We are having a Super Secret Open Studio at 57 Biscayne on July 7 from 5-7 PM. Come see what I’ve been working on, have a bevvie, and chat with me and other Super Secret Artists. This event is by invite only, RSVP liz AT lizewings DOT com for entry details. Hope to see you soon!
Boundary Paintings: Squaring Squares
Boundary 6. 24”x24” Oil on canvas. 2021
I have a new series of paintings just in time for spring! I’ve named it the Boundary Series and they come from the idea of a quadrat, a square that marine ecologists use to mark off a square on the beach or intertidal. They count all of the animals or plants found within the square and do some math to calculate species diversity.
I wondered what it would be like to drop a quadrat square in the ocean. Oceanographers simplify the ocean into squares and cubes for study, but it’s hard to imagine one square meter of water because water is always moving. What if your square misses the thing you want to measure? Is it possible to impose rigid boundaries on something fluid and ephemeral?
The making of Waves of Love . For sale here
2021: We Could All Use Some Extra Love This Year
What a long, strange year it has been! This time last year, I was shopping for plane tickets to Baja to go see the gray whale calving ground near Loreto. Amazing trip! There were more gray whales than I could count in Magdalena Bay, active, and mating, and babies everywhere. And enormous blue whales in the Sea of Cortez. The tour operators use pangas which are small boats that sit really low in the water, so the whales seem really close. I imagine it’s like kayaking next to a submarine, even though I’ve never seen a submarine in real life!
I guess I’m fantasizing. I miss the sun this time of year! And being warm. And on the water. With whales. And fish tacos. I wish I had photos to share, but I was too busy experiencing life to document anything. In the age of influencers and curated posts, I highly recommend taking some time to STOP documenting life. Just live it.
Sometimes it feels like I’ll never travel again. Last year when I left Seattle, the world was still ‘normal’. COVID had begun, but nobody was too worried in the US yet. One week later the world had changed. The border officials at the Loreto Airport were wearing surgical masks. There were a few empty seats on the airplane. It still didn’t sink in for me. Not long after that cases were discovered in King County. And the NBA cancelled its season. And Seattle shut down.
And the world changed. On the plus side, I can make a mean cast iron pizza. I have time to make art. I made and sent Christmas cards this year, something I rarely manage to do. And my card making has expanded into a whole group of screen-printed wave-themed cards. Then I remembered IT’S ALMOST VALENTINE’S DAY! I NEED A VALENTINE’S CARD! AAAAAHHHHHH!!!
I came up with the Waves of Love card. It’s a limited edition—I’m only ever going to make 50 of them. They are hand screen-printed by me in metallic gold on heavy 140lb. watercolor paper. I send them in rigid mailers so you can fill them out yourself. OR, tell me what you want to say and I’ll fill it out and mail it for you! Totally worth ten bucks! I’m selling them on my website, and in my Etsy shop. I think we could all use a little love note this year, that special someone, mom, BFF. And if we send enough of them we can make our own Wave of Love!
Shop Link: Here
Etsy Shop: etsy.com/shop/LizEwingsStudio
Seattle Night
New little watercolor—Seattle Night from a CLEAR, that’s right CLEAR winter night. And by clear, I mean NO RAIN!! Whew! I walked around outside just to remember what dry air feels like. Air. Hee-hee! Can you tell I’m giddy from the lack of rain? Enjoy the weekend.
Winter Trees
Welcome to 2021! We’re less than two weeks into it, and things already feel crazy. I wondered what to expect to see falling out of the sky, so I checked the Seattle Weather Blog. Did you know that Seattle has already had 5” of rain this year? No wonder that’s what I’ve been painting! It’s one of my favorite things to paint. Car headlights and streetlights reflect off the wet streets at night like Las Vegas neon swimming in a pool.