from the archives

It's been a few weeks of stuck where making art is concerned, and so I thought I'd amuse myself by posting some old paintings. (And then I have another hilariously cute video of my child for you to watch)

This piece is the first painting I ever sold. A friend of my housemate saw on the wall of our flat in San Francisco and wanted to buy it. He was visiting from Amsterdam, so I got to sell a painting and be international in one fell swoop. It's pretty big, about 3 x 4 feet, and is titled "Fire and Water." I know, so creative with the titles, right?

Fire and Water, acrylic on canvas 2001

This one is called "To Be in Love," and was my favorite piece for a long time. I painted it when I was falling completely in love with Jason, so it's Authentic. I held onto it for years, not wanting to sell it because it was too close to my heart, and then I had a show in San Diego and ended up selling it to a co-worker, who gave it to his daughter.

To Be in Love, oil on canvas 2002

This piece features my all time favorite color combination: cerulean blue and yellow ochre. It was just colors for quite a while, and then the figure emerged the more I looked at it. I titled it "Addiction" because I was going through an Intensely Political Phase, and wanted it to mean something. It doesn't quite fit, though, and I think I knew that all along. It was exhibited in a "political" group show in San Francisco, and the curators asked to keep it for their next show, which was erotic art. Which just proves my point. I sold it to a lovely couple whom I knew from the art & protest scene, which also proves my point and is very fitting. I'm glad they have it.

Addiction, acrylic on canvas 2001

All these dates are approximate, because I'm terrible with documentation and I'm too lazy to go search out where I may have this stuff written down. I know I did them all around the same time that I moved to Bernal Heights in SF, which was 2001.

It's funny for me to look back on these pieces... I'm glad that I've sold them, and that I know and like all the people who now have them, but it's also a little sad that they're not around any more. Sometimes I get so down on myself, like, what do I have to show for all these years of painting? Why can't I scrape together a cohesive body of work in order to have a show?

So that's why I'm taking these out: to show you, and to remind myself that I have been doing something all this time.

*