Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. ~Henry Ford There were a few obstacles along the way. Time, distance and injury, among them. (it’s really hard to paint when your dominant arm is in an immobilizing sling) But somehow, despite the obstacles, the goal was accomplished. Canvases […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The world around me is white and gray, but in my classroom at Castleton State College there is COLOR! It was so much fun to guide this group in color exploration, composition and design elements. There were some pretty fantastic results, especially considering that many of the students (first year through senior college students) had […]
People often ask me how long I’ve been an artist… The answer of course, is FOREVER… but how did it start? Perhaps it began in the sandpile, or with a box of crayons or clay from the ditch behind the house. Many long summer hours were spent creating dolls from hollyhock blossoms using my […]