Ever get to a place in a painting and you think it is “good”, but know that it is not enough?

Sometimes the littlest things can make a difference.

So a painting like this has many moving parts.

So for a while my son looked like a zombie.

I was in a pilates class this morning. And something profound happened. Since this blog is also my diary, I felt that I had to write about it. So its a bonus entry this week. 

So where was I….oh yes… following the yellow….

Last week I was teaching a portrait workshop in Sante Fe.

“Got a right to be wrong,

Got to sing my own song,

I might be singing out of key,

But it sure feels good to me”

       – Joss Stone

“Here Comes the Sun”
– The Beatles

“Standing alone, my senses reeled,

A fatal attraction is holding me fast.

How can I escape this irresistable grasp? 

Can’t keep my eyes from the circling sky, 

Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earth-bound misfit, I”

        “Learning to Fly”– Pink Floyd 

“Came in close, I heard a voice,
standing, stretching every nerve,
had to listen,
had no choice”

             – “Solsbury Hill” by Peter Gabriel

Sometimes I am a day late and a dollar short.

I am still painting bubbles…

Creating art is just plain weird….

White is Precious. And like Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I am obsessed with hoarding it, talking to it, and thinking about it in a composition. (Think of me sitting in a corner of my studio with a white, Roche pastel stick in my hands mumbling to myself…

I have found that the biggest thing you can do with regards to value is to control the extremes-  black and white. They are your friends… and they can also be your enemies.

So here is the same apple from last week along with its colorful version. 

I am back.. did ya miss me?

It is funny what triggers a memory…

Oils are a challenge for me.

So over Thanksgiving I was in Baltimore.

I have been jamming along…

So as much as I would love to get my hands covered in dusty, dense pastels, I first have commission work to do in oils…

I am back. With a vengence.

Last Friday I did an interview on tv.

This Friday I will be doing a live portrait demo on TV!

Have you ever almost run your car off of the road while driving because you are trying to sketch down a new idea for a painting?

Yeah, me too.

Next week I will be heading North.

Last week I was in Art School LIVE with Eric Rhoades…

This Thursday I will be back on Art School LIVE with Eric Rhodes.

I got my tile…

So I came back from the IAPS convention fired up to use all of those things that I have been talking about for the last few weeks regarding plein air. Now it is just a matter of going out and putting in the time. 

If you are not familiar, IAPS stands for the International Association of Pastel Societies.

The last thing that I find important for painting plein air and that has become my very good friend is my travel bag.

One thing that helps so much when painting plein air is being able to carry things easily.

I love my French easel.

Ah, here it comes…one of my biggest pet peeves.

If you noticed last week, I don’t sharpen my pastel pencils.

I have a found a few things over the years that make painting in pastel a little easier.

I don’t know if you are like me, but I have a ton of sketchbooks.

Recently I delivered a painting back to its forever home.

“Lifes like a road that you travel on, when there’s one day here and the next day gone…”  – Rascal Flatts. 

There are events in life that greatly affect us. They get talked about, analyzed, and then we try to put them on a shelf. But sometimes there are nightmares and the images persist. Then I know it is time to paint my  demons.

I recently came across some very old commissions. Some I looked at fondly, while others I slightly cringed at inside.

I have to do the dishes…but I don’t wanna.

When I think about starting a painting, I don’t necessarily think about the image details, but rather what feeling does the painting need to convey.

“Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.” -Raymond Lindquist

Last week I tried to focus on slowing down every once in a while in my life. This week I want to slow down in my work.

Today I am hurkle-durkleing…

Understanding light is to understand color.

I love when my art travels….

I am back! Happy New Year.

As I write this I am flying over Texas back to South Carolina.

As I write this I am flying over South Carolina.

I am so happy to be included in Greenville Open Studios this weekend!

As I have gotten older I have repeatedly asked myself one question- “Who am I as an artist?” 

Im back!

Light will travel forever…..

What is glare?

I had the honor of being interviewed for the “Women CEO in Reflection” Podcast. Listen here!

So lets chat more about light…

Last week I was honored to be on the faculty of Pastel LIVE.

Life drawing….like running scales on a piano for a musician, it is crucial.

Pool players become good at the game when they understand one thing- the “angle of incidence.”

Last week I talked about “getting lit” with Eric Rhodes…

So every once in a while I play with creating a more radical surface.

Some more surfaces…

“Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone” -Joni MItchell

This is typically where it begins…the addiction.

This surface comes in many colors.

So if Sennelier LaCarte is the pretty, delicate princess at the ball, then UArt is the party crasher that just showed up on a Harley in black leather.

This is the only time I believe in love at first sight.

Let’s get technical and talk about surfaces.

This weekend my daughter graduates from college.

This Friday is First Fridays of Greenville.

Last week I was in Atlanta.

The new studio space is coming along…

There is power in owning a key.

My son likes rap.

The chin is a golf ball.

And I am not talking about the ones you fly In…

This is the sign on the back of my bathroom door.

Every Thursday night I get to draw the model.

I’ve never been one to hang awards on my walls.

And so it ends with me…

  Strength. It...

Life can turn red.

I think Hope is like waiting for a meal when we are hungry. We expect something good to come our way. But our expectations can be shattered like a china plate.

Trust is at the core of who we are as human beings. 

Innocence is perhaps that one element that we can never fully recover. 

They say that weddings and funerals are the only time when people from all walks of life truly come together. I suggest that art shows do as well…

How we see ourselves can change. Either radically through trauma or through time and aging. The hope is that we can come to realize that we are beautiful at every stage. And at every age. 

Peace…

The opposite of spirituality is the physical body.  And no matter how fit you are, how young, or how invincible you think you are your body can break.  

I have been silent the last few weeks.