Feliz Navidad!

Surreal Salon

'Mer-Pop'

Things are not always what they seem. . .
this sexy sailor hides a secret beneath the deep.

I've had this twisted image in my head for over a year now, I'm relieved to finally get it out! I first came up with this idea in response to a show about gender, which I failed to enter at the time. Then when I saw the ad for the Surreal Salon in Juxtapoz, I figured this might qualify as "Low-Brow Pop-Surrealism". It's been a big goal of mine to enter a National Exhibition, so I went for it! It felt like an accomplishment just to finish the painting and submit my entry -whether I was selected or not, at least I did it. Then I received notification that I actually made it into the show! Hot Damn!! They said they got over 300 submissions, so I'm feeling pretty good about making the cut. Best in Show will be published in Juxtapoz and Hi-Fructose magazines! -Hopefully with a link to the rest of the show, which could result in some excellent exposure. . . Toot  toot!

The Show will run through January in Baton Rouge

Surreal Salon IV

Did you know that Popeye was an animal rights activist?!

"I got a lotta muscle and I only gots one eye / And I'll never hurt nobodys and I'll never tell a lie / Top to me bottom and me bottom to me top / That's the way it is 'til the day that I drop, what am I?

I yam what I yam." 
-Popeye

The Wild One

Marlon Brando from the 1953 Outlaw Biker Film 'The Wild One'

Blackburnian Warbler

 

 Johnny

 

Where's Warbler?

 

Every year the Portland Audubon Society holds their Wild Arts Festival in November to fundraise for our feathered friends. Every year I aim to contribute to their big 6x6 Project, and this year I finally did it! I still had my free blank canvas from last year, so I was already ahead of the game. I had fun with this little painting -even though I don't usually paint on canvas. It was a good exercise for me and I'm happy to have pulled it off and even happier that it SOLD within the first hour (out of over 150 paintings!). 

Woo-Hoo!!

 

 See the trailer HERE

 

 

Puttin' it out there.

If you haven't been to Screaming Sky yet, or just need another excuse to get over there, these 2 Luchadores are hanging in their Sugar and Spice show through November 20th. Some Photos from opening night can be seen: HERE

This eve of November's First Friday, seems like a good time for an update of what I have going on around town. I'm happy to report that it's been a busy couple of months here in the BoneHaus! This Friday night is shaping up to be an exciting evening, with TWO openings to attend! If you are thinking about getting out and about, and the idea of kicking off your weekend with art and free wine sounds good to you -I hope to run into you!

I plan to be at 100th Monkey studio between 6ish -7ish
for The Square Affair, presenting my plastic punk princess 'Poly Styrene'
for Create Plenty's Plastic awareness campaign: The Int'l Plastic Quilt project

Then heading over to Splendorporium's Tarot Show between 7:30 - 8:30ish to show off  'Hoochie Koo' -which has been renamed with a Tarot twist to 'The Transformer' -representing the Death card and all that is discarded gaining new life upon reinvention (recycling!).

If you missed Nirvana's First group show, the bad news is that it has just come down, but the GOOD news is that I sold the piece I had hanging in it! Yay!

If you're a Dia de los Muertos fan, there's still one more week to catch the show at Lunar Boy out in Astoria, where I have 3 Calaveras cavorting with an assortment of other artful skellies.

If you don't have a Calavera for your wall yet, check out the ones I have for sale at Mag-Big on Hawthorne and Aster and Bee on Division -where I also have a selection of sacred hearts available.
I have also recently updated my Etsy site with fresh new sparkly skulls!
Check 'em out!

Art is in the air. . . take a whiff!


;-)

Poly Styrene

Quilt square for the International Plastic Quilt Project

Titled 'Poly Styrene' of  X-Ray Spex

Inspired by the song: Plastic Bag

Please read more about Poly HERE

I used to collect books about quilt making, wreath making, canning and Amish crafts. I used to have a subscription to Martha Stewart's 'Living'. There was a time when I wanted to be normal. I craved to be crafty in an acceptable way. After the fallout from being a promiscuous anarchist in high school, I chose the path of redemption by marrying a conservative 'Golden Boy' and succumbing to respectable stability. I did cross-stitch and drank Coors! But not for long! Before I knew it, I was shaking things up again, making life difficult, veering down the path of passionate, gut-wrenching dream-following. . .which hasn't turned out so bad. . . I married the 'Bad Boy' who turned out to be a good boy (and a great dad) and we drink lots of great beer together! But things haven't settled down. It seems that the older we get, the more we are still figuring things out, especially now that we are in full-blown, mid-life crisis mode! One of the biggest challenges I seem to face is striving to be true to myself, in spite of how it fits in. It's too easy to get caught up in the image of what I think I'm supposed to be, or what I suspect others want me to be, but the old-fashioned rebel in me wants to go back to what I know best, the parts of me that will never change (or grow up).

I recently met Anna Magruder, an amazing painter I really admire. We got to talking about subject matter and what inspires us. She told me how fascinated she is with the complicated beauty of women's faces and the stories they tell. I told her how I seem to be struggling with WHAT to paint and that I hadn't had a 'muse' since the Mohawk guy I used to draw in high school. It sounded silly, I know, but she told me to go back to it and start there.

Funny how long it takes us to get back to where we started!

Hoochie Koo!

 Hoochie Koo!

Muertos Season is upon us!

Though it is time to welcome back and celebrate the lives of the dead, it feels too soon for me to celebrate my brother in this way. . . since we are still in the process of letting him go.

My own personal take on Dia de los Muertos is that it is less about grieving and more about facing our fears about death and showing off our acceptance of it: celebrating the cycle. When death tragically comes too soon, it is harder to reconcile.

I embrace the inevitability of my own eventual, unavoidable death by mocking its power over me. I like to make weird, wild and whacky Calaveras to show that skulls don't have to be morbid and ghoulish and fearful, they can be opulent, colorful and kooky! -Take that Death!

If you're headed to Last Thursday on Alberta, I hope you will visit Screaming Sky Gallery (Alberta & 14th) for the Opening of their Dia de los Muertos Group Show (I'm in it!).

Exploiting the Mystique of Accident

 'Kick out the Jams Motherfucker'

a Mixed-Media Collaboration between Aaron Goodrich and Alea Bone

After years of frustration over my lack of direction in art, this summer seemed like a good break to take a less serious approach and let go of all my stifling expectations and experiment a bit. Since I haven't yet developed anything that even remotely resembles a signature 'style',  I let go of all intentions to try to live up to what I see in my mind's eye and embarked on my first collaborative project into the mystery of the unplanned.  I have always been very product oriented, but this time it was about the process. . . the process of letting go. Letting go of what kind of art I want to make, or how I'm going to make it. . . and just play with paper and paint (regardless of the outcome).

But I can't seem to let go completely, even in the end I am still searching to critique the project; define what it meant to me and what I learned from it, when the whole point was to allow myself not to make sense and grant myself the freedom to just play for no other reason. I don't know WHY it is so hard for me to just lighten up and be playful! Those who know me know that I don't laugh as much as I should and I take life way too seriously. A penchant for angst I guess. -I'm working on that! I over think everything and nothing seems to flow naturally. It's a constant struggle to find my groove. I feel like a musician bursting with songs to play -but still searching for the right instrument (master of none). Being blocked sucks! Both as an artist and as a person. If only I could just scream "Fuck it!" and kazoo my brains out! Or PAINT my guts out!! Or just create something glorious.

But getting back to the point, Aaron was generous enough to venture into this game with me, and though our circumstances were not ideal (are they EVER?!) we made some art together. There is no theme. There were no rules. It was merely an exchange between 2 different hands picking up where the other left off. We had a few challenges with medium, but mostly it was a fun little exercise in unpredictability! We both wish we could have taken the project further, exchanging the boards a few more times. . .perhaps another 'Dbl A' collab?

We'll keep you posted.

Meantime, please check out our 'Combined Werx'  at First Cup on SE 41st and Woodstock thru September.

Sebastian

Milagro for Sebastian

How do you wrap your head around that which makes no sense? The brain spins, numb. The heart aches with burning sorrow. Everything slows down to a surreal timelessness, hovering between memories and eternity, to a place that defies description or logic. A place that has no name. There are no words to define this place or the experience of being in it . . . there is only Love.

I could try to explain how I feel or what I have been through this past week, but it is not about me or my staggering grief. There is something much more powerful than my own experience, it is that which is greater than all of us, the thread that connects us all. It is the love of a Mother and Father's Son, a Sister's Brother, 2 Children's Father and countless others who looked up to him. It is about Sebastian and the energy of a life that has now been released.

A time like this calls for Love and Love only. It is all that I have to work with and all that I have to give. In person or from a distance, my Love is the same. If I focus my heart on the light of Sebastian, I know that I have not lost him and never will, as long as my heart still beats.

As I sit here now attempting to process my thoughts and emotions, I have to share the story of yesterday . . .

I had to make a trip out to Astoria on the NW tip of OR, a 2+ hour drive from Portland. N8 and I desperately needed a change of scenery, hoping to escape the confines of our grief. As I reached for a handful of CDs for the road, I pulled out Joshua Tree, longing for the comfort of the nostalgia it evokes of my first intensely impressionable Summer in Yosemite. I have recently been reliving those days through a 'Reunion-type' page created on Facebook and have been flooded with the sweet pangs of my past life (and loves). I hate to admit it but, I have sought refuge in reliving the past on Facebook as a way to deny the pain of the present. 

So, N8 and I headed out of town on the Hwy that hugs the Columbia on its journey to the Pacific. It was a beautiful day, with perfectly blue skies and shimmering golden sunlight dancing through the trees. It felt good to get out of the city, off the computer and away from the phone. U2 setting the tone as the soundtrack to our own journey . . . and then the lyrics spoke to me, pulling my heart towards the realization that we were following Sebastian's spirit:

We turn away to face the cold enduring chill
As the day begs the night for mercy, love
The sun so bright it leaves no shadows, only scars
Carved into stone on the face of earth
The moon is up and over One Tree Hill
We see the sun go down in your eyes
You run like a river to the sea
You run like a river runs to the sea 

I'll see you again when the stars fall from the sky 

We run like a river runs to the sea
We run like a river to the Sea!

I had not planned to go to Astoria, in fact, I was trying to avoid the long drive. But now it hit home and I knew I was doing the right thing, exactly where I needed to be.

Oh, great ocean - oh, great sea 

Run to the ocean - run to the Sea! 

I could feel, REALLY FEEL Sebastian's spirit on his journey to the sea -racing along the river beside me.

When we got to town, we drove all the way up to the highest point, to climb the column. Just as we reached the parking lot, a car backed out of the very first parking space just in front of us -with New Mexico plates. Seeing the sun symbol of the Zia surely meant something! N8 and I absorbed the breathtaking beauty of the incredible view and held each other as we had a moment of silence for Sebastian. I stood behind my son with my hands wrapped around his chest and felt his heart beating in my hand. I meditated on the confluence of where the Columbia meets the sea, where one life flows into the massive expanse of the 'Mother', and imagined Sebastian's spirit merging with the Universe.

By the time we got home yesterday evening, we learned that Sebastian had passed away.  We also learned that a good friend gave birth to a new baby girl! So a day that had begun without any order of sense, ended with peace, harmony and balance. 

Escape to Cloud Mountain

Whether you are an unassuming horny toad scampering across the parched Arizona heat-scape, or fun loving bathers on holiday at the community pool, we are ALL potential prey for the green-eyed feline phantom who sniffs out our weakness for blind bliss and answers only to the call of the wild. Do not become unhinged in that world between fear and false security. . . ESCAPE to Cloud Mountain, where the mystical vapors will fog your mind with visions of tangerine dahlias softly spinning through the air.

(Inspired by recent world events)

Love it? Or Hate it?

I'm not sure how this happened. . . but it did.

I thought this one might be done, until I saw THIS!

How do I know when to stop?

Dbl A - Phase 1 Aaron's Boards

Looking for a way in to these. . .

Aaron told me this last board felt done to him and it looks done to me too! Not sure what I can or should add to it.

                                                                                              Feeling cautious. . .

     

Dbl A - Phase 1

 

Aaron and I made our first swap. He gave me his 5 boards, I gave him these 4.

Here is an overview of what was going through my head as I made these. . .

How do I make art for/with someone else?

Will our styles jive?

Do I have a style?

Do I keep my part small to make room for him?

Where do I put 'my part'? 

Would it be too bossy of me to hog the center?

Can polite art be good art?

How much do I do?

Did I do too much?

Am I just setting the stage/creating a 'background'?

Will my collage images lead him? -Is that good or bad?

Wish I wasn't so afraid to DRAW!

Illustration board doesn't take paint like wood does!

Is there a theme emerging?

Does it matter if it doesn't make sense? 

When does an experiment become the Real thing?

What will he think?

What will he DO?

Control Freak-out

(I did not make this)
 http://www.corpse.org/index.php?option=com_zoom&Itemid=99999999&page=view&catid=14&PageNo=1&key=2&hit=1

Collaboration is working together to achieve a goal. It is the process of two or more people working together to realize shared goals, (this is more than the intersection of common goals seen in co-operative ventures, but a deep, collective, determination to reach an identical objective) — for example, an intriguing endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus.  

( I really LOVE the concept of deep, collective, determination!).

About a year ago I put it on my wish list to someday do some collaborative art. I was inspired by some of the projects I had seen Jennifer Mercede and Chris Haberman do -like in this video where they create a mural in 1 day together! It just looks so rewarding, growth inducing and fun. The first person who came to my mind was Rad Dad: Aaron Goodrich -artist and fellow active parent volunteer at our kid's school. I really like his style (I'm secretly hoping some of his awesomeness will rub off on me). One of the things I admire about Aaron is that he makes a lot of art! Whether it's tattoo flash, motorcycle tanks or skateboard decks, he's gettin' it done and putting it out there. He even created the best selling T-shirt design in Lewis Elementary's history! Anyway, he's got it goin' on and I really respect him, so I'm thrilled that he accepted my offer to create some artwork together for an upcoming show at our ever-popular-neighborhood coffee shop. Our deal is this:  5  15 x 20 boards each, lay something down then swap. Expand, transform, revise then swap again. We intend to trade boards at least 3 times, without any rules, or boundaries, or expectations. We really don't know what we're doing, but we're both game and eager to make some ART! It should be interesting (fun to say the least) to see how it turns out.

I have NEVER done anything like this before and am in completely in unknown territory. Obviously, I don't know what I'm doing or if I'm even doing it 'right'. The hardest part for me is letting go of the plan. I like to work with a road map where I have an inkling of where I'm going and what I'm doing. Any idea I attempt to cling to runs the risk of complete transformation by Aaron -which could be a wild and wonderful thing if I can remain open to it. I hope he can play off what I provide for him and vice versa. I must let go of of any preconceived notions and simply . . . dive in.



"The Exquisite Corpse Adventure is like playing a game of hot potato, tossing the spud from person to person. Sure, everyone wants the potato to stay in the air. But it's also really fun if you can put some spin on it when you throw it so the next person has to really reach to grab it. The fumble and save is part of the thrill of the game."
– paraphrased from M.T. Anderson

Lollipop Circus

The work of Alexander Calder

Well, I finally found my way into a show Downtown. I don't know why it feels like such a BIG DEAL to me, but I'm excited! This is a group exhibition of work inspired by the Mid Century Master Alexander Calder. I enjoyed studying his art and eagerly took on the challenge of creating my own homage to him. I referred to the above images as a jumping off point and tried to come up with something that borrowed a few of his design elements while still trying to allow my own 'Style' to show through. Although I don't feel like I have found my artistic voice yet, I do know that I like the look and feel of painting on wood and I'm hell-bent on incorporating found objects. I'm still on this music kick as you can see by the guitar picks and tuning key and for this one, I even cut up a record . . . that was fun!

 I've named this clown 'Xeno' from the Greek Xenos meaning Stranger.

You can check him out at the opening on 6/2 -my First 'First Thursday'!

The show will be up all month at The Original Dinerant

Hope to see you there!

For more details on the show, go to: www.elroyartspace.com

 

Still a Flower Child

 

BoneWerx takes many forms. 

In case you're wondering where I've been, I've spent the last few months organizing a Plant Sale at my son's Elementary School. For a peek at the 2nd Annual Lewis Garden Fair, check out these pics on Flickr

"My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece." - Claude Monet

Duty Now for the Future!

 

New Traditionalist?

I think it was 1981, I was 15. I was just venturing out into the world, tentatively taking the bus out to Telegraph to stroll the streets, in search of the pieces to the puzzle that would ultimately define myself. I remember one time wandering the campus of UC Berkeley and being struck by some guys shouting out a window. I didn't get what they were saying, but they were hanging a crudely crafted banner outside their 3rd floor window which read DEVO! It was spray painted on a sheet and they were really excited about it and I got excited too even though all I knew about DEVO at the time I had learned from MTV and that was to "Whip it. . . Whip it Good!"

That song was catchy and the video was pretty slick, but beneath the commercial facade, I felt a kinship to a cult that was brewing: a cult of fed-up, misfit, pissed off, anarchist arty rebels who wanted to save the world, who saw things were going to shit and wanted to speak up about it. That impression, that moment, that day, stuck with me. It was my first exposure to how a band could become a movement, how the power of art (music) can make a scene and hopefully make a difference. I was at that impressionable age when the music rang loud and true to my ears, made my head spin and burned a hole in my heart. It hit me where it hurts and defined who I am today. Deep down, I think I'll always identify with that misfit rebel who wants to save the world.

I never got to see DEVO back in the day, though their music remained an underlying current to my adolescence. After growing up and growing away from the in-your-face-fervor of the punkadelic wave, I finally got the opportunity tonight to ride that wave again.  I admit I was afraid of what a difference 30 years would make and that they might be a woeful sham of what they once were. . . but DEVO delivered! They were not nearly as old and fat as I feared they would be, or as I felt I was, or as the audience clearly seemed to be!

Something came over me sometime around when they played 'Going Under' and I was 15 again, full of Passion and Rage! The lyrics came back to me as a mantra from my youth:

THINK YOU HEARD THIS ALL BEFORE

NOW YOU'RE GONNA HEAR SOME MORE
I KNOW A PLACE WHERE DREAMS GET CRUSHED
HOPES ARE SMASHED BUT THAT AIN'T MUCH
VOLUNTARY EXPERIMENTATION
GOING THROUGH SOFT CORE MUTATION
I'M GOING UNDER
DOWN UNDER WHERE THE LIGHTS ARE LOW
TO A PLACE WHERE ALL THE MUTANTS GO
DOING THINGS I NEVER DID BEFORE
INSIDE OUT AND COMING BACK FOR MORE
LITTLE GIRLS WITH THE FOUR RED LIPS
NEVER KNEW IT COULD BE LIKE THIS
YOU PUT ME IN A SITUATION
GOIN' THROUGH SOFT CORE MUTATION

 

The scars of Experimentation suddenly stung with a fresh vengeance and transformed me into a 44 year old gyrating-slam-dancing teenager jerking back and forth! Needless to say, the person I was with was not enthused by my antics and apparently the surrounding fogies didn't appreciate my display either! Who the Hell were all those people anyway?! I don't remember them being around back when I was out-casted for being a New Wave Freak! If they were freaks also, then WHY weren't they dancing with me tonight? How can you listen to DEVO and stand still? Who the Hell do they think they are? Standing Still is Living Still. If that's who they are, then that's what's wrong with the world. The message is still the same (30 years later) Thing's are fucked so Act out, Freak out, get pissed! And don't be afraid to piss other people off . . . at least I lived a little tonight! I never cared before what people thought, so why should I now? All that really matters is how you feel and what you do about it.

"a victim of collision on the open sea

nobody ever said that life was free

sank, swam, go down with the ship

but use your freedom of choice

I'll say it again in the land of the free

use your freedom of choice

YOUR FREEDOM OF CHOICE!"

The Groove

 

'The Groove' 

For those that didn't make it to the Opening of the Love Show last night,

THIS is what I made for it. 

Seeking to resist the stereotypical notions of love between two people, I thought it would be fun to depict another passion of mine: Music! I can't paint without it. I must have it when I work out, drive, cook, clean and eat. There is ALWAYS music playing at the BoneHaus, both inside and out. It's how we live. Dave Brubeck dinners, Muddy Waters camp fires, Bluegrass breakfasts and White Stripe road trips. There is an ever-changing soundtrack that is as much a part of our family as another breathing, beating heart. It sets the tone for our life; to motivate, inspire, arouse, soothe and fulfill our inner yearnings. It's what gets me up and keeps me going. Nietzsche said, "Without music life would be a mistake". My art, like my life is richly inspired by the music I love.

A painter paints pictures on canvas.  But musicians paint their pictures on silence.  ~Leopold Stokowski

Music is the art which is most nigh to tears and memory.  ~Oscar Wilde

Music is the shorthand of emotion.  ~Leo Tolstoy

Music is love in search of a word.  ~Sidney Lanier

Music is the poetry of the air.  ~Richter

And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares that infest the day
Shall fold their tents like the Arabs
And as silently steal away.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Day Is Done

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

A big accomplishment (for me)

(a sneak peek)

For the past few years I've heard about this Love Show that Launch Pad puts on. Last year I actually went and was blown away by all the incredible interpretations of love by both established and emerging local artists. My friend Kelly Akin was in the show which was my main motivation for going to see it. It became a fantasy of mine to be in it too! I set a goal this year to do just that and yesterday I dropped off my painting at Gallery Homeland!

It's hard to describe the range of emotions one goes through when setting out create a piece of art for a specific purpose/event. For me, it starts with the idea which is very exciting at first! But then comes the task of making it happen and figuring out how on earth I will possibly be able to bring it to life. The work of actually making it always takes much longer than I ever anticipate and I end up pulling ridiculously late nighters and painting until the wee hours of the morning to make the deadline -which really hurts when I have to get up early to take the boy to school or a birthday party the next morning! I haven't done much painting like this since I was in school, in fact this is the first time I have attempted to draw the human form in 13 years -and it did NOT come back to me easily! It felt good to be passionately consumed in my art again, even though I was deliriously exhausted, even though I might have neglected my housekeeping and family a little (OK, a lot!).

I have come to realize that you cannot live a balanced life when art is involved. It's a crock, or at least it's not the kind of art I want to make. Things get thrown wildly out of balance in order to focus on what is important at the moment. What is key is having a support system that respects understands this. Of course, they are always important, but I am more than just a wife and a mother. . . I am also an artist. I know it sucks for them and it's hard to put up with, but I'll clean up when I'm done.

I made my painting and though I felt like I could have kept working on it, I dropped it off within an hour of the submission deadline. I labored over this baby like it was my 2nd child and now I am sending it off to camp: LOVE Camp! My stomach was full of butterflies as I loaded it up into the car (it's BIG). On my way to the gallery I saw a friend on her bike and I actually pulled over and flagged her down to show off the precious cargo I had in my trunk! I'm such a giddy geek! When I got to the gallery I saw C. Haberman, one of the curators of the show. Though we are not close friends, I called out to him and proclaimed "Look! I made something!!" I'm not sure why, but my knees were shaking. This first big show feels more like a prom than anything. I'm so thrilled to have followed through with a goal of mine and to be included in the company of so many artists I adore! I feel like I am 'coming out' and I want everyone to see that: Look, I can do it too!

To see over 300 works of art and to see my painting in full, come to the Love Show next Saturday, 2/12/11 from 7pm to 12am and bring a can of food for the Oregon Food Bank!

'Love Letters' by Chris Haberman & Teresa Garber

Luv is in the air!

'Ornaments of the eternal flame'

Just in time for Valentine's day! It's what seemed to make sense when I secured the February slot at First Cup Coffee House to show my art. After all, Luv is in the air! As I was hanging today, my friend remarked that she thought my stuff looked very "Rock & Roll" and I can't honestly think of a higher compliment! I must be on the right track, it feels like the natural progression from my Calaveras to now take on Sacred Hearts; another form of Mexican Folk Art for me to tweak and twist into my own funky style. I still love the rustic nature of ruddy old plywood and now I have discovered a new thrill: working with METAL! Tin cans, pie tins, lunch boxes, cookie canisters, you name it, I'm cutting it up! I've got the wounds to prove it, (bleeding for art somehow doesn't hurt as much). I'm having a lot of fun working with new tools and I've got a lot of new ideas on the burner. There's something about the combination of wood and paint and metal that really clicks for me. I can't really explain the attraction or why I feel compelled to craft 3-dimensional assemblages when I have so many 'drawings' in my head. It's funny for an 'Illustration major' to be so resistant to drawing! All I can say is that this is where I am now, and what is coming out. I'm just grateful (and a bit relieved) that I managed to get something out. . . and done. . . and up on a wall -in public!
Check it out if you're in the neighborhood:

First Cup
4103 SE Woodstock Blvd. PDX
or
you can view them here: www.flickr.com

"Art must be an expression of love or it is nothing." -Marc Chagall

Chain of Events

I went to art school because I wanted to be on the cover of Rolling Stone. Well, not really me, but my art. I dreamed of doing album covers and rock posters. I wanted to illustrate the music that drives me. . . that was the dream. Then Life happened, I got married then took a 1000 mile pilgrimage from SE France to NW Spain, then came back, bought a house and got a job to pay the mortgage. Then Motherhood happened and I worked part time at night, raising my boy by day until I got laid off 2 years ago. Now Art is happening. . . again.

A couple of years ago, el Hueso gave me the Art of Modern Rock for my birthday. I could feel the fire burning in my belly again. I drooled over the pages, marking my favorites, taking note of the artists that inspire me.

A month ago, a couple of friends invited me to go to the Goodfoot to see the Art of Musical Maintenance show. The entire place was plastered with righteous rock radness! Tempted by the dizzying display of posters, I didn't buy anything, wanting to wait for one from a show I'd been to, something that would mean more to me.

On New Years day, I went to see X at the Roseland. The man and I don't go out much anymore, but it was still technically my Birthday week so I talked him into it. I knew it would be too good a show to miss! I had never seen them play before, but the show took me back to a time and place that I thought I might have lost forever.

There was a poster for sale at the show. I could barely make it out in the dim light. It looked like it might be a Gary Houston! I didn't buy it then but hunted for it later the next day. I found it on the Voodoo Catbox website and called the studio. Gary answered the phone and gave me directions to come on over!! I was so excited that I called the only person who I thought might be as thrilled as me to see the studio and meet Gary. Turns out my buddy has a collection of GH posters and is a huge fan!

Today, we took a field trip to the Voodoo Catbox studio under the St. John's Bridge. Hell Yessss!

Today was an AWESOME day!

Gary Houston wrapping up my X poster

The journey continues. . .

Back to school for The Boy, back to work for The Man and back on track for Mamalea. The business of Life and each of our routines resumes. This year, I am not starting over, just picking up where I left off. Sure I'm making plans and setting goals, but mostly I am focusing on what I have already started and trying to stay committed to the pursuit of art making.

Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on,
with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.
~Hal Borland

. . . and so the journey continues. This new year is as much a fresh start as each and every day is, when I awake to find that I am still Alive and in Love and on my Way.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.

From Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

Happy New Year.