oops, i painted my cat...

i was told to paint more, so here we go. i went out today and bought 4 larger canvases and last week i bought some smaller ones and restocked some favorite colors. ($$ouch!!) what are my favorite paint colors you ask? i love prussian blue, burnt umber, alizarion crimson, and yellow ochre. if they are not obviously present in a painting, they are mixed in somewhere.

i've been working on two paintings, one has more foreground with a road leading into the distance and the other verges on pure abstraction with a movement from a yellow base to a deep blue top. to me it's the sunrise...or probably more appropriately the sunset as i rarely ever actually see the sunrise. i am a creative vampire. i'm thinking of calling this one 'night time revelry' due to the fact that when you look at it closely, i've used small busy brushes for the whole thing and many colors weave throughout the painting.

and i love getting my hands dirty.

El Dorado

i'm excited to say that my show went wonderfully! there was a great turnout and many good friends came to support me. by the end of the night i had sold half of my show! needless to say, i had to get to work painting, drawing and framing in order to fill the holes on max's walls!

El Dorado is my largest piece in awhile, a 4 foot tall by 3 foot wide oil on canvas. i've also hung 7 new drawings at the restaurant. all of my work will be hanging until the end of september.

maybe i should have a closing reception....by that time it will be all new work!

a new space

well, it's smaller, but at least it's temperature controlled! now that i've moved into a small apartment i have less room, but my studio is constantly staring me in the face! after installing my show at max's, i felt inspired to unwrap my large canvas and do a bit of underpainting. for some reason, my kitties seem very intrigued by this 4 feet of space i have to work in and take up residence there most of the night. don't be surprised if my latest work is a little furry....

OCD

here's a sneak peak at one of my favorite sets of drawings from my show. i call it the OCD series because of the compulsive mark making and repetition of line, loose boxes and rectangles. each piece is 6"x 9" and hangs separately.

mark your calendars, saturday, august 14th from 2:30 to 5:30!

tides are turning

so sorry to have been MIA from my dear blog, but it looks like things are back on track. thursday night i hung 16 paintings and drawings at Max's restaurant in downtown Santa Fe! i won't be having an opening until august 14th when it's busier and their new kitchen staff have gotten all the wrinkles smoothed out. but there was a soft opening last night and let me tell you...the food is FIO (food induced orgasm)! i spent a lot of time framing all my work and picking what i wanted to put in. most of it was done in this past year, but there are some drawings from several years ago that i've always wanted to get framed and display. i'll put some more photos up soon once i get them off of my camera. oooh, and i also got a pretty new camera. it's a canon T1i. i love it! it's amazing how much better my photos are with a DSLR.

i've been rather busy with my aunt's house, getting it ready for the market, having a yard sale, entertaining the fam when they came to visit. and then i moved into town, which has been the best thing for me. i love being within walking distance to work, downtown and the farmer's market. i feel free again and the juices are flowing. and now that i have an empty living room/studio, looks like i'll be painting again very soon! i inspired myself after seeing all of my work on the wall and i want to paint an even larger piece for the restaurant. lots of ideas!

also, i've been working on the side doing print/marketing work for clients. i can do business cards, flyers, brochures, logos, etc. feel free to contact me if you need any graphics work done. you can reach me at sarashawger78 at hotmail.com.

namaste!

paint under the fingernails

i think my head has been clearing. a lot has happened this year already. after almost two years of fighting, my aunt passed away in mid january. the months leading up to her death were a total nightmare for me. as much as i usually used art as a means to cope with my feelings, i was frozen. i think i was in shock at the realities of life...or actually, the reality of death. i'm still stunned every time i remember that she's gone. now, the clean up. meetings with realtors, lawyers and CPAs, oh my. i've spent the last week getting the house ready for showings. i live in a sterile environment and i'm now happily parked in the only place in the house that i can still make a mess and it's a plus....my studio! we're finally warmed up in santa fe and my garage studio is at a bearable temperature.

i started with a piece that i promised to do for a habitat for humanity charity auction...on a shovel. i wish i had done a lighter scene, but i've been wanting to work on my night scenes. of course, the deadline was on the 15th...so i will take a semi-wet painted shovel to habitat on tuesday and hope it's not too late!

once i get my hands dirty, i am very willing to keep getting dirty. i had a vision of a raven painting in my head. i picture a lot of movement, almost feathery. so tonight is my first attempt at a figure in a painting. i usually do landscapes and abstract pieces that focus on value and color. the background is my brushstroke style and there is some of it in the body of the bird. there are more ravens in my head with different colors, looser brushwork and a closer cropping of the head. it's good to be back!

stuff i want

living in an art town is very dangerous. through small (really small) payments, i am slowly building up a collection of art. i'm about to move outside of the safety of my own gallery. so, in lieu of my own art, which is at a standstill due to a crazy long head cold, i'm posting pics of things that i want!

first up, Wendy Chidester with her minimal green background and stately little camera. i've seen this piece several times down at giacobbi fritz gallery and i am totally in love with it. imagine my horror when i get on the website...and it's sold. ugh! okay, i knew i'd never get it, but at least i have the pic to remember it by.

next up is a cool bronze bunny by Jim Budish. i catch his work at waxlander, our 'sister' gallery down the road. i don't know why necessarily...i'm not a huge animal as art fan, but this little guy just makes me smile. this may very well be my next purchase as i've talked to my pals down there and may use a christmas bonus as a downpayment. weee!!

i went down town a few friday art walk's ago and found Rik Allen at blue rain gallery. now, i'm a bit of a geek. i loved x-files and lots of sci-fi shows and movies. there's something fun about the idea of a spaceship. this work is totally made out of blown glass and the body of the ship is painted with 'metallic' paint. oh how i love these and want one of my own! they are so delicate and feel so solitary. time has aged them, the colors are faded, but their purpose and fortitude in the face of the universe is fascinating!

this piece, also by Rik Allen, is pretty freakin' cool! it's as tall as i am and made from parts of an old plane/rocket...something like that. upon looking closely, it's a spaceship with an escalator that leads all the way to the cockpit, where sits a red chair. so simple. you expect a cockpit with buttons and levers and.....well, stuff. but instead it's like a viewing area. maybe you control the ship with your mind. it invites you to walk up there and experience it yourself. looking in from the tail end through a hole, you have a view of what it would actually look like if you were sitting in the chair. this one is way out of my price range, but i love it!