A dream..............

Hieronymus Bosch
Garden of Earthly Delights
( outer wings depicting the third day of creation)




I dreamt about my father last night.
I was somewhere, in a room, and I saw him.
He looked clean and tidy, and was sitting there...perhaps a little younger (he was 90 when he died), possibly in his 50's.
I was amazed. Someone came up to me and said: "whats wrong with you?" And I said:"My father died six months ago....no, wait, it was almost two years ago, but he's not dead, he's there in the other room...and he's alive and fine".
I think this is maybe the second time I dreamt this dream, but this time it was a little different, it seemed stronger, as the figure of my father was very...clear. His image was sharp and his aura was very...clean, crisp....especially in his clothing and stature.....he was also quite a bit younger.
He only sits there for me to observe, he never says anything nor does this form acknowledge me. I am only to observe, to see that strangely he is alive and well.
I have always been an interpreter of dreams, I never let my dreams go without trying to figure out their meaning....but these dreams seem to simply be what they are, a vision of my father, and that he is fine.
It makes one wonder if the mind strives to create something that it understands, because death is unfathomable....so, my mind recreates my father in an idealized form to try to quell my sadness of his passing.
Or, is it something more simple and less cerebral; is it simply the soul of my father, reaching out to me to let me know that indeed he is fine, and he is "clean", that whatever unresolved issues he had in this life are now resolved and his "self" is now clear and unfettered.
It's a strange thing, that, in life, my thoughts were only sometimes focused on my father...but since his death, there is not a day that at some point, my thoughts retrace a memory of him, or that for a fleeting second my mind touches on him.
What is "that"?
I myself have no answer....but many beliefs say that if ones loved one is remembered, that memory is the vehicle of a kind of immortality....at least, in this world.

IF: "Worn"

I just finished this piece and was waiting for a proper category, and "worn" was it!
It is a mixed media on plywood, approximately 12"x12".

The base of the painting is a texture made with layers of tissue.
I wanted really to give an impression of an old relic, something that had decayed over time.
Certain areas are emphasized with texture where others are more subdued with darker color.

The paint is primarily acrylic, though mixed with watercolor washes throughout.

I added a lot of line quality with pencil and permanent inks.
The texture is done with a layered combination of tissue paper and wax.

I wanted just a small emphasis on color so that I could maintain a sense of something aged and faded, so the hats are a cotton printed fabric.

To keep the picture from fading out so much I brightened each figure with white and metallic gold , then went back on top with ink hatching.

The subject matter was derived from some very old Persian miniatures I had seen a while back.

Happy Fathers Day!

" It doesn't matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was"
Anne Sexton

A most delicious smackeral!

I simply adore lentils and rice! Don't you?
Majadarah (Mujadarah), is it's other name.
You cook the lentils separate from the rice (some recipes add them in the same pot, but you have more control of the texture if you cook them separately), then put them together when you are ready to eat them. I season the rice only with a little salt, sometimes you might add some Turmeric.
To the lentils I add only salt and a little Cumin, but ever so often I also include a little soup mix to infuse more body to the flavor.
Most commonly you top them with a lovely crown of onions ( cooked until caramelized) , fresh tomatoes, and a sprinkling of fresh parsley (or you could add cilantro if you like).
I happen to love raw onions (my husband loves me all the more for this trait), some sliced fried eggplant, lettuce, a little hot sauce around the edges (normally you would have Harrissa ).
And lovingly top the whole thing with a bit of Hummus.
I LOVE IT!!!!
I know for some of you purists, I may have added a bit much, but you must admit, it looks ( and tastes) delectable!
This is all you need for a great lunch....you may however wish to include an ice cold beer........

G-R-A-Y

Gray,gray,gray!
AND rainy too!
Thunder clapping...lightning striking........
Where is the sun??? And the sky?
Monotony is what it is!
I long for some light!

IF "UNFOLD"

If a rich man

is what you mean to be. Then
forget the autumn evening too

Takarai Kikaku (1661-1707)

Original Version

I have been working on this piece many months. It started out as pastel on Rives paper but ended up as mixed media. The size is approximately 30"x36".
It seemed to fit this weeks subject pretty well.
I approached the subject in an intuitive manner, really just putting marks on the paper allowing the imagery and content to arise by itself. Somehow, it evolved into a form very reminiscent of a Buddha figure.
I liked the face pretty well for a long time, but it seemed that something was missing.
I was quite happy with the background which was a combination of pastel, acrylic and watercolor.
Over time, I also felt that the crown was too hokey, so I trimmed it.

Finished Version

AsI thought about it, I felt that I wanted to add a sense of time in the texture of the primary figure, however, I didn't want to compromise all of the pastel work that I was happy with.

I settled on the idea of adding a white tissue paper over the surface, which would unify the pastel color as well as obscure some of the areas I wasn't happy with.


The problem of adding tissue to pastel is a little complex as the tissue must be added with gel medium and gel medium should be spread on the surface for application. If you do that to pastel, of course you drag the pigment and it begins to blend.


My solution was to coat the very fragile tissue with gel first, and then gently apply it to the pastel surface.


As the application progressed I saw it was obscuring my imagery too much, so I allowed the tissue to dry to a certain extent, and then I began to rub or pull off sections, and reapply other sections...and pull them off after they almost completely dried.

In the end, I put washes of very diluted watercolor on the surface of the unprimed tissue. Because the tissue is very porous, it allowed for a nice spread and diffusion of the color.
I think I am done.
I think..............
Yep, I'm pretty sure!

A grand find!

Fifty molds!
A lot of figurines and dolls and even cups and spoons.
The lady that gave them to me said she had too many and wanted to share.
I can't wait to get started on them and see what I can produce.
What a lucky find!

Something Eye-opening!

The other day I ran across this map.
The most astonishing part is that, when you compare one state to another, the majority of hate groups exist in California! Even more astonishing is that, on another version of this map, a massive amount of these groups were near the San Diego area (which is where I just moved from), this map however has them spread pretty evenly throughout the state.
My assumption had been that most of these groups existed outside of California, in particular regions....really an eye opener!
If this map disturbs you, and you would like to do something about it, click here.

BIG STORM!!

Welcome to my flooded dungeon/studio!


Last night, around 4AM there was a really BIG STORM!
Lightening, thunder and copious amounts of rain. This lightening was the kind that strikes and burns down houses, very scary!.
The kids somehow were still asleep.
I got up, went down stairs and turned on the TV, sure enough there was a tornado warning... but, there was no listing of which county.
The dogs were terrified.
One ran upstairs and hid under the bed (actually he's way too fat to run upstairs...).
Finally the tornado warning turned into a flood warning and I went back to bed.
I had really bad dreams, something about my husband and I being pulled over by the police for no reason and they were harassing my husband....and my son had to be picked up from school....just a rambling stressful dream....

Every time it rains like this my dungeon floods.
There is a little room in the back there behind the table which you can't see, but it is the culprit! It fills with water every time and then oozes down under the table to the other side of the room where the drain is.
Luckily I recently purchased a shop vac so my husband was nice enough to vacuum all of the stinky water.
I loooong for a studio that is ground level, and FULL of light. sigh...............................