Children Ask the World of Us

This election year I’m offering my art for sale to fund the fight against voter intimidation in North Carolina. Unfortunately, efforts to prevent African-Americans from voting are still common, especially in rural areas of the South.

Original watercolor 8″ x 10″ (fits an 11″ x 14″ frame), $225, 100% to fight voter intimidation. Tax deduction available.

The Magic of Watercolor

A unique feature of watercolor is that, if you pre-wet a shape with clear water before the dropping the paint in, the watercolors will run together and mingle. The paint won’t go where the paper is dry, like the spaces between the tree trunks. Only three colors (red, blue and yellow) were used here, but they mingled to create purple and other shades. That’s one of the reasons I love watercolor.

Daffodils

The daffodils are starting to bloom in North Carolina. Can you tell I painted this quickly? The pencil lines of the sketch (which I didn’t always follow) were left. The background was painted after the flowers, including the negative spaces between the stems, and colors were allowed to run together and form “blossoms.” Watercolor is the only medium which can achieve some of these effects.

Joy and Service

Years ago, when we were both volunteering in prison, I gave this quote superimposed on my painting to Don Miller and others. Last week Don wrote to me saying, “That quote has changed my life.  Thank you so much for giving it to me.” He is now reprinting it and giving it to others. Feel free to do the same.

Just Three Colors

My large piece watercolor paper was divided into four rectangles using artist’s tape. Then I chose three beautiful colors — magenta, lavender and Naples yellow — and layered them in various combinations. The layers make new colors including purples and oranges and neutrals. Which colors dominate in each rectangle?

Lots of lines, a bit of color

Here’s a fun exercise to try yourself. Make lines horizontally and vertically down a page, varying the distance between them. Using colored pencils, markers or paint, choose 3-5 colors and color a few (or a lot) of the spaces between the lines. Quite meditative.

And thanks so much for all the positive replies to my plan in 2024 to offer you affordable art to support color-blind non-partisan voter registration in NC.

$65 original, watercolor and waterproof pen, 6″ x 12″. All sales plus $10 postage.

Hearts & Unrealized Dreams

Martin Luther King Day was last week, but here in North Carolina (where we moved from Boston 3 years ago), King’s dream has yet to be fulfilled. If you are a person of color, it can be scary to register and vote: from inconvenient registration hours, to Proud Boys’ pickups trucks near the polls with shotguns in their gun racks. I hope to partner with you this year so that everyone, regardless of skin color or political party, can vote. So each week my art will be for sale and the price will be listed below the painting (+ $10 postage). 100% of the purchase price will go to non-partisan voter registration in NC. Together, let’s ensure the right to vote for all!

Original 4 1/2″ x 7″ watercolor, $75, 100% to non-partisan voter registration.

My New Year’s Resolutions

Loving my New Year’s resolutions, which I’ve nicknamed “SCREL.” S for Spirit: 10 minutes on meditation (on an app), then writing 3 gratitudes + today’s “to do” list. C for Creating something for 10 minutes. R for a couple of minutes of Remembering a past event in detail. E for 30 minutes of Exercise (walking and/or yoga). L for a few minutes of Learning something new (usually on Wikipedia). About an hour total to create a balanced, healthy day! Here’s today’s Creating, which started with a scribble, then stream of consciousness took over.

The Light Reborn

The Christmas star over the manger, the Hannukah miracle of eight days of light, and the winter Solstice rebirth of the sun — all our December HolyDays have a common theme. May the magic of light glow in your heart.

And Sammie hopes you got toys, rather than coal, in your stocking!

Birch Trees

Playing with background colors and shadows on the birch trees. Preserving the trunks while doing the washes in the background was a bit tricky. (Quality prints 8″ x 10″ $60 or 5″ x 7″ $40 will support fighting racial discrimination in voting. Enquire about original.)

Red Amaryllis

In a flash the day after Thanksgiving, the decor of America’s stores changes from orange, to red and green. I love to buy amaryllis bulbs each year and wait for their gorgeous red blossoms to emerge. Mine are just sending up green shoots, but I found my painting from a previous holiday season.

Lemon Slice

As I painted this, I said to myself: Forget the real background or shadow colors of the lemon I’m looking at (this is art, not photography, after all). Since purple is the opposite of yellow on the color wheel, and how can I mix several shades of bluish purple to make the lemon pop?

6″ x 6″ acrylics on archival board.

Frog Pond, Boston Common

Isn’t it fun how a series of casual dots and dashes can suggest a lively populated scene? This sketch was painted on a hot August day, sitting on the grass watching kids splashing in the wading pond on the Boston Common. (The pond becomes a skating rink in the winter.) This took about 15 minutes; sometimes when you’re not trying hard, it’s easier to catch “the magic.”

Mexican Street

My painting was inspired by memories of the colorful buildings in Mexico, and a beautiful painting by Robert Noreixa. Why do North Americans paint our houses such drab colors? In Central America, you’ll find pink, blue and green houses next to each other. I like the diminishing perspective of the buildings and telephone poles and and the loose shapes that portray figures.

Sunflowers in Blue

First, thanks to the many people who wrote last week with their opinions about abstract vs. representational art. A plurality like something they can recognize in a painting; many appreciate pure color and shape, and many others like both. Thanks to those who said they are enjoying the experimentation of my personal art journey.

“Values” is the art term for the darks and lights of a painting, and it is said that the value pattern is more important than color. The challenge of this exercise (for a new class I’m taking) was to make an entire painting with a single color, diluted with more or less water.

Sunflowers from Farmer’s Market. Watercolor, 8″ x 8″, Prussian blue.

Turquoise with Thumbprint

Having never done any art in my life, I took my first watercolor class at age 49 and was hooked. Since them I’ve been mostly a representational artist. But the colors and shapes of abstracts are starting to appeal to me. Do abstracts appeal to you, or do you prefer paintings of things you can identify? I’d be interested in your opinion.

Acrylics with different tools and fingers on 6″ x 6″ board. $75.

Welcome to Fall!

Following the seasons, we left our unheated northern Vermont cottage, stopped in Boston to see old friends and neighbors, and returned to our new home in North Carolina, where it’s no longer in the 90’s every day. 

In Chapel Hill, whether you’re a grad student with a laptop or a woman with a sketchbook, one idyllic place to spend an hour is outside Weaver Street Market.

What is This?

The connection between reality and abstraction is interesting, don’t you think? Often all it takes is to zoom in the camera lens, or crop a photo until you start to see patterns rather than just objects.

Bikes abstracted, watercolor, 9″ x 12″, $150.

Native Flowers

Remember when you were a kid, and your parents had to stop the car to clean the bugs off the windshield? Does that happen to you anymore? Our insect populations are collapsing because we are covering our land with hybridized and imported plants our insects weren’t evolved to eat. Since we depend heavily on insect pollination for food, this threatens what we eat. Here’s an ode to reducing our lawns, no more pesticides, and planting native pollinating plants.

6″ x 6″ board, acrylic paint, pastels and water-soluble crayons. $100

Tide’s In & 50 Years!

My painting was inspired by a visit a couple of weeks ago to the Maine coast, and by a painting at the Portland Museum of Art. And last week Bruce and I were blessed to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary.

Acrylics with a touch of pastel, 6″ x 6″ on museum board.
50th Wedding Anniversary!

Vermont Country Store

Like general stores in many small towns, Willey’s is the heartbeat of Greensboro, Vermont, where our summer cottage is located. At Willey’s you can find just about anything — groceries, hardware, housewares, clothes and shoes. But if you gossip about someone at checkout, be warned that their cousin may be standing behind you in line. I was commissioned to make a painting of the store; they printed my painting on t-shirts, which are worn here by my cousins Bliss and Alan and me.

The Grand in Kids

I haven’t had time to make art this week because our son Andrew’s family has been visiting our family summer cottage in Vermont. Here’s Maggie, age 5, and Jasper, 9 months. Jasper was willing to sit on my lap for a few seconds, before he took off crawling across the grass to chase the doggie.

The Secret to Happiness?

In my Apple newsfeed today is an article (link here) titled, “Could the Secret of Happiness Lie in Being More Grateful?” Then: “According to experts, the act of practicing gratitude (which goes way beyond just saying “thank you,” by the way!) has been shown to have myriad benefits for your mental and physical health—from increasing feelings of optimism and hope to strengthening your relationships, boosting immunity, and even improving sleep.” And:  “Gratitude works to encourage recognition of the sources of goodness as being outside of the self. This requires an appreciation for the contributions of others and external events. In this way, it is an unselfish practice, as the focus of gratitude is on the world around us, on both people and activities—externalities—that are not ourselves.”

This is made of all sorts of stuff, including a chocolate wrapper, which made me especially thankful.

At the Beach

Ah, summer days.

The vantage point of this sketch — lifeguard large, figures small — was a conscious choice. I should have made the two buildings in the upper right lighter, more subdued colors to show they are in the distance.

Hot Dog Vendor

This little painting, based on a photo I saw, is one of my favorites. The style is semi-abstract, based on reality but taking liberties from there.

A Buddhist says to the hot dog vendor, “Make me one with everything.” After getting his hot dog, he hands the vendor a $20 bill. After a minute he says, “Where’s my change?” The hot dog vendor says, “Change must come from within.”

Porter on Red Couch

During my 25+ years painting, I have developed a specialty in pet portraits. I finished Porter last week. In the future, if you are interested in a pet portrait for yourself or as a gift (birthday, anniversary, Christmas), here are details: $195 for a watercolor portrait, from your photo, in an 11″ x 14″ mat. Click “reply” to any art email (which goes right to my inbox) if you have questions.

Greens Everywhere!

Spring is a multitude of greens.

Try this: How many greens can you count in this little painting? Then look outside: how many greens you can count?

Watercolor on Yupo paper. Starting with viridian on the left (a light green) and phthalo green on the right (a dark green), I added different yellows and reds and used varying amounts of water.

Maggie & Me, Textured

Below is this week’s homework for a challenging class I’m taking, making “out of the box” versions of the same image over and over. The assignment was “texture,” and my process was a lot crazier (and more complex) than the ink on rice paper version last week. My steps are explained under the painting.

(1) Traced the image in pen on watercolor paper. (2) Covered most of the image with gesso; dried overnight. (3) Applied watercolor paint and water-soluble crayons to most of image, which stuck unevenly because the gesso has a lot of texture. (4) Applied more gesso (which, when wet, is like glue) over shirts, applied blue tissue paper. (5) When dry, scraped off most of tissue paper with a putty knife.. (6) Applied glitter glue to hair.

Maggie and Me

I painted this just before our household was hit by Covid this week. Mild cases, getting slowly better. Giving thanks for vaccinations and paxlovid.

Maggie, age 3 (now 5), reading with me. India ink on rice paper, applied with dip pen and brush.

Greening Inside

“De-Stress Your Life with a Healthy Green Haven,” read the magazine cover at the supermarket checkout. Since it had been cold and rainy for three days, I drove right to the plant store. An hour later, my credit card was groaning, but my spirits were soaring.