The Swimsuit Saga

Artweeks!

I'm going to be exhibiting in Artweeks this year -- Oxford's annual open studios event. If you're in the area, please pop in and say hi! I love to chat.

This is my studio, but actually I will be showing my work at the Headington County Library in Bury Knowle Park (because I don't want to invite you all into my bedroom). I'll be there from May 12 - 20, please check the library website for opening hours.

Lots more info and online galleries at www.artweeks.org 

Hope to see you there!

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abstracted

This piece started out as an abstract, and then it wanted to become a flower. It's funny how the paint leads the way sometimes.

Peony
51 x 61cm
oil on canvas

$450 (includes shipping)

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studio sale -- day 6

More hands! I used to draw my hands in Calculus class in high school instead of taking notes, so naturally I had to make a living at something involving drawn hands rather than advanced math.

This piece was inspired by my painter friend, Kozuki Watanabe, who does these washy fields of color with lovely contour drawing-esque linear shapes and figures... I gave it a go with some diluted paint and drawings of hands I already had, because of Calculus.

She also inspired me to be more thoughtful and deliberate about my titles, and this one captures my fascination with hands and their gestural intimate communication.

"A Human Instrument"

16 x 20 in

oil and mixed media on canvas

$550 $350 (+ $50 shipping)

studio sale -- day 5

I made this piece when we lived in Kyoto a few years ago. I was so taken with the color combinations of the koi fish in all the many temple gardens, especially the ones with red and black splotches on creamy white and pink. Perfect little swimming works of art.

"Ripen and Fall"

24 x 31 inches

oil on canvas

$750 $450 (+ $50 shipping)

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studio sale -- day 4

I started doing these color daub abstracts after some fitful portraits when I realized I liked the composition on my wiping rag better than what was on the canvas... I thought whoa, I can MAKE THIS THE CANVAS. 

It's so fun and so freeing to work with straight color in an unstructured composition. It's almost like a musical composition: the notes have to harmonize, there has to be lots of space, and the drama has to come at just the right moment.

"It's the Stillness That Wakes You"

18 x 21 inches

oil on canvas

$500 $350 (+$15 shipping)

studio sale -- day 3

This painting evolved over several years and many layers. I had thought it was finished, but I pulled it out of storage at one point and decided to go over it completely. I rarely work this way anymore -- nowadays I'd rather get something done in one or two sittings -- but I like that it's a documentation of my thought process. I like the idea of ideas accumulating and changing based on what's underneath.



The original layers contained lots of encaustic. I was learning, messily.

Collage, wax, oil paint, drawings of hands... it's a little bit of a lot of my favorite things.

"If You're Willing"

12x12in

mixed media and oil on canvas

Sale price $200 (originally $300)

+$10 shipping

SOLD