First Ones on the Beach

Early Risers

18x18, oil on panel

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Another title might be 1,000 Not-So-Easy Pieces. These blue lounge chairs are "standard issue" at many Mexican beach resorts and, over the years, they have intrigued me artistically. I've tried pencil, ink, watercolor, and now oil. Plus, I've really been wanting to work in this larger format and get out of the alla prima work habit a bit. Fun, fun.

Cutting, Pasting, and Holding My Breath

A sweet, young friend was critically injured in an accident last week and I just didn't have the focus to paint. So instead, I've been working in my collage book - a favorite creative outlet that can be easily parsed out in 10-minute sound bites. My rotating collection of ephemera is probably 20 years old and rarely does a sketchbook or Moleskin [or grocery list?] escape my glue stick, much less this devoted book. I am inspired by artists and images everywhere and constantly poke new scraps and ideas into the file. Confession: I am that person who tears half a page from an old magazine in the dentist's waiting room and I often carry UHU in my purse.

UT art professor and artist Kenneth Hale lectured recently in conjunction with the Matisse as Printmaker exhibit at the Blanton Museum . A very casual speaker, Hale gave a description of the process all artists engage in- regardless of era, medium, or subject - that stuck with me, "Well, first we do something. Then we do something to that. Then we do something to that."

Our young friend is improving - another friend called it 'the miracle of prayer, intention, and outstanding medical care.' Whew.