"Waste not, want not"

I have always loved color and how each one plays off of the other. Much of that play comes from layering when it comes to my silkscreens and now, my newest series of paintings.

As an art teacher, one gets left with lots of paint at the end of each day. Since my grandfather taught me to "Waste not, want not " I have always tried to use this paint rather than toss it and so began the series of small paintings, done rapidly and at the end of each work day. 

It is probably a good time to admit that until recently, I hate painting, in all forms. I hated it as a kid growing up ., when my dad would gather oil paint, canvases and my brother and I into the VW. He'd drive around the North Fork of Long Island countryside looking for farmland to paint. I hated everything about this experience and found it to be very boring and deeply frustrating. 

That created a divide that lasted through high school and college where I suffered anytime I had to paint. It might be one of the reasons that I fell in love with printmaking. It was so refreshing and different and mysterious. 

Much like my monoprint silkscreens, these paintings are 3-D : they have a front, side and back to them. And just like my silkscreens they are spontaneous : think visual jazz music.

This latest piece is the largest yet and like the others that came before it, it contains a little bit of each person who has participate in the Artist-In-Residence program in radiation / oncology . Like the quilts of yore ,made of shirts, dresses and all other manner of fabric scrapes that represented those who originally wore the garments now used in the quilt, each "artist" is symbolically present in these paintings that sometimes take months to complete. I love that idea...

New work in a new medium :ceramic underglazes.

The impact of one new thing

In February I incorporated one new thing into life : Pilates. Having come from the world of yoga, it was interesting to delve into a unknown world that at times felt as if it ran counter to years of yoga training. Since I knew nothing about Pilates, I had no preconceived notions , no idea, whatsoever, what to expect. There were beginner aches and pains and a wonderful, total absorption as I focused on what I was doing & how I was doing it. Soon, old pains ebbed away. Pains I had lived with for years and had assumed would be with me for life. I began to look forward to class as it got less foreign and slightly familiar. The challenge began to pull me in. Could I do this? Was there anything I could not do? I imagined those parts of our brain the activate when we learn began to buzz. My batteries,which had been at an all time low since last August when my mom was ill and came to stay with me, began to recharge. My mood lifted too. They say exercise is addictive. I think addiction comes from all of the good that comes from this working with ones body. I still struggle with aspects, 3 months into this new adventure: I have yet to meet my "core" but I am getting better at pretending it exists. And as warmer weather arrives, I revert to my training in yoga and try practicing with awareness , feeling those "edges" and taking care not to venture into the world of injury spurred on by pride and the thrill of being and doing. If you are ever able to-try this thing call Pilates. At the moment, I can not imagine life without it.

Home work

(fall comes to a Governors island picnic & the Highline)

2 relatively new things to do here in NYC that I actually give as "homework" to clients & friends because I have found both to be so wonderful (& often full of art) .

Governors Island & The Highline. This weekend is the last for Governors Island until next spring -which makes no sense to me as I would think it to be the perfect place to go in fall & winter & often I find myself wondering-what must Halloween be like on the island? What must it look like covered in snowfall? Until the island gets its own webcam-like Niagra Falls has-I will never know.

If you are in the process of creating a 2012 to-do list :add the island to it & go see the Highline today! It is fascinating how this one project has altered the surrounding area. (Chelsea Market has played a big part too . The hallways there are sprinkled with art & they really know how to take advantage of their space come Halloween & the winter holidays, making them another wonderful place to visit if you never have.)

color

I have almost always loved color as an element in both art & life. The only exception to this was the years that I focused on the magic of etching and lithography -which , for me was all about black and white and veils of gray.

Yesterday I was sorting through my flat files full of art, looking for pieces to submit for an upcoming show. As I put them up on the wall to better to see, I began playing around with my new favorite tool: photo booth. It has it's limits but those limits somehow also help to make using it irresistibly challenging.

I only wish there were a way for me to take it out & about. I would love to photograph the sky , birds, trees, snowfall and oh so many other images-just to see how it would or might not turn out.

New

I was in an Apple store recently and noticed "Photo Booth" on the tool bar and the artist in me began to play . It sure has a way of making a simple sheet of postage stamps look rather spectacular!

NEW years resolutions

Can it be too soon to be mulling over one's New Years resolutions? I think not. Especially not this year.

2010 was not the greatest of years. Too much medical goings on for my taste. But maybe that was meant to be. Maybe things have to happen in order to propel us on to other things. With that in mind I am going to begin thinking about what I would love to have 2011 be about.