Sports players are renowned for their rituals. Baseball players who never wash their hats? Octopus carcasses thrown onto the ice at hockey games? (major yuck & sad!) Nascar drivers who shy away from peanuts in the shell? People are strange. Creative and highly accomplished folk of all sorts have rituals too. Winston Churchill woke at […]
I’ve been to California many times, wandering on pebble and sand beaches with seals and seagulls; reveling in deliciously lush and diverse gardens; marveling at mountain and ocean vistas. I’ve watched the fog roll in and then roll out. The wild places in California are truly a magical. I was pleased and honored to receive […]
Earlier in the fall I received a request. A friend asked me to paint a bluebird surrounded by apple blossoms for her mother, who was undergoing treatment for cancer. There was urgency because her mother was at a pivotal point in her treatments. My own mother loved birds. Many of my childhood hours were spent […]
A few years ago I was invited (as a community leader?) to give a presentation to a regional group of several hundred women. It was quite an honor to be asked. I just re-read my presentation, and thought I would share it here. What I wrote is about life and art and moving forward against […]
It’s all about the light. Light forms my world. It visually defines the shapes of things, tells me the time of day, sets the tone and mood of the hour and gives me cause for celebration and wonder at sunrise and sunset. In art it’s all about light. Whether it’s dance, drama, photography, poetry, painting […]
I used to have a bumper sticker that said “Why be normal?” It’s a question I used to ask myself. But I don’t worry about it anymore. This may be the most abnormal painting I’ve ever done- It started with two long rectangular boards, which I prepared with several sanded coats of gesso. That’s normal. […]
Once, while camping in the desert in Utah, I was surprised by a full lunar eclipse. The night was so bright that I could literally read a book by moonlight. The canyon walls were sandstone-warm, and red even in the semi-darkness. Somehow, despite the fact that we were all quite attuned to such celestial and […]
Let’s face it. Paint is expensive. Whether you’re using watercolor, oil, acrylic or gouache… or whatever might be your medium of choice, every artist wants to squeeze the very last drop from each tube. Color is not something you want to waste. For years I struggled with pesky paint tubes trying to squeeze out the […]
Recently I had an fortunate/unfortunate experience in the process of selling a large canvas. (Well, 4′ x 4′- not that large.) Having someone fall in love with the painting and take it to a new, happy home was great. A successful sale was great. But one of the stretcher bars had warped. Not so […]
Mindfulness is a trendy term right now… But for the best of reasons. Just thinking of mindfulness I find myself taking a deep breath. Slowing down. Noticing details. Feeling more calm, more focused. It was even on the cover of Time Magazine this week. I believe in it most thoroughly, though I may not always […]