Center for Healthy Generations.

Art and yardsale items. This is a first for me. I wanted to buy one of the hats, but I wasn’t allowed.

I was accepted to have a month-long solo show in what is considered an ‘alternative’ space – i.e. not a regular gallery. This is the Center for Healthy Generations in Yucca Valley. It’s quite an active center with a pretty full schedule of activities. When I arrived to hang my work, Darla, my handler – said there had been some dissent over the time of my hanging because they were setting up for an indoor yardsale on Friday.

That was the bad news,  the good news being that lots* of people would see my work. Right behind the yardsale items. I had to stand on the tables and tiptoe between the partially completed display of yardsale items to hang my work. Fortunately I did not stand on the hands of the lady below me trying to arrange items while I trod between them.

Then there’s space on the other wall for two large paintings. Here, my progress was hampered by the fact that a yoga class was in session and I had to wait until they’d finished before we could put the last two paintings up.

Yes, there’s going to be a lot* of people who see my work in the next month!

Yucca Valley Presbyterian Church

I’m always open to shows in unusual spaces.  I had the opportunity to show work in this church and had a silly thing happen when I went to set it up.  I had agreed to meet one of the deacons, David, at 9am on the appointed day.

Three little paintings surrounding the white board in office meeting room, Yucca Valley Presbyterian Church.

I arrived with 10 minutes to spare, so parked in the parking lot and got out and went round the church and confirmed he was not there – all doors were locked and mine was the only vehicle in the lot.  So I waited.  And waited.

Paintings in office meeting room, Yucca Valley Presbyterian Church.

Half an hour later I started to get concerned so I called him.  It turned out he had approached the church from the other side, parked round the corner where I couldn’t see his truck, didn’t look to see if I was in the main parking lot, unlocked the church and was also waiting patiently but beginning to get a little concerned.  Oh well.  But then we had a bit of a rush as I had to be elsewhere later, and I forgot to take photos of the setup.

Paintings in office meeting room, Yucca Valley Presbyterian Church.  The red vertical assemblage piece on the bottom left is someone else’s work. 🙂 

 

Yesterday, Doug and I went to the church service – it being the only Sunday during my show that I wasn’t at a show.  Now I get to show you the show.  I got to meet a lot of people, talked about the possibility of teaching some classes at their location, and once again, I forgot to take pics of the two in the sanctuary.

Paintings over the sofa in office meeting room, Yucca Valley Presbyterian Church.

 

Newer work #57

I loved the painting that ended up as this one and ‘Splashing Around’.  It was one of the harder ones to cut up because it came out so well, and the two resulting children are ones I will be sorry to see go to their forever homes.

#1236 “All the way”. Refractured watercolor on foamcore, 14×11″ with mat ready to frame to 20×16″. $195.

Newer work #54

Some cultures, I believe, regard birds as virtual angels, hence the name for this painting.

#1223 Approaching Angels. Refractured watercolor on foamcore. 11×14 matted to fit 16×20″ frame. $195.

City Lights II

#1255 City Lights II. $150. Available only through Etsy (or direct from me….)

 

 

So the one painting completed that evening that you can’t see in the photo on the prior blog post is my rendition of the original – this got photoed today and is now available on etsy.

Newer Work #38

#1213 Umber Sunset. Oil on Canvas, 12×12″. $100.

Umber sunset is painted from one of the most unusually colored skies I’ve ever seen.  A dust storm created a dark brown swirling foreground, (rather than the usual beige-out we get when we get a haboob coming through), with creamy gold clouds poking through at the back.  I also created a refractured watercolor from this scene.  Sadly the 10′ tall creosote bush that stars in the bottom corner is no longer there, it was uprooted when George’s house was built.

Newer Work #35

#1209 “Down the hill” Oil on canvas, 12×12″ $100.

This scene I painted many years ago in watercolor, then in acrylic.  Here is the same inspiration in oil and at an angle.

 

Newer Work #27

#1195 “Home ahead of the storm”. 10×8″ in mat to 14×12″ frame. $90. Currently available at Incredible Art Center.

 

“Home ahead of the storm” is one of those that I call a ‘true child’.  I know, I don’t have another word to describe it, but the explanation is that it is made entirely from leftover pieces of only one refractured watercolor or mixed media painting.  This one’s parent is The Setting Sun and it came from one of the iterations that I did not cut, hence the different shapes.

Newer Work #26

#1194 Cherry Blossom Morning I. 14×11″ in mat to fit 20×16″ frame. $195. Currently available at Incredible Art Center.

 

 

Cherry Blossom Morning was created when the cherry trees were probably still blossoming somewhere, but in fact I put the cherry tree on because it mimicked the sky.

If you can’t stand the heat…

Three diners. One is the show curator, another a client.

…of the Colorado Desert in August, go to the kitchen.  To be precise, Kessler’s Kitchen, which is in the same building as the Borrego Art Institute in Borrego Springs, CA.  There you can dine on some delicious and very unusual pizzas and salads, and look at the four paintings by yours truly hanging on the wall.