smoke, spiders & jewels

The other night a car lit on fire on my street.

Naturally we ran to go take pictures amidst the smoke..

And then spiders took over the beams and wind chimes in our patio.

I also have a stupid amount of jewelry. (I love my little typewriter key necklace, "J" for Joe ♡)
My kitten also loves my jewelry, but for different reasons. I've had to put a lot of my necklaces up high and out of his reach.

But these little ones are my favorite. Bows and teapots! Typical.
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Now to go buy some wood! I'm starting a new painting that is going to be even more of a challenge than my last one.. Lots of feathers and tattoos. Very excited.

xoxoxo
Charms

Ophelia / Boat Shoulders

click to see it larger

40" x 40" oil & ink on birch panel

Ophelia. Name derived from Greek οφελος (ophelos) meaning "help". Her name also belongs to Hamlet's lover who eventually went insane and drowned herself. However, the similarities end there; this Ophelia will not meet the same fate as Hamlet's lover. The sea dare not drown her, she's one who would drown the sea. She posed for me once. Phantom trade winds made her hair dance gently around her eyes, caressing the sails on the boats that rest delicately on her shoulders. The air cooled as it passed over her skin, carrying aromas of salt sweetened by the sea flowers that grow in her wake. Perhaps she would suffocate without these ghostly sea winds, without the salty air to sustain her. 
Then there are her eyes. Those two left eyes. Oh, how they hardly blinked, how one remained locked upon my gaze. Her delicate tattoos serve as a futile warning, if you can read them, you are already too close. 
She grew impatient and I could feel the unease in her, how the earth felt unstable beneath her feet. Some would call her a prisoner to the sea, though a wiser man would know the sea as her prisoner.   

As usual, I first primed the exposed wood with GAC 100, did about three coats this time. I prefer to paint directly on to the wood, as it makes blending colors easier, but having the outside portions primed makes it forgiving should any unwanted paint get on the wood (living with a kitten is sometimes dangerous). Detail was done in various colors of ink.

 Tattoos drawn with black watercolor pencil. 


Translated:

"Ad infinitum"(Latin) 

"to infinity without end"

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"y de que nadie oyera las canciones de navegantes que a veces cantaba bajo las estrellas"

"and that no one should hear the songs that sailors sometimes sang beneath the stars"

From Gabriel García Márquez's short story Un Señor Muy Viejo Cona Alas Enormes (An Old Man With Enourmous Wings) 
(Thanks to my lovely Morgita for her vast knowledge of romantic poetry)


 

above is the framed drawing of the original "Boat Shoulders". The blueprints for this piece. 
 

 

messy tubes of oil paint, little bottles of oil medium and a box of hooks, nails and screws.


Hope you like her, she'll be on exhibit in January for my solo show at Vessel. 
Prints coming soon.


xoxo
C

rainbows and raspberries

Hello dears. I hope your weekend was lovely!

Somehow San Francisco decided to be warm and rainy simultaneously today.  It was sunny with the occasional episodes of mist. The sun played tricks on the me and made the tiny rain drops look suspiciously like snow as it floated down onto our backs. It was perfect rainbow-making weather! We had a peaceful afternoon lounging at Dolores Park, where we did, in fact, see a rainbow! He, reading Bukowski and me daydreaming about ships and pirates while sipping on raspberry beer. Sometimes life is magical. 

// I've been going through a little witchy phase lately, stripes, black and lace. Sort of channeling Winona Ryder in Beetlejuice. //

Anyway, Boat Shoulders is coming along nicely. I expect it'll be finished tomorrow, just minor detailing left to do. I'm quite proud of how she turned out. I will be making prints of her and hopefully they'll be in my shop by next week.

And now all I want to do is paint boats all the time. Oh dear..

xoxo

Boat Shoulders painting - Work in Progress

Well hello Monday, meet Ophelia.

Here she is, halfway there. I'm hoping to finish her this week. And fast, because she's getting impatient. She feels naked without her boats and tattoos. Is she staring at you too? Cause she won't stop staring at me.


  

It all started the other night when Joe and I were playing silly games on our iphones. One minute we were playing Trivial Pursuit and then I sort of saw this painting in my mind, the painted version of my drawing Boat Shoulders. I saw it much differently in my head than how it's turning out, but that's how it is. You see an image, then it flits away as quickly as it arrived. I'm left with a memory that I begin to form and shape in to a painting. I never really considered my drawings to be conceptual versions of paintings, but perhaps they are beginning to be. Anyway, I have this strange love for the nautical world and I think it is rapidly becoming a common theme / direction my work is taking. 

Here she is at an earlier stage (Friday).

I seriously can't handle how beautiful this wood is. When the light hits it just right it seems to glow.  

❤,
c

black hair & book covers

I've gone ahead and dyed my hair black. My blonde streak isn't so blonde anymore, but I'll be dying it white soon. Cruella Deville? Not exactly someone to emulate, but she does have style.

// I swear my eyes look like they're two different colors here. //

We also had fun wearing hats. lots of hats.

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Also, exciting news! My lil deer is on a book cover!

Book available for purchase through Coach House Books & Amazon.
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I'm about to start painting like a madwoman. I have my solo show in January that I have to get prepared for, as well as a super fun project that I can't wait to show you. Wheeee!!

xoxo