Cristine Cambrea Art

Last weekend was a busy one. Drew and I drove Kaleb to meet my mom in Lake George. He is going on a vacation with his Nanni (my mom) to Florida and we use Lake George often as a meeting place because it’s half way between New York and Vermont. For some reason I found everything so beautiful on that day. Here is a gate-

I noticed everything from reflections in the water to weathered wood to a run down motel. Everywhere I turned there was something I wanted to photograph. Route 100 is just a beautiful drive!! Drew and I always fantisize about being location scouts. Whenever we see a cool spot we go “hello locations R’ us how can we help you?”. This old motel is a cool one.

This lake was just a place we turned around to switch drivers and there is was a little green haven under a bridge.

I like the contrast of the industrial bridge and the nature.
So the next day I was invited to a friends lake house to paint and make canvas. How could I resist? Check out this place. The views were just breathtaking. This is one of the downstairs bedrooms.

I was given the option to sleep in it but opted to share a room with my friend instead. I know I’m a wierdo but this is the kind of place I could NEVER live in with all the windows and doors everywhere! It would have been wonderful to wake up in front of the lake but I don’t think I ever would have been able to fall asleep so poor Brooke shared a room with 2 double beds in it with me. That’s a friend!!! The view from one of the decks.

This is the garage we worked in-

I got a lot of work done that weekend! I built 15 compete canvases, 15 more frames. I even used the saw and nail gun!!
This is my friend Brooke building frames.

I also discovered an electric stapler is way easier on the hands than my old manual gun –ouchy!
So this is her boyriend’s family’s lake house and they own a dairy farm also in Vergennes VT. This is a top of the line farm.

I got a tour of the farm and I know it was cool but I don’t think I could explain it like she did.
This is where the creatures eat.

COW FRIEND!!
So as if Lake George and 2 days at the lake house weren’t enough I went to see the Misfits on Sunday. I haven’t seen them in almost 10 years. Drew and I travelled with them through Europe back in the day when he managed bands. I’ll try to post some of those old photos soon. So Jerry is the only guy left in the band that I travelled with. They are a 3 piece now and the other 2 members played in Black Flag. So we show up and surprise Jerry and I gave him some prints. It was nice to see him! So that was my weekend. Now 4th of July is coming up and we will probably be going down to the summer nationals in Worcester MA. I have a bunch of paintings ready to go as soon as I get to the hotel. I ask you why do I love to work in hotels so much when I have a beautiful studio right here in VT???

Filed by Administrator at 6:32 pm under Cristine Cambrea
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My son Kaleb has graduated from Kindergarten at the Montessori school. The school calls it the crossing over ceremony. He has been going there for 3 years and if anyone has the opportunity to send there child to a Montessori school- I highly recommend it. He has learned so much and the best part is he has learned to Love learning. Here he is handing out drum sticks for one of the songs they were about to perform

and the rainstick he was responsible for turning

I was so proud of him!!!!
Kaleb and another graduate sharing a special moment!

Let me tell you a little about who Kaleb is. Kaleb is THE most compassionate, loving, and happy 6 year old you will ever meet. He is truly special! I know you are thinking oh well he’s your son of course you feel that way. NO!!!! You just don’t understand he is really special. Here is just a recent example of just how incredible he is. Each of the 4 graduates had a speech at the podium before receiving their diploma. The speeches went something like this… My name is john I am 6 years old I have been going to the Center School for 3 years. My favorite things to do are play on the swings and singing and I want to thank my mommy and daddy for driving me to school every day. Now if that wasn’t special enough my baby all of 6 years old and the last to go up to the podium to deliver his speech and receive his diploma says…

“Hello my name is Kaleb I have been going to The Center School for 3 years. My favorite things are playing soccer and doing subtraction and I want to thank Mother Earth for lifting up our school.” WOW!!! The parents and teachers just gasped of course my mouth just dropped open and the tears just fell down. How at 6 years old does my son know about lifting anything up let alone put together Mother Earth being apart of elevating their school.
His teacher came up to me later and with tears in her eyes said “can you believe what Kaleb said? What a way to end our crossing over ceremony.”

I am one proud mommy!! How did I ever deserve him???? When I was pregnant I had just one wish for him. That wish was for him to be a happy kid. My whole life I suffered from severe depression and through those years always thought -why was I born? I didn’t ask for this! I thought how cruel it was that I had to suffer so much. I never wanted to have kids because I didn’t want to bring that on another person. I was also convinced that my kid would end up with the same problems. My mom also wished on me to have a kid just like me- which was not a very nice thing to say-LOL! I was a bit of a problem when I decided to up and move to NYC by myself at 17 but that’s a whole other story- not to be told for a very very long time- or at least until my dad is too old to read. So anyway my one wish when I did get pregnant was God PLEASE let him be happy. Well my wish was answered and not only is he a happy little man but anyone he comes in contact with has there spirits lifted as well. He has an innate ability to know when love and compassion are needed as well. He has been known to walk into the room as I’m working, eating or thinking and get up on my lap and ever so gently touch my face and look into my eyes and say “mommy you know I love you so much” and then like nothing happened just hop off and go back to whatever he was doing. What a gift!! I remember asking him about 2 years ago. So Kaleb who is your best friend in school? You know what he answered? “Mommy I can’t have a best friend because then the others would feel bad.” My brother says Cristine don’t be surprised if the Buddhist’s call and say they had a vision of there next Dalai Lama and Kaleb needs to report to duty ASAP.

Me and my special boy!

Filed by Administrator at 3:00 am under Cristine Cambrea
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I am going to try and do a catch up on everything that has been going on. The summer has already started with a bang. This is the first weekend I have been home in a while. Drew and I have been traveling every weekend and he left for Texas this morning and I have stayed here in VT to catch up on my work. I will spend the entire weekend in my studio. We have been doing the Urban Street Bike Warrior stunt bike competition/ shows. You can see some of what these crazy riders do at Drew’s site www.stonefilmsnyc.com . We spent the last 2 weekends in Connecticut. The shows were a success but there was a tragedy last weekend with one of the ATV riders. He was killed at the Thompson Motor Speedway. His family was watching from the bleachers and it was really sad. This is a very dangerous sport. Drew has broken his foot, hand, shoulder and knee just filming them. Usually when I go on these trips I enjoy doing my art but I have been tending our merchandise booth so very little art actually got done. I did get to meet my friend Amber and her husband. They took a drive to meet us and that was a highlight of last weekend. I mentioned her in my last blog entry but if you haven’t yet seen her site check it out www.ambersartgallery.com .She does what she calls “Paint to the Music” Impressively she is a modern dance teacher/ artist and she has figured out a way in incorporate these talents. Read her blog to understand more about “Paint to the Music”. I have met so many wonderful people through the internet and when I actually get to meet up with them in person I get so excited. Hopefully they will come to VT for a visit perhaps Amber and I could do some art together. What do you think girl?? They got to see my crazy Drew running around the track filming doing his thing on the mic etc. Here are some photos of the riders from the show at Excalibur.

Last night I had an art opening at Phoenix Rising 34 State Street in Montpelier Vermont. There was an art walk in town and Susan from Phoenix contacted me to have a solo show in her place. She owns the boutique next to where my shop used to be. It was a lot of fun! I saw so many people that knew me as the owner of Karma Imports and not as an artist. To see the look on there face when they walked in was priceless. I got a lot of “oh my God this is what you’re doing now?” where was this hiding?? It was great! When I had my store I had some prints for sale but sort of hid them in a corner. Art was always what I just did not something I ever did thinking oh someone will buy this one day. This is why my earlier works are not for sale. When I decided to give art for sale a try my attitude was I am making this to not live with me so I didn’t get emotionally attached to the work. Although if a painting hangs around for a few months it grows on me and then I don’t want to see it go and usually raise the price. So to my buyers if you like a piece it’s best to get it right after it’s complete –you are more likely to get a better price- LOL!! The show went great and I was caught saying this is my first physical show and I was asked what are you used to? Showing in the astral world? HAHAH! Kind of! I make my living doing art now but rarely get to interact with my buyers in person. I get wonderful emails constantly but there is something really special watching people looking into my work especially if they don’t know I’m the artist. The best compliment came from a woman/artist who was very opinionated and negative about the bulk of my work. I think from the box she lives in artists must be conscious of every aspect of creating the work -that’s just not how I work. I usually have no idea what it will look like let alone analyzing colors, linear this and that etc. She started talking about one of my pieces and I was totally lost. I felt almost ignorant because I had no idea what she was talking about. Some of the terms she used to describe this specific piece had me wondering what the hell she is talking about. I guess that’s what happens when you are mostly self taught. It’s like when I heard you are NEVER supposed to put blue next to red- HUH?? WHY?? I don’t get it. Doesn’t what your SUPPOSED to do or not do limit you? She actually said one of my pieces made her ANGRY! That was incredible! She had just been in Australia and it had reminded her of Aboriginal art. I was told many years ago by a woman that my work reminded her of Aboriginal art. She actually bought me a book called “Dreamings The Art Of Aboriginal Australia”- She said I must have been an Aborigine in my past life- and strangely enough in 1999 I did a copyright of my art collection from 1994-1999 under the name “living dreams” at the time I had no idea what Aboriginal art was like. Anyway now that I think back to what the ANGRY lady was saying- I realize she came to that conclusion because it was a reflection of the way she creates. Because her process of making art is very thought out she assumed I was consciously thinking about what I was doing and making an Aboriginal rip off piece. I didn’t get it in the moment because I was still shocked that it made her angry-LOL! But I totally get it now because she doesn’t understand my process of not thinking when I’m working. I hadn’t even made the comparison of Aborigianl art until she brought it up. This is the piece she was talking about.

It’s the one on the far right ” bw circle abstract” The other pieces to the left are stretched canvas giclee pieces.
I see what she means now but to me this piece was me being obsessive. Hours of circles- I don’t remember what I was thinking when I did it and it’s probably because I wasn’t thinking- and that’s the point! That’s why I love making art because I don‘t have to think – I just do and my mind it quiet! When someone has so much criticism then says something positive I really pay attention because it is out of character for them which means they really mean it. It actually means more to here something positive form a negative person than to hear positivity from a positive person. Did that make since? It does in my head- anyway- she said “what I do like about your work is each piece stands alone- I want to look at each one” wow! That was a compliment coming from her and the most memorable one of the evening!! She said she was on her way to see another show that can be viewed as a collective. You can appreciate the show looking at it all together but don’t need to look at each piece. Oh boy I feel for the artist she went to after me. What’s funny is she kept asking me are you sure this is ok? Are you sure I can be honest? I was thinking wow this is going to be harsh but then I had to think why is it that this woman NEEDS me to know how she feels about it? Then that made me feel good. She must have some respect for what I do or it wouldn’t be so important for her to let me know how she feels about it. I don’t think she would have wasted her breath if she had walked in and hated it. It obviously made her stop and stay for awhile and figure out what it was she didn’t like. I don’t know about you but when I really dislike art that I’m looking at I just move on. She stayed for quite awhile. So these are the new issues I will be dealing with when having shows and I welcome it! I wasn’t uncomfortable at all! Art is subjective and my work especially -doesn’t work for everyone!! And it obviously didn’t work for the trained eye of what you’re supposed to do with paint. What a scary concept huh?? THE WAY IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE AHHH!! I left school because a teacher was afraid that I would learn the way ART IS SUPPOSED TO BE!! It was my first semester in this college and the last semester for this teacher. As like most things in my life I was unorganized and was late in registering for my classes. So all of the beginning art classes were full and I submitted some art to the advanced painting class. At the end of the course my very last class the teacher pulled me aside and said “I really shouldn’t say this but my suggestion to you is to stop taking art classes. You have a very unique original style and if you continue on your work will be institutionalized and end up looking like everyone else in this class.” It was just what I needed to hear. So I left school! I guess the real difference between the angry lady’s art process and mine is she thinks her way through her art and I feel my way through mine. I don’t think either way is right or wrong every artist has there process but not excepting that there are many processes of working is really the biggest mistake and this goes for most things in life right? It’s all about tolerance and acceptance!! We all live, look, act, think and work differently. Have a great weekend everyone!

www.ccambrea.com

Filed by Administrator at 11:42 am under Cristine Cambrea
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Hope you all had a great mother’s day. Mine was great! Kaleb and I went to see the movie “RV” and then went to dinner. It was a great day! Sunday Drew took me to see Guns and Roses. What a trip! We did it all in one day. He drove both ways 6 hours in each direction. I don’t know how he managed it! We slept most of the day today but it was worth the trip. Just being in NYC again was nice! The show -well we had mixed feelings about it. They only played 2 new songs and I think the band members (each individually talented) didn’t have the greatest chemistry together. I met Ron “Bumble Foot” before the show seemed like a nice guy! He is a talented musician for sure but seems a little out of place in the band. Anyway all in all we had a good time! We have a lot of summer traveling planned I’ll keep you posted on our trips. I’m keeping this post short tonight - its bed time- I hardly slept at all in the last 48 hours.

Filed by Administrator at 9:30 pm under Cristine Cambrea
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Well it has been brought to my attention that it has been way to long since my last entry. Thank you Amber!!! Amber is a new friend and fellow artist living in Connecticut. You should see her work go to www.ambersartgallery.com you will not be disappointed. So what I have I been doing for the last 2 months? WORKING WORKING AND WORKING!!! I wish there were more exciting news but this is the lull before the storm! Starting in a few weeks Drew and I will be doing lots of traveling so I get to work in hotels again- YEAH!!! I have been setting up my new photo studio so I can reproduce every piece I make. So if you are unable to purchase an original fine art giclee reproductions will be available. I have done a limited amount of these so far due to my photography set up. My second light is showing up tomorrow so you will see more and more prints on canvas, watercolor paper, glossy etc. I am also offering framed 8” x 10” prints. The weather here in Vermont is just getting nicer and nicer by the day so inspiration is so strong I am having a hard time sleeping at night. Currently I am working on a very large 3 panel piece that I am really excited about. This is my baby I have spent a week so far every day for at least 4 hours a day on it. This is the reason my auction listings have slowed down. I have been able to put a few up since this one started but not many. As soon as it’s finished I will post it here. I am hoping for tomorrow but can’t promise. I have pasted below another large piece 30” x 40” x 1.5” that is available. I will have prints available soon. Email me to get the first!! It will be signed and dated and numbered #1. So hurry and reserve your spot!

Aside from work the most exciting thing that happened in the last 2 months was my son Kaleb turned 6!! WOW! That went fast! Now everything he says starts with now that I’m six or this is the first time you’re going here or doing this with a 6 year old huh? He goes to the Montessori school and has for 3 years. He will graduate in June and be going into 1st grade in the fall- school bus, homework, bullies!! OH NO!! He is so sweet I hope he doesn’t get pushed around to much. Oh we house sat a cat- that was really exciting in our world. I have always been a dog person because I am allergic to cats but for some reason I was not having a reaction to this one. The owners came home and we had to give him back! The house is so sad we miss him! So I am now on a mission to find a Sphinx cat breeder. You know the ones with no hair. Even though I wasn’t allergic to our visitor I don’t want to take any chances so I have been researching / obsessing over this breed. Supposedly there temperaments are incredible- real cuddle bugs!! IF ANYONE KNOWS A BREEDER PLEASE LET ME KNOW. WE WILL EVEN TRAVEL!! NO ONE SEEMS TO HAVE KITTENS RIGHT NOW. THESE CATS ARE VERY EXPENSIVE AND REQUIRE MORE ATTENTION AND WORK THAN HAIR CATS. I have pasted some of my favorite photos below. Now don’t be mean they are a bit odd looking. Kaleb thinks we should name ours bat cat. I guess these are the kind of cats you either think are adorable (like me, Drew and Kaleb do) or creepy like my family does. I don’t care what anyone thinks I think they are incredible and I can’t wait to
LOVE one!!

just a baby!!

so what do you think adorable or creepy? PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANY CONTACTS IN THE SPHYNX WORLD!!

Filed by Administrator at 9:35 pm under Cristine Cambrea
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Well it has taken me a week to catch up after taken last weekend off to go to NYC for the Art Expo. I’m still not totally caught up but getting there. The EXPO was INCREDIBLE!!! I will definitely be a regular every year. It was absolutely gigantic. You can’t possibly do it all completely in a day. For those of you who have never been to NYC I have posted some photos of the drive down the west side highway into the city. Funny I lived there most of my life and never photographed it. Driving through though I couldn’t help but think about how much I took advantage of the urban beauty. When I moved to Vermont I told myself I would never overlook the beauty of this state but of course after awhile I don’t pay attention. Off in dream world not noticing what’s right in front of me. I catch myself now and then though. It’s not just the scenery though we have the most beautiful old barns, buildings, and covered bridges as well. Inspired by all of this photography I’ve been doing I have come up with a new technique. I will talk more about it once I have completed some pieces. VERY EXCITING!! On the way back from the city we stopped at Magic Wings it’s a butterfly sanctuary in Mass. We have been there 4 times now. It’s a great pit stop on the long drive home from the city. I took tons of photos there. I will be offering prints of them soon. If you’re interested let me know art@ccambrea.com . We actually talked about getting married there amongst the butterflys. We are HUGE butterfly fans!! Flying flowers!! WOW!! Enjoy the photos!!

Filed by Administrator at 12:09 am under Cristine Cambrea
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Oh what a day! Blizzard like weather, internet on and off, car problems and we have to leave for the weekend. Wake up 4:00 AM off by 5:00 – and drive 6 hour. I’ll be finishing some pieces while I’m away. We are going to NYC for the Art Expo. I’ll see if I can take some pictures while I’m there. Well here are the photos I promised- a day late! I need to get some with the sunset- when I do I’ll post them. For now you can to see the grey Vermont day I had yesterday. Today was much worse snowy rainy combo with serious wind! Even when it’s grey it’s beautiful though isn’t it?

This one is through my window from the inside of my studio! This is the window I look through all day!

Filed by Administrator at 9:25 pm under Cristine Cambrea
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Well I have a NEW studio space!! Finally I won’t have to stumble over my work!! My mom built a house a few years ago in this town I live in. She never lived here full time (she gave it a shot) she always commuted to NYC for work. That got old and she moved back to New York and now she rents the top part of the house and the bottom is a 2 bedroom apartment that over looks the mountains. She offered it up as a studio space for me and of course I jumped on it. It is very quiet and private and I quickly moved all of my things over there. It took 3 days and now I’m officially moved in and working! The only down side is there is no internet connection (to far from the road) buy maybe that’s a good thing. Without the internet as an option I will have to concentrate only on my painting. There is so much more space -more than I have ever had. The possibilities are very exciting! I now have a place where everything is spread out and while I’m painting I can scan the room and see over there by the window all of my little wood pieces and as I paint I am building in my mind my next wood sculpture. Having a studio away from my home has already helped me focus. It is so easy when you work from home to answer the phone, do the dishes, laundry etc. Plus Drew works from the house too and spending 24/7 living and working in the same space as your partner can get well -let me say this carefully (he reads these) stressful- that wasn’t so bad. He has a high stress job and just one bad phone call can turn this place into a mad house and forget about painting when that happens. So a studio away from my house even if it’s only a 4.5 minute drive is just what I need. I see larger pieces in my future and I won’t have to stop when I’m on a roll because I run out of room to put the finished work. So many times I have HAD to stop because I boxed myself in with the paintings drying on the floor behind me. Then there’s just no safe place to put the work so I HAVE to stop. Now if you are an artist and reading this you know how devastating that is. I mean when it works you need to go with it because there are so many days when it just doesn’t work or your just not in the groove. When it’s working having to stop because you literally have no where else to put the paintings just STINKS!! So to my collectors - I am SO SO excited to have this room and will make full use of it. Lots of new work coming!!! I’ll take pictures of the view tomorrow so you can see what I see when I’m working. It’s incredible! Well Vermont is really beautiful -believe me I don’t live here for the social life! But the sunsets from the studio are to die for- bright reds and purples! I placed my table right across from the view it’s also because -can’t have my back to the windows! Love hate relationship with windows and doors! HMMM I just checked my last blog post and it’s not there! I must have deleted it some how. Well I started painting on wood again. I have 3 new pieces up and one is in the works. I’ll post my latest here called “on edge”. As soon as I can get back to the place that I buy wood I’ll be doing some more. Some how every time I go there they are closed - I guess I hold different hours than the carpenters here. When I do finally catch them open they are nice enough though to let me fumble my way through all the wood until I find the perfect pieces. They always show me the nice perfect clean wood- and haven’t yet realized my perfect pieces are thier un perfect pieces. Well that’s it for tonight. I’ll try to get those pics of the view up tomorrow!

This link will take you to my wood auctions.

Filed by Administrator at 12:12 am under Cristine Cambrea
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Tuesday February 14th was my 31st Birthday. It was mellow just spent it with my husband and my son Kaleb. Drew had been away for 10 days on a business trip so just to have him home was a great gift. We left Vermont on a trip to Indiana and I started writing this blog in a hotel room in a little town called Rensellear. It’s a lot like where I live but flat.

I came out here to meet Michel Leah AKA the Raw Artist. She and her husband Scott are so nice. They showed us around their beautiful home and the new studio/ gallery they are making. If you haven’t seen her work you can check it out at www.therawartist.com She leant me a piece of her work to draw on tonight and I am returning it to her tomorrow. The painting below is a photo of the collaboration.

I love the hotel art contrast in the background of this photo!

Some Close Ups!!!

I LOVE Shell’s work and see so much in it and it is an honor to have my hand on it as well. We will also be interviewing her for my film tomorrow. She has purchased a few pieces of my art and part of the film will be interviews with buyers who have purchased multiple pieces and why. When we leave here we will be heading for Indianapolis I am going to try to check out IMA (Indianapolis Museum of Art) this part of trip though is really Drew’s business- so I’ll have to see if I can pull him away for half a day to do this. There is a trade show in Indy he needs to attend- you know get on the mic and do his Drew Stone thing. My hubby is a real eccentric- I tried to warn Shell before they met and I’m glad I did. I think my new rule is before anyone meets him I will throw out the warning to them -this way they will be a little prepared for what to expect. They seemed to handle it well! I read her blog and had a good laugh!! Oh and one of the biggest highlights -Shelly gave me –YES gave me some prints- she says they are bad prints (you know off color etc.) but I LOVE LOVE them- I felt like a little girl on xmas morning, I can’t wait to frame them and hang the up. So I have 2 nights left in hotels and am looking forward to spending those 2 nights working so I’ll post those completed pieces when I get home. Unfortunately as I was getting ready to meet Shelly I realized some of my supplies were missing. I probably left them on the plane! What a bummer but like everything in life it happened for a reason. We drove 45 minutes to the nearest art supply store and they were having a big sale on canvas so I stocked up on as much as I could fit into my suitcase. I also found some new liquitex supplies that I haven’t seen before- so I’m looking forward to seeing what they do and PLAYING!!!

OK I’m home now and had a full day of painting I was so inspired this weekend and have tons of new ideas. Meeting Shelly and her husband was so incredible. They are a great team! Their new studio is any artists dream! HUGE windows lots of light, and lots of room. Shelly wants all her visitors to do a piece on her wall and I was the first.

Window Art

when she asked of course my first instinct was to go to the window. My love hate relationship with windows!!! One day I will explain!

It was a little strange to mark up these bright white newly painted walls but I did my thing. I framed the window with my lines and on the bottom left corner did a small drawing-

I left one of my little spirit people there to watch over them!!! I can’t wait to visit again and do some more work together. I never did get to that gallery and aside from the collaboration piece I never painted. We were just so busy I did manage to do 4 black and white drawings. I called the collection “4 men” here is a link http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7392566953&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1

We never did get to the IMA and all those canvases I bought -well my bag was over weight so I ended up having to pay extra for the extra 10 pounds it gained on my trip! Oh Well!! and lets see what else- oh I found the missing supplies- they were on my bed!

I will be finishing a piece tonight on wood. I am into wood again so there will be more coming soon. As for some other news look for my NEW links page coming soon. I have multiple artists and companies that I will be exchanging links with and the artist’s I am exchanging with are worth checking out.
Well back to work I go!!

Filed by Administrator at 1:40 am under Cristine Cambrea
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So the video is up- check it out! There are 2 versions the dreamy Mazzy Star version and our friend Garth Vader’s song. As you can see from the video I do my art everywhere. I am most inspired while moving- be it in a car, a bus, a train also super inspired when I’m in a new place. The change in energy inspires me to work. I believe at one time it was a defense mechanism. When I was young and in a strange, new or uncomfortable situation drawing was my way of being invisible. Like a child who covers there eyes and believes you can’t see them. It was my way of disappearing. I used this technique when at 17 I moved to NYC by myself. The subway was real scary for me and if I looked busy and drew I was able to pretend I was not surrounded by so many people. WOW actually I remember a very specific situation when I was 19 and lost -my first day in Venice Beach California. My boyfriend at the time (my hubby now) was shooting a skate film with his brother so I was hanging with his brother’s girlfriend and her friends. They got there skates on and I wasn’t into it. They tried to explain to me how to get to this parking lot the guys were shooting in and well I never found it. I was jet lagged and so so tired so I laid on the beach and fell asleep –in fetal position and when I awoke the right side of my body burnt and the sun was down. So the scenario is like this. Young girl dressed for the beach first time in Venice and lost. Oh and this is before cell phones! It’s getting later and later and darker and darker. I have no idea where I am just wondering around the board walk looking for a phone. Well as I’m walking some more I see a group of guys drinking and being loud I sit on a bench so I wouldn’t have to walk past them. I saw them see me and I was scared so I opened up my book and started drawing on top of a painting I did of mountains. I did this just to look busy and had no idea what I was doing but I knew from city living to just look busy and pay no mind to anyone and whatever you do don’t look scared and vulnerable. I didn’t realize it at the time but in that moment I had discovered the technique that would carry me until this day. Before that I would draw very detailed almost psychedelic worlds and I when I painted it was very dreamy watery paintings. That night I could care less what I was drawing -I was just trying to be calm and figure out how I was going to get back to Drew. Well this man approached me and said “you REALLY shouldn’t be out here right now” I was quiet “are you lost?” I didn’t answer him at first and then he said “are you ok?” and I said I’m waiting for my boyfriend he’s late do you know where there’s a phone? He told me he would take me to one - against my better judgment but being desperate I got into this guys very large camouflage truck that was so high off the ground he had to help me into it. He was a very large man and I was terrified. I couldn’t believe I was getting into his big truck –this is what you absolutely NEVER do and I was not naïve to the chance I was taking but what option did I have at this point- I had no idea where I was. He drove me to this liquor store and I called information and then called Drew’s brothers house collect –oh yeah I had no money on me either. Everyone was at his house waiting for the call FOR HOURS. They were all freaking out! YOU NEVER HANG OUT ON VENICE BEACH AT NIGHT BY YOURSELF!!! Well you can’t always judge a guy by his very large camo truck because he was a total gentleman he even waited until Drew picked me up before he left. Drew went inside and bought the guy a case of beer to thank him and we went home. MY FIRST DAY/NIGHT IN VENICE!! So days later I was looking through my journal and saw this very shaky drawing on top of my painting and thought it was the coolest thing so I did more and more and well if you’ve seen my gallery pages you know this is now my style. Well I just went on my first blog tangent. This really wasn’t my intention when I started writing- I think I was trying to talk about the video that is up. Oh well- I think you all will get to know how I am in just a few entries. I want to find that piece that I did that night and post it here –I would like to see it again too. I hadn’t thought about that day in years or really until now realized how important that night ended up being in my art career. By the way we ended up living on and off between Venice, NYC and the road I sat on that Venice boardwalk many days drawing and selling my work. All of the work I have from those days are not for sale but I offer prints of them. I have one called “Venice” go to the prints page and you will see it.
Oh yes I remember now I was explaining how I like to work when I’m moving /traveling and not in my every day environment. It wasn’t just fear that had me doing art in strange places it was my lifestyle. I did a lot of traveling and moving around and I guess I just got used to it and found comfort in it. See Drew and I have done a lot of traveling together. He used to manage bands and I would often find myself having to keep busy while I waited –whether it was waiting to get to the gig or waiting for them to go on. I did a lot of work in those days. Tagging along while my boyfriend managed these temper mental knuckleheads meant spending a lot of time alone and out of the way. If you want to be the only girl or person on tour that doesn’t have a job it’s best you stay out of the way -be able to make yourself available if your needed and invisible if there are confrontations or problems and believe me a bunch of musicians living together in a cramped space –there will be confrontations and many problems they’re lucky if they’re still a band by the time the tour is over. Don’t get me wrong it was awesome seeing the world behind the windows of a packed stinky RV- builds character I believe that is a big part of how I became so comfortable working while I was moving. and if it weren’t a blast traveling with Drew I wouldn’t have done it so many times. Now 10 years later Drew films these stunt guys and again we travel to different events and I spend a lot of time traveling and waiting. Haha and these stunt crews have the same dynamics as a band. Drew and I have a laugh about it often. Now though I choose to go on these runs so I can be in a different environment, be inspired by the chaos and people around me and do my work. Now it’s like oh we’re going away- cool because I know I’ll get a lot of work done. Once it was just a coping mechanism now it’s become my preferred environment to work in. In the video you will see all of this smoke and then me drawing. It was an all day motorcycle event and they were burning off their tires because I guess that’s what you do when you are done riding- no need for tires anymore right? So that’s what the smoke is from and Drew was filming it and then found me in my safe little spot, in my own world -drawing. (Is there any question why we had to find each other again after 6 years?)

Filed by Administrator at 9:49 am under Cristine Cambrea
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