I am excited to announce that the Concord Art Association is undertaking an effort to open an ART GALLERY in Concord!  The fundraising has begun, and so I am inviting you to join us for a yummy event to benefit the gallery start-up costs. Our goal is to have at least 8 months worth of operating cash in the bank before we sign a lease on retail space - and we are nearly halfway there! Won't you help support Concord arts by buying a ticket?

Click HERE for the details and a link to purchase! April 12, 2017 at the Old Spaghetti Factory in downtown Concord.

There will be a silent auction with some amazing art, no-host bar, and pasta! What could be better?

Can't make it for dinner? No worries! Just download the flyer from the CAA blog post and visit the Old Spaghetti Factory any time during the day on April 12 and a portion of your bill will go towards the gallery fund.

I had to share this excerpt that appeared in my Facebook feed today:

"Creative artists.....are mankind's wakeners to recollection: summoners of our outward mind to conscious contact with ourselves, not as participants in this or that morsel of history, but as spirit, in the consciousness of being. Their task, therefore, is to communicate directly from one inward world to another, in such a way that an actual shock of experience will have been rendered: not a mere statement for the information or persuasion of a brain, but an effective communication across the void of space and time from one center of consciousness to another."

--Joseph Campbell, "The Masks of God, Volume IV: Creative Mythology" (Copyright 1968 Joseph Campbell Foundation)

So, the job of art (and artist) is to provide an experience of communication that goes beyond words, or without words, straight to that part of us that is aligned with "spirit". That perhaps an experience involves the whole person, all of the senses, not only the brain processing a statement. That as we see, we feel, we recollect, and understand deeply and profoundly, that experience of the artist. Maybe we can't even really explain what it is we feel. I have felt sometimes when I see at a piece of art that is particularly moving, I just want to feel it, not talk about it. As if talking about it takes it out of its propoer realm and perhaps diminishes the experience.

The same could be said about words, however. Words constructed together in a way that evokes a similar experience are also art. I'll try to find an example of that to post next time. :)

The first day of the vacation I've been dreaming of for years began with thunderstorms over the red rocks of eastern Utah. We drove a few miles north of town along the Colorado River until we found this campground with a covered area to set up. Next thing we knew it was 4 hours later and we were starving! See more photos and our accomplishments.

This one is also one of my Dad's photos. It's the same stretch of coast I painted yesterday but from the other end of the bay. I just realized this. Cool, huh? This is also a tiny one.

My Dad took the photo reference for this one. A tiny one today 2.5 x 3.5. "Big Sur"

We had a fun family outing to San Francisco on Sunday so I didn't paint. And yesterday was work at my other job, so I'm a bit behind. But I'm determined to catch up so here is #13, sunflower sketch , 5 x 7

Doubling up again! Thank goodness for the weekend. Guess who is going to be painting her @$$ off ? This girl.

Sunflower, 5 x 7, pastel