As a teen-ager I studied music privately and loved being in the band in high school.  I never thought of drawing until I was around 30 years old.  One night a group of us went to a club in DC and a woman was dancing to jazz music.  On each table was a soda can filled with something like rice that we could shake.  I remember thinking I could make something that would look better so I started saving soda cans and painting on them.  I didn’t know how to draw or paint so I created faces using combinations of lines and circles in multiple colors of acrylic paint.  About a year later I took my first drawing class and afterward I knew I was ready to learn to paint.  For a few years I studied painting – mostly interiors – at Washington Studio School in DC.  The painting above is one I created during my time there.  The teacher would set up a still life/interior that we would work on for a couple of weeks.  I learned about the relationship between objects in a composition, the influence that color and temperature have, and how to use oil paint.  This was a great start for my painting journey and ever since I have been working on these skills and more.

Big news!  I am the featured artist for summer 2023 at Shop Made in VA.  They selected 9 of my paintings and my work will be for sale in the store from now through the beginning of September.  Shop Made in VA carries only items and products made in Virginia.  If you can’t get to their store (1121 King Street, Alexandria, VA), you can shop online.

https://www.shopmadeinva.com/shop/original-art/38?page=1&limit=120&sort_by=category_order&sort_order=asc

https://nmwa.org/blog/5-fast-facts/five-fast-facts-marie-laurencin/

One of my favorite painters is Marie Laurencin.  She was part of the avante garde scene in Paris in the early 20th century.  Marie Laurencin was a siginificant member of the lesbian artist community and lived her life unapologetically.  In the era of cubism, she was an impressionist painter using pastel colors instead of the strong primary colors used by most artists.  Although she was as good as the male artists of that time she never received their acclaim and her paintings are not usually in exhibitions.  There is a Marie Laurencin museum in Japan and the National Museum of Women in the Arts has some in their permanent collection.

I love how soft and delicate her work is.  The emphasis is on color rather than getting the anatomy just right.  Several years ago I spent many months studying her work and realized that the calmness of each one drew me in.  It really is difficult to create soft and feminine paintings.  I struggled at fist to emulate her style but eventually found my way and incorporated her style into my own.

In fall of 2020 and winter/spring of 2021 I spent a lot of time in Dunedin, Florida working remotely and enjoying the nice weather that allowed me to be outside without fear of catching COVID.  One of my favorite things to do was walk along Edgewater Drive at sunset and look at the beautiful colors and take lots of pictures.  The marina is also on Edgewater and I loved looking at the boats.  This painting is based on a photograph I took one day around lunchtime of several canoes parked at the shoreline.

I recently saw the Philip Guston exhibit at the National Gallery of Art – twice.  My favorites are his social justice paintings in pink.  He created his own style of painting and didn’t hesitate to change his style if it was no longer working for him.  This is probably my favorite painting of the show, “painting, Smoking, Eating” because of all of the shoes stacked up by the person lying down and the person lying down is missing a nose.  It is an odd painting but I can spend all day looking at it.  Do you have favorite paintings that are odd but captivate you?

I just bought some BFK Rives printmaking paper to draw on and love it.  The paper is heavy weight and the texture is smooth enough to draw on with a quill pen.  I tore it easily for the sizes I need and the edges have a nice fringe.  I drew in walnut ink directly onto it and used a variety of ink pens to add color.  The color is tan and I like the warmth is adds without being too dark for my ink.

I recently started a new series.  The subject matter is still life; some are flowers only and some have flowers and a person.  I have wanted to paint still lifes for a few years and finally decided to do it.  Before these two paintings I think I made about 8 paintings to decide if I wanted to keep going and if I could create interesting compositions.  It has been frustrating and very difficult to switch from faces to flowers but so nice to challenge myself.  Just as when I paint faces, I approach my still life paintings by thinking of an inner life they might have and create based on that.  Flowers are dramatic and expressive and I hope to capture that even though my compositions are from my imagination.

My painting, Internal Blooming, is part of an exhibit at the Dunedin Fine Art Center in Dunedin, Florida showing work from students, members, and faculty.  The show will be on display from now through May.

My painting, Green Focus, is a part of this great show and will be on exhibit until June 4, 2023.  The gallery is located in Dunedin, Florida and was named the best co-op gallery in the Tampa Bay area in 2022.  There is a lot of great work in this show and is not to be missed.