Adios Tenacatita

In La Manzanilla, we are sure missing Tenacatita this year. This painting is called Tenacatita Mantel, and it represents the color that one could always expect to see over there. Restaurants choc-a-bloc with patterned tablecloths,and the posts that supported the palapas were often painted in bright colors too. I am so grateful to have photos of that splash of color to paint from...plan to do a Tenacatita Mantel series this winter.

My Temporary Studio In Vancouver

This summer, for the first time in years, I rented studio space here in Vancouver. I had a few paintings to finish (mostly Pacific Northwest images), and this seemed the best way to avoid distractions. For the last few years I have used makeshift "studios" at my home. It's been good in many ways, but there is always the distraction element when I am working from home - and never enough room.
I started out by completing those paintings (always a hard task for me; if it were easy, I would finish them all in one go!) It's just so easy now, when I am stuck, to pull out a new canvas, full of possibilities. However, after a week or so of dutifully working on those unfinished ones, I couldn't resist the chance to do a few paintings that were rumbling around in my head - colorful umbrella abstractions from my time in Mexico. In the photos above you can see a few of them in a corner of my 1000 Parker St. studio space.