peak show.

just a little taste of what's to come.

i call this piece jnana.
jnana means wisdom in sanskrit, and this painting depicts the jnana mudra.
a mudra is a hand gesture that channels and guides energy through the subtle body.

tuesdays are pretty awesome.

well dear-lings,

today is the day that i'm hanging my work at cafe mae & 5focus. here is a look-see at the paintings that are making that journey for the next six weeks.

{from the top: anahata, the weight of lightness, wakeful dream, drawing from experience, beneath the surface.}

{from the left: vision, solar, if it gets any sweeter, muladhara (top), roots.}

{a closer view of wakeful dream and beneath the surface.}

{a closer look at vision and solar.}


if you are in the area (1009 8th Avenue North in seattle), please do stop by.

*

peek show.

dears, i have been in a painting frenzy preparing for my show at cafe mae & 5focus. it has been so much fun. and i'm a firm believer in the adage "work makes work," or the more you make, the more you're inspired to make more. here is a sneak peek at all of the pieces, lined up all neat-like.

this one is called "beneath the surface."

it's new.

gute nacht!

Progress. la la la.

Dears,
Here is the work I managed to squeeze in yesterday on these two pieces. I was filled with such joy to plan in the studio between conference calls. PURE joy. My plan is to finish up this series of paintings (click the links to see all of them) and then get moving on finding someplace to actually show this work locally.
If it gets any sweeter.

Solar.

I don't think I've posted about this last one. So, presenting......Flow.

the blueness.

Dears,
Do you love surprises? They often bear a mixed bag of emotions, don't they? For years, surprises made me skittish. They gnaw at that part of the brain that wants to control things, that fears the unknow-able, that cannot quite trust the goodness in others. Things have, of course, changed a lot for me. Part of this comes with experiencing surprises and just going through them-- just letting life happen with no apologies, if you will. Now, one of my favorite surprises come in the form of the paint and the curiosity that comes with just letting the painting emerge as it needs to. If I had been tied to a certain result, do you think this incarnation of Vishnu would have materialized from this? We'll never know!

loves,

k

where is this going next? it's a surprise.

om. is where i want to be.

I have become a bit obsessed with documenting all of the things about our home that I love. (Perhaps this is apropos of the online course I'm taking.) And there are so many things I love about our centenarian of a house. Most of them, of course, are memories associated less with the physical space and more with the times we have shared in it. There are, however, a LOT of juicy, tangible aspects of our house that I love. For example, I love our collections of crystals, shells and crazy natural specimens.
And I love the curve of this Eva Zeisel sauce boat that sits atop the Mongolian Chest of awesomeness.
And. the. light. The light in this house is truly a thing of beauty.
And the prints and patterns that the wind makes on steamed-up windows.
Those are just the beginning. Trust me.

In other news, check out how this little lion is progressing. Do you even recognize her?

Later, kiddos.

k

Soft whale.

It's windy here today! Rain, sun, wind. I love the mix. Here is a new whale who made her way to my studio. This is a mix of acrylic and watercolor paints on paper. Happy Sunday.

loves,

k

Le Tigre.

Hello, dearies. I forgot to wish you a happy, lovely saint patrick's day earlier, so I'll do it right now.

happy st. pat's, dudes!

i was just thinking about child rearing and celebrating lots of world holidays, whether it is customary for my people to do so or not. i think we will when Mr. Loves Whales and i decide to settle down and raise a family. (my thoughts were inspired by a story i heard on npr yesterday on Nowruz, the Persian New Year, which begins on the vernal equinox. i like anything associated with the equinox.)


and by the by, here is the newly photographed progress on le tigre. clicking here will remind you of what he looked like last week.

Sometimes I feel so happy.

Loves,
Happy Thursday. I had some great dreams last night. I even dreamt that I was telling my husband about a dream I had that night-- it was like re-living the dream while I was still in it. The details will either scare or bore you, depending on your threshold for dream-talk, so I'll cut to the best part: my dog could talk. She had the sweetest voice, too! Can you even stand it?

>
I'm teaching two classes today, so painting might not happen, but know that I am making some serious progress on the piece I showed you yesterday and on the other two new ones I started on ... what was it... Monday.

In other news, check out this gorgeous blog Pintame el Dia (Paint my day) and tell me it doesn't make you feel like a brand coat of paint---props to anyone who gets that reference to my favorite boy-band, The Avett Brothers. This gal is amazingly talented and perceptive.

Later, dudes.

illustration friday (take one): blanket.

This week's illustration friday topic is "blanket." I have gobs of ideas on this topic, so I'll be putting a couple of these posts out this week before I choose which one to actually submit to the site.

Presenting..... Blanket.

Layered by a blanket of barnacles, lady whale dreams under a blanket of stars.

Custom Valentines.

Dears, I am so happy to be offering custom valentines in the shoppe. Here is how it works, after purchasing the valentine, email me a digital photo (or not, it's up to you) and I will craft a special valentine for your special someones.

Here are a few examples of what you could expect with this purchase.

Happy Monday!

illustration friday: SOAR!

Soar, little birds, SOAR!!


This is a true mixed media illustration: watercolor and acrylic components collaged together plus a dash of digital illustration tossed in for good measure.

Illustration Friday: why did I wait so long to start playing along?

Illustration Friday: Backwards

Dears,

I had such a lovely time putting together this week's illustration friday submission. The topic is "backwards." Since we get lots and lots of moisture this time of year (and right around the solstice, I begin to need a little reminder of why the rain is so wonderful), I thought it might be fun to turn the water cycle on backwards and let the flowers and foliage give back to the clouds for a chance! I made this by first painting all of the components with watercolors, then cutting them out and collaging them on a watercolored background.

I do hope you are enjoying your Monday!

Crazy, inspired valentine!

Dears, Don't think for one minute that I am done celebrating the December-January holidays, but can we talk Valentine's Day for a minute? Fabulous. Well, I had this idea and I want to run it by y'alls. What do you think about a custom valentine (or any other declaration of one's love, like, adoration, stupification, and the like) offering in the shoppe? I'm envisioning something like this: buyer purchases custom love-declaration for $20 and emails me a photo to print and include in the valentine, I make up the valentine (probably 8 by 10 inches) and mail it to the buyer to present to his or her un-suspecting love object.

Any thoughts? Leave me a comment. If you are too shy to comment, email me at kellyloveswhales [AT] gmail {dot} com.

Either way, I am offering the non-custom valentine that you see above in the shoppe for $20. It is multi-layered and multi-media and could add some seriously good love energy to any space.

thanks a mil!

Svadhisthana.

This piece has only just begun to take flight and form. The svadhisthana chakra resides in the astral plane and is associated with the element of water. I will share more shots of Svadhisthana as she grows.

After an out-of-sorts week away from my practice, I returned to my running at 3 followed by yoga and meditation routine today. Oh my goodness does it make a difference. The yoga is probably the best thing to have ever happened to me. (Incidentally, I have been listening to this swell podcast for teachers called Mudra Moments, which is lead by Hillary Rubin & Elsie Escobar. It is such a fabulous, community-building resource for teachers. AND, they turned me on to Dave's Lounge, and exquisite podcast, which lead me to the Alan Watts Podcast---totally get-out-of-town genius!) Ooh, I did have a point: I now listen to the Dave's Lounge podcast while painting & practicing yoga. It is MAGIC.

Namaste, dear hearts!

Eau de Paris.

Now that Netflix is part of my life, I have been watching all of the movies I have read about in Vogue or Vanity Fair, but that never seem to make it to Blockbuster or Hollywood Video. This is fabulous! On Saturday night, we watched *Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.* Oh my. It was really gross. Although I can appreciate beautiful films where violence is a character (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is one of my all-time favorites), the imagery in this film was too gruesome for me at times. There were a few bright moments, however, and one of them was a lovely image of 18th-century Paris. It inspired this little sketch.

Heart. Soul. Peace. Love.

I have been kind of obsessed with mandala-making for years. This summer, I really wanted to begin incorporating more spiritual elements into my work and have been trying to find a comfortable balance in making spiritual art that speaks to my own experience.

The thing that is tricky, for me at least, about making mandalas is the circle. Until my husband bought me this lovely new compass, my mandalas were limited to whatever round objects I could trace. The compass has literally changed my life with respect to the mandala. Oh this makes me happy.

I have only just begun this piece, and already it has brought such a great energy into my aquamarine studio. I cannot wait to get back to work on it once I have finished posting this.



I'm hoping to offer this as an origninal and a print in my Etsy shop. (Opening very soon, I promise!)

Namaste.