The Beginner

I had a lot of fun with this painting.

Ted’s pencil
my Dad’s pocket knife
Stonewall beach rocks
and my sketchbook
chronicling the original idea.

They were all sitting on the table before me
as I sketched out the composition
and then the muses snapped a string
and presto chango …
the sketchbook itself got into the act.

I was honored to have this painting chosen
as one of the “10 Most Memorable Paintings from 2011”
by John Seed for his Huffington Post blog.

Here’s a bit of what he wrote…

Heather Neill’s “Beginners,” is a still life inspired by her friendship with a 95-year-old artist and teacher who is “schooling” her. When he gave her some chunky old Dixon drawing pencils she couldn’t help noticing that they had the word “Beginner” embossed on them.“Since then,” Heather tells me, “I’ve recently been hammering home the importance of a strong foundation in drawing skills to a couple of our grandsons who have brought their art questions to my studio.”