out here for the Linea de Costa art residency in the Espacio de Creación Contemporánea. It's a beautiful marble-filled gallery next door to the Universidad de Cádiz. The artist studios view the ocean with waves pounding the ancient city walls and boats sailing by. I've always dreamt of a seaside studio and I always dreamed of studying abroad when I was in college, so this is pretty surreal and satisfying. I feel spoiled to be here.

Espacio de Creación Contemporánea (ECCO)

The building I'm working in is a former military barrack built in the 18th century. It was renovated and now houses a beautiful museum and gallery space. The gallery where I will be showing is gorgeous. I'll show you photos in a couple of weeks.

The other artist here is fantastic. She has a few really interesting projects going from textiles to video and masking tape. It's inspiring to have her in the room with me. She's from the US, Massachussets specifically, where she is an art school professor. We're having a good time hanging out and creating.

The local art supply store and their dog.

The art supply store, Piccolita, has a lot of great supplies. The owner and her daughter were so helpful and friendly. It's in the same square as the Museo de Cádiz and maybe 8 short blocks from the studio.

I'm making a lot of comparisons with the States while here, especially in my art making process. I love how the living spaces are so much smaller. We're always looking for more and more room in the US, when we don't really need that much space. Eggs aren't refrigerated here (as in much of the world outside the US) and instead of dryers, you hang your clothes to dry on a line.

I have been sketching and playing with ideas for my installation at ECCO. I also created this little A-frame house in about a day and a half. It was fun playing architect!

My installation at ECCO opens on November 27th.

Gotta get back to work!

31 Days to Spain - Week Three Wrap Up

October 28, 2014 in Sketchbook

I'm still feeling behind on this daily project. I keep meaning to catch up, but I'm still working on it. I think the hard part is when you feel like you did a great sketch, you don't want to follow it up with a weak one. I am trying to let that go though. This project has been fantastic for preparing for the residency. I think when I started, I thought I would have time to paint all day this month. I have had many things to do in this time though. I'm basically doing spring cleaning in the fall, working on my online shops and website, reorganizing my shipping and packaging area and the list goes on. I'm really looking forward to arriving in Cadiz and spending more time on one project.

October 15th - Portrait with flowers and water sketches

I was contacted to create a portrait that must include water and flowers to benefit clean water technology for families and individuals. Here are a few sketches for a piece to contribute to this project.

October 16th - El Pato bilingual cans

This one was a big hit! A kitchen staple for many. I do love that El Pato cans are bilingual! Each side looks as you see it here. I've been through many cans of it in my life.

October 17th - Traveler's Tree

Traveler's Tree aka Traveler's Palm aka Ravanela madagascariensis. Named because up to a quart of water accumulates in the leaf base, which is shaped like a cup, and may be used for emergency drinking water. Native to Madagascar.

October 18th - Bill Nye

We scored free tickets to see Bill Nye at De Anza College. It was so great! I love hearing interesting people talk about their lives and share their knowledge. I sketched his face a few times and noted a few interesting things about him here.

October 19th - Donuts

The owner of Makeshift Society, Rena Tom, requested for artists and illustrators to make donuts for her Creative Mornings talk. I am sad I will be missing her talk live in San Francisco, but CM are really good about filming these. Rena wants to have the donuts flashing behind her during her talk. It worked out perfectly to paint it during my open studio sale, especially since there's a donut shop almost across the street from my studio.

October 20th - Clipboard of Insanity

Yes, that's the official name of my clipboard. It features handwritten to do notes, print outs of spreadsheets and checklists, shows to apply to and more. I keep trying to minimize it, then it grows, then I minimize it. I am more of a hands-on visual person, so this clipboard has worked quite nicely in addition to using the computer for organization and productivity.

October 21st - Persimmon

Ah, my favorite fall fruit, specifically Fuyu persimmons. Nature's candy. The perfect shade of orange. It was hard to not eat it while painting it. I may even have taken a bite.

Weekend in the North Bay - Pt. 2 Cazadero

October 27, 2014 in Adventure & Hiking

The day after we were in Bolinas with our good friends Chris and Claudine, we went to Cazadero with our good friends Nate and Lucia. What spawned this trip was Lucia messaging me about an open house for an A-frame in the redwoods. How could I say no?! Of course I would drive 3.5 hours away to hang out with these guys!

If you know me, you know I love an A-frame. When I was a kid, I had a book on houses and homes that had all kinds of unique dwellings in it. I still have it (pictured below). It has the most interesting homes, like roundhouses, A-frames and more. I also loved looking at architecture magazines and would draw up my own designs.

The cabin is in Cazadero, one of the best smelling towns I've been to. The air is so fresh and smells of forest and calm. It sits among redwoods and has a nice sized property, although the neighbors are still visible.

I really loved the kitchen. From the front of the house, it is on the left-hand side when you walk in. The angled ceiling made it very cozy. The dark area to the left in the photo above is a large freestanding cabinet that houses a pantry and refrigerator. Such a great design!

I always thought my home style was more artsy, rustic vintage, but after seeing this cabin, I may need to seek out some mid-century modern style furniture. Look at that fireplace! Isn't it stunning! Notice the outlets angled on the wall/ceiling.

Lucia in her new bedroom (not really, but she can dream!)

To access the upstairs, you climb an angled ladder. This is the view from the bedroom. The realtor told us the house comes with the authentic lamp. Imagine waking up to this view.

The loft bedroom has windows on the flat wall, as well as windows built into the angled walls on either side. Waking up to redwood trees sounds good to me.

The rear view of the house. There's a separate deck to the side.

As you can see above, the property is filled with trees, though there is an open grass area as well. I pictured some tents or tiny houses for other guests to stay. Nate's out on the deck, making himself at home.

Another plus with Cazadero is that you are only about 15-20 minutes from the sea. It's fairly close to Jenner, a tiny town with a population of 136. I've always wanted to kayak in this area.

After exploring Cazadero, I realized I need to come up this way more often. I have been to the Russian River, Jenner and other places nearby, but not Cazadero. The North Bay and North Coast of California is so incredibly beautiful. With farms, forest, ocean and friendly people, it remains one of my favorite places to go.