finding my place?

I feel like my brain goes around and around in circles...I cannot for the life of me figure out where I fit in. I so desperately want to use my art, use my gifts for something that I believe in but I have no idea how to start. I spend so much time thinking, spinning my wheels about how I can be an artist who is more that just one dimension, who is about more than making money or getting recognized. But at times I barely feel like an artist, I feel small and non-existent and other times I feel as if I possess something greater than I know, creativity that could move mountains. How in the world do I use this to change the world, or even just my world...where do I begin?

One of a Kind Graffiti Bags

The Beginning

So most things I do start out looking like this...a mess...but to me this is the best way to start and this is usually the time when I am able to just let me mind go. I cover my blank canvas or whatever materials I am working on with paint, writing, doodles, scribbles and anything else that feels right at the time. I begin creating layers and layers of this mess and often times use my canvas as a journal. I write my thoughts and then paint over them and then write more thoughts and paint over that. Each layer is really a layer of me. I use this as my primer, my background for the actual peice of art and nobody would ever know that below the surface there is all this mess!!

DC Trip

So it has been a while since posting stuff...now I gotta make up for lost time! Andy and I took a trip to DC in May to visit family and I must say that the highlight of the trip for me was the National Gallery of Art...here are a few of my favorite pics~

Funky Bird

Scrap Wood Angel

Wood is my favorite thing to work with and paint on. I keep a nice collection of scrap wood that I assemple and create funky wall hangings~

Canvas Wall Banners

I had a really fun project that I did for my parents wholesale business (handmade clay hanging tiles) and that was to create a backdrop for their gift show booth. I had the idea to use my "canvas wall hanging" concept that I recently used for my graffiti murals but make each canvas panel a replication of the tiles. I think that the end result is really fun and it added so much style to the booth set up.





I have also been hard at work creating some new banners~ here are a few examples...

San Diego Women Film Foundation Collage Workshop

Recently,I had a wonderful opportunity to work with the San Diego Women Film Foundation at their annual thank you dinner. I led an art project where each member was given a square of canvas that they were responsible for expressing themselves on. They were asked o reflect on their year of events, classes and community work and create a peice of collaged art that was specific to their experienices. Each square will be sewn into a large canvas that I created with collaged materials and painting.

Creative Energy

I am feeling a creative energy that has been missing for a while and it feels good. Completing the graffiti project was really a fun accomplishment and it really gave me a lot of inspiration. I finally took a risk and really went wild in creating something without any boundaries, no worries about approval, I created something for me and the outcome has been rewarding. I have gotten so much postitive feedback and interest and it really gives me so much confidence to continue moving forward with my art and being open to take some chances and put myself out there.

Being an artist is strange, at times it feels like a burden- always feeling like I gotta keep going, keep making things, feeling like I have to somehow make it as a true artist but then you go through times of feeling dried up, like the inspiration is gone and you will never get it back and then something sparks an idea and you act on it, you make your idea become a reality and then all of sudden you are knee deep in creative energy and paint and making a wonderful mess. It is like a high- this process of creating something from nothing and when you are done, when your idea is complete you go back to square one- sometimes with new ideas, sometimes with no ideas and so the process starts over again and again and again...

Christmas Ornaments

Here is a small sample of the line of about 25 handmade ornaments that I make every holiday season and once again it is that time of year! But this will be the first time in 5 years that I won't be pushing to sell ornaments. There is just not enough time this with everything else going on in my life so if anyone would like custom ornaments please let me know and we'll figure something out otherwise I will get back in the groove next year!

Graffiti Project

So I completed this huge project for our hall- a series of really large graffiti murals that incorporated collage, painting, and graphics and it was so much fun to work on. I even got my husband Andy to contribute his own cool doodles and drawing to some of the painings. The finished products are amazing!

More Favorites

One of my most favorite paintings that I did recently was one that my dad asked me to paint for him to go in his studio space. Being a die hard surfer and lover of all "things ocean" he asked me to do a simple painting of a wave, (a left of course) and the final product turned out great, espcially with all the texture that you can see on the surface.


Another favorite piece that I have is a large painting that was chosen to be a poster for the Portland Women's Resource Center. The posters were sold to raise money for the program which was pretty cool. The orginal painting is collage on wood with acrylic painting over the collage. I loved this particular piece and I really loved that it could be used for a cause that I really believed in.