Figurative and portraits
Click here to read purchase instructions and shipping information. View art available for sale here. See my figurative art as part of the ”California, I’m coming home” exhibition.
Crimson pause. 8 x 10 x 1.5 inches. Acrylic mixed media on gallery-wrapped canvas.
This is a painting for the soul, created in partnership with the painting process, to allow the woman wanting to emerge to do so. She gently came, showing me who she is, after layers of putting down whatever felt good to me on this fat, gallery-wrapped canvas. Creating her in a spirit of play lifted my heart. I hope she can also sooth your soul.
Moved On. 12 x 12 inches (Framed dimensions 13x13x1.5 inches). Acrylic on wood panel. SOLD.
The moment I walked by the corner of 800 Main Street in Redwood City, I knew Hotel Sequoia was special. I became captivated by the landmark building and the stories it carries. Since the hotel’s grand beginnings in 1912, it has had many evolutions. Most recently, its SRO (Single Room Occupant) residents were moved on, preparing the way for renovations that seek to bring the hotel back to its most excellent state. This painting is an ode to the people who have lived and stayed in Hotel Sequoia, and all of those who love the building.
Anticipation. 12 x 12 inch (Framed dimensions 13x13x1.5 inches). Acrylic and collage on wood panel. SOLD.
I wonder what scene you see in this painting? The painting symbolizes a few things to me. In one way, it captures a memory with loved ones in Santa Barbara. The scene also reflects that not all people can be in certain places and have certain things that others can. In another way, the painting captures that moment of being on the cusp of a new beginning. Whatever the interpretation, I feel a sense of anticipation of what is yet to come in this painting. What about you?
The use of mixed media elements brings forth a texture on the wall that reflects the Spanish adobe walls that helped inspire this painting’s setting.
The Smile of the Street. 12 x 12 inch (Framed dimensions 13x13x1.5 inches). Acrylic on wood panel. See more and purchase here.
The painting is a celebration of the pushcart peddlers where I live in Redwood City. Each afternoon the local vendors come tooting or ringing their bells, or park on corners, and so many happy people greet them to enjoy their food. They’re culture bearers and nourishment providers.
The California Street Vendors movement also taught me about the fight that continues to ensure all street vendors are recognised as part of California’s economy, with rights and protections. Go check out their work and please consider supporting our local pushcart vendors.
The beauty awakens. 11 x 15inches. Acrylic and pencil on paper. SOLD.
Have you ever felt so filled with joy when doing something that is true to your spirit? The day I finished this piece, I woke filled with excitement, knowing it was time to paint her. Her peace and inner strength is grounding, while I hold in my heart the role womxn play in the USA - historically and today.
It’s not the same. 16.25 x 17.25 inches. Acrylic and pastel on paper.
Justice? 2021. Graphite on paper. 9x12 Inch. Available for purchase here.
This sketch was a response to the Australian parliament treatment of Brittany Higgins when she revealed she was raped at Parliament House. The written words are those of Prime Minister Scott Morrison talking about Higgins coming forward. Since then, a video designed to help Parliament House staff handle ‘serious incidents’ like these was put in place. Less than half of the required employees have viewed it.
They not like us. A2 (16.5 x 23.4 inches). Acrylic on paper.
Adjusting to South East Queensland culture has brought its ups and downs, after living with the gentleness of Bay Area Californians for so many years. There can be a tenseness on the Gold Coast, a vibration of energy that is almost gritty.
In this painting, I seek to reflect that vibration by using colour and shape suggestively, to let them say what I don't have words for. I am in love with how the turquoise hints and blue vibrate with this red. What do you think? Do you like this style?
Remembering you, remembering him. 2020. Acrylic on canvas. 16 x 20 inches. NFS.
This piece is based on a time that my husband and I found his late father’s thesis at University of New England library in Newcastle, Australia.
Breathe. 2022. Acrylic on paper. 11x14 inch. SOLD.
This piece is a response to the book, "Another Day in the Colony", written by Chelsea Watego. There was one part of the book where an image and the feeling surrounding it persisted with me, so I painted it. Here is the quote that inspired the painting:
“Remember, though, you need to come up to breathe eventually-there is only so long that we can hold our breath, hold on to hope. Because hope is just a matter of holding on-it does not give oxygen to your lungs, it just stops the water from entering them, and as a long-term strategy it is bound to kill you. To emerge from that water, to take a breath, is to be sovereign. And both are found in the living.”
The profit from this sale was donated to the Institute for Collaborative Race Relations where Prof Watego is on the team of directors.
Sisters. 2021. 11x15 inches. Mixed media acrylic on paper. SOLD
This piece is an ode to the many inspiring and supportive women in my life and the world. To begin, I wrote a poem (below) and then drew the poem onto the paper using a stick. Those letters and words then became ‘shape guides’ to which I responded with layering and mark-making, until these three women emerged.
Wild; masked but free, tussled hair
She faces you; the world.
Her cat perched, a part of her,
Gazing imminently; He sees you.
Is that defiance? Or love’s fierceness?
Comfortable in herself, too hard to label,
Though the world pastes its words onto her skin.
She’s occupied with bigger things,
Stencilled into her fabric.
Ladders, boxes and shapes,
All bouncing and galloping towards her,
Like society’s little quirks,
Small only by comparison to her coiffure and floating heart.
First strength. 2020. Soft pastels and vodka, 180 gsm paper, A3 (11-3/4 x 16-1/2 in). SOLD.
I created this piece in 2019 when reflecting on the strength and resilience of the first people of Australia.
Unthanksgiving. 9 x 12 Inch (framed dimensions 16 x 13 inches). Graphite on paper. Available for purchase here.
Each year on Thanksgiving, the Indigenous Peoples Sunrise Ceremony, aka Unthanksgiving, takes place on Alcatraz. I sketched this image while thinking about the 1969 occupation of Alcatraz by the Indians of All Tribes, who wanted to build a community, spiritual, and ecological centre on Alcatraz, for and overseen by Native people. They occupied Alcatraz for 19 months - which at the time was unused surplus land. For a while, hundreds of people lived on the island. Although the government denied the occupiers’ proposal, their protest contributed to the end of the harmful termination laws and inspired further protests across the Americas.