My Work
Just an artist currently experiencing a creative renaissance
Most Recent
Current Obsession:
- Resin
- Alcohol Ink
Fuck around and find out
Translucent Consciousness Series
2021
I began working on the Translucent Consciousness Series in early February 2021 and have now finished three pieces and have others ongoing. The Translucent Consciousness Series has been an experiment for me in learning new forms of art, but also creating art that feels like play, is messy and unpredictable but also has great depth. All pieces of this series are related to the mind and thoughts which, for me, are both directly impacted by living with Multiple Sclerosis, a disease I was diagnosed with 15 years ago.
Combining the impermanence and unpredictability of ink with the finality of resin has been a lesson in letting go of control and a head first dive into finding unintentional beauty in experimenting with new mediums – themes that mimic life with MS.
This series is about creating things that look beautiful on their own, but when you hold them close you can see a microworld inside that is representative of deep thoughts, dreams, and how those can be interrupted by something that lives inside your brain, like MS does.
This project has been a creative renaissance in my art practice, and an important new chapter in my work as a chronic illness advocate.
Translucent Consciousness:
No. 1 Sources of Light
Resin, wire & found objects
5 x 7 inches
Translucent Consciousness:
No. 2 Bloom & Flourish
Resin, wire & found objects
5 x 7 inches
Translucent Consciousness:
No. 3 Concept Ingredients
Resin, wire & found objects
Fin.
Unconditional Mother - 30x40
Unconditional Mother - 30x40
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On Feb 11 of this year I started this painting with the intent to heal. Heal all sorts of broken things that I had swirling around my head. I was feeling stuck emotionally and artistically.
Luckily for me the universe gave me exactly what, or who, I needed. @thepeacemuse, Virginia, has given me so much through this process. She gave me a sanctuary to go to learn and experiment, she gave me techniques to dig deeper and she also gave me such an important lesson in trusting the process. She taught me confidence in painting when I came with none. I can’t even begin to recount all the small life lessons and joy that we created together over the last 9 months or so. I am endlessly grateful for her and what I’ve learned. And for the friendship we’ve cultivated.
There were so many layers to this painting, both in actual paint but in meaning. I explored my ancestry and genealogy, read books on runes, did many visualizations, dove into a lot of my own trauma. I worked a lot of stuff out in the process. What a gift it has been to learn in this way. I’m so proud of this painting and that alone has been one of the best parts of it all.
Tried something totally new tonight with alcohol inks. It was fun. I had fun. Art is fun.
I forgot how much fun ink is. I’m looking forward to less humidity and more ink!
Progress pic. Still moving along.
It’s weird that as I get more confident, the scarier each step gets. Lol. Painting at home by myself means I have to trust myself and that has given me a lot of confidence. But it also reminds me that I have no idea what I’m doing. But I like it.
Last week: just slowly building up these shadows and highlights. Her face is starting to really come forward. It’s weird how you look at faces all the time and then when it comes time to create one you have no idea what they look like…
Today required some digging. The last time I met with @thepeacemuse, and I went into my painting through my portal, what I saw was different than what was usually there. There was a lot of rain and sadness. I struggled to figure out how to add it to the painting and it took a few weeks to figure it out. After I added the tree and the child, I kept feeling like I needed to add a door to the painting. I’ve been contemplating this for a while but couldn’t decide. So I did a visualization alone, for the first time! And it worked! I got more info for the painting and confirmation to add the door. I’m actually really proud of myself for being able to keep this moving using what I’ve learned!
Ok no one panic! A few weeks ago I started working on her face. I realized I missed the texture that was there that I had covered over. So @thepeacemuse guided me on how to recreate it. Except I only half listened and did not go light with the color. So now I will plan to glaze over the face again to tone down some of the fake coloring and get it a little less looking like…this.
I bought this sign a few years ago but it wasn’t weatherproofed so it was in pretty rough shape. Today I decided to bring it back to life.
Hazelnut is finally a studio dog!! 😍
I love how she’s turning out. I’m impressed with myself. Still a little scared every step of the way, but still doing it. I’m getting so excited to see the finished project. Not there yet but I can see where we are going now.
Always make things bigger than you think. That is the lesson from todays painting session.
Turns out…she’s a red head. Didn’t see that one coming at all…this was the first painting session I did on my own, without @thepeacemuse as back up and emotional support. I definitely felt less confident without her. Just knowing I can ask her questions whenever I wanted was more comforting than I realized. But I did it. I added stuff. I made big changes, that feel very scary and I might regret, but I did it. I’m going to work on her a little later today so we shall see what else comes out.
Last week I brought my painting home to work on. I felt like a new parent strapping her newborn into a car seat for the first time. How am I in charge now? I have no idea what I’m doing…
After my Dad died, I walked into his garage and put a sticky note with my name on his toolbox. Even though it’s probably 30 years old, and the drawers were broken, I knew I wanted it. Once I build the garage, I finally went through it, almost 7 years after he died. I organized what was in there and made a pile of all the random stuff collected over the years. And that random stuff now lives in this pyramid… well at least some of it. There was a lot of stuff. I miss him so much but I love feeling so connected to him in this way.
Tonight the husband and I sat outside and enjoyed the perfect weather from the garage. The puppy dog was livin her best life running around the yard. Then we did some art together and I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy.
Slowly but surely she is coming alive.
I have had a vision for this little plant stand for so long and I finally got it done. Used left over paint from the last cabinet project, two layers of resin with some pressed flowers and tada!
Take two on this face. I spent the last few weeks thinking about her face and sketching different angles and expressions. Today I revised what I had originally put down and this feels much much better. I also spent some time just looking at it and trying to envision what else will come forward. I had sketched a drawing of this a while ago and kept mentally referencing that but once I put her face on there, the whole sketch had changed. And I can’t wait to see what else appears.
