Newly Commissioned Painting, "Life Calmly Gives Out Its Own Secret"

Life Calmly Gives Out Its Own Secret
48" x 60"
Oil and Mixed Media on Canvas
Harvey Collection
Dallas, TX

You see, I want a lot.

Perhaps I want everything

the darkness that comes with the infinite fall 

and the shivering blaze of every step up.

So many live on and want nothing

and are raised to the rank of prince

by the slippery ease of their light judgments.

But what you love to see are faces

that do work and feel thirst.

You love most of all those who need you

as they need a crowbar or hoe.

You have not grown old, and it is not too late

to dive into your increasing depths

where life clamly gives out its own secret.

-Rainer Maria Rilke

Das Stundenbuch

New Painting, "Be Still and Know"

So the darkness shall be the light

And the stillness the dance. ~T.S. Eliot


New Painting
Be Still and Know
12" x 12" x 1.5"
Oil and Mixed Media on Canvas

Available for online purchase here
The painting is a part of my birch tree and was created using oil paint, acrylic and mixed media. Canvas is museum-quality, ready to hang, and painted on all sides so there is no need to frame. Painting is highly textured and inviting to the touch, containing multiple layers of color, and depth using the monochromatic color palette. There is also a slight iridescent sheen in areas of this painting to give it a subtle glow. The painting was created using transparent layers of paint, slowly built upon one another over time to create depth and texture.

Let Me Come and Be Still in Your Silence

24" x 48"
Oil and Mixed Media on Canvas
SOLD
Khudairi Collection
Houston, TX

This painting now belongs to a wonderful couple form Houston who came to visit my studio in Dallas. Mr. Khudairi asked me to  explain the meaning behind the painting,  specifically,  what did those words say that were  barely legible in the background. As far as the writings, I frequently incorporate the written word into my  works. Poetry has really found a unique place in my life.  I collage  favorite poetry of mine into the background of my pieces.  I've found that  most of the writings are barely legible in the background, it is a way for me to give my  even though  paintings a "voice", and convey a meaningful, personal message from my soul  to the viewer,  a message that is left up to them to interpret.  Pablo Neruda is my favorite spanish speaking poet, hands down.  Some of the writings  in the background come from this poem below, as does the title.  The rest are pages from my handwritten journals.  Neruda directs his language so well in this poem,  making you almost whisper most of it.  Beautiful.  I Like for You to be Still I like for you to be still: it as though you were absent, and you hear me from far away and my voice does not                           touch you It seems as though your eyes had flown away and it seems that a kiss had sealed your mouth. As all things are filled with my soul you emerge from the things, filled with my soul. You are like my soul, a butterfly of dream, and you are like the word Melancholy. I like for you to be still, and you seem far away. It sounds as though you were lamenting,  a butterfly cooing like                           a dove And you hear me from far away, and my voice does not reach                           you: Let me come to be still in your silence. And let me talk to you with your silence that is bright as a lamp,  simple as a ring. Your are like the night, with its stillness and constellations. Your silence is that of a star, as remote and candid. I like for you to be still: it is as though you were absent, distant and full of sorrow as though you had died. One word then, one smile, is enough. And I am happy, happy that it’s not true.

Newly Commissioned Piece, "Between the Stillness and the Movement"

16" x 20"

Oil and Mixed Media on Canvas

Private Collection of Erina Alvarado

"You tell me to stand still but I am not walking," he shouted, "whereas you who are walking say you are still. How is it that you are standing still but I am not?"

The Buddha turned round, "My legs move but my mind is still," he said. "Your legs are still but your mind moves all the time in a fire of anger, hatred, and feverish desire. Therefore, I am still but you are not." 

- Majjhima Nikaya

Fine art giclee prints of this and my other original works are available here on my Etsy site.

New Painting, Let me Come and be Still in Your Silence

24" x 48"

Oil and Mixed Media on Canvas

"The trees in the storm don't try to stand up straight and tall and erect. They allow themselves to bend and be blown with the wind. They understand the power of letting go. Those trees and those branches that try too hard to stand up strong and straight are the ones that break." ~Julia Butterfly Hill

Try as I might, no matter what I am working on, I always return to my tree paintings. Their symbolism, the strength and frailty and giving they portray, is synonymous with how I see myself.  

(Detail)

This is why I do what I do...

"A Season's Awakening"

Fine Art prints available here.

Please see the words below from a client of mine who purchased the original painting above. Her email nearly brought tears to my eyes...it is always my hope that my art will bring those who decide to hang it in their home the same sort of joy that I felt while creating it.

"I have always loved to draw.  As a kid I always said I would be a teacher and artist when I grew up.  I started out as an art major in college but ended up switching to languages mainly because my art classes were so early in the morning and I am a night owl--how lame is that? But really, who can create anything at 7am? Part of me has really regretted it. I still like to dabble in things whenever I can and I try to at least make all the cards we give out for birthdays, thank yous, and such.  Honestly, when I saw your painting A Spring's Awakening, the colors, the style, everything reminded me so much of myself and my love of art as a child that I mourned the loss of my childhood dreams and cried all the way home.  But it also helped "awaken" in me a hope that I can make time for such things again.  

See, you are inspirational!"

Pre-Show Insomnia

Throughout my life I have dealt with bouts of insomnia. It was at its worst during college and during each of my three pregnancies. One of the unexpected benefits of my yoga practice has been that these little spells have been kept at bay for the most part. That is, unless it is the night before an art show. Then nothing can keep me asleep.

So, in a pre-emptive strike, I tried to go to bed early last night, like senior-citizen early. Without fail, I "woke up" at 2:45. Around 3 I decided to go into the studio to work on some commissions. But despite the deadlines that are looming on those, I was drawn to these tiny canvases in the studio and decided to create some more little paintings from my "Lyrical Forest" series.  7 new little guys came to life! I am going to run them up to Elle Realty today so they will be on display this evening. Here's a description:

Lyrical Forest

5" x 7"

$50 apiece

Acrylic and Mixed Media on Canvas
Gina often incorporates text into her works. Her paintings express things she cannot verbally convey. Art, for Gina, is literally her way of processing her thoughts and feelings. This "mini" series was created in layers incorporating pages from Gina's personal parchment paper journals, transparent layers of color and texture, and her signature birch trees. 

At least if I can't sleep I can be productive, right? Now I can look forward to spending the entire day loving on my kiddos before Mr. D and I head to the show tonight. Which by the way is from 7-10 at Elle Realty in Lakewood, a cute little boutique real estate office right next door to the Green Spot. 
Elle Realty
718 N. Buckner Blvd., Ste. 304
Dallas, TX 75218

Hope to see my Dallas friends tonight!  Now, off to go make pancakes....

New Painting. "Stay in This Moment"

Stay in This Moment
12' x 12" x 1.5"
Acrylic and Mixed on Canvas
Available

One day, some people came to the master and asked: "How can you be so happy in a world of such impermanence, when you cannot protect your loved ones from harm, illness and death?" The master held up a glass and said: "Someone gave me this glass, and I really like this glass.  It holds my water admirably and glistens in the sunlight. One day the wind may blow it off the shelf, or my elbow may knock it from the table. I know this glass is already broken, so I enjoy it incredibly."
-Achaan Subato

Why Do People Buy Art?

Absorb, Absorb, Absorb

11" x 14"

Acrylic and Mixed on Canvas

Available for purchase via Etsy

People don't just buy art. They buy the experience, the memory, the feelings that it evokes. The object of art itself is simply the vehicle to preserve this.

Every painting represents something. It is a part of my journey, and when someone decides to purchase it for themselves, it becomes a part of their story.

What this painting means to you may be something completely different than what it means to me or someone else. I will forever look at this canvas and remember working in the little studio in my old house, with my daughter, then 3, coloring alongside of me. I remember her chubby hands awkwardly holding the markers, the smell of Elmer's glue drying next to us from a craft we had just made together, and watching the free and organic way she drew with abandon.  I remember thanking God for that very moment I was able to do something I love and share that love with my child.  That feeling is forever attached to this painting, much like the way listening to a certain song instantly transports you to another time and place.  It is a snapshot of my life.

I wonder what will become of this, how the story will continue.

New Painting, "Stand Calmly"

36" x 36" x 1.5"

Oil and Mixed Media on Canvas

"Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. there is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." -Leonard Cohen

This piece is 36" x 36, a little on the large side of normal for me. Sometimes working bigger is so intimidating for me, yet then when I finally suck it up and get to work on a large canvas I am usually pretty happy with the results.  I think it's the journey to the finished product that can be long, arduous and keep me up at night that scares me.  It's hard to believe the painting above started out as the painting below a few weeks ago....

but I just wasn't feeling it.  I would go out into the studio after leaving it alone for a while and hope to look at it with a different perspective, with a new appreciation, but every time I laid eyes upon it I was  overwhelmingly aware that it was not where it needed to be.  It was screaming at me to evolve.  Which was frustrating because at one point , the point it was at in the pic, I thought it was nearly done. As my mom (who is also an artist not to mention my biggest sounding board) says, "It's only paint, you can always paint over it if you want to change it"....that's what I did. 


And if I hadn't put all the blues and browns underneath the trees that manifested themselves yet again on my canvas, there would never be the subtle layers of color, the rich texture of unintended but beautiful shapes, the carved lines that give the finished piece depth, and substance, and "me-ness"...

Another reminder that it's all about the journey.  The twists, turns, doubts, discoveries, uncertainty .... that's how the light gets in.

A Poem for Wednesday: Variation on the Word Sleep

"Lead Me to the Truth"

16" x 20"

This painting is available on Etsy.

Variation On the Word Sleep
Margaret Atwood 

I would like to watch you sleeping,
which may not happen.
I would like to watch you,
sleeping. I would like to sleep
with you, to enter
your sleep as its smooth dark wave
slides over my head

and walk with you through that lucent
wavering forest of bluegreen leaves
with its watery sun & three moons
towards the cave where you must descend,
towards your worst fear

I would like to give you the silver
branch, the small white flower, the one
word that will protect you
from the grief at the center
of your dream, from the grief
at the center. I would like to follow
you up the long stairway
again & become
the boat that would row you back
carefully, a flame
in two cupped hands
to where your body lies
beside me, and you enter
it as easily as breathing in

I would like to be the air
that inhabits you for a moment
only. I would like to be that unnoticed
& that necessary.

A Poem for Wednesday: XLV by e.e. cummings

"Snow Falling on Birches"

8" x 8" x 1.5"

Acrylic and Mixed on Canvas

This painting is currently on display at Buli's Cafe on Oak Lawn Ave. and is available for purchase.

New Painting, "Spaces in Our Togetherness"

24" x 28" x 1.5"

Oil and Mixed Media on Canvas

“But let there be spaces in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.”

 Kahlil Gibran

After I finished this painting, I tried to make some sense of it and figure out where it came from within me. Sometimes I know before I paint, and sometimes, as in the case of this one, it only becomes obvious afterwards. 

Anyone who follows my work can see that birch trees are one of my favorite subjects. They simultaneously convey a strength and frailty that I find fascinating. I looked at the painting above and realized that there are five trees in this one. "Why did I just paint 5 this time?", I asked myself. Then I realized that there are 5 people in my family and discovered upon reflection that this painting was inspired subconsciously by them. My husband and my three children are my whole world. However, without the spaces in our togetherness, without my time to myself, often spent in the studio, to nourish my spirit and my soul, I am not fully me. These spaces in our togetherness make us whole, make us strong, as much as anything else.

If you are interested in purchasing this painting, email me for details.

Collective Subconscious

20" x 52"
(3 Canvases, 16" x 20" each)
Oil and Mixed Media on Canvas

The Swiss pshychoanalyist Carl Jung suggested that we all share a reservoir of memories--the collective unconsciousness--which consists of common images or archetypes, expressed as kind or wicked people, good or evil spirits, images in nature, etc.  These are derived from the long experience of the human race, passed down in an unconscious mode from our ancestors.  Thus we may all share the same images within our dreams or nightmares.

Do you ever dream of trees, forests or a quiet sky?  Sometimes I dream of things over and over again, only to process these dreams through a painting and then find the image in my head is gone.

See My Light; Love My Dark

12" x 16" 1.5"
Acrylic and Mixed on Canvas

“There can be no transforming of darkness into light and of apathy into movement without emotion” -Carl Jung

The most terrifying thing is to accept yourself completely. I created this piece with the sentiment that nobody is perfect, everyone is flawed in some way.  When you truly learn how to love someone, you love them as a whole person.  You love the dark and the light.

Sunshower

12" x 12" x 1.5"

Acrylic and Mixed Media on Canvas

This is a new painting, part of my 'Four Seasons' series. I am always taken by a spot of rain when it's still sunny outside, and that little natural phenomenon has happened several times these past two weeks. I tried to use colors that capture this exact time of year, when summer is finally all around us.

I'm not a huge movie person, but one of my favorite films of all time is 1998's "Great Expectations" with Gwenyth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke. I watched that at a pivotal time in my life and I feel it heavily influenced my psyche and my artwork. The song, "Sunshower", by Chris Cornell, is featured on that soundtrack and is hauntingly beautiful, much like everything else in that film...

I hear you laughing

And my soul is saved

Crawl like ivy

Up my spine

Through my nerves

And into my eyes

Cuts like anguish

Or recollections

Of better days gone by

But it's all right

When you're all in pain

And you feel the rain come down

Oh, it's all right

When you find your way

Then you see it disappear

Oh, it's all right

Though your garden's gray

I know all your graces

Someday will flower

In the sweet sun shower

Eyes like oceans

So far away

A feather trail

To a better way

Worried mornings turn

Into days

Then into worried nights

But it's all right

Oh, in a sweet sun shower

It's all right

All you'll be you are today