All That Glistens

All That Glistens   mixed on canvas   24 x 18

I was the student whose reports the teachers hated.  I simply couldn't resist using glitter on the covers of all my book reports.  There was just something magical about the glistening and sparkling that tickled my fancy.  I was too young to think about that glitter that ended us on their coats and in their vehicles.  These days, I use glitter with more discretion....but I still love it.

The dark season needs the glitter of metallic surfaces and the reflections of brilliance off of glass surfaces.  It makes me happy.  And given the number of friends who have a hard time dismantling their Christmas trees, I don't think that I am alone.

The true brilliance, however, comes from the conviviality and love  of all the dear ones coming together to celebrate good food, conversation both serious and silly, enjoyment of nature, hugs and kisses.....from children, grandchildren, friends and the friends of friends.  Our home has glistened brightly....I am replenished with the goodness and love that it takes to begin another year of work and exploration through paint.

Glory be!

Add...subtract...construct...deconstruct...create...Birch Brothers

The Birch Brothers   Watercolor   20.5 x 13

The painting of trees is something that painters do on a regular basis.  Those plein air painters seem to have it down to a science.....the lightest most suggestive trees in the background and gradually more suggestion in the middle and fore-grounds.  Those trees are usually just a part of the story, so their suggestive nature is a given.  Painting a singular tree or grouping is yet another matter, where the story IS the tree....where animation and gesture are oh-so-important.  The tree becomes a figure of sorts.  When we tackled the subject of trees in a current watercolor class, I chose this grouping that I pass daily.  The focal area on the birch bunch was wonderfully manageable.  The upwards cluster of tangling branches not-so.  My goal was, of course, an overall feel of late winter.  Those top branches weren't nearly as important.  Yet the push and pull of branches over and under, branches hidden and viewed, became very difficult as every effort to describe them was just too deliberate.  Addition.  Subtraction.  Construction.  Deconstruction.  Every bit of my work includes all of the above.  It is part of my process.  It is who I am.  A forceful spray from the basement hose (kept carefully away from the focal area) provided the effect I needed as well as the additional bonus of sparkling frost-like texture.  Nothing ventured.  Nothing gained.

The Birch Brothers is the result.