Lost Art # 19: Square René Le Gall, Paris

Well, we made it back from Egypt and had a few days in Paris before going home for the holidays, so I thought I'd go out and leave a new painting while passing through! This one is on a park bench in the Square René Le Gall in the 13th. It's a lovely place to sit and paint, if anybody is looking for one of those :). Next week I'll be back in the States for a little while, but I'll hopefully be painting more in Paris in the new year. I wish all my Parisian friends a warm and happy holiday season and I hope that someone enjoys this little gift I've left behind. As for my friends in the US, keep your eyes open! I might be leaving some paintings over there soon!

This painting, oil on found wood, 22 cm x 23 3/4 cm, was left in the Square René Le Gallon in Paris on Dec 11, 2014 at 2:15 pm.

If you have found this piece, please let me know in the comments!

View Square René Le Gall in a larger map

Lost Art #18: El-Zomor Canal, Ard-el-Lewa

It's a very difficult day for me today, as tonight we'll be leaving Cairo. It's hard to believe we've already arrived at the end of our three-month residency here. We have made so many friends and so many memories that we will cherish for years to come. I wanted to mark our last week here by leaving a Lost Art painting on the bridge that we walk across each morning and evening when we move in and out of our neighborhood of Ard-el-Lewa. On the other side of this bridge are the official, recognized districts of Cairo. But here on our side of the bridge is the place we have called home. And here is where the people have taken us in and treated us like family. So here is where I hope someone finds my last Cairo painting and takes it as a gesture of thanks for the very warm welcome that we received in in this neighborhood. It is something that I will always remember!

This painting, oil on found wood, roughly 41 cm x 37.5 cm, was left on the bridge overlooking the El-Zomor Canal in  Ard-el-Lewa, Giza on November 30th, 2014 at 3:30 PM.

If you have found this piece, please let me know in the comments!

Click here to see the map

Lost Art #17: Gameat Al Dewal Al Arabeya

Hello again everyone! I've been back out on the streets of Cairo!

This one was interesting to paint. I was out on Gameat Al Dewal at rush hour, toward the end of the day. Gameat Al Dewal is always a very busy street, but at that time it's even more so. I had people crowding around me almost immediately, and at one point there were so many kids pushing in and asking questions that I had to stop working on the painting. So it came out a little bit loose. But then I decided that I kinda liked it that way. So rather than go back and work on it more, I thought it would be more fun to let it reflect the rushed and busy atmosphere of the place where I painted it. Even if it was a little bit difficult to work with so many people around, it's also really exhilarating to leave a painting in a place where people are so excited and curious about it. I hope I get the chance to hear from the person who found it! Now I am going to take a few days off from this project to focus on preparing for our big residency show at Artellewa on the 18th. If you're in Cairo, please feel free to message me for more details about that. And stay tuned for more Lost Art the following week! 

This painting, oil on found wood, roughly 34 cm x 37 cm, was left on Gameat Al Dewal Al Arabeya, in Cairo, on November 13th, 2014 at 8:30 AM.

If you have found this piece, please let me know in the comments!

Click here to see the map

Lost Art #16: Midan Bab-el-Louq, Cairo

There's more Lost Art on the streets of Cairo this week! Unfortunately we've been offline for several days, so I didn't get a chance to post this until now. But I'm excited to have finally left a painting on the Midan Bab-el-Louq, which is a place where we have spent a lot of our time in Cairo. I had a very interesting time painting this one. There were lots of curious people who approached me to ask questions, but I didn't have an interpreter with me, so most of it I didn't understand. There was a nice painting teacher from a local art school who hung out with us for a while and did some translating. He was even nice enough to send a message in to the blog and say hello! I hope that maybe he, or one of the other nice people I met in this neighborhood, finds and enjoys the painting. At the very least, I hope that is not found and enjoyed by the creepy guy who works at the public toilet who tried to kiss me when I was getting up to leave. (You know who you are, creepy guy. If you found this painting, please don't enjoy it ;) ). But anyone else who finds it is more than welcome to do with it whatever they wish. And as always, please leave a comment and let me know if you found it!  Now I'm off to scout new locations for my next few Cairo paintings. Still a month to go here! If you're in Cairo and want to suggest a neighborhood for me to paint in, please feel free to let me know in the comments. See you in the streets! 

This painting, oil on found wood, roughly 32.5 cm x 70 cm, was left at Midan Bab-el-Louq, Cairo on October 29th, 2014 at 2:30pm.

If you have found this piece, please let me know in the comments!

View Midan Bab-el-louk in a larger map

Lost Art #15: Al-Azhar Park, Cairo

Hello again everyone!

I know it's been a longer wait than usual. This past week, I conducted a live Q&A about 'plein air' street painting at the Artellewa Art Space. If you missed it, you can find some photos here. But now I'm back in my rhythm and I've finally left my next Lost Art painting out in the world to be found! This one is in Al-Azhar Park in Cairo. It's the second painting I've left in Cairo and the 15th overall. The day I painted it was the last day of the Eid festivities, so the park was completely full of people. Many of them stopped to watch, talk, and ask questions. Hopefully one of those nice, curious people will find this one today and take it home! 

This painting, oil on found wood, roughly 47 cm x 41 cm, was left in Al-Azhar Park, Cairo on October 11th, 2014 at 6pm.

If you have found this piece, please let me know in the comments!

View Lost Art #15: Al-Azhar Park in a larger map

Lost Art #14: Tahrir Square, Cairo

Hello everyone! 

Sorry for the delay while I was getting my bearings in Egypt, but I'm back! I have finally left my first Lost Art painting in Cairo, and what better place to start than Tahrir Square? I was warned multiple times not to come here on my own as a woman, and not to attract attention to myself in the square, but I finally decided (with the help of some friends) to make a plan to come over here very early on a Friday morning (when there's almost nobody downtown) and try my best to find myself a tranquil view of the place. As it turns out, hardly anyone noticed me except for Mai Mahmoud, a journalist from AlMasry AlYoum who filmed this short interview with me while I was painting it! :). It was a lovely, peaceful morning, and the light fell gently for me on the park and on the Egyptian Museum. And now that I know my way around a little better, I look forward to losing a lot more art in this town over the weeks to come!

This painting, oil on found wood, roughly 48 cm x 37 cm, was left on Tahrir Square, Cairo on September 26th, 2014 at 4pm.

If you have found this piece, please let me know in the comments!

View Lost Art #14: Tahrir Square in a larger map

Lost Art #13: Avenue de Ganay, Milly-la-Forêt, France

Lost Art wraps up its summer in the French countryside this week with a painting of the local marketplace in the town of Milly-la-Forêt. While we've been staying out in the country this month, Milly is where I've gone every morning for bread and newspapers, and where I've done whatever shopping needed to be done for the house we're watching. I will always carry fond memories of this town, and I was very happy to find an Avenue in it that's named after the family we've been staying with! So I decided that it would be nice to do a painting on that street, overlooking the market. Luckily I was able to find a scrap of old particle board nearby! It's been a rainy few weeks, so I haven't been able to do quite as much painting as I might have liked, but I hope that I'll get to return here next summer and do a few more. And hopefully someone will find this one before it starts raining again! For now, I hope you're all having a great end-of-summer. I'm back to Paris tomorrow and will see if I can get one more painting in before leaving next week for Egypt. As always, I'll keep you posted!

This painting, oil on found particle board, roughly 48 cm x 37 cm, was left on the Avenue de Ganay, overlooking the Place du Marché in Milly-la-Forêt, France on August 27th, 2014 at 12pm.

If you have found this piece, please let me know in the comments!

View Lost Art #13: Avenue de Ganay, Milly-la-Forêt in a larger map

Lost Art #12: Place du Général de Gaulle, Courances, France

UPDATE: Lost Art #12 has been found!

I was so happy to get this anonymous comment (below) from someone who has found my painting in Courances! I was afraid it might have been destroyed in this afternoon's rain, but instead it has been rescued, for which I am very grateful. And I am proud to have left a piece of myself in this town :).  

[original post]

This week Lost Art makes a trip out to the French countryside. I've been lucky enough to spend the last few weeks of summer in the lovely little village of Courances, and I did this painting on the Place du Général de Gaulle just in front of their Mairie (the local town hall). Courances is pleasantly clean, so for several days I didn't find any trash or discarded material to paint on. But finally, the other day, I found this loose chunk of cobblestone on the side of the road and decided to give it a new life. If I'm lucky enough to find anything else, I'm going to try to do at least one more while I'm out here before returning to Paris the last week of August. I hope you're all having a great summer, wherever you are, and I hope you find some art in the street!

This painting, oil on dislodged cobblestone, 14.5 cm x 14.5 cm, was left at Place du Général de Gaulle in Courances, France on August 13, 2014 at 3pm.

If you have found this piece, please let me know in the comments!

View Lost Art #12: Place du Général de Gaulle, Courances in a larger map

Lost Art #11: Place Georges Pompidou, Paris

This week's Lost Art painting was left on the slope of ground in front of the Centre Georges Pompidou. It was a fun place to paint, and it seems like a natural place for some Lost Art to become "found." It's also my first painting on found concrete, which made it a lot of fun to carry across town :). If anybody does find it, and want to keep it, they'll have to work a little to get it home! I'm heading off to the countryside for a few weeks, so this will be the last one in Paris until the end of August. As always, if you know anyone in the neighborhood, who might find this piece, please feel free to share!

This painting, oil on a fragment of exposed aggregate concrete, 34.5 cm x 20.5 cm, was left at Place Georges Pompidou on July 29, 2014 at 1pm.

If you have found this piece, please let me know in the comments!

View Place Georges Pompidou in a larger map

Lost Art #10: Place Dauphine, Paris

Lost Art continues in Paris again this week, this time at the Place Dauphine on the Île de la Cité. So far, there have still been no confirmed finds in Paris, so some lucky person has a chance to become the first Parisian participant if they discover this painting! I'll be in Paris again next week, and then out in the countryside for a few weeks (where I might leave a painting in some unsuspecting small village!) so this might be the last couple of chances to find one in Paris before the fall. Let me know if you or anyone you know might have found one! And I hope you're all having a great summer!

This painting, oil on found hardboard, 22.2 cm x 20.5 cm, was left at Place Dauphine on July17, 2014 at 1pm.

If you have found this piece, please let me know in the comments!

View Place Dauphine in a larger map

Lost Art #9: Avenue de France, Paris

Lost Art makes its triumphant return to Paris, France this week! 

I'm very happy to report that Lost Art #8 was found and given a home last week in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania on my trip to the United States. You can read all about that one here. 

Today's painting, #9, is on a bench overlooking the train tracks on Avenue de France, near the intersection of rue George Balanchine, in the neighborhood between Bibliothèque and the Pont de Bercy. As always, there's a map below to help you out if you're searching for it! I'm excited to be back in Paris and hoping that some of the paintings I do here over the summer will be discovered. Be sure to sign up for the blog if you want receive all the updates!

This painting, oil on found plywood, 32 1/2cm x 14cm, was left on Avenue de France on July 7, 2014 at 12:00pm.

If you have found this piece, please let me know in the comments!

View Av. de France in a larger map

Lost Art #8: Main Street, Stroudsburg PA (Update: Found!)

UPDATE: Lost Art #8 has been found!

Cherise Roberts Decker has found this painting and put in the window of her business, Gateway Abstract on N 7th street in Stroudsburg, PA! Thanks so much to Cherise for claiming it. It's the first one so far to be discovered and reported, so it will always have a special place in my heart. If you live in Stroudsburg, you can drop by Gateway Abstract and give my regards both to her and to the painting! Cherise was kind enough to send in this picture of the painting in its new home. Below is the original post.

Lost Art makes its third appearance in the United States today. This time, it's on Main Street in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, at the corner of North 7th Street. Having grown up in Stroudsburg, I'll be interested to hear if this one gets discovered by an old friend or neighbor :). This will be the last painting in the US for some time, as later today I'll be heading to the airport and back out of the country for a few months. So if you're in the Stroudsburg area, this might be your last chance for a little while! But never fear. I'll be returning again someday soon. And if you're looking forward to the series continuing back in Europe, you'll be hearing from me in the coming days!

This painting, acrylic on found cement board, 21 3/4" x 14", was left on Main Street in Stroudsburg, PA, on June 26, 2014 at 11:30 am.

If you have found this piece, please let me know in the comments!

View Lost Art #8: Main St, Stroudsburg PA in a larger map

Lost Art #7: East 1st Street, Bethlehem PA

This week's Lost Art painting, number seven in the series, was left in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on the East 1st Street walkway below the famous Steel Stacks. It's the second painting to be left in PA so far. Just as I left it, there was a large crowd arriving to watch the USA-Portugal World Cup match on a giant outdoor tv. I wonder if some lucky soccer fan will notice the painting as they pass by! 

This painting, acrylic on found plastic dinner tray, 19 3/4" x 14 5/8", was left on East 1st Street in Bethlehem, PA, on June 22, 2014 at 4pm.

If you have found this piece, please let me know in the comments!

View Lost Art #7-E 1st Street, Bethlehem in a larger map

Lost Art #6: Crystal Street, East Stroudsburg PA (Update: Found!)

UPDATE: Lost Art #6 has been found!

When I was visiting my hometown for the holidays last week, I was happy to discover that one of my Lost Art paintings from last year had found itself a home! One of the guys who lives on Crystal Street had picked it up and carried it into East Stroudsburg Hardware (the store that figures prominently in the painting) and given it to the owner, Jim, who now has it proudly hung on the front of one of his glass display cases. When I heard he had it, I went over there to introduce myself. It turns out that Jim is a big supporter of local artists and has several other paintings and pieces of art in his store. I'd been driving past his place for years and hadn't even known! He said that he would have gladly written in to the blog, except that he doesn't use the internet very much and wasn't sure about the address. So I'm very glad that the word got back to me that the painting had found an appreciative home. And I'm glad I was able to find Jim over the holidays and thank him for looking after it! Here are some pics I took of Jim and of the painting where it now hangs. Another Lost Art is found!

Original Post:

I'm excited to announce that this week, Lost Art makes its first official appearance in the United States! This morning, the sixth painting in the series was left on Crystal Street in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. I'm looking forward to hearing from whoever finds it! And keep your eyes open over the next few days if you happen to live across the river in Stroudsburg, or down the road in Bethlehem, as these are among the locations I'm considering for Lost Art number seven. 

This painting, acrylic on found discarded wood, 22 1/2" x 11 1/2", was left on Crystal Street in East Stroudsburg, PA, across from East Stroudsburg Hardware on June 17, 2014 at 9am.

If you have found this piece, please let me know in the comments!

View Crystal Street East Stroudsburg PA in a larger map

Lost Art #5: rue Charlemagne, Paris

This week, Lost Art made its first official trip across the Seine into the St Paul neighborhood in the 4th arrondissement. This is the fifth painting in the series, and still no word from those who have found the first four, but the project continues to spread! Over the next few weeks, Lost Art will make its first appearances in the United States (I'm talking to you, Pennsylvania!) so keep a lookout for them there. The series will resume in Paris at the beginning of July. I hope you're all having a great summer, and as always, let me know if you find one of the pieces!

This painting, oil on found broken wood, 31cm x 85cm, 

was left on rue Charlemagne near the intersection of rue du Fauconnier in Paris on June 8, 2014 at 5:30pm. 

If you have found this piece, please let me know in the comments!

View Lost Art#5 in a larger map

Lost Art #4: Quai Saint-Bernard, Paris

The saga continues!! 

I can only hope so far that all my pieces have found happy homes. No word yet from anyone about having found any of them, but maybe I'm just not hitting the right neighborhoods yet :). There is, however, one great piece of encouraging news. The other day I heard from UK photographer David Wise who was inspired by the Lost Art project to leave his camera to be found on a mountaintop in Sri Lanka. He also wrote about that decision, and about my project, on his terrific N.U.M.A. blog, which I highly recommend. This bit of response, and the reminder of how far and fast an idea can travel, has definitely helped me find the motivation to continue. Thanks David!  Today's painting was left on the left bank of the Seine, which should be crowded on such a lovely day. And the wait begins again!

This painting, oil on found wood, 32cm x 14.5cm, 
was left on the Quai Saint-Bernard in Paris on June 1, 2014 at 12:30pm. 

If you have found this piece, please let me know in the comments!

View Quai Saint-Bernard in a larger map

Lost Art #3: Place Alphonse Laveran, Paris

It's time for Lost Art #3!

Unfortunately, I still haven't heard any news about the fates of Lost Art #s 1 and 2, but I suppose I knew it was going to be difficult when I started, and there's no going back now! So I've just left Lost Art #3 at the place where it was painted: 

This painting, oil on found wood, 21.5cm x 21.5cm, 
was left at the  Place Alphonse Laveran in Paris on May 25, 2014 at 2:20pm. 

If you have found this piece, please let me know in the comments!

View Place Alphonse-Laveran in a larger map

Lost Art #2: Place de l'Émir Abd el-Kader, Paris

Hello again! It's time for Lost Art #2!

No word yet about the fate of the first piece, but the project continues...

This painting, oil on found wood, 23.5cm x 13.5cm, 
was left at the  Place de l'Émir Abd el-Kader in Paris on May 18, 2014 at 4pm. 

If you have found this piece, please let me know in the comments!

View Lost Art #2: Place de l'Émir Abd el-Kader in a larger map

Lost Art #1: Place de l'Estrapade, Paris

Today's the day! The Lost Art project has officially begun. It was more difficult than I expected, leaving this first painting out on the streets. It started to rain as I walked away. But this is the challenge I signed up for. I look forward to seeing what happens next!

This painting, oil on found wood, 29cm x 23.5cm, 
was left at the Place de l'Estrapade in Paris on May 11, 2014 at 3:40pm. 

If you have found this piece, please let me know in the comments!

View Lost Art #1: Place de l'Estrapade in a larger map

An Introduction to Lost Art...

I've always had a hard time letting go, especially of my work. I've always been afraid that once it left my possession my work would somehow get lost, or thrown out, or forgotten, or in some way cease to exist. And I imagine that this fear is rooted in my fear that I too will someday cease to exist. And if my work is what I hope to leave behind, then I must do everything in my power to protect it, right? But this protectiveness I felt toward my work eventually became a crippling burden. I didn't want to show my art, or sell it, and at some point, I didn't even want to do it. I started getting protective of my ideas before they even left my mind. I was shrinking away from the very interaction with the outside world that I so desperately craved. I needed to do something to get back on the horse, to open the channels of creativity and exchange. I had to find a way to let go. And this is how I conceived the Lost Art project.

Being a bit of a pack rat, I have for years collected materials from the streets. Any time I saw a smooth piece of wood, a nice chunk of marble, a large strip of fabric, I would gather it up and carry it back to my little basement studio, where I would horde it in piles, imagining that someday it would be made into something even more beautiful than it already was. But that day didn't seem to be coming, and the piles just seemed to be growing. So, facing the possibility that I would simply run out of space in my cave, I decided to start releasing these acquisitions back into the wild. But not before I found a way to put my mark on them.

I decided that I would take these things I'd found in the street, these bits of wood or canvas or plastic, and paint on them. I would paint the scenes that I'd seen in the streets where I'd found them. And then, after letting the paintings dry for a few days, I would take the objects back out into the street where they were found and simply leave them at the locations where I'd painted on them. You know, because, if you love something set it free, right? I needed to experience the freedom of turning these paintings loose into the world and being forced to make peace with whatever might become of them.

I assume that some of them will be thrown out, some will be damaged or destroyed, and some will merely go unnoticed for countless cold and rainy nights. But I also have the hope that maybe a few of them will be discovered and find homes. Just as these objects appeared to me as 'found art,' they will now be lost again, and perhaps they will go on to be found once more. And perhaps their new owners will even turn them into new works of art, or give them totally different functions altogether. The important thing is that they will go on to have lives after me, and after my artistic relationship with them. Their stories will not just end in my basement, in a whirlpool of anal-retentive self-doubt.

But despite my relinquishing control over the destinies of these objects, I will remain curious about whether they are ever found, or appreciated, or hated or loved. They are, after all, things that have passed through the inside of me, and they now carry with them some trace of my vulnerability and insecurity off into the streets, wherever they go. So I have marked the back of each one with the title of the project, and the internet address for this blog, in the hopes that anybody who finds one of them might get in touch and let me know what has become of the work. 

In each blog post, I will include a photo of the painting, and a map to where I've left it, so that anybody who has found one will be able to recognize what they've found. Then hopefully, we will get some news from the future lives of these pieces. Perhaps we will see a photo or two of a painting in its new home, or one that has been damaged and salvaged, or even one that has been painted over by an artist who fancies their own vision more than mine and is happy to have discovered a new canvas on which to work. And surely, there will also be a few that are never heard from again. But I won't be able to predict or control which ones. And that's what I'm in it for. It's like art shock therapy. 

So if you're interested to see where the project goes, and what does or doesn't become of the paintings as I deposit them back into their native environments, please sign up to follow the blog. If none of the pieces are heard from again, I'll still be interested to hear whether you think the project is worth doing. And if you find one of the pieces, please do whatever you wish with it, but make sure to visit the blog and tell us all about it!