February 14th, 2018.

cmsa; a valentines message; painting on the left is my squirrels when they were babies (nest fell out of tree in storm) and so was Kacee Tyler....i used to have two squirrels, one died about a month in, lost the second one 2 years later...i managed to return her to backyard where she lived happily for two years, terrorizing all my cmsa students llike a real punk;
she would hang out by the entrance to cmsa, norcal, if she didin't get a pecan immediately from a student entering ,she would climb up their (often bare legs!) and bite if she could...so the students took to always arriving and leaving with a pecan in their pocket...she and the mail lady got into it so bad at the mailbox (kujo considered it part of her territory) they disappeared into a cloud of dust. The poor mobile lady locksmith got badly bitten when kujo decided to occupy the tool box in the back of her truck...but i loved her (squirrel, not locksmith!) very much, and she never bit me, treated me like a cross between a mom and a tree. Finally she grew enormously pregnant with her first litter...just as she seemed about to pop (i could relate!) she disappeared , i'm gonna guess too big and clumsy to avoid a predator...I don't think she ever had that litter because the backyard didn't suddenly fill with enormous killer squirrels a few months later.... i loved that squirrel as much as anyone has ever loved a fur-baby, and i painted her as often as i could; First one here "kacee and the squirrels"...you must wonder did i learn my lesson about messing with mother natures plan? well sort of, i think i'll stick to baby birds from here on out! here i am (about to pop myself) with my first and most succcessful bird (house finch) rescue; me and "tweety" circa 1992.

February 13th, 2018.

cmsa; up and running at art on 5th, haven't actually been to the gallery yet, so if you live in austin and can check it out, let me know what you think?

February 11th, 2018.

CMSA; dear friends, just as i was drifting off last night, i was startled awake by this thought; I AM THE GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS QUEEN OF THE BATHROOM PAINTING!!!!!!!!!shudder to think what that says about me?
Here's a few from the last 40 years...
Reminds me of something joan brown told an artist frriend of mine when she was his teacher; "Series or themes are only recognized in hindsight" true that

February 9th, 2018.

cmsa; in these dark days, never have we needed this reminder more, BE PLAYFUL !!!!!!!!!!!!Thank you starman, and i'll TRY NOT TO PANIC, I'm gonna insert you into my current painting to make sure i remember!

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February 7th, 2018.

cmsa; thought for the day; i've learned that, no matter how you try to avoid it, tragedy comes in every life....that being the case, I hate fictional stories (tv show "this is us" being the one today) that illicit crocodile tears on behalf of fictional tragedies...what ? the real ones aren't bad enough??? inquiring minds wanna know??????

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February 4th, 2018.

cmsa; one of the things i miss most here in LA is WAG (willits artist group), here's one of our most magical sessions; in the master of the victorian, with the incomparable Ashley Alexis Olds and her familiar "mr crowley" . "ashley and mr crowley", c valle

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February 3rd, 2018.

cmsa; key to understanding oil glazes is to understand that a color is at it's most saturated when it is transparent, as opposed to opaque, kind of counter intuitive i think...."Serenade" c. valle, from the willits days....two lovely artists in their youth; Kyle and Yvonne , and our incredible mansanita tree

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January 26th, 2018.

cmsa; here’s something i noticed; i live in a large artists community in Los Angeles. When i moved here 2 years ago i was worried all my neighbors would be the age of my kids…and i felt way too young at heart to be the resident grandma. To my surprise and delight i found dozens of artists who like me, had more life behind than we have in front. I realize now there are legions of us; artists aged 50 to death, but from a social, cultural point of view we are invisible. And we’re in trouble. While others of our generation “prepared for a secure retirement” , getting pensions and plump ss checks, socking away money etc….we never have had sufficient sales , or never got that cherry teaching position, so we were not able to , now at “retirement age”, or almost, or way past, we need to continue to work and understand our sunset years will be more about risk , and less about comfort and security. i’m not even sure medicare will be there anymore when i hit 65… Figuring out how to manage all this is gonna require some serious creative problem solving. please share your ideas love, cynda mary

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January 21st, 2018.

cmsa; reposting this, about a fresh air of hope for women after last years womens march, this years too, here's to us, working toward change peacefully and with the understanding that WE ARE greater than the sum of our parts, taking back the process that makes this country great!!!!

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Podcast.

CMSA; check out this podcast on pot and creativity, it's not only about psychedelia....-help-unlock-creative-potential?utm_medium=email&utm_source=11946478-newsletter-editorial-daily-01-18-18&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_content=st-

January 17th, 2018.

CMSA; just so you know , this is what art school was like for me in the 70's;
I supported myselfin artschool as a figure model, bfa '78. The only thing unusual about this account re Chuck Close, is that the stories don't end with sexual intercourse , as most of mine did. At the time i, a very young and naive 19, found the pressure so persuasive that i remember jumping into sexual encounters at the first suggestion, so as to "get it out of the way", so we might get to the stuff that interested me; who they were as artists.
I say we're making progress because now atleast, young women understand sex is no longer a mandatory part of being a model and an art student.
Those who stand out in my mind today, are the few good men who chose not to follow this model of behavior..

 

https://hyperallergic.com/420538/four-more-women-allege-sexual-misconduct-by-chuck-close/

January 11th, 2018.

CMSA; the latest; "portrait of an urban cowboy", wet into wet, c valle. model/artist/student performed amazing feats in his silver 4 inch platform boots on the roof, (until we got kicked out)

January 5th, 2018.

CMSA; here's an out take from my last photo shoot; Me and student Michael Sabet trying to re enact a "Granny Race", ever heard of it?...paintings coming soon. Thanks Michael and Jim Scheell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

January 4th, 2018.

cmsa; another newly minted graduate of cynda mary's school of art...BRAVO dear student!!! I think in oil painting, he found his bliss, so fun to watch it happen...