Wichita, Kansas received a gift late in 2024 and that was a Barnes and Noble bookstore on the west side of town. I personally have waited for this to happen since 2014. It only took ten years.
One of my first purchases, besides a grande size cafe peppermint mocha, was this beautiful book by Maira Kalman. I adore her illustrations in ALL of her books and this one is now my new favorite. If you look through the book and then start going through all the bits and pieces you can find about her on the internet, you may just find yourself wishing you could go out to lunch with her like I do.
This video says it all, in my opinion, about her, and her art, and her writing. I am going to go live now while you watch this video titled How to Find Humor in Life's Absurdity. Take care.
Two years ago I was visiting the Nelson Atkin's Museum in Kansas City, Missouri and saw The Record Player by Karl Hoger. I was very moved by it, so later on I made my version of it and infused it with memories of spending hours and hours listening to records and with a love of painting intimate interiors and shadows and light. I think my version is a little bit more joyful, but given the time he lived in, it's easy to see why his is a bit dark.
This is my newest painting and it is based on an old photograph from a very large collection a friend gifted me years ago. I pull them out from time to time to use as inspiration and this one in particular is a new favorite. The photograph has so much power and I found myself haunted a bit by the souls reflected in the image. I want to know more about them.
The inspiration led me to make a "Painting and Poetry" video for my YouTube channel. Here is the short video with a poem I wrote. The poem is also called Mama Had Strength. I hope you enjoy it.
Mama Had Strength
Her eyes buried deep within their sockets
Dark circles like a trodden path from the footprints of the past
Life had hit hard, and fast, and it was cruel at times
Yet, look at her again
There is a sparkle of joy in her eye, and a slight upturn of her lips
There is power in the grip of the tissue that holds her tears
I know this power because it was witnessed by my brothers and sisters and I
I drove to Peck, Kansas yesterday, a small town not far. I was on the search for colors and textures and I found so many. Here are a few from the trip. I always find myself wishing I could plop a blanket down in the middle of a field and just take it in for a while. Maybe take a nap while listening to the birds and the quiet breeze. Perhaps one of these days I will stumble onto a public place where I can do that.
Sometimes when I go on a photo shoot, I take a lot of video and then make a video out of it all, using videos and photographs. Most of the video was too shaky this round because it was so windy. If you want to see the nature videos I make, you can see them on YouTube. The link is HERE. It is just another way I like to create. I used to just share them on my Facebook, but I am going to start uploading them to YouTube from now on so that I can keep them in one neat place.
Geese and Downy Pillows
oil on canvas 11 x 14 inch
I am so happy this one is finished. It was a little more involved than the alpacas and the cows. As I look at this I can see that the Arkansas River in Kansas inspired this. I took many walks along that river. People complain about the mess that geese leave everywhere and it's true it can be a big fat mess, but it always washes away with the rain eventually.
Lately I have been really enjoying John Dalton's podcast Gently Does It. The interviews are often very informative and inspiring. You can see a list of all his episodes here.I was excited to see so many artists on there that I have admired and followed for years...Andrea Kowch, Brad Kunkle, Katie O'Hagan, Zoey Frank, David Kassan and Ali Cavanaugh. All of them are realist painters which I have always been facinated with even though I have no desire to paint realistically. I really enjoyed learning about Jane Filer and looking at her fun, colorful, intuitive style..what an inspiring human being she is, so much joyful energy. Now I want to attend one of her openings and dance around in one of her heads!
This week I watched the documentary called Everybody Knows Elizabeth Murray. She paved some new ground as an artist and was really up against some odds. I thought her story was very moving. Here's the trailer. I rented mine on Amazon, but it may be available elsewhere.
This is the sixth and last painting in my Cape Cod series. As I wrote before, I painted the first painting last year which was sold. All the others were painted this Fall. I could probably keep going with this, but I think I am ready to paint other ideas. Maybe I will come back to it. Maybe not. I change my mind often, so who knows what will happen. I've learned not to promise anything because that way the ideas flow more freely.
I can't believe Thursday is Thanksgiving. We will be traveling back to Kansas to visit our family and friends. I am really looking forward to it.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all who live here in USA!
It took quite a while to finish this painting. It is another scene inspired from my recent travels to Europe. I think the reason it took so long to complete is because each time I worked on it, it was a little bit like getting to revisit southern France. I am so thankful for the memories of such a beautiful place, I guess I didn't want it to end.
Spring has sprung here in Kansas. I can often tell not only by the evidence of the blooming flowers and singing birds, but by my color palette when I paint. I don't paint as much when the weather is nice. I would rather be outside finding things to do in the yard or just walking along the river in our neighborhood. Today is sunny, windy and very quiet. The trees sound a little bit like the ocean.
Off I go to enjoy it. I hope you are having great weather wherever you live. Take care.
Arles House 24
acrylic on board 6 x 8 inch purchase
While on a double date with our good friends last year, we were invited to join them on a high school group tour to France and Spain. They have gone on these European trips for several years now, both as parents and chaperones, and they said there was always room for extras in the group and that we should consider joining them this time. We could attend as guests rather than chaperones, and the price would include airfare, hotels, two meals a day and most of the activities. On the itinerary was PARIS, the LOUVRE, and the PICASSO MUSEUM. Say no more. I'm in! My husband was just as excited about the itinerary as I was, so we set up our payment plan and paid on the trip all year, paying it off just before departure day.
Our tour was ten days long and time was spread thinly in Paris, Provence and Barcelona, however we were able to see so much. The Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, Versailles, and the Louvre were all covered in 2 1/2 days, mixed in with a bus tour of the city. Our favorite activity was just being there and walking around taking in the all the beautiful architecture.
Provence was my favorite by far, slower and quieter than Paris, and this is my little Arles-inspired piece. It was a tiny house I noticed while walking in the historic area. Arles is where Van Gogh was hospitalized for a year, producing over 300 paintings and drawings in that period of time.
home in Arles
We also visited the city of Avignon, as well as Pont du Gard and Carrcassone before ending our time in the incredible city of Barcelona. When we got home, friends and family were eager to hear about our trip, so I spent time combing through pictures to post on Facebook, writing detailed descriptions of all that we saw. It took a lot of time to do, but it was time well spent because it helped me absorb more of all that we saw on our journey. I am so inspired now, not just to paint, but to visit some wonderful museums and towns close to home. The world is a wonderful beautiful place.
It took a while to think of a name for this painting, but then it became obvious that "Egon" should be in the title. The sunflowers were inspired by Egon Schiele's gouache and pencil drawing called "Wilted Sunflowers". I have always loved the quirk in his drawings and wanted to capture that same quirkiness in my sunflowers. You can see my sketch of the sunflowers in the photo below in my sketchbook sweetie book, which was done some time ago while studying a book I have of Schiele's watercolors and drawings. You can see the book HERE.
The Baby Walker mixed media on cradled board 8 x 10 inch
There is a gentleman who I see frequently in my neighborhood who is always with his grandbaby. I am assuming he is a grandpa, but perhaps he is a dad or an uncle or just a friend to the sweet baby. He is either carrying her, or pushing her in a stroller and often I hear him singing to her.
My art studio windows face the front of our house and on a day not too long ago he passed by strolling the baby and singing to her. His voice was so lovely. One of these days, I will say hello and tell him that a painting inspired by him and that sweet baby girl is now hanging at Tessera Gallery. :)
Over a month in the making, and my "Finding Faith" project is finally finished! I named it Faith is Waiting For Spring and it is a three part art project using painting, video and photography to tell a simple story. I have always loved to dabble in photography and with my new-found love for videography, I had the idea to connect them with my painting and this is what materialized.
I really hope you enjoy the video and photos and especially the surprise ending in the painting! :)
FULL details on the making of this project are below for those of you who want to know more. I know who you are and it was written for you.
As you know, if you follow my art, I am a figurative and narrative painter and often paint intuitively (where the story unfolds by itself as I paint) or by creating scenes using vintage photos. However, I had a new idea for my approach and that was to create the story with the use of video and photography, and then attempt to paint it. In all honesty, this whole concept started with finding the 8 mm app for my iPhone. It is the same app I have been using to make my "Studio Clips" videos, and it has me hooked on video making. It's kind of funny to me how such a big idea can come from such a small thing like finding an app, but that is what happened. Plus I have always loved taking pictures, so this project provided a way I could sort of tie these arts together with my love of painting.
The video and photographs took only 1 1/2 hours to shoot, but took over 10 hours to edit because I was very picky and kept changing my mind about the clips of video I wanted to use. Plus, selecting the music took a while. I needed something slow since the whole theme was about Faith waiting for "Spring" to arrive. It is amazing how music can make or break the mood!
My beautiful niece, Faith was my gracious and willing muse and we did the shoot in an open field in the middle of Benton, Kansas. I found her dress and the small props at a thrift shop, borrowed the table and chairs, and I made the flower crown myself. I was pretty excited the day of shooting because everything turned out exactly as I had envisioned and the weather was perfect!
My friend and gallery owner Teressa Sliger helped me locate the property after I sent a text to her one day to ask if she knew of any "Andrew Wyeth-looking places" out in the country where she lives. (My all time favorite painting is Christina's World, and the Kansas landscape looks exactly like that painting). So Teressa took me driving around one day trying to locate the perfect spot for my project and I ended up selecting the first one we saw. I have to point out here what a great friend and support Teressa was to do this for me...indulging with me on my what had to seem like such a crazy creative whim. She questioned me very little and just rolled with it. Had she not done this, I might have just chucked the whole thing aside labeling it as a dumb idea, but her interest and enthusiasm helped push me forward. Also, the property we chose was private property and we were not sure who owned it, so she offered to meet us out there on shooting day to keep watch for anyone that might question what we were up to. We had to lug the table and chairs a long ways off the road to the tree that provided the main part of our stage and Faith and I were a bit nervous about trespassing. I imagined poor Faith being hauled off to jail in her pretty dress and flower crown, and me having to explain to her mother what had happened. But having Teressa there helped us relax as we worked. She assured us it was not a big deal to be out there and it wasn't. We never saw a soul for the entire hour and half we were there.
After the photos and video were complete I busied myself in the studio attempting to capture the scene in the painting. Since I do not paint realistically, this was a challenge for me. I had to keep reminding myself that my job was to capture the essence, not every single detail. Also, I knew from the start that I could not make Faith look like Faith. I had already tried painting her face over and over again in my sketchbooks. I decided that if I could at least capture the scene with just a likeness of her I would be happy. I worked in oil because it is easier for me to make adjustments.
Being outside, collaborating with people, taking photos, shooting video...it was such a fulfilling way to work in art! Plus working with all the images from the photos and video, and physically having been in that location provided a lot more information for me to work with, which for some reason seemed to make the painting process flow more easily. However, I can't always work this way because it is so involved. From time to time though, it will be fun and I love the challenge.
Didn't Faith do an incredible job? She is a natural beauty and she just knew exactly what I was wanting for the video and photos. She was such an easy model to work with and I could NOT have done this without her! We had so much fun that day and I am happy to say we are already scheming for the next project. I just need to find a red flannel shirt somewhere. :)
Sleeping
acrylic and ink on paper 9 x 12 inch available here
Last year I painted these imaginary bedroom scenes in my sketchbook and this week they came to fruition. When I sketch rooms like this, I sometimes draw inspiration from catalogs like Pottery Barn or some other place like that. If my memory serves me, the above scene was inspired that way, but the painting below was 100% made up. You may be able to see the difference in the drawing that is there, I know I can.
Lately I've been very inspired by a huge stack of interior design coffee table books that I bought at a local used bookstore sale. The sale was $5 for a sack full of books, however it was a plastic grocery bag and I chose big hardback books. You should have seen my bag! It almost didn't make it out the door! It was tearing as I walked it to the register and I felt like a kid trying to get away with cheating, but they said it was still fair to stuff it full the way I did and out of the store I marched with my bargain books and a happy grin on my face. I think I made it home with about 10 beautiful coffee table books. Happy me!
In a Red Bedroom
acrylic and ink on paper 9 x 12 inch available here
After spending quite a bit of time looking at my new books, I was really in the mood to revisit my sketches to see what I could do with them. In both of these I started with a very bright yellow and orange underpainting. I was tempted to go over these with some oil paint and maybe cold wax, but they both came to a point where they looked finished, so I stopped while I was in a good place.
Have a good weekend everyone! Thank you for visiting.
This past summer while cooking dinner, I was listening to the Nina Simone station on Pandora like I usually do, and the song "Making Plans for Nigel" ( the Nouvelle Vague version) came on. I swayed and twirled and cooked and listened, and as I did a vision of a young boy and his parents came to mind. I saw basically what you see here in the beginnings of this painting...the boy in his bed with the covers pulled over his head...a tuft of hair sticking up (eventually)... and his parents standing outside his door discussing his future. Nigel has hopes and dreams of his own, but his parents know what's best, don't they? Or do they? I sketched this scene out that evening and the ideas of painting it have been dancing in my head ever since. I'm excited to finally be working on it.
I don't believe this is the true meaning of this song, but it is what I saw when I heard it. My challenge for this piece...the challenge I am giving myself...is to paint light. I see light coming down from the hallway light, onto the parents heads and faces, and spilling into the room. The relation of the doorway and the room of course isn't right, but it's the only way I could get this down with my limited drawing skill. It's the light, the characters and the overall atmosphere I care about. I am not sure I can succeed with painting light, but I am going to give it a try.
Wish me luck.
Below is the Youtube video of the song. Enjoy and have a great weekend!
Young Countess in an Almost Empty Room
acrylic, oil pastel, colored pencil and ink
on 9 x 12 inch birch panel SOLD
David Lloyd paints the most incredible interiors. He recently had a show in New Orleans and I wish so much I could have seen it. Watching him make one beautiful interior painting after another in preparations for his show inspired me to paint this interior in my own style. Well..him and Edouard Vuillard.
First I "drew" the room...the corners, floor, ceiling and window placement. I decided to keep it simple with only the chair, rug and standing figure rather than try to get too detailed (respecting my limitations as a painter) and I placed everything in one room rather than having two visible rooms like Vuillard's painting.
I loved the bedspread in his painting and tried to get some similar colors and designs into the dress of the countess. At first she was dressed in something very modern looking...kind of a skinny jean outfit, but that just didn't look right in this old fashioned room so I quickly changed her clothing to a dress...the ease of acrylic! I know changes can be done in oil too, but I think it's much harder. It either turns muddy, or if you wipe it away you have to start over and for me getting the same matching colors is tough. If I have to make corrections in oil, I often have to change the whole area because of this.
detail
I have had a few people ask me recently where my inspiration comes from and this is one of the ways my paintings are done...taking bits and pieces from a painting I love. I would say that my favorite way to paint is still just to start laying down color and going with it...allowing the painting to "reveal" itself. However, painting something that is inspired like my painting above is what teaches me the most. I learn a little about drawing and color each time I paint this way.
The sun is shining bright...yard work today. My show at the gallery is Friday and our son KC is playing his keyboard at the event! It is good to know people in high places. :)
I will post about the show Monday. Thank you for all your comments and well wishes everyone! You all are awesome!!
