Celebrate CAA’s Centennial year at LACMA

CAA Conference Feb 22-25, 2012  Watch out because ArtLA will be there!

 Artla.com is giving away $10,000 in cash, an exhibition at a major West Coast Gallery, and more in this art competition. It’s vote based so the SOONER they enter, the better.

The winning artist will receive a fantastic prize of ALL of the following:

-$10,000 in cash

-Apple MacBook Pro

-Adobe Creative Suite 5.5

-Epson Stylus R2000

-A $500 Blick Art gift certificate

-A complimentary Presidential Package on ArtLA.com

-An exhibit at Bergamot Station Arts Complex in Santa Monica, CA

Every artist receives access to our free art business guide as well as other goodies…

The top 3 contestants with the most votes will have their work moved to the semi-final, where a panel of judges will pick the winner.

The competition is open to both U.S. and International students.

Frida Kahlo, Autorretrato con collar de espinas y colibri (Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird), 1940, Oil on canvas, Canvas: 30 x 24 in

The Mountain Helen Lundeberg c. 1933 Oil on Celotex Canvas: 48 x 54 in. Framed: 58 x 64 in.

The exhibition includes works in a variety of media dating from 1931 to 1968, and some later examples that demonstrate Surrealism’s influence on the feminist movement. Iconic figures such as Louise Bourgeois, Leonora Carrington, Frida Kahlo, Lee Miller, Kay Sage, Dorothea Tanning, and Remedios Varo are represented, along with lesser known or newly discovered practitioners.

January 29, 2012–May 6, 2012

ArtLA.com is giving away $10,000 and a show at a major LA gallery to one lucky artist! Enter for your chance at the amazing prizes!

Big Sur Redwood Forest

I took a wonderful and inspirational trip up the California Coast between X-Mas and New Years.  The Redwood forests were especially spectacular.

Merry X-Mas

It was a sunny 75 degree weather day at the beach on Christmas Day.  Despite this the Santa Monica beaches are rather empty! So spent a lovely X-Mas day biking to the beach and writing in the sand with my husband.

Peter Alexander, Dorado, 1982, 94 x 115", Acrylic & Fabric Collage on Velvet

When one thinks of paintings on black velvet they are most likely to envision a kitschy idyllic landscape or portrait of Elvis collecting dust in a thrift shop and not in a contemporary gallery.   Perhaps because of this common predisposition, I was struck by the mixed media acrylic paintings and fabric collage on velvet by Peter Alexander.  Which are on view at Craig Kull Gallery in Santa Monica as part of the city wide Pacific Standard Time Art in L.A. 1945-1980 exhibits.  Alexander’s Velvets are instead a  spectacular mix a science fiction space odyssey especially when viewed from a distance. Up close there is a quirky costumed or Muppet-like puppet assemblage of collaged patchy fabrics, exposed stitching, and glitter glue.  Large in size, they embody the space of a classic Ab-Ex painting, but physically are more akin to a folk art quilt hanging on a wall.  I found Alexander’s Velvets a delightful mix of the language of abstract spatial paintings and the two-dimensionality of fabric collage.

Studio

great light!

perfect scale painting storage

Happy Birthday to me, the new studio is finally all set up. My husband helped me  convert the utility/laundry room of our bungalow into a small sunny studio.  I think it sort of looks like a Vermeer interiorwith the checkered floor and window panes.

Vermeer, Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid c. 1670 Oil on Panel 72.2X59.7cm National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin

Santa Monica Pier 1910

We drove route 66 all the way across the country from Texas to Santa Monica, California last week. It was an epic moving trip, the car was loaded with cats, clothes, art materials, and more. Along the way I finally saw Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo too. I can’t wait to set up my new studio but until then enjoying exploring Santa Monica and Venice as well as hitting the beach.