Inspiration in the Mundane and Unceremonious

Each morning I enjoy a stroll around the historic Hot Springs area of Truth or Consequences.  As I set out, I look forward to delightful surprises - a mullein plant next to the sidewalk, cactus blooms, the sunrise reflecting on the Rio Grande, a conversation with a spa visitor, or greeting a neighbor.  Today was no exception.  

Though I've passed the intersection of Austin and Mims many times,  today I looked up and noticed something I had not seen previously - this patio cover of latillas with the ends carved and painted to resemble sharpened colored pencils. What a delight - something I've never seen before.  I love the humble and unceremonious ways that humanity's creative spirit delights and uplifts each of us. Thank you to the person who surrendered to their creative impulses becoming a vehicle for this wonderful patio cover.  I'm sure its creation uplifted you, but today it also brightened the world for me.  I'm thankful for this inspiration from the universe.    

Latillas that look like pencils.  At the corner of Austin and Mims in Truth or Consequences, NM.

Truth or Consequences, NM, new home to my studio →

This little video tells the story of the great NM town that is new home to my studio. Across the street from Dust & Glitter and just past the El Cortez Theatre, you'll catch a glimpse of Light of the Soul, to open in March. I heartily encourage you to come experience this surprising little town for yourself. You'll be glad you did.

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What keeps me going

It has taken years for me to focus on myself and my own expression.  Therefore, since I'm no longer a whippersnapper, I'd like as many days left as possible.  So,  I'm inspired by those who continue to be passionate about creating until late into life.  As a woman, women, particularly, inspire me.  I enjoyed this NYT article about Carmen Herrera, 94, who exclaims "Only my love of the straight line keeps me going."  For me, it's a love of angles.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/arts/design/20herrera.html?smid=tw-share

Yeah! Front of new studio has been painted.

Yeah! Hard to believe, but this is the same building with the wood facade removed and the front painted.  I would have preferred to keep the original red brick, but since the bottom had already been painted blue, the only feasible option was to paint it all.  I think the gradated terra cotta colors work with the original brick work at the top.  The concrete pillars will remain unpainted.  The lettering for "Light of the Soul" has been ordered and will be installed on the horizontal concrete next month.  I also plan to do something around the windows - not sure yet - maybe awnings or maybe some scroll work with mirror tiles.  We'll see.  Below is a close-up of the bench.  I like the lotus flower.  Glad to be off the very tall ladder.  Next, inside walls will be painted. 

The painted lotus-flower bench. 

Relocating my studio to Truth or Consequences, NM

My husband and I have always enjoyed summers in New Mexico.  For some time now, we've loved our off-the-grid adobe in the mountains of Catron County.  Retired now, we expect to spend a good part of each year here.  So I decided to relocate my studio here too.  In the Spring, I found a building in a quirky hot springs town on the banks of the Rio Grande River - Truth or Consequences.  Yes, that's the name - named after a 50's game show.  I will work and exhibit in an old bank building (circa 1917) at 411 Main Street. (Living quarters in the back too.)  I plan to open on 2nd Saturday Art Hop nights and event weekends.  Until then, there's lots to do.  This summer the roof was redone.  Now I'm painting inside and out.  Here are some photos.  The top photo is the building when I got it.  In the middle photo, the original building reveals itself as the "old western" facade and porch is removed.  The bottom photo is a view across the street.  More to be posted next week. 

Stephanie models for me

As I mentioned in my last blog post, at the Phoenix Art Museum, I happened  upon a great sketching opportunity - a lovely dancer in frequently changing dynamic poses.  I love to draw from life.  Drawing from photos just doesn't compare.  Only in life does one get such light and space.  In the process of visualizing the shapes and angles in three-dimensional space, I lose myself.  Only a live model brings her life energy to the sketch.   As you could see from my last blog, I spent hours in quick sketches, but wanted more.  So I asked her to model for me.  She liked the idea too! I was thrilled.  Here is a figure drawing of Stephanie during our first studio time together.  What a fabulous model Stephanie is - beautiful inside and out.  We plan to have more sessions in the months to come.  I'll share my drawings and you'll get to enjoy her more too.  

First Friday Life Drawing at the Phoenix Art MuseumY

Feb 5, 2016  First Friday @phxart  #phxartff  Is she real?  Whoa, she is.  What?  There are live models here tonight.  I run home, grab my sketchbook and pencils, and run back hoping she's still modeling.  Yes!  Fast poses, but so dynamic.  You can tell Stephanie is a dancer.  Fun and challenging.  What a wonderful surprise. I concentrate on seeing shapes and angles and presto, a lovely girl.  I hope the PAM will have live models again.  Love sketching from life.

Quiet Conversations

Quiet Conversation II  Jaswant Khalsa 36" x 48" Acrylic on Canvas

Quiet Conversations I and II were my last paintings of 2015, each 36" x 48", to be hung side by side horizontally.   I enjoyed combining the looser green/blue/yellow/violet abstract with the geometric female figures so that they alternately merge and emerge.  They convey intimate communication between friends. I hope the holidays have offered you too quality time with friends and family.  Here's to embracing what 2016 will bring.

Beauty at work

This painting ofJawn Golo of Golo Family Organic Farms at the Phoenix Public Market downtown was painted as gift for her and her family as a small gesture of gratitude for the love, joy, and inspiration my husband and I have received buying produce grown and sold by her and her family.  Compared to what we have received from her, it is only a small gesture.  We have been blessed by Ms. Golo every Saturday for years. 

Jawn Golo of golofamilyorganicfarms.com receiving her portrait from artist, Jaswant Khalsa

Ms. Golo received the painting yesterday but it wasn't quite dry.  I will gift to her again at the market on Christmas Eve.  She is a special lady.  

Kaleidoscope Dreams

Here is a fun mixed media piece (16 x 16) which began as a pencil sketch of a live model.  Then it was mounted on canvas where I played with color.  It's at tonight's Phoenix Art Center's First Friday show called "Behind the Red Door," a reference to what happens behind the red door of Edna Dapo's Drawing and Painting classes.  Fun, good times, and art.  See the work of Edna's students at the Central Arts Plaza on Central Avenue (former Viad Building). 

Delving into figure study this summer

I'm enjoying my focus, this summer, on figure drawing from live models.  Studied for several weeks at Ryder Studio School in Santa Fe.  Here is a 16 hour male figure study completed there.  Thank you to Tony and Celeste who were fabulous.    

Last week, in Palm Springs for the International Film Festival

Last week, I was in Palm Springs for the 2015 International Film Festival.  Fabulous films.  Such a beautifully organized event with astoundingly effective graphic design of a ton of information.  While in town, we enjoyed fabulous architecture,  fashion, food, furniture, jewelry, paintings, and sculpture, too.  Stunning visual design everywhere.  Here are a few glimpses of humble window display designs that were awesome.  I love fabulous design wherever it is.    

Frilly pink poodle at Ooh La La on Palm Canyon Drive

Fabulous fashion and jewels on an elegant mannequin at Fe Zandi Haute Couture on El Paseo Drive in Palm Desert.

Reflections of me and El Paseo Drive in this colorful abstract landscape by Tracy Lynn Pristas at the Filsinger Gallery in Palm Desert

Dive right in!

In Feb 2013 issue of The Sun, I recently read Wrong Turn, Mark Leviton's interview with Rupert Sheldrake, author of Science Set Free.  You can read more at sheldrake.org.  In this interview, Rupert Sheldrake discusses his concept of "morphic resonance" similar to "Carl Jung's concept of collective unconscious or Hinduism's akashic records, which store all knowledge on another plane of existence."

Watching surfers, I was reminded of Sheldrake's idea that my individual perception/experience/memory is one with all in space and time.  I perceive this concept visually - each moment a hologram of the totality.

In the split second of this surfer's courage and enthusiasm is, was, and will always be the totality of eternity.   I am reminded of Course in Miracle's  "Nothing real can be threatened. Therein lies the peace of God."  Live in fearlessness.  Go for it!  Take the risk!  Dive right in!  Enthusiasm is God in us.  Such a beautiful irony - in Love, taking and giving are one!  Like all who came before him and all who come after him, this surfer, immersed in the joy and fearlessness of the moment, gives the same to me and everyone.  We are truly One.  In this way, when I nourish myself, I nourish you.  When you nourish yourself, you nourish me.

I think this is the reason that I experience each painting as a grand discovery - a surrender.  Each image truly manifests through me, but not from me.  Each image is brand new and yet has existed in all beings through all time.

Life, love, reality is beyond amazing!

Do diamonds just fall from the sky?

 

On Wednesday, an unexpected delight fell from the sky in Phoenix - graupel.  Graupel is a form of soft hail – a mix of ice and snow.  Out of the blue, in the middle of the afternoon, a storm broke pelting rooftops and blanketing the city in white.  At a local school, classroom doors were thrown open. Throngs of amazed children rushed to see the unbelievable.  This couldn't happen, but it did.  The whole city came alive.   It was as though an entire population was witnessing a miracle and the remarkable energy was palpable.  No one could recollect snow falling on a February afternoon in Phoenix, "the city that rose from ashes".

Tiny sparkling pellets of ice accumulated on every horizontal surface.  They reminded me of diamonds.  Yes, on Wednesday,  diamonds fell from the desert sky.

What an unexpected gift, sent to remind me that anything is possible. The whole experience generated the wonder that I feel in every painting.  I revel in the flow of water into unpredictable patterns that merge into lines and hues that I never could have designed.   This is the exhilaration of painting with water media.

I am reminded to embrace each moment – to remain open to finding the value in each brushstroke and the flow that results from every spritz of water.  If I stay stuck in that which I already know, I cannot discover that which I seek.   If I fear the unknown, then I will block that which the universe offers.  Graupel in Phoenix reminded me to stay open to the new and to embrace the unfamiliar.   Experimentation fuels innovation.  There are no mistakes – only discoveries.