On Painting and Being Blond

Recently people have been commenting on my hair. They say I look good. They ask about my haircut and I tell them I cut it myself. I'm getting alot of attention simply because my hair does not respond to hair-color anymore and I don't know why but it looks really blond now, not gray but blond. I am wondering if this is the only reason I'm being noticed, I think it is. I don't mind until one more man over 75 years old takes me aside and tells me some joke about a blond and a sideways telephone pole. I haven't got this much attention for my artwork.

Then the question becomes "Well, do I paint to get attention?" It helps ...but it's like my hair now...I'm blond and that's how it is, I paint and that's how it is.

A Painter and a Poet Collaborate...

coyote and the cup of tea
encaustic mixed media 2010

The Spill
encaustic mixed media 2010

Coyote Comes to Tea

Ah...A cup of tea
Yes..la hierba buena
la hierba buena
la hierba buena

Me encanta lar hierba buena
pero me embruja la taza roja

The red cup, taking its color from
the blood de la los San Patricias
the border people
and the women
whose endurance
knows no end.

...

Exerpted from "Coyote Comes to Tea"

Painting when things are crazy

I get this question alot...:how do you find the time to paint?" How do you find the time to get into the studio to finish a painting (that you have no idea what to do next on) when the demands of life seem just too much to handle?  There's the mortgage.  Family and calls from the school counselor.  The car needs new brake pads which were just replaced but the first mechanic got it wrong.  And a persistant cough..added to the mess is an annoying hacking cough that won't give me a break.

So in answer to the initial question, How do I find the time to paint?  The answer is I don't know!.  I just go sit there and my hand starts moving.  What I wonder is why I don't get into the studio sooner..how I can endure postponing my calling for an indefinite time...and when I start to work I feel like a thirsty child, oh man... I never realized how thirsty I was.  Are you thirsty?  If so, go quench your thirst...or go get a paintbrush and move your hand back and forth.

Number Five in a Series of Ten

Numbers are mysterious.  I have only scratched the surface when it comes to having a clue about their beauty  I tried to get a bit deeper into understanding the mythic nature of numbers but it seemed too technical at the time...I am still captivated by the small bit of mythic geometry  I studied that inspired me to create my "Number Series" and my show at CSU called "Places".

Number Five, to the right, is the most fascinating number because it represents the regeneration of life itself and the shape of reproduction that all of nature, ALL of nature, shares. 

Twenty Ten—A New Decade

Twenty Ten. A new decade. This is the first time I have ever been excited about a new year...I want to do things differently. I want to be a better listener, a better observer, a better painter. I would like you to see my paintings in more places. I want you to experience them in person, to put your nose close and take a whiff of the sweet honey fragrance..then to step back and soak in the layers of color ..and after your eyes and ears have been satiated, then next you will hopefully feel the painting with your heart..maybe smile or shed a tear. Now you can step back two paces and if you want, you may finally use your brain, as last resort.

A new piece about Love (again)

I call this "What Do I Do to Get to You?"

For Eliza Gilkyson

Eliza Gilkyson wrote a beautiful song about Separation, which is why I'm putting up this painting...

I painted a beautiful picture called Separation about the same time that she was writing her song...who knew?

 

This painting is available for sale.

Musings

The life of an artist is such a paradox...right now it is incredibly tiring. I am wondering how to pay the bills (but I do somehow). That gets tiring. Then I get to my studio and I finish a painting using incredible delicious variations of orange and red, and I'm energized again. I get exhillarated by color. I am not worried anymore. I want to remember the feeling more often, that smile I get when I am in appreciation of something that I make, when I let that beautiful creative urge surpass all the bullshit and allow the painting to direct me until it is complete.

Two Well Fed Blue Birds Perch on the House of Love

The I-Don't-Know Series

Here is I Don't Know #3

I am working on a group of paintings that have irregular shapes. I don't know why.

They are multi-colored. I don't know why.

They are abstract, don't know why and matter of fact, I don't know what they mean either.

I admit right now I don't know much of anything. I've been told this is a good thing.