Blog

Fall is the season for second acts, runners up, late bloomers. Everyone gets a chance to shine. I can relate to these trees. [...]

We long for warmth in these months, and those warm touches in a winter scene attract the eye and warm the soul. I search for gesture and movement in the branches, patterns in the light filtering through. The less I can say, the more imply in these scenes the better. [...]

As always happens with series, each new painting teaches me more about the subject. I discover ways to create depth, I notice new color shifts, and begin to see how to simplify. In my experience, new iterations don’t beget repetitiveness; rather, they branch out in different directions and inspire new ideas. [...]

The study of a master work puts the observer in the head of another artist, which cannot help but change one’s perspective. And a fresh perspective is one of the most valuable ways to learn. [...]

Yesterday, small new frames in hand, I headed to the basement with a special kind of treasure in mind. I was looking for fresh work, or more accurately, fresh eyes. Sometimes all it takes to discover treasure lurking under your nose is a fresh perspective and a willingness to repurpose. [...]

Traveling with painters, and painting while you travel allows for a thicker appreciation of an area. We come away with visceral memories: warm yellows, the smell of lavender and rosemary, the hum of insects, the chatter of a cafe. [...]

Wow--just discovered a new technique and I'm in love.  You know all those tiny piece of pastel that you can barely hold onto anymore but hate to throw away?  Turns out you can give them new life, and have fun doing it.   About this time every year I get the urge to take stock and organize my studio.    This year, I ordered several new Ikea dinner trays to accommodate my ever-growing pastel collection (pictured above)*.  As I cleaned and arranged my pastels I picked out the little stubs and shards too small to manage and collected them into piles of like colors and [...]

Instead of following a map, I had to just start looking and listening and responding to what I saw. What a discovery: I became much more attuned to my senses, noticed colors, edges, shapes throughout the painting process in a way I don't always--because I am thinking about where I'm going, not where I am now. [...]

In the studio I love working large, but when I’m outside I must scale down, and—despite my fabulous surroundings—I seem to forget every time that I would do much better to scale down my focus as well. Paying attention to where my interest really lies, and allowing myself to start again and take the time to develop my focus carefully gives me a more manageable, more exciting composition, and a better result. [...]

Sometimes I love a painting right from the start, and send it joyfully into the world. And then again sometimes a painting will seem to linger, leaning uncertainly against my studio wall. Here’s the story of how I gained perspective on one recent painting. By literally giving it the brush off, I discovered its true beauty. [...]