Welcome, Winter!

                                                                                                    Summer Garden

Good Morning!  
It's  a gray day here in Washington.  Solstice is here. We celebrate on Friday with Touch Drawing.

After months of painting, I can finally get excited to show what's been born.  Thanks to Michael Johnson for the photos and lack of  room in my apartment, these pieces are already in a show at Vetiver Organic Hair Spa (also a gallery). It's behind The Egg and Us (across from Issaquah post office) on Gilman Boulevard. Kristina and Richard have offered their space to me this time of year for 4 years now.  I'm grateful for the invitation. You're welcomd to go in to see the pieces.  Check the website to see their hours.  http://vetiverhairspa.com/ 

Higher resolution photos on website on December 20..

                                                                                                        Undulation
 

  Winter garden asleep.

                                                               Ascension.



Borage takes over my small garden plot. The blue flowers attract bees by the hundreds.  July, and August are perfect for watching them work  because I can get as close as I want. They don't care. What surprises me is humans' fear of bees.  I've been stung. I know about allergies. However, bees are a primary part of our lives.......... pollinators. If we poison them, we poison ourselves.  See the YouTube video Queen of the Sun. These paintings are in honor of bees and their struggle.

This painting, "Hive," now has gold leaf added  to exaggerate the reflection from bees' wings.  I wanted to get the feeling of the "buzz" in the hive as well. First question asked about this piece is, "What is that textured stuff on the left side?"  Packing paper stretched and attached to the canvas with polymer medium.

                                                                                                                          Hive





 
The garden inspired work about stones, too.  These 2 pieces are at Vetiver.
They're textural, painted in layers of thick gesso, paint, and polymer gel 
mediums. I'll be teaching this process in the Intermediate Acrylic Painting 
Class at Art East this next quarter. 

 

 

And the joy of creating.

 May you feel the joy of being alive this season.  

I am blown away by this high desert country in Yucca Valley and Joshua Tree! This is not the dry, barren place I imagined it to be.  It's alive with birds, coyotes, bats, stars, wind, and blue blue sky. The rock formations are unbelievable.
http://www.joshuatree.org/

I'm staying at my son, Gabe's. Today, in his back yard,  I started a 4'x 4.5'painting of how I feel here.  It's a sense of space and freedom I haven't experienced for a long time. What a great place for a group painting retrea!.  The temps are in the 40's at night and high 60's during the day in November and December, through January.  

Interested?

 

Remember this painting? The Banana Fairy? 

This is how it began...... a collage warm up for the sake of play. 

Never throw away the crazy stuff.  You can't tell where it may fit! 

And this one?  "Try to See It My Way"

It came from a section I removed from another, larger painting that never satisfied me. 

That panel looked like this....

The reason I share this is that painting is a PROCESS.  It's not a formula. 

The mystery of it comes through as I move the paint and let it move me.

Frozen Bristles

Ice on the car windows, frozen paint brushes, and cracking tubes of paint. 
No more leaving class supplies in the car!
It's cold enough to leave the heat on when I'm home and to wear a sweater under my paint smock.
I've been reading my friend Christina's blog about working as a volunteer in Rockaway Beach, Coney Island and all around the city.  http://tinastraveltales.blogspot.com/2012/11/for-joe-in-far-rockaway.html     I'm grateful to have heat and a place to paint and sleep.  Read some of her blog stories.  We don't see it every day, but the people there are still desperate for help. If you feel moved to donate to the Red Cross, they're passing out hot food and supplies. 

Today at Timber Ridge the class "marbled" paper with shaving cream and food coloring, a project I've done with little kids as well as big ones.  My camera broke, or I'd have pics for you here. It was a blast!  The small 4"x6" marbled pieces are glued on to cards.  Actually, they are abstract expressionism at its finest.  True!

The bee painting is finished and the small pieces are hopeful. I'll post them as soon as I get to take pics.

Tomorrow I deliver paintings to the show at Ida Culver House in north Seattle for the show. "Walk the Line".   Go to    http://www.eraliving.com/communities/broadview to find out more about the venue.  The show is up from November 14 until March 9. 

Today, I trotted 5 paintings over to the Kirkland Art Center Gallery at Parkplace on 85th NE. 

And this Friday evening, November 16, is the opening of our ART EAST Small Works show.  I'll have new pieces in that show.  I always like this holiday show because the work is small, imaginative, and affordable.

I'm headed to Homer, Alaska in March to do an artist residency.  Hope we get to do masks again!  Like this:

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Blogger: Gail Baker Art - All posts

Blogger: Gail Baker Art - All posts

No bees in the rain

Honey bees. Rain. Not compatible.
Honey bees. Pesticides.  Killer!
I'd rather have the rain. 

Last year I was lucky to get to place my hand inside a warm, electric swarm of honey bees. I was jazzed.
I've never had the chance to be close to a swarm. And being invited to reach inside was the chance of a lifetime. Those bees didn't care if I was there.  They were intent on a purpose: starting another hive. The feeling of that hot, buzzing, crawling ball of movement is something I'll always remember.

Then, last fall, I heard a show on NPR about pesticides killing honey bees.  I've heard this before. .. as in WHERE HAVE THE BEES GONE? But, this time it hit me.  We're killing ourselves, not just the bees.  We're destroying the pollinators of the planet.  See the dvd, "Queen of the Sun"  http://www.queenofthesun.com/about/trailer/

I was inspired to do a series of paintings on honey bees.  I've finished the first of 7.  Here it is.

Detail of the bees. 

As I sat in my garden watching the bees in the borage and oregano flowers, I considered how afraid we are of them.  They mind their own business, but we squash them, poison them, and run from them.  Maybe we're just afraid of nature. Period. 

When I looked out my apartment window in August, I could see the 12' sunflowers, calendula, zinnias, and lupine. I've never painted and garden, but the colors just wouldn't leave me alone.  This piece isn't  finished, but I decided to post it anyway.  It's done with layers and layers of paint and oil pastels, and it's coming along slowly.  I thought I'd add bees, but I know that's overdoing it. I'll keep you posted when this one's done.

The "Pebbles" series is growing from earth colors into kid's crayon colors.  Here's one of the first ones. 

I'll keep you posted as work progresses.  Let me know if you want to keep up on the process. 

I'm in the thick of it!  I love it!  Hope you'll share your creative juices with me. 

Namaste, Gail