Excess Baggage

Excess Baggage   Watercolor   25.5 x 16

is the result of our classroom challenge of "beauty in the marketplace", which is an offshoot of an earlier challenge of "beauty in the basement".  For me, design is everywhere.  Paintings do not need to be inspired by grand cathedrals or exotic foreign destinations to be interesting.  And, indeed, setting up an interesting still life incorporating design can be aggravating as well as time consuming.  Our goal here was to snap photos in any marketplace...and subsequently to  crop, eliminate, and simplify in order to create a wonderful composition.  Artists chose locations with remarkable variety....the deli counter, the produce market and, for me, the local antiques mall. 

My own work is the product of a fusion of two stacks of suitcases.  The glove was added upon the suggestion of one of the classroom artists and was painted from my very own globe. 

I enjoy painting stacks of things....perhaps an attempt to maintain an illusion of balance, as well as to implicate the precarious nature of things....of life itself. 

Most of the luggage was painted first with raw umber to indicate dark and light patterns.  Glazes of color were added later.  The use of this color, to me, not only implies leather, but also creates the feel of "all things vintage"  A license plate with my husband's initials had to be included.

And as for the title "Excess Baggage"....don't we all have some?  I am using this work to inspire me to travel more lightly, to maneuver my way with less stuff.

Enough Said.

Winter Wood

Winter Wood   Watercolor   27.5 x 15

is a scene I witness almost weekly this time of year, as hiking is a wonderful way to break the monotony of indoor time.  We are lucky to be close to a reservoir which provides the ultimate in a brisk and crunchy bit of exercise and freedom.  I love this scene and can feel myself immersed in pleasure when I have time to participate.  Winter is my favorite season, as I appreciate immensely the solitude and calm that it exudes....dim lighting, bare bones and clinging snow that oppose the warmth of the hearth and kitchen.

This painting was a daunting task.  Several times within the process I thought all was lost.  I continued to push, pull and scrape.  Part of the endeavor was the maintenance of the cherished white particles which are the white of the paper.  Khadi paper provided the texture and gritty quality that I desired.  I am satisfied. 

I am so happy to have completed this work in January as the unexpected warmth this year has presented a completely different view outside my studio windows....tomorrow's high is expected to be 70 degrees.  It feels wrong.

Young Buck

Young Buck   Oil   20 x 16 x 1.5

...is an innocent and hopeful young man.  Without going into detail that would do nothing but stir the alienation pot, let's just say that I am hopeful about the direction of his fate in this unusually charged political climate.  While we are often focused on the equality and fair treatment of women, (I'm all in here), I am also concerned and troubled by the cultural expectations for young men...tender young men.  Strength and sensitivity can coexist.

A Boy.  A Man. A Deer.  A Dear.