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The on again and off again Silicon Valley Open Studios (SVOS) situation has resulted in something entirely new and exciting, an Online Open Studio hosted via Visual Philosophy Studio. Read on to learn the whole story and a little bit about the nine new paintings I’ll be introducing.

Like so many others, I felt out of sorts when the pandemic shelter-in-place began in mid-March. The wonderful artist-supportive Visual Philosophy Studios, where my art studio is located, was suddenly eerily quiet and empty. The vibrant atmosphere filled with artists making art and talking about art was silent. My own desire to create seeped away, and instead of painting, I decided to do something fulfilling and foster a neonatal kitten. Neonatal means an orphaned kitten too young to be without it’s mother and require trained fosters for 24-hour care.

I fostered a single, female bottle baby kitten that came from the San Jose Animal Control Center. She was spunky and full of life and kept me so busy with round-the-clock feedings that there wasn’t any time to think about making art. Partway through the process, I took on a second kitten so she could have a little friend to play with. The girls were adopted together over Memorial Day weekend. Afterward, I took a few days off to sleep and before assessing where I was at with paintings and my art business.

In the meantime, the SVOS that I’d been gearing up for in May had been cancelled. In June, after the county started moving toward opening back up for business, SVOS started exploring the possibility of having open studios in August. So once again I started prepping for my open studio. I loved meeting everyone who attended last year and couldn’t wait to do it again. If I wanted my new paintings to be ready in time, I needed to get back to work pronto. I painted and painted. Creating again felt so healing, and my inspiration came flooding back. Spooky, empty art space or not, I was being productive.

Then, once again, SVOS was cancelled in mid-July, but this time, the artists at Visual Philosophy Studios decided to keep going without SVOS. We started planning our own online open studio! I’m thrilled to announce that it’ll be on Saturday, August 15th, from 11am-5pm PDT. The schedules and information about all of the participating artists are posted on the Visual Philosophy Studios website events page.

Now, back to that image at the top of this page. I’ve been working like crazy to get paintings ready and up on my website, make videos (for my brand-new YouTube channel) and prepare for live videos on the day of open studio. I have nine paintings currently in the process of being varnished to debut. Eight of them are in the photo, laid out on a huge table. Four feature California poppies, three are small 10×10 inch individual flowers, and the other two are daisy and tidy tips flower meadows. The pink zinnia 10×10 has already been reserved for sale.

I hope you’ll stop by the Visual Philosophy Studios website on August 15th to watch some art demos, see us participate in live artist discussions, and so much more! I’ll be posting more detailed information here on my website as the event gets closer.