July 28, 2015 – Our coming out party

Read this post:

[I’m on vacation with Joe and Bo in Tahoe. As I write this, I’m sitting on the deck facing the sunrise and it’s just beautiful! I want to go on our morning hike, so there’s no recording today! I’ll resume when I’m back the second week of August.]

On Saturday morning, many of the artists who come to paint in my regular Thursday, Friday and Saturday groups, gathered in the atrium of the building of the Showcase Theater at the Marin Center, to hang our first collective art show. We arranged, hung and labeled 99 watercolors of flowers, representing the work of 25 of us – counting Mom and me. I had a moment at the end of the day, after everyone had left, to be there alone taking it all in. The vast majority of these paintings, I had witnessed coming into be (a small number of them were painted before we began painting together). Each one started as an inspiration, an idea, an inkling and now is finished and framed – and presented to the world. I took a video – just with my iPhone, so it’s not professional quality – but it gives an idea, and is a record of the work that is there. I’ll get it edited and posted here as soon as I can. I wrote “our story” to hang with the show, which I thought I’d share with you. Some of it may be familiar to you, as our story is also my story. I’ve expanded upon it a bit for you – I wanted to tell you how we’ve all arrived at this moment.

On a Saturday in June 1992 my mom, Niz Brown, and I took a one-day class at Drake High, in San Anselmo – “Paint Flowers in Watercolor.” I only played around with painting for a short time before (temporarily) abandoning my efforts, while she found a teacher – Linda Bacon – and just took off, painting up a storm. I picked up painting again, with a bit more regularity about 2000. In 2007 Eleanor Harvey invited me to show my work for the first time. She collected four of us to participate in Marin Open Studios at our church. It was then that I was first asked if I teach – a question I would hear every time I did a show or festival. I was a deer in the headlights at the thought – just paralyzed. Who, me? Teach? Being self-taught, I had no clue what I knew that would be helpful to others or how to organize a class.

At some point after I started showing my work, Win Normandi was given a greeting card with one of my rose paintings on it. She shared it in her watercolor group, which included Shannon Brown. Shannon was always trying to find new teachers for them, and contacted me in an attempt to have me come share what I knew with their group. My fears kept me resisting her for a full year, before she asked me if she could just come to my house and paint with me. That sounded easy enough! In August 2011, she came over and showed me what she was painting. And what occurred to me to say to her in response to her work: “if this were my painting…” she found useful! In the meantime, I had been warming to the idea that I could teach, and had been collecting names of people who had asked about it. Emboldened by my experience with Shannon, I put the word out to the artists on the list. Six of us met at the Fairfax Community Church, on Tuesday, September 13, 2011: Win, Shannon, Susie Rosenberg, as well as two others – Leslie Johnson and Kelli Whyte – who came only that first day. Very shortly, we moved to my house in Fairfax as the group grew to 8 regulars, including Holly Biedel, Marilee Rogers, Paulette Engler, Robin Bentel, and Libby Lill – the devoted artists who showed me I’m a teacher. We’ve been meeting to paint and support each other, every week I’m in town ever since.

A Friday group started in September 2012. The artists who asked me to start this group, lived in Southern Marin, and didn’t want to drive to Fairfax every week. My mom – Niz – agreed that we could meet at Niz Realty – her office in downtown Larkspur. Adrienne Rogers, Sondra Blake and Heather Hughes, are original members of the Friday group. To save me from schlepping portable tables back and forth every week, the group that had been meeting at my house, moved to Thursdays in Larkspur in the spring of last year. Along the way we’ve been joined by: Sue DeVinny, Betsey Crawford, Alicia Forester, Pamela Marcucci, Mickey Kreitzman, Virginie Kortekaas, Velda Draper, Marva McClusky, Tania Walters, and Karen Burkland.

In 2014, I started a series of “Special Saturdays” for those who live too far away to come weekly, and who work during the week. Lenore Stormes, Sue Rink, and Karen Orton are all regulars of this group.

(Note: the invitation was to put together an all-floral exhibition. Most of us paint flowers – but not all. There are other regulars who are not represented in our show, who are in our community: Mike Shea, Mary Austin, and Gwen Toso on Thursdays and Trisha Garlock, Pat Dicker, and Penny Weiss on Saturdays. I also want to acknowledge that our community includes artists, who have just begun painting with us and/or come sporadically, as well as those who painted with us for a time and have moved on. I appreciate the opportunity to witness, and contribute to each one’s work and process.)

Each of the three groups has formed a close bond of friendship, support, and camaraderie. We meet with a specific purpose, to pursue our creative work, and share our love of watercolor. The outcome is both these paintings, which celebrate the allure of flowers, color and light, as well as a community of artists who share our lives with each other. 537 Magnolia – thanks to Niz’s generosity – has become our art “home.” This is our coming out – our first exhibition – and we are all excited to have the opportunity to show our work all in one place at one time.

I’ve reserved the domain name – 537Magnolia.com – another project to take on! We are now a community, and it’s time for us to be represented as such on the internet. Stay tuned.

The show is up until the morning of September 23rd . You are welcome to go see it Monday-Friday when the Fair Office is open – 9am – 5pm. The entrance is in the back of the Exhibit Hall building. We’ll have a reception on Tuesday, August 25th from 6-8pm. You are invited to come meet the artists and celebrate with us.

Last week I wrote about how I could never have dreamed all that has come to be, with my artwork and its impact in the world. Now we have our first group show – the gathering of the work and artists in all my groups – some of them met for the first time on Saturday. My “I could never have dreamed” experience is even more full this week – sharing with the world what I’ve had the privilege to do – to witness the creation of such beauty, and to share in living a creative life with such remarkable, special people. I am so very blessed.

Love,

Cara