Craftin' Time

My list of baby presents has been growing and a few are long over due. Sounds like it's craftin' time. I saw this fun idea online, unfortunately I cannot find the link to share with you. I'll just show you how I did it.
First, I used an exacto to cut out a little picture/image/word on a piece of freezer paper.
Then I used spray adhesive to tack the stencil down to a onesie and blotted it with fabric paint.
And voila, I have some goofy, personalized baby presents.

Miniatures

In a couple of days we head off to Utah. I will get some painting time (hopefully) bumming space in my dad and my sister's studios. Deciding what to take to work on was too complicated, so I am leaving everything here - unfinished, hanging in mid air, thoughts and images hibernating in the corners of my mind (and studio) - and I am starting all new pieces. I have committed to three miniature shows (small paintings that don't make you disloyal to your galleries because they hardly count) over the next year. They all want two pieces each, so that will be six little paintings I will need to squeeze in here and there. Why not get them all done in one shot and have six less things to worry about.I want paint this one like Andrew Wyeth. I seriously doubt my capability, but with my dad's help I'll see how close I can get. Hopefully I'll learn something. If I could paint like Andrew Wyath.... sigh.
This one is a spin off of my fifteen piece apron series. It's really small, get out the magnifying glass. It has a full circle thing going on, the ends match up.
This one should be interesting... A Christmas tree ornament?

Mantra

I need a mantra. As I mentioned a few posts ago I will be featured as one of Southwest Art magazine's "21 under 31" up and coming artists this year. I have a phone interview next week and will be asked some randomly challenging questions. I did my research and have a list of questions to work on. That way I don't have to spew clever and intelligent answers on the spot. The questions are a little different every year, so I'm sure there will be a pleasant surprise for me go, "um, um... I don't know, I can't really think of anything... what would you say?... um..." One of the questions in previous years is, "What is your mantra or motto?" I only plan to blubber like that once, so help me out with some ideas! Do you have a mantra? We have a family motto: We're all in this chihuahua. It's a long story. But one that is art related? Hmm, any ideas? I also possibly need a quirkiest trait and a biggest fear. Oh, and here is the closer, "I'll know I've made it when..." Oh boy. I'll come up with something, but I'm pretty stuck on the mantra.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

You know how what doesn't kill you makes you stronger? And there is that whole tree growing in the wind thing. Well, given the trials that this painting is going through, it is destined to be really great.
It already had a rough start. I got the drawing just so and and it needed to be cropped. We took a saw to the end and it turned out pretty straight (thank goodness for frames and their eighth inch give). Once I stared painting, I lost all self control and painted all the fun parts before it was prudent. Then...My friend's son came in my studio when we weren't paying attention (rock band can do that to you) and took a crayon to the painting. Luckily the crayon was the color of vomit, so when I threw up all over the painting it blended right in. Just kidding. I'll recover, it will just take more work and more time, which I don't have enough of as it is - but it will work out in the end. Just when I had emotionally recovered from this incident and started to really get into it...I left to make dinner and my little Ezra grabbed a brush and went to town. I've fixed it, but man! I have to say, my kids are very respectful of my paintings and have never done this before. I am grateful for that. I'm trying not to overreact and lock my door. I love that this is "our" studio and my kids get to be creative and make stuff every day. I'll just have to work harder to keep paintings out of little two-year-old reach.

Tooth Fairy

A Piece of Bound

Oh sleep, sweet nectar of mortality. How I wish I could do without you. As much as I love the magical land you take me to and the comfort you give me, I ask for only a night or two...elve. If I could have this time, the next eight hours, to work away uninterrupted, it would be a dream.

Allow me, Just this Once

You know when you read something and it says exactly what you think, nailing how you feel on a certain topic? I read an interview in Mothering magazine this morning with musician Ani DiFranco. This is so not art related, completely of the topic, and a little lengthy. You may get thrown off, so this is your chance to stop reading and go do something productive instead. Here is what Ani DiFranco says about her childbirth experience:

I decided I wanted a homebirth, but I was shocked at how hard it was to find a homebirth midwife in Buffalo. The whole experience of childbirth and pregnancy was an introduction to feminist thought and study that I'd previously been unaware of, in terms of the way that childbirth was co-opted, and is so controlled by the medical/patriarchal establishment.
It makes me really sad that women have been ejected from the seat of their power in this society in terms of what happpens around childbirth. In other parts of the world, there are places where women can't drive a car, but they're still in charge of childbirth. I look at my society and think, how emancipated are we, really? We can play basketball, but can we benefit from eons of women's wisdom that accords a birthing woman the support and time to give birth healthily? Those elements are absent in our society for so many women.
I've always been very aware of the animal I am. If I walked into a flourescent-lit hospital with people pressuring me to get it done, take drugs, get on my back, and put my legs up in the air, it wouldn't have worked. As Ina May [Gaskin] says, the cervix is a sphincter: It doesn't open if it's not relaxed.
I knew I needed to be at home, comfortable - not feeling any pressure. I agree with that whole school of thought that if I were drugged through that moment of revelation, It would have taken something away from my life journey. I'm really happy in the end that I felt every last bit of the pain, and was as present as I could be. Whenever you go through something terrifying and come out the other side, you grow and have more self-respect in terms of your own strengths. I wanted that more than I wanted whatever sort of numbing that the hospital would have offered. The way I finally got my labor going after two days was to march up and down my stairs. I couldn't have done that in the hospital - they wouldn't have let me climb up and down stairwells for hours, naked and screaming. [laughs] But that was a necessary part of my process.
Birthing naturally, as most women do around the globe, is a superhuman act. You leave behind the comforts of being human and plunge back into being an animal. My firend's partner said, "Birth is like going for a swim in the ocean. Will there be a riptide? A big storm? Or will it just be a beautiful, sunny little dip?" Its indeterminate length the mystery of its process, is so much a part of the nature of birth. The regimentation of a hospital that wants to make it happen and use their gizmos to maximum efect is counter to birth in general.

Amen sister. I would not trade my three births, two at home, for any experience this life has to offer. From these, I grew and have had a peek at my infinite potential and strength as a woman that I pull from every day as a mother. I loved it so much, I think I'll do it again... not yet, but soon.

Desert Flower

We just got back from camping by the beach at Santa Cruz, California. Sigh. I really love the ocean. I have previously thought I was meant to live near water. Thought I needed the humidity, vegetation, and all the smells that go with it. On this trip, I found myself craving the hot, dry air of the desert. Longing to return home where I could bake in the sun and get satisfactorily dried out. This caught me by surprise. Perhaps I was wrong and I was built to bask in the desert sun all along.

Pop

I have so many ideas that my head is about to pop. I can't get them out fast enough because I never get enough painting time. (I am only half complaining, I would much rather have this than too much painting time and not enough ideas - I never get bored). So, a couple weeks ago my friend/dentist/fellow ward member gave me a box with sixty-something 8"x11" masonite panels that were used as clip boards at a youth conference. Just when I thought I had a handle on things and could sit back and actually finish something.

Picture this: You walk into the gallery, you see a few amazing paintings with beautiful colors, captivating figures in aprons and intense ideas on a room divider, obscuring hidden treasures waiting to be explored deeper in the cavern. You look right, a trio of more of such paintings. You look left, strung across the wall, fifteen paintings identical in size and simple frames, spaced an inch or two apart suck you in. As you walk along viewing the small paintings, you feel their tension and tensegrity, each pushing and pulling and weaving into and out of the next. Till you get to the last piece and are released.

That is my vision and I can hardly wait to get to it. So, I got a model over here and got to work. I will play with ideas of duty, sisterhood, toil and a little tenderness. Will I ever finish anything? Will my head explode or stay in tact? Is there anyone who will clean up the mess? Stay tuned.

Desert

I just came across this music video by french singer Emilie Simon (click here to see it). Love love love it. When I saw it, I felt like it came out of my head. I wish it had.

And yay for my new nephew, Anchor, born yesterday!!

Bound

Bound by a duty
That feels a little tight
Bound by love
So strong I feel fright
Bound and determined
Not to choke or suffocate
Bound to a promise
I cannot abdicate
Bound for eternity
Wrapped up in an embrace

Segullah

My sister, Cass, and I were featured artists in the spring issue of Segullah, Writings by Latter-Day Saint Women. It is a really neat publication, I have enjoyed reading through this issue. It makes me want to write poetry and essays and stuff. The theme is Roots and Branches. Displaying our art together fit the theme, as we are shoots off the same branch. Our art also lends itself well to the theme because we paint with a lot of introspection and familial themes.

Happy Day

Happy happy birthday Ezra dear
Happy days will come to you all year
If I had a wish that it would be a
Happy happy birthday to you from me

From breakfast-in-bed together to dip-dipping in cheeshe fondu, Ezra Petunia and I had a wonderful 2nd birthday/mother's day. I made her a cute little skirt. And while I was at it, I made her a doll with a matching outfit and a birthday crown with leftover scraps from her skirt. She was stinkin' cute.

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful mothers out there. A special, heart-felt Happy Mother's Day to my mom. You are wonderful and I love you. It's a grand realization when you become a mother yourself and stand in awe of all your mom did (and with minimal freaking out) for five kids! Thanks mom, couldn't have asked for better.

Epic

I'm taking on a two by three and a half foot painting! I'm pretty excited to start working on it. Will my attention span hold out to cover the entire panel? We'll see. I'll have to get a good book on tape going and ignore the kids while they reek havoc and watch movies. This is a rough drawing of what the piece will look like. It's about sisterhood and all sorts of mushy and gushy stuff. This is huge, I hope it ends up as amazing as it is in my head. Wish me luck.

A little complaint: Remember when those paintings disappeared from my front porch? Never to be seen again. I was just thinking about that as I pack up paintings to ship to Park City. I really look forward to taking the large box into the shipping store with my small children in tow. That should be fun.

A little boast: Southwest Art magazine just accepted me into their artists under 31 deal. Not only will I be in the magazine, but they liked my piece so much they are using it on their post card to advertise the issue. Cool.

Knot (the unfinished painting)

I try to be positive in my art - to uplift, praise, glorify, encourage, define, idealize and unite. I also can't help but be honest and speak from my heart. Sometimes these two concepts will not coexist. This piece is very expressive about how I sometimes feel about my role as mother/homemaker. I have talked a lot about bees and their dichotomy: they make honey and they sting. Motherhood is like that. I hesitate to put my frustrations and inadequacies out there, I don't want to bring anyone down. So, I kind of want cop-out with, "read into this what you will," and leave it at that. I think the image is obvious enough and we all feel it at times - that our apron strings are tied in a knot. Maybe we should talk about it, I don't know.

Sunday Sketch

You know when you get a hair cut, and it's really different, noticeably different. You see your friends and nobody says anything. You're sure they noticed, so there is only one conclusion: it's not so cute. Well, that is how I was feeling after putting my intended title for my next show out there and the zero next to comments glared at me for two and a half days. I quelled the disappointment that the title I was so enthusiastic about sucks because I realize I didn't actually propose it with a question to you. So here it is. What do you think of this title: "She Wore her Heart on her Apron Pocket"? All constructive criticism welcome (I have a pretty tough skin as far as these things go - hair keeps growing and no cut lasts forever). Is it too long? Catchy? Did you get the heart on the sleeve reference? I like the vulnerability that is implied, do you feel it?

Shakespeare helped coin the heart on sleeve phrase. In the opening scene of Othello he wrote, “But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve. For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.” I rewrote these lines to fit my purpose, my translation reads thus:

“But I will wear my heart on my apron pocket. For children to poke at. I am only what I am.”

She Wore her Heart on her Apron Pocket

My heart was tucked away securely in my chest.
Love brought it out and stitched to my sleeve.
As I evolved into my new role, domestic travails
wrapped themselves tightly around my waist.
Again, my heart was transplanted.
It inched its way, so gradually I hardly noticed,
and turned up sewn to the pocket of my apron.

I think I have finally come up with a title for my show.

Winner

And the winner is.......
Da Da Ta Da! CHANDRA!!

That was fun, I wish I had something for everyone, we'll have to do that again soon! I feel like I just made a bunch of new friends, which is almost as great has hearing from some old friends (Miss Mayer! Tammy!). The down side is that I don't think I will post again, I might just retire my blog. I'm somewhat intimidated now that I know all you people are tuning in. Ok, I won't retire, but I'll have to triple check my spelling and quit talking about placentas. Congratulations Chandra! I'm glad you won, I know you'll love it. Thanks to everyone who played.

Drawing for a Drawing

Last night I watched August Rush again, my new favorite movie. After the kids went to bed I felt the creativity flowing out of my fingertips and was inspired to pick up a pencil and draw. It was really enjoyable and this drawing is the end product. I would love to give it away, so let's do a drawing for the drawing. If you are interested just leave a comment. Wednesday night I will put all the names in a bowl, draw a winner, and I will mail the drawing to you. (This is where I get a little nervous and hope there are people actually reading my blog...) The drawing is done in pencil on soft gray paper and is 8 by 81/2 inches. I have wanted to do this for a while and love giving stuff away, so if it works we'll be on to something.

Watering Petunia

Sneak Peek

Here is a peek at one of my new paintings. I think it is going to be one of my all time favorites. Oo, I feel some poetry coming on.

So, I turn thirty and the next thing I know I've gained five pounds and I start writing poetry. Life is full of surprises - some pleasant, some not so much. I'll compose a masterpiece for you next time I'm in spin class.

Big Apron, Little Girl

I went to church and I looked at the steeple
then I came home with five hungry people.
I cooked and I cleaned and I rocked and I sang
I loved and I squeezed, my heart swelled and it rang
out the love, wrung out the love.

I did this drawing in church today. It is another idea for an apron theme piece. I have been meaning to start a new blog that chronicles putting together this show. I haven't done it yet because I haven't thought of a name for the show. I had better do it soon, I'm dying to talk about these ideas and show you what I am working on.

Bookstore

I took the girls to a bookstore tonight. We had a lot of fun. The best parts were walking in and snagging this book with designs and pics of really neat aprons and walking out with the Once soundtrack. The in-between stuff was pretty fun too. Even Ez taking off her shoes, pants, and almost managing to get her soggy diaper off while my hands were very full. Oh, and unwrapping a couple random CDs while I wasn't looking. Anyway, I'm really excited about this book because I have started a couple paintings for my show at the end of the year that will be all about aprons. I wish I could paint them and make them. Will there ever be enough time to do everything I want and everything I am supposed to do, too, without going crazy?

Tooth Fairy

Oiseau

I feel like such a let down when I don't have anything to say about a painting. Nothing poignant or profound, no deep meaning. Isn't it OK if I paint a painting just because it's pretty? That is all this one is, just pretty. Feel absolutely free to make it your own and let it express your innermost something. As for me, pretty will have to do. That is, along with a french title, c'est belle, non?

Desiree

I had a completely different vision for this painting before I started it. It took me on a wild and very long ride. I think I started it last summer. The last thing I did was lay in the red ribbon. It was an absolute delight, there is nothing I love to paint more than ribbons. For an explanation of the ribbon I would refer you to a couple posts ago where I went into detail of this ribbon as a symbol. Simply put, she is delicately bound by her passions, and quite enjoying the idea of it.

That said, let's name the fruits in this painting. Ahem... Mango, lime, kiwi, tangerine, orange, cherry, pomegranate, lemon, and pear. Spring is in the air!

Tangerine Dreams

This piece is ode to Lisa-Marie-Presley-Walker-Harris. It is named after one of the colorful pairs of overalls we found in the ceramic room at Waterford. She named them all: tangerine dream, club soda with a twist, something about lavender and orange crush. Though that really has nothing to do with the subject of this painting, it is a fun memory and a lovely title.

I let my little girls take colored pencils to this painting. They drew little figures on her skirt. Sometimes I feel like I practically wear my children like I wear clothing. Even more, sometimes I feel like they have been woven into the fabric of my very being. The rest of the painting followed the little girl's style, with lollipop clouds on a warm and wacky summer day.

Four

I called this painting "Four". I probably could have got a little more creative with the title. (Titles are not my forte.) I suppose I could say that about the meaning of the painting as well. I often express the things that are foremost on my mind, of which there are now three, by putting representations of them on a woman's head. Sometimes they are birds, or birds with baby heads, or sheep. In this case they are bird houses, dwellings. I used this symbol because the frame of mind she is in. She is feeling like a vessel, she is the keeper of the dwellings of her little birdies. So, here is the simple part: She is thinking about taking on a fourth dwelling, becoming a vessel a fourth time. But does she have room? Can she do it? Should she do it?

The buildings are the world. The other people, grown ups probably. She sees hers as a little more dainty, precious and beautiful.

I love the ribbon across the bottom of the painting, winding its way delicately through her fingers. I have found myself adding this element to a lot of paintings. I think it represents her passions, her voice and creative expression. It is grounding, it is truth, it is honest and essential to her happiness.

Poor Job

I had way too much fun putting this lesson together for the kids in church today (sharing time). These are people from the scriptures who testified of Christ. Job is my favorite, up front. He is ever so sad. And, according to my girls, he looks a lot like my brother, Pete. So, they made the lovely Mary Magdalene Jennie and played for a while. The lesson was a hit - definitely worth staying up till one last night.

Apis mellifera

Last night a bee crossed my path
across the dimly lit kitchen floor.
In a heightened state of emotion
I had just exclaimed loudly in my mind,
"This is hard! Being a parent, being
a wife, it's so hard!"
And there it was,
ominously under my foot.

The bees in my paintings
represent a dichotomy -
they sting and they make sweet honey.
My friend had come to remind me
this dichotomy exists in all things.
Sweetness and sorrow,
pleasure and pain,
courage and fear.

Then I squashed it.

Survivor Art Girls

OK, here it is. Survivor Art Girls take on Youngstown, Ohio. Enjoy.

Buckeye, the Nut

Boy did we have fun in Ohio. My sister, Cass, and I went there this weekend to do a show in Youngstown. I met lovely gallery people, made some fans and discovered buckeye cookies - yum. If you judge a show by the the gift basket waiting in the hotel room, this one wins! We like Ohio.

Cass and I made what we think is a very funny movie. Stay tuned, we'll post it soon.

Aesthetic Statement

On her Mind II

To strike a universal chord is a sound so sweet and clear and decidedly satisfying. You can rarely predict what will bring this outcome. There certainly is no magic formula for idea and image perfectly harmonizing to be received with comprehension, enlightenment, and/or edification. But, you can create from your heart, infuse your work with honesty and integrity. At some point one of your conceptualizations will ring true with one person or with many. And when it does, it's a beautiful thing.

The Anti-Liquinite

When I got accepted into the BFA program at BYU, that meant that I got a super cool studio space in an old house at the north end of campus. It was the first time I sat down to paint what was in my head and heart - not an assignment. What a great feeling, I was an artist. The painting I showed two posts ago was from this era. While working on that huge painting I got super sick. I have always had allergies, hay-fever and what not. But that spring I was in a sorry state. I realized that the solvents and mostly the Liquin I was using, closed up in that little room, were causing major chemical allergies. I later found out that these chemicals are bad for you, even if you don't show immediate allergic reactions. There are a lot of ailments that can result from the chemicals involved with painting - lead poisoning and bladder cancer to name a couple. Well, I found an alternative that rocks. I use walnut oil, a product by M. Graham and Co. I swoosh my brushes in it to clean them and leave them soaking indefinatly. It doesn't evaporate and it doesn't get a film or an gooeyness. I also use a walnut oil alkyd medium that makes the paint dry faster. Love it! If you paint you ought to give it a try. There are a few times when I can't avoid using some chemicals, that is when I wear this lovely mask.

Bonjour a la Trentaine

What is that over there? Oh, it's my youth.
Well, I'm thirty. And I like it. I had a wonderful birthday, thank you for asking. My sister, Sari, made me this ceramic pot "adieu a la vingtaine." Farewell to my twenties indeed. We had the best birthday weekend. My parents, my sister Cass, and my nieces were here to make it a grand celebration. We had so much fun, it was sad to let them go. Talking art talk into the night, making big plans, rockin' out, cooking, laughing and enjoying each other's company. I love my family! Thank you for the gifts and the well wishes. Here's to another fruitful decade!

For my Local Fans

My dad, my sister and I have a print signing at a gallery here in Arizona. The show is Saturday (tomorrow) at Decor Unique in Gilbert. We will be there from 11 to 4 with a slide presentation at one. Should be loads of fun!!

Self Portrait II

Well, you asked for it, so I dug it out for you to see. I painted this self-portrait a decade ago, when I was twenty or twenty-one. It was just after we got married and I was thinking about marriage, covenants, time, and offspring. It was a contemplation on time versus eternity that could make your head spin. It's a huge painting, almost four feet tall. It's good to look back from time to time and see how far you've come. It's also good to realize that though you have come a long way, you are still you and have maintained your you-ness through a decade of influences, opinions, outside ideas and expectations.

Self Portrait

She's finished, ...er I'm finished. Well, the painting is finished. My decennial self portrait (that means every ten years). With a crown atop her head she is imbuing the goddess within. The jewels represent her three daughters who gave her claim to the position. Perched on her head as they are continually on her mind. She gazes heavenward - giving thanks, seeking guidance, remembering to have perspective and balance. In one hand she holds paint brushes. In the other she lovingly touches her heart necklace with a "G" for Gavin. Her bracelet is skulls carved out of whale bone. It is a reminder of mortality. She wears an apron to represent chores and duties and the joy to be found in a job well done. And, it has a pocket to hold anything that might have been forgotten.

What I have been doing instead of Painting!

I have been completely and totally engrossed with this book. I couldn't stop reading! Much to the detriment of home, career and children. What can you do? My book club is reading it and it is all the buzz with us. I thought I would have to cram the 661 pages before our meeting next week, oh no, I finished last night. The Other Boleyn Girl, it's a good read.


Just as I finally finish the book, Gavin sets up Rock Band. He got a Playstation 3 with Rock Band for his Birthday. We started a rad family band yesterday - Phie Phi Pho. Miss Lavender rocks the vocals, Clo Clo rails on the drums, Clutch and Hartsy are on guitars. It's very addicting once you get the hang of it. Schools out for spring break, who cares about bed times! We were rockin' and rollin' till ten o'clock last night.


Check out these carrots. Gorgeous and tasty. We got them at Whole Foods Market (which I affectionately call Heaven Foods Market) last week. Between that shopping trip and all the delectable fruits and veggies I got at my co-op this week, I have been doing some fancy cooking. Last night we had lentil and barley soup with tri-colore carrots and plums. It was delicious!

Glitz

Just as I was using my Marie Osmond glitzer to bejewel my painting, (yes, I glitzed my painting, and I say why not!) what should come on PBS, but the Osmond's 50th Anniversary show! I glitzed away, while I be-bopped to Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. This made it rather hard to center, but what a moment! Thanks Marie. And thanks Kristin for betting me one Marie Osmond Glitzer ordered off QVC for nailing the last clay thingy at the shooting range. It was a sweet shot.

That's beside the point. This post it about the painting. I love it, she has a haunting look. But I'm not sure what it is about. At some point I will have to give an explanation, always do. So, what is her story?