Last summer, I went through the most frightening thing I have ever experienced, the California Basin Complex Wildfire that chewed through much of Big Sur.  I had seen wildfires on TV, but had never experienced one in person until then. My partner, BJ, detailed the advance of the fire in photos on his blog as it was happening. We were advised to evacuate, but as we tried to figure out what we could take with us and what we could continue to do as the kind of artists we are if we were to leave, and especially if our studio did not survive, we decided that we needed to stay here and defend our livelihood as best we could.

View looking into the Basin Complex Fire

The fire started from dry lightning strikes. We watched it happen and saw the smoke start to rise. There were so many, and the land so rugged, firefighters were not able to get to all of the starts. I was unready for the grip of emotion that I felt as I watched the forest flicker with flames. The huge billowing smoke clouds were terrifying when we could see them. When we couldn't see them, it was because the choking smoke was covering our hill.

I have a real physical problem with smoke in small doses. The amount of smoke that would stand stagnate over our house was incredibly awful. I couldn't go outside without wearing a respirator. BJ took the reigns to build us a water system capable of protecting our studio, in the 110 degree heat and the choking smoke.

I would be happy for the clearer days, until I looked across the valley and could watch the slow creep of the enormous fire line getting closer and closer. It would drop down into interim valleys and then blaze back up the next hill, sending pillars of flame shooting into the sky.

180 degrees of flames

To see nearly 180 degrees of the distant hills in flames, and to see the bright glow and sparkling trees at night was too much for my little psyche. The fire continued to advance for over 2 months. I tried to continue with my artwork, continue to keep the studio open and creating, but it was so difficult. I would collapse into tears due to the sheer fright and underlying panic of this constant threat.

It wasn't until many months later that a series of paintings came out of the experience. I find them to be charged with the fear I felt. I hope the raw emotion is conveyed well. Please let me know what you think, what you like, dislike about them.

Glass Painting Wildfire

This painting is to show the chaos and force of the fire, leaping up from the burnt death underneath. Click on the picture to see a much larger image.

Glass Painting Wildfire 2

Trees and bushes sparked and were incinerated in minutes as the fire swept over them, the flames reaching so much higher.

Glass Painting Wildfire 3

Winds blew the flames from the singed ground high into the sky, taking with them the remnants of the lives taken.

Glass Painting Wildfire 4

Each single tree would burst into bright yellow flames as it gave its life to the fire.

Glass Painting Wildfire 5

Stags and countless other animals raced from their homes in panic, fear bulging their eyes, the fire hungry for more victims. Do you see the impressioned Stag in the painting?

These are all so different from my usual paintings. I have never been able to do abstracts before as my little mind tries to put everything in order. These seemed to come from a different place though, and although I enjoyed the process and the paintings themselves are stunning, I sure don't want to ever have to go through the fire again for inspiration!

Maybe I'll try some abstracts of rainbows and butterflies to calm me down.

Please let me know what you think of these. I look forward to your comments.

Peace,
Joy

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I really wish I had more time to myself to paint these little watercolors. I am quite enjoying them. I think it's not only the learning a new process thing, but also that I don't have to make them look like anything. Most of our art pieces have to end up looking like something (a rocket or portrait...)  or performing some function (like holding up a table). I have always wanted to be more loose in my paintings, to paint or create more abstract or impressionist pieces, but that so rarely happens.

These pieces let me delve a little deeper into that. Yes, it's still a rose, recognizable, but it's more free in what I can do with it, and the backgrounds are quite abstract.

Here is the latest piece:

ACEO Rose

The texture on the petals is very nice - the colors went on smooth and blended just beautifully. The background was a lot of fun too. There are some leafy shapes in there, but I forced myself to not make any of them actual leaf paintings, but let them flow in and out of each other, letting the focus be on the rose itself.

Most of these initial ACEOs were done with the focus thing being off center. I like it, but I think it's a little too far off maybe. I don't want to put the rose smack in the center, but I think I'll play with even closer crops or making the focus the stem or a single petal.

What do you think of it? Do you like it? Is it successful as an art piece on it's own? Please comment and help me grow.  If you'd like to own this little beauty, send me an email.

Peace,

Joy

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I am trying new techniques in my watercolor paintings. The result I'm hoping for is to figure out which would be best for an upcoming children's book that I'm writing. It has a lot of flowers and bunnies and such in it, but the simplistic, very muted colors that I see in most bunny children's books just doesn't do it for me. I want vivid, rich, beautiful, so I'm trying various things with these ACEOs to see what I like best for my new book.

This is a wonderful contrasty piece showing a little skier at dusk. What do you think of it?? Is it a good piece? needs more detail? more color? less color?

ACEO Watercolor Skier

It's an ACEO, so it's 2.5" x 3.5", so I didn't have a whole lot of room to work with. Please post a comment and tell me what you think, good or bad. I'm learning, so critiques will help me grow.

If you love it, by all means please tell me that too, and maybe consider supporting my career with a purchase of this or another beautiful little piece.

Peace,

Joy

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I've been having fun with both the small format of ACEOs (art cards), and also the watercolor techniques. Since most of my paintings are usually done with acrylics on glass, having the white paper as a start and then having the paints absorb into it are new for me. It takes a lot of getting used to.  The biggest thing is getting used to working from back to front instead of details first like I have to do in my glass paintings. I find that I keep putting details down and then they get overrun or covered completely when I have to lay in a bigger wash of color. There are a lot of D'Oh! moments learning a new medium.  But it is fun too.

I was amazed at the feedback for my first one. Let's hope this one is even more!

Butterfly ACEO

I like this one, but it had a lot of the detail-first moments to it, as I was decorating the wings.  If you've looked through my website, you'll see that I really like wings. If you have seen me at costume contests, you'll know that I **really** like wings. I enjoyed making these, but know that I need to do more of them. Butterflies, fairies, dragonflies... wings.... Must do more wings.

Please tell me what you think of this one. Like it? Don't? Why? Why not? Help me learn what you see with these. It'll help me become a better painter, all because of you!!

Peace,

Joy

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Well, I said I was going to do it... It just took me a bit longer to rev up the time to sit down and actually get started. In my defense, though, we had that huge conference that takes over the whole studio for a good month or two - getting ready, getting stuff shipped, going and then the two weeks of recovery because I always seem to catch some hideous disease there or on the way back.

So, I've wanted to play more with the watercolors, so I thought that would be a good way to start - little ACEOs (Art Cards, Editions or Originals) (they're art trading cards, same size as baseball cards, 2.5"x3.5").  These would let me get my hands dirty with watercolors without any real stress or duedates or anything. And it worked! I had a very good time, very relaxing, could paint what I wanted, and most importantly, I allowed myself to stop working on them probably long before I really wanted to - which is my biggest problem so far with regular painting - I nerdle stuff to death, until it looks completely ruined.

Here is my first one:

Rose Closeup

A closeup of a tiny rose. I really like how the greens fade in and out with rich colors. I also like the rippled edges of the rose petals. A very pretty painting.

It is for sale. Since we just migrated over to wordpress, I don't have the auction or buy it now stuff set up on here yet, so if you'd like to have it, please drop me an email, make me an offer. And remember, it's an original piece of art, and will will actually gain value as my career progresses.

And let me know what you think of it too. Should I do more flowers? Should I stick to something else? What should I try next time? I'm not much of a fan of still lifes, but maybe landscapes? Butterflies? Cats? Nudes? Space? Ocean? What do you think?

Peace,

Joy

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I've gotten a great response for the little watercolor I posted of Shadow, so here is another one I did a bit ago. This is of Larry, our beautiful Maine Coon tuxedo boy. He is from a kaboodle of 5 abandoned kittens we rescued (yes, we're suckers for cuties....)

Larry's First ACEO

Since my watercolors are only personal projects so far, I don't often get time to work on them. Paying jobs come first. Today, it's raining and dreary though, so maybe I'll take some time, get a mug of cocoa, put on my slippers and lose myself in some little paintings.

Yes, that sounds like a really good plan.

Please post a comment here and on Facebook. I'd love to hear what you think, suggestions....

Peace,
Joy

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Isn't she beautiful? This is a portrait of my cat Shadow getting sleepy for a nap. You can see the comfort and love in her eyes.

This is a new series of small watercolor paintings I'm working on. With the economic downturn, I'm looking at expanding my horizons and have always wanted to do watercolor paintings. These smaller paintings can be squeezed into little chunks of time I have between the bigger art pieces when they're drying or casting or whatever. I tend to get a half hour here or there - not enough to really get started on another section of the big sculptures, but just right for these, and much better than watching TV or playing a video game (although Oblivion is a lot of fun...).

This new portrait is available for a really sweet price, for an original painting from such a famous artist! I'll even personalize it for you!

Would you like a portrait of your own pussycat or puppy? Send me a photograph or two and I'll make one for you.

Peace,
Joy

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Another little gem for sale.

These little paintings are so much fun to make. They're reverse painted on glass, which means that I have to work backwards — painting the details first, like the stars and clouds and then working my way back to the final background black coat. It's opposite the traditional way of painting on canvas, where the artist puts down the background first and then works toward the details in the forefront.

It's just a different way to do it, but what I really like about painting on glass is that the colors really shine and glow. The glass acts as a nice prism, and since there is no air between the paint and the glass, the colors are able to be as brilliant as possible.

This comes on it's own stand, so it can stand up on your desk or on a shelf. A window into another world.
Peace,
Joy

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It's an original miniature painting, reverse painted on glass. It shows a water planet surrounded by dark nebula. It's about 8 3/4" wide by 3" tall and is for sale!

Reverse painting on glass is an extremely old technique, but only a few people practice it anymore. I find that the colors are richer and deeper when reverse painted, making the piece really glow and shine. This one comes with it's own little wooden stand, so it can stand up on a desk or shelf. It is not stained glass, is not transparent to hang in a window. It's a solid painting, like oil or watercolor, just on the backside of glass instead of on canvas.

These little paintings are called "Portals". I'm doing a whole series of different Portals into other worlds. It's a beautiful little gem that you would just love to own!!

Peace,
Joy

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