• Art & Design Projects

    Ashes and Snow: Gregory Colbert’s Dreamlike Photographs

    “Gregory Colbert believes that there is a shared desire for all species to participate in one universal conversation. He sees nature as the greatest storyteller of all and himself as an apprentice to nature. His works are collaborations between humans and other animals that express the shared poetic sensibilities of all species. “Colbert’s Ashes and Snow is an ongoing project comprised of photographic artworks, a one-hour film and two short film “haikus,” and a novel in letters all presented in a purpose-built temporary structure called the Nomadic Museum. “Colbert’s images, visceral yet dreamlike, return us to a place we long for but cannot name. His photographs and films reawaken an ancient…

  • Art & Design Projects

    New Winery Website Designed

    I was delighted to work in the Napa Valley for over a decade, producing marketing and public relations for Schramsberg Vineyards and Mumm Cuvée Napa, as well as representing the French houses of Champagne Perrier-Jouët and Champagne Mumm. So any time I get an opportunity to work with a wine-related business, I’m a happy camper. Enter Sumner Vineyards, a Northern California producer of 100% estate wines—Pinot Noir, Pinot Noir Reserve, Pinot Noir Rosé, Pinot Gris. They needed a winery website, plus some social media support, and we put our heads together and got working on creative ideas. 

  • Art & Design Projects

    Shipping Art Internationally

    I recently returned from a trip to Ireland and have been doing the preliminary sketches for a series of paintings based on the photography I shot while traveling. At least three paintings will be going back to Ireland as thank-you gifts and so, never having shipped a painting internationally, I googled around and found a brilliant video on how to build a veritable tank around one’s art to protect it from the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Postal services, as we all know to our grief, are less than gentle when handling packages. I think these instructions will benefit anyone wanting rugged packing for their art, even if only shipping art across…

  • Art & Design Projects

    New photographer’s website designed

    I had great fun creating this photographer’s website featuring bold photos on a dramatic black background. The home page has a slideshow of some of this photographer’s best work, and I added Google mapping to show where the next shoot will be, a blog, photo galleries, and soon…a store.

  • Art & Design Projects

    New Year’s Mandalas 2014

    I created twelve different mandalas as part of a project with an artist’s group to produce twelve monthly mandalas for the coming year. Each one was an example of what we wanted to bring into our lives. If you are unfamiliar with the historical background of mandalas, Wikipedia has a good overview. As I noodled around the Internet, looking for inspiration, I became intrigued with the concept of combining the radial balance of traditional mandalas with the ancient practice of using words as forms of magic in mantras, incantations, prayers, and spells. In other words, to create ”a sacred utterance…or a group of words [with] psychological and spiritual power.” I began by choosing twelve words and twelve corresponding…

  • Art & Design Projects

    Doctors Without Borders Art Benefit

    I was recently selected to exhibit in this year’s 7th Annual Doctors Without Borders Art Benefit in Half Moon Bay. I’m told it was a difficult jurying process, so I’m very grateful to have been chosen. After being accepted, I went into the conceptual phase of choosing images, thinking about the show’s theme, “Connections”, and sketching out some ideas. Then I ordered canvas and the real work began. Painting is a journey. I begin with an idea of where I want to go, but sometimes the painting has a mind of its own and just takes off in its own direction. That’s what happened with this piece. Originally, it was meant…

  • Art & Design Projects

    Zentangle

    Here’s a rainy day zentangle doodle. New to the concept of zentangles? Google has a bazillion examples, and here’s an explanation. Join the fun!

  • Art & Design Projects

    In my Studio

    #ThrowbackThursday When I was working on an oil painting in my studio in the Napa Valley, sometime in the late 1990s.  The painting, which you can find over on my “paintings” page, is named “Bromeliad.”

  • Art & Design Projects

    “The Art of Encaustic Painting” by Joanne Mattera

    Materra has written a wonderful book. She’s an accomplished encaustic painter herself, and her book on this ancient method of painting with pigmented beeswax is outstanding. Encaustic’s history, modern examples, quotes from artists, and–very important–the recipes and methods, are all covered in this slim volume. Highly recommended, if you are interested in exploring the medium. From Library Journal According to Roman historian Pliny the Elder, encaustic was used as early as the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.E. It is made by melting beeswax with a small amount of resin and then adding pigment while the mixture is still molten. The artist works quickly out of the pot, for the wax…