This client lined their china closet in mirror resulting in interesting views of the room and the painting they commissioned for the dining room.
painting
whoopi goldberg sketch
I drew Caryn Elaine Johnson (aka Whoopi Goldberg) on her 60th birthday this year. It's a big deal arriving at sixty.
collaboration timelapse 2 w/ troy wandzel
Will it be hierarchical or all-over viewing? Will it be "pretty" or "ugly"? In the meantime, I highly recommend this type of passing work back and forth. This is one of the fastest learning methods I've encountered.
casar peony
This 49" x 36" piece on recycled felt paper may be hung in any orientation. Painted from life, work started when a peony from Casar, North Carolina was delivered to me one day after Mother's Day. The image was finished using photographic reference.
(available through Spalding Nix Fine Art)
post labor day
By all these lovely tokens September days are here,
With summer's best of weather And autumn's best of cheer.
- Helen Hunt Jackson
houston fine art fair
A selection of my paintings travel to the Houston Fine Art Fair courtesy of Spalding Nix Fine Art, September 9-12.
collaboration timelapse 1 w/ troy wandzel
Painting session 2, time-lapse 1 on a triptych with artist Troy Wandzel.
watch me wip
WIP: work in progress
This image is one of hundreds captured on timelapse. Savannah-based artist Troy Wandzel and I are currently collaborating on a triptych. You may see Troy's timelapse is his first session here. When we end work on these panels we hope to splice all the timelapseS of the painting sessions together.
feng shui and art
Wondering about ways to consider hanging your art collection? There's the obvious "goes with" solution. You might hang by subject or by size. For example, I know a Savannah woman who hangs small coastal landscapes by many different artists in many different styles and media in one area. Or hang by artist and by artist's region. In the last two years, I've been using feng shui principles.
Because of feng shui's cataloging of colors, elements, characteristics and psychological and physical areas, your artwork can help to create harmony and balance in your home. I often switch out my artwork to create different "cures" for the season, for current business, personal, academic climates. Best part? Intellectually and visually stimulating.
Here's a simplistic set of possible uses for this painting made in 2013.
This work features Turtle Island, sand, water, grasses, oyster beds, and blues and green with accents of white, cream and black. It also has a small vein of orange red. The substrate and risers are lauan and poplar (wood) respectively. The image shape is square which corresponds to the wood element.
Potential uses:
career: put in north corner for augmenting career and or wealth. water can bring movement and should present the water falling and/or incoming but it needs to feel as though it has movement.
communication: because this painting contains a good number of the five element colors (green, red, yellow, white and black) it can also promote balance in communication and in developing business partnerships. add your intention as you hang the painting.
love: if you love this painting and you want to heat up your love area, you will need two of these. presentation of two things or "couples" is the key here. pink is the preferred color for this area. peony imagery in the bedroom is known to be effective. water features and images are not recommended as water douses fire. not good in the bedroom!
bathroom in wealth corner: feng shui specialists suggest using green, black, brown, wood, sand and earth (symbols) to create harmony and balance if your wealth center is in the bathroom. this can be a challenging area for a wealth center because of potential grime, clutter and, well, flushing. above all keep the toilet covered and add green!
wealth: you don't actually make money by feng shui'ing (i say FUNG SCHWING - totally wrong, but this, ok?), but you prepare and support yourself for doing so. this is how feng shui actually works - by consideration, preparation, practice and maintenance. that being said, water is considered the money element and blue the money color. so bring the moving water to add kwan - the Cuba Gooding Jr kind.
You'd have to study a good bit to understand all the many ways this painting or any other could be used to help create the balance that you see in the feng shui chart itself. I have only mentioned a few uses for a painting that features the colors and elements that this one does. The greatest challenge in using feng shui: evicting clutter and creating a balance between the elements in each area. The range of possibilities becomes the challenge and the fun.
NOTE: I am not a feng shui specialist. Just started studying two years ago. Please feel free to email me if you are and have additional suggestions or any corrections.
new work on paper: spatterdock
Sometimes called Cow Lily, you can find spatterdock all over the southeast. You'll know it by the heart shaped leaf and a yellow flower that looks more like a tuber than a bloom.
driftwood + trees painting
Now available through Spalding Nix Fine Art, "driftwood + trees" measures 38" x 48" and is based on the Cumberland Island landscape. Its colors follow the palette of a recent Savannah historic district town home design and build completed by author, creative director Libbie Summers.
the number(s) 2015
Ten years in business as a full time artist, ten years married, twenty years in Savannah, thirty years of driving with only one front fender and one back bender-ed. Forty years of good information (mostly) and still tumbling!
janet + reggie jaime
What a gift to find this most amazing couple when I chose their house and gardens to document (trespassing). Janet works as an iconographer. Reggie makes sculptures and photographs. Many years ago, they founded the Paseo Arts District Festival. The Paseo is also home to SixTwelve and the 612 x 912 residency.
It's difficult not to see meaning within the fact that on my first night in OKC, I choose their gardens to trespass, that their name is love and that without an appointment, they welcomed us.
okc cactus garden
the most divine cactus garden thrives near the paseo arts district.
sixtwelve
For the next two weeks, this community center within the Paseo Arts district will be my workplace. My visit completes the first exchange between Savannah and Oklahoma City artists.
transplant
This Savannah treescape made in 2010 thrives in a New Hampshire kitchen.
in the studio
Works in progress celebrate finding beauty in daily life and use recycled and repurposed materials. The insects I found on window sills and corners on the property.
beltane public art
Some May flowers in celebration of May Day outside of 1704 Lincoln.
troy wandzel detail
Detail of corridor painting (current work in progress) at the Jepson Center for Art of Telfair Museums by Troy Wandzel.
may day
There is no better month than May. I'm celebrating Beltane all month long; flowers, festivities, the feminine, fires of all kinds and fertility (of ideas + plant life).