New Times Tell me about 2009, artistically for you.
Rushing My new pieces are totally different and better. I will probably have at least 30 pieces during my Open Studios. And I saw the Dalai Lama in person.
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New Times Why do you like them more?
Rushing I am more confident. Technically they are better. The older stuff was flat, bright colors and there wasn’t a lot of technical difficulty to them. I painted what I felt–it was what I wanted to paint at the time but now I realize there’s not much going on with them.
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New Times This kind of ties in to what you were saying that other artists have told you to pick a genre and stick with it. Don’t evolve so often. Or so much.
Rushing I was told to choose a style or it looks like I’m experimenting all of the time, instead of being myself. But I’m scattered by nature.
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New Times You love women and words. Tell me about this new piece.
Rushing Typically I stick with women. I recently went to the Avila Barn and they have two emus and they are nuts! They are huge, their feet are like giant stalks and they make a crazy sound [A mix of a motor and scary laugh. What resulted was a massive new painting with an emu and Rushing’s friend Ursula that will be unveiled at Open Studios]. I wanted to put poetry or something also in this piece. I love to write text on paintings because I love the way the words look and sometimes I do a painting because of the text. I’ve incorporated a Pearl Jam song into one, and a Charles Bukowksi poem into another. In this case I even looked up famous emu poems or famous literature on emus but nothing fit and you can’t force it.
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New Times Tell me about the different media you use for your works.
Rushing With Leemer, I used varnish, and then sanded it over it and scratched it up. In other works, I also use printed scrapings, like scrapbook paper, decoupage, and acrylic paint. In Leemer, I am visiting certain themes: women taking flight, dreaming, going somewhere with their ideas, and thinking outside the box. I like strong women.
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New Times With Leemer, it seemed to be a huge turning point in your art. I was blown away when I first saw it. You had evolved in a good way.
Rushing This was definitely part of when I changed. But it didn’t start out this way. I played around with different sketches of inventions. But I knew I wanted to do something with taking flight. She is dressed like an intelligent woman from that era.
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New Times What can visitors expect at your Open Studios?
Rushing I will have two canopies on the grass so the open studio will include my actual studio and the yard, and there will be wine and refreshments. ∆
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Christy Heron can be reached at cheron@newtimesslo.com.
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This article appears in Oct 8-15, 2009.