Ritual

Ritual oil/canvas 30 x 24 2 1.5 The scenery is beautiful but quickly forgotten. The faces of those cutting the trees meld into one. And, each year, the tree is the best ever. The ritual of the "bringing in of the tree" is the thing. The evergreen (EVER GREEN) presence in the midst of the cold and dark season is so welcome. As per my usual process, background pieces were painted in then painted over...roof lines, piles of snow, and fences. What remained, I think, is the essence of the ritual. Joyful blue. Ever-green. And, of course, whites, both cool and warm. I am pleased.

The News: A Wiggly Tooth

The News: A Wiggly Tooth oil/canvas 14 x 11 x .5 This painting is the second of two painted from Facetime photos of our granddaughter. The joy, the unbridled enthusiasm of a seven-year-old cannot be equalled! It saddens me to think of how tainted we have become...how our notion of "news" shared with a friend becomes overblown and always, semmingly, escalating to our culture's notion of importance. I long for this simple joy...and I am grateful of her sharing.

S Has News

S Has News oil/canvas 14 x 11 x .5 A facetime call from an enthusiastic 7-year-old granddaughter is a superb gift anytime....during the virus lockdown, it is a lifeline. Our prescious dear one called one day with news....I was all ears....and all eyes, as I snapped several facetime photos from which to paint!

Patchwork Mitten

oil/canvas 14 x 11 x .5 The subject for our class challenge was "feeling cold". Painting a mitten made by a dear friend of recycled woolen sweaters became a project dear to me. The challenges were many...painting a single mitten? ...and being able to suggest the kind of fabrics and textures involved without painting stitch by stitch...and to create balance within the picture plane without a given setting, or background. It took many passes...creating and destroying. This is my final solution. It has a feeling of whimsy, which is not really within my cache of emotional responses. I am happy. Why not paint a single mitten? If Wayne Thibaud can paint candied apples, cupcake and gumball machines, why can't I find the beauty and charm in such a simple subject?

Totem

Totem oil/canvas 16 x 12 x .5 Like many grandparents, we have been sorely missing our dear ones during the pandemic. Technology saves the day with Facetime! Our children have been terrific about keeping in touch. We find ourselves caressing the screen as if to touch them. I have been snapping shots of them during these conversations, at first just to grace my computer and phone screens. My work had been uninspired since the beginning of the lock-down and I found myself lethargic....when, in the past, there were more subjects presenting themselves to my brain than I had time to paint. So.................I decided to paint a series of portraits taken during Facetime chats. The lighting is poor....and the pose is conversational rather than relaxed. "Totem" is the first of these. It is also inspired by the wonderful totem photos that my partner takes....this involves taking beautiful landscape or lakeside reflective photos and rotating them 90 degrees to convey a Rorschach-like image, sometimes scary but always interesting. My goal here was to let the images melt into the totem-like-effect, allowing a bit of freedom in the interpretation. This is very difficult when the subjects are your dear ones. And so, perhaps I was a bit timid in this portrayal, but I am happy.