Friends and Fall Colors

Already packed for my trip up to Saratoga Springs, NY. Woooot!!!! I went up there last fall to do the commission you see here on this page for a good friend and client. This painting I've posted is from her property just outside the town of Saratoga. I also set up a little studio up there so I have some place to go that's quiet and away from the hustle and bustle of my main studio in Puerto Rico. It rained the whole time I was up there last October, as you can see by the light of this painting, but my friends assure me that good weather is forecast for this year. Yay!!!!

First Place Award

I am thrilled to announce that my painting "Metamorphosis" was awarded First Place in Galeria Fusion Islena's collaborative exhibition with Puerto Rico's East End Art Guild. The purpose of the exhibition, titled "Simbiosis" was to meld the artistic efforts of the Art Guild with those of the gallery's. The Guild members, of which there are over 100, were asked to submit 2 pieces of work for consideration. The 28 chosen artworks were then displayed in an exhibition that opened in the gallery (located in the Centro de Bellas Artes in Caguas, PR) last Saturday evening, August 22.

The gallery owners asked leading members of Puerto Rico's art community to then award what they felt was the cream of the crop. I am so honored that they selected one of the 2 paintings I submitted for the top award.

This painting represents a new turn for me in my work is taking. It is a tremendous validation to receive such an honor at this point. It is a technique that I feel totally "at home" working in and to have it recognized affirms that I am heading in the right direction.

Life is good!

A visit from Tortola!

I'm so excited! I have a student coming over from Tortola (in the British Virgin Islands) to take 3 private watercolor sessions with me! Woot! She has come before but it's been a while since I've seen her and it will be such a treat to have her back. Each session is 3 hours, with hands-on, step by step instruction in the process of making a transparent watercolor painting.

It's a relaxed setting, the 2 of us working alone surrounded by the vista down to the northeast coast of Puerto Rico, laughing and chatting not only about the technique of watercolor, but our lives as well. I am so excited to have this opportunity!

Life is good.

Tuesday mornings at Treehouse

Why spend Tuesday mornings at my TreeHouse Studio?
1.) It's a relaxing, peaceful and inspirational environment to work in.
2.) If you're not painting, it will give you focus and create a special time for you to do nothing BUT paint.
3.) I can help you with projects and ideas you have banging around in your head that can't seem to find their way out and on to the paper.
4.) I can teach you. I am an experienced painter in watercolor, oil, acrylic and mixed media.
5.) I will share with you my thought process in the projects I myself am involved in.
6.) You can watch me work and ask me questions about the process.
7.) IT'S FUN!!!!

Hours: 9AM - Noon on Tuesday (I will notify you if I am unavailable)
Location: The TreeHouse Studio, Rio Grande, Puerto Rico
Fee: $25.00
Reservations are necessary. Email: monica@monicalinville.com

Second Life Exhibition Brings Me to YouTube

Ah, technology! I opened a beautiful exhibition of landscape oil paintings at Holly Kai Estates in Second Life yesterday. HondoMesa Kidd (Dennis Kinsey in real life, a professor at Syracuse University and owner of the independent record label Hondo Mesa Records) provided the music with truly passionate, wonderful renditions of blues and/or rock music. The collection of paintings I'm showing depict some of the environment that surrounds me here in Puerto Rico, in this case, lots of beach and coastal scenes.

Nber Medici, co-owner of this lovely golf, sailing and flying sim uploaded an HD video of the gardens with my art work showing and of Hondo playing one of his great tunes. Take a look! It will give you an idea of why I find life in Second Life to be so fascinating. The clip is titled "Art in the Gardens, June 10, 2010"

http://www.youtube.com/user/NberMedici

Life is good.

Thinking like an artist

Well, we're in to day 3 of my "How to Think Like an Artist" workshop here at my studio in the foothills of Puerto Rico's El Yunque Caribbean National Rainforest and we're having a ball! The focus of the projects is to teach the students how to work WITH their paintings and not ON them. I also believe that creative people are problem solvers, so the projects I have developed purposely leave the students with major hurdles to overcome, using the basic elements of painting to do so. It's intense and it's hard but it definitely makes them think and they try things they never would ordinarily do in their own studios. Teaching is good for me too as it reinforces these same elements in my brain too! Sometimes I get lost!

Life is good.

New news! Yay!

Greetings from the tropics! Took a little time off from blogging but I'm back to share a bit of news. (after a gentle prod from my friend, website designer and marketing guru Philippe Pascal).

First and foremost I'm really excited about now having a mailing list that you can sign on to for updates of workshops, exhibitions and newly completed projects. Just go to the home page on my website and sign on to be kept up to date on my activities. You can unsubcribe at any time.

And speaking of workshops, I started my "How to Paint Like an Artist" Creative Watermedia Workshop yesterday here at my TreeHouse Studio in the mountains of eastern Puerto Rico. The goal of the class is to teach my students how take paintings beyond technical mastery and in to the realm of artistic mastery. There's a difference, trust me. I'm enjoying students from both here in Puerto Rico and from the Virgin Islands. These are great days spent making art while perched on a little mountaintop overlooking the northeast coast of the island. Need a break from painting? Just look up and out over the sea. Inspiration returns quickly.

Lastly, my friend from Second Life, Carla Jarnhilde, a Swede from the international community that IS Second Life, posted the nicest blog entry about my work. I just wanted to share it with you. Her words truly touched me. It's her July 3rd entry. When you've been working at the easel as long as I have, it's wonderful to know that what you do impacts other people positively. I'm very grateful she took the time to write this.

Life is good.

Old friends

I was looking for something totally unrelated when I stumbled upon some photos of watercolors I did for my first one artist show at La Liga de Arte in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. It's been a long time since I've seen these paintings (the show was in 1996) and it was like running in to old friends. The show was an exhibition of paintings with which I first experimented with superimposing 2 distinct drawings on top of each other and then working with the result. I apply what I learned by doing this to my Magical Realism paintings of today. Happiness is revisiting one's roots!

Creative Painting Seminar

There is no greater freedom than flying, I think. But to do so you need wings. I am teaching a Creative Painting Seminar at my studio here in Puerto Rico from July 5-8, 2010. This workshop will give you the wings to soar creatively and with confidence. It will teach you the basic elements of painting that, with practice, will allow you to take flight without being "technically tethered" to the ground. It will teach you to work WITH your painting and not ON it, resulting in a work that not only reflects your skills but your emotions as well.

We will be working with watercolor and/or acrylic on paper along with a surprising assortment of other mediums and materials, some of which are included in the price. Classes include lectures and discussions, hands- on personal instruction, critique and and the end of the final class, a casual exhibition/closing party to which you may invite your family and friends.

A 50% deposit is required to secure your space in the class. Space is limited, so contact me as soon as possible.

yup.... same painting

Yup... this is the same painting that I've been posting as a work in progress. I have now titled it "Evolution" as that has been exactly what the process has been like.

I'm always pushing myself forward...sometimes it's more like slogging. This painting has been like pulling teeth for me.... bringing it out of the mess I created with the underpainting and in to uncharted territory for me. My work is usually "softer" I think .... more organic. But the tides need to change, as with life.

Perhaps that explains the waves.

Moving along slowly

Well, I've been living with my underpainting for a while now, picking at it and trying to make some sense of it. It wasn't working. I was getting too "nitpicky" and not feeling the dynamics of what I had established with the underpainting. The poem has a beautiful, quiet strength to it yet that's not what I was seeing happening with my work. I don't know that the image seen here is clear enough, but there are some wonderful, peaceful swirls gracing their way through the painting. They were what was important to me when I did the underpainting, yet I was ignoring them once I started to try and put this thing together. Also, I had the reds fighting with the blues, neither dominant so it just created more turmoil. I was frustrated. Showed the piece to a friend and his response was.... quote... "if I lived in Puerto Rico I would come kick your a...." LOLOLOLOL What he meant was I needed to trust my spirit, I think, and let go of what I've done with paintings in the past and let this one take me forward. Sooo..... I went in to the painting seeking some peace. Life is good.

There's no horizon today

I'm sitting here in my studio looking down on the northeast coast of Puerto Rico and am struck by the fact that I'm not seeing the horizon today. The sea is so very calm that it is a perfect mirror of the sky above. Where does one start and one end? Obviously, it doesn't matter! It's all the same universe after all.

Rainy days are nice too

It's been raining here in Puerto Rico a lot lately. I find that kind of nice, actually because there's nothing quite like being in the rain in the rainforest. You really come to understand the water..... millions of raindrops shooshing down on the huge hanging leaves of the forest canopy, down the trunks and in to or on to the ground..... and in to the creeks and the rivers with a WHOOSH as it tumbles down to the sea. It's both soft and LOUD at the same time.... mother nature surrounding the senses.... sounds.... your skin is moist even when not in the rain itself...touch.... everything is close, shrouded in mist....sight.... it's life at my fingertips.

Life is good.

Making art and making friends

I had the best time today! I'm now offering painting classes and projects for couples and families at my studio here in the foothills of Puerto Rico's Caribbean National Forest. I had a couple who flew over from Tortola to celebrate their wedding anniversary come up and do the "Be Me/Be We painting project. They're getting ready to have a baby in May, so there was a lot of love to celebrate with paint!

I provide all of the materials, guests just need to bring enthusiasm and good humor! Can't fail to make great things with that combination!

Giving Due Credit

I am proud to announce that I am a featured artist in the magazine Arte Latinoamericano, a fine art magazine published here in Puerto Rico and distributed throughout the United States, South America and Europe.(numero 19: January to June, 2010). However, please note that the article itself was written by Richard Druitt, a most accomplished writer, poet and lyricist. It was in error that he was not given the credit due him for writing this wonderful article and I would like to take this opportunity to do so, as well as thank him for his unwavering support in all of my efforts.

Tuesdays At TreeHouse

I'm happy to say I'm opening my studio in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico to students now on Tuesday mornings from 9 AM - Noon. I have many years of studio experience and teaching that artists can benefit from. The sessions are informal, with each student bringing whatever project she or he would like to work on. I am able to advise on watercolor, oil, acrylic or mixed media painting.

My studio is a beautiful setting for painting. Students can work en plein air around the property or enjoy the comfort of a protected, open air studio space.

Reservations are required so just give me a "buzz" if you want to save a space! You can contact me at monica@monicalinville.com.

Beach Day

One of the fun parts of my "job" as a professional artist is giving private exhibitions and demonstrations to groups. Today I get to go to the Wyndham Rio Mar Resort here in eastern Puerto Rico and do just this. Yay! A day of sitting on the beach and painting, talking to people from around the globe and sending them home with a piece of my work is just what MY doctor ordered!

The Ceremony Trees

Living as I do in a studio/home perched on the crest of a small mountain in eastern Puerto Rico, with the luxurious foliage of El Yunque's Caribbean National Forest surrounding me on 3 sides and a vista of the northeast coast of the island on the other, I have come to have an intimate relationship with the vegetation that embraces me every day. When looking and touching the majestic trees that I see at treetop level from my easel, I have come to understand that there is indeed a grand scheme to things. Nature has become my bible, my handbook on how to live my life. It tells me to understand, respect and support the connections that bind all together. Whether influenced by the movement and organic textures that inform my abstract work or by the radiant light coming from the late day sun that draws me in to the mystery of shadows and light in my representational work, my painting takes on the quality of ceremony.... a ritual of connection.... a celebration of life.

Today in my virtual world, Second Life, I am having an exhibition of paintings that is a collection of work that shows both my realistic interpretation of the trees that inhabit my world and my abstract interpretation of these same trees. My avatar's name is Littleone Aries and the Gallery is The Angel of the Mysts Art Gallery. There will be real time live music by the Seattle musician Edward Kyomoon and the event starts at 2 PM Pacific Coast Time. This would be a fabulous introduction in to the wonders of virtual reality. I hope to meet you there.

Ha! I had the best surprise this morning! I wrote earlier about having some friends up to the studio that own guest houses here in eastern Puerto Rico. (Coquis Hideaway and Villa Sevilla) I wanted to show them the painting classes and projects I've developed for families and small groups (even couples!) coming to the island. Well, Ray and Gwenn, who also have a website that is a MAJOR source of information about what to do while visiting Puerto Rico (puertoricodaytrips.com) were kind enough to write about it on this site. What's so cool is that they shot video of me doing this very quick demonstration of how you put a painting together. I've never seen myself in action before and it's a hoot! Or at least, I've never seen my HAND in action before! Follow the link I gave you for Puerto Rico Day Trips and take a look!

Weekend in the rainforest

Whew! Time flies! I go up once a month, on the last weekend of the month, to the El Portal Visitors Center at the entrance to El Yunque's Caribbean National Forest. I set up an exhibit with 4 other artists as well as a work space to paint. It's just a glorious location to work! Beautiful environment, artists that are good friends and great company, and the opportunity to meet people from all over the world... what more can I ask for?

Anybody in Puerto Rico? Come join us! We're there starting tomorrow, Jan 27 through Sunday Jan 31st, 9 - 4:00 PM each day.