Happy February! There’s been a super cold snap here in Texas. It’s been so cold that the studio heater has struggled to keep up with the temps which has limited painting time. I’ve moved to the kitchen table to make small non-paint work and plug away on admin duties (when I’m not making things like a cheetah family out of pipe cleaners for my three year old wild child).

Here are a few projects that were finished before the arctic-blast-ocalypse.

Over the last few months, each paintings’ story has become visible. Experimenting with the placement of the text has been a great mental workout. I’ve been toting around an ancient label maker for years and finally utilized its awesomeness: print, glue, paint, sand, and…ta-da!

ALTARS

The altars are still going strong! The critter/altar ratio was starting to get grossly out of whack so I’ve had to cool it on making new animals in order to focus on their wee homes.

Painting on 5”x5.5” matboard has fit into my life so dang well. The manageable size, durable yet cost effective material, and ease of storage and shipping all deserve mega high-fives. But wait…there’s more! They’ve most recently gifted me with the want to utilize them as studies for larger, future work.

Guys, guys…it’s here - the finished Lolly and the Talisman book! If you’d like to purchase a copy, click the button below and you’ll be redirected Blurb’s website.

If my studio practice was a stew, the ingredients would be parenthood, making stuff, experiences and relationships (the good, the bad, and the ugly), travels, and lessons learned. Lolly’s character emerged from all of those things (heavy on the mom spice) and so did this book.

Lolly and the Talisman has been an incredible exercise in leaning into the Universe’s organic flow instead of acting on my knee-jerk reaction to steam roll my path over everything in sight in order get to the destination I think I want. (And spoiler alert, what I want is usually not as cool as I thought’d be. The surprises have usually been far better.)

An indicator that super cold temps are on the way here in Fort Worth, TX is the arrival of the annual Stock Show & Rodeo which takes over the city for three weeks. In that time it’s almost a guarantee of below freezing temps and prob some days of icy drizzle to boot (pun totally intended). Here’s some gear to keep you cozy.

Documenting my landscape through paintings and storytelling.

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