It's What You See that Matters

Hey guys!

My good friend Lisa Congdon is teaching a 3 day painting class in the mountains of Oregon... swoon! I would so love to be part of her class. Lisa is someone who I've admired from day one for her generousness, talent, passion, color and fashion sense and big smile & heart.. aww. I love her and her art and cannot sing enough praises for her person and how phenomenal this class will be!! You will learn so much! There are only a few spots left-- hope you can be the lucky one :-)



San Francisco mixed media artist Lisa Congdon is teaching a three day painting workshop in the Siskiyou Mountains of southern Oregon! Sponsored by ACE CAMPS, this workshop is a once in a lifetime experience! Lisa will work with you to explore how to create their own paintings of the natural world—as you see it—through your own distinct vantage point. Lisa will lead the group in exercises designed both to help you see the idiosyncrasies in the natural world and to draw and paint them in your own unique ways. Participants will learn to recognize and honor their own personal perspectives and translate them into their paintings and drawings. Environment will be easy going, enjoyable and safe! Delicious meals and time built in to relax and enjoy the woods are part of the whole deal.

Lisa’s daily sessions will include walks in the woods, observations, discussions, and exercises in painting and drawing.

Artists of all levels, from beginner to experienced are encouraged to participate.

Space is limited, so sign up today!

east & west coast represent

I'm excited that next Thursday, September 2nd my and Jen's SPIN show opens on the west coast at Rare Device. Then Friday i'm part of the 8th!! Enormous Tiny Show at Nahcotta! If you're on one of the coasts, hope you can make one of the openings!

SPIN

part of why i've been freaking out lately is that i have a show coming up in about 2 weeks! and it's really bad timing to fall off my bike and hurt my painting arm. alas, today i woke up and with some rest and space looked at where i'm at... and i think it's gonna be good. i like my work and while i still have a lot to paint, i'm excited!!

so my joint show with jennifer judd-mcgee at rare device on 1845 market st in SF!

opening:
sept. 2, 7-9 pm
running:
sept. 2-28, 2010

i chuckled at liv's comment and it's truth: But what is the one requirement for riding a bicycle? You have to be balanced or you are destined to crash. Looks to me like the Universe dressed up as Captain Obvious and is doing everything possible to get you to rest a bit!

thanks all for your kind words and support on my journey here!

hugs,
mati

i love my bike

my lovely bike- photo by adam aufdencamp

thank you all for getting my earlier post. i'm sitting here grateful for my bike and my physical body. i fell really hard today on my bike and strained my right arm (my drawing, painting... i had no idea how much i relied on it arm!). after all my freaking out earlier and late nights in the studio i feel reminded to slow down and remember what's important. deadlines will come and go and i'll do the best i can, but i need to breathe and appreciate the now.

if i'm not getting back to you... it's because i'm icing my arm every 20 minutes and watching "mad men".

be well and ride safe!

mati

honoring your freakouts

print available here

I've been super slammed lately with projects. They all feel exciting and equally important. They have me working at least 12 hour days, from 10-10 usually. It feels alive. It feels overwhelming. It feels like I'm freaking out!

Today I realized that I have been pretending that I'm balanced! I naturally have a very calm and collected front (I've been told) and try to hold all of it together and minimize what's happening in my life. I recognized today that I don't have to do this. I can let on that I'm freaking out! I can honor this state of being! It's the most authentic thing to do.

It's like when I used to waitress I would never delegate my tasks of running for the ketchup, check or drinks to anyone else and continue to take tables and then low and behold I'd be in the weeds! I feel like I'm in the weeds right now. Working in the studio late on a Friday night.

I have this fantasy that this weekend I can bake all my friends meyer lemon pies... the one with a new baby, my pregnant friend, my inlaws, my friend who's turning 40... the list goes on. And of course the fantasy continues to spending quality time with all of them. I have this fantasy that I can be the good friend who listens to all my friends woes and never burden them with mine too. Isn't that silly? What kind of boring friend would that be?

I guess it comes down to valuing myself and my work. I find myself deferring to others when they talk about their big life issues-- babies, relationships, careers... even other artists work "Oh yeah, your show is a really big deal! It's so exciting!! Mine is just a little one. Oh you don't have to come". Enough. Enough of this self-deprecation and humility! I think it's time for me to own up and honor my own enoughness and freakout like the awesome freak that I am! I hope you give yourself permission to do the same!

Happy Freaky Friday the 13th xxxx
Mati

oregon coast

sigh, i miss this place and the beachy mems. i'm loving all the pinks & yellows... in my pal hula's textiles and collage and the sweet girl herself.
xoxox
mati rose

From Orchards, Fields and Gardens

artwork above by Oona Ratcliffe, Jill Bliss, Gwen Shlichta and Sarah Rubens

Over the weekend I got a sneak peek of my friend Shash's new book and it is stunning, simply breathtaking:
From Orchards, Fields, and Gardens: Art and rememberings celebrating sustainable agriculture and good food

Chock full of beautiful art and stories on gardens and food. I can't wait to pour over the pages with my own copy! It's thick too! It features over 11 authors and photos and illustrations from over 21 artists (I contributed both an illustration and photos!) with 84 pages printed on recycled paper.

Shash wrote about the project on her own blog these words:
I've been working on this thing for ten months. I often feel that I lack faith that things will work out ok, and this lack of faith makes me not take risks. I worry. And I envy people who believe there's a greater, loving force out there. They must feel more secure. Making this book has tested my (non-religious) faith. But I think it has also generated faith, because each step in the process yielded positive responses. Two friends encouraged me from the start. People I asked to contribute to the book agreed to do so—amazing! When I suggested edits, people didn't seem to think I was a meanie! When I asked (via snail mail because he doesn't do computers) Wendell Berry if one of the contributors could include stanzas from one of Berry's poems, he promptly wrote back, and he agreed! When I asked a long ago ex for help with a final edit, she agreed! When I asked for printer recommendations (after not feeling confident about the one I'd planned on using), a friend sent me to a helpful, flexible, fair, green, family-run press. This project has forced me to ask for help and to let go/not put so much pressure on myself when I can't meet deadlines. I still feel quite nervous about the final product (wondering if I made good design choices, etc.), but I'm also very excited and grateful. Thank you book contributors and friends!

Her words and hard work are such a testament to what can happen when you go fourth to pursue your creative dreams! I'm seriously so happy for Shash. I remember one day when she came over and we drew mind maps of creative ideas... and now hers has become a reality.

Oh yeah, It's available for pre-order here and get $4 off the regular price!

xxx

genuineness trumps cool every time

feather power in black, original available here

everyone has a story and beauty can be found in the most unsuspected places. this i believe.

i have a wide range of friends. i subscribe to a wide range of super low brow (people mag) and high brow (the new yorker) reads. i thoroughly enjoy block buster rom coms and obscure black and white documentaries. i may sound indiscriminating, but i think it keeps it real to take in the wide range of culture.

it's one of the things i like about my husband hugh too. he has such a range of friends and interests and in particular movie tastes! hello, when i first met him he had seen all the oscar contenders! and he likes the more avant garde flicks too.

anyway, i think it extends to my art too. sometimes i feel like making more edgy pieces and other times more accessible ones. in the end i have to follow my own impulse. mostly, i try to make art that makes me happy in the hope that that happiness extends beyond me. sometimes making dark paintings make me happy and other times sweet bright ones do the trick.

all that to say, i try to be genuine in my actions and intentions in life and relish taking in the wide swath of what the world has to offer. incongruities in life keep things interesting!

be well,
mati

cute chubby baby birds & bouncing balls

Baby Birds original available here

so many of my friends are having or have recently had babies! it's a really exciting time! in particular i want to welcome to the world my friends kate & eric's new baby william ezra! hurray! i'm so happy that i'm able to gift my friends art for their babies rooms. i can't think of a more satisfying feeling as a artist, to think of children growing up with my art and having it be part of their sense memory. i feel like i have such strong memories from childhood that i may tap into more often than most in playing with paint and drawing child inspired animals.

speaking of play, i've been taking andrea & jen's dream lab and on a daily basis am encouraged to play and rest. is anyone else taking it? it's been a serious treat! new sessions are coming up too!

case and point, saturday i was struggling with a painting and had been for days. silly really to sit and struggle because you know it's definitely not going to turn out good with that mentality. anyway, we have these great young studio mates for the summer (21 + 22 year old guys) and they have continually been reminding me to take breaks and play. on saturday i heard outside a continuous, but random tapping against the concrete and looked out and one of them was bouncing a beach ball by himself. he seemed so curious about how high it'd go and was so obviously playing. such a good idea to take a break to get physical and play and let your mind wander, right? other times i've seen them throwing a basketball back and fourth, making chalk art and the coolest thing by far is creating a communal and live "newspaper" on big chalkboard walls outside the studio doors. they've brought such energy to the studio that i didn't even know was missing! they also really remind me and make me miss my little 20 year old brother andrew who is studying abroad right now in new zealand.

Peep original available here!

anyway, i'm so tangental. i loved reading your comments on yesterday's post! totally embrace your "J" or "P" and inner introvert or extrovert... it's really all good and just a tool to help us understand ourselves best, eh? i also am excited to be in the company of so many people who get the being alone bit. my friend commented on the video something like "i miss my quirky alone time. can i still be quirky and alone with a kid and husband?" i think that raised a good point... how do we carve out that alone time or fuel ourselves when we cannot literally be alone?! good question! i don't know, but i think it's about taking just a minute or 2 and really just paying attention and being in the moment. whether it's watching your child on the playground, reading a book, taking a quick nap in the grass, walking down the street to the post office... when your mind is open and curious to the moment, i think you can be fueled just like being alone.

xoxoxo
mati rose

ps- i'm on quite a roll of listing original art in my etsy shoppe lately. i'm clearing out to make room for all the new paintings i'm making in my small studio! plus, it's an obvious part of my abundance talk is to do the work and make it available for sale (sometimes i forget that part! no one can buy my work if i don't make it available, hello!) convo me if a piece calls to you and you need to pay in installments... i'm flexible. although i'm listing so many of them for a steal of $50-100! also get in touch, if you're interested in a commission of something similar in my shop too please!

Teatime

Taken on our friend's Olive Farm in Tuscany

I'm disappearing into paintland for 2 upcoming shows and an exciting collaboration to unveiled soon with my good friend Lisa Congdon. In the meantime I'm trying to post daily with a quick painting and hello from me. I realize how quickly I'm moving these days-- I totally just re-read and corrected what I wrote yesterday because I had written it so fast it was illegible. So I'm going to try to focus and sloooow down and make time for tea and treats. I wish the same for you all!

I just got a sweet text from a new friend about how she was inspired by my "gentle spirit and movements towards abundance... and that it reminded her that it was not only ok, but absolutely necessary to usher in that abundance". I am likewise really inspired by her witnessing and acknowledging this for herself. YES, I think part of this abundance talk is to encourage others to do the same. I also really appreciate that she noticed how I was gently ushering it in. It's easy to think you have to be aggressively hunting it down and go against your true nature. And I can't help, but think A Bun Dance like a reader pointed out!

If you haven't read Kelly's post on this topic, it's powerful.

Another thing I wanted to share is this great poem and video about being alone.


As an artist I spend a lot of time alone and crave it when I don't. Yet also really love my friends and am in the complete middle of the introvert/extrovert on Myers Briggs, but if I had to choose I think solitude fuels me... INFP case you wondered. hee.

And you, any Tuesday news, thoughts on Abundance, solitude or your Myer Briggs results?
xoxox

supporting one another

Elephants in Love

I've had an inspiring day so far! I met early with my Monday morning ladies biz group--a small group of artists and crafters who share resources and offer accountability and support.

Then I met up with the lovley Lacy and Leigh of Curly Girl who's visiting from Boston at Tartine. What a treat!

I love how when women artists get together there's so much sharing of knowledge and stories of what's worked for folks in their creative path. I'm always so interested in how people got to where they are. Where that creative burst of genius came from to inspire them to do what they do. What have been the struggles and successes and how they balance the ebbs and flows of being an artist and entrepreneur. We learn so much from one another!

Happy Monday :-)

Original for sale here

SPIN

This is my first piece for my joint show SPIN (a twist on vintage board games) at SF's own Rare Device opening September 2nd with the awesome Jen Judd-McGee from Maine. I've collected so many vintage games already from the Alameda flea, Oregon antique malls and from collector friends. This piece in particular I was going for the look of how these vintage games are literally worn and faded and imagined my own "spin" on a sun and rain game.
I have a lot of painting ahead of me, but I can't wait!
xoxo
Mati