Catching glances

This week in the studio started with painting a table I found on the street (well, actually in a rubbish bin) a bright magenta. The same magenta that has been showing up in my paintings lately. I was delighted with the results.
I also found a room dividing screen on the street that will also be painted (probably orange) but that is not what this blog is about. Although being an artist and living a beautiful life because of trash turned into treasure is relevant. Let's just say my life is very found object.

My studio and my colorworld have been my refuge of late. I have been enjoying making the studio even more of a place that I want to be no matter if I am painting or just sitting thinking about painting. It's important to spend time near the work, near the materials, just catching glances, to flirt with and to keep an eye on the paintings as they converse. Sometimes they will show you the way forward while you are looking away but are still near.

Currently I have four 30x20" canvases on the go as part of the new bright series which is yet to be named. These four will accompany the two 16x20" canvases that I have recently shared here. I am enjoying watching the series build and look forward to ordering more canvases soon.

I have been ramping up my social media presence on Facebook and Twitter, trying to provide more regularly scheduled content to my patrons and hopefully reach a wider audience. I enjoy feeling more connected to not only patrons but other artists.

As you may remember, last week I introduced my new limited edition prints to the world. It's all a bit of an experiment to see if there is a demand for them and how they are received. Time will tell. If you like my work, I do hope you will support it. I always try to keep a range of my work accessible.

I am grateful to so many who have supported me over the years, I know these are lean times for us all. I also know that it is during these times when art is it's most important. We all need a refuge, a place of beauty and wonder. We all need a connection and art provides this.

Until next week, keep fighting for what you believe in; for what you savor and what delights you. You will be richly rewarded and so will the world.

****

This is where you can find and buy my work:

Limited edition prints of a selection of works £15 on Etsy. Small originals on canvas and paper £60-85 on Etsy.

Small originals on canvas at Cuppola Contemporary Art in Sheffield, England £85.

Large paintings on canvas at Union Gallery, in Edinburgh £720.

New Archival Prints!

A very exciting development came to fruition this week! I have selected 11 of my small abstract paintings to be archivally reproduced!

You can now purchase my signed, limited edition prints exclusively in my Etsy shop, ArtMaven for £15 plus shipping to anywhere in the world. For my patrons and friends in the United States that's about $20 depending on the conversion rate.

Shipping is affordable too, just £2 in the U.K. and £5 to anywhere else in the world (that's about $6.50 to the United States). Please visit my Etsy shop to learn more.

Small original works and prints are a great way to build your collection or create a dynamic grouping. Painting is a profound practice for me and I believe in its magic and power to transform. I am grateful that I can now share my work in this way with you.

Inclusion
limited edition print
Purchase here: http://etsy.me/29VI48F

Conversation at 3 a.m.
limited edition print
Purchase here: http://etsy.me/29NDzMd

Put these in your hair (don't look back) 
limited edition print
Purchase here: http://etsy.me/29Xypvv

Caught in a moment, silken threads
limited edition print
Purchase here: http://etsy.me/29VFcsB

Sailor's warning
limited edition print
Purchase here: http://etsy.me/2aiGRaX

A fine summer's day
limited edition print
Purchase here: http://etsy.me/2a2iAUH

Illuminate
limited edition print
Purchase here: http://etsy.me/29VrIc7

Secrets by the sea
limited edition print
Purchase here: http://etsy.me/2ad8Adp

Outside voices
limited edition print
Purchase here: http://etsy.me/2a1uHT6

The petals dropped with every stir of her tea 
limited edition print
Purchase here: http://etsy.me/2aeqx8g

Found in a coffee can (let it rust) 
limited edition print
Purchase here: http://etsy.me/2a1oK8C

I am adamant that art needs to be accessible for all and that artists also need to be able to make a living from their work. Reproductions make sense on all fronts. 

That said, you can rest assured that I am pretty picky about what I would sign off on and put into the world. I wanted my prints to be made here in Edinburgh and to support a local business in the process so that's why I chose fellow artist and dear friend, Jenni Douglas' fine art printing service. The colours are vibrant, the details are sharp and they are truly brilliant reproductions! It is a pleasure to work with Jenni on this ongoing project. 

If you are an artist in Scotland or elsewhere in the U.K. and looking to have prints made of your work, look no further than Jenni Douglas.

Until next week, you know what to do; as that popular internet meme states, "support living artists, the dead ones don't need it."

A change in the frequency

I really can't make sense of what happened in the studio this past week except to say there was a change in the frequency and a new series was born. Don't worry, I will return to I love the broken things best at a later date but this time seems to be meant for something else. 

This new series doesn't have a name yet but one painting does; Out of my mouth come flowers, come barbs. What has tumbled out this week is a mystery of pinks, oranges, teals, yellows, layers, and cellular shapes. These shapes I have explored over and over again in different ways for decades yet these seem to be more vibrant and colorful as they dance in the space and depth. As the shapes and colors multiply, they seem to converse and the chatter is contagious. 

I am giddy with excitement. It reminds me of art school when I would talk to my mentor and professor Ron Graff at the University of Oregon about my latest paintings or a new idea for a series. I could feel my face turn red and my heart beat fast and my palms sweat. Not in that awful panicked way, (which I was well versed in at the time) but in that, I can't stand keeping this in, way. That jumping for joy, way. That I can't fucking contain my excitement and I don't care if I look like a fool, way. In other words, pure joy and freedom. 

I wrote a dear friend and fellow artist and later told my parents over Skype this week, that "I love color so much it makes me want to grind my teeth to dust."

I could qualify that more and I could be more cautious in talking about this new series since we are in the early days yet but I don't want to play the fear card right now. There is enough of that going around. Right now, I am grateful for these patterns that kindly haunt me, these colors that sing and dance and that I can jump up and down in delight when the orange hums next to the pink. 

What if it is really just that simple...

I keep making art

The world continues to be in turmoil and yet I keep making art. It feels odd to go about the day to day while black people and police are getting murdered in the streets back home in America.

I am horrified by the state of affairs and I hope all of my readers and friends will write their politicians and leaders and speak to their friends and communities loudly to make sure everyone in your circle knows and feels it in their soul that black lives matter.

It feels equally strange to be here in the U.K. to watch as leaders continually bow out of their responsibility for the Brexit result while acts of hate toward immigrants escalate. Whole populations of people are now wondering about their future and safety in their chosen home.

Fear seems to be the common thread around the world. People living in fear of each other and the unknown. People wanting change after years of being punished and neglected by the outdated systems in place; rising up and trying shift the balance of power while often voting and working against their best interests. The powerful know that they have trespassed on the rights of the populace and they live in fear of the situation they have created. Throw guns into the mix and we seem certainly doomed.

I want to live in a more fair and just world. I want to live in a world of color and difference. I want to live in a world of mutual understanding and appreciation, a world not connected through fear but through love.

Until then, I keep making art and at night I whisper out peace, peace, peace to the world just before I shut my eyes for another sleep in my luxurious white life.

Until next week, keep fighting with love in your heart for a better world.

An anchor, a beacon, something to pull me back

Well of course I got sick after Paris. I have spent my days since our return in bed watching political documentaries and wondering if it was all just a dream. I have also spent days wondering what the hell happened to the United Kingdom and what will happen to the United States in November. What a world... I just hope the future includes an independent Scotland as a member of the European Union and that America will NOT elect Donald Trump.

But back to me though, there have been boxes of tissues and many pots of tea and a bottle of Drambuie next the bed. There have been strange vision dreams and awkward naps. Yet here I am and finally on the mend, writing this blog from bed. If you missed my last two Paris related posts you can read them here and here.

On Monday I plan to be in the studio working further on my latest small works series, I love the broken things best. Come hell or high water I am going to be there and then I am going to be there the next day and the next. You get the idea, I need to make some art and I really like the series title. It inspires me so I must show up for it and see where it takes me.

Before I left town and everything got crazy, I did finish a small piece in the series. You can see it here, I am quite pleased with how this has turned out using my new foil technique. I can't wait to expand on it.

So I think I will leave you with this wee painting, like a talisman for the week ahead. An anchor, a beacon, something to pull me back from this sick bed and back into the dark arts where the dreams make sense. I love the broken things best and that includes me and you.

Until next week you know what to do. Keep fighting! The world needs you and your voice!