Elizabeth Erlanger Memorial Award

I am pleased to announce that my painting, 'If I Too Am Nature,' has won the Elizabeth Erlanger Memorial Award by the National Association of Women Artists.

See it at the 122nd Annual Exhibition
May 3 – May 31, 2011

Opening Reception: Thurs. May 19, 2011, 6-8pm

Sylvia Wald & Po Kim Gallery
417 Lafayette Street
New York, New York

April Work In Progress

24x36"
oil on linen

Are you a New York artist?

It was recently suggested to me by a wonderful curator, Kimberly Marrero, to upload my work to P.S.1 MoMA's Studio Visit. After I did, I thought it would be nice to post the same image of my studio building here.

It's a pleasant picture! I hadn't thought of it looking so calm until I took the pic. For the real Brooklyn experience though, do picture this: intermittent rumbling train on that bridge overhead with honking horn; construction workers; trucks beep-beeping in and out of the loading docks; friendly UPS man! Pigeons. Now you have a better idea of what it's like to arrive at my building! And thank goodness for the inner sanctuary and calm of my studio space.

How It Is Now

Click for larger view of Right Side detail.

96" x 60"
Oil on Canvas, diptych

Single Fare 2: Please Swipe Again

Metrocard Paintings

Opening Reception: Thursday, March 17th, 5 to 9 pm

Sloan Fine Art
128 Rivington Street
New York, NY 10002

Exhibition: March 18 to 26, 2011

http://sloanfineart.com/index.html

Words of Dostoevsky

For, after all, you do grow up, you do outgrow your ideals, which turn to dust and ashes, which are shattered into fragments; and if you have no other life, you just have to build one up out of these fragments. And all the time your soul is craving and longing for something else. And in vain does the dreamer rummage about in his old dreams, raking them over as though they were a heap of cinders, looking in these cinders for some spark, however tiny, to fan it into a flame so as to warm his chilled blood by it and revive in it all that he held so dear before, all that touched his heart, that made his blood course through his veins, that drew tears from his eyes, and that so splendidly deceived him.

-Fyodor Dostoevsky

'BEAST' opening Saturday, March 12, 6-10pm

	Brooklyn Artists Gym
	168 7th st., 3rd floor Brooklyn, NY
More Info	Participating artists: Katelyn Alain, Jonathan Beer, Tim Bush, Nina Carelli, Pandora Castelli, Eugenia Chun, Amanda Crone, Alex Confer, Tim Connor, Chris Esposito, Imelda Fagin, Giovanni Forlino, Ed Herman, Shawn Huckins, Supina Kenney, Jason Martin, Guy Nelson, Silviu Nica, Maya Pindyck, Hannah Robinett, Jim Shirrey, Danielle Thillet, Rachel Van Pelt, Blair Waters, Ann Williams, Chen Zhang.

How It Is Now

Detail area.

96 x 60 inches
Oil on Canvas, diptych

Feb. Work In Progress

Detail area of 60x96" oil on canvas

Art & Fear = Paint & Progress

I'm beginning a new painting in a new series. Perhaps it's the second painting in this series. I have a very specific creative process when I'm starting a new work. It involves an onslaught of imagery flitting through my mind, contemplation, waiting for that imagery to coagulate, and a sort of useful procrastination as the need to create builds into a frenzy of energy. But that energy floats anxiously in an ocean of fear as I finally touch paintbrush to white canvas. These marks seem so crucial as they set the stage for the rest of the painting as I respond to the marks I've just made- and on and on until it's done. Even though these marks will ultimately be hidden, it's this stage that can be the most nervewracking.

Let's be clear. I panic. Every time. I convince myself I don't know what I'm doing. But I have some confidence. By now I know it's just part of my process. And ultimately it's the fear and the unknown that keeps me going- because it's discovery that I'm really after. The chance to learn from what comes out of this process and to see something that I couldn't put words to if I tried. And thus it begins. Again.

"Making art now means working in the face of uncertainty; it means living with doubt and contradiction, doing something no one much cares whether you do, and for which there may be neither audience nor reward. Making the work you want to make means setting aside these doubts so that you may see clearly what you have done, and thereby see where to go next. Making the work you want to make means finding nourishment within the work itself. This is not the Age of Faith, Truth, and Certainty."
--- from the book Art & Fear: Observations On The Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking

Ever Onward To The Sea

60x96 inches, oil on canvas (diptych)

Latest Stage

This one's taking longer than anticipated as I'm trying very hard to push myself forward. Right now I'm attempting to unite the right side with the left side while maintaining a sense that the right side is falling apart as a 'pictorial scene.'  I'd like more abstract elements to answer to the left side. More intuition. More randomness. More perception than concrete understanding. I want it to fall apart into shapes that I comprehend yet can't place. An aberration of the truth. Why is this taking so long? A painter's dilemma I guess. The usual struggle.

Work in Progress

Detail section of
60x96" oil on canvas.

New work coming soon

This is how I paint.

Inner World, Outer self

18x24"
Oil on Linen

Study for A Grand Farewell

Oil on Linen
20x30"

Featured In Art and Fiction Journal

I am excited to announce my work has been published in the Autumn 2010 edition of The Battered Suitcase put out by Vagabondage Press. http://www.vagabondagepress.com/

The Battered Suitcase can be purchased in a few different forms (as a coffee table book/ the art only edition/ as a download.) It can also be viewed online for free.

Vagabondage Press

Awaiting

48x60"
oil on canvas
(click to see larger)

Featured at Ten Words And One Shot

I was just featured at the site Ten Words and One Shot. I am excited to have been asked to participate - it's a real compliment to be included with such high caliber artists.Visit and get a chance to peek into some fabulous artist studios and get some insight into their brains!

http://tenwordsandoneshot.com/

If I Too Am Nature

24x30"
Oil on Linen