Figuratively Speaking - Making Connections

8"x8" oil

I am working on a portrait and trying to take it slow and do it right.  It comes and it goes.  I think I am relying on detail to improve it and I know you have to get the major shapes right first and leave the details to the end.  A stone sculptor chisels away chunks of stone and saves the details for the finish.  A cook focuses on the main dishes and saves the garnishes for last.  The point is made.  Today was a dreary, rainy, bone chilling day and it was the warmest day of the winter.  Give me cold temperatures and lots of snow and I am a happy camper.  People who experience these kind of winter  days have a hard time believing colder temperatures and snow is preferable.  It is drier and beautiful and there are numerous ways to enjoy the snow.  Today was a test of my endurance.  I was so unmotivated I actually caught myself thinking I wished I had a job I could go to!  Geez...it is suppose to be frigid tomorrow night.  I can't wait!  Go Figure!

Figuratively Speaking - Little Cook

6"x6" oil

Everyone should daily have someone who looks over the shoulder and smiles adoringly at them.  Would the world not be a better place?  This little one should get the prize for a winning smile.  That is what caught my attention and made me want to paint it.  I hope looking at it makes you want to smile!

Figuratively Speaking - Red Barn

8"x8" oil $160

Aren't we lucky that we get to do revisions?  It takes a lot of failure to get to success but the good news is that it just takes some tweaking to get it right.  I am not sure what I am talking about, but it does apply to painting.  I have been studying Vermeer and his method of layering glazes to get it just right...not everywhere, but where it counts, has inspired me.  I am usually in a hurry but I realize I need to slow down and pay attention to what details are needed to make it glow or sing or just be sweeter.  I think it applies to a lot of other things though. Like cooking for instance.  My friend Heather is a talented chef.  I can make a decent, and healthy meal, but she pays attention to every detail in layering and flavors and textures and presentation.  Going to a dinner party at her house is a special treat.  It applies to exercise.  Theresa is a beautiful woman who hikes and does Tai Chi and swims and does yoga, but she doesn't stay in shape for the sake of exercise.  She does those things because they keep her way of thinking healthy.  Shinrin Yoku is Japanese for "forest bathing."  It is a method of breathing in the energy and peace of the woods.  Theresa does that moment to moment in her everyday life.  It applies to relationships as well.  I was going to try and stretch this analogy a little further, but I guess I really don't know what I am talking about.  I need to give this one a little more time and let the literary glazes slowly build up.  Go Figure!

Tasting the Soup

Thanks to a brilliant and spontaneous photo, I was able to tell the story.  I think that the many hours I spent as a child studying Norman Rockwell's illustrations probably show their influence on my love of story telling.

It Goes With Anything

6"x8" oil

We're having spaghetti for dinner....what are you having?
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