Musings of an Artful Mind

What do the holidays mean to you? Are they just time day off of work, time with friends and family a chance to eat copious amounts of pie? For me it is a sacred moment on the calendar. A gold star if you will. Where you are awoken from the slumber of your daily routine and awaken into authentic self spending time with people doing the things that give you satisfaction. Hopefully you and your guests part with the nutrition, friendship, and gratitude for a time well spent. Like the saying goes, merry meet and merry part. It would be lovely if that rose tinted picture were true for everyone. However, I have seen and experienced the other end of the holiday spectrum. I end up rushing around; shopping crazy, there is a need to get it just right. I imagine you and the family would be perfectly fine just having a simple meal and watching a movie. Right? The stakes all the sudden seem to be higher when they are big commercialized holidays looming such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Chris...

This October a two year long project was brought to completion. My talented illustrator and graphic design business partner Julianna Roberts and I conceived this lofty yet realistic plan of self-publishing graphic novels and children’s books while on holiday together with our husbands in Astoria, Oregon. We imagined as entrepreneurs it would meet the need of our creative selves that were not being fully utilized in our day jobs. Even while we attended Pacific Northwest College of Art, many moons ago, we noticed that our personalities meshed well and our diverse technical talents would apply well to a working business model.  Carolina Medina-Dupaix and Julianna A.B. Roberts circa 2011. Here we are in Astoria, OR. The beginning of Visual Elements Press would later come into being over a delicious bowls of clam chowder.  Under the Hallow Moon is an illustrated full color art book about the thirty-one days leading up to  Halloween. It began as a tiny seed, a persisten...

Aloha, devoted readers, friends, and family.  Please forgive me it has been more than a year since I have blogged!! I know it is a cardinal sin to let your art page go dormant for a month let alone over year but, riding the waves of life can be intense and learning balance is a lifelong exercise.  Thank you for you patience and support. This year through the connectivity of the internet and social media a two yearlong project has bloomed. It is a graphic novel/ art book called UNDER THE HALLO MOON and produced by Visual Elements Press a new small business co-owned by Julianna A.B. Roberts and myself.   Julianna and Carolina of Visual Elements Press Graphic novel /paperback Available at lulu.com http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/under-the-hallomoon/15322664     I also participate in the monthly art jam group called New Moon and our community’s work can be seen here, newmoonart.blogspot.com  It is administered by Phoebe and Steve ,...

Hello again friends, I have a new site which is providing a home for poetry and illustrations!! This blogspot site will continue to hold musings and art exhibit events and info. Please feel free to read my scribbles and ogle the drawings and why not start your own? Image of shell by me. Lovely thing about drawing shells and water you always get it right.  http://imagesfromthesea.net

It’s no surprise that many of the worker bees humming through the open air corridors of Honolulu Art Museum and Linekona School (now Honolulu Museum Art School) are in fact artistic in their own right. Having organized muse staff shows in past it never seizes to amaze me at what a range of imagery and sculpture the humble guard or fastidious development coordinator will decide to share. We are increasingly guarded in our corporate jobs with sterile cubicles and climate controlled responses. Moreover, museums tend to have a reputation of being cold calculated markets of zeitgeist, which at best define the cultural echelon achieved by few and refuted by many. About two hundred years ago the artistic academies organized official exhibitions called salons and if you wanted to procure patrons they were the only way to go. Now with the open market of the internet it easier for artists to have their work discovered and appreciated.

At long last, a new post! For the last six months or so, my artistic endeavors that have saved me from the dullness of urban living have been minor exercises in appreciation and experimentation. I began to carry an art journal around everywhere I went and forced myself to observe and capture the world around me in an effort to come out of my post-graduate under-employed shell. It is so easy to be lulled into the coma like state of endless movies, internet surfing, books, and playing with the cats that I could not ignore the need to express and create which ultimately brings me calm and a sense of completion. One such example was a drawing exchange I promoted on my FB, where I would create a one of a kind drawing 5x7” watercolor paper drawing and in exchange receive one in the mail as well. Twelve postcard sized watercolor and color pencil images of architecture, night & seascapes, space, sacred symbols, goldfish and cats where sent to three different states over the course ...

It’s t-minus three hours before the start of the 13th annual SomArts Dead of the Dead festival! This year there are 80 artists from all walks of life and cultural backgrounds. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of receiving my docent training for the event. Luckily, since it was the day before the opening, many artists were on site giving their installations, wall paintings, and altars some last minute loves. Please note, I tried to credit each picture with the artist and a brief description but apparently, I do not blog enough to wade through the HTML to make it look right. If you have any questions about specific pictures feel free to ask. I’d like to share with you some progress shots of the various embodiments of this year’s theme Illuminations. We are expecting quite the turn out this evening and this month of October with return patrons that have followed this event from infancy as well as, the fleet week crowd, all the new transplants to the bay area, (such as myself) and of course ...

4"x6"in watercolor drawing of two lovely gay mermen on arches watercolor paper. The development of this image has been influenced by the Japanese kuai cute pop culture style and western notions of mermaids and faeries. I've been thinking a lot lately about the influence of environment on our perceptions of self and others. The visible and unseen effects of culture and a how a person's psychological development is guided by the familial, all seem to still be peculating since finishing my degree. In the process of drawing, I seemed to be fighting a bit with the darker merman who's expression which came out more frightened and with a demur shyness than I had not expected. I like them and I was quite surprised by the end result. Clearly these two salty boys have colorful stories to tell my client in his dreams. I'm currently practicing making smaller works. This miniaturization of my current work is being off set by being part of an...

Hello there online art journal readers! It’s been a long while since I’ve updated my blogspot but I’m here to share with you my very first art project since moving to our new digs in the California bay area. First I must say the daily exposure to sunshine and vitamin D has done wonders for my naturally gloomy artistic temperament. Also having a simple low stress job at an art and framing store is not too shabby either. It really does feel like summer and I hope to ride this refreshing wave of creativity into the fall. The image was created with the invent to be donated to the Carlsbad ArtSplash which is an annual non-profit event who’s mission is to bring together the North County community to raise funds for arts, music and the North county schools. The cultural event hosts various artists with chalk art street paintings, live art, an art auction, musicians, street entertainers, and performing artists, and delectable food set in a spectacular venue overlooking the Pacific Oce...

At last the art swap cards are here! My cards arrived and I am mighty pleased with these lovely miniature works in my hot little hands. Check them out! At artists from top left to right are as follows: Stephanie Aliberti (NY); Melanie Glassey (PA); Diane Menna (NY); and Poppy Terris (FL). What really strikes me is how well these small works read. The compositions are unique, visually appealing, and have their own symbolic narrative. Now that I have my cards I realize I made mine smaller in width. It is time to invest in a ruler and not use the measuring tape for paper projects. Oh, no! Another trip to the art supply store, best buy required textbooks for this term first! I feel lucky to have stumbled this opportunity to participate in a community building project. Thanks again to the organizer Melanie Glassey and to all you hard working creative folks who participated in the Art Therapy Alliance 2nd ATC swap.

Artists are known to be messy. In fact authors go to great lengths to romanticize and glamorize the ‘starving artists struggle’. Today, while getting some supplies for an upcoming show, I wrote on my hand the name of a book I was having a hard time putting down it was Inside the Painter’s Studio by Joe Fig. Basically Fig goes around to various artists and ask them a battery of questions about their studio practices, how and when they dedicated themselves full time to art, how long they've been in their studio, and the process of their work. I just hope the school library or summit has it because I’d love some art literary candy. I have just about finished organizing my studio/ library room. There has been a good amount of workable materials that have surfaced and I’m fighting the urge to bring them all with me to school next week. Needless to say, I am greatly anticipating the Practicum Studio class. I skimmed the syllabus of the class and I already like the assignments, t...

This summer I drew in watercolors during a quick trip out of the city with a fellow art therapy student and published poet Paula. She and I went out east toward the Colombia Gorge and observed the lay of land from a hill top at the Women’s Forum. This impromptu art happening gave me a fresh look making art out in the open, out in nature, away from the consumerism that can be the livelihood or bane of any artist. There we had time to take note of the timeless beauty intrinsic to this Pacific Northwest region. We found ourselves a sunny spot and were fortunate to meet members of the Portland Plein Air Society. They painted painterly landscapes in oils on French easels whilst Paula and I gave it a go with watercolors, sepia ink pens, and charcoal on scrap paper from a print exchange. The paper is Arches watercolor paper and is 4.5” x 20”. A panoramic landscape seemed to be just right for these left over bits of paper. Armed with a big sunhat, a water bottle, and an anxiety free disp...

I recently participated in my first art therapy-artist trading card swap. I was once again gently reminded by this activity of the awesome power of making spontaneous art. Truly art gives us what we need to survive emotionally and spiritually. Despite being a dedicated studio artist I feel that I’m often asleep to what I really need inside. Yet this simple and meaningful task reminded me of what I do best which is to create from within. Am happy with how my cards turned out and I am a bit surprised at how peaceful they look. The themes that emerged within my cards are those that seem to have stuck with me during my graduate training thus far which are keeping a drawing journal, breathing, listening, and observing. The guiding theme for the artist trading card swap was collage unleashed so I brought it back to some old school fun by scanning three dimensional objects ( including my face), collaged items, packing tape, text in black ball point pen, and of course some iridescent fabric...

The encaustic workshop led on Wednesday was a success! It looked like everyone enjoyed the process and were thirsty for an art experiential. Many thanks to Paula for hosting this meeting in her stunning backyard plein-air studio and to my co-leader Natalie who introduced our group to modern variations of the encaustic technique and provided hand outs for the participants. Thank you all for enthusiasm and eagerness to learn this art process. Coming up next in our Art Therapy Student Summer of Art WS: Watercolor and Acrylic: Water based techniques meeting site & leaders TBA soon!

pictures from my walk around town on March 5th 2010