A New Year for Poetry - Recent Life Studies

Ever since my visit with master painter Max Ginsburg last fall, the idea of "poetry" has weighed heavily on my mind. I don't mean poetry in the literal sense (although I'm a sucker for Tennyson and T.S. Eliot). No, I mean, the motion, essence, and energy of the form when painting a figure. Looking at my past work, I notice that many of my paintings are static, and could have been more dynamic. Even when a subject is still, there should be a sense of life and movement in the piece, otherwise the viewer (heck, the artist too!) gets bored and moves on. One can accomplish this by carefully alternating hard and soft edges, and by intentionally giving variety to the size and direction of brushstrokes. Of course, color harmony, drawing, and overall design have a lot to do with … Read more »

A New Year for Poetry - Recent Life Studies

Finding Community, Finding Mentors

Several months ago, my husband and I moved from Dallas, TX, to Denver, CO. While we moved primarily for family, I was well aware that this “new life” meant leaving the comfort of my established art network, and seeking out a new community here in Denver. As a natural introvert, that thought was rather scary. You see, community doesn’t always come naturally to artists. We are accustomed to spending long hours alone in the studio or field. We screen our phone calls, preferring to answer by email (IF we have energy for it, and on our own time!). We like social media because we can be “friends” from afar, receiving the affirmation we crave without the risk of those friends discovering that *GASP*! We have bad painting days and bad hair days too! But we all need community, and I mean, the kind… Read more »

Finding Community, Finding Mentors

Closing One Chapter and Opening Another

I’m sitting in one last cramped corner of what used to be my studio, as the moving boxes close in on me from all sides. I’ve been camped out here for about a week and a half now, with a daily routine that looks something like this: eat, pack, take care of Cece, paint, pack, sleep, repeat. Cece still has her play pen and the ignorant bliss of toddlerhood to protect her from the giant obstacle course our home has become. But our dog hides in her crate most of the day and knows something is up. Something BIG is happening. After living in Dallas for nearly seven years, we are packing our things and moving to Denver to be closer to family – namely, my twin sister Emily and her husband, and their little girl who is just three months younger than Cecelia. Most of these boxes contain art, art bo… Read more »

Closing One Chapter and Opening Another