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Home
About
- My Story
- Resume
- Schedule
- Blog
Art
Book & Cards
- Painting the Feminine Book
- Paint Wisdom Cards
In Person Events
- RETREATS
- WORKSHOPS
  - Mysterious Faces
  - POETIC
Mentorship
eCourses
- Online Workshops
- Self-Guided eCourses
Contact
Login

First Impression

Paintings | Mixed-Media on Paper

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Watching-Listening-web-e1518981688831

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This is a little peek into my brand new, handmade

Right now, as I write this, it is 3:25 PM & I’m

Right now, as I write this, it is 3:25 PM & I’m laying in bed, in a teeny tiny apartment, one block away from the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy. I arrived here late last night & I was deliriously tired — I started the journey early on Wednesday morning & basically hadn’t slept much in days.

Though, on Wednesday, while at the airport waiting for my flight to Rome, I sent an email to my subscribers — sharing 3 big things. I meant to share them here too, but I didn’t have the time or mental bandwidth. So here I go…

1.) I ceremoniously cut all my hair off. 2025 has been shredding me & as hard as it’s been, I feel it’s what I truly need to step into the next vibrant chapter of my life as an artist & a woman. In my ANCHOR program that I’ve been teaching, we are creating a body of work around the Sedna myth. Sedna had her fingers cut off & they became the sea creatures & she the goddess of the sea. That great physical act of letting go inspired me to do the same. Cutting all my hair off has made tectonic shifts inside me. So hello friends, here I am! 👋🏼 (The paintings in this carousel were made the day I cut my hair.)

2.) I’m here in Italy. On May 25th I will be teaching my sold-out Paint Wisdom ITALY intensive in Puglia. 25 years ago I came to Florence for the first time by myself as a young 24 year old — recently graduated Artist. When I was here I climbed to the top of the Duomo & vowed to myself that I would always listen & follow my Artist Soul…25 years later, I have kept that vow & before I turn 50 I knew I had to come back & renew my vow. Hello Florence, how I missed you so.

3.) I won’t be back home until till June & when I get back I’m so excited to teach UNAPOLOGETIC: a 7 weeks masterclass on painting bold, experimental (& freaking big) self-portraits. UNSPOLOGETIC is NOT a “how to paint faces” class — this is for artists who already have experience painting & drawing faces & want to flip-off perfection & create self portraits that feel like you most of all. I’ll put the linky-dink you know where! 😝

Ok, now that we’re all up to date — expect nothing but Italy for the next three weeks! I’m so happy & grateful to be here. ❤️🇮🇹🎨 #connieinitaly

In the last few years my practice has been shiftin

In the last few years my practice has been shifting & morphing in major ways. Ive become really interested in ideas and creating pieces that can help express these ideas. As a result, the pace of my practice has slowed down. I pay attention to exactly “what” I’m doing & “why” I’m doing it a lot more. This piece is such a great example of that.

#painting #workinprogress #wip #studiopractice #sketchbook #contemporarypainting #mixedmediaart

I was hunting for something in the studio & this r

I was hunting for something in the studio & this random little paint sketch-a-rooey fell out of one of my old sketchbooks. I can tell it’s from mid-2024 because of the bowl of stars in it.

The end of 2023 through most of 2024 I kept putting that bowl of stars in tons of my pieces. I even had a very magical thing happen around this bowl of stars when I was in Oaxaca in 2023 too. If you know, you know. 😘

What’s interesting is that the big piece I’m working on now — I lightly drew one of those bowls in it too. It’s not a main part of my piece at all — it’s just a whisper. But it’s still there.

I paint very intuitively, so I’m always paying attention what’s showing up (or not) in my visual language. I’m always curious to how some images & motifs show up & then fade away & sometimes reappear years later. I love that. I love that painting has a life of its own & I’m the keeper of the language that’s spoken there.

#painting #paintwisdomstudio #paintsketch #paintstudy #sketchbook #studiopractice #intuitivepainting #mixedmediaart

It’s 7:04 AM as I type this & I’ve been in the

It’s 7:04 AM as I type this & I’ve been in the studio since 4:30 AM working on my big mamarama painting. (You get a peek of it at the end of this reel.)

After I was finished, I sat here staring at my painting, then my vision wall, then my painting again & I felt inspired to shoot this reel.

For me, my paintings don’t exist in a bubble — I feel they are constantly in conversation with other pieces I create, old pieces, future pieces, pieces made by other artists, things I observe in the world, & I guess most of all with me.

💙🎨🌀#visionwall #studiopractice #studioview #workinprogress #painting #contemporarypainting #paintsketch #mixedmediaart

I just spent the last two hours in a co-working (m

I just spent the last two hours in a co-working (more like “co-painting”) Zoom call with the artists in my BOW program.

If you’re wondering — BOW is part two of my mentorship program where we spend nine months creating a body of work (BOW) that we then exhibit in a public show in the Summer. I get in the trenches & make a BOW right alongside them as well.

This is my third year hosting BOW & boy do I feel lucky!! I love my mentorship program & being able to support other artists in this deep way.

And oh yeah — this is what I was working on today. My big painting that’s a total work in progress still.

#wip #painting #contemporarypainting #studiopractice #wip #workinprogress #phoenixartist

I have eight 5 foot tall canvases that have been p

I have eight 5 foot tall canvases that have been patiently hanging around my studio waiting & waiting & waiting for me. Last year I had a few false starts with them where everything ended up feeling kind of forced and ultimately blah. I think that’s because I was trying to recreate a sketch — I don’t work that way & I should have known better. Rather, I approach painting as both a conversation & an actual journey — where I feel my way through & allow the painting to guide me.

Painting this large has been so dang delicious because it’s such a slower process. I spent all day today just working on this one part of the painting — really getting to know the faces that are emerging forward & taking time to be with the painting — not just zip through it.

Plus, I gotta admit — I love & feel ridiculously intimidated at the same time by how much terrain there is in front of me — but that’s how I know I’m on the right path. If my process isn’t well seasoned with fear,what’s the point!

#painting #workinprogress #wip #studioview #studiopractice #contemporarypainting #contemporarypainter #thisartistslife

Just a good ol’ work in progress & my crazy obse

Just a good ol’ work in progress & my crazy obsession with blue. 💙🌀🩵

#wip #painting #worksoncanvas #contemporarypainting #intuitivepainting #studiopractice #phoenixartist

Split Mixed Media on paper | 9” x 12” | From m

Split
Mixed Media on paper | 9” x 12” | From my ANCHOR series

#painting #mixedmediaart #studiopractice #paintingpractice #worksonpaper #paintingonpaper #blue #intuitivepainting #contemporarypainting

Dropping Anchor | Mixed media on paper | 12” x 9

Dropping Anchor | Mixed media on paper | 12” x 9”

#paintingonpaper #worksonpaper #mixedmediaart #painting #intuitivepainting #studiopractice #paintingpractice #blue

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