Fogged in during the last days of winter

Days of fog …

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Santa Monica has been soaked in fog for so many days I’ve lost count. I have been continuing to work on some abstracts that were influenced by my trip to Portugal. I am posting a couple here that are hanging in an office now. The larger piece took some weeks to complete. I layered paint on it to resemble the way paint is layered on walls in Los Angeles. I often see squares painted over concrete to cover graffiti. The layers start to peel after time, weathered by sun and the moist film left after fog settles in for a night.

Sun bleached tiles

The second painting, the smaller of the two, is a bit creamier, like sun bleached tile near the beach. I’m not sure exactly where I have seen this, but it may have actually been inland Mexico in Cuernavaca. I remember someone saying that Cuernavaca is a city of walls.

Walls

To me, walls represented the separateness that plagues communities. Walls keep neighbors from knowing each other, although Robert Frost wrote that “Good fences make good neighbors” in the poem Mending Wall. However, it isn’t Frost’s words, the saying is a 17th century proverb. Frost though ruminates on walls: “Before I built a wall I’d ask to know / What I was walling in or walling out / And to whom I was like to give offense.” I wrote a poem after the visit to Cuernavaca, reflecting on the walled in residents of the city and how it feels to be walled in. It was published in an online at http://www.moriapoetry.com/falin.html …

Walls as art

This work is an attempt to turn the walls I see every day into an inspiration. If you drive around Los Angeles, walls take on various meanings depending on the materials used to create the wall, how its aged and weathered, and what people have added to it.

Walling in or walling out

I had the fortunate experience to live in a neighborhood without fences for a few years. I can remember walking to school through yards. I knew all my neighbors – good or bad – they knew me, too. There was a sense of freedom when I lived without fences and could run through the neighborhood to the park, school or a friend’s house. In spite of the feeling of separateness that a wall can invoke, there are some interesting and even beautiful walls. The second painting makes me think of a beach side wall, creamy colored, but sun bleached – maybe close to a hot tub.

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Spring finally did show up

The first day of spring passed and I am flying into autumn with a trip to New Zealand and Australia. I am looking forward to seeing new places, new art, and meeting new people. Look for some new stuff when I return.

Thank you

As always, my work is for sale and you can contact me at trishfalin@gmail.com if you are interested. All work is copyrighted, and can be used under the Fair Use guidelines (not for profit). If you share this web page, let me know. Thank you for stopping by …

Grit, concrete, rainy days inspire new vision

Black iron, copper, gray, titanium white and sand

12×16 Abstract 1267

Rainy days make the city feel more like concrete: gray sky, gray buildings, gray sidewalk. The graffiti painted over haphazardly with an off white. Lines beneath are ghost writing – visible in spite of the cover. Layers of patches and paint leave a gritty surface.

Etching stars into a gritty surface

The 12×16 Abstract 1267 has layers of black and silver with black lava, black and iridescent pearl underneath the top surface of unbleached titanium, gray and black. The shapes of stars were cut into the thick wet top coat to resemble the effect of cutting wet concrete or peeling paint.

Infinite love

Working with black iron metallic paint underneath gray and titanium white, the coarse, wet metallic bleeds through. I used a rust activator to bring the rust to edges. I used a copper metallic paint through the top part of the work and a blue patina aging solution brings out a bit of blue. This painting was inspired by the colors this past

14×18 Infinite Love

week on some cloudy days. The cliffs of Santa Monica appear to rust in the rain and water takes on a sandy gray color to blend with the beach. The sky boils with charcoal, gray, and small holes where I can see a hidden blue sky of a sunny summer day. This part of the year is full of weather transitions, turning winter to spring with brief reminders of how summer feels.

Valentine’s day

The painting also expresses a concept of unconditional love. I hope you have a good Valentine’s Day. Although the day is a contrived event designed to benefit businesses selling flowers and candy, I hope it can also be a time where people express love. On a dark and stormy day, the deep interior can still be warm.

New travel plans: New Zealand and Australia

This time of year is the best time to take a trip. I am hoping to find some summer weather or maybe an early autumn. I am heading to Auckland, New Zealand March 22nd to spend a few days seeing the area. This will be my first visit to New Zealand. I will fly from New Zealand to Sydney, Australia. This will also be my first visit to Australia. I picked Sydney because I have heard there is a big art community in Sydney. My visit to Portugal inspired my new work. I hope New Zealand and Australia will also be a source of inspiration. If you have any suggestions for what to see, let me know

Thanks for stopping by…

I appreciate your feedback and have been inspired by blogs kept by everyone who has stopped by. Travel pictures and experiences shared by you inspired me to choose New Zealand and Australia for my next trip.

Copyright

All work is copyrighted by me and is for sale. If you are interested in purchasing work, you can contact me at trishfalin@gmail.com. I am still researching how to sell work online. If you have a suggestion of a site or method that is working for you, let me know.

Other works inspired by Portugal… these are cell phone photos. I didn’t get a chance to photograph these five before they were went to their new home.

20×16 Abstracts hanging in their new home

20×16 Abstracts in their new home

Environmental Influence: The Trees of Santa Monica

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A Tree on Ocean Park

Santa Monica has some grand old trees in the park along Ocean Park. This one near the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Ocean Park inspired my work posted here. The tree isn’t quite the mix of color I have here, but has a little more gray on it as if it is showing its age. This is the colorful version of the tree bark. I also have a black and white version that appears a little more rugged and aged: a tree with character.

Chocolate and caramel

I used a mix of warm colors in smooth strokes like a swirl of chocolate and caramel warmed by a little sun. There’s a mix of several colors on top of a black canvas. I actually haven’t put the finish on it, so the color will pop a little more after I do.

Environmental influence

Much of what I paint is inspired by the environment. I have walked past this tree at least a hundred times. Although I took a picture of it, I painted it from a mix of memory and emotion that thinking about the tree evoked. I do appreciate the way care has been taken to keep the trees along Ocean Park alive. I still remember the first time I saw this tree in 1999 while walking along Ocean Park with a friend. We stopped and talked about how grand a tree it was and I took a picture of it. Both the tree and my friend are still part of my life. It is easy to take the beautiful environment and the love of friends for granted, but here I am 13 years later thinking about how grand both the tree and my friend are …

This season

As the days grow short, and a little bit cold, I hope that we all find some warmth and that this brings peace. As the crowds scurry about looking for gifts and getting angry with long lines and traffic, I hope to spend some time with friends and maybe a few old trees before I head to Portugal.

Thank you …

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look at my work. I have people ask me often why I use WordPress instead of creating my own web page. I always tell them it’s because of the community. While my art is for sale, I hope that there also is a personal connection made in the process to the work. Art on your wall should be something you love to look at, something that evokes a feeling. If you are interested in any works here, you can contact me at trishfalin@gmail.com.

Copyright

All work is copyrighted by me and is for sale. Please ask permission before using images posted here of my work. You can share the link, repost or share the post.

Framing a bit of serenity

Finding some peace

The first work after returning from the funeral came out looking like spring after a hard winter. I took this painting to be framed before I took a picture of it, so I leaned it up against my car and took this shot with my phone. I chose a floating black frame … one I like to use on my work.

Painting a bit of hope

I hope that my Mom found some peace after all the suffering. I think that painting is a form of expression of what’s inside that can’t find words. I started with a light green on the canvas and then let the colors fall through the layers of blues, greens, browns and purples. Although it has been foggy often lately, I have been painting a bit of spring color on my canvases. This one is 18×24, which is large enough to create complexity.

Thanks for stopping by …

I love the feedback on WordPress and I also like visiting other sites. I have been checking out a lot of travel blogs as I thought about where to go. I booked a flight to Lisbon in December. After reading so much about it on other blogs, I thought it would be a good place to go right now. If you know of any great art galleries there, please let me know. I know there will be plenty of good food and melancholy music. I’m sure it will inspire new work.

Copyright

All work is copyrighted by me and is for sale. Please ask permission before using images posted here of my work. If you are interested in purchasing work, you can contact me at trishfalin@gmail.com.

A Study in Color at The Art Center in Carpinteria

48 x 24 inches

A Study in Color

This painting, which will be part of The Art Center’s new show opening November 17th, seems to have every color I could find layered throughout. Photographing it was especially challenging, to capture the impact of a two foot by four foot piece and view it on a screen is not even close to seeing it in person. If you have a chance to see The Art Center’s show “A Study in Color,” then you will understand. The Art Center is located at 855 Linden Ave., Carpinteria, California. The opening reception will be November 17th from 2 to 4 pm … The show runs until January 6th.

Start of a New Trend

In many ways, this painting was the first of a new trend for me. The coloring is different, as well as the texture. Blending so many colors over such a large space takes time and patience. I was lost in the creation of this one for some time. Then, it took two weeks to dry. I actually completed this piece in August but hadn’t posted it yet. I have several pieces yet to post.

Bright Spot in November

The show is a bright spot for me this November. My mom passed away last month after battling cancer for more than a year. She loved art and had a special affinity for texturized acrylic works. She inspired my switch from watercolor to acrylic when she purchased a piece from an artist in El Paso, Texas. She gave me the painting and I still find it very inspiring.

Thanks for stopping by …

I appreciate everyone’s feedback … it is inspiring to hear from others and also to visit your blogs to see and read about your experiences. The best part of having a WordPress site is that you can interact with people. It’s the main reason I decided to use it to display my art. Your notes on my last post helped ease the stress and emotional ups and downs. Unfortunately, cancer strikes many and its damage is devastating to watch and painful to experience. I have a large family and very little experience with death. I don’t really know how to process it other than to paint.

Copyright

All work is copyrighted by me and is for sale. Please ask permission before using images posted here of my work. If you are interested in purchasing work, you can contact me at trishfalin@gmail.com.

Summer dreams

Late August

On a hot evening, I grabbed my tools and lined up the paint and mediums and ended up with this work. I used some of the same mediums I have in other works, such as glass beads, but I included one I haven’t used in any of my works: snow flakes. It is like using a thick pudding that looks like snow flakes. You can see the white flakes in the darker colors toward the bottom of the picture. This is a small painting, only 11×14. I find myself packing more into small spaces lately.

Color of August

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One Hot August Afternoon

I finally made the space to start painting again in acrylic. I had taken up using charcoal and a pad of paper for a bit during my move to Santa Monica but it doesn’t compare to working with a tool to create a three dimensional piece such as the one I’m posting today.

Colors collide

I wanted to use a hot pink with a green and white, and so I began working on this piece. Just laying the colors next to each other created a glowing affect. I mixed in several other colors to increase its complexity. I used five mediums in this one to add some variation in the surface. Glass beads are one of my favorites, but this jar contained smaller sized glass beads so the result looks different than previous works.

This photograph

It’s difficult to see all the color in the darker area but if you click on the photograph and enlarge it, you will probably see it much better. I was using diffused natural sunlight to get this photograph. Usually I set up bright white light to increase the detail in the picture, but I thought I’d try the natural light that floods into my workspace. I also tried a different type of acrylic paint that takes quite a long time to dry. I have my floor covered with several pieces that are drying – one two by four foot piece is probably going to take over a week to dry.
Thank you for stopping by …

As always, I appreciate comments and likes… it is very motivating to have some interaction. Painting can be a solitary activity. I’m not saying that is always bad because it also is a great way to take your mind off all the frustration and stress our world can bring on us.

Copyright

All work is copyrighted by me and is for sale. Please ask permission before using images posted here of my work. If you are interested in purchasing work, you can contact me at trishfalin@gmail.com.