June Rose

 My neighbor gave me a few of these splendid roses from her garden. With the cobalt blue glass, I knew I wanted to paint them. Here’s my set up on the deck. With our awning there is beautiful diffused light.

Here’s the finished painting. As you can see- I cropped a lot!!! 6x6 on a cradled panel.

They are just beautiful- now captured in a painting. Sold and off to a new home in Hilton Head, SC.

After the Rain and a little update

The same but not the same.
Yes, this is the same image that was in my last post....except that I tweaked it here and there. I had brought what I thought was the finished canvas in our main living area so that I could look at it under different lighting. I started to see some things, areas that could have bolder color- back to the easel.

I felt good enough about the finished painting to enter it into a national juried show. Now I'm waiting. I'll let you know!

What's to love about droopy?

I love spring and one thing that calls me to do as an artist- bring some flowers in to paint! I did some drawing first, hating then loving the droopiness of these pink tulips. Why aren't they standing up better- more like how I imagine and want them to be?

I looked more closely and found another connection.

Not unlike my own body, the perky, springy part is harder to access these days. Yet it is there- often rediscovered through loving kindness to myself and gratitude for all that this body has done for me. Today, free from disease, only hindered by minor aches and pains and my own attachment to them, I delight as another spring comes near. 

In a couple of days the clocks move forward and I'll be right there- celebrating the light and the new season.

My friends know I love flowers

The first time my friend Susan came to dinner she brought me a bunch of sunflowers, which of course I later painted. Last week she came over, again for dinner, and again with flowers, with a token sunflower in remembrance of that first dinner. 
She's thoughtful like that, and that's a quality I hope for myself with my friends. Remembering what they like. How they take their coffee. What's been going on in their lives. I'm feeling very grateful  for the close connection I feel with the women and men in my life today.
The next day I took the flowers out back, where I found a spot of shade, and found myself obsessed with the Queen Anne's Lace. Considered nothing more than a weed by many, I marveled at its' structure and divine color. This is oil on panel, 11x14.

Late Summer Flowers

Another plein air study of flowers in their late summer glory.

A Sunday Start

Friends who came to dinner last night brought me an amazing bunch of flowers. My first thought was to get them in water, my second thought- when can I paint?
This morning I set them on a patterned tablecloth on the back deck and stood above them. This flattens the picture plane and lets me focus on composition, shape and color before I start trying to "turn a form".
I want to paint several layers, so I lay the paint down quite thin. There was a bright area of sunlight on the deck, with the rest of the set up in shade, and I wanted that abstract shape in the top right corner. I also drew a few composition lines with my brush to look more carefully at the intersection of those lines. The top edge of the table, where the wall joins the deck and of course, the edge of the deck in the sun.
Can't wait to get back to it- I love painting from direct observation!

My Work at Charles Fine Arts

I'm thrilled to tell you that two of my paintings were juried into a show titled Flowers and Elegant Objects at Charles Fine Arts in downtown Gloucester, MA. I'm thrilled to be showing at this lovely gallery on Cape Ann. 
The exhibit runs through June 20th- hope you can stop in!

 Pink Tulip on a Red Table 8x8

Sunflower Summer 8x10

Winter White

Wanted to share that this oil painting 18x24 got accepted into the 54th Regional Show at The Mystic Arts Center. The reception is this Thursday the 12th from 5:30 to 7, and the show will run until September 25th. I am really excited as this is a national show and I feel so proud to have my work exhibited at such a wonderful venue. Check it out!! Mystic Pizza is just down the street when you've worked up an appetite looking at art!

Pansies

Who can resist these first harbingers of spring? Wanting to do more immediate daily paintings as I am so immersed in the larger pieces for the show I'm in later this year, felt the need to balance with direct observation. Felt very good to work small with bigger brushes for this piece which is a 6x6 canvas.

Iris I

Went to the studio early Sunday morning, planning to work on the river walk painting. I quickly got distracted by a bunch of flowers and thought I would do a warm-up painting. Staying with bigger brushes as much as I could, finding the essentials that speak iris to me. Happy with the results.I love how unexpected things occur in the studio, for me who plans so much! Spontaneity spoken here.