When thinking about this weekend, I thought it would be fun to highlight some of my favorite pieces. But before I get started, I just want to clarify that when you are an artist and you are choosing your favorite things - it’s not like having kids. They are not all of your favorites. I mean, don’t get me wrong – I love the work that I put out, but some of them hold special meaning or a fun memory or I just love them because it didn’t take 4,345,854 tries to get it to look like it does in its final state. I’d also like to state for the record that your favorites can change over time. Change is good.
Ok - now that’s outta my system... So, let me share a few little tidbits about some of these pieces and why they each have such a sweet spot in my heart.
More Could Less Should, Ink - 2017.
If this was a JR Tolkien novel, this would be the one ring that rules them all. This is where it all started.
SCENE (Fall 2017): I was M-I-S-E-R-A-B-L-E at my job. My brother had passed away a few months prior and his passing made me question everything in my life. I had begun to wrestle with the idea of quitting work. My whole life up to that point was a large series of should’s. I had always carried the dream of being a full-time artist, and when I was faced with the decision of actually taking the leap - ALL of the should’s came out to tower over me and create a wall of anxiety.
“I should keep working so that my family is financially stable.”
“I should just suck it up and keep working, they are paying me a lot of money.”
“I went to college, I should keep working professionally.”
“I should just keep working because there’s no way I could succeed at this.”
“I should just keep playing things safe - who am I to rock the status quo?”
It went on and on for weeks. And then one day, I just said, “fuck it. Let’s do it.” I should pause here to say that this is not the first time that I’ve made some major life decision in this manor. It typically works out pretty well for me, so why change a good thing?
Once I decided, the anxiety turned into fear - do you know what it’s like to quit working after doing so for 30 years? It’s terrifying. And thrilling. The thrilling came later, but there was also a HUGE sense of freedom. And more fear. Lots. But I started thinking in terms of could’s.
“I could be a successful artist.”
“I could turn this dream into a reality.”
“I could create a studio in my backyard.”
And the could’s evolved into cans and here I am - 2 years later - not working “for the man”, excited to get out of bed in the morning, working harder than I ever have but on my own terms and by my own measures of success. I drew this piece one night at my kitchen table. I was still working but was on the verge of giving my notice. I was so in the zone. I remember the lighting of that night. I remember my little yellow box that I carried my Copic markers in. I remember just being happy to be doing something creative again. I remember the relief. This mantra has and continues to serve me well - may we all live more by our could’s than should’s.
Greeting Card - You Are So Loved, Watercolor and Ink, 2018.
If you squint or spit really far while standing on my driveway, you would see or hit a little town called Tucker, GA. I tell people I live there a lot – that’s how close I am. About a year/year and a half ago, someone started putting these green wooden hearts around town. they nailed them high on telephone poles so that people couldn’t easily remove them. Every time I saw one, I thought, “someone loves us.” There were some days where I needed that reminder more than others. And as time went on, this simple little card came dancing into my head. I kept the green card, but added the rays that I felt every time I saw one of those wooden hearts. The hearts are still up. I still have no idea who put them there, nor do I really care. I’m just happy that we both get to spread a little more love in the world. Thanks anonymous green heart maker. This card is for you.
Believe in Yourself, Watercolor, Gouache and Ink, 2018.
My kid is one of the smartest people I know. She loves to learn, she retains information like an encyclopedia and she gives her all to her studies. But…she can also be a bit of a perfectionist. She doesn’t like to do something until she knows she can nail it. When she was 3, we enrolled her in gymnastics. She was amazing at it, but sometimes she was a difficult student. When the instructor was introducing new moves, Emily wouldn’t do them. She would stand and watch. She would watch the kids, she would watch the instructor. If the instructor tried to make her do something before she was ready, she’d start screaming. But then, there would come that moment - usually 20 minutes or 2 lessons after all of the other kids where she would do the thing – and it would be wonderful. She’d nail it.
As she’s continued to get older, that stubborn streak hasn’t diminished. I think that in some ways it will serve her very well as she continues to grow up. In others, well - one of my soapbox speeches is about just trying things and knowing that it’s ok to fail as long as you keep trying. There was a day last summer where she was talking about doing something that she was afraid of. We went back and forth and I told her that I was going to make a painting for her that said, “Believe in Yourself” and that I was going to sell it and take a portion of every sale and put it in her college fund. She didn’t believe me. She went away that weekend and I painted this piece. I also found out later that she did the thing that she was afraid of and guess what…she nailed it. I love her so.
You are Made of Tiger Stripes and Kindness, Gouache and Ink, 2018.
I don’t really have a personal story on this piece, but I just adore it. When I was working on this series I wrote down dozens of word combinations. I loved the juxtaposition of tigers and kindness since they aren’t often two things that paired together. Looking at it now, I think one of the reasons that I love it so much is that it stands out from the other pieces in the series. I took a risk with how I drew this one - I was not at all confident with my tigers, so I just focused on making them playful instead of realistic. I can see so many things that I would change in it now, but I’m happy that I called it finished and created prints. I love the sweet smiles of moms and aunts and grandmas when they see this piece and they tell me that’s it’s perfect for someone that they love. Love isn’t perfect. Art isn’t either, but both do a pretty good job of making you feel joy and that’s pretty awesome.
Birds of Distraction, Mixed Media, 2018.
More often than not, when I sit down to paint, I do so in the morning. There are some evenings though when I have some time and I head on out to the studio and paint. It was on one of those rare evening paint sessions that these birds came to life. It was such a lovely evening. The sun was starting to set - it wasn’t too hot. That golden color of summer sun was dancing all over the yard. We had just finished up dinner and I had an idea for a painting. I went out to the studio and sat down to sketch and these birds came out of no where. Literally. This was not what I had been thinking about drawing. But they just came and I just played and played and had THE. BEST. TIME. bringing them to life. I finished them in about an hour/hour and a half and I was so delighted with them. As I had worked on them, Olive (the big yellow egret/ostrich-y bird) started talking to me and she wanted her own story, so I obliged and she literally makes people laugh out loud when they meet her which makes me so very happy.
I decided to just go with the name, “Birds of Distraction” because at the time I felt they were totally distracting me from my big idea. But now, I can’t even remember what that idea was, so I guess the joke’s on me. I’ll leave you with Olive and her solo piece. She’s quite the jubilant bird!
Invincible, Mixed Media and Digital Collage, 2018.
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