Writing. Painting.

"Selfie #1, acrylic on canvas, 18 x 24 

The self-portrait that inspired me

 to begin an entire series of selfies.

The writing that inspired me 

to begin an entire series of stories.

You can read the first one published on this website 

created and moderated by Valley Haggard: 

Life in 10 Minutes

Thank you Valley, for your continued encouragement. 

"Much More"

“You are very pretty.”

My dad and I were in the breakfast room, a soft yellow tiny rectangle of a dark room with one high window, just off the kitchen in a very old house in a very old neighborhood in the small town where my family lived for the 10 most important years of my life. The “formative” years. I must have been about 7 years old. I suddenly felt shy and giddy and loved.

Dad was a handsome man and quite the charmer. His smile lit a room and his laughter and voice came out with a sonic boom, deep and rich. I adored him. I danced with him standing on his shoes, I (along with my baby sister) lost countless games of Monopoly, Go Fish and Concentration to him. I watched him work at his watch bench and in his garage electronics lab. I wanted to be him. 

“Show me how to use the oscillator, Daddy.” 

“No.”

“But why?”

“Because you are a girl.” 

I pouted as I left the garage and went back into the house to complain to my Mama. My young self was furious. I loved science and math and Dad had so many gadgets and experiences. I studied his flight manuals and books on weather when he learned to fly. He had his own plane! But I got airsick. 

LIfe took me on a path to becoming a teacher of art. A painter. An artist. A far cry from the scientist I thought I might like to be. The veterinarian I couldn’t be because of the blood and the cutting. 

And yet, there is so much about art that suits my geeky brain. Chemistry! which I nearly flunked in high school, fascinates me now as applied to color. I paint dogs and animals, the things I love and  once thought I’d help save. I still teach, which means I must continue to learn. 

Recently I began a series of self portraits. Not so flattering, up-close facial expressions. The reaction to them has been universal. 

“But, you are so pretty. Why would you do that?”

Because. 

Because I am much, so much, more. 

Little Bit of Everything

Is what this post is about.  

We'll start with Eugene.  He's doing amazingly well after having a laryngeal tie-back procedure.  It was that, or watch him suffocate to death, which he nearly did during a vacation week back in August.  We still have some issues to deal with, but he's looking better than he has in the last two years.  He's doing so well with oxygen in his system, he began shedding and growing new hair like crazy! My floors are entirely covered in hairballs these days.  Yay.  

While on the subject of furkids, the other three are just fine.  Gregory will soon be one and is the tallest dog I've ever had.  He can sprint off of the deck to the back of our lot in about 3 seconds.  Astounding sight to see him run and dance around the trees for squirrels.  Gabby is oddly now the calmest creature in our household.  What a difference a year makes!  Sassy cat is still fighting inflammatory bowel disease, but we've found her stabilization point.  We don't know how she'll continue to do, but she hangs in there.  

This is a collage, print and paint self portrait.  I joined an Air Mail Journaling group, with Kimberly Kelly Santini, this summer.   I thought it would be a great way for me to segue back into creating, since it was out-of-the-box for me, fairly inexpensive overall and I thought I'd have time. (plus I really love Kimberly's work and her enthusiasm about everything art.)  OK, 2 out of 3 correct, but the time thing just didn't work out.  So I'm about 3 months behind (and thankfully am finding out I'm not alone!) but I AM determined to complete the assignments.  Best of all I WANT to complete them, because when I get going, it's a lot of fun.  (and yessss, I did make myself look prettier and younger because, I can. It's my mermaid look)

Lastly, a gift of two drinking jars.  At the beach. From my friend and pal, Lynne. (Do you know how hard it is to FIND a jar with a lid and a handle?)  A perfect way to end a summer filled with unforeseen challenges as well as new beginnings.  

Coming Up

The 43rd Street Festival of the Arts is Saturday, September 25 from 10 - 5.  I plan to be there and it is a rain or shine event.  This is another of my favorite shows to do.  Although small, the quality of work is outstanding and I'm just tickled to be included.  

I sent out my email newsletter this morning, but aol addresses are kicking them back to me.  So if you are a friend, fan or client and want me to keep in touch, please be sure my email address is in your address book.  Of course if you DON'T want me to send you newsletters, let me know that, too.  


On a similar note, because I have a website (in addition to this) my email address has been and continues to be phished by spammers.  That means you may possibly receive an email from my address that is quite obviously spam.  If so, it did NOT come from my address book, nor did I sell or share your information.  "They" have even spammed me with my own address.  Which is how I know this happens.  And why aol, among other servers, tends to kick back group emails. 

It's been hectic lately, but I'll hopefully see some of you soon. 

A New Direction

I've been wanting for a long time to move on to new ways of painting.  I've taken tentative steps in the past, through classes and experimenting, but it felt like I had pieces to a puzzle and they didn't all fit.  Now it's like I'm collecting pieces and eventually they'll all make a whole. 

Here is a piece I began painting at my Plant Zero studio last week.   I try to keep a painting going for students and visitors to see.  A client / fan / collector posted on her Facebook page a photo of her dogs' legs intertwined, which I fell in love with.  So I asked permission to paint using her image. 


I love this for the composition mostly.  And because it's a great way to move into more abstract paintings while doing what I know.  I plan to keep this looser than my usual work and hope it becomes a little more painterly.  Let's see how it goes.  

Catching Up

Whew.
I finally can take a little breather and get back to a normal pace. ( I actually went shopping for a jacket on Thursday. I haven't shopped for clothes since last spring! )
The past two weeks have been non-stop working, among other things. But much was accomplished, in spite of losing one client and praying a sick family member would pull through after an unexpected surgery. I'm no different than anyone else; sometimes we just get busy and work on overload. But it always passes.

Our Fetch a cure pup named "Puptart" had her debut last night at the Fetching Art Show held at the Glave-Kocen Gallery in Richmond. ( Thank you Jennifer and BJ for offering your wonderful gallery space to benefit Fetch a Cure)
Here she is in the studio the night before delivery. Those are puptreats from the Three Dog Bakery on the side. Three Dog is our pup sponsor.
Thank you to Alicia who designed the pup and to Mike for helping us with the chalkboards ( not pictured here) that accompany the pup.

Anyone on my client wait list and e-mail newsletter list knows that every May and September I participate in various art shows. Which means I spend much of April and August working on new paintings in addition to the commission work I do. I completed 3 new paintings ahead of time for the Fetching Art Show last night ( which was a fabulous exhibit of 12 artists who have various takes on animals in art). It helped that those 3 pieces all started as demonstrations for classes and workshops. So I'm back in the studio for commission work this weekend and back to photo shoots this month. I didn't say things came to a halt; just that it's return to normal. I'll also work on a new batch of my smaller square pieces for the spring shows. Here's one painting finally complete that you may recognize from previous blog entries. The title is "On the Tip of My Tongue"

What a Week

With no new posts this past week, you can figure it was packed busy.

Here is Miss Vegas, bone included. At least one painting was completed this week. Another 5 or so on the easels and a pup for Fetch A Cure is in progress, with co-conspirator Alicia Zatcoff. Some pics will be forthcoming, but no complete pics until the official unveiling.

Upcoming posts will be short and sweet, as my fingers are needed in the studio.

Demonstration Progress

These images show the progress of the painting I began as a demonstration for the Eastern Shore Art League last week, prior to a one day workshop.
The beginning sketch can be found on an earlier blog.


This one is the first layer of color - mostly reds and yellows, with some blue as a second layer beginning to cover the red. I intended to do a blue dog, and I like red underneath to make the blue richer and deeper in the dark areas.

This is adding more blue, bringing up details.

Here I have decided I liked the red instead of the blue.
But the background green was too dark.
Although I like the effect of that dark green
under this cobalt teal and brilliant blue mixture.

MARCH 3 - more randomness

We have a wonderland of white outside; nine inches of snow fell in our backyard between Sun. and Mon. The pics are Monday a.m. and the sky is still gray.

Here's more about the collaboration between my studio partner Mike and me:
I was invited by a dear, supportive friend ( Wayne, who co-owns Riverview Gallery in Portsmouth VA) to participate in a show he planned to title "Collaboration." The only stipulation was that more than one artist had to have their hand in each piece. So I invited two artists to join me. One was not available, but Mike was and eager to give it a go. So, we each eventually began with a large canvas ( 30 x 48) and started with whatever we wanted. Mine was going to be a dog. His turned
out to be his dog. We each did our own preliminary sketches.

Then the fun began. This pic is what mine was originally planned to be : two panels, each 24 x 30.
Things did change. And I need to get into the studio. Stay tuned.