Last spring I began a new series of mixed media paintings. The theme of this new work is something that has been percolating and growing in my heart for years, but it has had to wait, as the focus of my time needed to be given to starting a new art business in Morocco. I love my job. I love connecting with the artists of Tetouan, and getting to host artists from around the world and help them create during their art residencies, but as Green Olive Arts has become more established, I’m gradually finding time to work on my own art again.
I know that this blog has been sadly neglected these past two years since I moved back to Morocco, and I’m hoping to turn that around…we’ll see…I’m not making any promises, but my goal is to post here regularly from now on. There is so much I want to share, especially now as I begin this new work.
I’m currently in the middle of my own two-week art residency, in a cabin up in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. As I’m able to get out to Internet, I’ll be posting about the process while I'm creating my new work. I’m so thankful for these two weeks, in the middle of my trip to California to visit my family during the holidays and get things back in order for my art inventory and website.
I finished the first three pieces in this new series last April – you may have seen them in my booth at the Mission Federal Art Walk in San Diego that I flew back for. That was an insanely busy week, and I flew right back to Morocco with new artists in residence to host, so I never did follow up with pictures. I plan to post more about the event soon. And I’ll be posting process images of each of these pieces, so that you can see the new techniques and mediums I’m using in this series, including encaustic and assemblage.
The overarching theme of the next several series’ I’ll be working on is the truth that God has given us about what it means to be a woman, and all of the purposes and implications of that, lived out in our different roles and seasons, and in all the struggles and joys that we experience. The first series that I’m working on within this theme is Singleness, so you will see these ideas begin to unfold as I visually give voice the truths that have been my anchor for many years.
I hope to come close to finishing two more pieces during this residency time, and I’m excited to be working on my art again and sharing the process with you!