My studio policy is to only offer prints of my paintings after the original has been sold.
So you can visit the shop periodically to see NEW prints as they become available.
For now… those whimsical teacups have been lined up and polished up and are eager for your purusal.
I hope you enjoy them and please share the love !
Thanks as always for your support !!!
After removing a finished painting from the easel the other day I found this note hiding next to a well splattered photo of Herself…
Which made me take a closer look at what else is taped to my easel…
This one below is a bit obscured from a decade of wiping my brushes…”There’s a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” from Leonard Cohen
And I love the extra notes reminding me to plant garlic in November and to do a painting of my spoon carving. Both of which I did.
And two favorite pics of our sweet second Berners, Gulliver, enjoying two spots she used to love on the Vineyard. She’s there at her post, by my side, watching me every day.
Just some of the things that inspire me… so what’s on your easel ?
After spending the better part of two days watching the slow train wreck of my studio computer and learning that they call the window that kept popping up… the BSOD which is short for Blue Screen of Death…I filled my teacup, went to the bathroom, charged up my phone and called India.
Simon and I got right to it and I was with him…swapping out memory cards and testing and retesting the slots…listening as the fan noises got worse each time…right up until the thing started to smoke. OK he says, I’ll put you on hold and speak to my supervisor. Tap tap tap… glad I took those earlier call precautions…on hold musak…then yep we are sending out a technician to replace the motherboard. My Dell extended warranty at work.
So I left the mess in the office and as I was closing the door behind me I saw this painting which I had finished a couple weeks ago…
It’s title is The Tinker and it’s headed out to Denver next month but it’s prescient composition made me laugh…all I needed for today’s tinkering was a screwdriver and a man 5000 miles away.
And yes, that is the number 3 !!! which perplexed so many of you. I’ll get you a better shot in a day or so. For now…I’m heading back to the easel and something that does not require electricity or motherboards…although I could use a few more memory cards if you know what I mean.
Zoe is now 2 and a half and is the sharpest crayon in the deck. She is also big enough to pull her own weight…as well as a wagon full of sticks…and Mima put her to work in the studio as my apprentice.
I had developed this painting up to the shadow stage and so Zoe mixed up some ultramarine violet and paynes grey … and got right down to it.
After a long day in the studio she retired to the log cabin to watch some flicks with Gran and Bear Bear…
and I somehow managed to finish the painting on my own…
but I do believe in giving credit where it is due…soooo…
if you look closely…there is a tiny little Z (she’s not got the hang of the umlaut yet) that will live forever on the signature of this painting. You made Mima proud you special little girl.
I wasn’t paying attention … and that always spells trouble.
So when Zoe and I were making breakfast we heard the terrible news that…the IRON has been sacked ! USA reports that the people of the world have voted to remove the tiny token of the Iron from their Monopoly game. And replace it with … A CAT ? Really ?
Now this makes me sad. I am a lover of irons, and ironing boards, and…well…ironing. Such a meditative task and so peaceful and productive and now, I guess, out of step with the times.
Well, I offer up a few of my favorite paintings as an homage to a simpler, happier and more contemplative time when a warm whisper of steam would rise from the slowly drawn linen newly pressed linen…
Yes, when the winter hibernation is in full swing, production inside the studio soars. But, at least in my case, this is primarily due to the fact that my garden is sleeping. When the sun shines…I would rather be digging in the dirt.
This morning the sun is brilliant. Air cleared out by last nights storm. Creek roaring at full throttle. And my watering buckets are full …
So I lifted the flap on my little greenhouse and gave the tenders a drink.
It does an artist’s heart good to see these beautiful greens in the month of January and, with the seed catalogues piling up, the big greenhouse will soon be ready for action…
OK, enough of that garden talk. Time to get back to the easel. But…there will be a tiny salad on my lunch table.
In the early days of January, in the deep midwinter studio, when I sit down with the piles of sketchbooks and sort throught the long lists of painting ideas… I feel unfettered. Before the filters of deadlines and salability and subjectable subject choices begin to weigh me down… I take chances. I choose challenges. I tease the muses who whisper, “keep it simple” and “No not THAT nightgown”.
I have spent the last few weeks wading in that most wonderful of seas…the sea of details. Frolicking with the tiniest brushes. Taking extra days to glaze down and bring back up entire areas of light only to glaze them back down again and slowly, slowly refine. I’ve taunted and tweaked compositions and twisted ribbons and fringes in the wind.
Here is a sneak peak of the first of these, The Mender…
It will appear in Denver in March at the Gallery 1261 Contemporary Realism Show. It’s companion, The Tinker, was finished last night and you will have to wait a bit for that pic but it shares a few elements with it’s Mender…a rug, a teacup, a pair of spectacles…and the number three.
Now, all the wheels of creativity turn to…the island. The trove of images which I’ve stored up from Martha’s Vineyard is indeed full of treasure. And before those afore mentioned weighty filters and deadlines begin to creep in…I will let only the carefree muses in from the cold. The ones who say, “Go for it” and “If not now, when”, and let them sit alongside while I turn the pages of this sketchbook…
It’s a bright sunny day here in the studio and I’m getting an early start but before I head to the easel here is a delightful video which I watched on my friend Peter’s Blog while sitting at the kitchen table pondering breakfast. Definitely worth the few minutes it takes to get lost among the cottages and the cupboards… ‘Tis a grand way to greet the day
As I was watching Downton Abbey this week I was reminded of this painting and the research required to get the bells correct. The only elements which I had before me were the set up with the ironing table in the foreground, and my trusty model Pat who posed with the white shirt and vest. The floor and background were all imagined but I relied on photos from the internet to accurately portray the essential summoning bells.
I don’t remember which episode of DA it was when… from our perches on the sofa, Pat and I turned to each other as we watched the butler ironing the newspaper…and smiled. Ah yes, we would certainly have been more comfortable… “Below Stairs”.
Below Stairs – Oil on Panel 24″ x 36″ Available at the Granary Gallery
