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History of Life



Show postcard. Want one? Shoot me your address!

Show postcard. Want one? Shoot me your address!


I finally stopped with the watercolors a couple weeks ago and started the oh so glamorous process of matting and framing all the pieces for my upcoming solo show. I’ve mentioned the show right? Yes, well I am kicking to-do list ass up in here, up in here.

Earworm. You’re welcome.

As you can see, I finally decided on a title – History of Life. After created several lists of potential titles and driving myself crazy, I settled on an evolutionary science term cause I’m nerdy like that and the show is including work spanning the last 3 years. When looked at chronologically, I can see the path I’ve been on and how my work has shifted and evolved over this time. The oldest of the paintings were done right before my last visit with my dad in June 2016. He passed away later that year. A shift. Color left and I painted only in black and white. Then I wasn’t painting at all. Embroidery, weaving prints, a dive back into printmaking, sewing, all while slowly moving through grief and depression. A random doodle while on hold and – shift – drawing. All the pens! Markers! Digital and analog. I participated in inktober and drew everyday. Then came the holidays, and surgeries, I left the pens behind and started drawing with the ink dropper. And one morning watercolors! And here we are, armed with windex and a mat cutter. Shift, and shift.


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I started framing the drawings first and was immediately rewarded with a rush of happiness – things just look so damn good matted and framed!


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I was framing a bit every morning and they were starting to stack up. Each new batch prompting a photo and a happy dance. I can’t wait to see all this work hung on walls!

And now that the framing is done, I’ve shifted again into the last phase of show prep mode. Yesterday I worked on the postcard. I still need to wire and label the the frames, come up with prices and titles, and … what else??

Lunch. I need to eat lunch.

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Again with the words…

Well I finished my video game. There may have been tears – but you have no proof, so move along! There was a huge twist, a couple shocking and painful betrayals, and then an amazing ending that leaves you chomping at the bit for the next installment of the game! A quick google search assured me that it is in the works, although I didn’t watch the recently released trailer because there is only so much a girl can handle in one afternoon!

Of course I’ve since started the game over with a new character who will now make all the opposite big decisions to see what happens. It is strange how even the most off-handed comments from the companions takes on new meaning now…

But you didn’t come here for talk of video games -or did you? More geek less art? What about when worlds collide??


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::sigh::

Fine. Art. ha!

I have a solo show in June at the Sacramento Poetry Center. Ta-da! ::hides paper bag I’ve been breathing into behind back::

I keep waking up with my brain running around in circles trying to decide on a show title. oh my god. my brain is so annoying! So I invited Bethanie (who’s fault this is, feel free to join me in shooting her dirty looks) over the other night to discuss details and what not. I had planned on showing all my recent drawing (and now the watercolors), but the Sac Poetry Center is a pretty big space and she suggested I hang some paintings too. I’m not sure that helped my head. So, now it’s not just the drawings but all the things! I woke up this morning thinking all the thoughts!! The madness continues. So, I’ve got some work to do. And most of it revolves around not stressing myself the fuck out for shits and giggles. Cause that’s kinda what I do. Crap! What if she wants an artist statement??!!


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Practical to-do list: purchase a lot of mats and frames. Stain sides of newest paintings. Buy more paper bags.

June 8th will be the 2nd Saturday reception. I’ll get more details up soon, but mark your calendars and come out and see the work in person – always so much better than the photos on little screens. You can see me too. We’ll talk nerdy things and it won’t be awkward at all. ::thud::

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Changes

::insert some David Bowie here – play ridiculously loud::

So. It looks like color is slowly coming back to my creative mix. After what feels like a year of working in primarily black and white and avoiding paint brushes, here I am painting – with watercolors no less! Strange days indeed.

I am definitely in the midst of a shift. The video game I have been immersed in is about to end. A final battle to be won and then it is over. I could have finished it yesterday, but busied myself with old side quests instead. I don’t want it to end. The story has been so good and I was so in need of the escape, but that is at an end too.

If you know me, my love of playing video games is no surprise. And as with my art, I move in and out of playing as the mood strikes. But every now and then I go deep and play a lot. It’s usually when I have a bunch of things on my mind and I see it as a way to process. It is often accompanied by a creative dry period. Again processing. But playing a lot can also be an avoidance mechanism, a way to distract my brain from unpleasant things I don’t want to thing about. And that has been what this latest game has been – a beautiful distraction from the far too real reality of impending surgeries!

I started the game at the beginning of January knowing that my husband had a benign tumor on his jaw that would be removed Jan 25th and I had periodontal surgery scheduled for Feb 14th. That is a shit-ton of stressful worrying to deal with! So a fun and engaging game was perfectly timed. Chris’s surgery went well and he is doing great – only a little lingering numbness at the incision site. All good. And the beard he has grown is damn sexy.

Me? Well, I’m still kind of in the weeds. Sunday morning, the week before my scheduled mouth surgery, I broke a tooth. That obviously sucked, but there was no pain. Went to the dentist on Monday I got a temporary crown. Not fun, but still no pain. Wednesday I had a root canal. So. Not. Fun. Thursday, a week before my surgery, and I’m all OHMYGODTHEPAIN!!

But I got through that. I got through the surgery. And then this…


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Right??!!

And today? The roof of my mouth is still tender, but I’ve stopped mainlining Motrin and am slowly healing. I go back to doctor in a couple weeks to see what’s next with the graft. There will be a Part 2 surgery in the summer to look forward to, but I’m not going to stress that just yet. Plenty of time to find another game.

In the meantime, I have an upcoming solo show in June to fret about! Oh yes, that is some big news to have just set aside, but I obviously had bigger fish to fry. (oh man, I would kill for some fish and chips right now – this soft food restriction is killing me!) However, the last couple mornings I have woken up thinking about it so I guess it’s time to start giving it some serious attention. Right after I kill this boss.

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Woman in the Convex Mirror

The multi-talented Bethanie Humphreys invited me to participate in a show she is curating at the Sacramento Poetry Center – Woman in the Convex Mirror: Women’s Self-Portraits.

The show opens next Sunday February 28th and runs through March 26th. The reception will be on 2nd Saturday March 12 from 5-8pm.  I will also be a part of the artist talk at the reception. It should be an interesting discussion of why we create and show works with ourselves as the subject. 

 


I also have paintings at Ambrosia at 621 on the Capitol Mall in Sacramento for the next 3 months! I’ve hung 13 paintings – several of my ‘Visual Quest’ mixed-media paintings, an encaustic painting, and 6 of my newest oil and cold wax paintings. 




The work will be up March, April, and May. For additional information or to purchase work, please contact dawnblanchfield@gmail.com or ccooperxx@gmail.com. 

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Featured Artist at Nevada City’s First Friday Art Walk

wow. I jumped at a last minute opportunity and now am the Featured Artist for July at The Parlour at Neva Co in Nevada City! The Parlour is a ‘Vintage and Local Artisan Boutique’ that has a fun and beautiful blend of local handmade artisan treasures and hand picked vintage clothing and accessories. And for the month of July – my paintings and photographs hanging on the walls!


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Celebrate with me this Friday at the Nevada City First Friday Art Walk 5-9pm.

The Parlour at Neva Co – 400 Broad St. –  Nevada City, CA


And then check the weather forecast for a day under 100 degrees and head over to Cal Expo for the CA State Fair. I have a piece in the Fine Art Exhibit (Expo Ctr Bld 7) again this year. And this year’s show is a good one!

Ca State Fair – July 11 – 27, 2014

Wear sunscreen and stay away from those deep-fried twinkies!

 

 

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It’s August!

How is that possible??

The State Fair is over. I pick up my pieces this Friday. And then on Sunday, the Member’s Show at Viewpoint gets taken down and we hang my solo show!

Let’s all take a moment here to bend forward and put our head between our knees – and/or – breath into a paper bag. Reader’s choice.

I should be out plastering the town with those fancy postcards I had made. Hell, I should be working on finishing up that artist statement! But I’m in oral surgery recovery mode, so that will all have to wait. I have 9 days until the Artist Receiption. Once all these drugs leave my system, I predict that I’m gonna need a bigger paper bag.

So, you have a couple more days to get to Viewpoint and check out the Member’s Show. This is my “Three Graces”


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And a week from Friday I’ll see you at the Artist Reception!


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::breath in breath out repeat::