I am trying to relax into the holiday season. The biggest struggle lately is taking it easy and trusting that things will be fine. No matter how low we go at times, we do climb back up. At least, so far I have. When I can sit back and enjoy my home, my view out the back window, and my latest work hanging on the wall, I am content about the serene beauty of life. I am reminded of the sheer vitality - living here, now, watching it unfold as it will.

A Maureen Maki painting in your home!

The painting above, Montecito Rebuild, was a very important piece for me this year. I learned how to scale my collage work by using cut-outs. I'd like to note my nod to Matisse cut-outs that he used later in his career. I lifted this from the MOMA site. "In the late 1940s, Henri Matisse turned almost exclusively to cut paper as his primary medium, and scissors as his chief implement, introducing a radically new operation that came to be called a cut-out." I did not mean to follow Matisse's lead, but it's certainly not a bad place to land. Now I find myself gripping my scissors and merrily crafting new shapes for my own radical new operation.

More important, the painting exudes life, growth, and renewal - with the four elements of fire, water, earth and air combining and recreating a new world. This was based loosely in the theory of the town destroyed by fire, and then by mudslides, and the growth it must undergo to rebuild. Sadly, this pattern has repeated again so soon.

I think about those who are truly starting over in California, those who lost their homes and everything they own, even loved ones, to the deadly fires that ravaged through this state. I am thankful that I have not had to endure such horror. I am thinking of all of you who have, sending love, wishes, health, and good luck as you start again.

Blue Sea, 12" x 12", Paper & Paint on Canvas, $600

If you made it to my last show, you may have seen this little piece over on the side wall above my work table. Blue Sea is the name and it is a cozy little composition celebrating color, texture, pattern, and paper. Lots of blue this year!

Please visit my site to see a batch of new pieces I just posted. Click here and see my SHOP page.

So I continue to make things, not always sure where I'm going next. That is the way of the painter - at least this painter. The lesson in the studio is keep showing up and putting in the work. Some times I'll just sweep the floor, cut up some cut-outs, or pull out a journal and start writing. Eventually, some new idea comes along and drags me in the next direction.

Maureen Maki Art at Instagram and Facebook

If you want to see more regular updates of how it's all flowing at Maureen Maki Art, sign up for my Instagram and Facebook. I'm pretty good at sending out images nearly everyday. I'm having fun slicing and dicing my pieces like this one above. It helps me meditate on the future of my art business and the multitude of directions I could go. I'd love to hear from you. Send me an email.

Relax and Reflect - So you can move forward