Quiet Comforters

 

Quiet Comforters
oil on canvas
9x12 inch
purchase

"The real subject of every painting is light."

                                   --Claude Monet

Three 5x7 Paintings

Blue Light Night
oil on linen panel

                    Painting on this small size is a challenge.  They take so long because of their small size and my older eyes probably make it harder.  I often paint over things and wipe out things, constantly changing the composition and sometimes the entire color palette.  I have found these little paintings to be frustrating latley, so I did not order any more of this size of linen panel.  I am now painting on 8x10 on up to 20x24 canves, much more freeing!  

Chair Duo
oil on linen panel

Small Duo
oil on linen panel

 

I recently came across THIS video posted by The Netherlands Bach Society and have been obsessively listening to this music while I paint, cook, and wash dishes.  Thomas Bauer's voice is so beautiful. 

I do not always listen to classical, but this slow and mournful cadence speaks something comforting and deep into my soul during these quiet and contemplative weeks in Winter.

Fresh Flowers

 

Fresh Flowers
oil on linen panel 4x6 inch
available here

The sun is out and it feels like early Spring, only it's still January.  The fresh flowers will have to come from Trader Joes for a while longer. 

Flower Paintings and Dreams of Gardening Again

Colors Dancing
oil on linen panel 5x7 inch
available here

Painting flowers is a great way to explore paint color and brush strokes.  The above painting was all about palette freedom.  The painting below was extremely boring, in my opinion, until I smeared cobalt blue onto the pitcher with a palette knife.  There was something so satisfying about that. I cannot explain.

Tilted Cobalt Pitcher
oil on linen panel 7x5 inch
available here

 

Now I am feeling ready for Spring.  

Soon.  

Pretty Boy

Pretty Boy

oil on cradled wood panel

10x10 inch

available here

The shape of these trees changed dozens of times, inspired by arborvitae of the most unusual green.  However, that hue in oil paint was elusive.  

The title was the easiest part.  

Moon and Star Paintings

 

Stargazing - Red Chair

oil on linen panel

5x7 inch

available here

There is no ocean here, but there can be with a little imagination.

Three recent paintings.  My son asked what inspired them.  Always having to think about that question because often the painting is created intuitively.  In this case it was a mix of lovely winter evening walks with lights reflecting and sparkling all around, and of course the love of being outdoors where the air and sky are crisp and gently stings the nose and eyes.  

Moon Gazing - Blue Chair

oil on linen panel 

5x7 inch

available here

There is no giant forest here.  But in dreams there often is.

                                              Moon Gazing - Red Chair                                              

oil on linen panel

4x6 inch

available here

New Painting: Discussion With Two Cats

 

Discussion With Two Cats
oil on cradled wooden panel
10x8 inch
available here 

I have been painting every single morning since October 27, 2023.  This is the longest consistent stretch since I began painting over 12 years ago. I used to just steal time wherever I could and often many days would go by where I didn't paint at all.  Now I wake at 5 am, sometimes earlier, sometimes later, make coffee and get to it.  It's my favorite time of day.  Quiet, dark, peaceful and meditative.  

And it's snowing today.  Extra bonus.  :) 

Newest Painting and What Inspired It

Dawn Has Broken
oil on cradled wood panel 11x14 inch
available for purchase here

 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.

Some Joyful Art for March 1st

    

Evening Walk With Cloudy Moon and Star

oil on cradled wood 12x16 inch

It is March 1st and as the Robins sing and the earth warms up, it feels like a good day to share some art.  All of it infused with a joyful spirit and hopeful thoughts.  I think we could all use that right now.

Wooden House at Day

oil on panel 5x7 inch

Abandoned House

oil on panel 7x5 inch

Two Wooden Houses at Night

oil on panel 5x7 inch

Woman Napping With Cat

oil on wood 12x9 inch

All paintings are available in my Etsy shop.  

Wishing everyone well today and every day.

♥

Some June Paintings

Separation Anxiety
mixed media on wood 

                                                                                    

   June has been a prolific month of painting for me and it did not really register until I uploaded these images.  We have been in our new house for four months now and being settled has had a very positive effect on my time in the studio.  Somehow I managed to plant flowers in a few pots too.  How about that? 

Man Wearing Green
oil on wood

Summer is off to a wonderful start.  A friend of mine visited last week from Colorado.  We had an amazing time of walking, talking, eating, and laughing.  She is Dutch and it is always so interesting to hear about her culture and customs.  She loves America and never wants to leave. 

Meditation (sold)
oil on linen panel

I have been bouncing around a lot on subjects.  I paint whatever I am in the mood for.  Painting freely suites me because I like change.  I get can get bored easily, so I try to vary my life and my life in art as much as possible. 

Roses in a Blue Pot (sold)
oil on linen panel 

Flower paintings are a great way for me to explore color without having to think as much as I do when I am painting figures.  My figurative art requires a lot more concentration, but flowers are just color and shape which makes it easier to play around. I use a palette knife a lot for my flowers. 

Dream Sleeper
oil on linen panel

Dream Sleeper started out as a small landscape, but ended up being a whole lot more.  I love it when that happens.

Little Red Bikini
oil on linen panel

Little Red Bikini was going to be a portrait of a woman in a dress.  It went in a different direction too.  I like that it did.  I don't want to be shackled to any style or preconceived ideas in my painting.  This one is a subconscious testament to that I believe. 

Life is a Peach
oil on linen

 Life has been a peach lately.  For this I am grateful.  

Until next time.

Paintings are available for purchase in my Etsy shop.

Painting Food and Exploring a Little Realism

 Last Year I saw a wonderful painting of salad done by Aubrey Levinthal and it made me want to paint food.  I know that sounds funny, but I am serious.  I wanted to paint food, and in particular, salad.  So I started with a photo of a salad  that was made by my friend, who makes the best salads you a have ever tasted by the way, along with a glass of wine.  Painting the salad was the easy part, but the glass of wine was difficult.  Making it look like glass...wow, tough.  I sure enjoyed painting food though!

After that, I felt even more adventurous.  I painted a meat and cheese platter from a photo I had taken while out one wonderful evening with my husband.  We had gone to this old castle near Denver and they had live music, food, wine and dessert.  The music was done by a male vocalist and he sang these gorgeous ballads while playing guitar.  I think it may have been one of the most romantic dates of my life, and the platter was one of the best I had ever tasted, so painting it was the perfect way to capture the memory.  

This semi-realistic style is a huge swing from my usual style and I have thought many times about exploring this type of painting more often.  I hesitate though because I can see the potential for becoming obsessive about details and the fight there might be trying to arm wrestle things into the right shapes.  With my usual style, I can be imperfect and that suits me the best.  

So perhaps from time to time I will just paint food I want to remember.

:)

New Art, New Home

New Mexico Kitchen
mixed media on paper
available here

I moved again, but this time it is more permanent.  I feel like I have just returned from a very long long trip.  It started in 2018 when Vic and I moved to Colorado.  We lived there until June of last year, then moved back into our old Riverside neighborhood in Wichita, Kansas last June.  They say people often return home after moving away.  It turned out to be true for us.  We rented a house on the river while looking for a home to purchase, and with the market being a bit fast and crazy right now, finding a Riverside home that suited us turned out to be difficult.  However as luck would have it, a really wonderful modest sized midcentury home not far away turned out to be a great fit.  There are windows and outdoor spaces surrounding the house and it is just wonderful.  Ironically, my studio is the darkest room in the house so I have a lot of lights turned on when I am in it working.  I love it though.  It is a great little room to work in.

mixed media works on paper
5x7 inch
available here

I am slowly getting back to painting and finding a rhythm again.  I have been doing some works on paper lately, something I get a lot of requests for.  I also have some oil paintings on wood in progress.  I am really all over the place right now, but loving every minute of it.

Here are a few peeks at our home and until then, take care!

Darkness Cannot Hinder Fragrance and Some Thoughts

Darkness Cannot Hinder Fragrance

oil on wood panel 9x12 inch

 

When times are troubled, whether it be all around you or with you on a personal level, it is always a good idea to seek the positive.  Cliché?  Yes, but it's true.  However, it seems important to go a little bit further.  It is good to seek the positive, but this isn't enough.  We will do ourselves good to learn to be present with it for a while.  Stay with that happy memory, savor your morning cup of coffee, smell the flowers and really study them as you do this.  Focus.  Be still.  Focus some more. Be present with that good thing you are doing.   Make this a habit in your daily life and see how your perspective and your coping changes.  Watch how peace comes.  The darkness may still exist, but it is now sharing residence with light. And as we all know, light  penetrates darkness.

**************************************************************

If this thought resonates with you, here are a couple of recommended studies for you.

 Books:

The Power of Now by Eckart Tolle

A New Earth:  Awakening Your Life's Purpose by Eckart Tolle

The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael Singer

Podcast:

Oprah's Super Soul:  A New Earth interview series

Blessings everyone.

Balthus and His Mitsou

 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art 
during a visit in 2014

In 2014 I went with my sister to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and there was a wonderful Balthus exhibit taking place.  You can read a little about the exhibit HERE .  Part of the exhibit contained 40 drawings that Balthus did as a child of his found and lost cat named Mitsou, and depicted the story of her life with him.  The drawings were displayed in chronological order and in one of them there is a sad little boy, carrying a lantern, searching for his lost beloved cat.  A friend of his mother was so moved by the drawings that he published them into a book which was on display at this exhibit.  No photography was allowed, but if you search online you will find a photo of the book and some of the drawings.  

I left the exhibit promising my sister that my next cat would be named Mitsou, in honor of Balthus as a boy, the loss he endured, and in memory of this wonderful exhibit in New York.  As luck would have it, a short time later, a friend offered me a sweet grey and white kitten and the name Mitsou fit her perfectly.

My Mitsou posed for this painting I did below, but I painted her black and white, preferring a strong black and white contrast.  And now as I type this, I am wondering if the black and white choice was more of a subconscious decision.  A sort of nod to Balthus' black and white drawings of his Mitsou.

A Studious Cat
oil on cradled wood 9x12 inch

Mitsou

The Best Kind of Day

The Best Kind of Day
oil on cradled wood 9x12 inch

Though the flowers are mostly faded, the feeling of gratitude for the simple things is not. 

Bird Shop, a New Job, Backyard Birds and a Christmas Sale

Bird Shop
oil on wood panel 16 x 12 inch

Can you believe it is already December 4?  I sure can't.  I have been busy busy.  I have two part time jobs and one of them is at a nature store here in Colorado.  I have always loved feeding our backyard birds and we often sit and watch them from the kitchen table.  We even have a bird book and binoculars nearby just in case we have any unidentified visitors at one of the feeders.  Anyways, I ended up taking a part time job at the store where I buy our birdseed.  I have to tell you that people who spend the time and money to feed the sweet flying creatures make some of the nicest customers and interesting folks to talk to.  It is a physical workout on some days when a truckload with 2,000 lbs of seed shows up and we have to carry them into the store and put them away.  Each bag weighs 20 lbs.  I am pretty tired on delivery days, but the job is NO stress.  I love this job.  

So as you can probably guess by now this painting is inspired by my new job.  I will tell you about the other job later on.  I have some paintings brewing in my head that are inspired by that job.

photo by Lisa Graham

These two doves are often seen sitting together in our backyard and they are often on the SAME branch.  Isn't that precious?

photo by Lisa Graham

This is the first year seeing Northern Flickers!  My heart skipped a beat when I saw one on the railing of our deck just outside the kitchen.  They are so beautiful.  This one is a female.

photo by Lisa Graham

I believe this one is called a Lesser Gold Finch.  It's all puffed up trying to stay warm.  

Brick House
oil on panel 6 x 8 inch 2017

Other news is I am having a Merry Christmas sale on select paintings including this one.  They are 50% off through December to say thank you and celebrate a wonderful year.  The link to the sale section is

HERE.

Thank you always for following my art.  

Until next time!

Gigi in Her Studio and Meeting Gigi

Gigi in Her Studio
oil on birch panel 12 x 16 inch

Gigi Mills is an artist whose work touches my soul.  I first saw her art in an artist magazine years ago, a very small image in the back of the magazine advertising an upcoming solo exhibition.  I don't remember what the image was, but I do remember immediately searching for more images online.  Locating her facebook, I was thrilled when she accepted my friend request so that I could further follow her work.

detail

Fast forward a few years to last year, I saw that Gigi had a solo show in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  I missed the opening, but I was elated when I realized that Santa Fe was only 5 hours away from our new residence in Colorado.   Santa Fe was a place I was wanting to visit and seeing Gigi's work in person was the motivation I needed to make that road trip happen sooner than later.  

detail

I messaged Gigi via Facebook to ask her if the show would indeed still be up during the weekend I planned to arrive and to my surprise, she graciously invited me to stop by her studio if I ended up coming to Santa Fe.  I was so excited and touched and of course took her up on the offer to meet her and see her studio.

detail

Her exhibit was called Bird, in honor of her beautiful dog that she lost in 2017.  Her grief was so present in every painting and sculpture and it moved me to tears.  It was truly a special thing for me to not only see Gigi's work in person, but to see this work that was so personal to the artist.  After my stop at GF Contemporary Art Gallery I could not wait to meet Gigi.

Gigi Mills
Bird exhibition at GF Contemporary 2018
Santa Fe, NM

I made my way to her studio and what a delight it was to talk with her and see her studio.  She was gracious and kind and open.  She was interesting and interested about my own journey as an artist and encouraged me greatly.  I came away from our visit feeling SO inspired.  I did a little sketch of her with the intention of painting her one day and here it is one year later.  

I wish I could write more elegantly about my experience that day, but all I can say is that after meeting Gigi, it was easy to see why I saw so much soul and depth in her work.  She is a beautiful soul herself and I will treasure the day I met her forever.

Thank you dear Gigi for letting me paint my memory of you in your studio and for sharing your heart with us via your work.  This world is a better place because of you and your art.  

♥