Life and working updates for 2019

Been a bit hasn’t it? I took a short hiatus from my work with Tampa Regional Artists as Exhibits Director earlier this year and returned as a co-chair this July/August 2019 with some fellow board members Gina Stark and Judy Milsaps. It was plenty of responsibility for one to tackle alone.

During that TRA vacay, I started working part time at my son’s daycare to help support our family’s bills (and help feed my art making need.

If you have been keeping up with my Instagram account, I took a break from the Cancer series as well for a bit as it was hard emotionally. I still can’t believe its been 3 years since my father passed from it. I painted some abstract expressionist paintings, etched glass and made books for a time so I could keep making art.

I couldn’t stay away from the Cancer paintings so once I got back onto a set schedule of work, family care, and art I was able to finish the newly added “CBC Butterflies” god forbid. It was previously titled, “Butterflies make the blood come out” but for some reason that title didn’t feel just right. Thus, “CBC (for Complete Blood Count) Butterflies” was born.

My Lil Boy_insta_progress.jpg

The next painting in progress is about my son. I did one of me and my mother, now its time for the next generation. He was born in a time of grief. He wasn’t even supposed to be possible, so the doctors told my mom when they talked possible side effects with her as I was receiving treatment in 1988. I apologized to my dad for not making him a cantankerous grandpa before he passed. Two weeks later after dad left us in that cold hospital room, I found out I was pregnant. He wasn’t expected but here he was when I needed it most. Not sure on its name yet. I’m sure it’ll come to me in time.

In words of the internet, TL;DL, took a TRA and Cancer painting break, etched glass, painted other things, started job, returned to both Cancer painting and TRA. Still an artist mom.

Behind the Easel: "Bill Monster"

"Bill Monster" illustrates the stress when medical bills from hospital treatments pile up. Sacrifices are made so their child can be healed but the true cost is always lurking, ready to strike. I made some changes from the ink version with my parent's poses and made the medical codes more subtle. I depict my parents as merpeople as I represent myself as such, and felt it appropriate to this piece. The tree to the far right is a Calamondin tree to reference my mother's filipino heritage and to show how medicine that is meant to be good for you can also cause pain. This tree bears small sour citrus and its branches have large thorns. To suggest that the tree is also the bed I am laying in, I incorporated pine needles in both the roots and the bed rails.

"Bill Monster" (30" X 24") Acrylic, sand, sea glass, art paper, pine needles, plastic and rice paper on canvas, 2017.

"Bill Monster" (30" X 24") Acrylic, sand, sea glass, art paper, pine needles, plastic and rice paper on canvas, 2017.

"Bill Monster" Ink on paper, 2017.

"Bill Monster" Ink on paper, 2017.

I hid medical codes for my diagnosis and treatment under the glass as these were some of the codes used to create the bills my parents spent years paying even after treatment was over. Before Hurricane Irma hit in 2017, I collected sea glass and fine beach sand from Puerto Rico. That fine beach sand was coated throughout the piece and on the fins of the monster. I then layered rice paper over the fins with additional sand to give an ethereal earthly depth to them.

Applying sand to “Bill Monster” with gel gloss medium.

Tiny fragments of shell encircle my father's neck to reference his passing in recent times. His shell necklace, from when my parents met, was passed to me not long after his death. My parents both loved the beach when I was a kid but much of that precious time was taken with extended hospital visits.