Cloud Appreciation Society

Always my pleasure to pass along the Cloud Appreciation Society’s occasional Newsletter.

If you are – or you decide to become – a member of the society, you can also join local groups of cloudspotters. I started the Imperial County California group, and then was encouraged to merge with the Borrego Springs group. It’s a small world of little towns and big spaces under this open sky and the coordinator of the Borrego Springs group was none other than a client of mine!

Now that we have the two groups merged, it’s actually catching us at the least-busy time of year for cloudspotting here. Plain blue is installed almost without exception through about the end of July. We might get some thunderheads to look at in August! But if you’re in our catchment area, please join us and we can start sharing some of the clouds when they return from their sojourn.

Newer work #112

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1443 “Spinning World”. 17×9″ Mixed Media on solid panel. $110 Contains the poem:
The earth spins around
Twirling the clouds and making
The sun seems to rise.

Monthly Newsletter

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#1451 “New Wave” 8×10 acrylic on canvas.

I have a tree painted on the back of my garage with leaves made from pieces of soda cans, stapled loosely so that they rustle delightfully in the breeze.  Against the trunk is painted ‘The wind of change may not blow you someplace different but it might shape you into something more beautiful’. 
I write this on the cusp between the Covid shutdowns and the George Floyd riots.  Many businesses have been shuttered so long they may not survive.  Some have been so impacted by the new health restrictions imposed on reopening, they have given up.  Now we see others burned or looted out of existence and yet others may be unwilling to continue in some neighborhoods. 
I have a friend who has been through several careers.  She describes the changes as getting to a point where she needed to reinvent herself.  This year it seems many will need to reinvent themselves or make adjustments to how they live or work. 
One of the adjustments I’ve been considering is to make some work more easily shippable, so it is less prohibitive to sell online.  I decided to experiment a little with refractured acrylics on canvas; lighter weight than panels, but also a different medium for the refractured part.  The first experiment (above) was relatively successful. 
Another couple items that came out of spending time at home was an update to ‘Busting the Bard’.  This is now available in paperback and kindle from Amazon.  And the fourth poetry and painting book ‘My Next Breath’ is close to being complete. (Click here for links.)  It is available as a paperback but my proofreader and the person writing an intro on the back have yet to have time to do this, so there will be an update hopefully by the end of this week and I’ll create the kindle version then.    I’ll order hard copies once art fairs restart or other outlets need restocking, but if you’d like to get a signed copy let me know.
 
I will have work in two online shows:
Jun 6-Jul 12: 6x6x2020 Online fundraiser for Rochester Contemporary Art Center
Jun 2^nd-Aug 30^th (approx) The Planet of Joy at Lark Gallery Online.  This may develop into a physical gallery show next month and I should be on a Q&A Virtual Art Talk on Zoom soon.  I’ll send another email when this is set.

Newer work #105

This painting was partially worked on during a demonstration a couple months ago.  I didn’t complete it until a little while later.

#1438 Turquoise jewels. Refractured watercolor on solid panel. 17.5×10″. $175.
The following poem is written for and painted into the painting:
Turquiose Jewels
Dawn leaves me speechless
these gold and turquoise jewels
precious beyond words.

Mural up

I think this is my first ceiling mural.  Kinda odd for a skyscapist but there you go.  This is definitely my first shower mural.

It is actually a rectangle, the arched doorway partly obscures the top left corner.  And no, I’m not sure what they’re going to put in the unfinished fitting hole.

Newer work #103

This is another in the series on reclaimed panels.  There will be quite a few of these as my friend and I had a very successful dumpster diving session a couple months back.

#1433 Waving good morning. Mixed media on panel, 18×10. $180.
The following is written for and painted into the painting:
Our sun warms our world
Atmosphere heats and rises
waving good morning.

Newer work #102

Every day you get a chance to start over….

#1432 “Joy of newness”, mixed media on panel 18×10. $180.

I just wondered whether I’ve now written more haiku than sonnets….

Newer work #101

This is on one of the panels I cut when at my friend John Weidenhamer’s place (he has a great workshop) from some upcycled  kitchen panels.

#1431 Chameleon Sky. Mixed Media, on solid panel, 30×15″. $250.
Contains the poem:
Chameleon Sky
Protects us from space’s harm
and colors our souls

Newer work #100

This painting was done in a different way than the majority of my mixed media pieces.  Although I had the two (yes, just two) pieces leftover from a cut, it was enough.  Then I cut the panel specifically to fit the art I was going to make (usually the panel is a separate inspiration), and then I painted the underlying acrylic first – to work with the clouds cut-out before I put the watercolor part on.  Then the poetry.

#1429 Soul Shape. 27×5″ mixed media on solid panel.  $135.

It’s easier to figure out what it looks like when you can see it on a wall.

Cloud Appreciation Society Newsletter

Always my pleasure to pass along the CAS Newsletter.  I recently became the leader of an Imperial County Cloudspotter group.  If you’re into clouds – and I am – in fact at the moment I’m writing this I’m inside a cloud because it’s raining – you should consider joining – and if you’re in Imperial County, join the cloudspotter group too.  We don’t always have a lot of clouds around here, so they’re more of a treat!