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 […]
Arts Benefits Over the years I have created many works of art to benefit various causes: hospitals, art associations, schools, libraries. Because I get so many requests I have had to become very selective about the places where I donate. I wish that weren’t the case, but along with every other artist, I’m frequently asked […]
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 […]
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 […]
It’s bitter cold in Vermont and across the continent. But we humans are not the only ones afflicted. The heron in the photo below fell out of the sky in the forest behind my sister-in-law’s house two days ago. Temperature- minus 5′, more or less. When the beautiful bird couldn’t get back into the air, […]
LAST WEEK when we were hiking at Tsankawi Ruins in the Jemez Mountains, I heard flocks of cranes flying above us. It’s a very different sound, a chorus of croaking, chortling, rattley, raspy calls… quite unmistakable. (The Forest service says that “Both the males and females make a rattling “kar-r-r-r- o-o-o” sound.”) As soon as […]
Georgia O’Keeffe painted Pedernal many times. Her presence dominates this valley, just as the the mountain itself oversees her home of many years at the Ghost Ranch. Ms. O’Keeffe is quoted as saying: “God said if I painted it enough, I could have it.—Georgia O’Keeffe. She was talking about Pedernal. Her ashes were scattered on […]
Have you ever suddenly discovered a simple act that makes your life immensely easier? A no-brainer that you should have figured out years ago? For instance, when I finally figured out (after YEARS of working with pen and ink with students of all ages) that if I used a little masking tape to secure the […]
Yesterday we took a drive to Glens Falls, NY to visit the Hyde Collection. It was a perfect New England summer day. Our mission was to mail a small original painting to Utah, and to send a giclée print on canvas of Raven Nest to Maine, then see to the show. The Hyde Collection is […]