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.

One God

Easter, Passover and Ramadan were all celebrated last week. The peace we all yearn for would be closer if we realized how much Christianity, Judaism and Islam have in common. Quick videos to learn more: How is Ramadan celebrated by the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims? Link (3 min.) What do Christianity, Judaism and Islam have in common? Link (6 min.).

Sketching in a Bakery

Draw the moving parts first. I sketched this woman quickly, but once she left with her scones there was plenty of time for the bakery cases and signs. Avoiding facial features makes life a lot easier.

Sketching Road Work

It’s fun and meditative to sketch everyday scenes. If your subject is stationary, you can sketch from life. But if people or vehicles are moving, it helps to snap a photo. I usually start an outline in pen and pencil, and then add watercolor.

Why Watercolor?

Many people who paint with oils and acrylics — which are easy to correct — find watercolor intimidating. Watercolor’s virtues are portability, ease of setup, lack of fumes or toxicity, and the translucence of the white paper shining through. The magic (and frustration) of watercolor is that when two wet areas touch, the paint flows between them. Wet paint is attracted to other wet areas, but it won’t go into dry areas. Here, after painting the top half, I “painted” the bottom half with clean water and let the paint do its thing.

Taking Liberties with Reality

One thing you learn, after you do art for awhile, is that no lightning bolt will strike you dead if you paint something different from what you are actually seeing. This pepper was all red, but it was much more fun to drop a variety of colors into it. Do you notice the colors in the shadow?

Zion National Park

This week I went back through my old photos from our 2007 trip to Utah to visit the National Parks. One photo captured my attention, and I finished painting it barely in time for my weekly email to go out at 5:00 today (Monday). There are only two colors — brown madder (red/brown) and cerulean (turquoise) — in varied combinations, plus a little green and yellow for the trees.

I’m starting a series of Affordable Originals. This watercolor original is 9″ x 12″, fits a standard 11″ x 14″ frame, $100 with free shipping.

Living Our 2023 Resolutions

So far I’ve been faithful to my two New Year’s resolutions: eat one more vegetable or fruit a day, and at least 10 minutes of painting. Ten minutes is enough time to sketch figures, paint color swatches, or watch a “how do” video on YouTube. Being creative — taking an unusual photograph, writing a few lines — can be a “moment of delight.” If we forget a day, or a week — hey, it’s still 2023!

Happy 2023!

Many of us make resolutions about our health. My ambitious resolutions never seem to last, so I’ve set more modest ones: 3 fruits/vegetables a day (rather than 2), and 10 minutes of sketching a day. What are your 2023 resolutions?