Rudy painting finally gets to Susan

When someone really loves the painting I've done for them, there is just no better feeling. I was so relieved and happy that Susan responded so enthusiastically to the portrait of her cat Rudy. She even tried to pay me for it again! I took a half-day off from work yesterday, enjoyed driving over to Tiburon in the gorgeous spring weather to drop this off. Visited Blackie's Pasture briefly too, where I intended to sketch the Blackie statue, but there was an impromptu softball game taking place right then.

Susan is such a sweetheart - very genuine and kind. I feel lucky that fate threw us together in this venture and hope I'll know her a long time.

Sandra & Karl also loved the painting of the cat I did for them, which I got to drop by to their Sonoma pad last Saturday after painting in Napa. It was funny - I'd painted it with their cat Twinkleberry in mind (since she is very sick right now), but when Sandra saw it, she was positive that the painting was of their other cat "Big Boy." So Big Boy it is! And I got some good reference photos from her to start in on her several other fur persons too. Got to meet Hoyt Smith but missed out on his wife Jackie who was napping after a very long flight from Singapore. Turns out that Hoyt is actually a bear cousin, which is fun. Makes it even more enjoyable to listen to him now in the morning as he hosts on KDFC.

More good news - it seems that Twinkleberry does have a good shot at surviving her kidney disease after all.

cat series

april-cat-1
Originally uploaded by pamplemousse2007.

I am working on creating 20 of these small (6 x 6 inch) paintings of cats. So far, it's quite fun!
See more of these photos (on Flickr) by clicking on the photo here in the blog.

Painting every day

Love this blog:

Paintings for $100 and just gorgeous stuff.

Berkeley watercolor blog plus more!

Found this - great peek at someone's sketch process: http://janabouc.wordpress.com/

Which led me to a blog where this guy has asked several people to draw/paint a portrait of him from the same photo. It's great fun to see the results: http://thistimeforreal.blogspot.com/

For those who may not have already discovered it - the classic fab illustration blog spot: http://illustrationfriday.com/

More on la Chenoweth + East Bay thoughts

This blog has some interesting reactions to the NY Times article about our darling Ms. Chenoweth. I'm finding that having a google news alert for her and getting the daily Sojourners email newsletter is giving me more sources for intelligent liberal Christian (and non-Christian) voices, which I enjoy.

Had a nice chat with my sponsor last night on my drive home. She is sending me contact info for our old 'homie' Molly, who is now living in Oakland. It'll be great to chat with her again and to hear about what's up housing-wise over here from someone I trust.

What I like about Berkeley and Oakland:

1. Close to this job. Was feeling like I might jump ship to the San Rafael company, but lately am getting a very positive vibe about staying right where I am. Got an excellent review from my boss and such genuine concern when I told people about my car accident. Also my boss is taking action on a personnel issue that I was worried would just be ignored, so that is also encouraging. So, it would be nice to have a small commute. It's a serious quality-of-life issue.

2. A new place to explore, paint, photograph, blog about.

3. Seems to have much more in the way of young people, single men, artists, book stores (Moe's is my all-time favorite!) , urban things in general than does Marin. (But what doesn't?)

4. Still close enough to Marin to see Camilla regularly, hang out with other Marin friends on weekends and such.

5. Way more affordable.

6. Isabel Point dog park is lovely. Also like the park at the Berkeley Marina.

7. Easy to take night art classes at CCA or Berkeley. Cheaper studio space.

Well and just this moment, my lovely coworker Cheryl dropped by my desk to offer me a personal tour of the Grand Lake area some weekend day. She grew up in Ross and said she was especially good at relating various Oakland areas to Marin areas I would know. How nice is that???

wealth a go-go + cats are not dogs

I had a meeting with a wonderful new acquaintence in Tiburon this morning. Susan was the highest bidder on an auction item that I donated to MSW. The winner gets a painted portrait of her favorite pet. So Susan has this great red cat named Rudy and I went to her house early (8 am) to take a few photos of him for reference.

Well, Rudy was not in the mood to have his photo taken. He was in the mood to go outside, which we weren't letting him do. He also did not love the flash on the camera when I finally did corner him. It ended up that Susan had to hold him in her lap and point his face to the camera. Kitty cat torture! She told Rudy, "This will not actually kill you." I liked her a lot.

As money issues have been forefront lately, it did not escape my notice that her house was enormous, beautiful furnished, bedecked with art that was just fun and great and beautiful, and all of this nearly eclipsed by the stunning wide sweeping view of San Francisco Bay. I couldn't help wondering how in the heck people ever get so much money. It seems like either a fluke occurs or it doesn't and -bam- you're rich. Or not. I know so many people who work quite hard but never have a stroke of luck and live a normal middle-class life. Do the super-wealthy really work that much harder? Somehow I doubt it.

I also spotted the money guru / author Suze Orman at Safeway in Tiburon on my way to Susan's house. She was getting into her very schnazzy silver Audi. Coincidence?

Went by the Cove apartments after the semi-botched cat photo op. The management office folks were delightful. Better yet, it looks like they will have a very affordable (albeit cozy) apartment coming available soon in a pretty good location in the complex. The drive from there to the offices in Berkeley where I work was easy peasy, about 25 minutes. And a nice view for most of the drive - gorgeous views from the Richardson Bay Bridge. So this perked me up.

rich man, poor man

I have been ever so slightly obsessed with moolah over the past few weeks, not too shockingly, but it's getting to annoy me. I am in 'no wiggle room' mode, scraping by, and all the while living in a highly affluent community, so of course it's on my mind.

Then, to make matters better or worse (depending on how I decide to take this), I read about this young artist who created some great art pieces out of her creative investigation of her relationship to her own debt. I can't remember now where I saw this (which is making me nuts, but that's another story) and I'd love to link it from here if I could. Maybe I heard it on the radio??? In any case, this artist ends up selling drawings that perfectly replicate one of her very own American Express bills. And she's making good money at this. If anyone reading this can send me a link, I'd be quite grateful. Usually I'm very skilled at ye olde google search, but I can't find this.

So, this got me to thinking, again, that I should have thought of that. Or that I need to shake myself more into that way of thinking so I can take the next opportunity.

As in, what creative expression can I make about my current situation, even if I have some judgement or fear about it? It's the fearless artists who are making an impact, getting some freedom, moving on.

I enjoy seeing art of this kind, where people are being so close-to-the-bone authentic with explorations. One can sniff out a fake 'investigation' easily enough.

One thought I had this morning was triggered by this "implicit" judgements test from Harvard University. Flawed though the test might be, it was thought-provoking when my dark/light judgement test showed I had a strong preference for lighter skinned faces. My first reaction was to deny the result altogether. Then I realized that I probably do have a subconscious script about dark faces. I thought about all the faces I've ever drawn or painted. I'd say at least 90% of those have been light-skinned faces. So that's also a factor in familiarity, recognition, and comfort-level.

What would it tell me, I wondered, if I did a series of paintings (or drawings for now, since my painting stuff is in storage) of dark-skinned people? I remember an art teacher telling me about a student who did a self-portrait every day for a year. This reminds me a bit of that. Now, to 'simply' obtain some more free time!

Edge case

My art, when will I have time for it when I have to paint, pack move? Will I have to sneak in a doodle here or there, around the edges?

I see the words "my art" that I just typed. I think perhaps that makes no sense, that phrase. What about the creative activity I enjoy can be "mine" in the same way as a teapot? Hmmph.


I have this very cool book called "Drawing From Life - The Journal as Art" in which one of my favorite journals is this very dense pen and ink work a guy did every day on his subway ride in NYC.

I had a couple of reactions to this:

a - why can't I have a subway ride? if only I had a subway ride, I would be fulfilled happy artist with a cool journal

b - if that guy can do such cool artwork on the 'fringe' of his day, surely there is something I can find to do, some edge or fringe that I am overlooking.

I have been trying to remember to bring my sketchbook whenever I am going to be sitting around the dog park. Part of me thinks - who am I kidding, these dogs keep moving too much and I'll never get any fruitful sketching done this way. But I gave it a shot anyhow, because what can it hurt, and when I looked at the page the next day, I thought it was pretty cool. Worth doing.

Part of my challenge is to be braver about drawing stuff when I'm in public and people can see me. I get so shy about it and I also worry that people will get upset if I am making them my subject.

The Paint Off

Well, as you'll see, I didn't win this Paint Off in the official sense. But I am nonetheless congratulating myself on subverting my natural tendency to run screaming for privacy and invulnerability and actually staying through the entire event.

I am so grateful to Laura, Tom, Kathryn, and Hank for showing up to give me much-needed moral support. Laura and Tom even helped me pack up my stuff at the end of the day; now that's a sign of a trooper right there. I get so weirdly uncomfortable accepting help, but if I want to be a real part of the world, not just a "wad in a box" (copyright Gary Stutler), that's going to be part of the deal.

What was great - discovered a couple of artists who I like both personally and artistically. Number one best discovery was Hwei-Li Tsao, who I knew only as "Number 36." Thank goodness she won second place or I'd never have found out her name.

Also good was to force myself into a situation where I am the little fish in a bigger pond. It was motivating to see these other talented artists at work, albeit a bit humbling too.

My key learning about the painting part itself was that I wish I'd gone slower, done some more sketching to get my composition together, been patient with creating a limited palette piece, thinner layers, and then add the brighter fun colors more near the end. Ah the delayed gratification thing.