I went to a great art workshop at the Northwest Art School in Coupeville on Whidbey Island this last weekend with my friend and fellow artist Keli Sim SeRitis.  The wonderful Jane Davies taught an four day workshop in abstract art, painting in series..

I tried my best to adhere to the lessons and assignments and paint abstract art.  I thought I was just beginning to get the hang of it when these guys came along…just blew in the door and plastered themselves to my work!!!  Can you imagine??

Kind of fun though…

This is a picture of our backyard trellis, which, by the way, we built from cedar milled at our southern Oregon family ranch.  Its a really nice trellis, upon which has been growing a lovely and seemingly healthy Kiwi vine.  It has been there for perhaps 5-6 years…no Kiwi babies…  Then we learned that Kiwis are not meant to be solitary plants – they need partners, sweethearts, life companions!  So we brought our Kiwi a pal…still no babies… Did we bring the wrong gender?  Did they not like each other?  It was all a mystery.  Then…this spring love must have been in the air…  we are seeing something… Are they blossoms?  Are they babies?  We don’t know!  But they seem to be growing and there are quite a few of them!!  We can’t wait to see if our beautiful Kiwis become proud parents!! (although, at this point, we have no idea who is who…)

Stay tuned for the continuing saga of the not-so lonely Kiwi…

Its an interesting challenge…taking an 8″x8″ collage on paper and translate that into a large…48″x48″…canvas, and keep the spirit and vision true!  I thought it would be hard but it was really fun!  Using giant brushes and lots of paint…lots and lots of paint…happier then a pig in…whatever pigs are so happy in…  In the giant version there is freedom to play around, add all kinds of texture…and did I mention lots and lots of paint?! …and ‘thank you‘ Kath for the challenge!

Acrylic on Canvas
48×48
$1995

Mixed Media on Paper
8×8
$145

Who knew abstract painting could be so fun…and so challenging!!  My friend Rick Duque, who is a fabulous abstract painter, challenged me to try some large abstracts.  It was a blast!!  I made a mess…I stepped out of my comfort zone, I used a color palette I haven’t used before…and then popped some of my old color friends back in…  Working on a large piece, describing a thought without all of the known verbiage was, for me, a wonderful stretch of artistic muscle.  Its something that I now know will be a really important part of the art that I do!