Thursday, December 31, 2009

Happy New Year for 2010!

This is the view from the back of my home.
We had more snow after the big snow of last
week that gave us 22". Then most of it was
washed away by rain and warmer temperatures.
But for our New Year's Eve day, we got another
dusting, just enough to touch up the landscape
to look beautiful and wintry again!
You can see the winter sun setting and in some
ways it symbolizes the ending of another year.
I hope you can look back on your year and see
the challenges you met and the joys you experienced.
May you do and have the same for next year, but
even better!

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Returning

Hello!
I have been away. Got me a new body part so I could walk better! Still recovering, but can't wait to dance again after some years of restricted motion!

I trust you all have been having a Grand Holiday. I certainly got the greatest gift of love and care from many people as well as my bionic part!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Snow Beauty

We are blessed with the beauty of snow coming
early this year. I wish you all a season of loveliness
and Love.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Me and Monet

I was listening to Garrison Keillor on Prairie Home
Companion (prairiehome@publicradio.org) the other
day and heard him do a wonderful humourous bit
on visiting a museum and finding that all the guards
were artists. Famous ones. He gets into a conversation
with Monet and without telling you the entire skit,
it ends with one of those things you just moan over...
Monet tells Garrison that 'we have no Monet to buy
deGas to make the Van Gogh. Oooooooooooooooo.
These little water lily paintings I do are my homage
to Monet. This one is 5" x 5", framed. It is $100.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Can you tell?

Can you tell where I wipe my brush?
Not too hard to see that my heavy-duty
apron gets lots of use, and that I am
right-handed!
My assistant took this shot as I was
working on a small panel which I have
taped to a piece of matboard so I won't
be sticking my fingers in wet paint!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Before dinner


Here's another of my 5" x 7" recent works.
I find that when I see the work on the computer
monitor, it always looks much bigger than when
one is viewing a small vignette of a painting in the
context of everything else in a room. I hope this
makes sense! It is framed and is $100.


Tuesday, October 27, 2009

The Vintage Hat


Here you can see one of my 5 x 5 paintings with
its frame. These are little gems that have often
been bought from me as gifts. This one is still
available at $100.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Sister Act II - How it looked!




Here are photos of my sister's jewelry
displays. She has a lot of new work
I hadn't seen. Gorgeous colored stones
such as jasper and sujalite (spelling?)
which is a beautiful purple stone. The
last photo is where she was showing
those in attendance a few of the ways to
use her scarf slides. You can see some
of them in the photo just before that one.
Click on the images to enlarge.
By the way, her Etsy site is Sandys Creations:
Just us the link in this blog in the right column!

More of Sister Act II

A few shots of people looking at our artwork!


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Sister Act II


Here we are in front of a few of my small paintings.
It was a really wonderful experience and well
attended. So we were happy! It is always a lot
of work to put on such a show, but then you are
doing it and enjoying the friends and others who
come and all the work part fades away and leaves
you with the fun of it!

Friday, October 23, 2009

A few more of the small works for the show




As you see, I like pleasure moments and hope to
assist others in recalling theirs because of
seeing what I have painted. These are 5 x 7
paintings and are framed. They will be at the
show this weekend, Oct 24th and 25th from
11 - 4 at my studio.

Something different for me to paint!

This weekend of October 24th and 25th, I will host
an art show and sale with my sister in my studio.
This is one of a set of new small paintings (5 x 7)
that will be available framed and ready!
This truck is an artform in itself. Can something
that is rusting and basically disintegrating be
beautiful? Apparently yes!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Watercolor reincarnation

My art flat files have been housing many
watercolor paintings of mine for a long time.
Some are pieces I have kept because I like
their possibilities, not how they actually
turned out. So with a possibility of using them
as inspiration for future work, I have kept them.
Well now they are all cut up and reincarnated
as you see above! It has been quite the process,
but enjoyable and now I will make them available
for a few shekels at my upcoming shows. A piece
of original art for a few bucks!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

The Artist's Cat

Yeah! I have my photo operation back in action!
Thank you to Chandan in New Delhi for his Dell
assistance !
Here's my girl posing in front of my impressive
art book library. If you look closely (which you
can by clicking on the image) you'll see my name
on the spine of one of the books.
This painting is 11" x 14", an oil painting. It is framed
in a simple black frame and is $400 plus s&h.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Next show preparation!

Now the Frederick show is over and the next one is end of the month here in my studio.

I seem to be having trouble with my photo downloads, so stay tuned til I get that working again.
It's always something.

I've been having fun taking bits and pieces of what I'm calling 'unresolved' watercolor paintings
and taking the parts I like to use on a new project. I'll have to get photos to post so you can
see what I've been up to.

Friday, September 18, 2009

More reception fun!




I have two cameras that I have at
my shows. So here are more views
of this past weekend's reception for
my solo show at Frederick Cellars
from the 'other' camera!
I am now in the follow up stages with
thank yous to all who helped and attended.
As well as to some who expressed an interest in
having a painting from this show. I am
happy with the results and you can see from
the last photo that my wonderful assistant
Julie and I are very pleased indeed!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

My art reception is tomorrow

I am really excited about this show. It is a solo show and is for the entire month of September.
I did a show at this winery last June and am so pleased to be having another one, which is of all new work for it.

Frederick Cellars (www.frederickcellars.com) is an excellent place to have an art show. The staff is wonderful and helpful and the space really lends itself to art looking good on the mostly gold walls.

I will report on how it goes and post photos of the day!

A small one

It's been a while since I was painting small panel
paintings. But here I am at it again and this one
is 5 x 7. I've been enjoying doing small ones again
and just started using a new brand of alkyd paint
which seem to be more opaque that the ones I
was using.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Show Hanging Day!






I have rarely tried to post
more than one or two photos
at a time, but I wanted to share
these with you of hanging my
current show at Frederick
Cellars winery, a wonderful place in Frederick, Maryland.

The first photo is of my assistant Julie and my friend
Linda who came to help me. Linda is our Art League's
gal who directs all those show hangings, so she knows
what she is doing in choosing and placing things that
look good together.


Here I am putting the labels on
a few paintings. The portrait in
this photo is a giclee (print) I had
made of a recent commission.






Linda and Julie getting the hook
on the painting wire!


Isn't this looking easy? They
do the work and I take the bow!
Well, I will take credit for doing
a LOT of paintings and new
work for this show. Do go to
http://www.frederickcellars.com/
if you want to know how to find this place!





Thursday, August 27, 2009

A #1 Assistant!

This is my excellent assistant Julie.
She makes it possible for me to do what
I do by backing me up in the many, many
things that are required to keep an art
studio going. This is my tribute to
her cheerful spirit and superb high-
quality help. I truly could not do what
I do without her.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Now completely ready to serve lunch

Here you have the final painting, signed but not sealed
(varnished) or delivered! But that is next for sure.
I wonder if you can see what I did on it to complete
it since the last post of the entire image!
It was such an enjoyable painting to do because I
felt that I got to be there again on that really perfect
summer's day with my son.

Not a figment of my imagination


I can hardly believe that this was an actual
scene with a beautiful young woman standing
like a model looking longingly in the window.
But it was. Managed to get a shot of her before
she moved on by and have wanted to paint this
ever since. This is a small piece, just 8 x 10.
I call it "Desire". I may do a larger piece
eventually.
By the way, this shop is Yaneth Reyes at

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Finished with flowers!


I completed the painting of this restaurant, Isabella's.
The last touches I did on it you see here. I wanted
the spill of flowers off the cart to draw you in. I just
love this little cart and had so much enjoyment painting
it.

I will post the completed image in the next day or so.
The shots I took today were out of focus, so I have to
fix that!

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Up close

Here's a detail of the painting I just posted.
I had many thoughts about what to put on
this chalk sandwich board...like "Buy me"
but thought that too silly. Also could have
said "Special of the day", could have put what
was actually on that board which was "Come
join us for lunch".
I even was toying (not seriously) with the idea
of that blackboard paint you can buy for a wall.
Thought of painting that stuff on the sandwich
board and then the owner of this painting (yet
to appear) can change what it says....
See what comes about in the creative mind?

Friday, August 7, 2009

The latest underway!

Even though I have barely posted anything for some
weeks now, I HAVE been painting. Since the MAJOR
house content sort out that took 6 weeks out of this
summer, I have painted, but not at my usual rate.
This is a piece in progress which will be the centerpiece
for a solo show in September at Frederick Cellars, a
wonderful winery in Frederick, Maryland.
This is a scene in that wonderful town...moments
of pleasure on a weekend afternoon with your loved
ones!
This painting is 30 x 40 inches in size...painted on
canvas.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Rescue



What does a baby bird rescue have to do with the Joy of Art? I guess I would just say that this relates to the art of living. And to see a tiny fragile living thing barely alive, and to rescue it and restore its vitality, well that is art of its own kind.
This little robin owes its life first to my cleaning lady who found it in the street fallen from its high nest, and then to my son who lovingly fed it and placed it in the tree on a bit of towel until its parents started feeding it again. In a few short days, it was able to flutter and fly and so very soon was gone from being close-up in our world....into the large world where we hear many birdsongs around us.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Reappearance!

Where have I been you may wonder! I have been involved in a major project at my home to get things that are left from my dear parent's lives sorted and distributed. It has taken many weeks and a great deal of what I envisioned has now been done.



I have done some painting which I will post soon. But that had to take a back seat while I poured the coals on!

Now I am working to get a great deal done for solo show in September. So not on blog very often yet as you see!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

The last step


Here is what we artists must do after
the piece is completed. Photograph it
for our records and for using in our
promotion materials.

Some of us may be qualified to do a
professional job of it, but here you see
that I am having it done by a professional
instead of doing it myself.

It can be shot indoors with special
color-keyed lights, or in this case, using
the natural spectrum of daylight.

I must say that as a painter, I have
long felt that when I had completed a
work, I was DONE! But there are more
things that one has to consider before one
is truly DONE! This is one of them, and
getting it sold is the next!

Friday, May 22, 2009

Tearoom painting in progress

As you see, I've developed a lot more of this piece
since the previous post. There is a 'feeling' I'm
after in this painting that is what the magic is all
about in art. It is the reason I like original art
on my walls instead of prints. I can feel the magic
from the artist imbedded in the paint. And to my
way of thinking, in a print, you only get the physical
image, not the soul of that artist shared with you
through a magical vibration coming off the paper
or canvas.
There is still LOTS to do with this painting before
it is done.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

"Tearoom" in progress



This is the current state of this painting. You can
see that I have scrubbed thin layers of paint as
I am working out the tones and subtle colors of
this piece. It is always very interesting to see if
what I have been cooking up in my head actually
appears on canvas. So far so good. Stay tuned!

Completed Portrait

This is the completed and accepted portrait.
When one paints for others, and most especially
when it is a portrait, it is a joint affair. One must
please oneself in terms of one's art goals for the
work, but also one must meet what is wanted
by those who commission you to paint. When
both or all parties are satisfied, it is the most
wonderful thing to be an artist.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Cat painting nearly done!


Several posts back, I showed you the sketch on

canvas for this painting. Since then I worked on

it at a demonstration I gave a few weeks ago.

She needs a bit more tweaking with whiskers

added and some attention to the pillow, but then

that is it! What shall I call it? "Here's looking

at you"?!

Portrait close to completion

There is a point when I know I am
almost done with my work. All is now
in place for the final elements which
bring the entire work where I wanted
it to go from the beginning.
This is rather like the last movement
of a symphony when you hear the
various parts of the orchestra bringing
the melody to a crescendo, building to
that point of total focus and feeling.

The sketch and story of 'Tearoom' painting


I have had this painting in my head for a long time.
I took some shots of this tearoom a couple of years
ago and have not been able to get it out of my mind
because of the atmosphere of the place and the
lighting. And because it has in it a sort of timeless
feeling of all the ladies who ever shopped taking time
to sit with each other and chat and share some
delicious sweets while resting their feet!
The photographs are not great, but they serve
me just enough for me to invent what I want it
to be. We'll see how it goes.
It is a rather large painting. I will have to check
the dimensions...but I think it is 28 x 32 or so.
Bigger than the recent ones I have been doing.
Also, the settee at the back just grabbed me as it
was the most unique little piece with wood carved-
inserts. It had as much presence as the people,
maybe more!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

My next portrait!

Here she is yet again! Miss Lucy posing for animal
crackers (as my Dad used to say!). I am considering
doing a calendar for next year with paintings of
Lucy. So here is the beginning of this one...she
is next to an embroidered pillow, in case you are
wondering.
How about commenting for me to let me know
if you think a Lucy calendar is a good idea. Doesn't
everyone love cats (haha!).