Music and Paintings

 

My son is a pianist and he recently posted this lovely work on his YouTube channel.  I wanted to share it here.  I think it is so beautiful and one I had never heard before.  His style of playing is so expressive.

The Daughters of Elise
oil on cradled wood 12x16 inch
available here

This one of my more recent paintings.  It was inspired by a vintage photograph of a group of women.  I wrote a poem to go with it, something I have enjoyed doing lately, and I also created a short narrative video as well.   You can click on it to play.  

The Daughters of Elise

Elise had six daughters

All so close in age

She raised them to be strong women

Without a helping man's wage

The oldest had the most beauty

The second the purest of heart

The next three were closely knitted

The youngest the purest of heart

Elise was stoic, but friendly

Tired, but full of peace

And once her daughters were raised and gone

She folded her arms, closed her eyes, and embraced her sweet release

Paintings and Poetry: Mama Had Strength

 

Mama Had Strength
oil on wood
available here

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

Day after day, night after night

Mama had strength

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.

The Humidity in Kansas and Some New Paintings

 

Home is Comforting
mixed media on wood 11x14 inch
available here

I have been painting quite a bit, but I am a little bit delayed in posting anything because the humidity in Kansas has been so high.  It feels like a very long time from the time I finish a painting to the time it is dry enough to handle.  I am not complaining though.  We need the moisture and everything is so green right now.

Who Rescued Who?
oil on wood 11x14 inch
available here

This one changed colors so many times before it seemed to finally settle in with this vibrant palette.  I felt inspired by so many things subconsciously with this one...a love of dogs, people I know who have rescue dogs, a love of boats and water, and Monet's water lily paintings - I think.

We have been back in Kansas one year as of today.  With Covid, time seems so distorted.  Somehow, even with the pandemic I have found some rhythm with painting and living.  I am grateful for that. 

Until next time...

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.

:)

Painting and Poetry

They Have Come To Bring Us Spring is an oil painting I did some time ago.  It recently went off to a new home, so I decided to take a short video of it.  It has always been a favorite.  And then a poem came out.  And then this video.  

Gratitude Garden

 

Gratitude Garden
oil on cradled wood 14x11 inch
available here

Gardening used to be a favorite activity and I remember spending many many hours pulling weeds, sowing seeds, planting, transplanting, digging, raking and more raking.  It is a great way to get exercise and fresh air.  I used to feel so joyful and light by the end of the day in the garden.  As time has passed and with all of our moves, our yard got smaller and smaller.  I found myself buying a few pots to plant and calling that good enough by the time we moved to Colorado.  Now that we own a home again, we have another big yard, something we thought we were done with.  We spoke too soon!  

Our yard is sort of a blank canvas and it has a lot of potential to become something pretty special.  I hesitate though because a garden will take me away from painting and I am not sure I want that.  If I didn't need sleep, then problem would be solved.  For now, I plan to figure out how to get rid of all the lava rocks in the flower beds, plant a few herbs in pots, and then just watch the light this season before deciding what to do.  I am reading a lot about minimalism and simplistic gardening (if there is such a thing).