my beautiful daughters

at the zoo.

they are 17 years apart.

this is a great book

i just read it....it put me in a great spot, mentally. now i'm going to create something in a groovy floral print.

"eggs in a basket"

this is sold.


i had a great weekend, albeit tiring somehow ---probably has something to do with my weight lifting workout this morning. oh yeah, i know that sounds impressive. but believe you me - i am very experienced at weight lifting. i walk around with an extra 80 pounds all day. ok maybe just 60 or 50. or something.
the point being. i shouldn't be tired.
i was lucky and sold 3 paintings saturday night with a possible 4th sale. thinking about it. usually thinking about it doesn't amount to buying, but we will see.
i was pleased to sell work in this econo market. but the women who bought my art told me that my work gave them such pleasure that it helped them move along in life. one piece is going to hang in a woman's office. she told me she is a workaholic. i felt badly for her, but at least she knows she is one. the painting was of a woman's legs and handbag only - a working girl, basically. made sense.
the other two people who bought me work said that the works would go in their homes, respectively. or each.
when you think about it, a few hundred dollars is not much for a lifetime of entertainment and joy. one woman who bought my work before (a collector of mine) told me that she has a special wall for my art and when people come to eat at her house they always comment on her art. which is actually my art ---but of course she now owes it. funny feeling sometimes.
i love it when people buy artwork that is painting of my parents. actually someone just bought a baby picture of me! and my brother. we were under a beach umbrella. i was about 9 months old and danny was nearly 4. i'm not even sure i told the buyer that the image was of my bro and me. i will have to remember to mention that next time i see her.

i want to paint busby berkely's work

each frame is awesome.........ESPECIALLY THE SWIMMING PARTS

panache tonight

tonight is the fund raiser for escondido arts partnership. i look forward to going and seeing my art buddies. the tix price at the door is $75!!!
my husband might have to wait for me in the car.
nah, that doesn't seem right, maybe we should spring for him to come in.

it should be a fun time.

my mom in plaid

i don't know what i did wrong with her hair, but i will fix it.
anyway, i want to talk about american idol and since this is my blog, i'm gonna do it here.
i love that show.
i think everyone is very talented, hard to choose a loser. here's my breakdown:
matt needs to get rid of the wart in the middle of his forehead and he needs to grow bigger teeth or shorter gums. however he made up for everything by wearing really tight pants tonight. and he can sing! and perform.
the next guy - the one with a guitar, my daughter loves him. but i don't. i think his face looks like a cartoon character, his mouth does funny things and he sings nasal-y.
next was scott, the blind guy. i love him, although he is a bit freaky to look at. loved his pink pants outfit, he has an honest voice, he is true to himself and totally top notch ability - he will make it as a singer/ song writer, easy.
love his piano and singing. i didn't agree with the panel who thought he didn't do all that well tonight.

tattoo girl: i love the sound of her jazzy voice - she reminds me of blossom deary, who i really truly love, but i agree, her song was a train wreck tonight. she looked uncomfortable moving around the room singing. too bad.
the big guy - family man: he should sing either country western songs or religious songs. he is a very honest person in his manner and singing. nice teeth. needs to get someone with taste to dress him though. i'm sick of his jeans.

anoop: broke my heart with his singing tonight - i cried, so touching and beautiful. what a voice -i love that song anyway. needs to lose the college boy style though. love his mom and dad........makes me want a curry dinner.
lil rounds: what a great voice, i thought her performance was rushed tonight, but she is so good, doesn't matter. not quite tina turner legs, but a good try.
adam (who i say looks like elvis): i thought his high pitched falsetto voice "tears of a clown" was not great, but he got all thumbs up, so what do i know? i liked his cleaned up look. i think he is very talented and handsome. (and, i think he is from san diego).
danny gokey - he is a favorite of mine - i want to dance everytime he sings. sad story about the death of his wife though.
he comes across as a bit arrogant, sometimes, that's the only thing i don't like about him. he should sing without his glasses - he looks like a jr. high school band teacher. er, maybe he is a band teacher....
finally, the little mexican troll, wow!
just wow! every week i want to vote her off, cuz she is, well, ugly, needs to lose the lower braces in her chops and the red hair, but wow! i'm thinking she is the best one after tonight. looks don't really matter when you are that talented. and she is young.

ok, thats the ugly truth as i see it. no one at home really listens to my comments while watching idol, so i thought i would coment here.

oh yeah, and simon is a 6 year old. god he talks over paula all the time. annoying.
course paula seems drunk to me half the time. sometimes she says interesting things, she always seems uncomfortable in her own skin which i find annoying.
i love cara (sp?) - she is hip and says interesting stuff that i genereally agree with....i hope they always have her in future idols.
and the dawg, randy seems right-on most of the time.
ok, now i can get some sleep.

oh, so i think probably tattoo girl will get kicked off, and that will make me sad. i would like to see guitar boy/cartoon mouth go.

THE BEST VIDEO EVER!!

kathy olsen: this could have been us!
i think we ought to learn this dance for our next class.

"time for bookkeeping"

it's that time of year....
hard at work in this painting is my mom...she was doing books for my dad's business, the newspaper.

exciting wednesdays:

some of my favorite memories are from hanging around my dad's shop. when i was older i worked there.
my favorite day of the week was wednesday. wednesday was known as press day. the weekly newspaper came out on thursdays. but wednesday was the day everything had to be "put to bed". then the pressmen came in, working physically to get the huge roll of paper hooked up, heavy leaded type in place, ink up the large rollers and to roll the press - the huge - webpress, so that the large-sized, 16 page local newspaper was printed, cut and folded, bundled and sent out through the mail.
what a mighty rolling sound it made. like the ocean. rolling like thunder, (elton john would say).
so many times. it came to a halt and cussing followed. something was wrong. the type was off- register, the cut or the fold was made in the wrong place, or the machine would simply breakdown. to fix it, my dad or the pressman or both would have to go beneath the press ( a cemented hole the size of a swimming pool) and tinker with it until it was fixed. beads of anxious sweat formed on my dad's bald head as he waited, fussed, cussed and shouted directions to the pressman. often the shopboy had to jump in and help too. i was never allowed to go near it. good thing, i would have probably ended up in quarterfolds. but i got to see it happening, the local weekly news put to bed and then proudly coming out the other end of the press, ready to read. it was a happy sight seeing my dad proof read for the last time, as the first few papers came out, then shouting "OK, roll 'em".

i am going to be thinking about this today - devote some time to these memories because they give me such pleasure. sometimes, i can't believe that something so much the fiber of my being, so familiar, only exists now in a memory. it just doesn't seem right. i think it should last forever as real.
i miss my parents.

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experimenting....

all day. i was wondering if it worked to transfer ink jet images onto cloth. well it worked here on a hankie and unbleached and bleached muslin.
just wet the cloth and press the image on top. it sort of rubs on!
i am doing an article for art quilting studio magazine about this new technique.

"easter dress"

this is a painting of my brother and i wearing our easter sunday clothes. my brother's attire was nothing new, and he is wondering about me and my frilly dress. probably thinking if he only had a brother, there would not be a reason to have a pic made. it's only because of the dress.
funny, i remember this dress and its details. my mom had it made for me by a local seamstress. i remember the material being a soft taffeta, made lots of noise when i walked. it had a black velveteen trim and huge puff sleeves. i loved to wear a great big petticoat under my dress. it helped set off the huge sleeves. and made me look like a bell. or belle.

anyway, my brother always hated to dress up, go to church have his pic taken and have anything to do with what my mother wanted to do, just generally rebellious........ so considering all this, he looks pretty pleasant.

more of joy's folks

maybe you have noticed my palette.  yes, i tend to get on a certain palette and make a series.

the colors here are two transparent colors Goldens' (yummy) indian yellow hue, paynes gray.

and two opaque colors , Jo Sonja's cornflower and crafter's baby pink.

i like to mix transparent color and opaque for a dynamic expression.  also i keep the transparent and opaque colors at an uneven ratio, i.e. 75% transparent and 25% opaque.

 

i did a rough job cutting the images out - part of the  popart -andy -warhol -look - i'm hoping for.

north county times......

my painting up close.

at escondido arts partnership.  here is a pic of the gallery director wendy in the north county times with my painting right there!!!!

  i have donated this painting to escondido arts partnership to sell in their fund raiser called "Panache".  panache is coming up this month.

"two girls"

joy informed me that she had a nasty scraped knee in this picture ---she is the one on the right.

i so enjoy using old photos as s my subject matter. there is always a great story to be told.
sometimes even the worst snapshots can turn into the best art.
i feel i have freedom to develop a story as i please - more or less.

so, the weekend is already over. i don't know where the time went. how was your weekend?

i have some magazine work to get out this week. lots of writing. and organizing - ewww, i hate organization, i am so bad at it.

"beach goers"

well its saturday night...nothing too new at the bebi household. this is the first day of my daughter's 2 week vacation. what to do with al our time?

well, today we went to the gym, after our swim we conditioned our hair with hot, deep leave-in conditioner (of course i didn't follow the directions properly and rinsed mine out immediatey, so tomorrow i might have to do it again)
then we went to target to by some makeup. lotion, nail polish and sugar scrubs.
after that, at home, we gave each other melted paraffin hand and feet bathes.

so much work goes into being so bebi-licious!
while we were waiting for the paraffin bath to heat, rosie spent a couple of hours creating a funky cloth doll. i wanted to share it, but she said no. heavy sigh. (sometimes i feel we are like "kath and kim" - that silly sitcom).

OK so that takes care of day one ---ooohhh so many more ahead. what to do, what to do?
oh what was your question? what was my husband doing all this time? oh, you know, he was making our dinner and walking the dog, etc.
saturday night is pizza night - he makes it from scratch. yum.

joy in a bucket...

i fell last night and landed on my chest. i didn't have time to brace my fall. i had tripped over a box in the hallway. anyway, i ended up with a fractured rib under my left breast.
it hurts. like hell.

then today, i had the sneezes - that was the worse bad luck ever! it hurt so bad, i had to hold my chest to sneeze. ugh!

mom and son

i love the background on this one. it was done in a light wash of acrylic, then i added to it.

there is something special about art by serendipity, art that is fresh and comes out of chance happenings. this is what i try to do, create in a way that does not look over -created or overworked by the artist's hand. i think it comes across more spiritual this way, more magical and mysterious.
i like for the piece to look as though it made itself.

of course i have been trained to paint realistically - i have a BA in fine art - emphasis painting and printmaking. i had put in a few hard working years of painting landscapes, fruit in a basket, nude models....... but realistic paintings never do it for me.

they leave me cool.

back in college, i used to say, we have photography to report what we see, painting should be expression. i wanted to paint how it felt to be in the painting- emotionally, as if the people in this painting carried colors and shapes with them.
in this painting, i have put it together to help the viewer not only feel a certain way, but also report on what a distant memory is like.
this is how thoughts, especially memories - are more than just photo-like mental images, but thoughts that are intertwined with fragments of other images - much like dreams.
i hope this makes sense.

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joy's folks......

so in love.
i am still appreciating the photos joy logan let me use in my art. this is her mom and dad.
i enjoy doing a watercolor like background, stamping and adding a few collage pieces like the moon made out of text.

i love the rich colors of golden brand acrylics.

handmade towels .....

sometimes i get asked to create something for an upcoming issue in one of the various Stampington company's publications. for Somerset Home i create 5 unique hand towels in shabby chic with 1960's ads.
the SH magazine will probably come out in june.

collaborative effort

this is what i am sending out into the collaborative artist's world to create on. it will be interesting to see what happens to this by the time i get it back. 5 other artists will contribute to it.

this is beautiful......

now that's ballet!

"dreamhouse"

re-worked.

bad pic.... but ...

this is my st. rita that goes into lisa g's book in the collaborative.  one of st. rita attributes is white bees.

gotta go - another swim meet with my daughter - this time, her first high school one.  exciting.

collaborative work.....

so someone sends me a postcard with a flower on it , and i add dodads and then this gets cycled around ot 4 more artists to work their magic on it.

should be interesting to see what happens.

just finished this book.....

I loved this book - i read it straight through the night and lost a night's sleep.  shouldn't have done that, but i was riveted.

i picked up the book of all places, starbucks, on their clearance shelf.  i hate to admit it but i liked the cover.  i didn't even know starbucks sold books - i had never noticed that they did, at least.  but they took my money for it, so i don't think i mistakenly picked up someone's misplaced read.

its a memoir of a journalist from new york times, (helene cooper)who re-traces her coming of age past in liberia - she was born into the elite wealthy caste with very deep blood roots to the "returned -to -africa freed slaves" of the 1800's.

it's a rich story, i had no idea what it was like to live in liberia during its civil wars and brutal, brutal rogue ragtag teams of destruction of the 1980's and on.  now i have a small idea.

it's just a great and eye opening read.

collaborative art

i am in another art collaborative group. this one is mostly local artists - our "thang" is mail art or poscard art.  the dimension of the piece needs to be able to fit in a 6" x 9" envelope.

i received this card with gold leaf and some stamping on it.  it had a name "temple night".  the gold leaf inspired me to make it sort of heavenly.  what i didn't realize was that i wasn't suppose to finish the piece, but instead mail it on to the next artist in the group, after i added whatever to it.  it goes around until everyone has put something on it and then it goes back to the original person who started it.  it becomes their permanent property. 

if you find this hard to follow - just go have a bottle of wine and read it again.   or not.  i found this very helpful, personally.  the wine drinking that is.

"letters"

this painting has a quote near the bottom that can't be read in this photo....

"more than kisses, letters mingle souls."  i just thought that was beautiful.  so i painted it.

i love red.......especially golden brand paint's "quinacridone" reds.  very vibrant.  these sets of colors; all the quinacridone's  are intense and powerful.  my favorite is quinacridone nickel azo gold.   another fave is quinacridone magenta.

 it takes  very powerful competing colors to create anything using these.  cheaper brand acrylic paints can't/won't cut it.

this painting is on 36" x 36" canvas, 1 1/2" depth.

it's a stunning piece - it just came down from a show where it won honorable mention.

 

for joy!

blog reader, joy logan, sent me some of her family photos about 6 months ago so that  i could  create some art with them.  

i created about 14 pieces.  these were in a show and just came down.  i thought i would share some of them with you.  i have her permission.

i believe this is her dad and grand dad.  cute little boy, huh?

i will next be submitting these pieces to the publications.  there is at least a 6 month lag time to print - so mid-summer these will probably be somerset studio magazine and at the stands.  love that magazine!!!!

home news:  our new kitty "miss dior" is getting very well acquainted with our household.  she loves our daughter, rosie.  not used to the doberman yet.  the doberman couldn't care less about her.

i'm afraid our poor "princess fifi" decided after 5 lovely years here, to run with the coyotes.  (heavy sigh).

uhm, my daughter names the cats.  if it were left to my husband the cats would have names of boxing champs (even the girls) would be called rocky marciano,  jersey joe wilcott or max schmeling -he named one cat , a white cat, "whitey bemstein" after a corner coach------ left to me - they are all called "here kitty".

i sure hope joy drops by the blog for a look.

ladies essentials

what every woman needs.

to be matching.

i hope everyone is having a nice weekend.

the weather is lovely.

i'm pissed that our gas @ electric bill was over $600 for one month.  that can't be right.

it was over $400 last month.  generally it is $250 (like the month before) what's going on?

i called and am having meter reader come over.  i have small hope.

any one else with this problem.  i know SDG@E had a rate increase of 22% last jan.  but honestly, i remember when utilities (bill) were a small concern.