Travel Time

We are headed to Florida for the final 'spring vacation week' with Kathryn and her friend Shauna.  She will graduate soon and has made the decision to attend Bentley University in the fall.  I am so looking forward to this new start for her- the excitement of new places and new friends.  So this week, I may paint a bit but our focus will be on breathing in this final school break with our youngest.

South Beach Beauty

16 x 20 Oil on Stretched Canvas SOLD

I am working to finish pieces I have started or get rid of starts I don't want to work on.  This is one of my favorites that was stalled.  I did this scene in watercolor a while ago with good results.  It captures the Art Deco of the Miami Beach strip on a hot sunny day.  I was drawn to the bright sun and shadow. This feels like a lazy lunch on a great day to me.

Waiting for Spring

 6x6 Oil on Panel

I saw this proud guy outside my sister's window a couple of weeks ago.  So much snow.....and yet she feeds the birds and they gather throughout the day.  A nice splash of color in an otherwise white landscape.

Perfectly Nice Pear Painting

 16 x 20 Oil on Stretched Canvas

In order to gain some momentum again, I decided to finish some starts.  This is one that has been hanging around the studio. I brightened the background, played with some contrasts, etc.  It is a nice painting- I like the interplay now - the warmth of the walls and table against the blues and greens.  I may touch it a bit more, but for now, I am happy with it.  It is bright and sunny and restful.

Early Morning On the Road

8x10 Oil on Panel. SOLD

It is always early morning when I leave my Ohio hometown to head back towards Boston.  The farms are majestic-the long flat fields in a patchwork and the light catching the barn roofs-the mist rising.  That is what I see and sense and feel.  So here's to Ohio, always home.  

Snow Day

24 x 36 Oil on Stretched Canvas

We are in the midst of the second blizzard and the fourth major snow storm in a three week period- SO much snow.  Most of our time these days involves shoveling and staying warm.  But- snow days do have some great aspects that you never experience otherwise- great time together, good food, rest, reading and of course time to create.  I had a wonderful morning in the studio creating this large piece reflecting my impressions of the storms that have come in waves recently.  There is both a violence and a calm- days of stark white and skies of bright blue.  I don't often paint abstracts, but when I do I find them to draw on emotion and to require a different focus and intensity.  Really a great experience.

Florida 6

6x6 Oil on Masonite

Again inspired by Steven Pressfield's book, The War of Art, I decided to show up at the easel and do the work- paint and breathe- play with values, light,heat, hue.  I am headed off to Florida for four days of respite from the heavy snows here.  Ahh....