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Wolf Art

2/6/2015

I was asked to create some wolf art today for Wolfcon in Vancouver. The show is tomorrow, so I am busy making some watercolor paintings.

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I have been laid up in bed since January 20th with the flu. I spent over a week in bed with over 102 degree temperature and could not do anything but sleep. It is now three weeks later and I am still recovering.

But the flu couldn't stop me from making a few new pieces. Actually I had to get these finished because the deadlines for shows and submission are happening next week.

I finished this painting while I was still in bed, but I just loved how he turned out, so I had to share!

I also finished my piece for the O-Face Show in Portland on Valentines Day. I started by casting my face in plaster. It was pretty hard because I was still sick and did not have a lot of patience. Over the next few days I cut out hundreds of flower photos and illustrations from the stack of seed catalogs Heather and I had accumulated. Then I decoupaged the little scraps all over the cast and mounted it to the panel. After covering the entire panel with flowers, I used some white vellum to make a layered paper cut. It was incredibly difficult to get that paper cut to lay down so I could glue it on. But I did it, and I am so happy with the results. I can't wait to show you the finished piece at the show!

When: February 14, 2015 7PM to 11PM
Where: Lightbox Kulturhaus

The last piece I am working on is for the Collage Scrap Exchange. I had to mail an envelope full of scraps to another participant and they mailed one to me. My "partner" was from Australia, so I got some pretty interesting scraps. The theme for this show is "New Landscapes" so I decided to do a double landscape. There is a checkerboard on one end and mountains on the other. It is kind of busy and complicated, but would you expect anything less? I just have to scan it and submit it before next week. Cross your fingers. I hope I win the contest.

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It's Personal

2/5/2015

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I recently started reading Frida Kahlo's Biography and it has been the perfect source to work out how to move forward in my life and art. I feel like my art needs to become something more. More personal, internal and with more feeling. My mind is always in a turmoil with keeping the past shut out and focusing everything on the now. I purposely live my life in the present with some glances toward the future. I rarely look back into the past. But over the years I have begun to develop a thicker skin and can take a fair amount of criticism before it breaks me. 10 years ago, that was not the case. I am so extremely empathetic that one comment or tone would send me into a pool of tears. The rut I am in is going to need a jolt of emotion to get me out of this funk. I have a good support system now that will help if I get too far sucked into the past. But I think I need to do this. I am going to try and finish the piece on the footling breach Cesarian birth of my first born. I will address the miscarriages I have had. I will celebrate the home birth of my second born. I will address the fear and shock of the ectopic pregnancy that left me unable to have any more children. I will explore the ramification of sudden food allergies have had on my daily life.

I have never made art or done anything more than journaling about these experiences. They are incredibly intense life changing events and I have basically been surviving the past few years. The food allergies have alienated me from most of a social life and I am now even afraid to engage in social activities or travel and I have lost all spontaneity. Everything I do now requires a plan. That is exhausting. The ectopic pregnancy put me so close to death that it brought me to a place where I finally realized who I was and to do the things I wanted because life was just too short. The Cesarian forced me into a reality that things do not go as planned. My body was permanently deformed and it has taken years to pick up the pieces on my self esteem.

It feels the older I get, the less I actually know about the world. I never thought any of those things would happen to me. I have basically lived my life as a good person taking very little risk but life just hands me the drama and makes me deal with it. Most of my trauma can be directly tied to either a sexual or reproductive issue. This life has been brutal but because if it, I can empathize with other women on these issues too.

The first part of internal exploring will come in this next Artist's Shuffle: My Dichotomy. I have never done a self portrait other than photography. I feel like this project, where I will have to create over 100 self portraits alongside another artist's self portrait will be the first step in self discovery.

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Wolf Art

Meet the Deadline

It's Personal

Just Because

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