The Color of Gold

This is a detail from a self portrait I painted in 2007. It is now buried in the ocean, in a sense, because I painted this over it:

The self-portrait had been an assignment in Zhi Lin’s class at the UW. He was a very exacting instructor, and because of this I learned much from that one class. But that also means I spent about 60 hours on this painting… and while that’s nothing to some artists, to me it felt like years. I have always felt that I capture the essence of what I’m painting best when I work quickly and keep it fresh. There is always the battle to not overwork a piece and “close it down,” as they would say in critiques. Well, the self-portrait had closed down for me, and maybe I was also sensitive to my brother’s comment that I looked sad in it. I tried to explain to him that the expression is not SAD but REFLECTIVE, but the fact remained that I didn’t particularly want it hanging around for years after I finished it. So, one day I just started slashing across it with turquoise colors and experienced a sort of elation as the thing that was in my heart jumped out onto the canvas. THIS is what I want to be looking at: in just a few hours, an image had emerged of my friend Audra’s favorite beach in Aruba painted from the memory of my 10-day visit there.

This was a fun venue to show my work. The coffee shop is a converted house that features live music every weekend, and serves beer and wine as well as coffee and tea. I remember seeing the work of AJ Power here some years back and was very impressed. I’ve since seen him popping up all over town, from his open studio in Ballard on their Second Saturday Artwalk to the Bellevue Arts Museum artsfair (this year taking place July 24-26). He inspired me to follow in his footsteps to book a show at C&P… hey, I figured it worked for him!

Plus, they had this great little orange room that made all the colors really pop!

Artist Statement
I don’t ever want to settle into the complacency of “knowing.” The goal of my work is to reach that feeling of being lost in the woods (minus the fear)–that refreshing disorientation that makes you see everything with a clarity, as though for the first time. How does one stay awake that way, without letting the mind be lulled into the sleep of assumptions? I have recently started creating with found objects instead of automatically painting with oils on canvas, as I have done for years. In this way, I want my practice of artmaking to be a physical ritual of inviting the presence of mystery, not presuming to know where it will lead. What I have been surprised to find is that this way of working, for me, is often more truth-telling and autobiographical than ever before.

Haven’t posted in awhile, been getting my head around some new ideas. This economy’s got me thinking of the opportunities presented by adversity– Lately been inspired by the kind of creativity and resourcefulness that emerges like a hidden well out of seemingly uncomfortable situations. The new perspectives that change brings…

mixed media: oil pastel, napkin, jewel case

I just realized, too, that the kind of black and white photos I’ve been collecting and working from for years come from the Depression Era… any time I talk to someone who has lived through that I am struck by their gutsy, can-do attitudes and the way they don’t take anything for granted. In the same way, I’m interested in cultures who would save bits and pieces of what we would consider garbage, making little shrines and treasures out of it. What I see in these people, too, is a happiness that I wouldn’t have expected– a certain sort of camaraderie that money can’t buy, but the lack of money can create.

oil on canvas paper– a study

mixed media: found twigs, acrylic, jewel case on found board

acrylic on book “Genghis Khan and His Mongol Horde”

These paintings were commissioned as cd covers for the folk/americana musician Mike Greenleaf– he’s putting together a couple of albums as a retrospective project. I’m going to be working on the graphic design of the cd packaging as well. My process for these paintings involved sifting through a pile of his photos to find the emotions that best expressed the nostalgic sincerity of his music, distilling them down to their essential qualities in sketches, then executing the underpainting in burnt sienna before building the final color and detail on top.

(Detail)

(Detail)

Paintings on view at Fremont Jewelry Design during the month of January. Opening reception Friday, Jan. 2nd, 6-9pm.

3510 Fremont Place N, Seattle WA, 98103. 206-547-5551

Artist Statement:
In my continuing exploration of the ocean through the medium of oil paint, I’m reflecting on all the roads I’ve traveled, and the ocean that I always find my way to at the end of them.
In the past seven years, I’ve lived with forty people in ten different locations. I’ve worked as a barista in fifteen different coffee shops, and as a graphic designer for three different companies. With all this chaos and flux, the eternal, unchanging nature of the ocean has always lured me and felt like my home. Again and again, its waves emerge as my expression whether I’m painting in a friend’s basement, barefoot on the porch of another rented house, after-hours in the storefront of a frame shop, or crammed into a 5’x5’ school studio.
In this way, these paintings are a translation of the ocean through the eyes of someone who lives far from it. They are full of the longing one feels for an old lover who has become more precious because of their absence.

Paintings on view Dec 15- Jan 15th.

Artist & Craftsman Supply, 4350 8th Ave. NE, Seattle, WA 98105. 206-545-0091

Artist Statement: “B-sides and Rarities”
This show offers a glimpse of the often-unseen drawings and paintings that form the process of exploration through artistic academia. On view will be those pieces that stood out to me from the piles of work that line my path through classrooms and studios over the last ten years of study. I chose them for the energy they contain— raw, some of them unfinished, they reflect those moments that I was totally absorbed in making new discoveries.

Putting it all together… This was a great venue for this kind of show. There was more variety than I usually put up– and I brought way more pieces than I would need. The A&C guys were great help– donating last-minute materials, giving occasional input and swingin those hammers with me. Thanks, guys!

They even let me sign the wall!

This would be a beautiful thing to look out your window and see except on the day of your well-publicized reception!

Had a great time regardless! Thanks to those of you who ventured out of your houses that night to get there! And to those who missed it, the paintings will be up until January 15th.

What began as a move to new studio space became a move to a new living space as well… a total restructuring of my life. My work in the last couple months, (and lack of blog entries!) has been marked by this transition. I painted my last self-portrait directly on a mirror as commentary of my shifting environment– the figure relating to an ever-changing ground. I came up with the concept as I was looking for another room to rent in a house with roommates, and finding none that satisfied me. I realized now is the time to strike out on my own, to gather all my possessions that were usually spread out in bigger living situations, and condense them down to a 200 sq. ft. apartment. The gesture of the pose is me contemplating whether or not I can do it. The phrase also works on another level– the issue I’ve always had as a non-conformist: not wanting anyone to put me in a box, and always being aware of not doing that to others. Further, as I realize there are other ways to live than I had previously accepted for myself, I’m questioning the ways in which I create art that might be different from what I’ve been accepting for myself as well. I’m thinking of the box I had always fit myself within– and whether it may be time to break out of it.