Gone Missing, Back Now

Snapshot Reflection II Acrylic on panel 12" x 12"

Calligraphy on Peña Blanca Lake Acrylic on panel 12" x 12"

Palisades Panoramic Acrylic on panel 6" x 24"

Early Morning on the Dock Acrylic on panel 16" x 16"

Morning Dawning Acrylic on panel 12" x 12"

Hard to believe (for me) that it's been well over a month since my last blog post. Been doing a lot of painting. Plus the holidays and other stuff. Above are a selection of completed paintings from the series of reflection paintings I've been working on. There are more. Plus three I'm currently working on and three panels awaiting my brush.

My classes at Tohono O'odham Community College start in a few days. Plus I'm committed to applying for a show opportunity, due on January 14. This application is for a joint show with my husband, James Cowlin. The proposal is for a two person exhibit relating to our US Route 89 project. All of the reflection paintings are located at sites along US Route 89. I also need to get with the program and apply for a residency or two (another part of being a professional artist that I've neglected to pursue).

I need to get back into my routine. It's always a balancing act to do the blogging, grant and show applications, marketing my work, work on the 89 project, teach my classes and make time for painting. Artists talk a lot about the dilemma of trying to do it all. Other (non-artists) tend to be envious of the so-called laid back life style of artists. Interesting how the public perception differs from reality.

Reed Calligraphy II in progress

Have you ever had an exercise schedule that you have been committed to, and then had a longish, unavoidable interruption to your routine? I think it's pretty common that when this happens, it's difficult to get started again. Even though you know it's good for you and that you feel 100% better when you exercise consistently, there are a million reasons why not to start again.

This is how it works when doing art, too (at least for me). For one thing, you forget what the heck you were up to, if you have an unfinished piece to start in on again. This problem is a piece of cake compared to having to start fresh on a new project after a long hiatus. That can be just plain terrifying. Whenever I can, if I know I won't be able to work for awhile, I try to have at least one painting in the works to jump back into.

What you see above is a painting I started last April. In fact, you can see a photo of me with it in my studio, on a blog entry way back on April 18. Since then, there have been all kinds of perfectly legitimate reasons not to work on it. I worked on another piece off and on, which was completed in June and is currently on display at the Curley School. Since then, I haven't worked in my studio at all. Period. Now I've run out of excuses.

But I can't remember quite where I was going with this piece. So today is the day that I'm going to prepare my palette and jump back into work again. Feels a bit like jumping off a 10 story building. Stay posted to see what happens.

Snow Canyon Reflection

We just got back from spending several weeks traveling along US Route 89. We did the section from Salt Lake City south. What a beautiful state. What nice people. What a great way to travel. We went slowly south, finding all kinds of hidden treasures along the road.

This painting is the result of another trip to Utah. This time, we camped at Snow Canyon, close to St. George. There was a rain storm and then these puddles appeared with reflections of the nearby cliffs in them. An optical illusion was created, making it appear that the puddles were actually openings in the road. I had great fun trying to capture this.

By the way, if you are an artist and would like to subscribe to a really useful website on marketing your art, I highly recommend Alyson Stanfield. She has a great weekly newsletter you can subscribe to. I've gotten all kinds of useful advice!