WEEK ELEVEN ...DAY FIVE

CLOSEUP

All sorts of tiles were used in this installation:

Hunting scenes, toiles, Malibus, geometrics, solids, and three dimesionals.

WEEK ELEVEN...DAY FOUR

LEFT CORNER INSTALLED

The entrance planter with its cacophony of whole and broken tiles.

The subtle blue on the step risers imitates a  cascading waterfall.

WEEK ELEVEN...DAY THREE

DURING

The arduous task of laying out the tiles on my huge table in the studio.

I discovered this wonderful tile resouce that recreated anything

needed to restore old fountains, walls, floors and murals.

 They had this warehouse where they tossed

all the un-used "dinosaur bones" that could be purchased by the pound.

There were images of Our Lady of Guadalupe,

hunting scenes, art deco graphics, and three dimensional reliefs.

A goldmine!

WEEK ELEVEN...DAY TWO

BEFORE

After submitting a design and being approved

by the City of Burbank's Art in Public Places program -

this was my blank slate.

WEEK ELEVEN...DAY ONE

MII AMO

125 square feet mosaic installation on Olive Street in Burbank, California.

WEEK TEN...DAY SEVEN

CAVALIER KING CHARLES SPANIELS

These just happen to be real royal dogs.

They live in two castles in Germany,

one in Glucksburg near the Danish border

and the other is just outside of Frankfort.

They belong to Princessin Elizabeth Zu Schleswig-Holstein.

I'm BFF of her younger sister Reni.

They have a Blenheim Spot

on their head between their ears -

"the kiss of the Buddha".

WEEK TEN...DAY SIX

MATSUYAMA

This was created for a couple

who had four rescued greyhounds.

Talk about couch potatoes!

These beautiful, elegant, silent creatures would

simply slip by like the fog on the water.

The husband went nuts - it reminded him of African masks.

WEEK TEN...DAY FIVE

SEAN - GOLDEN

Good dog.

WEEK TEN...DAY FOUR

THE ROBLE FAMILY

Let me introduce you to Blackie, Daisey, Mickey, Fluffy and Ubu,

beloved furry children of Susie and Jose.

This is a dog loving family.

All rescues.

Since this creation,

Fluffy and Ubu has gone onto that big dog park in the heavens.

Now, they're stars in the sky forever watching over the rest of the clan.

WEEK TEN...DAY THREE

EMMA

Back when I was short of cash (that seems to be a reoccurring theme in my life)

I traded a portrait of this great mutt for some self awareness class

in West Hollywood that was held in the same building

on Fairfax and Beverly where I had my very first studio.

I shared it with a jewelry designer.

We finally had to part company -

I never realized how "dirty" the jewelry business was.

http://www.bigwoodart.com/
http://cookingtheangelskiss.blogspot.com/

WEEK TEN...DAY TWO

BULLDOG AND BOXER

I love this portrait.

 (I say that about a lot of the work, don't I!

Creator and fan base all in one).

There's a dog face on my studio table as I write this -

 a gift for a friend as a memorial.

WEEK TEN...DAY ONE

BRODIE

Animal portraits.

If I didn't start creating these, I never would have met my husband.

That's a long story that I won't bore you with,

but it certainly had a very happy ending!

Anyway, I  have always loved portraits, starting with people

including their pets, then focused primarily on animals.

Was written about in magazines including Dog Fancy and A Home Companion.

A company called Dogs and Cats out of St. Paul, Minnesota 

carried my work for years in their dozens of stores

in airports across the United States.

And now we are the proud owners or cohabitants

with two gorgeous Afghan hound/Belgian sheepdog mutts

Bentley and Zabu.

Dog people are a different breed!

WEEK NINE...DAY SEVEN

RABBIT GATE

This is the main gate to the community garden.

Today it's beautifully overgrown with roses.

The perfect way to end this series in

the Chinese Year of the Hare.

WEEK NINE....DAY SIX

URBAN MEADOWS PLAQUE

My beloved came up with the title "Urban Meadows".

The garden is now lush and magnificent!

WEEK NINE...DAY FIVE

BIRD GATE

How does one acknowledge St. Patrick's Day?

Maybe we can see the Leprechauns lurking about in the garden.

Or perhaps these birds may reference 

the gorgeous peacock with the 5 foot long plumed tail

that walked up our street yesterday afternoon.

Drove Bentley and Zabu crazy!

Must be a great omen!

Have a happy one.

WEEK NINE...DAY FOUR

BENTLEY'S BIRTHDAY

Today our big dog Bentley is 7.

To celebrate his special event I'm posting this mural

I created of him and his sister Zabu

flying over a mountain range under a full moon.

My husband took off one weekend

to play golf with his fraternity brothers in Mexico

so I decided to use tiles leftover from a job in Burbank

to decorate a seldom seen wall on our house.

The dogs and moon were made in the ceramic studio

at the Palos Verdes Art Center.

WEEK NINE...DAY THREE

FENCE CLOSE UP

Last year, the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company

out of Boston, MA used this location for a commercial.

It was attached to my website.

This is a close up detail showing Rabbits

hanging out near a lily pond

with gold plated cat-o-nine tails growing on the shore.

WEEK NINE...DAY TWO

BEAR GATE

This is the first gate to the complex...very similar to our state bear.

This was my first installation in the "streets"

as opposed to working in a studio.

I loved the interaction and feedback with the neighbors.

Everyone agreed how this art was

transforming and enhancing the value of their homes.

I felt like a rock star!

WEEK NINE...DAY ONE

URBAN MEADOWS

This was my first steel installation:

275 feet of fence and 9 different animals gates.

The 16 high end townhouses are in Burbank, CA

and were designed by a very well known architect.

I was informed about this Art in Public Places project

on our second date.

Not only did I get the commission, 

I also married to Mr. Architect! 

I guess one could say I created my way to the top.

WEEK EIGHT...DAY SEVEN

BEVERLY BIGWOOD

Back in the 90's, after a divorce,

I had all my hair chopped off and went for the bleached white look.

Shortly afterwards, I sold one of my favorite little acrylic paintings "Zyzzx"

(some obscure little town along Highway 5 on the way to Las Vegas)

to two women in San Francisco who were going to share it.

My model was Diana the Huntress from the Fontainebleau school circa 1550,

a painting I saw in the Louvre.

There must have been a special connection.

WEEK EIGHT...DAY SIX

EDWARD RUSCHA

Edward Joseph Ruscha IV (roo-SHAY; born December 16, 1937)

is an American artist associated with the Pop Art movement.

Ruscha lives and works in Venice, California and in the Mojave Desert.

Young Ruscha was attracted to cartooning 

and would sustain this interest throughout his adolescent years.

By the early 1960s he was well known for his paintings,

collages, and photographs,

and for his association with the Ferus Gallery group.

He taught at UCLA as a visiting professor in 1969

and worked as layout designer for Artforum magazine

under the pseudonym “Eddie Russia” from 1965 to 1969.

He's probably the sexiest artist alive.

WEEK EIGHT...DAY FIVE

DAVID HOCKNEY POLAROID

David is also famous for his collages

using Polaroids and photographs.

Years ago I was sitting in a restaurant in Malibu called Something Fishy.

Moments later someone came in and sat next to me on the banquet -

 it was David Hockney!

First husband said "Who?" and was subsequently divorced.

WEEK EIGHT...DAY FOUR

DAVID HOCKNEY

David Hockney,  (born 9 July 1937)

is an English painter, draughtsman, printmaker,
stage designer and photographer,

who is based in Malibu, California,
although he also maintains a base in London.

He is considered one of the most influential
British artists of the twentieth century.

While still a student at the Royal College of Art,

Hockney was featured in the exhibition Young Contemporaries—

that announced the arrival of British Pop Art.

His early works also display expressionist elements,

not dissimilar to certain works by

Francis Bacon (another favorite of mine). 

WEEK EIGHT...DAY THREE

RICHARD DIEBENKORN

 April 22, 1922, Portland, OR - March 30, 1993, Berkeley, CA 

After studying at Stanford University, he taught at the California Institute of the Arts 

and there developed an abstract style

under the influence of such painters as Still and Rothko.

By the mid 1950s he had achieved some commercial success

but turned to an expressionistic figurative style.

He produced accomplished figure drawings, still lifes, landscapes,

and interiors in the Modernist tradition.

Throughout his career he alternated between figuration and abstraction.

His best-known works are the Ocean Park series, begun in the 1960s,

comprising over 140 large abstract paintings that retain allusions to landscape.

WEEK EIGHT...DAY TWO

JOAN BROWN 

February 13, 1938 – October 26, 1990

Joan was an American figurative painter

who lived and worked in Northern California. 

She achieved prominence with a style of figurative painting

that combined bright color, sometimes cartoonish drawing,

and personal symbolism.

In the late 1970s, Brown became increasingly interested

in spirituality and New Age ideas,

eventually becoming an adherent of Sathya Sai Baba.

She made a number of trips to his ashram in Puttaparthi, India.

In 1990, she died in a construction accident while installing an obelisk

at the Sai Baba's Eternal Heritage Museum.

Brown was also a competitive swimmer.

WEEK EIGHT...DAY ONE

WILLIAM BRICE

I picked up one of my art books recently - "California Painters"

so that will be the theme for this week's blog.

He was born to an actress and gambler/criminal

who was in prison frequently on a variety of charges

stemming from a history of thefts, swindles and confidence schemes.

Willaim's talent was recognized early.

Important influences included then-active artists Matisse and Picasso

(one of whose works Brice acquired at the age of fourteen).

His first solo show of paintings and drawings

was presented at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in 1947.

The early work was figural and representational.

Over time, he moved in the direction of greater abstraction. 

His work was characterized by expert draughtsmanship.

Brice’s work is part of the permanent collections of such major museums as

 the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,

the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art,

the Art Institute of Chicago

and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.

At age 86, he suffered injuries in a fall,

and never regained consciousness

before dying at the UCLA Medical Center on March 3, 2008.

WEEK SEVEN...DAY SEVEN

THE WISE ARE WHO THEY ARE

The last in this series and one of my favorites.

This hangs in the foyer of our home.

It's a combination of a Swiss girlfriend who moved back to Basel

and has become a very successful jewelry designer.

An old boyfriend with his cabochon rings.

And two great urns from who knows where.

I even recreated this in a smaller version because

the original was too tall for some one's office.

WEEK SEVEN...DAY SIX

ATMAN

The first man.

Sold to the Man who owned Muse.

WEEK SEVEN...DAY FIVE

HERO WORSHIP

It's a circus out there!

WEEK SEVEN...DAY FOUR

L'AMORE FA BENE

Love is good.

WEEK SEVEN...DAY THREE

MAN FREED

I donated this painting to a Womans Clinic in Los Angeles.

It's about one that got away. Actually forced away.

Love at first site.

Wine tasting in Napa over Thanksgiving.

Lesbian wives.

Famous in-laws.

Lies.