Friday, July 31, 2020

Scream Silently

There is a roller coaster in China that is open for riders but the riders are not allowed to scream due to corona. Where does the fear, excitement, and dread go, I wonder, when the screams are withheld?

These days I feel like teachers, families, and districts are being forced to ride a national and state government roller coaster. We, however, shall not scream silently.


"Scream Silently"

Mixed Media
Original available for $85.
16"x12" on canvas paper
Prints available on request.
(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.)

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.
  I welcome commissions.
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Sunday, July 26, 2020

shall ye break into blossom

This summer I have participated with a group that provides free art making opportunities to support inclusive environments for artists with and without disabilities. I cannot express how much fun I have been having. Super grateful for the amazing facilitators and the City of Austin for funding the program. Here's what I created in today's session.

So this is the corner of a room. The back wall is the chaos that is always the wallpaper of my mind these days. The flowers and painting are from my business cards. The bit of music is from an antique choral book I have. The rest is cut up paper I have from my scrapbooking days.


"shall ye break into blossom"

Mixed Media
7"x5" on wood

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.
  I welcome commissions.
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Friday, July 24, 2020

Care For One Another

When it comes right down to it, we are all each other's got...so let's care for one another.


"Care For One Another"

Mixed Media
17"x3.5" on wood

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.
  I welcome commissions.
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Thursday, July 23, 2020

Find Your Sparkle

I attended an Art Spark Texas meeting last night and had the opportunity to listen to activist, playwright, and filmmaker,  Terry Galloway. She was funny, passionate, and wise. One thing she said that struck me so much that I wrote it on my art table..."Run toward it...let yourself be enveloped." (I hope she doesn't mind me quoting her here.) I was working on this painting while she spoke and today I added some sparkle to the hair and couldn't help but think, "Find your sparkle...run toward it...let yourself be enveloped."

So, friends, I wish this for all of you.


"Find Your Sparkle"
Mixed Media
Original available for $85.
12"x9" on canvas
Prints available on request.
(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.)

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.
  I welcome commissions.
Please click the links below to share my blog.

Monday, July 20, 2020

risky...maybe

I've never been what I consider to be a risk taker. I sometimes do things that others might consider to be brave or even commendable, but as far as actual risk goes, I'm not really a fan. I've never been more aware of this trait of mine than I am during this pandemic. My bubble during this time is my husband, our dog, two cats, and Phyllis, our chicken. We order our groceries, Zoom with family and friends, and hang out within the lines of our property. Pretty much all the time. For months now. This is my comfortable risk level.

Over time I've had to come to terms with the fact that everyone is not, in fact, like me. For others a widened bubble of family and friends is their comfortable risk level. For some backyard pool parties is their comfortable risk level. And for some going places without a mask is their comfortable risk level. Aside from that last one, and maybe a the one before the last one, if I'm really being honest, I'm having to become OK with what others choose to do.

Non risk taking and rule following me is doing her best to breathe through all the decisions I cannot control. Deep breath in...deep breath out.


"risky...maybe"

Mixed Media
Original available for $85.
16"x12" on watercolor paper
Prints available on request.
(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.)

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.
  I welcome commissions.
Please click the links below to share my blog.

Saturday, July 18, 2020

Eyes of Green

Only 5% of the population have hazel eyes. Sometimes I wonder if this explains why I see the world so differently than others.


"Eyes of Green"
Mixed Media
Original available for $85.
12"x9" on canvas
Prints available on request.
(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.)

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.
  I welcome commissions.
Please click the links below to share my blog.

Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Me...ish

Since summer began I've started each day with eyes closed and thoughts of gratitudes and intentions. I've done five sun salutations every single day upon rising. I've gathered my hair up in asymmetrical clumps on each side of my head and worn the same three outfits (except for that one day I got all fancy and put on overalls). I've worked on writing five days a week and played the piano every single day. And I have been painting again.

I'm not quite like the me I knew before all of this, but I'm me...ish, and being me-ish is a good thing.

"Me...ish"

I'm taking an online portrait class and this is my first piece.

Acrylic
Not For Sale
12"x9"" on canvas.

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.
  I welcome commissions.
Please click the links below to share my blog.

Monday, July 13, 2020

hold me

In my sixteen years of teaching I have never had a first day of school (or any day, really) when every student just walked right in, happy to say "good bye" to their parents, and smoothly joined their peers in learning and play. Very few of my students do this. Many of my students need (and deserve) to be hugged and held through this transition that is such a leap into the great unknown for them. I've hugged and held students at drop off for days, weeks, and sometimes months until they adjusted, hugging and holding three, four, and five year old children who do not fully comprehend this transition or just simply want their mom and dad. And while hugging one child others invariably come over to join the hug. I've had parents have to enter my classroom while still holding their children and in a tangle of arms, mine, the parent's, and the child's, I take over the comforting of these children as their parents make an exit and I give them a friendly look over their child's shoulder or wave, reassuring them that their child will be OK. This is something I've embraced as part of my job.

This school year my students will be being dropped off with a shielded and masked teacher that they may or may not recognize (even though I will be doing a Zoom meetings with them before school starts showing myself putting all of my PPE on). They will have just been through whatever screening protocols the district decides upon and gone through some process of getting to my room. Being upset by this transition is to be expected and understandable. In the current crisis requiring distance, how can I comfort my students and keep them and myself safe. How can I lean in and be part of a tangle of arms? How can I reassure parents that it's going to be OK?  It's possible that some of my students may be able to wear a mask, but it will likely be beyond many of their comprehension, tolerance, and ability to do so for an entire school day, and probably won't be required by the district anyway.

So much to think about and this is just the first five or so minutes of each school day.


"hold me"

Mixed Media
Original available for $85.
16"x12" on watercolor paper
Prints available on request.
(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.)

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.
  I welcome commissions.
Please click the links below to share my blog.

Sunday, July 12, 2020

i'm mostly ok

This sweet owl emerged from a writing prompt I did during an Art Spark Texas meeting. The very first layer of this painting is a letter I wrote to young me about how something about me then was going to be a superpower for me during COVID times. So I wrote a letter to young Kali, who loved to hang out on her roof behind the chimney where no one could see her, and how good she was at being in her own company. Back then I'd bring dolls, art supplies, books and more up on the roof and entertain myself in the shadow of the chimney as long as the sun allowed. I was OK then, mostly. And I'm mostly OK, now, too.

"i'm mostly ok"

Mixed Media
Original available for $85.
16"x12" on watercolor paper
Prints available on request.
(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.)

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.
  I welcome commissions.
Please click the links below to share my blog.

Thursday, July 9, 2020

play with me

As an Early Childhood Special Education teacher, teaching children social skills, how to work, solve problems, and play together are among my primary and favorite objectives. We teach, and children learn, through play. This coming school year instead of teaching my three, four, and five year old students with disabilities how to play and socialize together I will be put in the position of teaching them how to stay apart...distanced. How harmful will it be to the children in our society to be taught to suffocate that internal urge to be with, beside, and among their peers? How harmful will it be to be taught that when they want to empathize with a friend who is sad or hurt that they must stay away? How harmful will it be to be taught that when they want to play that they must sit away from friends and only play with their own set of toys? In person teaching before we can safely be in close proximity has dangers far beyond contracting the virus.


Mixed Media
Original available for $85.
16"x12" on watercolor paper
Prints available on request.
(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.)

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.
  I welcome commissions.
Please click the links below to share my blog.

Tuesday, July 7, 2020

Even When Broken

Even when broken we appear to bloom...briefly. But at what point do the broken begin to wilt? At what point when the broken are so wilted themselves will they stop being asked to care for those even more broken and wilted? At what point will those fully rooted and rich in resources embrace us and the burden they've created? We will und up in the ground with our roots returned to us or forgotten and entirely covered with the soil that was meant to be our nourishment.


Mixed Media
Original available for $75.
12"x9" on canvas
Prints available on request.
(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.)

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.
  I welcome commissions.
Please click the links below to share my blog.

Sunday, July 5, 2020

i want to live

i want to live

Please wear a mask, my friends. It's something we can and should do.



This is my 3rd piece inspired by a class I'm taking from Jenny Doh.

Mixed Media
Original available for $85.
12"x16" on watercolor paper
Prints available on request.
(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.)

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.
  I welcome commissions.
Please click the links below to share my blog.

Thursday, July 2, 2020

Always in the Background

This piece and the writing were published in Down in the Dirt magazine.

There is a constant chaos in the background of my mind as the beginning of the school year approaches. All the colors and shades of not knowing what is next, of fear, of not being seen and heard. I keep myself busy with painting, reading, writing, exercising, playing piano, dancing, cooking, eating, sleeping, talking with friends, laughing, crying...and the background of my mind seeps into all of it. Sometimes big and sometimes small, but always present.


"Always in the Background"
Image description: a woman's face ghostly painted over an abstract, chaotic background. Her eyes are green.

Mixed Media
20"x16" on watercolor paper
My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

  I welcome commissions.
Please click the links below to share my blog.

Wednesday, July 1, 2020

Smile

"Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile,
but sometimes, your smile can be the source of your joy."
-Thich Nhat Hanh

This piece started as a list of gratitudes, then a palette for painting another piece, then a piece that I worked on during a writing workshop. Today a smiling fella appeared. I think it's just what I needed to see today. Perhaps it's what you need to see, too.


"Smile"
Mixed Media
20"x16" on canvas paper

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

  I welcome commissions.
Please click the links below to share my blog.