The photo is of a piece that I just finished and haven’t gotten professionally photographed yet. I have a few more pieces I’ll have to get shot before I hang them at the end of September. This painting, “Superb Tanager”, is the biggest one I’ve done in this series (24×36″), but I’m hoping to finish a 30×30″ for the show, too.

Show at Variety Screening Room

I also have a show of my Earthly Desires works going up this weekend at the Variety Screening Room - the reception will be Thursday, August 5, I believe 5-7pm, and the show will be up for August and September.

This photo is of my favorite brush, which I’ve recently retired but haven’t been able to get rid of completely. I call it the Velveteen Rabbit brush, because it’s been so loved that it’s pretty much not there anymore. I guess that makes it real. I wish I could buy brushes pre-aged (maybe not this far gone, but not nice and shiny-smooth). I like when my brushes are on the roughened side, to give some texture to the paint - I do a lot of dry-brushing and really scrub at the surface and generally maltreat my poor brushes. I try to wash and condition them well, but eventually they do wear out and become useless.

I worked on this painting yesterday. For the washes and drips I added some Acrylic Flow Release to thinned liquid paint - it gives a completely different feel to the wash, a much deeper stain, than just plain water. I’ve been doing lots of stains and drips and layers of medium (I’ll add a thick layer of gloss gel to this at some point, which separates the layers of color and gives a lot of depth to the painting).

The only disadvantage to doing all these layers of medium is that it takes so long to dry in between layers. You can hurry it along with a hairdryer, but that can lead to cracking and other possibly-undesirable effects so I try to avoid it. It is hard to be patient!

bullfinch-canary mule

I’m hanging several of my newer pieces at Arrivederci Cafe, 11 G Street in San Rafael, CA. They’ll be up June 26 - August 12.

Also, on Monday, June 28, I’ll be participating in Arrivederci’s weekly Salon, organized by Angar Mora. Join us if you can! I’ll be presenting a short talk about my latest work and techniques, along with some other performers (details to come). There is a $7 cover charge, which includes a 25% discount on dinner orders - make a reservation for 5:30 with the restaurant (415) 453-6427 if you can, mentioning the salon.

For more information about the salon events, take a look at this Examiner article.

Hawfinch in progress

embroidery painting, “Hawfinch”

I’m in that working mode where it feels like I’m thinking about art constantly, whether awake or asleep. I want to be in the studio all the time, though of course I cannot.

I did get a chance to be in the studio a little bit this weekend, and so I painted this design on a piece of linen that has an old embroidery pattern on it, complete with instructions printed on the linen itself. I got several vintage patterned linens recently on ebay - some were even partially embroidered. I’ll be using them in my work this summer for sure.

Earlier this week, I got five recent Net and Nest paintings photographed to put on my website and Facebook page. One of the paintings had already been sold, but came back to me briefly so I could sand and finish the edges properly. I took the opportunity to document it. Getting photos taken of my work always makes them feel more like real objects to me, somehow.

And I’ve already signed up for this falls Open Studios. My studio neighborhood is Weekend One again this year, which means October 9-10. My art will be up on the walls at Secession for October and November.