What I'm Loving Now...Winter Whites

Let's be honest, I'm loving Winter Whites every year. Who says white is only a summer color? I mean, hello, snow is white.

The thing about white in winter, when it comes to clothes at least, is that the materials should reflect the cold temps. I'm thinking naturally hued wool, cashmere, velvet and sleek satin. And if there were clear or white sequins, I wouldn't be upset.

In winter, the whites also aren't quite as bight. They may have some warmth to them - some creaminess - or even a pearly pink undertone. Or they could skew cooler, reflecting the wintery landscape, with shimmery blue tints or grey-ish notes (but actually grey can also be warm, and I love it when it is).

For my Winter 2018 Collection of paintings, I want to translate my love for winter white clothing and snowy scenes into abstractions. I'm envisioning chunky globs of white paint studded with shiny flecks of glitter. 

I want to bring warmth to all-white paintings. And I want the viewer to notice different textures and colors depending on how close they are standing, or depending on how the light hits the paint.

Some of my inspiration photos for this collection are below.

1) These gorgeous cookie sprinkles are pretty much exactly what I'd like to find at the art store in a non-edible version. If I don't, I may be tempted to just use sprinkles....I think they'd be fine shellacked in paint for eternity, don't you?

2) This creamy white J. Crew turtleneck that I've been wearing since somewhere around 2006. I don't care though because it's such a classic winter white staple!

3) Snow!

Because what's better than Central Park in wintertime?

I'm excited to get to shopping today for my Winter White Collection as well as a new triptych commission I'm working on. More behind the scenes to come!

xo

I've Been Called Out!

This is embarrassing to admit to: but recently a friend said she thought I wasn't being upfront enough. That I was keeping something unsaid. And after thinking about it more, I guess that was true.

She said that with my Summer 2017 Collection, 'Nature, Muted' I never really said specifically what was bothering me. Although I reiterated that I was concerned over environmental issues, I never claimed what those issues were in detail.

Okay, fair enough. 

What I will say is that much of it is a general uneasiness and feeling of helplessness when I see the continuing news reports about congressmen and government leaders refuting scientific claims and denying climate change. Like I want to do something more in some way, but I'm not necessarily sure what that is. 

Likewise, I'm getting a sense that people in general don't really want to hear about it or don't believe there's anything wrong with carving up/cutting down/fracking/and generally not trying to preserve nature for future generations. 

But why haven't I gotten more specific? To be honest, I think there's a bit of fear of alienating some people or offending someone with my opinions. It's a bit safer to stay on the surface of something right?

So here are two very specific things that occurred while I was in the process of creating this collection that had a direct effect on my mindset and work:

1. The March for Science ~ On Earth Day (April 22), there was a major march on Washington (and elsewhere around the globe) in support of science, scientists and scientific evidence. With proposed budget cuts looming, the non-partisan rally was intended to show lawmakers that scientific facts should play a key role in policy making. As my mom said: "Who would've ever thought we'd see the day where we have to speak up to defend scientists?" Right? Scientific method is how the laws of nature and the world are discovered; it's hard to wrap your head around the fact that someone wouldn't agree. Read More about the March

2. Strawberries - Okay, this one is super scary, especially as a pregnant person. There is a chemical, chlorpyrifos, which has been shown to "inhibit kids' brain development" (especially through exposure in utero). It has been banned in use in household products since 2000 but has still be used as a pesticide in farming (particularly on nuts and strawberries....two things I've been eating a ton of recently :/ ). In 2015, the EPA finally said that the risks were too high to continue using this chemical in farming, but they never went so far as to ban it. Recently, the courts said that the EPA had to make a decision. That decision was made in March 2017, when the EPA announced that they would not be banning the chemical and that it was fine to use. Well. The EPA cited disagreement with the methodology used in the studies that found that chlorpyrifos was too harmful. EPA Press Release and Other Commentary. There's gotta be a better way; this gets me really anxious.

Hopefully I haven't offended anyone too badly. I'm obviously not an expert in these matters, but my gut reactions are of fear and anger and wanting to do more. And that's basically it, in an organic nutshell.

xo