Mixed Bouquet

A work of art is a corner of creation seen through a temperament.
Emile Zola

My critic brought me a huge bouquet of flowers the other day ~ the inspiration for this painting. While I usually labor over each stroke I thought I would attempt a more impressionistic style this time. This initial painting certainly went much faster than starting with a detailed drawing. There's still much to be done here but I am enjoying the process very much ~ it's a nice alternative to the current work I'm doing in the Sunflowers. These flowers look nothing like the flowers sitting on my kitchen counter. As a matter of fact, I didn't even bring the bouquet into the studio. I just painted the beauty of the gift of them that was in my mind's eye. They made me happy.

Hats

Fashion can be bought. Style one must possess.
Edna Woolman Chase

While I may agree with the above statement, it's my opinion that certain fashion trends do lead to a greater presence of style. Take hats, for example. Hats always make one more stylish, or more mysterious, or more sexy, or more sophisticated, or more demure. How sad that they are no longer part of our everyday attire. I've, therefore, decided to do a series of drawings of hats from the 1920's just because I wish I had a closet full of them.

Simplicity

Most of us think ourselves as standing wearily and helplessly at the center of a circle bristling with tasks, burdens, problems, annoyances, and responsibilities which are rushing in upon us. At every moment we have a dozen different things to do, a dozen problems to solve, a dozen strains to endure. We see ourselves as overdriven, overburdened, overtired. This is a common mental picture and it is totally false. No one of us, however crowded his life, has such an existence. What is the true picture of your life? Imagine that there is an hour glass on your desk. Connecting the bowl at the top with the bowl at the bottom is a tube so thin that only one grain of sand can pass through it at a time. That is the true picture of your life, even on a super busy day. The crowded hours come to you always one moment at a time. That is the only way they can come. The day may bring many tasks, many problems, strains, but invariably they come in a single file. You want to gain emotional poise? Remember the hourglass, the grains of sand dropping one by one.
James Gordon Gilkey

At the beginning of the yoga classes I take, we are always reminded to live in the moment ~ to be aware of our breath. In other words, to keep it simple. That's what I try to do in some of my paintings. It's not that I'm tired of the sunflowers ~ really. This painting has been sitting in the corner of my studio for quite a while now ~ almost finished ~ and today just seemed like a good day to slow down and appreciate the simplicity and beauty of one small sugar bowl.

The Backward Glance 6

The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that's the essence of inhumanity.
George Bernard Shaw


The above quote by George Bernard Shaw captures exactly the message I want this painting to convey. The man is obviously totally unaware that the woman's mind and heart are somewhere else. You can read it in his stance ~ this guy has got bigger fish to fry than to bother with her. And you can also read her dilemma in her stance. She's wrestling ~ should I stay or go?

Today I added more shadows to the clothing and drapes, tightened up some edges and worked a little more on her face. Next time I'll give more depth to the sky and more texture to the wall. And then there's that pesky floor!

An Italian Villa

No house should ever be on a hill, or on anything. It should be of the hill. Hill and house should live together, each the happier for the other.
Frank Lloyd Wright

I think Mr. Wright would have been very happy with how the architect worked with the builder in placing this house within nature. We were walking on the path on the left hand side of the painting when we turned the corner and saw this beautiful, old home. Anyway, I posted about this painting back in the end of April. The original house is stucco and actually resembles more of the right hand side of the painting. Even though it's a beautiful building I thought it needed a little more interest so I made the left side appear more rough. I had intended to come back and do the same to the right side but have decided that I like the contrast. Wonder who lives there.

Sunflowers7

The painting rises from the brushstrokes as a poem rises from the words. The meaning comes later.
Joan Miro


I'm not complaining about how long this painting is taking ~ I'm really not. There's just so much to see here and so many details to fuss over. There are a few places that I've barely begun to address and others that I've spent a lot of time on. I think it's really starting to pop now which is really fun to see. Slowly, slowly, brushstroke by brushstroke, it's coming to life. And, I'm enjoying it's company more and more.

White Tulilps 7

Rembrandt painted about 700 pictures ~ of these, 3,000 are in existence.
Wilhelm Bode

Today I spent quite a bit of time on the White Tulips ~ deepening the shadows, tightening up the edges, and painting the red apple and ribbon. I am still nervous with watercolor. Oils are just so much more forgiving. Last week when I organized my studio, I gessoed over a couple of old oil paintings that just weren't going anywhere. Maybe that's where Rembrandt's 2,300 paintings are ~ under the ones hanging in museums around the world. Anyway, that's not an option with a watercolor. Once something is put down, it's there for good. At times, I find the process tedious, at other times, it's almost like meditating.

On My Drawing Board

It is dangerous to let the public behind the scenes. they are easily disillusioned and then they are angry with you, for it was the illusion they loved.
W. Somerset Maugham

Whenever I show my work to people inevitably I hear comments such as "Oh, how do you do that? I can't even draw a straight line." Or "you must have been born knowing how to draw." Or "I'd love to be able to draw but I just don't have any talent." Well, while I'm flattered that some people may think I have talent, it's my belief that everybody can draw. Maybe some can draw better than others ~ but everybody can draw. The problem is most people don't have the patience to do it. To get the basic proportions down for this new drawing of a sailor took me well over an hour. This is the critical part ~ getting the shape and form down on paper. There aren't that many lines involved. One has to spend the time carefully measuring distances and judging critically for correct placement Without this foundation the drawing won't be successful. But once done properly the rest of the drawing flows easily. Then it just becomes a matter of getting the right tones down to create depth. There's no secret to a good drawing ~ it just needs to be coddled.

On My Easel

Have a place for everything and keep the things somewheres else. That is not advice, it is merely custom.
Mark Twain

Since two of the five original projects I began for this blog are now finished, I have decided to start posting some of the other things I am working on. This is a small painting of a canal in Venice. I am (was) working from a photograph of an old etching. Last week I spent a couple of days cleaning out and organizing my studio ~ right down to sharpening every pencil. Today when I went to my source file the photograph I needed wasn't there. Oh well, since the etching was, of course, in black and white I was on my own for the color anyway. One of my art teachers told me that it's really important to get the basics on the canvas right off the bat so if you lose what you're working from it won't matter that much. I guess he read Mark Twain too.

The Backward Glance 6

When women go wrong, men go right after them.
Mae West


The above quote has little to do with the work I did today except maybe I think she's about to "go wrong." I started putting in the facial features and have decided to make it appear as if she's making eye contact with the viewer. As you stand looking at the painting the idea is to feel as if you are the one she's communicating with ~ you're the one that's in on the secret. To add to that feeling of mystery, I'm working on making the draperies even darker and heavier. I want the viewer to feel as if he's standing in the shadows having just arrived at the most awkward moment and yet unable to look away.

The painting of the bouquet is something I've been working off and on for awhile and have just finished. It's a small canvas ~ 8" x 10" ~ and was a nice change to work on when I would get tired of wrestling with the big canvas I'm using for The Backward Glance.

Sunflowers 6

In creating, the only hard thing's to begin; a grass -blade's no easier to make than an oak.
James Russell Lowell


I'm pretty sure there's a kazillion pedals in this painting and I'm happy with maybe two of them. That said, painting each one ~ teasing out its shape and form, giving it depth, mixing just the right color ~ brings me so much joy. Lowell's observation implies that a blade of grass is every bit as complicated and miraculous as an oak tree. He's got that right! I don't know how many more hours I will put into this painting ~ it's one of those that are really difficult to look at and say "Done!" ~ but, that's okay. The hard part's finished ~ I began it.

White Tulilps 6

Until I saw Chardin's painting, I never realized how much beauty lay around me in my parents' house, in the half-cleared table, in the corner of a tablecloth left awry, in the knife beside the empty oyster shell.
Marcel Proust

These pieces of fabric came out of my old quilting bin ~ the flowers are artificial bought at a craft store ~ and the vase is an old milk bottle we found in the attic of our old house in Baltimore. Nothing fancy or expensive here. But when I look at this painting, it reminds me of happy hours at my sewing machine, shopping trips with my sister, and the house where I raised my girls. To me it's one of the most beautiful paintings I've done so far even though there's still quite a bit left to do. That's what a piece of art should do ~ speak to your heart.