linda dalal sawaya

art news and holiday greetings from linda dalal sawaya

2011-12-16T10:39:00.000-08:00

i'm delighted to have sent my freshly designed art news email yesterday with colorfully good information including my teaching art classes starting in january after a two year sabbatical! instead of in my studio, they will be taught at Village Gallery of Arts in the cedar mill area of portland.

Monday Night Collage class returns! this popular class i've taught over the years culminating a few years ago in a student exhibition at Washington State University, Vancouver campus, is great fun and starts up again in mid-January. sign up through their website; no experience necessary, and all materials provided.

this collage is by a wonderful artist nicknamed Kosmic Karen—her first collage of many exquisite ones done in my classes.

two workshops: collage and acrylic paint, and soulcollage® coming up in the new year in the same location have me very excited to get back to teaching as they are both great fun!

my Tree of Life painting was mailed in poster size to a few thousand people by Friends of Sabeel North America for their Christmas fundraising appeal with a letter from Archbishop Desmond Tutu—an honor and a blessing to be sure! FOSNA does significant work working for peace in Palestine and Israel, which i support wholeheartedly, and encourage you to support as well.

one last item included is a special holiday offer for copies of my book, alice's kitchen: traditional lebanese cooking! email me to get your gift copies now!

wishing you all many blessings, happy holidays, and peace to all!

The Sweets of Araby illustrated by Linda Sawaya among NY Times Notable Books of 2011!

2011-12-06T09:39:00.000-08:00

i was totally delighted this week to receive news from Countryman Press editor Kermit Hummel that The Sweets of Araby, which i had the pleasure of illustrating and designing the cover for, was selected as one of 18 NY Times Notable Cookbooks of 2011!!

the team at Countryman and the Salloum sisters (authors) were great to work with on this colorful and enchanting book of recipes based on the Tales from the 1001 Arabian Nights, providing me with excellent material for illustrating the 25 stories in the book. a unique holiday gift to yourself or your loved ones!

Sawaya painting in BEYOND BORDERS Arab American Art Exhibition in Long Beach, California

2011-10-16T20:35:00.000-07:00

another beautiful invitation for this year's 2011 BEYOND BORDERS art exhibition in long beach, california at 2nd city council gallery, this weekend, october 22 and 23 sponsored by the House of Lebanon Artists' Group in Los Angeles. the show is up from noon to 5 p.m. on saturday, with a reception from 5 to 9 p.m.

sunday it is open from noon to 5 p.m. with a children's ceramic workshop from 1 to 3 p.m. i will be helping reem hammad out with the workshop, and this will be great fun!

the address is 435 alamitos avenue, long beach, california 90802. this year i will be there and hope to see you there if you're nearby!

it will be a great show featuring the work of 28 artists—lebanese-american, middle eastern, and american!

i will be signing copies of my cookbook, alice's kitchen: traditional lebanese cooking and the sweets of araby, which i illustrated and was published in june!

the exhibition is sponsored by the Lebanese American Foundation House of Lebanon and the House of Lebanon Artists' Group.

a food photograph to post on my art blog or on my lebanese cookbook blog?

2011-08-19T22:50:00.000-07:00

if you look at the sidebar on the right, you'll notice that i have two blogs, my alice's kitchen: traditional lebanese cooking blog, and this art blog. i have just added both blogs to "networked blogs", so i invite you to join and follow on that as well. interestingly, i have twice as many followers on my cookbook blog. conclusion: more people love to eat lebanese food than to look at art!

recently i made a salad from my garden for a potluck, and it was so beautiful, but since it's not lebanese, i've decided to post it here on my art blog.

food is art. and photography was one of my first art forms. that's why i love having the alice's kitchen cookbook blog: it combines my love of photography with my love of food and cooking. and my mother, alice, was a great teacher of artful presentation of food and beyond.

in case you're wondering, the white and red flowers are scarlet runner bean blossoms, which i just tasted for the first time—and you guessed it, they taste yummy...just like beans! the periwinkle blue star-shaped blossoms are borage flowers, tasting slightly like cucumber and adding beautiful color; and the orange petals are from calendulas blooming wildly all over the garden, another edible flower! the purple snippets are purple bush beans right from the garden. everything but the gorgonzola cheese. the cool thing about portland's cool summer, is the salad greens just keep coming!

i'm praying for some heat so the figs finally ripen...they're a month late! you can see a beautiful platter of a bumper crop of figs from my garden on the cookbook blog.

enjoy and happy summer!

wall street journal review praises the illustrations in the sweets of araby

2011-07-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

although the reviewer doesn't mention my name in the wall street journal online, mr. bakshian describes the sweets of araby, my latest book illustration project, as a "beautifully illustrated book". here's a link to the article which appeared july 2, 2011.

and this is good.

another painting from the sweets of araby for your pleasure is playful and of course colorful. illustrated by yours truly, linda dalal sawaya.

the sweets of araby reviewed in the boston globe!

2011-06-30T22:28:00.000-07:00

delighted to see the first review of the sweets of araby in the boston globe! and especially delighted at their praise for my illustrations! "The eye-catching colors of Linda Dalal Sawaya’s charming illustrations make this book one to savor in or out of the kitchen."

here's one of my favorite illustrations from the book. as you can see i had such fun with this!

palestinian tree of life painting

2011-06-16T22:35:00.000-07:00

my latest painting is a commissioned piece for an international organization working for peace in palestine/israel. it is a tree of life. the birth of this illustration occurred in perfect synchronicity. a couple of months ago i came across a tree of life painting and the concept resonated. i had not painted a tree of life and it was time. one week later, a phone call came to me commissioning a tree of life painting! goose bumps and joy!

the olive tree symbolic of the struggle for peace in palestine, as well as the source of the fruit that brings sustenance, health, and vitality, was a natural choice while the olive branch has been used as a symbol of peace since ancient times.

in researching the painting, i delighted in learning about the beautiful palestine sunbird a species particular to this region of the world, in addition to the gazelle, turtle, white stork, and other species.

it has been a delight and a blessing to make this painting for a wonderful cause.

linda dalal sawaya art website redesigned! check it out!

2011-06-12T17:44:00.000-07:00

in anticipation of the new book i illustrated being published this month, i spent the past several weeks re-designing my website to feature my new illustration work. it is colorful and delightful, and i hope you'll visit and check out all the new work. let me know how you like the new look! and if you want to buy prints or commission illustration work, please be in touch! enjoy!

the sweets of araby cookbook published featuring linda sawaya illustrations and cover design

2011-06-12T17:04:00.000-07:00

delighted to announce the publication of the cookbook i illustrated this past year—the sweets of araby—with twenty five interior illustrations and the cover illustration and graphic design featuring recipes based on the Tales of the 1001 Arabian Nights. a very fun project to work on with stories lending themselves to playful and colorful paintings. the book is published by countryman press, and is available from them, me, or amazon.

in anticipation of the publication of this book, i have redesigned my art website with many of the illustrations from the book. please visit my site and make comments here letting me know how you like it all! my alice's kitchen cookbook pages are in process of being redesigned!

linda sawaya featured as ARTIST OF THE MONTH for los angeles' House of Lebanon

2011-03-16T12:20:00.000-07:00

what an honor and delight to be featured this month as ARTIST OF THE MONTH for the Los Angeles (my hometown) organization Lebanese American Foundation's House of Lebanon.

here's a link to the March newsletter with my bio and samples of my artwork. when you go to the link, please scroll down to find the story.

the organization hosts an artists' group, which is a great resource for exhibitions in LA and a wonderful networking group; also has a young professionals group. HOL sponsors fundraisers and philanthropic events to benefit hospitals in Lebanon.

the sweets of araby off to press!

2011-03-01T22:47:00.000-08:00

the new year has started off with a bang, with my completion of twenty five illustrations for a new Arabic pastry cookbook being published in june by Countryman Press, a division of W.W. Norton & Company, plus the cover design and illustration shown here by yours truly, linda dalal sawaya.

The Sweets of Araby went to press in early february for june publication! it has been a delight to work on this project, which features stories from the Tales of the 1001 Arabian Nights. the book's authors, Leila Salloum Elias and Muna Salloum are daughters of noted Lebanese-Canadian food author, Habib Salloum.

earlier posts on this project were in august and september. soon i will be posting a few more of the interior illustrations painted with acrylic paint on paper using tiny tiny brushes. would love to hear your comments!

black and white collage in art media's 10 x 10 show available now!

2011-01-22T14:53:00.000-08:00

a bit late for the exhibition but not too late to buy the piece! the show was up in december and i've wanted to share the image with you since october...as you can see, i'm a bit behind! but delighted to get this posted on this sunny day in portland.

one of my collages exhibited in the art media 10 x 10 show where all artwork is 10 x 10 inches and sells for $100 or less. art media is a locally owned, dream art stores where i've been buying supplies ever since i moved to portland in 1977, started by art students who understood artists' needs and still own the store.

this year i discovered my cousins in LA are suppliers to art media that you can buy directly from online...greg daniels is the son of my cousin, sandy daniels! here's the link for cousin greg daniels and family art supplies! check them out!

my untitled collage (email me if you have an idea for a title! or post it in comments below...) even though it's a way low price for one of my original artworks, didn't sell. the original framed piece is available for $100...so let me know if you're interested! i will donate the funds to one of my favorite non-profit organizations working for peace and justice in the world!

it is 10 x 10" in a black matt, the medium is straight collage (no painting) on board, framed size is 11 x 11 inches; shipping will cost $15.

here's to the first buyer! good luck!

watch for lots more great news coming soon; i'm behind on posting!

happy new year to all!

peace, love, blessings, light, and much creativity!

6 wands—victory! my tarot card painting at splendorporium in portland!

2010-11-30T00:01:00.000-08:00

in the midst of a big deadline of 25 illustrations for the arabic pastry cookbook, sweets of araby, an opportunity to paint something completely different from what i had been intensely working on arose and i took a few days to indulge myself in a totally different process.

i knew the size, as the tarot show had a minimum size, and i knew the content, as i drew this card, the 6 of wands—victory, to paint for the portland tarot card exhibition.

wanting to do something totally different than brightly colored paintings on bright white paper that i had sketched and designed previously, i chose to gesso the canvas black for starters. then i put into place an interference blue border of 2 inches, leaving the corner squares for interference gold.

working without a sketch, i just went with the flow and my intuition. came up with the idea of the i-ching, and as i researched this, which has hexagrams of 6 lines, it was perfectly logical to do the first hexagram of the i-ching, which is six unbroken lines, Ch'ien, THE CREATIVE, HEAVEN both above and below. how auspicious as the 6 of wands could be represented by the 6 lines. one of the interpretations of the 6 of wands tarot card i discovered is victory over difficulties. so appropriate to what i have been dealing with, i could not have asked for a more positive card! and the i-ching hexagram 1—ch'ien, the creative, above and below, felt divinely guided.

next, i painted the black gesso with some dark colors to give it depth and texture. and then using more interference paint colors, i painted in the hexagram. the circle enclosing it seemed like a natural organic progression to represent the sun, earth, moon, creative energy, egg, birth, life. and the lines extending beyond the circle representing another aspect of the 6 of wands...and the number 6 at the bottom.

finally i added black circles on to the gold corner squares and came up with four elements to be included: earth, represented by the bare feet standing in the center of the circle; fire; water; and heart—all done with love.

and the word "victory" which appears on the 6 of wands card was added as the finishing element.

the exhibition is up at the splendorporium in portland through the end of december and this painting is for sale!

wishing you all victory over any and all difficulties, creativity, heaven, and many blessings this holiday season!

portland tarot show—opening friday night, november 5

2010-10-31T23:35:00.000-07:00

my artwork for the "six of wands—victory" will be in the portland tarot show that opens this friday night at the splendorporium. dozens of artists were invited to draw a card from the tarot deck to determine the card each artist was to paint. a very synchronistic process, to be sure. the card i drew is extremely auspicious to me, as it's meaning relates to success after much hard work.

this is so fitting to my situation, and i am delighted to have drawn this card. in the midst of a huge deadline of 25 interior paintings for the arabic pastry cookbook, i managed to squeeze out a couple of days to work on the painting for the tarot show, which is totally different from the illustrations for the book.

instead of working on small images on white paper with brightly colored paints, i began by gessoing my canvas black. and instead of having a pre-planned drawing worked out, it felt right to work spontaneously, and just follow my intuition. i used interference paints, that work exquisitely on black, and although the theme for the card is joy, the painting is a bit on the dark side. one piece of advice that i learned while researching the meanings for this card is humility...victory with humility. in other words, the opposite of arrogance. a wonderful reminder.

will upload the photos from my camera soon to share with you here. and if you're in portland, please join me and many other artists at the opening friday night from 7 to 9 p.m.

sawaya in beyond borders: arab-american art exhibition, long beach, california

2010-10-04T11:11:00.000-07:00

here's the lovely announcement done by artist reem hammad, for the BEYOND BORDERS art exhibition in long beach, california at 2nd city council gallery, this weekend, october 9 and 10. the show is up from noon to 5 p.m. on saturday, with a reception from 7 to 9 p.m.

sunday it is open from noon to 5 p.m. with a children's workshop from 1 to 3 p.m.

address is 435 alamitos avenue, long beach, california...

will be a great show featuring the work of 22 artists—lebanese-american, middle eastern, and american! if you're in the area, it will be worthwhile being there...i imagine great food, music, art, film screenings, and amazing people!

four of my paintings will be shown from the "at the top of the head" series: fireworks woman, spectral woman, rosehead woman, and nimrod woman. they look fabulous framed. also signed copies of my cookbook, alice's kitchen: traditional lebanese cooking will be available!

the exhibition is sponsored by the Lebanese American Foundation House of Lebanon and the House of Lebanon Artists' Group.

preview of new artwork for arabic pastry cookbook!

2010-09-20T22:12:00.000-07:00

very delighted to present a preview of the artwork i recently completed for the cover of an arabic pastry cookbook to be published next spring. so far the response to it has been very positive; and i am so pleased with it as well! accomplished in record time to boot!

soon i will begin twenty five illustrations for the interior of the book...one of which was previewed pre-completion in an earlier post in august. what fun!

sawaya in illustration invitational show opening this week in portland

2010-09-08T21:39:00.000-07:00

an illustration exhibition called DRAWING ATTENTION will open this sunday, september 12th at the Doll Gardner Gallery in portland, featuring primarily children's book illustrators. if you are in town on sunday from 12:30 to 2 p.m., stop by the gallery on sw oleson road for the opening reception with the artists. hope to be there myself! it looks to be a fun show.

i will be exhibiting original paintings from my two children's books: How To Get Famous in Brooklyn and The Little Ant/La Hormiga Chiquita. the show will be up through september 26th.

in other news, i'm going to be in an art show in long beach, california in october...watch for upcoming posting about this with all the details.

and i have just finished the cover painting for the arabic pastry cookbook. hope to post that image soon after getting the publisher's okay! it is quite a lovely piece done in record time.

new illustration work in progress!

2010-08-13T21:14:00.000-07:00

here's my new unfinished first painting for an arabic pastry cookbook that i am illustrating! it is great to be back at the drawing board! and i just got word that the editor loves it!

the colors bring me much joy! twenty-four more to go...plus the book jacket cover illustration.

recent illustration for arabic-themed children's book—jasmine woman

2010-06-03T16:57:00.000-07:00

the truth is this was painted a year ago on speculation for an arabic-themed children's book, which is still seeking a publisher. i was holding off on posting it awaiting moving forward with the project, but it's on hold for now! the sketch and painting were done in record time for the NY Festival of Books last year.

i love the serenity in the arabic woman's face and the whimsy of the bunny, the night sky and arabesque border design.

donate to provide relief for HAITI

2010-01-14T14:55:00.000-08:00

at this tragic time in haiti, it is important to consider if we each gave $25 or $30 what kind of difference that would make.

here are two links for organizations that are doing good work. of course there are many other ways to give. i just urge you to give what you can. it is a blessing to be able to give.

doctors without borders 87% of their annual funds goes to actually help people.
mercy corps international which is based in portland, oregon also has a high portion of funds actually aiding people.

here's a link from a friend in berkeley who personally knows a woman involved with this orphanage, so if you want to donate to a much smaller group working in Haiti, here's a great opportunity: sionfonds

may peace prevail in the new decade: memorable JUST PEACE t-shirts in LA peace exhibition!!!

2010-01-09T21:42:00.000-08:00

last august in LA, it was a delight to meet fellow arab-american artist reem hammad and see her sublime ceramic art at an arab american art exhibition called Colors of the Arab World she participated in at american friend's service committee (AFSC) LA gallery.

according to the afsc history page: "The American Friends Service Committee was founded in 1917 to provide young Quakers and other conscientious objectors an opportunity to serve those in need instead of fighting during World War I."

a new exhibition of peace art featuring 9 artists and designers at AFSC gallery opening in los angeles january 14, 2010—Canvassing Peace—will be on for six months and continues this almost 100 year old tradition of working towards world peace. the JUST PEACE/salaam/shalom t-shirts which i designed in the 1980s are re-emerging in a world still seeking peace. they are on display along with other t-shirts i designed then for the Oregon Peace Institute in this exhibition, and the much sought-after JUST PEACE buttons.

the opening reception is january 14, 2010 from 6-8:30pm at AFSC Friends Gallery, 634 S. Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90014.

this is in the old garment district of downtown LA in which my father and uncle Mike had their Sawaya Brothers Wholesale Dry Goods store just a couple of blocks over on Los Angeles Street when i was growing up. now this neighborhood is called the LA Downtown Arts District aplenty with lofts and studios! what a twist of fate!

here's the building as it is now. when i was growing up, it was flanked by two parking lots and there was giant lettering "SAWAYA BROS. WHOLESALE DRY GOODS" along the length of the building overlooking the parking lot facing north. the current tenants, Persians, sell beautiful fabrics. i was teary-eyed with nostalgia as i wandered through taking photos. my dad's little office remained in the same front corner of the building. without a doubt the neighborhood has changed; and the wooden vertical ladders that slid along both sides of the store to reach the tallest shelves that my sister vivian and i used to "ride" were history. but the painted address lettering over the door could have been—and reminded me of—what was there years ago. i was delighted the building still stood. and cole's famous french dip sandwiches—founded in 1908 the city's first public house just around the corner from his store, where daddy treated us to amazing sandwiches and the best dill pickles ever—lives on although a shadow of its former glory days. another full circle of time and memory.

as for the opening night, i wish i could be there! my dear friend Gail Gordon Carter has four of her paintings in the show. how cool that the t-shirts i designed are on display and yet how sad that this message is still needed in the world. let me know if you want to order some t-shirts or buttons. it might just be time to revive them! salaam/shalom to all in the coming decade. peace, peace, peace!

traditional Mother of God icons now showing in group exhibition

2009-12-26T21:38:00.000-08:00

Two of my traditional Eastern Catholic icons are on exhibition in Incarnation Icons at the Cloisters Gallery, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Portland, Oregon from November 1, 2009 - January 2, 2010.

if you're in portland, it's worth a visit to this beautiful exhibition. many of the icons are written by my vancouver, washington teacher, virginia barber! sally wooley did a great job organizing and hanging the show.

the icon pictured here, Kykotissa Mother of God, is based on a prototype from St. Catherine's monastery in the Sinai. the feel of it is so Arabic, very different than the typical russian prototypes, and the appeal was very strong. when i visited the Getty Museum in december 2006 and saw the amazing iconography exhibition from St. Catherine's monastery, i was inspired to write this icon. on a recent trip to LA and a return to the Getty, i saw these two icons from their collection, but i failed to note the artist's names, dates, and other crucial information...just was snapping away (without flash, of course!) while chatting with my LA illustrator friend, Gail.

cover art goes around the world again!

2009-11-16T13:17:00.000-08:00

my lebanese family cookbook, alice's kitchen: traditional lebanese cooking, was launched into the world in a fabulous way by being first excerpted in Aramco World magazine, Jan/Feb. 1997, in an article titled "Memories of a Lebanese Garden", which i wrote and illustrated using photos transferred onto paper with acrylic paint and collage. this was marvelous—our book received great international exposure, as many thousands of copies were distributed across the globe!

letters poured in from people all over the world who wanted to connect—very grateful to see positive images of arabs for a change, and delighted to find recipes their grandmothers made but had been long lost, and to share that the people in the photo illustrations reminded them of their fathers, uncles, sisters, and so on. and most of all, they wrote love letters sharing their own beautiful family stories. our story brought tears to their eyes and their letters and stories brought tears to our eyes. this was more than we ever could have imagined and such a huge blessing and gift! it expanded my family far beyond my own. friendships were made that continue to this day, with love being the essence of it all—expressed through making food with love and sharing it with generosity and beauty.

a few days ago my dear iraqi friend, aseel, phoned up to ask if i'd seen the latest issue (Nov/Dec) of the now titled, Saudi Aramco World and to congratulate me. this issue has a 2010 calendar insert celebrating 60 years of publishing their exquisite publication. my illustrated cover from the 1997 issue is the image chosen for their 1990s decade! my mother and i were "cover girls" and their choice of this issue to represent a decade is an honor and a delight! alice's spirit lives on and travels around the world!!! we are "cover girls" once again!

baghdad flourishing 2

2007-08-01T22:55:00.000-07:00

another in my series of baghdad reviving from the brutal u.s. occupation. this canvas is 8 x8 inches and is available
for sale. please email me for pricing.

baghdad flourishing 1

2007-07-30T21:04:00.000-07:00

today's painting is the first in a series of acrylic paintings on canvas that i'm taking to the seattle arab festival to sell. this one is 10 x10 inches, and is inspired by an illustration done for saudi aramco world magazine last summer. the subject matter is baghdad, but instead of baghdad destroyed, it is a vision of baghdad flourishing once again. this painting is for sale. please email me if you're interested in buying this or one like it.

autumn woman

2007-07-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

it is not even august yet, but hints of autumn are already in the air. the light is changing. the air is cooler; days are becoming shorter. this is how it is in the pacific nw.

so the use of the gilded autumn leaf as a starting point for this painting...another in my series.

with the golden yellow of summer, hinting of fall to come.

buddha/great vow

2007-07-12T18:54:00.001-07:00

while away for a meditation retreat, this is the first of four paintings done with my first media—watercolor on paper.

butterfly woman

2007-07-12T18:50:00.000-07:00

the latest in my collage/acrylic series after a month of travel, a retreat, and gardening catch up!

medicine woman—original version

2007-06-11T14:17:00.002-07:00

here's the original painting without photoshop. which one do you like better?

medicine woman—psychedelic version

2007-06-11T14:10:00.002-07:00

after my initial scan of this painting, i started fooling around with this image in photoshop, and decided i like the psychedelic version more than the orginial painting. so maybe i will go back to the original painting and really put in some color such as this! it's really fun to play with images in photoshop. lots of amazing variations are possible!

cauliflower woman

2007-06-07T21:31:00.000-07:00

spent a week intensively getting caught up on my garden—planting american corn, lebanese squash, german green tomatoes, middle eastern and armenian cucumbers, jalapeño peppers, italian basil, and more...so my delay in painting and posting! the garden has produced abundant strawberries this year—a result of little rain, which minimized the usual slug damage. this year, for the first time, the strawberries and rhubarb were ready at the same time to make a fabulous pie—the best ever according to my sweetie, with a secret ingredient of orange flower water and lemon zest! Yum! (thanks to global warming?)

and perfectly in keeping with my activities of planting food, today's painting is an offshoot of people with things at the top of the head series, people with food at the top of their heads! self-explanatory...obsessed with food; food on the mind; love to cook and eat; a silly concept? you decide.

nimrod woman

2007-05-31T22:08:00.001-07:00

to commemorate the loss of life, dignity, beauty, history, culture, civilization, and people of ancient mesopotamia/current day iraq, i dedicate today's painting.

dog man

2007-05-30T20:46:00.000-07:00

a slightly looser painting style and a silly starting point (the dog!) led me to breaking out a bit from the usual today.

spectral man

2007-05-29T18:26:00.001-07:00

he is spiraling! i struggled with this painting today to finally bring it around to the point where i liked it. and now he seems a good companion to spectral woman. let me know what you think. did i make the mark? as spectral woman is a hard act to follow!

buddha lotus

2007-05-24T18:18:00.000-07:00

today's painting is a completion of a piece begun as a demo in a workshop last year.
what a joy to have finished it—another in this series which is growing into a body of work!

lotus woman 3

2007-05-23T21:21:00.002-07:00

i found another lotus woman that needed completion! she's got some lotus "jewelry" which gives her a little zip!

let me know if you'd like to buy originals or prints of any of these paintings!

lotus woman 2

2007-05-22T17:38:00.002-07:00

today's painting is a completion of one of a series of lotus flower women that i started awhile back. it feels good that she's now done! thanks to friend/writer/artist jill kelly for the idea of finishing some of my unfinished pieces for my daily art project!

KYKKOTISSA MOTHER OF GOD ICON

2007-05-21T14:54:00.000-07:00

this icon was NOT done in a day. it was a long process, just completed (except for the final stage of olipha, or oiling the icon to preserve it), on friday. the medium is egg tempera on gessoed wood panel with 23k gold leaf and shell gold. it measures approximately 8 inches by 10 3/4 inches.

the original Kykkotissa Mother of God icon which was the prototype for this one comes from St. Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai. in December i viewed an exhibition of icons (not including this one) from St. Catherine's at the Getty Museum in LA—wow!

this weekend i was away at the oregon coast visiting dear friends from RAIN magazine days, and so i did not paint, but will use some of the beauty and inspiration in my daily paintings this week.

spiderman

2007-05-17T23:56:00.000-07:00

spiderman reflects the mood of the day...duality and tension. this painting was done over a child's painting of a little dancer. some of the pink background is from the child's painting, and other "pentimento" are revealed throughout especially as texture.

mindful bliss

2007-05-16T21:26:00.000-07:00

today's painting is the latest in this series which measure 7 1/2 inches by 5 1/2 inches. it came from the meditative state that arises while painting.

spectral woman

2007-05-15T15:08:00.000-07:00

this is the one i painted on saturday in the workshop that i taught. she now has a title "spectral woman"
and is the newest in my series of people with things at the top of their head! enjoy!

please email me if you're interested in purchasing any of my paintings!

fireworks woman

2007-05-14T20:28:00.000-07:00

daily art blog

2007-05-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

for years i have been thinking of doing a painting a day, inspired by a woman named lorraine, who did a beautiful painting and shared with me her idea of doing a painting a day. she used a prompt list—one word for each day of the month's painting—as writers sometimes use to generate a written story.

so here i go, with or without a prompt list.

since high school i loved drawing faces—doodles really—and now as a painter many years later, i love creating faces. a number of years ago i began a series beginning with a visual prompt—a magazine cutout that i collaged onto my painting paper. i place these organic simple starting points at the top of the head and create a face from there, incorporating the element into the hair or head of the person i've created. it is fun and fast.

first i'm posting one of the original series that i love called fireworks woman. tomorrow i'll post a new one i which i just painted on saturday as a demonstration piece in a collage and acrylic painting workshop i taught in my studio. i love the colors and the feeling she has. so far, she isn't titled.