No photograph, but wanted to share

Yesterday I started a class with 5 students
called 'Critique and Discussion'. Five students
was the maximum number I thought would
work well. And it did! Very well.

Each person spoke about their background
in art, starting with their childhood endeavors.
It was fascinating to hear how each one had
been affected by their family and environments.
BUT what was even more interesting was that
each one had this nugget of interest in creating
art in place from an early age and it was not
because of anyone else, but was their own
possession, if you will. Their family and
environment affected them, but still, it was
theirs to begin with.

Then we all participated in critiquing the art
they brought for that purpose. The spirit of
help and interest was fabulous. I am looking
forward to next week and more of this high-
level experience!

Maybe I'll even have a photograph for you!

The show!

Here are two shots of the recent show

done together with my sister who

designs and makes jewelry. It was

a good show for us both and we were

happy to see the return of some folks

as well as new people to our show.

Here you have a shot of some of my

sister's display area and then a work

in progress on my easel.

Small painting of beach bunny!

This is my definition of sun-kissed

sweetness! What a darling girl,

daughter of a friend of mine. I was

with them all at the beach and this

is one of my favorite shots of that

lovely week.

Oil painting on panel 5" x 7"

It's in the show coming up!

Small painting of wicker chair

This pretty old wicker chair is in a house on the

grounds of Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania.

Have a seat in the lovely surroundings...its from

a time gone by, but I think it evokes something

quite special and relaxing which perhaps the

viewer will experience when looking at this piece.

5" x 7" oil on panel. "The Wicker Chair"

Small painting of Butterfly #2

I took a lot of photos of my tree hydrangea and so

have a lot of great material to paint. Here is yet

another one. The way I would shoot these photos

is that I would drive into my driveway and be very

close to the flowering branches. They were loaded

with bees and all manner of flying insects and

butterflies. It was a great vantage point to get

the pictures.

By the way, my son tells me that this is an

Eastern tiger swallowtail!

It is also another 5" x 7" on a panel.

All of these small paintings will be in my upcoming

show, but if you are interested in any of them,

contact me. They are $175 plus s & h.

They take 4 - 6 hours to do, plus varnishing and

framing! Frames are included by the way.

Small painting of southwest scene

When I visited Arizona some time ago, I was

delighted with the crispness of shadows that

were so strong they were almost objects in

themselves.

This is another small work I did recently -

5" x 7" on a panel. Oil and alkyd paint.

My sister's jewelry

Just a small sampling of my sister's beautiful

work that she designs and makes.

Small painting of small child!

Thank you all for sending me your

wonderful email comments about

these small paintings. I really appreciate

it very much. Now to get you to comment

ON the blog itself! Please! Help!

This darling child was listening to

music not far from her parents.

It was a lovely setting at Longwood

Gardens on a perfect summer day.

I love her little chubby hand on the

stone wall and her fuzzy fine hair

which her mom had in a sort of up-do!

5" x 7" Oil painting on panel.

Small painting-Butterfly #1

This summer my tree hydrangea was visited by

so many lovely winged creatures. Here is one of

them. I had so much fun painting this I had to

do two more.

5' x 7' alkyd painting on panel.

I hope some of you who have seen these small

works will post your comments as well as sending

me your lovely emails!

Thank you so much for your interest and support

of my artistic endeavors.

Small painting of gate

I'm hoping to dazzle you all with my many small

paintings for my upcoming show at my studio!

I did this subject years ago in watercolor. I recently

looked at the photo and fell in love with it all

over again. It was fun to do it with oil/alkyd paint

and to use a painting knife for some of the effects

on the gate posts. The color subtleties are quite

challenging, but interesting.

(The spelling of 'subtleties' is the same!)

Remember you can click on the image to see the

details!

Again, this is a 5" x 7" panel and I think I have to

call it "Williamsburg gate". Any other ideas?

Small work - Bench and sprinklers

Here's another of my latest paintings. Again, it's

5" x 7" and on a panel. This one is mostly oil paint,

not alkyd. I had started it a while ago, but just

completed it recently doing the water reflection

effects. Fussy work, but I love it. I think this

painting took as long as any of them. Getting that

bench right was a challenge!

This is a bench in front of the DeYoung Museum

in San Francisco. Quite a fantastic building.

Small painting of fuschia

This is yet another of my recent small works.

I keep photographs of many things I see in life and

on such occasions as painting a whole series of small

works, I get them out and go for it!

I enjoy the use of complementary colors such as

the orange-blue combination you see here.

This is 5" x 7" on a panel and is an alkyd painting.

Now thatI am down to the wire on time, I

incorporate the use of alkyd paint. It dries much

faster than oil because of the medium used to

make the paint. But in all other respects it is the

same as oil paint.

Small painting of crystal glass

I have been trying for days to find the

photos I took of my small paintings!

Today I did and here is one of them.

This is a 5 x 7 inch oil painting.

The middle background section is

actually silver oil paint which I use

now and then very sparingly.

For those of you who

may think silver or gold paint is what

you use to show reflections, it isn't!

The top part of the background is

actually really black, though it is

hard to photograph it to look that

way because of light that bounces

off the surface.

I think I'll call it 'Crystal Beauty'.

What do you think?

Never showed you this one

While I am working away at my small pieces and trying to

get them to post to this blog (issues with my program to

upload them), I am showing this commissioned piece.

This is a work in acrylic. It is 3 feet by 5 feet. I had so much

fun with it. I did it on unstretched canvas so I could roll it up

and ship it to Texas where it now resides. It was stapled on

a strip of wood that hung on a few nails. This was important

because some of what I did to it needed to be done on the

floor. And some of what I did to it was done on the wall.

With that system that I devised, I could easily take it off and

put it back on the wall as I worked on it back and forth.

I look forward to your comments!

Where have I been?

Hello everyone,

I have been painting so much since my last post that I haven't shown up here to show you what I am doing. Soon however, you will see. I finally got my latest small works and my camera together. Twenty one in all with eight of the last of them in various stages of completion.

It is a joyous thing, painting is.

I paint subjects and images that make me happy to see. And then to paint them gives me the pleasure all over again! See?

I choose to focus on what I love about Life and to depict it for others to enjoy as well. Hopefully they are inspired to do their own looking for Life's beauties and pleasures.