59 x 39, Oil Paint on Canvas, 2003. $2000
The Fish that Got Away!
Author: Sonwa3
Children of the Artist
So there is a sizable time gap in my Exhibitions/ Education HERstory, but that is because I was a devoted mother and housewife for 20+ years…. These three are my ultimate creation investment, and will continue to be an artistic/creative focus for the entirety of my life. I am fully invested spiritually, artistically, genetically on what becomes of these three amazingnesses (sorry, there is no other word I can use to describe!) So… Well, an Artist’s life takes interesting turns and there will be gaps and relapses — but I confess that I am hopelessly forever involved with these three beings and I will always be their champion, cheerleader, sounding board, and scapegoat… whatever it takes to see them rise and shine. 48 x 36, Oil on Canvas, 2003.
Fish & Flower
Fish and Flower exhibited at the Del Mar State Fair… 1st painting on the left side when you walked into the Fine Art Exhibit Pavilion. It was the first Exhibition I had been featured in a very long time and it was a gloriously happy night, until it wasn’t, but that is another Fish Tale…. Fish and Women are a constant whiplash-like theme in my life…. Oh well— ya just gotta keep making art! Sink or Swim, Baby! Sink or SWIM.
30 x 40, Mixed Media on Canvas, 2019. $600
Fish and Flower also was juried into the #Obsessed Exhibition at Art on 30th, 2021.
Blown, Pressed, Frosted, and Blue
I painted this about 15 years ago. I have always liked this painting, but it’s never gotten much praise… but I’ll tell ya, it’s a painting with intention and it tells a story though it’s a just a still life. It’s entitled “Blown, Pressed, Frosted, and Blue” – which, incidentally, are types of glassware, yet also, states of being, are they not?
Pass the Wine, Let’s Make Some Love
This is a bronze colored grape leaf with a copy of a fresco from the excavated ruins of Pompeii. Originally, it was a “tapestry” (acrylic on unstretched canvas) that I created for the purpose of beautification and decoration during an Elementary school’s Wine and Dine fundraiser, but it also was an experiment with impasto acrylic products. However, it had been rolled up in storage for many years, where it became damaged… textural impasto doesn’t like to be bent or extreme heat. Anyway, I cut the grape leaf with the Pompeii fresco out, glued it to a wooden substrate and repainted the background. It is entitled, “Pass the Wine, Lets Make Some Love” – This is about cherishing the moment, being truly happy, love, friendship, and counting your blessings because at any moment everything could change…
Half Full and Shattered
Fragmented Fabulosity Series: Kiss a Fish
The Book of Fish and Women
So there really is an actual Book of Fish and Women. It is an art concept book that I created in 1991 in response to the emotional chaos I was experiencing during my Freshman year in Art School. I was a sweet young thing who previously lived a very sheltered existence (though, I thought I was very bohemian compared to the country club and private school set I was raised with – I considered myself a real Miss Thang!) Anywho, I was living in the big city of Boston, taking the “T” daily from Back Bay to Roxbury, on the trains or buses packed with people of every variety ( I say that with love in my heart and the 49 year old version of myself considers that heaven! Sigh, if only youth wasn’t wasted on the young!), the 1st Iraq war had just broke out- I was really worried about my male friends- having grown up watching the multitude of movies created in the 80’s about the Vietnam War, also the Last Temptation of Christ novel by Paul Schrader and then the movie super impacted all my quasi-Luthern sensibilities- it was all eternal spiritual conflict Brah!…. BUT, mostly I was losing my shit, because my boyfriend, whom I loved most desperately and passionately, kept cheating on me, with females that I labeled, “the actress/ model type”, one of whom was my best friend…. So, in pathetic young angsty desperation, I bought Playboy magazines and collaged my way through all the heartache and disbelief of the Brave New World that I was living and as life would have it, continue to live….
Here are just a few excerpts from THE Book- they are yellowed and stained with age and the rubber cement shows through the images. Back in the day, as my pages increased, other people wished to contribute their art as well. The pages also included Art History references, experts from novels, song lyrics, and current events referenced throughout. It’s kinda of an interesting look at a person’s surrealist hell – all the lies, myths, misdirections and shattered expectations of youth and so forth, all told with images of fish and women….
Spoon Bender and the Virgin Queen
43 x 31, Oil Paint and Oil Pastel on Canvas, 2019. $800.00
Here are two lovely and extremely talented young women, both making their way in the world; both hard core, mule-headed, and insufferably – ‘My way or the Highway,’ kinda women. When they were girls and the very bestest of friends, they would play and sing together, for fun on a weekend night. My “Mother’s Day 2013” song, they recorded for me long ago, perfectly illustrates these two wildums’ fun and fierceness of spirit … I did the best I could to capture their essence. I loves them both and wish them them incredible joy and success in this world! Sing on ladies, both of yous! Sonja
One Point Perspective
36 x 48, Oil Paint and Oil Pastel on Canvas, 2019. $2000.00. 3rd Place Ribbon at the 2022 Del Mar Fair.
This painting sat unfinished for 15 years in my garage, too good to throw out, but not good enough to display…. This painting is from a photograph I took of my beautiful friend in Paris when we were in art school, she was a truly remarkable spirit!
The Book Of Fish and Women 