I made the deadline for my painted plate for the Art Access "300 plates" show... by one day! I was a slacker this year. It didn't help that the first day I worked on this piece it fell face flat against the carpet. Luckily it's overall texture was unaffected. I love this little painting! Currently I seem to be painting the majority of my eyes blue. I love the way different shades of blue play off of each other.

It is funny that sometimes I think my experience as an artist is so unique to me (because it feels that way) until I look around and see that I am not the only one who is trying to figure life out through the images I create. The top painting is about me figuring out the "Mechanics of the Heart" It is about falling in love and the journey of staying in love once you do. I incorporated one of my favorite images of Lizbeth Zwerger one of my all time favorites. The image is an illustration from her Wizard of Oz. Sometimes I feel like my own questions about love are like Dorothy approaching the Wizard... the answers really lie within myself and it is amazing the journey I go on in order to find them. The bottom painting is a commission piece I just finished for a woman who fell in love with "Puddin Face."

I am excited about the work going on in my studio. I actually just entered my current favorite into the Spring Salon at Springville. I love it so much it actually hurt to have to part with it... I am telling myself (at least for now) that I get to keep it. I have decided that if I didn't let myself keep a painting every once in a while I think my artist would rebel and lose the desire to create. Honestly, I don't have the money to buy my own art! I guess that is the advantage of being the artist... kind of like getting free dental work when your dad is a dentist... right? ;-)

I just added some of my recent images to my website under portfolio/available. Take a look and let me know what you think.

This is one of my favorite photos from my show at Bonner David. My stepdad Kevin is in the photo with me. He was at my show and a huge part of the reason I haven't given up on being an artist. I love this guy... I'm super lucky to have him in my life.

These are detail shots from my new painting. I think it could be the sunlight... I think that it could simply be that tough times don't last forever... but lately I have been feeling so good. I just took four new paintings that I really like up to Coda which unfortunately are not yet on my website (still need to update photoshop). This last painting is once again my way of processing life. In my paintings I am able to express some of the things that I feel and can't seem to find any words for. I honestly believe that I became an artist out of necessity. It is my way of surviving life and finding extraordinary beauty in the midst of it all.

This is what I have been up to... I never knew I had a secret passion for playing with metal. Can you imagine me going through scrap piles at Wasatch Steel and using a plasma cutter? I even learned a little welding and had a blast exploring a whole new medium. These hearts are for sale at Dough Girl (770 S. 300 W.) and range from $5.00 to $22.00. If you stop in try a cookie, they are to die for. I have been working there a little helping out my girlfriend who just opened about six weeks ago. These cookies are her art and you will know what I mean when you tast them. My current favorite is Vivianna (an orange dough with mangos and dark chocolate.)

Sorry that the copies of these paintings are so terrible... my photoshop is out of commission but I couldn't wait to share these with you. These are both 12x12 inches and I love them! They are a welcomed reward after a couple intensly hard months. I watched Meet the Robinsons with my girls tonight, it is a Disney cartoon. Probably my favorite because of the message of the movie. There is a part in the movie when the little boy gets to meet himself in the future, and then there is the Rob Thomas song that goes with it "These Small Moments" that I also find so touching. I relate so much to the movie because as a little girl I had big dreams. In the depths of my heart I knew I was an artist and had so much inside of me that at the time I didn't yet have the skills to express. It makes me want to cry when I think what if I hadn't believed in me. I especially love what the painting above with the woman's hair blowing in the wind represents to me. The last couple of months have shaken me to my core and this painting is my prayer that I can make it through all of the things I have been facing... that I will stay grounded even in the strongest storm. I honestly believe that being an artist has been my saving grace in surviving this world that we live in and I am so grateful!