A good month indeed.
Looking back on the month, I realize there have been some significant shifts both in work and my personal life. Last year, I had been working out some new processes and new concepts for my work. As some of you may have seen, I had let myself explore color and abstraction a little bit more in the last few months of 2019. I had been wanting to satiate my curiosity about breaking down forms and compositions and celebrate more minimalistic mark-making. This past month was fairly productive in creating a few pieces I had been thinking about for some time:
DEVELOPING “MOON DUST”
Since I wanted to play with color some more, I pulled out my inks and pastels. The forms started off quite abstract compared to my usual work but they slowly started to make more sense. My intention was to sort of find a marriage between these new colorful abstract forms and my older charcoal, chalk, and acrylic work.
As I drew more and more sketches, I started to develop some visuals that I thought would work perfectly with some ideas I had been brewing for ages. The ideas were in relation to trips to the mountains that I used to make with family and friends while growing up in southern California. Thus, the “Moon Dust” Mini-Series was born. The series plays on the feeling I would get when visiting Mammoth Mountain and June Mountain. Seeing the moon bounce off the snow in the night sky and the snowy chilly nights that left me with a sense of wonder. ( If you would like to read more about this mini-series, check out the last blog post).
With this “Moon Dust” series, I was able to apply this process that I had been playing with, and it honestly felt liberating. I worked out forms and compositions and started with a layer of color instead of black… in this case, Payne’s Grey, one of my favorite colors. After those initial layers, I worked in some grey, blue, white pastel with charcoal. The result was very pleasing and I feel as if I have found a branch that I am eager to discover further. So, you can expect in the coming months a bit of this exploration as I lead up to my show at (9) The Gallery in Phoenix during the month of May. (See images in the bottom carousel at the end of the post)
BLACK CANYON
One of the other pieces I created in January was called “Black Canyon”. A piece focusing more on the emotion of overcoming obstacles rather than the image itself. Within this piece, you can find a small human figure climbing what seems to be a daunting cliff as a storm is approaching or passing. Above, through the clearing of the clouds is the crisp night sky, painted with stars and the milky way. A comment on our dreams and hopes and the passion that drives us forward as a human race.
There will be more on this piece soon as I prepare it for showing. I look forward to sharing more about it and seeing how people respond to it. (See carousel at the bottom for more images.)
ACCOMPLISHMENTS THIS MONTH
I am proud to say I was recognized by Artavita in a recent art contest with a Certificate of Excellence. It was one of my first contests I have applied my fine art to and I am proud of the results considering there were over 1,800 submissions. It has taken me some time to apply my fine art to any contests because, at times, I can be one of those pessimistic people that believes they will never win anything. But it just may have ignited a little spark of confidence to seek more contests in the future. You never know if you don’t try, right?
(See certificate in photo carousel at the end of the blog post)
PERSONAL LIFE
If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that we have added another member to our little family of two. He’s a little hairy two-year-old named Pablo. We had been keeping our eye out for a dog for a while now, and my husband gave me some dog toys and a dog bowl as a birthday gift in November. BUT we waited until things calmed down after the holidays and until our new house was a little more ready for a new pup.
January 25th we were running errands and decided to pop into a local dog kennel only to be told all of the adoptable dogs were out for an adoption event. So, we continued on with our tasks and just as we were headed home we saw a PetSmart and decided to pop in to see whether or not they had any dogs to adopt. Lucky for us, they had open adoptions for the Humane Society all weekend…. and that is where we met Pablo.
Well, at that time his name was Patrick, but they told us it was just a temporary name and he didn’t really have a name since he was a stray found in the streets at least a year prior. He was definitely one of the more nervous dogs there. He was afraid of men and seemed on high alert with all the dogs barking. When we saw him, Jon said “Oh look he is a perfect size for us” and one of the volunteers said, “Look, Patrick, someone is looking at you!”. I looked at his face and his head was bowed and my heart pulled in so many directions.
First off, I was already emotional seeing all the dogs that had been abandoned in one way or another and it was already hard to decide on one… Second of all, there were a couple that clearly did not trust humans and one was Patrick (Pablo). He was found as a stray and had been with 2 kennels over the last year or so. We asked to take him on a walk and he seemed to be a little more relaxed once he was on a walk but he still didn’t show us any affection or much interest. So, we brought him back in and said we were going to take a minute to walk around and think about it. When we came back we asked to have a meet and greet with him in one of the designated meeting spots. They let us in with him and we sat down (because we have been watching a lot of Dog Whisperer and we certainly didn’t want to scare him). He had a few minutes of walking around the perimeter, clearly a bit nervous. And sure enough, after some time, he came up to me and bowed his head and licked me… Needless to say, I cried. Then to top it off, he walked over to Jon and sat in front of him, leaned his head in gently and raised his paw onto Jon’s knee. I kid you not, my heart nearly burst. It didn’t take long after that before we were out in the front, picking his bed and signing his adoption papers.
It hasn’t been easy, as both Jon and I are used to dogs that want to cuddle all the time but we have to let him adjust on his own time. He was extremely scared to get in the car, so much that a volunteer who he had built trust with had to come out and carry him into the car. Since then, he has slowly started to trust us and realize we aren’t ever going to hurt him or abandon him. Each day he starts to act more and more like a normal puppy, coming up for pets and kisses, playing, hopping and running around the backyard like crazy. At times, like a light switch, he goes back into his shell, lowers his head with his tail between his legs, and keeps his distance. Even though this is happening less and less it hurts me to see him hurt and be fearful. The other night, before bed, I started tearing up as he went into his shell and seemed scared. I wanted to be able to hear his story, understand his feelings and thoughts… but it makes me happy to see him slowly adjust and begin to focus on his new life and surroundings.
People have said, thank you for adopting, but I can assure you, the pleasure is all ours…As I type this, Pablo lays by my side, and I can’t help but think how incredibly lucky we are to have him in our life now. He has already brought so much joy and laughs, I just can’t wait to see him blossom into the best boy. (see more pictures of Pablo in photo carousel below at the end of the post)
COMING UP
In March, my original piece “Polar Glass” will be up for sale for “The Master’s Collection” at (9) The Gallery in Phoenix, Arizona. If you are interested in the piece but can not bring yourself to buy the original, their will be high-quality, Limited Edition prints available as well. If you are around Phoenix during March, be sure to stop by and check it out, because there will be lots of beautiful artwork up from various artists. Opening night will be the First Friday of the month and I hope to see you there! A reminder email will go out to subscribers with more information soon! To subscribe and get the updates, fill in your email here.
Also, I look forward to updating you all further on his progress and the progress of my work as the new show in May approaches. If you don’t already you can see more day to day through my Instagram page @jillbirdee
