Figuratively Speaking - Twists and Turns

Quick Sketches #9  -  Graphite on Paper

I have been out of my studio in New England for more than a month, spending that time with my grandkids on the west coast.  We experienced an unusual snow event and had snowball fights and built some pretty adorable but wimpy snow people.  We played games, took long walks, visited museums, sang songs and danced around, built magical kingdoms and did a lot of drawing, painting and art projects.  My life was filled with love, hugs, kisses, and creativity but no painting of the type I do for myself.  Drawing is a segue for me back into painting.  In drawing with my 6 year old grandson I noticed he approaches his subjects like a contour drawing.  His eyes follow the Twists and Turns of the edge of whatever motif he is looking at.  He constructs "made up" drawings with large geometric shapes that represent the feeling of the posture of his subject.  These both seem like fairly sophisticated approaches to drawing and it will be fun to see if this develops into an obsessive interest, like his Grandma has.  Capturing both an interesting representation of an object and the spirit in the drawing is really the challenge.  I think that comes with letting intuition instruct and practice inform....a bit of inspiration applied to a formula.....go figure!

Figuratively Speaking - Procrastination Occupations

Quick Sketch #9 Waterfalls  -  Graphite on paper

It can seem so sweet and practical that voice of procrastination.  "Clean the refrigerator, especially those crumbs under the drawer that no one will ever see and while you are at it, clean the entire kitchen, reorganize the pantry and then go out to the studio."  So, a few hours later and feeling like I have accomplished much, I head out to the studio and am feeling a bit uneasy about what to work on, and whether I am equipped to do a good job when my friend, procrastination reminds me to sweep and dust the studio so I can have a calm mind to proceed.  Honestly this conversation can go on and on and I can indulge this cleaning muse until the stars come out.  The logic is unfailing.  The reward is tangible, but the problem is that ultimately it is motivated by my own insecurities. Until I face those, I will not be able to create.  Creating is what satisfies me, gives me a voice that often surprises me, and creates a bridge from what needs to be done to what is possible. Go figure....

Figuratively Speaking - More Good Habits

So many habits - good and bad - crammed into such little time....brushing teeth, changing clothes, exercising, eating healthy foods, talking to loved ones, planning for the future, entertainment, feeding the intellect and then there is creating.  Creating is made up of a lot of little habits and a bit of inspiration.  Sometimes it is all too much!  January is one of the 30 in 30 day challenges months and I have been traveling and now am catching up, planning for classes and starting new commissions, finishing up projects that weren't completed in 2016.  One habit I want to get better at is quick sketches so this is the perfect project for me for January 2017.  Since I am just getting around to posting today, the attached sketches represent days 1-8.  I am trying out the new pencil I got for Christmas which is a mechanical lead holder (5.6mm, grade 2B) purchased through "Art Alternatives."  I love the pencil so I am motivated to test it out.  I am just doing the sketches in a little sketch book and I am not spending much time on them.  These first drawings are just to get a feel for the pencil.  I hope to develop to the point that by the end of the month I have a few really good drawings.  It is all about developing good habits - go figure!

Figuratively Speaking-Innocent Delight

6"x6" oil Sold

             I visited my neighbor today who gave birth to a beautiful baby girl this weekend.  She is perfect, soft and miniature!  There is something so unique about being around a newborn.  They are so fresh and unimprinted.  When they look around there is a surprise and wonderment in their eyes.  That seems to slowly change over time as we get older and more aware of the ins and outs of how the world works.  Still there are those moments of astonishment that can catch the most cynical of us with "Innocent Delight."  I believe it is a worthwhile mission to seek that out, whether in others or by looking for the miracles in the way life and our physical world are created.  I will be with my grandkids on Christmas morning and I am looking forward to their delight that the cookies have been eaten and mystery behind the pretty wrapped packages.  I would love to hear about your moments of innocent delight and I wish you many more!

Figuratively Speaking - Sisters

6"x6" oil  SOLD

The thing about sisters.....where do I begin?  I am blessed with 4 sisters and several more almost sisters.  They each are unique, individualistic, self assured, talented and opinionated.  I am second in line, got hand me downs (which I never minded) was the most rebellious, and was always in awe of one of my other sisters.  My older sister, is one of the most generous and giving of women I know.  She is also hard headed, creative, imaginative, evasive and stronger than she realizes.  She has always loved books and reading which is amazing because I remember my father teaching her how to read and it was a painful process.  It was so painful, I decided I would learn on my own!  The same thing happened when we started to drive.  There were times when we just butted heads, and she knew, better than anyone,  how to get me to cry. But,  there have been more times where we have been best of friends.  All of my sisters are creative and beautiful.  Linda paints and knits.  Barb sews and gardens and raised 7 kids.  Sharon makes beautiful handmade cards and never forgets an event, anniversary, birthday or holiday.  Patty could be anything she set her mind to.  She is a natural at interior decorating and fashion (neither of which I know anything about).  Then there is Mary who is smart and so, so funny and Brenda who is sweet, smart, organized and full of surprises.  I don't think any of them read my blog, but I love them all and am OK saying it to my little world of which you are included.  Let me know who is special to you.

Figuratively Speaking - Take a Moment

8"x8" oil SOLD

This is always a hectic month.  I am not sure how you avoid the hustle and bustle but I do know that taking a few moments on a regular basis to just breathe is a great idea.  Some of the ways I take it in is to take a walk, especially in the woods, do yoga, swim, and of course paint.  However, those things only work if I am willing to let everything else go and just be in the moment.  I am curious how you relax and regain sanity.  Do you read a good book or listen to or play music?  Let me know!

Figuratively Speaking - The Good and the Not So GoodThe

The Good and Not So Good     11"x14" acrylic Price $200

The heater of the pool at the sports club has been broken for a few days so the water temperature is dropping rapidly.  There were only a handful of us hearty souls willing to take the plunge today.  Everyone else thought we were crazy.  Once you move fast enough and your body heats up, it becomes tolerable and dreaming about taking a hot shower and sitting in the sauna kept us motivated.  The other issue at the club is that they are replacing the women's showers, so there is no shower to take and since the sauna is next to the showers, it also is closed.  That's the way life goes.  Sometimes you just wake up and get a bucket of lemons.  There are a lot of things to be grateful for in this story, like being able to swim, having a pool to go to, etc, etc, but it is not November (the Thankful month) it is December (the Giving month) so I won't wax on about gratitude.  So, on to the gifting part.  That came after I dried off, got dressed and walked outside where the snow was falling sideways which means the wind was blowing.  However, after that invigorating swim, it felt great!  My body was completely adjusted to dealing with the cold and I felt more energized than I have for a long time!  So, that is the lemonade part.

This is life...the good and not so good.  We keep moving along and try to grab a hold of the wonderful moments and get through the tough ones.  I paint happy paintings because, well they are easy to look at and they make me feel good. 

What kind of paintings are your favorites?

Figuratively Speaking: Multi-tasking

5"x7" oil Price $100

Figuratively Speaking
Jet Blue has a travel bank and I had $XXX dollars in it that I had to use today.  My nephew was generous enough to decide to get married in Colorado in February, so I had a destination I was going to have to fly to anyway.  The problem is that we live in Vermont not an easy place to get to on major transportation, and none of the flights, buses, train schedules

match up to make it easy.  So there are extra days added on, extra hotels, rental cars and everything that goes with it.  On top of that, we are flying out of Boston which means we now have to plan our trip there an extra day early and come back a day later (more hotels etc.).  All of this so we don't lose the significant $XXX in our travel bank.  Did I say I had to use those today or lose them? 

My painting, "Multi-tasking" seems like such a perfect match for today.

I need a cup of hot chocolate!  Don' t you?  (you deserve it you know!)

Connecting

8"x10" oil  Price $200

Figuratively Speaking - Art as Communication
I saw a quote today in a post by Brain Pickings  (an online newsletter that is the source of almost all my reading material) that so caught my attention, I decided to write my own blog post around the idea.  Even though this was written about words, I think it totally applies to paintings which are just chemical colors on something flat, at the basic level, but come to life and create a magic at the hand of an artist.  Ursula K. Le Guin put it best in contemplating the magic of real human communication: “Words are events, they do things, change things. They transform both speaker and hearer; they feed energy back and forth and amplify it. They feed understanding or emotion back and forth and amplify it.”  
A good painting does the same thing.  It can be any style, any subject matter, but when someone is moved by it, it becomes a conversation.  
I work at an artists' guild gallery a few days every month and I  am always conscience that each person who comes in is seeking to interact with something.  What is amazing, is that with all the diversity of types of objects and art, there is a different person to appreciate each and every piece.  Frequently someone will fall in love with something that doesn't move me at all.  I really like that because it reminds me that I am only one little (well, not so little) person with one little opinion. Even though there are others who would agree with that opinion, it really doesn't make it more valid or right.  That is always a good lesson!

Figuratively Speaking-Christmas Cookies

Swirly Cupcake  4"x4" oil  $60

My mom made the most wonderful Christmas cookies.  It was an annual ritual we shared with homes all over the world.  She would make all our favorites and decorate them with beautiful designs.  She was an artist as well as a cook.  There is an art to making a good cookie just like there is to making good bread.  With the abundance of cookies available to us, you would think there would be boat loads of great cookies, but alas I feel like the skill of making great cookies is being lost even in the face of much higher sugar consumption in the population.  I have kind of given up on sweets so my contribution to Christmas cookie making is my Booster Balls (does this bring to mind an NPR skit on an old Saturday Night Live?).  They are made from whatever I have that I can throw in, but this batch was made mostly with pecans, coconut, walnuts, almond butter, cocoa, and dried mangos.  I don't cook them, but mix it all together in my food processor and then roll them into balls.  They kind of look like meatballs, but they taste better and are better for you.  I put them on a pretty plate. tomake up for their lack of aesthetic appeal.

My mom learned to cook when she was growing up in a household of 13 children.  She was about in the middle of the lineup, so while the older kids were helping bring in money and being more grown-up, my mom was staying at home and helping to take care of her younger sibs and cooking and cleaning.  She got pretty good at it.  Her mom died when she was 12 so she had a lot of responsibility, and as a result and the fact that she was dyslexic and left handed, she didn't get a good education.  But, she was brilliant and a survivor, so she carved out a nice life for herself, had 5 kids of her own, 16 grandkids, and as of today, 12 great grandkids. I miss her and I miss her wonderful cookies, but succeeding generations need to improve upon what their parents taught them, and I am choosing to eat healthy while still appreciating (from a distance) the art of fine cookie baking.

Do you have a favorite cookie recipe?

A Walk in the Woods

5"x7" oil SOLD

HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY!  It is such a lovely idea to spend a day giving thanks.  If you have a chance, take some time alone with someone you care about and just be totally with them.  I like the idea of taking one of my grandkids by the hand and walking with them in the woods just to see what they see and talk about what they want to talk about.  Taking a walk after a big feast is also a good idea.  I just wish you a day of joy, and contentment.

Rufus

6"6" SOLD

Sometimes I think I am a real smarty pants and just about that time the universe gives me one of those painful humbling lessons.  Right now I am trying to learn a bunch of stuff about how computers work and how to utilize software and clever apps.  I feel like I am a Stranger In a Strange Land.  Can you relate?  One of my big tasks is organizing my photos, which were casually sorted before I got a new laptop and new software, so now it is a complete mess. The whole smarty pants concept can be applied to my pride over the 600 billion photos I have stored.....at least until I started to reorganize them.  Well, at least now I have something to occupy me for the rest of my time on this planet. Go Figure!

Going Out

6"x6" oil SOLD

What does "Stepping Out"mean to you?  It used to mean going dancing to me, but funny thing, once I got married my husband lost interest in dancing.  Clearly his motivation to kick up his heals was different than mine.  So, in our slower, and early to bed days, it probably means going to a concert or the theater, or maybe out to eat with friends.  My dancing is relegated to aerobics or maybe Zumba.  So, what is your idea of "going out?"

Little Elf and the Magic Egg

8"x10" oil $200

Everything seems topsy turvy.  I am in the process of redefining myself as an artist.  There are a lot of invisible things happening that are filed under "the learning curve" folder.  In a short while I will be revamping my blog, my website and all those social media sites I am afraid to go to.  I have been wanting to take my painting in slightly a different direction, and this one kind of reflects that.  Hopefully I will be able to unveil the new direction of my art business as well.  So, figuratively speaking, I am putting on a new dress and dancing to a new drummer!  What is new in your life?

Laundry Day

8"x10" oil Not for Sale

I felt like painting laundry drying and found this photo I had been given at a Dreama Tolle Perry workshop, but had never painted.  I switched around some of the items in the photo and played with color.  Dreama has a direct approach, starting with transparent colors and then frosting them with opaques.  It gives her paintings a fresh look with very clean color.  I actually did this in two settings, focusing on the darks first and then adding the lights.  It is not my usual working method but I am trying out different things right now.  Since I used her photo for reference, I am not selling this.

Lefferts Pond

12"x16" acrylic Price $400

I do very few acrylic paintings; this is one of them.  It was such a beautiful day, and although the colors weren't at peak, it was still unbelievably glorious.

There is a bit of a glare on the photo.  Don't you just love the colors of fall?  I snapped a photo of these mums and pumpkins at the Champlain Orchards when I went apple picking with my neighbor, her 4 year old son, and her mother from Romania.  I might also say for the record that they are the best neighbors ever and we are all excited about the soon to arrive addition to their family.  I painted this loose and it has a a bit of a jigsaw puzzle look that I like.

Squash with Orange

Orange and Blue are complementary colors.  Complements can be a subject for a painting as they tend to create an energy when they vibrate with each other.  I loved the look of the Patty Pan squash (also known as white scalloped squash) with the orange vase and pumpkin.  A few black eyed Susans confirms the season.

Blue Umbrella

I like the geometric shapes in this and the striped pattern.  It was an odd angle to paint, but fun figuring out the foreshortening of the body.

Wedding Portrait

8"x10" oil SOLD

There is a shadow on the top of this because I photographed it on the easel.  It is a commissioned portrait for a newly married couple.  I think they are adorable.