This week I saw a great movie called "Who does she think she is?". It was a documentary about five women artists juggling family and their passion for creating art. The statistics on the percentage of women artists being recognized by art institutions was sobering. I spent the afternoon in my studio working on my urban scape of Santa Cruz. Here it is in progress.

Another week has flown by. This week I did not get to paint nearly enough between errands, work and meetings. I did manage to start two new paintings; another view from my studio and a urban scape from a picture I took in Santa Cruz last year. I am excited about this summer. I am getting a chance to travel to Mexico. Its been over five years since my last visit. My mother lived there for nine years so I used to visit regularly. I am looking forward to exploring the area with artist eyes, taking lots of pictures and hopefully painting.
The painting I posted was one I just brought back from Stanford.

I spent yesterday driving to Palo Alto to pick up my Standford show. My mother kept me company and we had a great day. We went to Chinatown afterwards. It seems so magical to turn a corner and suddenly find myself immersed in another culture. It made me want to spend a couple of weeks painting on location there. We went out to lunch at Samwo's and then later delivered a Tractor Painting purchased by a very nice woman in San Francisco. Now that I have my paintings back, I was able to take photos of some of the new ones. This is Winter Series #2 .

I remembered my camera today when I drove out to my studio. It's Thursday and I managed to waste most of the morning. Thursdays follow very busy Wednesdays where I teach seven art classes which always seems to use up more then one days worth of energy.
I love the end of winter. The hills and mustard flowers are breathtaking. I found myself pulling off to the side of the road to take multiple pictures of complacent cows in their emerald fields. None of my pictures did any of this justice. I realized after peering into my small camera screen that the experience was much more then visual. Its the experience of being surrounded by an orchestra of singing birds along with the smell of fresh growing grass after a winter shower and the feel of the cool winter breeze whispering " spring is almost upon us". If only I could paint that.

Inspiring Clouds

I just finished this painting which is view of Pepper Road around the corner from my studio. I like the drama of the shadows on the mustard fields and the winter sky.

New Painting from Sonoma County Winter Series

The above picture is #5 of "Sonoma County Winter Series" which I just completed. I have been loving the emerald fields and crazy cloud formations.

Lots has happened since I last wrote.

Mustard View from my Petaluma Studio

I hung my show at Stanford, started taking some painting classes from another artist and also started teaching painting classes in my studio. The show at Stanford went well. It was a great motivation to paint. I completed over six large new works for the show. Four of which are a series of Sonoma County barns titled "Sonoma County Winter Series". I used a new technique I have been learning about where you paint an abstract then paint over it trying to encompass elements of it. I like the depth I have been able to get from it.
Mid February I began to teach in my Studio. Even though I have been teaching art to children for years, I was nervous about teaching adults. It turns out to be very rewarding and I am enjoying every minute of it. I offer two sessions on Saturdays; a morning class from 10-12:30 and an afternoon class from 1:30-4:00.