June 24, 2008: Greetings from Rome. Took a bit to understand what's, what here, and what shape the work will take.. Am in Italy for a month, most of that time at the American Academy in Rome as a visiting artist. All the 30+ Rome Prize winners are here, very cool to meet/talk with them. Seriously high-octane.

Drawing from archaeological sites that you can see in Central Rome, they're recessed and filled with all these organized and disorganized bits. But really, the rhythm, the proportions are all original Roman. And pretty perfect. Can imagine the birds-eye view, and from above they could be a lumpy-collage.

More to come. Am still working.

May 25, 2008: Lots happening. Guest curator from Canada, Kitty Scott is coming for a studio visit in 10 days (yea!) for possible residency at ARTpace in 09, and I'm busily working on some new things -- so we can talk about where the work is, and where it's going. I'm trying to pull the work off the wall, and make it envelop the viewer more. Hard to explain that the studio is empty, not from laziness, but that the gallery sells the big ones fast and nicely demands more. I need to hold onto them longer.

Grand opening at the 360 Condo building downtown Austin was a massive party -- it's now the tallest building in Austin, and they bought the red piece that's Mark's holding at left for the lobby. It looked good, actually. And was odd experience to watch people look at it.

5x7 benefit for Arthouse was incredibly fun, I bought 3 and they sold the ones I donated....all in less than 5 mins. It's a mad dash to buy when the buzzer sounds off.

Posted pic of house in Austin under construction - KRDB is a dream, they're amazingly great. LOVE the house.

Leave for Rome in under 2 weeks. Still debating exactly how to draw 'the divine. But have a stack of paper and every type of pencil ready to go.

Apr 8, 2008: You know, when I get quiet, I'm either working like crazy, or horribly confused. It's both, right now. Can't find any materials that feel as right as paperback books. But the struggle to find alternatives can't be bad. Have decided to work on both.

Just looked at my feedjit traffic monitor. check it out!! (right-hand column on this page) I think it was Elaine checking in from Sydney, but who in the world is in Turkey? If you have a website, paste this puppy in, and wait a couple months....voila..

Oh, oh, oh. I just heard from American Academy in Rome (home of the Rome Prize), that I got a residency for June. My proposal was that I'd draw in a different church everyday to see if I could capture the sense of the divine. Cool, huh? I'm going to Italy!

Mar 1, 2008: Took a few weeks off after working 7 days a week for months to feed the 2 recent shows. Have piles of new materials sitting here, ready to try. Stay tuned.

Added a new gadget, the traffic monitor.

Jan 26, 2008: Yep, show opening was quite wonderful, Judy Taylor is a dream. People came, looked, talked and cared. So interesting to see how people see the work, I think there is something subliminally familiar in it.

There is a pile of new materials dumped on the floor here as a result of hunting through home depot and jerry's, plus I got some perfectly timed advice from Roxi last night about encaustic. Will rest for a day and then get to it.

Jan 20, 2008: OK, am ready....pleased with the work, almost all is delivered to the gallery for the show this Friday. I'm planning to test my theory about memory and see how people see the work.

Jan 10, 2008: Working like a mad-woman. Am not sure people actually imagine the days and days spent in a little studio working alone. Compulsion has it's upside -- I've got a bunch of new work.. Show opening in Austin Jan 25 at Gallery Shoal Creek. (postcard)

Still reading lots about the mind...and this makes complete sense -- human memory is designed to anticipate the future, not recapitulate the past.

There is something constant about how the mind organizes, and seeks the familiar, finding pattern, anticipating...comparing with what's gone before. (more on this soon)

Dec 13, 2007: Am hitting a hard place where making the work is a joy, and everything else is difficult. Hoped to take some of the work from NY show to Austin, but oh....nothing was left. Robert and Rene were incredibly proud, they pretty much sold it all. Then, poof that work is gone. Pressure....

Nov 22, 2007: Happy Thanksgiving! Am back to work after the show in the project room, and have 2 large pieces going. Am fixated with the idea that I can somehow make them feel in your mind the same way stepping back through a memory or recollection feels. Have digested a couple more books, and moving up to more technical fare on brain function.

Nov 7, 2007: OK, the work was hung in the project room at Robert Steele this week...it's 14 foot square space, and you wouldn't think it would be so hard....Rene moved things til it was right. I was really happy with how it all looked. The big yellow piece, which is 6 foot high is almost swallowed up.

Stopped to admire painting artist hung on chain-link fence outside MOMA this week, Jimmi James - we exchanged info, I gave him a postcard for the show, and he gave me good advice.....only in NY.....said, not to get depressed after the show. Been doing new work every day this week, so I don't 'lose-it'.

Oct 28, 2007: Ever wonder how you photograph work under natural light conditions in New York? You schlep it down to a couple flights to the street and shoot it at the bus stop on First Avenue in front of Gristedes Market. Thanks to Elaine for helping hold the work, and then she took some snaps of me on the street.

Bunch of new work is done for the show which opens next week at Robert Steele in Chelsea, I'm pretty excited to be in the Project Room, which is the smaller rear gallery. Opens Thur, Nov 8...party is 6-8pm. You should come! It's open thru Dec 8, 2007.

Oct 26, 2007: Gave 2 pieces to benefit auctions in the last couple weeks, the one from last night in NY was bid up, and went to a collector who has his family name on a wing of the Met. Interesting to see what collectors respond to, maybe they have the same compulsiveness as I do?

I keep thinking people react and are drawn to the work because I'm mirroring something specific about how their brain operates. Reading Sacks, Levitin and others, and it's not beyond the possible.

Oct 1, 2007: Back in the studio, working away for shows in November in New York and January in Austin.

Coming to believe there is something about how you store and remember things....and the familiarity of a visual language that is somehow equivalent. It's early stage, and I'm reading like crazy about how memory works and the brain's affinity to rhythm. Stay tuned. Might lead to nowhere, but it's got my attention.

Aug 22, 2007: Been traveling for almost a month, Europe, Mexico, NY, next week to Calif. Seems so indulgent to go visit friends, relax, go to museums, draw...and really look and remember what it both looked and felt like.

Looked carefully at 14th c Sienese works and early 17th c Indian minature paintings in my travels. Am more convinced than ever that there is something different and distinctive about how they're seen. Feels like a memory, more than anything. If you look carefully at the perspective you see that the foreground of many are seen from above, and the background seen from straight on. It allows the viewer to seemingly be in 2 places. Very different than the image shifting, it shifts the viewer...something you can control in your mind, that is not perceptual....like a memory.

Aaaaah. Am still working hard to make the feeling of memory and recollection work in 2-dimensional space.

Jul 25, 2007: Added 3 more to new_work page, it's like opening the studio door and letting you take a peak.

Jul 18, 2007: Just added pics of 8 new small pieces all done since I left school, posted under 'new work'. Several were done outside en plein air -- absolutely crazy to try to use tiny bits of paper when it's breezy. Trying hard to capture the way you see and remember something, rather than exactly how it looks. Sounds so obvious....

Jul 17, 2007: 6 weeks zipped by. It was all about moving. Moving apt in NY, moving out of the studio at school, moving out of house in Austin while it's rebuilt. Moving studios is the worst.

But, am up and running again, I'll post a bunch of new small works this week. Gave 3 pieces to Robert Steele gallery in Chelsea for a group show opening Jul 26. Yea! First piece to hang in a gallery in NY.

May 28, 2007: MFA Opening was unreal, so great. Tisch counted over 800 people. What a response! People reacted to the work on both an imediate and underlying level, most stopped and looked for a long time. Was surprised at the level of conversation. So many comments about how original my work felt. I'm floating.

Turn in Thesis tomorrow, commencement is on Wed, many parties before we disband, and take down the show on Jun 6. I sold everything in the show....wow, weird to have it all be gone, but that solves the issue of storage.

May 23, 2007: Yea! Preview was last night, and it was amazing. I hung 8 pieces in the development studio, and the room looked clean, bright and the scale was just right. I posted a few installation shots at left.

Friends of the school came to the preview, and most said they'd never seen the school look so great....and overall the student work was surprising in it's range, the best they'd seen.

I got a super positive response, and sold several which felt great. Many of the collectors commented that the work was strong, looked new as something they hadn't seen before. Many stayed and looked for a long time.

MFA Opening is tonight, wish us luck.

May 13, 2007: Still madly working on last piece before the MFA show, am struggling technically with the blue paper on this piece, much of it is coated...and it takes hours to baby it into submission.

Have to move out of Guston Studio on Wed, that will be a sad day, it's a sunny studio on the 4th floor where Phillip Guston painted in the 70's.

May 6, 2007: OK, went very quiet while I finished the body of thesis work (thesis page). Things have moved along quickly, and I've found a language of collage that feels personal and conveys something about how I live in the world. I'm pretty excited about it. MFA show is in 2 weeks.

Feb 25, 2007: . Am trying to find a means to translate what I see in those works in a way that makes sense to me. Might be sending me over the edge.

Feb 11, 2007: OK,...didn't think I'd stay away this long. I've been making large scale collage, and trying to see if this direction means something to me. I'm figuring out a new language for using paper, along with how the image works for me.

Semester end critique was a couple weeks ago, and I'm in a marathon with visiting artist Judy Glantzman for 2 weeks (intense). She's pressing me to understand what's at the core of my work. Sounds so easy, right??

Nov 25, 2006: Went quiet while I've been working out something new in collage....stay tuned, I'm working on a 15 foot piece.

Meanwhile, 2nd year of mfa program is so great, am working in the Philip Guston studio on the top floor, it's quiet....and said to be haunted by Guston. Maybe he'll 'paint' on the work.

Oct 15: Been working on large Beckman triptych transcription, it's his last one, where the image is more self-assured, even serene. Am totally in love with Beckman at the moment. Strange compressed space, where each bit moves and takes on it's own life. This transcription hung at the annual benefit for the school (yea!).

Oct 8: Back at school, just finished 2 week marathon at NYSS, we worked on making and reading triptychs the entire time. I worked on making my drawings clear enough to paint or collage from, most are pretty big by the time you put 3 together, final one is 75x100". Am desperately working on compressed space where all the shapes lock and hold. Will post the new drawings as soon as I get pics.

Sept 16: Whew, the opening at Gallery Shoal Creek went incredibly well. Thank you to all who came and looked, there was a serious crowd. Here's what I learned from people's reaction to the work....the collages are more psycological...and the oils are about using paint and color for my relationship with those trees.

Enjoying ACL Fest this weekend, wall-to-wall music, head back to NY for last year of school this week.

Sept 13: Gallery opening in Austin is tomorrow, all is done...and I'm of two minds. One is excited and happy, the other is fretting over the work, the frames, sending invites, worried if people will come to the opening....what is it that makes us so crazy?

Aug 11: Back in the States, after a month in Europe. As you can imagine, it was wall-to-wall art. It's surprising what strikes you. ...byzantine mosaics in Ravenna, A.Lorenzetti's huge fresco in Sienna, Piero della Francesca in Arezzo of course...the amazing little 3 Bathers painting of Cezanne that Matisse owned for years - now in the D'Orsay, Goya's images in the black paintings at the Prado, the voluminous skirt on the princess in Velasquez' Las Meninas.

Have dozens of drawings, and head is filled with ideas I'm piecing together for final thesis work. Won't know til start.

OH, big news is we're on for a show in Austin at Gallery Shoal Creek - Sept 14 opening. No kidding a real show, pinch me.

July 8: Been working on an old estate on the North Shore of Long Island, lush landscape with changeable weather makes for interesting painting outdoors. For the first time in months, am happy with the paintings...wish I had more time, was starting to really figure some things out.

Heading to Italy today, ciao!

June 25: Just finished the 2 week drawing marathon, go figure...best works were both a 5 inch drawing and 15 foot drawing. Am just starting to really see, and be able to put that onto paper. Now just as I had myself convinced I was a 'small painting' type artist, the big drawing worked rather well, and now am thrown back into confusion.

June 6: 6-6-06. Picked up the VW camper in Denver and drove back through Texas, stopped at Cadillac Ranch, west of Amarillo. Big Sky, open space...public art. Couldn't be more different than NY. They encourage participation, if you go....bring your spray paint.

May 23: Survived final crit. Panel -- Dean of the school, an instructor, critic /historian (Karen Wilkin) and visiting artist (David Stern). They were kind, but the knife was sharp. Hated rectangle paintings, liked the late collages, went on and on about the last painting from the set-up where I was frustrated and painted over all the color in greys.

Direction was to 'paint like a cave woman', and stop using color. OK, maybe I could use color if it was very close value, and narrow range of hues.

Hmmmmm, now comes the personal debate on how much to take from outside, and how much direction comes from within.

May 21: Final critique from first year in masters program is tomorrow. Finished a 4th rectangle painting Friday, and one final collage last night. Lets see if I can explain the drawings from observation, collage from the drawings, and then the rectangle paintings from the collage tomorrow. The perceptual paintings from the model are a good way to contrast how much I struggle to paint.

May 14: Just posted new collage, Doorway in Library Studio, worked non-stop aaaall day on Saturday, now there are a million little magazine snips on the living room floor.

May 9: Still trying rectangle paintings using color squares. Celebrated birthday last week! Semester almost over, handing in papers today, final crit in 2 weeks.

Do I sound rushed?

May 2: Am still trying to find a way to allow color to make light, and get too caught up in color as objects. So after seeing the Paul Klee show (and studying his work), Experimenting with adjacent color, quantity of color, value, range of colors to make the surface geometry and geometry in depth work.

Have figured out painting is all about teaching yourself, bit-by-bit.

April 22: Interesting feedback from the mid-term critique this week...."Laurie, drawing is your salvation, find a way to paint the way you draw." The paintings aren't as interesting or as particular as the drawing, so while I'm suffering over the painting, maybe there is a route forward. Advice from Graham was to try tiny, soft sable brushes for the oil paint and think the way I do with the ink pen on paper.

April 11: Learned a ton about putting on a show in the student gallery, the agonizing happens a few weeks ahead when you're debating what in the world you're willing to show. The actual hanging and opening are quite enjoyable.

April 1: Sick with the flu last week, but kept painting, actually helps to get outside yourself when it's hard to focus. Continued to work on collages, just made a large painting working from a collage. It's a 3rd generation work, drawing to collage to painting. Strangely, the color works better than ones I've painting from observation lately.

Getting ready for a show in the student gallery next Friday. After going to student openings each week....it's a tough crowd, mostly fellow students. Have figured out what you serve for food and drinks can make all the difference.

March 3: It snowed in NY yesterday and it's currently 24 degrees and sunny...while it was over 80 degrees in Austin yesterday.

Meanwhile, I'm painting rooms with doorways, and starting to fill them them up with detritus. Looking at de Hooch and marveling at his stucture for interior spaces.

Feb 10: After 2 weeks in Austin, headed back to NY tomorrow. Have been making little paintings and drawings inside the house, and started doing collage to work on color. Thinking about how color relates and moves you through the rectangle.

January 31: Just finished first semester mfa program at NYSS -- in some ways I feel as though I'm getting worse....something about moving backward before you go forward.

Completed my paper on de Kooning's development through the 1940's and am totally captivated by the New York School and artists from the 1940's and 50's.

It is so great to hear from you,.... send email! Thx,