Tales from the Rushmore Kid

Art for Cash sake

Over the years, I have been paid for art that was never used.
This was a drawing I did for a marathon poster.  I loved a painting that Van Gogh did of shoes, so I borrowed the idea. The committee loved it, but went with a cheaper black and white graphic version. I probably made more on this job than poor Vincent made in a year.

Art for Art Sake - Alaska scketch book art

Once upon a time a kooky artist and her husband traveled to Alaska in August.  The sun was shining, the salmon were running and they stood in the foothills of one of the highest mountains in the world as it reached for the sky. They promised each other they would go back some day to enjoy one of the most wondrous places on the earth.  The problem was they ended up going back in May.

The wind blew nothing but sleet and snow as the temperature hovered around 20 degrees.  The artist and her husband practically froze off their buns every time they went ashore. But the artist used the time in their toasty warm cabin to paint quick sketches of the freezing cold outing of each day.  This is one, the Inside Passage from a tram view over Juneau.                         

Art for Art Sake - Golf landscapes

I am a golfer  This is pretty amazing since I was the kid who always got picked last for any sport, right after the nerd and the kid with a leg brace.
Klutz, clod and lame-o...that's me.  But my hubby wanted it so badly that I reluctantly agreed to try, knowing full well that I was sports challenged with the grace of an elephant on roller-skates.  But as an artist I was enchanted by the landscape and harmony of a course.

Murals

From the time I was a kid I loved to paint on walls.  My mom even indulged me as I splashed a giant purple rainbow across my bedroom.  Through out my professional career I have assisted, designed and created many murals.  They were very hard work as I carried gallons of paint, climbed up and down ladders and stood on my feet 12 hours a day.  Now I am happy to say that I only do murals for love.  Here is a nursery I painted last week for my friends Bob and Michelle.  They are expecting twin girls very soon.

Art for Art Sake - studio art

Over the years I have had many studios.  This was one of my favorites on Lake Sherwood.  It was a giant apartment that over looked this tiny lake north of L.A. The lake is on a old movie lot where Robin Hood with Errol Flynn was made.  All the streets are named for the merry men, Fryer Tuck and Maid Marion.  Later a billionaire bought most of the land and built a golf course. The lake still holds that country charmed that I painted years ago.

Art for Art Sake

Art for Art's Sake is sometimes Art for love's sake.  This is my buddy Michelle and her dog Sally.  I usually don't like to give paintings as gifts because art is very subjective. But I loved how this gem came out; I was just bursting to give it to her. Fortunately, she loved it as much as I did. She hung the painting in a place of honor for all to see.

Rex & Buster - Art for Cats sake

All my friends know that I will continue my Cat & Dog series until I'm in my grave.  I can't resist the little varmints.  So I am sent many, many photos of the little darlings in the hopes that I will paint them.  This is how Rex and Buster got added to the series.

With these boys I aimed to capture the soft cuddliness of cats enveloped by a bedspread.

Art for Cash Sake

When I was into doing album covers, the music spilled over into my gallery work.  This painting is part of my musician series.  Unlike commercial art where you are given a subject, in fine art anything goes....but not everything sells.  I still have and love this painting of Duke Ellington.  He was a remarkable man and musician.  I had to include him in the series.   Like all series, some sell, some don't and some are too precious to part with.

Cats for Art sake

Yeah, I really have a thing about cats.
This is one painting in my series on the pretty little beasties. I've always felt cats had a secret life that probably included parties where they sniffed catnip and drank mousearitas. 

A great cat book to recommend: The Newbery Honor Book, Whittington by Alan Armstrong.  Two grieving kids take refuge in the barn at their grandparents home and are loved and entertained by all the animals.  An old cat tells tales of his ancestors in medieval England. What I love about this story is that it is no big deal that the kids and the animals can talk to each other. They just do.   

Art for cash sake - Grandma Art

For a few years I was a portrait painter.  This was one difficult job. The clients always wanted bigger boobs, more hair and to look ten years younger.  I tried to give them what they wanted, but I thought I would go insane in the end.  So I gave up on portraiture though occasionally I am talked back into it.  I do like to do pastel drawings of babies.  I call it Grandma Art.
This is baby Charlie.  She never asked to be 20 pound lighter or 20 years younger, she only asked to have her diaper changed every now and then.

Art for Art sake - sketchbook art

I'm one of the lucky ones, my brother could have moved to some god forsaken place, instead he moved to a Caribbean island. 

Tortola is such a jewel, it has sparkling blue waters, velvet sand and the loving embrace of warm air.  So, needless to say, I have tons of sketches of the islands.

Longs Bay is just what it says, a long, brilliant white beach; and you can walk out into the water for miles and still be in waist deep crystal blue water.

Art for Cash sake

This is a black and white spot I did for a pet magazine.  I lived off black and white spots for years.

At one time I was known as the airbrush Queen.  This drove me to experiment with the Iguana piece at the left. I cut traditional friskets and instead of using an airbrush, I used a toothbrush heavy with black ink then I flicked it with my thumb to controlled the splatter.

However, no matter what technique I am working with, I'm never satisfied.  The crazy artist in me pushes my creativity continually. Sometimes it drives me nuts.

A children's book with a lizard in it: Chet Gecko Mysteries, by Bruce Hale.

Rhodes- Art for Art sake

This is another travel sketch book, art for art sake.  We were cruising the Greek Isles and stopped in Rhodes for a day. Our traveling buddies, Peter and Ann, sat in a corner cafe of this square with us as we drank wine and the atmosphere of this very cool island. The architecture was very eclectic because it had been around forever and occupied a million times by different countries.   The city has a walled in fortress, but it's big claim to fame is having one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient world.  The Colossus of Rhodes was 100 feet high statue of the Greek god Helios that straddled the entrance to the harbor.   Eventually an earthquake  destroyed it, but the foundations where it stood are still there!  We passed it on our way in.

Art for Cat's sake.

This is part of my cat series.  I like to think of cats as party animals  My friend Michelle had these two goofy cats that met you at the door.
Fanny, who my husband wanted to take home with him every time we visited, was the most outgoing, in- your-face, love-me kitty. 
We all enjoyed her for years before she became a kitty angel and went to pet heaven.
Cat picture book to recommend: Edna's Tale by illustrator/author Lisze Bechtold.

The Getty Center

I am embarrassed to write this, but I just went to the Getty Center for the first time.

When I lived in town, I was a member at all the museums.  I was forever atteneding an opening, performance or a new exhibit.  But seven years ago we moved far out to the beach and I find I have to schedule in the museum visits.

What a cool place the Getty is.  You park underground and take a beautiful tram ride up to the top of Brentwood overlooking the entire basin of L.A.  And what a treat it is to see what the richest museum in the world can buy.

Art for Music Sake

I worked in the Music business for years.  Album covers, trade adds, liner notes...stuff like that.  It was fun and exciting, but the best part is that is where I met my husband Al, who ran a record label.  I spent many hours in recording studios listening to songs being written, being produced and being recorded.

Like everything in my life it spilled into my work.  I did a series on musicians.  Some for cash and some art for art sake, like all series are.

This is an oil painting of the studio musician Ernie Watts.
I sketch him at a gig to paint later. He can play a mean sax.

Children's book on Music to recommend, The Jazzy Alphabet by Sherry Shahan.

Clean Studio

I must admit that public acknowledgment creates a guilt that can lead to results.  I confessed on an earlier post to this Blog that I needed to do a thorough cleaning of the studio.  Hot oil poured into my ears was more appealing.  But all my readers knew my studio was in chaos, so I was stuck.  Of course, now I wish I had done it sooner.  I've found that inspiration flows much more freely without all the clutter.  Blog confessionals work!!  Maybe we should have a look at my sock drawer. 

House Art

House painting is akin to Art for Art's sake.  I see a wall that needs a painting and I design for it.  Sometimes it is for a client, who wants to fill a space, but sometimes it is just for me.  I needed a perfectly square piece to hang above my kitchen table.  After much consideration I painted the scene at the left. This is the Queen's motu looking at Bora Bora.  I went to the orchid show in Santa Barbara to take research photos for the flowers surrounding the scene.

Golf Art

When I was just Al's girlfriend and not yet his wife, he bribed me into learning his favorite past-time, golf.  I thought it was a game for old folks who had nothing better to do, but, boy, was I wrong.  It is a sport of discipline, etiquette and skill. 
It took me nearly five years to finally beat him at his own game.
Naturally, like all things in my life, it spilled into my work.  I did a series of giant wall size golf landscapes. 

Petra-Art for art sake

My traveling buddy Ann Tanous and I have a passion about ancient ruins.  Most of the time we can talk the hubbies into joining us, but, on this trip to Jordan, we left them at home. With a local guide, we hiked and I sketched through the rose-red city of Petra for days.

Love of Art

This is so indulgent.  I paint my pets.  This is Star our nine year old doberman.  She has been to many writer's group, smoozes and critiquenics.  So you could say she is a dog of the SCBWI.  We sent her to puppy college where she learned hand signal off leash training.  When we can, we travel with her,  Star's favorite hotel is the Cypress Lodge in Carmel.  Known for it's famous owner, the 50's movie star Doris Day.  Down in the bar at happy hour dogs are under the tables as Doris Day songs are played for all to enjoy.  Que Sera, Sera............

Art for Art sake

Yes, I do have a thing about painting cats.  Picasso had his blue period, I have had my cat period.  This was part portfolio piece, part labor of love.  I was desperate for some cat photos and my friend Sarah obliged.

It was a fun series and I was happy to give her as a gift to Sarah and Tom when I  was done.

Gracie now lives in Kitty Heaven, but her partying days are remembered.

Cat book to recommend:
In the third of the Garth Nix triliogy, Abhorsen, an obnoxious cat spirit Mogget provides the surprisingly twist in the ending of this spooky YA fantasy.

Clean, clutter and create.

I am a messy person by nature and struggle with organized neatness.  I also have a hard time throwing out any container, old clothes or used wrapping paper.  All that stuff could be used in an art project.  With that in mind I have dragged tons of stuff from studio to studio.  But when I moved my studio into my house for the first time I had to get serious about organization.  The spare bedroom is the smallest studio that I ever had (if I could have talked my husband into giving up the master bedroom I would have.)  So organization was a must.  I cataloged, threw out and gave away to schools mountains of supplies.  Now 7 years later I am bursting at the seams again. I’ve toyed with the idea of moving to a studio space, but the convience of working at all odd hours is so productive.  After all, how many jobs can you work in your jammies?  It is time for the massive clean up.  I figured if I wrote it in my blog that some time I would actually have to do it. 

Art for Art sake

This sculpture of hot air balloons started out as Art for Arts sake. 


I had gone to an exhibit at
LACMA on Faberge Eggs.  They were so fabulous that I wanted to make one, minus the real jewels.
So I made these balloons and encrusted them with crystals.  They were so popular, I sold them through a gallery and also a Mc Donalds bought a few to go in their lobby. 
Have a Big Mac under the Faberge balloons.  The Czars must be turning in their graves.

Art for Art sake

I came across a sketch book from college, more Art for Art sake.  I was fasinated by these flowers at the time.  I thought they looked like ballerinas.   The next page has a homework assignment from Craig Nelson's class, left undone.   Even then I believed you needed to feed your soul before you get down to work.

Art for Art sake

One of the Art for Art sake I do is sketching.  When I travel I try and get a few watercolors of  places I've been.  They are quick to get the feel. I'm not selling them and the sketchbooks usually end up in my library where only I look at them.

This is the Villa Balbianello it is on Lake Como in Northern Italy.  An Italian explore owned the villa and it was open to private tours.  Very cool.  Though it's more recent claim to fame besides being in a few movies, is being a close neighbor to George Clooney!

Art for Art sake

Art for Art sake.  In my quest as a Renaissance woman I schedule in Art for Art sake.  Though I believe that all life is collaborative art on one level, Art for Art sake is purely an experimental expression of a thought.  Not a consignment, though some have turned into commercial ventures, I can stretch my creative wings and experiment with technique. This  one  my many cat paintings.   Any others engaged in frivolous creative work?