These works of art where created during the pandemic starting the last Sunday in May, 2020. I have two friends: Sally Novak - website & Instagram, who is a Brooklyn, NY artist and Melissa Osborne - website, who is a Dallas, TX artist. I asked them if they wanted to do a once a week art Zoom meeting for a few hours where we would pick a photo and would each work in whatever medium we wanted. We would try to keep it small so we could finish it in a week. Well, finishing it in a week didn’t happen & small is relative, but we pretty much accomplished one a month. After we each had couple of turns picking a photo we decided we wanted to do our own art. I had and still have old works I want to finish. Blue Bird of Happiness, My Heart’s Desire is the start of my own work. My Wrestlers Series is on hold while I’m engrossed with this. I have two more pieces two finish up before I get back to my Wrestlers. The two pet portraits were commissions and were separate from our Art Zoom meetup, but since they were created during the pandemic I included them.
This process has really improved my drive and discipline and has helped to hush my paralyzing art critic. Melissa and Sally are my art Graces.
Oil Paint on gessoed canvas - 24 X 18 inches, will be for sale at the Athenaeum’s 30th Annual Jury Exhibition in La Jolla, CA running from July 30th thru September 3, 2022 .
Do you see the bluebird in the negative space in the sky? Originally I wanted to put a reflection of a blue bird in the eye of the falcon but that was too subtle and difficult. I didn’t want the bluebird to be in a shape of a cloud, that seemed too calculated and easy. My friend, Lena, suggested the negative blue space holding the shape of the Bluebird and I knew right away that was the answer I was looking for.
Oil Paint on canvas board - 16 X 20 inches, $640.
This is a portrait from a photo of Helen Frankenthaler, American abstract expressionist painter. I did an interpretation of her work that was photographed behind her. The original photo was by Jack Mitchell/Getty Images.
Watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 8 X 10, private collection.
Watercolor on acid-free watercolor paper - 12 X 15 inches, $360.
This image was taken by me. I was watching the series Normal People, paused it and took the photo with my iphone.
Screenshot of our preliminary sketch for ‘Marianne & Connell’ work in progress on Zoom.
Watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 9 X 12 inches, $324.
Oil Pastel on acid free Bristol board - 9 X 12 inches, $324.
Watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 7 X 5 inches, private collection.
Oil Pastel on acid free Bristol board - 8 X 10 inches, private collection.
Screenshot of our ‘Fireflies’ work in progress on Zoom.
Oil Pastel on acid- free Bristol board - 8 X 10 inches, $240.
Oil paint on primed canvas, 30h X 30w X 1 1/2d, Private Collection
Ruby is now 16. I started this when she was two. I’m so pleased that I’ve had the time to paint and finish this portrait of her. The finished portrait just needs two coats of varnish.
Oil on primed canvas, 36 X 48 X 7/8d,
This is going to a private collection. I hope to finish it next month.
The Wrestlers are a new ongoing series of oil paintings. The paintings comes from photos off my iPhone that I took of a movie "The Master" I was watching on the TV. It's taking something that originally had meaning as part of a whole, a linear story line to a story of immediacy. The photos I freeze that moment in time and stop the story. I breaking down the photo and simplifying the images into brush strokes. This makes for totally different story and sense of intimacy as the eye travels over the image on the canvas.
The movie "The Master" set in the 1950’s, opens with a scene on the beach of sailors standing around cheering their buddies on as they wrestle. Having been a masseuse, I find the human body fascinating. I think that is why that particular scene in “The Master” was so compelling to me. I kept rewinding and pausing and taking photos.
I’m also drawn to that time period because my parents met in the ‘50’s and both were in the Navy. One of my favorite photos is of my dad on the beach in his Navy issued khaki shorts. I like the feeling of capturing the moment in time that photos offer. I had just turned six when he was killed in a Naval jet crash. Most of my memories of my father are from photos not actual experiences I remember.
Another pull for me of the image of the wrestler is the one of the ego wrestling with the higher self, the internal struggle.
I am also drawn to the homoerotic nature of wrestling due to its close contact and lack of layers of protective padding. Because of the naive sexual aspect of the 50’s there was less fear of the homoeroticism in the sport. But over the years as the LGBTQI community was finding it’s voice, the fear set in and the hyper-masculine behavior of the sporting institution of the World Wrestling Entertainment counteracted this by turning wrestling from a competitive sport to dramatic theater by use of props and brutal showmanship moves.
Coming full circle the gay community is now for the most part common place. Most straight people know someone who is gay. Also with the metrosexual evolution that started in the mid 1990’s and the hipster evolution that started in the mid 2000’s the masculine is coming in touch with its feminine side so same sex human contact is no longer as feared nor labeled. The beauty, strength and exquisiteness of bodies wrestling can shine through as it did during the first Olympics in 776 B.C. Hence, my symbolic use of the color violet for shading representing higher consciousness and transformation of the soul.
The Navy plane in the fourth piece 'Constellation' came about because of of working out spatial dynamics. The plane ties in with the time period of the 50’s when my father flew in the Navy. He flew Navy airplane - Constellation, so I chose that one to put it in the painting. I like how the airplane grounds the wrestlers in time.
Art has a long history of women’s bodies being viewed that were mainly painted, purchased, and appreciated by men. I find beauty in beauty in the human body and I paint from an intuitive feminine perspective and sensibility. I found working on this series of male bodies is powerful and voluptuous, when voluptuous is usually reserved to describe the woman’s body.
I like to work with large canvases because of its physicality. The oil paintings range in size from 3 X 3 feet to 3 X 5 feet. I have four paintings pretty much complete (the first four shown) I have three works in progress and two more that will include black men wrestling to finish the series. My vision for the show is for the paintings to hang with the horizon line matching each horizon line of each painting that is hung around the gallery space. Thus a literal horizon line guiding the view from one paint to the next.
The last two or three paintings will include black wrestlers (a black wrestler wrestling with a white wrestler and two black wrestlers wrestling with each other). The big psychic picture is ultimately about us wrestling with our egos no matter our race, culture, gender, or socioeconomic background. We get a constant messages from society to do better, be better, and get ahead at all costs. Making us believe that we have to wrestle “the other” to the ground in order to become the best version of ourselves. When ultimately it is ourselves that we need to come to terms with.
Keep checking back to view my progress in this series and see when and where the Wrestler will be shown.
Oil Paint on canvas - 3 X 5 feet
oil paint on primed canvas - 3 X 3 feet
3 X 3 feet canvas print is available
oil paint on primed canvas - 3 X 3 feet
3 X 3 feet canvas print is available
Oil Paint on Canvas - 5 X 3 feet
in progress 3 X 3 feet
in progress - 3 X 3 feet
in progress - 3 X 5 feet
Oil pastel portraits
oil pastel on bristol board - 24 X 18 inches
Private collection
oil pastel on bristol board - 18 X 24 inches
Private collection
oil pastel on bristol board - 18 X 24 inches
Not for sale
oil pastel on bristol board - 18 X 24 inches
Private collection
oil pastel on bristol board - 24 X 18 inches
Private collection
oil pastel on bristol board - 16 X 12 inches
Private collection
oil pastel on bristol board - 11 X 14 inches
Private collection
oil pastel on bristol board - 14X 11 inches
Private collection
oil pastel on bristol board - 12 X 12 inches
Private collection
oil pastel on bristol board - 12 X 16 inches
Private collection
oil pastel on bristol board - 12 X 16 inches
Private collection
oil pastel on bristol board - 16 X 12 inches
Private collection
oil pastel on bristol board - 12 X 16 inches
Private collection
oil pastel on bristol board - 12 X 16 inches
Private collection
oil pastel on bristol board - 12 X 16 inches
Private collection
oil pastel on bristol board - 12 X 16 inches
Private collection
oil pastel on bristol board - 18 X 24 inches
Private collection
Watercolor portraits
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 7 X 5 inches
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 7 X 5 inches
private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 7 X 5 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 7 X 5 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 8 X 10 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 7 X 5 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 8 X 10 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 5 X 7 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 7 X 5 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 5 X 7 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 5 X 7 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 7 X 5 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 7 X 5 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 5 X 7 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 7 X 5 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 7 X 5 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 7 X 5 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 8 X 10 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 10 X 8 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 7 X 5 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 7 X 5 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 5 X 7 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 7 X 5 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 5 X 7 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 7 X 5 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 7 X 5 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 7 X 5 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 5 X 7 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 8 X 10 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 8 X 10 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 7 X 5 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 10 X 8 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 5 X 7 inches
private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 7 X 5 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 10 X 8 inches
Private collection
watercolor on acid free watercolor paper - 18 X 24 inches
framed original $800.00
The four seasons I'm representing in collage. I'm currently working on Fall and Winter for this series.
Summer Night Sky was the first one I did. I was in a deep depression from my mother recently passing away. My dear friend Lena led me into my studio and told me to just start on something, anything. I started cutting out positive words out of magazine - positive affirmations that I need, though I didn't realize at the time. When I found the photo of the dimond broach it just felt like a star. Then came the back ground of night skies and then the star templates I use on images of blueberries, lava, tiger . . . There is a dove carrying away the word Cloud Of Depression and an astronaut hold the words Protect Mother Earth as his life cord is attached to earth. I love the positive words fueling the star to shoot across the night sky. I was doing therapy with a grief counselor who's first name was Summer. So in honer of her excellent therapy I used her first name in the title - Summer Night Sky which was the beginning of my four season series.
I started Spring Awakenings in a good frame of mind and wanted it to be potent with joy, possibility and pollination, hence the abundance of flowers, butterfly, birds and sensual bodies.
Keep checking back to see Fall and Winter.
Magazine print on canvas board - 18 X 24 inches.
Original not for sale
18 X 24 inches giclee print on acid free paper with acid free mat ink $80.00
Magazine print on canvas board - 24 X 18 inches.
Original not for sale
18 X 24 inches giclee print on acid free paper with acid free mat ink $80.00
paper and photo mount spray adhesive. 8 X 10 inches -
Private collection
My foray into Soft Pastel started with chalk festivals. I was discover by a patron who saw my street art work. She highered me do copy a Paul Gauguin in soft pastel and then helped me to have a one woman show of my soft pastels.
I much more enjoy working on soft paper in my art studio over rubbing chalk into asphalt in the hot sun down on my knees and ass. I miss engaging with the public, the art studio can be very isolating sometimes.
soft pastel on paper - 29 X 38 inches
Original in Private collection
giclee print - 38 X 29 inches, framed behind glass with sage green silk mat - $1,600.00
Soft Pastel on paper - 30 X 39 inches
private collection
Soft Pastel on canvas - 48 X 72 inches
private collection
I was featured in San Diego Home and Gardens for the piece I did for Karen Krasne of Extraordinary Desserts which was in celebration of the local Chalk Art Festival
Working on Extraordinary Tarts
Working with chalk on asphalt (the street) on an image for a local Chalk Art Festival.
Working with chalk on asphalt (the street) on an image for a local Chalk Art Festival.
chalk on asphalt - 8 X 10 feet
I did a chakra series of mystic animals. Each chakra has a animal symbol. I did meditation for each chakra animal to reveal what my animal for the charkra was about.
Penetrate art piece came from a meditation on the four chakra's antelope. To get beyond the heart charka you have to penetrate the heart. My antelope is laying down with it's hooves tucked under it. The view is from on top. The head is laid back over it's body after it's pierce it's own heart with it's horn and bleeds the blood that is purified - represented by white. It's horns represent the negative/positive, yin/yang, Ida/Pingala - they are colored opposites. Having just penetrated the heart a halo emits from it's head.
Shattered
Oil pastel on masonite w/sealant - 24 X 48 inches
private collection
oil pastel on masonite w/ sealant - 48 X 30 inches
for sale
oil pastel on masonite w/sealant - 30 X 48 inches
for sale
oil pastel on masonite w/ sealant - 48 X 24 inches
for sale
oil pastel on bristol board - 24 X 19 inches
private collection
oil pastel on bristol board - 24 X 19 inches
oil pastel on bristol board - 19 X 24 inches
private collection
oil pastel on bristol board - 24 X 19 inches
oil pastel on bristol board - 19 X 24 inches
oil pastel on bristol board - 19 X 24 inches
TWICE BAKED is a short, black & white, fun, film noir I filmed and edited. It stars Sally Christensen-Novak, Schotzie Stanley. Music by Moby.
This was a college project. A few years ago I had the film digitized and re-edited it. Because of artist Moby and his free music www.mobygratis.com/ I was able to finish my short film.