One of my recent girl pieces, featured in my last show.

I recently started working on my next series of work – two, actually.  The first is a series of small works on wood, images of my girl in outfits throughout fashion history.  My next show is at a shoe store of all places, so I decided to have fun with the pieces for this particular venue, and let me tell you – FUN is the operative word.  I’ve decided to call this series "Fashionista" because that is what my girl gets to be.  All she has to do is play dress up and look cute, and working on these images has been crazy fun.

I also came up with an idea for a second, unplanned series of flowery, feminine collages inspired by my grandma.  When I organized my studio recently, I created a large stack of canvases with half-finished paintings, experiments and even a few given to me by another artist friend.  I’ve decided to make use of them for this next show just to shake things up a bit.  Working on these two series simultaneously has been a great balance.  Because the girl pieces are small – no larger than 8" x 10", the work is pretty meticulous, and mostly painting.  With the collages, I can go wild and get into that messy creative frenzy I love so much.

I have noticed a funny little voice in my brain that is saying these latest creations aren’t "real" art because they are entirely too fun and playful.  They have no deep messages; they don’t explore dark emotions.  Many of the pieces for The Girly Show had a little more to them in terms of stories and symbolic imagery such as my girl with a crane shown above; the pieces I am creating now and just crazy fun.  I have laughed at this voice, wondering where it came from and why on earth it would feel the need to try to drain the joy I am experiencing with these latest works.  I find the argument that the best creative energy comes out of angst and suffering quite fascinating, and I can’t even say I disagree entirely.  From this idea it is easy to move into what defines art, what success is, etc., and anything that spawns so many other interesting questions and ideas is a good place to explore.

"Art does not reproduce what we see; rather, it makes us see."  Paul Klee