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Um..is this thing on? Okay, I've been away, really away. Did a stint at the beautious Stonehouse Residency for the Contemporary Arts over the summer of 2008. Wonderful folks, wonderful weather, wonderful chicken coop. I loved it.

Check out the new paintings, and imagine the 90 degree weather I painted them in.

Le Grand Market

"Le Grand Market"
Originally uploaded by Michele Ramirez

Something new. It's a painting based on the Le Grand Market, a place I've visited since I was a girl. I have such memories of it, walking or riding my bike from around the block. It was the only local store to stock the comics I loved: DC, Marvel, and of course, Mad Magazine.

I'd save up what ever I had earned in babysitting or cleaning my uncle's office, then rush over to see if anything new had come in. I never could save money, but it was worth being able to check out guest artists in the mags and disect the different styles. I must have been the only girl in my school with such an obession. Who says you can't find culture in small towns?

"My Studio"

"My Studio"
Originally uploaded by Michele Ramirez

I am hard on my materials. I use up brushes, paint and medium like there's no tomorrow. The process demands it--I work, rework and rework a piece until it satisfies me. And if it doesn't, then it doesn't make it. I'll strip the canvas and start a new painting.

I don't like doing that--as free as I am with the paint--I can use a small tube in a single stroke, I hate wasting paint. I do the best I can in the layout of the work, the under drawing, etc. I can even have those rare moments that completely excite me visually. I can see it. But sometimes I just can't save it, and the best thing I can do is walk away.

The lesson I value most as a painter, is just that: Know my failures as readily as my successes.

My Father's Shop

"My Father's Shop"
Originally uploaded by Michele Ramirez

I think this one is finally done. I was pretty satisfied with the composition from the get go, but the color, oh the color. The relationships weren't working out, and so the paintiing sat in my studio for a good two or three weeks.

Last night I put in a few extra hours and pushed on it. It will do for now. It may click and I'll leave it, or more than likely, I'll go back in and tighten or loosen a few elements. We'll see.

La Raza Noble

I still haven't decided on a title for my new series of paintings, but "Between the Rows" is good. At least it gives an idea of what I want to say about a way of life that, for the most part, is ignored by much of the country.

I want the series--paintings, prints and drawings--to describe the lives of the working poor. The people in these small towns in the Central Valley are the back bone of California's agricultural economy. They work without benefits or safety nets.

This series will be about how I grew up--isolated in a small town where everyone worked either in the cannery, fields or other ag related industries. It's about dignity, pride and the blue skies that stretched from mountain to mountain across the Valley.

"We Defend, We Harvest, We Work!"

"We Defend, We Harvest, We Work!"
Originally uploaded by Michele Ramirez

Just a reaction to all the miserable talk radio I listen to.