My Birthday Month

A lot of fuss was made over my 60th birthday. In fact my birthday actually turned into my birthmonth --a month long celebration. Although I had planned to have it sneak by relatively unnoticed, my sister Janice spearheaded a huge bash at a Eugene restaurant. Fifty plus friends and family members from near and far gathered to wish me well as I entered my next decade. It was a lovely event with an art theme (go figure). The restaurant, Davis, even took down their art, so mine could be hung for the party. I was most touched by my sister dressing up as Crow Man himself. What an honor to my art.

 

Here are some pre-party photos. The first two are taken with Joe and Fern, friends from L.A. Joe was at our wedding 39 years ago. That's an old friend!

 

 

Here are the little princesses, granddaughters Angelica and Marin.

 

My sister-in-law Eve with my daughter and grandson, Rachel and Noah.

 

Mike and Noah are best buddies.

 

Two days after the party Mike and I flew to Hawaii for a little work, a lot of fun, and connecting with dear friends. Since we were flying on my actual birthday, Mike surprised me with an upgrade to 1st Class. It is the very first time in my life I've flown 1st Class intentionally. I think once before the airlines put me up front because of some mix-up. Anyway, although I am philosophically opposed to riding 1st Class, I totally loved the big seats, special treatment and free drinks!

We returned to many of our favorite activities on the Big Island.

Snorkeling.

 

 

Kayaking.

 

Camping.

 

Watching sunsets.

 

But when we think of the Big Island, we mostly think of our warm and wonderful friends. We enjoyed reconnecting with many of them. Mike got to paddle with his paddling crew twice, we had several dinners and parties with friends, and I got to see what some of my art buddies are up to. My apologies to my friends at the YMCA pool, I just never got there.

Just look at these smiles!

Hadley.

 

Julie.

 

Mahealani.

 

Jerry.

 

Liz and Glenn--thanks for the use of your home.

 

Skip and Camille--two of my biggest collectors.

 

Toward the end of our trip, I stopped in at the Volcano Art Gallery to find a piece of mine in a primary position with the good news that 2 other pieces sold recently.

 

So now February is nearly over and it's time to get back inot the studio. I've got new energy and inspiration for new art. In the near future I'll find out whether my work is accepted into a Watercolor Society of Oregon show and/or an Hawaii Watercolor Society show. I'm looking forward to getting back in the art groove.

A hui hou

 

And the Title Is...

Endogenous Force

Thank you for all your great ideas. I loved getting so many responses. Many of you wanted a title with more force or energy so I started looking at info on volcanoes, since that is the inspiration. Endogenous means "produced or growing from within" and that joined with force seemed to really fit this piece.

For those of you with sharp eyes, there are a couple of things I did to improve this painting. First of all, I put another layer of dark paint on the upper portion. Although it didn't show up on the photo I sent out, the black was not as even as I wanted. That is very difficult with watercolors. I don't even have a black paint, so I make it with a mix of Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Siena, Windsor Green and Alizarin Crimson. This now has 3 layers of that mix on it.

I also put some white into the orb on the horizon. I had been bothered by that part, but I'm always reluctant to use gouache on my paintings. So when fellow artist Jim made a comment that it caught his eye as well, I added the 3 minor bits of white with a strand of red ink on top.

So now I'm sending off my entry to the Hawaii Watercolor Society. I'll let you know if the painting is selected.

 

Endogenous Force 14 x 20

A New Abstracted Landscape

This is the most recent painting I've completed. With a Hawaii Watercolor Society Show coming up, I returned to my abstracted volcanic landscape method of ink and watercolor. It was fun to do a painting that is more about responding to the medium, than a painting that requires more planning and thinking. I'll be sending an image off to the competition this week.

I'm currently using the title "Release," but if you have a great title, please pass it along.

 

Release 14 x 20