Travel

It's still hard for me to believe that my image and National Geographic are next to each other in this screenshot photo.  Last December, I went to my first portfolio review in New Orleans, LA.  I was nervous about showing my personal series to top names in the gallery, museum and art world. What would they say? How would they react to my process? It's always a bit daunting to show your personal work to the world but as I am learning, it's the most rewarding thing you can do.  Sure, people might not like it and that is why it's "art."  It's subjective. I decided to participate in the reviews since my work was selected to be shown at the Ogden Museum of Art in New Orleans in conjunction with PhotoNOLA.  I felt that would be a nice opening line when presenting my series to reviewers.  I am a shy person so this is not the most comfortable setting for me.  I'm sure it's not for most...especially for the first time. The first review was exciting since ...

Marfa has been on my "must visit" list for a long time.  When I tell people that I want to visit Marfa, it is always followed by a confused look on their face. "Muurrfa? Huh?, Where's that?" Marfa is a small town in West Texas.  Founded in the early 1880's as a Railroad Water stop, now it's a tourist destination for people to come and see the mystery lights , Chinati Foundation and many galleries in town. I was mostly interested in visiting El Cosmico.    Although I admire all of the trailers they have on their property, I was so delighted to learn that I could park campy overnight and use their facilities (for a small fee).  Max and I were the only overnight guests in the lot outside of their trailers during the week and that was fine by us!  I spent the day on my bike, "Lucy" to tour the town and snap photographs along the way.  With each block I peddled through, I kept telling myself, "I could live here!" I could picture myself li...

I rarely enter my photographs in photography contests or juried shows.  However, I pay attention to what comes into my life and what people say to me.  If someone suggests something to me, I figure I need to do it to see what happens.  That was the case here.  I took a portrait photography class a few months ago and the instructor suggested I enter something in the "Art of Photography" show.  I wasn't going to at first but then I decided to do it since it was suggested to me. I was thrilled to hear the news that the one photo I entered was chosen for the show. My image "dissolve" was selected by judge Anne Lyden (Associate Curator at the J.Paul Getty Museum ) for inclusion in the 2011 Art of Photography Show at the Lyceum Theatre Gallery in San Diego.  My photograph was chosen from 15,444 entries from 72 countries.  In all, there will be 109 pieces shown.  To see a list of all participating photographers and the country they are from, click H...

Even though I won't be traveling and living out of my car for a while, I always enjoy exploring things nearby that are fun and interesting...especially when it comes to art.  There is a community in the heart of Los Angeles that used to be a brewery and now it's a city in itself of artists.  These artists live and work in the spaces of the Brewery Art complex. Lucky for us, they open their studios to the public a few times a year for us to be able tour their home/work space.  It's a wonderful tour of amazing artists of all mediums.  I did this last year and blogged about it and I plan to go back.  A photograph I took of the experience was licensed by Palladium Boots to use on their website under their explorations video.  You can see that video HERE .  Along with the art walk , the video mentiones other jems in the Los Angeles area to explore. To find out more about the brewery walk, click HERE. Even if a vacation seems out of the question for you ri...

I am thrilled to be a part of the reopening of the Long Beach transit Mall in downtown Long Beach.  In the next few weeks, work will be completed on the project including eight canopy shelters, serving an average of 20,000 commuters daily. Eight selected photographs that I took of Long Beach will be on display in and around the new mall to coordinate with the "nautical" theme expansion.  I spent about four months walking on the beach each night and a few mornings with my point and click camera capturing everything I came across on the beach. Images from these moments will be blown up and installed around the mall so people can experience the beach without actually being at the beach.  I look forward to the completion and encourage you to use public transportation.  You never know what you might come across. The photos from this blog are some I took during those months, but you will have to see the chosen ones once they are installed in a few weeks. The press Telegram...

Today is the beginning of a new decade for me.  I put out a list of 39 things I wanted to accomplish on my 39th year on this earth and I am proud to say that I completed most of them over the year.  Now on to a new decade of my life and more adventures to come. Thank you to everyone who followed me on my crazy "driving around the USA in my tent adventures" for the past year , and the year before that .  It was an incredible few years and I hope to experience many more things to come.  As I did before, I will compile a list and share that with you. As I mentioned, the past three years I have been wandering around the country with my dog, camera and tent.  I made the decision to go back to school for a year to see where that takes me.  I am always up for learning and it will keep me in the same place for a while.  This doesn't mean that I won't take a break for adventures here and there.  I plan to continue this roller coaster ride called life...

The past few weeks I've been running around and participating in art shows around the Long Beach area.  It's been great meeting and chatting with people that come across my little art space. Before returning home, I became used to being on the road for months at a time while moving from one place to another on a daily basis.  People often ask me what it's like to be home.  It's nice to be in one spot and knowing where I will sleep and remembering where I am when I wake up.  Sometimes on the road, each day was almost a surprise since I didn't stay long in one spot.  I got used to driving around and seeing new things, but being in one space has benefits as well. I still am not sure how long I will stay. I love the quote from Elliott Erwitt: "Nothing happens when you stay at home."  It's true for the most part but since I've been out and about in shows, I've talked to more people in the past week then I have in about a year. It takes a certain per...

I've been lacking on the blogging lately.  Since I've been home, I have been slowly unpacking and making art.  Believe it or not, I still have my camping equipment in my car.  Everything in due time, I suppose.  As you may know, I have a hard time relaxing.  I am not one to sit back and relax and read a book.  I've read a few books in the past few months but they have to grab my attention for me to continue reading.  I need to be learning something new each day and doing something with art to fulfill my creative soul. That being said, I have been spending a lot of time working on some pieces for a few shows coming up.  I will be one of the artists at "ALLOW" this Saturday at the Avia hotel in Long Beach and my work will be included in the Sipology exhibit "Urban Pets"opening this Saturday and continuing through early February. I've stepped out of my comfort zone of mounting and framing photographs in traditional frames to mounting them on wood bo...

As you know, I came home only to leave once again.  I needed to get back out of the house on Tuesday so Max and I have been staying with two close friends and their baby, Alexa. For once in a long time, I have been relaxing and doing nothing, really.  I've taken Max to the dog park every day so he can run around and get a workout and that always makes me smile. Last year I spent Thanksgiving and Christmas alone so it was a treat to be able to spend it with a friend this year.  Since we are both "non cooks," we found a place that sold turkey take out meals so we bought two to go and sat on the couch and stuffed ourselves. So, today is the biggest shopping day of the year.  Shopping is the last thing I would like to do.  I couldn't even imagine getting up early like so many do to get a deal on something they really didn't need to begin with.  After living out of my car for the past three years for six months at a time, I don't really get attached to things li...

My weekend was filled with viewing and appreciating art. More specifically, art including our canine best friend. Friday and Saturday was "Art goes to the dogs" hosted by Paige Bauer at the 2nd city council art gallery in Long Beach, CA.  There was an array of beautiful photographs, paintings, sculpture and instillations everywhere you looked in the space.  I was fortunate to display my photograph of a corgie and an Airstream titled,"Dixie." Being camera shy, I took this photograph of another person being interviewed in front of "Dixie." On Saturday evening, I went to the closing reception of "Dogs Dogs Dogs" at the 1650 Gallery in Echo Park.  I brought Max along to this reception since they had Santa there to take photographs with and I knew he was ready to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas.  I saw him whispering in his ear but he wanted to keep it a secret from me.  I wonder what Max wished for... Here are some snapshots I took with my po...