A Merry Time

This acrylic painting of the center of a poinsettia resides over my mantel this time of year. It was a painting I did purely for my own enjoyment. This was a completely foreign idea for me up to now. I've always been working towards a goal. So for once my goal was to make art for my own enjoyment. Need I say it- purely for decoration? ( Eeeeek !!! ) Each leaf of the poinsettia is the result of many sheer layers of color. While doing them I was tossing about ideas for the background. I was painting on a 30" square panel with a 2" cradle which was looking more and more like a box to me. In fact, it reminded me of a Christmas present. That's what I'll do with the background, wrap it in gold leaf ! Having never done leafing before, on any scale, it sounded just the thing. Read all the instructions, laid out my materials, and began. Now there's a window of opportunity when the glue is just right. It lasts about 45 minutes to an hour. Three quarters of the way through the process, I run out of gold leafing squares. That's when my husband found me going through the phone book like a crazed squirrel. I had found more leaf, but it was in the part of town where you can't ever find parking. It was 5:15 and they closed at 6:00. With a John Wayne retort he said, "I drive." As I raced into the art supply store, my wheel man circled the block. Once home I laid on the final metal leaf sheets. I had abandoned the directions and was rubbing the sheets down with my thumbs while bits of gold floated through the air. I have never had more fun. Just looking at this painting makes me smile remembering that crazy, wonderful afternoon. It is good to enjoy one's art. Have a merry one !

Cup of Kindness

This was the art I used for last year's Christmas card. Originally, this colored pencil drawing was the cover of a yearbook I designed. Yes, it's the same pewter teapot as "Arrangement in Red". It is true that a thing of beauty is a joy forever, not to mention a great prop. Painting the same object with different media always stretches the artist. It's a new puzzle to be solved.

Arrangement In Red

November is such a lovely month. The air is crisp and scented with burnt leaves and the first wood fires of the season. Winter coats are being dug out of the closest along with gloves, scarves and hats. Everything about November reminds me of jewel toned velvet. It is a time of year that also reminds me to have an attitude of gratitude. I do have so much to be grateful for. Arrangement in Red is a still life painting of some of my favorite objects. The red walls are of my kitchen and the cream and red toile that graces the table for special occasions. The pewter teapot the remnant of a Spring day I spent with one of my daughters. The serving spoons were a wedding gift from dear friends. The sweet red onion and little potatoes are ingredients in so many meals shared with others. My home is graced by family and friends. My table is set with blessings.

Another Day, Another Sketch

Sundays at our house have a special texture to them. After church, it's Prairie Home Companion on the radio. Sometimes we go out for brunch, other times we have big Sunday dinner in the afternoon. It is always social. In the evening it is curling up in a favorite wing back chair to watch Masterpiece on PBS. This night I had my sketchbook in hand as I watched a mystery. Couldn't help but think that sketching a scene is like solving a detective's puzzle. Each line or shape is a clue that leads you to the next clue until you have the full picture.

( Sketchbook copy reads: The two yellow chairs in my breakfast room are my homage to Monet's yellow dining room at Giverny. These chairs were castoffs that I found languishing next to a garbage can. Originally they were in my daughter's room. After she left home they made their way to the breakfast table after a fresh coat of paint. The seats are covered in a cream and black toile. Curled up in napping position is my dog, Cassatt. It is Sunday evening. I am sketching while watching a mystery. )

Kerrytown Sketchbook

The copy in the Moleskine reads as follows: Kerrytown is a Market place in the old section of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Fresh fish, wine, breads, vegetables & fruit are being sold in the stalls of the indoor market. It is Saturday so the Farmers' Market is in full swing just beyond the windows. I have found a table with enough space for a latte & my sketchbook. I am looking into a sea of red. Apples- all of which are perfumed by their freshness. I spend this rainy afternoon drawing & painting the scene.

In Praise of Moleskine

If I had to rush out of a burning building, I would be clutching my Moleskine sketchbook. It goes everywhere with me. Then there's the Moleskine notebook that I use for my journaling. Moleskines are nothing new, they've been around for a couple hundred years. A favorite of artists and writers, because they are relatively cheap. They are ever so portable, coming in a myriad of sizes, shapes, some with lines, squares or even blank. In the recent past the last of the Moleskine makers closed their doors, but like the Phoenix rising from its ashes, they are being manufactured again. The little black notebooks are easy to find. I buy mine at one of the large booksellers. After all, when you have an idea, you need a place to keep it.

"The Gibbes"

As an artist, I take a lot of pictures. Most of these pictures make little sense to anyone else. I think of them as reference photos. I was in Charleston, South Carolina and my aesthetic radar was having a wonderful time. Reacting to the architecture of a large white Victorian era building, I began taking pictures. Instead of taking one picture of a place, I like to take a series and then piece them together. The perspective is often a bit wonky, but the end result has a kind of energy to it. The resulting image always seems truer to how I experienced the place or subject. "The Gibbes" is one of those photo collages. This time I printed the images on aluminum foil. I juxtaposed elements of vintage elegance against the building blocks of creating art: color, line and shape. The resulting piece is intentionally whimsical and recalls for me that sultry Spring afternoon.