It’s been almost a month since Sky Becomes Water closed and I probably have enough perspective now to write about it. I was very pleased with this body of work– it felt authentic and vulnerable and like a step forward which I haven’t felt about my work in a long while.
Although I didn’t begin with any hard and fast direction, I did take my jumping off point creatively from two paintings I’d put aside the summer before– they felt like a different direction from the other work I was doing at the time so I stopped working on them and let them breathe for a long time.
It turned out that they were already complete. As I began working on the show, I kept these still as they were and they felt like the touchpoint for where I wanted to take the new paintings.
Ten Thousand Years, Maybe, 2025, acrylic on cradled wood panel, 40x48x2, private collectionMy Being Was a Swan, 2025, acrylic on cradled wood panel, 40x48x2, available at J. Rinehart Gallery
As we hung the show at J. Rinehart Gallery, it was a challenge at first. It seemed like the work wasn’t naturally finding its rhythm on the gallery’s walls. But we persevered and I left that day feeling very happy and proud of producing this group of paintings and my 3rd solo show with JRG.
The show’s opening coincided with Pioneer Square Art Walk and we had a nice number of visitors, a great mix of folks already familiar with my work and some fresh eyes.
The gallery hosted an Artist Talk with me on a Saturday afternoon. Between us, I dread these. I love talking with people one on one about my work but a group setting is pretty uncomfortable for this introvert. So perhaps it’s for the best that these tend to be smaller in attendance, ha! That said, this small but mighty group had some really wonderful questions and insights and I was incredibly grateful for the time we spent together.
A few paintings sold and honestly, in this current economic climate, I am happy with that. Many are still available and I’m hopeful they will find their places and the people who love them.
I’m incredibly grateful to be able to do this work and to Judith, Alexandra, and all the team at J. Rinehart Gallery who support me so well and so fully.
meanwhile the wild geese, acrylic on cradled wood panel, 40×48, available at J. Rinehart Gallery
Sky Becomes Water, my 3rd solo exhibition with J. Rinehart Gallery in Seattle opens for a Collector’s Preview this Saturday, August 2nd 2-4pm and an Opening Reception during Pioneer Square ArtWalk next Thursday, August 7th 5-8pm.
Rather than being “inspired” by a particular theme or event, for this body of work, I began with how I wanted these paintings to feel– poetic.
Lyrical, dreamlike, beautiful in an unconventional way– perhaps incongruous or a bit illogical. These aren’t direct representations of landscapes (none of my paintings are) but interpretations of an emotional response to landscape.
my being was a swan, acrylic on cradled wood panel, 40×48, available at J. Rinehart Gallery
Continuing my pursuit of intuitively formed landscapes, I found myself often turning the panels upside down, so that the sky became water and water transformed to sky.
As the fluid pigment runs down the surface, from sky to sea or lake and then back again, I’m reminded of the way water is connecting us all– to the earth, to our source, to every living thing.
tasting of bread and salt, acrylic on cradled wood panel, 40×60, available at J. Rinehart Gallery
You can get a sneak peek at the rest of the work in the show here ! If you see something you’re interested in, you can shoot the gallery an email at judith@jrinehartgallery.com.
In addition to the receptions listed above, there will also be an Artist Talk in the gallery Saturday, August 16th at 1pm.
I’ll be sharing more from the show in the coming days and weeks. I’m excited to show you!
Without even trying, I’ve ended up in a small, burgeoning creative community. One of our talented neighbors makes Mid Century inspired furniture and has long held a dream of opening his own home furnishings boutique. So when he mentioned he would be opening a Pop Up storefront in our little downtown, it took it as a fun chance to help a friend and our local community and maybe just sell a few older paintings.
This special group of paintings we selected from my studio are very inspired by where we live in the Skagit Valley– a mix of abstracted water and vegetative views.
All the paintings available at Small Spaces can be found on their website and are available to purchase there. These paintings are only available from Small Spaces for a limited time– only through September 2025.
Thanks for stopping by for a chat with me! More to come from the studio soon.
Pantone announced its Color of the Year for 2019 as Living Coral. I’ll admit, at first I was a bit disappointed, as I felt like the representation of the color I was seeing wasn’t really one I could relate to. It felt over saturated and a bit brash, which, if I’m being completely frank, most of the Pantone COTY seem to me (sorry, Pantone!).
But then, I began to look around– at my Pinterest inspiration boards and in my own paintings. And I realized that shades of Living Coral were everywhere!
How do you feel about Living Coral? It’s always interesting to see how much influence Pantone’s COTY has on the art world, whether directly or subconsciously. I won’t be purposefully adding it to my work, but you never know how things sneak in!
Every year at this time I like to take a few moments to reflect back on what has transpired in the past twelve months. This year was crazy busy personally and professionally and I’m ending the year with several goals met, some hard lessons learned, and a long To Do list already in place for 2019. Care to take a walk down memory lane with me?
acrylic paintings completed 75
Wow! I was definitely a busy girl this year. I continued my ECHOES and LEMOLO series in 2018 and began revisiting my VENTERS seascape series, thanks to a show in January inspired by Florida and the inspiration found at our new home on Camano Island in Washington. This year also saw the beginning of a new series, IMMERSIONS, which I’m still excited about though I pursued the idea more in new watercolors on panel, I hope to explore more in this series in acrylics in the new year.
watercolor paintings completed 42 plus loads of sketches
My love affair with watercolor continued this year, especially after discovering the joy of painting large scale watercolors on canvas! My IMMERSIONS watercolor forest abstractions were especially popular and I have a feeling there will be more to come in 2019.
Again this year, I upped my commissions completed, increasing from 3 last year to 5 this year (goal met, check!). I’m still learning what works best for me when doing commissions and I won’t lie, they can be a struggle. My painting process has evolved to where I work very intuitively, allowing the composition to emerge over time and with commissions often based on previous paintings, it can be difficult to retain the same sense of spontaneity and layering that is inherent in my work.
commissions completed 5
A goal for any commissions in 2019 is to paint without expectation of the outcome– to try to let the commissions evolve more naturally. A lofty goal, for sure, for a people pleaser like me.
This year I said yes to as many opportunities as I could, and learned some really valuable lessons along the way.
I’m sure this is different for every artist, especially depending on how one measures success, but the past year taught me that, for me, investing time and inventory in “shows” in which the venue or organizer does not have a substantial financial stake in either the sale of the work or the success of the exhibition leads to a whole lot of work and financial investment on the part of the artist with little but a pat on the back and a line on your resume in return. I usually think of these types of shows as “resume builders” but I’ve reached a point where my work is selling so well through my galleries that tying up work in shows just doesn’t make sense for that line on my resume.
exhibition/show participation 6
My work is selling well through my wonderful, hard working, committed galleries and representatives. And while I’m excited to participate in gallery shows, in 2019 I will only pursue non-gallery exhibitions that make sense for me financially and professionally and will be very careful about to whom I entrust my work.
Which leads me to the biggest womp womp of my year..
paintings lost or damaged 15 (cue sad music and crying)
The paintings pictured above were all damaged to the extent they required hours of work to recover/repaint completely or lost in shipment this year. There were 5 more that had smaller damage while in someone else’s care and there are three more that may or may not be sellable due to shoddy craftsmanship by a vendor I’ve used extensively in the past.
I think 2018 will go down as the year I learned some very hard lessons about how to know my worth as an artist and the worth of my work and that I must under any and all circumstances treat it as the important and valuable commodity it is and expect others to do the same. And if they do not– I will not work with them again. Period.
But on to happier topics! One of my goals for 2018 was to increase my streams of “passive income” by having some of my work published as prints and I’m thrilled to note that my small selections of my work are available as prints through Wonderwall Studio and as custom wall coverings through Area Environments.
2019 will bring more print publishing opportunities, as I’ve just signed a contract with Grand Image and (hopefully) will launch my own print shop on Minted. I’m not looking to become a print artist (original work will always be my focus), but it is my hope that by offering some of my work as prints, it will broaden my reach as an artist.
In other news this year, the Mr. and I did lots of hiking, explored territories both familiar and new, including over a month spent exploring the Southwest.
But perhaps the most exciting event of 2019– officially moving our residency to Washington! We’d decided in 2017 that we wanted to settle for awhile (maybe forever!) in Western Washington this year. So when the Mr. landed a travel contract in Everett and we found a lovely little apartment on the water on Camano Island, we were thrilled. Little did we know that we would fall hard for this little island and George would land a full time permanent job in Everett.
one of many beautiful sunrises from our bulkhead
So we’re here to stay in this place and I’m looking forward to the new year and getting back to business!
I’ve already mentioned a few things to look forward to in 2019, but mark your calendars for May 3, 2019, when I will be opening a new show at Art & Light Gallery in Greenville alongside the wonderfully talented Alicia Armstrong!
Goals for 2019:
Expand my gallery representation in the West/Northwest and beyond
Expand representation for corporate and healthcare artwork placement in the Pacific Northwest
Build a new website (ugh! this needs to be done but I am SO not looking forward to it)
Merge this blog into the new website
Explore more IMMMERSIONS work in acrylic
And of course, I will be creating new work in all my current series– so many ideas to get out of my head!
Thank you all for continuing to follow along and join me in the journey. See you in 2019!
October and November were a couple of crazy busy months for me in the studio, as I fielded requests from galleries for lots of new, smaller works in time for the holiday gift giving season. They’ve been so good to me, I couldn’t dare let anyone down!
The autumnal season has always been a favorite time of year for me, so I let the palette and feeling of Fall in the Pacific Northwest inspire and guide new LEMOLO and ECHOES acrylics and watercolor paintings.
What began with more vibrant tones of early Fall, grew into more desaturated hues as the colors began to fade. Those late Fall colors have always spoken deeply to me, with their velvety, jeweled colors, less bright and brassy, more elegant and quiet.
painting- Land I Grew In, acrylic on canvas, 12×6, available at Lark & Key
painting- Ramble I, watercolor and cold wax on cradled wood panel, 14×11, available at Art & Light
painting- My Heart in Tow (detail), acrylic on canvas, 12×12, available at Elliott Fouts Gallery
Despite being two different mediums and different series, these new works all feel like a cohesive collection and a time capsule of this wonderfully sparkly time of year!
If you’re in Greenville, Charlotte or Sacramento, I hope you’ll check out each gallery’s offerings in person or peruse my website for all the new beauties!
Excited to be showing in my hometown! A group of new paintings from my VENTERS, ECHOES, and IMMERSIONS series are now on view in The Haskell Gallery at the Jacksonville International Airport.
The paintings are part of the Spring in Northeast Florida show alongside works by artists Lyn Asselta, Eve Albrecht, and photographer John E. Adams.
Silent Reverie, acrylic on canvas, 60×48
Sweet Madness, acrylic on canvas, 48×48
From the Highest Swing, From the Highest Tree, From the Highest Wing, acrylic on canvas, 24×20 each
While the initial inspiration for these paintings were the theme of Spring in Northeast Florida, it was the springtimes of my childhood there and memories of my mom that informed each piece. During the painting process, I would often look back on old home movies from my childhood, allowing the muted colors and blown out style to inform the palette and overall feel of these pieces.
my brother, my mom, and me, easter 1976 and Weightless and Maybe, acrylic on canvas, 12×12
I plan to share more of the stories and inspiration behind these works with you over the coming weeks, so please stay tuned!
Meanwhile, if you’re in the Jacksonville area, I hope you’ll visit JIA to see these new paintings. The Haskell Gallery is located pre-security, so you don’t need to be traveling to see the show!
You can also see all of the work in the show on my website.
Hello friends! Popping in to tell you about a new show featuring my work, opening today! A Winter Exhibit, a three person show featuring work by Seattle area artists Mya Kerner, Najia Omer, and moi, opens today at the Mercer Island Community & Event Center gallery.
The show features work from my ECHOES series, including 4 new paintings created just for this show. If you’re not local to the Seattle area, you can see the work from this series, including the new paintings on the ECHOES page of my website.
There will be an artist’s reception this Thursday, January 11th from 6:30pm to 8pm. Unfortunately, since we’re currently in Spokane for hubby’s work contract, I won’t be able to attend (I’m so bummed!!). But if you’d like to see the show, please do go and meet the other 2 wonderful artists!
The gallery is located at 8236 SE 24th St, Mercer Island, WA. Gallery hours are M-F 7am-9pm, Sat 8am-9pm, and Sun 11am-5pm. The show will be up through February 23rd.
In all my years growing up and as an adult in Florida, I longed for cold winters. I dreamed of snowy days and cozy nights, only getting small doses on quick trips North. Since traveling through the West and Northwest for almost six (!!) years, I’m finally experiencing the seasons as I always hoped to.
I hear people complain about the cold and snow, but for me, it never ceases to be magical.
The streets are quiet, all the bustle of life slows and is muted.
Colors become deeper and more saturated.
Everything sparkles.
Expanses of white bring colors and textures to the forefront, giving them room to breathe, space to show off. This interaction informs and inspires my work more and more as I seek to create paintings that emanate that same sense of peace and quiet.
If you’re following along with me on Instagram, you may have seen a new series of tiny paintings I’ve been creating, SCINTILLA.
These 4″ square works on deep cradled wood panel began as an exercise to fill the time while larger paintings dried. I always find myself falling in love with the earliest stage of a painting– the stage in which I paint in a monochromatic palette to work out basic light, contrast, and composition. So I thought these little pieces would be the perfect avenue to explore those monochromes as finished work.
Beginning with one color, then adding white and grey for light and contrast, the compositions emerge intuitively. I try not to begin with a set idea in mind, but instead allow a trace of a landscape to emerge slowly.
The first eight of the SCINTILLA paintings are currently hanging at Elliott Fouts Gallery in Sacramento as part of their Small Gems show! Check out the EFG website for pricing and contact information for the gallery.
I’m looking forward to creating more in this series after I get settled into my new studio in Tacoma. Oh yeah, did I not mention we’re headed to Tacoma for the next six months? 🙂
I’ll check in again once we get settled! Meanwhile, check out the SCINTILLA series and all the other Small Gems on the EFG website!
