I painted the back of this mirror with a bird image that came from a calendar my mom gave me for 2008. She thought I might find the birds inspiring. The mirror is old and wooden- I would love to find more to do paintings on, but they are kind of hard to come by. Let me know if you find one..

I have made jackets for three Miro books, this version twice. The Rodarte designers, Kate and Laura Mulleavy bought the first one. No two are ever the same. Reminds me of Monet painting the hay stacks in different light.

This painting by my uncle, Steven Brown, is probably from the late 1960's. He and my aunt live in the redwoods of northern California, where he makes large sculptures from the wood burls on their property.
My plate is hanging on the right, which I based on a pattern from the mid-16th century Turkish Iznik period. I have been making ceramics at the continuing education center in Santa Barbara for the last year. Classes just started up again, and I am working on some new plates..

Magic and Alchemy

The Spanish painter and anarchist Remedios Varo, who fled to Paris during the Spanish Civil War. She was exiled from Paris during the Nazi occupation of France and moved to Mexico City in 1941. There she met Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, but one of her closest friendships was with the expatriate English painter Leonora Carrington. Varo died of a heart-attack at the height of her career in 1963.

painted on a tin cookie sheet. by my mom, emily (age 9 perhaps). circa late 1950's.