Lost Moment oil 6"x6" #204

This is one of those lost moments in life. I think there are several possible ways it is lost....the grandmother is wistfully looking at the Degas of ballerinas...there is the lost youth...her granddaughter is pulling her to go on....is she losing the opportunity to see such a wonderful piece of art?....or is the grandmother so enthralled with the painting that she is failing to recognize the ballerina tugging on her.I revised this painting today because I did not like the way the little girl looked, although I liked her posture. So she got black leggings instead of a long dress. I like the contrast between the way she looks and the way the grandma looks. I made other changes too.

Lessons from Matisse oil #203 6"x6"

A young artist learns from one of the modern masters who reduced the lessons of his formal training into areas of flat color shapes, somewhat like a child's work. It gives pause to the concept of 'who is the master?' I put a lot of work into the Matisse painting of "The Young Sailor II" then realized it was drawing all the attention and I wanted the focus to be on the two patrons, so I kind of grayed it and mushed it together....not as representational but it works better for my painting.

Drawn In oil 8"x8" #202

The lady on the right was inching closer and closer to this painting. Her arms were raised and resting on her large flat bag, but she looked like she wanted to touch it. The other lady held back a little nervous about being "Drawn In" too close. It is of interest to me the huge bags that people carry in NYC. There are lots of tourists from everywhere and they seem to haul around everything they might ever need. This woman's macrame bag is a perfect example. It must have weighed a ton. You can tell that it is affecting her posture by the way her left shoulder is slightly raised. The colors are a little faded in this photo and there is a glare.

Finding the Story #201 oil 8"x8"

It feels so good to painting in oil again. I am a bit rusty, but I still like this overall.
What drew me to this person is how she unconsciously held her hands in the same position as the painting. I have noticed this a lot in observing people looking at art. Sometimes they try and take a pose, but more often it just happens. Both women are dressed in pink but Modern Girl has leggings and a purse and of course her hair is down and her skirt is short.
People seem drawn in to some paintings and they will walk around and then return to one, maybe several times. This young woman kept coming back to this one. It felt like she wanted to talk with the woman in the painting and hear her story.
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Grapes of Wrath acrylic 8"x8" #200

Got home late tonight...a post...what can I say. Hopefully I will be back to oils tomorrow.

Preghiera di Lily 6"x6" acrylic #199

This young lady's name is Lily...it was painted from a photograph that caught this interesting image of Lily in a prayerful position adjacent to these lillies in Florenze, Italy.

Italian Laundry 8"x10" acrylic #198

This is from a photo my daughter shot and was a gift for her. I also did a version for her brother who really liked it.
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Sibs 6"x6" acrylic #197

Little people in the snow.

Home Made acrylic 6"x6" #196

I like the warm neutrals in this and it is just a very homey still life with the pewter plate reflecting the warm wood and the home made bread.

Morgan Show 6"x6" acrylic #195

This was painted from a photo I took at the Morgan Horse Show at the Morgan Horse Farm near Middlebury, VT. This young lady was getting ready to enter the show ring with her beautiful horse. My grandson is becoming my best fan. The other day he came in and saw a painting I had done and so enthusiastically said, "I love this!" with such honesty and emotion it made me want to cry. I consider myself to have "made it" based on his reaction. It is really important to consider who your critics are and who you are going to listen to and believe. To bring such joy to him fulfilled what ever goal I ever had of pleasing the public! He loves horses and lives across the road from a beautiful horse ranch, so this one was done for him.

Jericho Mill acrylic #194

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Portrait acrylic 4"x4" #193

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My 2 year old grandson thinks this should be called "Lambie" but it looks more like a school portrait to me! All day he (my grandson) has been making sheep lips. I actually never looked this closely at sheep lips. They are pretty impressive. It is such an interesting animal and yet, scraggly and scruffy and dirty and when they get shorn they look kind of weird and pink and naked...poor things. I am using a new camera and my daughter's computer and it has been a challenge. Everything looks too bright and over saturated. I am reposting two others in hopes that they look a little closer to reality.

In the Zone 6"x6" acrylic #192

I am still visiting at my daughter's which is giving me lots of lessons in painting and posting under difficult conditions. The computer I am working on has very limited abilities to edit the photos so this one appears in a much higher key than it is. It actually has very subtle color changes. So forgive how harsh this looks. I wanted to create an image of someone in their very personal creative zone. For me right now, that is my sanctuary.
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Open Door acrylic 5"x7" #191

This is the view from my daughter's old house onto her neighbors. I painted it from a photo I found that I had taken when my first grandson was born. Maybe I will paint her neighbor's in honor of the birth of my second grandson. I am going to change some things. I painted this at night in very bad lighting at the kitchen table and I need to fix some of the colors and some of the shadows, but mostly I like it.

Red Green pastel #190

Parking pastel #189

This was an exercise in arbitrary cropping. A fire hydrant in the foreground might have made it more interesting. I will have to think about that but there is a mystery to who is getting in/out of the car. Who are they and what are they doing? On a less productive but still artistic note, I went snowshoeing with my husband today (he came to visit us at my daughters) and I really studied how things looked and what I would do to paint them. I didn't have my sketchbook or a camera, but I really thought about seeing and not just about what I saw, but how do I translate that into 2-D with chemical pigments? I know this is what artists do all the time, but I really indulged today. It felt like a significant lesson.

American Family Icon pastel #188

My husband is crazy about British croquet. This is such a symbol of family life and back yards. In the winter, the best you can do is lay it out on a green blanket, which reflected a lot of warm green light. One new year's day my husband and I took our new snow shoes and hiked down to the park by the lake. While there, we witnessed a group of young women strip down and jump in to the subfreezing water, and then saw a bunch of hippies unload from a VW bus painted with flowers (of course) and proceed to set up a croquet game and play it in the 3 foot deep snow. I love living in Vermont!

Abstract Tools graphite #187

This started with a hand planer and moved into something kind of ocean-y and fun. Something different today.

Winter Lighthouse acrylic #186

I have painted this lighthouse in summer. This is my winter version from the same perspective.
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Midpoint Saturation acrylic #185

This hot and cool image makes me shiver as 2 feet of snow accumulates outside. It is above my knees and comes to my grandson's chest and is hard to maneuver in but fun to play in.

Veggies pastel #184

and some veggies....2 posts to make up for yesterday

Fuzzy Slippers charcoal and pastel #183

Yesterday was a down day for me...fever and trying to take care of a 2 year old while mom recuperates. I actually got dressed today and took off the fuzzy slippers.

Thinking Legs 8"x10" oil #182

These legs are about to do something....get up....cross.....put on shoes...maybe move into position to have a baby, like my daughter did yesterday!

WUPA 6"x6" acrylic #181

My grandson, Allister was born today at noon and weighed 9lb. 12 oz. and is perfect! My daughter is amazing and is doing really well. This is a painting of my 17 year old puppy Wupa. She is still really healthy and loves a good romp, but she doesn't hear too well. She is afraid of babies!
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Friends 6"x6" acrylic #180

This is one of those paintings that just tells a story by itself and needs no explanation. I love it because it feels really personal to me.
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Beach Painters 6"x6" oil #179

I am visiting my daughter who is about to have a baby. I am on baby watch and spending time with my grandson. I am using a different computer, have to pull out my painting stuff every time I work, and have just a window of opportunity during his nap time to do it! I worked ahead just in case, so I have some emergency things to post. This painting is from a painting excursion with friends. I did it from a photo. It was a stunning day in Oct. and we had no competition for beach space on Martha's vineyard.
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Miss Kitty and the Pig 5"x7" acrylic #178

This is one of the cats that has been part of our family over the years. She is posing (what she does best) with a big ceramic pig my mom got me because she thought it would look good in the garden. I really like the pig because it is so quirky and is life size. Miss Kitty now lives with my grandson, which really is better because I am allergic to cats. He is only 2 and she is so sweet to him even though he doesn't always be that way to her (he thinks she is an excellent pillow). I like the grays and tried to get a feel of shiny hard surface on the pig.

Sparkling Night at Home acrylic 6"x6" #177

How can you wake up and be so filled with self-doubt? It is like a ego-smashing bug crawls into your ear during the night and robs you of courage. My husband likes the British series "Red Dwarf" and I remember there was an episode about a polymorph that did something like that. Anyway, what do you do? You just have to get up and go for it. This painting is of a home on a magical wintery night. The snow is falling in quarter size flakes and piling up quickly. The sky is azure and the glow from the lights reflects brilliantly on the snow. The house is a bit wonky; maybe I'll fix it one day, or just let it be like a well worn hoodie.

Celebrity Sighting #176 acrylic 5"x7"

As the crowd pushes forward with cameras in hand to see the celebrity, I shoot their backs. My husband calls NYC the city of crowds (he is not as excited by it as I am). I really love the abstract qualities of this one and how the dark areas define the "form of the painting. My goal is to paint 350 paintings before the end of June and this is #176....I am over half way! Quantity is not everything, but it is something.

Three Scoops 5"x7" acrylic #175

As I was contemplating a title for this I thought of a lot of things. I really like the story...the real story or the one it tells to whomever is looking at it. That's why I like painting people doing things. Landscapes elicit a feeling about place, still life paintings give a sense of atmosphere of a person's life and I guess both will tell an abstract story, but actual people doing things always tell a story. Portraits are difficult because they are suppose to tell a story with someone looking at a viewer, not doing natural things. Although these ladies are sharing what could be an intimate moment of fun, they look isolated in their shared experience. The "mother" looks like she has a lot on her mind and maybe is thinking about what needs to done next, or maybe she has some really big worries. I really like the little curled up "womb like" posture of the littlest girl on the bottom step. I suspect the mother is going to drop her cone in a trash can any minute now. What do you think?

PICO #174 acrylic 5"x7"

This is PICO ski resort. I pretty much stuck to analogous colors on this one and again used acrylic and am making friends with that medium again. I was interviewed on The Arts Show, a local public access TV program. It is available online at pegtv.com you have to click on on demand videos, then scroll down on the right to channel 15 talk shows and click on that, and then click on The Arts Show with Mary Crowley and guest Christine Holzschuh. It is a bit of a journey getting there, but I tried it and it worked.
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Sugar n' Spice Winter 5"x7" acrylic #173

I lost my camera which is kind of sickening, because it seems like such a waste of an expensive tool. Anyway, I have ordered a new one, but in the waiting-for-it-to-arrive time I have to scan any painting I do and that is tricky. This one looks pretty good. It is of a working sugaring barn and popular restaurant which is open for breakfast and lunch. It is not far from where I live so I see it everyday. A sugaring barn is where they boil down maple sap into syrup. I have painted this in other seasons. In the fall they tap all the sugar maples around the place so there are buckets hanging from the trees. They have some old farm equipment and cars there which give it a rustic and picturesque look against the mountains. I used acrylic so it would dry fast so that I could scan it. I kept it loose and tried to have strong brush strokes.

Barrier to Perception 5x7" oil #172

This painting is a re-do of an earlier painting I did. I changed the painting he is looking at to a Pollock and put in the electronic barrier that keeps patrons at a safe distance from the painting. I like how he is leaning in to get as close as possible to this massive image. It looks like the painting is going to suck him in!

kneeling nude 6x6" oil #171

I am all goofed up and have scheduled 3 important things for the same time slot this afternoon, including an online arts radio show I am the featured artist for. UGH! So I feel like burying my head in a pillow and just hiding from the universe!

Ink Portrait #170 ink 6x6"

Headed home today. Parked the car in the road so Carl could snowblow the drive and walkways. I came in, built a fire, turned on the thermostats and baked potatoes and brownies in the oven to facilitate warming up the house. Life is good and this relaxed pose reflects that.

mug shot 6x6 ink #169

This isn't really a mug shot, but Karin Jurik is doing a series of 100 4"x4" portraits from mug shots and I think this one kind of looks like it could be one. The model almost fell asleep during this pose and it was a short one...which is why her eyes look so droopy!

Celebrate oil 6x6 #168

More merriment....

Be Joyful oil 6x6 #167

Merry Christmas

Joy watercolor 6"x6" #166

This was from a photo challenge. It is my merry Christmas-weve greeting to everyone. It is difficult for me to get even a little study completed these last few days, and I know so even more for the next few. It really makes me respect all those painters out there that are doing really fine work every single day. Just to attempt to touch upon their discipline humbles me. I think that is true for everyone who is dedicated to what they do. I am enjoying the playful approach I am taking to discovering watercolor and it is so easy to clean up!

Everything's Coming Up Roses 4"x6" watercolor #165

Some days everything just goes right. In my life this is the exception, but yesterday was one of those incredibly easy days, full of fun surprises, and it snow, snow, snowed so beautifully. I have been playing around with watercolor and discovering what it can do and yesterday it did roses. I think I am getting into the spirit of the season.

Zumba 8"x8" acrylic #164

My goal with this painting was to get a reasonable likeness of Lisa, the Zumba instructor, and to create a feeling of movement...hence the blurred hand and foot. I could have increased this by shifting her weight a little more so she was a tad bit off balance. It is a mirror reflection so I hope that comes across.
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Check the Weather 5x7" watercolor #163

My husband is one of those guys who is always saying to me, "Could you check the weather?" This means, go to the computer and see what it says on weather.com. I find this amusing because we live in a house with lots of windows and a climate that always cold and snowy in the winter, so why not just go look outside. So this is the view out our upstairs bathroom window. It is two roof lines with snow, a birch tree, a mountain covered in snow, a grayish sky and a chimney with snow. Honey, it's cold and snowy outside. I think I will go skiing. (still experimenting with watercolor)

Orange Target 6"x6" oil #162

This is a really simple subject....it was fun to paint the value and color changes and is a good exercise...it looks a little lonely....but it makes me think of Christmas stocking...we are nuts and fruit kind of stocking stuffer people.

Fluffy 6"x6" oil #161

This is a piece I have reworked several times. I am finally happy with it. Little Fluffy has gone from a menacing Yapper who was a scraggly,
poor excuse for a fashion statement, to the made-over version who just wants to be your friend. I took off the leash, closed his mouth, changed the attitude of his tail, and generally fluffed him out and made him softer. Sometimes the paint brush is better than reality. I really like the top-down perspective, but in some cases it just doesn't work so well.

Sunrise over the Canyon 7"x7" watercolor #160

I tried another watercolor. I have a lot to learn but each time I do one I figure out more. This was from an artist's daily photo challenge. I used to live in the Grand Canyon so this is a very familiar and stirring image for me. I am not confident with what watercolor paint will do, and painting the Grand Canyon seems challenging, except that I remember that it is all just shapes, colors and values and it becomes manageable.

A Walk With Paw-Paw oil 5"x7" #159

I am so not with the holiday this year. Today I am going skiing for the first time this season, so maybe that will stir up some sentimental feelings. I haven't done any Christmas shopping, however this painting is a present to my husband. When we are with our grandson, Carl gets up early every day and he and Ollie take a long walk together. It is their special time. This painting isn't a masterpiece, but it is loaded with love.
SOLD

still life with onion and garlic oil 6"x6" #158

I don't really have a title for this yet. It is a study in gray but I guess that is not really obvious. When I did this I was in that almost meditative state of hard looking. It is difficult for me to enter that place but the results are always a lot better when I do. I am by nature a "cut the corners" kind of person, so I rush most of my paintings and I need to slow down and look, look, look. I get a feeling of elation when I enter this zone, so that makes the painting memorable to me. Some people may not like the "black hole" but I do, and I love all the round shapes and the "kissing points" and all the other rules this doesn't follow.