Art, Art, Art

This month, I'm working on getting ready for a two-person exhibit called "Perceptions" at Spartanburg Art Museum/Guild Gallery for the month of June. Along with my paintings and sculpture, Nathan Galloway will feature contemporary paintings. This sculpture I just finished is an abstract ballet dancer made of fired terra-cotta, copper wire, cotton, paper, milk paint and other media: mounted on steel rod in wood pedestal.

Art Trek Tryon: Open Studios

..................Spring! Open studios this weekend with 36 area artists.

Art Trek: Open Studio Event!

On April 27-28, I'll also be in the Art Trek Tryon open studio tour: over 35 area artists will be opening studios up and showing art! A gallery show at the Upstairs Artspace featuring participating artists will open with a preview party on April 26 from 5-8 and run through May 25. I'd love to see you!

Art Trek: Open Studio Tour April 27-28

"This spring as it comes bursts up in bonfires green, wild puffing of emerald trees, and flame-filled bushes, thorn-blossom lifting in wreaths of smoke between where the wood fumes up and the watery, flickering rushes. I am amazed at this spring, this conflagration of green fires lit on the soil of the earth, this blaze of growing, and sparks that puff in wild gyration, faces of people streaming across my gaze. And I, what fountain of fire am I among this leaping combustion of spring? My spirit is tossed about like a shadow buffeted in the throng of flames, a shadow that's gone astray, and is lost." ~ D.H. Lawrence, The Enkindled Spring This painting will be one of many I'll have at my home studio at the "Art House" for the upcoming Art Trek Tryon open studio event. I'll have work on display also at the Upstairs Artspace gallery during the tour and for the month of May.

April: Open Studio & Art Trek

"I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes." ~e.e. cummings ...Spring whispers on April breezes here in the mountains: ready to shuck the vestiges of winter off, I paint outside on those precious sunny afternoons. Soon, it'll be warm enough to work on clay/sculpture projects again. Hyacinths peek out, and of course, I have to bring one or two inside to the kitchen window. I cannot tell you how much those little gifts of nature mean. For the month of April, I'll have open studio Saturdays here at the Art House from 1-3 p.m. Other times by appointment. On April 27-28, I'll also be in the Art Trek Tryon open studio tour: over 35 area artists will be participating. A gallery show at the Upstairs Artspace featuring us will open with a preview party on April 26, from 5-8. Please come!

New Work: Landscape Painting

"What could be more interesting, or in the end, more ecstatic, than in those rare moments when you see another person look at something you've made, and realize that they got it exactly, that your heart jumped to their heart with nothing in between." ~ Robert Motherwell

Art & Life: The Happiness Factor

...happiness factor: tangerine-orange tennis shoes and making art, drilling, hammering, painting, framing-- on a sunny winter afternoon outside while River dog dozes nearby. Ice has melted; snow promised. Simple things are the sweetest. Orange shoes, a good dog, making art--makes the heart grateful and full.

Sculpture: New Work

"The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance." ~ Aristotle ....This is a new sculpture in the works: from my "Fragment" series. This piece, a male torso, is kiln fired terra-cotta, milk paint and rusted found objects mounted on steel rod and spalted maple pedestal. I took a hammer to him then put pieces back together with Bondo, an automotive filler. Such is life: we reinvent ourselves along the way: wired, fragmented, and yet knit together in new ways. For me, painting and sculpture are metaphors for life itself, and I symbolically knit myself back together time and time again, as the art is knit back together. Add, take away, add, change, evolve. I've since added a distressed plaster wash over the existing finish: this photo shows the latest variation. It's fun to experiment, learn, and enjoy the ride. If I don't like the results, hammer time again.

The Landscape: New Work

“In your light I learn how to love. In your beauty, how to make poems. You dance inside my chest where no-one sees you, but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art.” ― Rumi......This painting has taken me almost two years to finish: although I'll admit I let it sit for months on end during that time, and would return when it called me. A few minutes ago, I applied the final layer of cold wax as the final finish, gently buffing the painting with a soft cloth and love in my heart: knowing it was 'there'...the place it was meant to be. I'm just the conduit. Paintings and art transcend to higher places when they're from the heart and soul....... OPEN STUDIO: I'll have open studio here at my 1895 Art House, Saturday, February 16 from 1-3 p.m., open to the public. Lots of parking available across the street at Saluda Fire Department!

The Landscape: New Work

"Flocks of birds have flown high and away; A solitary drift of cloud, too, has gone, wandering on. And I sit alone with the Ching-ting Peak, towering beyond. We never grow tired of each other, the mountain and I." ~ Li Bai........... This painting of mountains is still evolving: you can see the differences, the nuances and layers added, subtracted since last post. Like life itself, all things change and nothing is the same day by day. I'm using oil paint, cold wax, drawing pencil, and dry pastel powder in the layers...somehow as it changes, I find it's getting more beautiful...one of those pieces that draws you in to a quiet, serene place.

The Landscape: Mountain Dreams

Like life, paintings evolve: sometimes slowly, sometimes taking twists and turns. This painting has been in progress (on and off) for several months. Many layers of paint and cold wax, some wiped away, some added. I'm beginning to love the colors, the nuances whispering through the mysterious mist. It's a place I want to be........ The Poet Dreams of the Mountain "Sometimes I grow weary of the days with all their fits and starts. I want to climb some old grey mountain, slowly, taking the rest of my life to do it, resting often, sleeping under the pines or, above them, on the unclothed rocks. I want to see how many stars are still in the sky that we have smothered for years now, forgiving it all, and peaceful, knowing the last thing there is to know. All that urgency! Not what the earth is about! How silent the trees, their poetry being of themselves only. I want to take slow steps, and think appropriate thoughts. In ten thousand years, maybe, a piece of the mountain will fall." ~Mary Oliver

The Landscape: New Paintings

Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn, a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter. If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life. ~ Wu Men

A New Year Ahead

Another year has come, and new roads and horizons loom in the soft blue horizons ahead. Silver winter skies and a steady cold drizzle bring another New Year to the small town of Saluda, twinkling lights crossing over the railroad bridge toward town's charming old buildings. New Year's Day, I drive along a quiet mountain road, winding my way over to a lake for brunch. There's no traffic at all on my tail, so I don't feel any guilt over driving slow, looking at moss, branches, vines, mistletoe clumps growing up high, an occasional empty hornet's nest dangling... the creek rushing along the roadside over rocks and fallen trees. It's peaceful, and I enjoy the solitude of the drive and time to think about the New Year and life. After a delightful brunch, I take another scenic slow wind home through the Green River cove. This drive is even slower, and the majestic river is devoid of tubes, kayaks, and people today. Wild turkeys stroll through fields and roadside, their dark iridescent feathers quietly shimmering in the haze. I like that, how quiet it is, the crowds of summer gone: the river both fierce and peaceful. I recognize spots from my tubing adventures one summer, and remember the rocks and rapids, the sand bars, the tree roots, the rock walls looming at the roughest parts. On the ascent home, I hit switchbacks, my humble Volkswagen was made for this...she swings hard around those hairpin curves, delighted to climb up, up, up. Through the trees, silent mist hangs low over the sea of mountains, it's a winter day, the first of a whole new year. Like the twists and turns of the winding road, life has swung me hard back and forth along those curves, yet like the old VW, I keep hanging through them, determined to make it up. Metaphors seem to find my thoughts, that twisting drive very much like life indeed...and the view along the way worth it all. * Note cards available from this painting

Holiday Open Studio Evening

The annual holiday open studio evening at my vintage 1895 "Art House" was great: the gas log fireplaces, twinkling Christmas lights, pretty candles all created a lovely soft glow throughout the house. Thanks to those who came. I may have one more before Christmas gets here and as always, an especially grateful for those who have bought my art work and continue to believe in me. Thank you!

Esto Perpetua: The Landscape

The Landscape in Autumn

"Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. " ~ Rachel Carson ~ October is here in the mountains, leaves slowly changing to gold amid the emerald shades above: now and then a lone leaf drifts to earth. Fall tends to be a creative month for me: the temperatures cool from sultry summer, glorious crisp afternoons are meant to paint, to sculpt, to inhale...as if you could hold the moment forever. This is an "Esto Perpetua" landscape from the long-time series I've worked on for almost ten years now. It remains a perennial favorite, although I fall in love with them all, like children, and send them out into the world to create good energy wherever they may land! In the beginning, a golden fall afternoon is where it all started: I painted the first one. A leaf fell to earth, then another, and another. Open Studio at my Art House will be Saturdays throughout October, from 1-3 p.m. Drop by or by appointment at other times.

Landscapes & Dreams: Art is Life

“...into paying more attention to the world’s day-moon, to sunlight bright on water or fragmented in a grove of trees, and to look more closely here at these small leaves, these sentinel thorns, whose employment it is to guard the rose.” ~ excerpt from “The First Night by Billy Collins September keeps trickling by, a slowing of time: yet a hastening of days. Sunny afternoons seem more precious now: a recent one found me out on the back deck, art projects waiting, River dog happily soaking up sun, laundry drying. Yet, I sat there and watched the high blue concerta of life above, wispy white puffs floating lazily. There wasn't a thing I wanted to do more than inhale those tenderest of moments, to watch those drifting clouds and think about life. In the next week, I'll have a painting on display at the Spartanburg Art Museum in the Artists' Guild Juried show, a large sculpture at Tryon Painters & Sculptors' juried exhibit. Soon, I'm shipping new work including this painting to Patricia Carlisle Fine Art in Santa Fe. I keep thinking about loading the car up with paintings, along with the dog in the front seat, and taking a road trip to New Mexico. This time of year, the drying chili peppers, sunset mesas, blazing cottonwood gold, scarlet apple tree leaves floating down over the Plaza in Taos all call my heart.

Art From A Different Point of View

"The true beloveds of this world are in their lover's eyes lilacs opening, ship lights, school bells, a landscape, remembered conversations, friends, a child's Sunday, lost voices, one's favorite suit, autumn and all seasons, memory, yes, it being the earth and water of existence, memory." ~ Truman Capote .................... September strolls in, a peaceful visitor. Summer is slowly winding down along the shaded green lanes of the mountains. Indeed, it's a time for memory: goldenrod spikes and apple trees with lush red fruit, the apple trees of childhood bloom on. This month, my friends James Blanton and Gary Corn of historic Mill Farm Inn hosted a benefit for me to raise funds for eye surgery, again; with bottles of wine labeled with one of my paintings (these are still available at Joni's Wine Shop 176 E. Main Street Saluda, NC). A long story, but the saga continues, and as ever, friends and supporters keep me going in this world. I realize we're not alone, that many good people are here. Over the past year, I've called all the art I've created, both painting and sculpture, 'art from a different point of view', both metaphorically and literally. Symbolism is big in my life: and nothing happens without reason. I remain grateful. With no health insurance yet, it's a tough road for artists like me. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Life goes on, and we just need to take a different point of view sometimes.

Esto Perpetua: The Landscape

Late summer afternoon with blue sky: butterflies and hummingbirds sparkling in flowers keep me company while painting. I've got several pieces in progress, the color of the day seems to be a rich emerald green: jeweled and deep, hints of vivid blue, soft lovely golden-ochre whispering in the background. I paint on intuition, not a pre-planned formula, so each painting becomes what it's meant to be...it leads the way. If you force something, or use a set pattern: it shows. My work, for me, is of the soul, the depths. I'm only the messenger. When someone 'finds' my work, be it painting, sculpture, or writing, and connects, then I feel that I've accomplished my job while here on the planet. There's more art to make, more butterflies to watch. Time is short, do what you love. 'The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.' ~ Rabindranath Tagore

Esto Perpetua: The Landscape

It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see. ~Henry David Thoreau ~ During the month of August, I'll be having "open studio" Sundays at my art house from 12-3 or by appointment. Also, please plan on attending the informal and fun brown bag lunch program I'll be the featured speaker for at the historic Lanier Library located in Tryon, NC. I'll bring pieces of sculpture, paintings, poems: and discuss my life and art: the program lasts about an hour; it's free and open to the public. All you need to bring is a brown bag lunch!

Esto Perpetua: The Landscape

July brings intensely hot weather to the mountains, and even hotter temperatures at lower elevations. Life slows a bit, although I take advantage of the heat to leaf through painting books, novels, and slow down a bit myself. Underfoot, the new puppy sleeps. My heart is full, in love. Rescue dogs rescue us, every time. A bouquet of fragrant lilies perfume the air; I found them just marked down from way-too-much to the take-me-home price of .99. All they needed was fresh water, stems trimmed, and an elegant crystal vase. Even the smallest things bring pleasure in this world. A puppy snoring, and lily sweetness. These aren't going to last forever, but live on in the heart. This landscape is one that recently sold out in Santa Fe at Patricia Carlisle Fine Art on Canyon Road. I hope it's in someone's home, bringing pleasure to another heart.

Summer Paintings

This is a new painting from the "Haloed Bird" series--it's still in progress, but I love the jeweled rich sensual textures, the depth. It'll continue to change a bit more! With summer here, it seems like a good time to thank YOU for reading my blog: I've been doing this several years, and if you scroll through the postings, you'll take a time journey. As an artist living in a small historic town in the mountains of Western North Carolina (Asheville's right up the road)...I find beauty all around. This was the year that I committed to make art (painting, sculpture, and no telling what else along with my newspaper column writing) despite the odds. I can't think of anything else I'd rather do! So, we'll see what happens on the road ahead--a day job may have to happen: even starving artists love to eat. Soon, I'll have a new rescue puppy to feed and help me paint! Anyway, wherever you are in this world...enjoy art, buy art, love art. We in the arts thank you.

Open Studio Sundays

Verdant green lush June brings frog songs from the back pond: I've named my pond frog "Puck". All day, and most of the night, Puck has something to say: Puck. Puck! No matter the time Puck inserts his loud "Puck!" remarks, I find myself smiling over that silly frog's vocal appreciation of his kingdom; just glad to know he is there. June also brings open studio Sundays: I'll hang the "Open Studio" palette sign out and be glad to see you if you happen by: sit a spell in the front porch rockers if you like, and feel time slow down, watch the hummingbirds flit, the blue hydrangeas in bloom. Saluda restaurants will be open during summer season, so the culinary offerings are delightful down on Main Street. This month, art sale proceeds are geared toward adoption fee and expenses for a Shar-Pei rescue puppy. The little guy just had an eye removed (sad story) and I'm working hard on adopting him from the Shar-Pei rescue organization in Virginia. Stop by my house/studio in North Carolina, or visit the galleries I have work at. Thank you! Anything or anyone that does not bring you alive is too small for you... ~ David Whyte

New Work: Bird Paintings

"May our heart's garden of awakening bloom with hundreds of flowers.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh ~ ...With open studio weekend behind me, things are slowly returning to normal around the art house. Paintings moved here and there, a resettling in to a more comfortable pace. Several new paintings are in progress; both landscapes and the haloed bird series. New sculptures are also in the making: the early stages of unfired clay drying: one project I've got in mind is digging a fire pit in the back yard. I wonder if I have to get a burn permit for THAT??? Spring is slowly making her way to a soft mountain summer, the garden roses have been in full flush, and now the hydrangeas are singing into bloom.

New Work: The Landscape

"You are standing at the edge of the woods at twilight when something begins to sing, like a waterfall" ~ excerpt from Mary Oliver's poem "You Are Standing At The Edge of the Woods" This painting is a larger piece I've worked on and off with for the past year...letting it sit awhile, then returning. With open studios coming up this weekend, I had hoped to finish it, but realize it's impossible to do everything! Let alone mow, clean, rearrange, and get the house ready for the public. Still, I took a picture of it, and really love the ethereal feel, something that has stayed in the piece all along. Looks very simple, but there are delicate layers upon layers.

New Work: The Haloed Bird Series

"Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes." ~ Carl Jung With the open studio event coming up this weekend, I'm finishing up a number of new works, including three new bird paintings from the haloed bird series I began several years ago. This one, "She Dreams of Flight" is 30" x 30" on linen, and is almost finished. Since the picture was made, I've added more detail, removed some, and let the colors flow.

The Landscape

This painting is one of a pair just completed. Other paintings, all large works on linen, just returned home from the Theatre Art Galleries High Point exhibit: it's nice to enjoy them all together once again. Hauling such large work is a task! Luckily, artist friends Bill and Anne Jameson of Saluda gave them a ride home--nothing like other artists to help out!

During May, I'll be on the Art Trek Tryon 2012 open studio tour on May 5 and 6 with about 35 other area artists: work from all artists will be on display at the Upstairs Artspace as well, until May 19. Please plan on enjoying this fun-filled weekend of art, artists, and studios! You'll also be able to see my sculpture and paintings at the Tryon Fine Arts Center garden/art event. Several gardens will be on tour as well as an indoor/outdoor art display at TFAC. A most lovely event and a fund-raiser to support a worthy arts organization.

New Work: Sculpture In Progress

“She followed slowly, taking a long time,
As though there were some obstacles in the way;
And yet: as though, once it was overcome,
She would be beyond all walking, and would fly."
~ Rainer Maria Rilke

Spring runs through veins of life, blue skies overhead, chartreuse grass spangled with violets. Vivid azaleas flare color wheels while butterflies and bees flit in the breeze. Life goes on. Here, every day I work on new art: a lot of sculpture lately, as well as painting. Open studio tour will be early this year: and I have only a million things to do. I'm hopeful it will be a success. Lately, it's been a tough few weeks, literally a few tough years, but my decision to make art full-time has remained resolute and unbroken. I keep thinking about Icarus of Greek myth: daring to fly--too close to the sun. I have dared to fly: or thought I could. Hope lives deep in an artist's heart--for we don't do it for the love of money, fame or fortune: not the true artists. We do it for our soul, to speak truths. It's not an easy path, and I wouldn't choose another.

New Work: The Landscape

This is a new landscape entitled "Esto Perpetua: Sunset II", it's one of a pair I've just framed up today to take to Skyuka Fine Art gallery. I donate a portion of my sales from the "Esto Perpetua" series to our local land trust: Saluda Community Land Trust. Little things can make a huge difference!

New Work: Sculpture In Progress

Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water.
The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken.
Although its light is wide and great,
The moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide.
The whole moon and the entire sky
Are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass. ~ Dogen

This piece is fired terra cotta, with multiple paint layers and distressed finishes. He sat untouched for several months, until today when I picked him up, got the brush out, and started applying acrylic paints like glazes. I like this guy!

The Landscape

This is a commissioned oil painting that has gone to its new home in Charlotte, NC. Last Christmas, the client had spotted a smaller painting that appealed to him and asked if I'd do a piece for him...with warm golden colors. Otherwise, he had no huge demands, and didn't hover. Of course, during the process, I kept him updated: and was grateful and happy to be allowed to do my thing! I love it when people trust me: and let the flow happen. It's a matter of trust on both sides, I think. Besides, I love knowing the people who have my work--while sometimes I never know, there is a connection and an appreciation of when I do meet them or know something about them, and vice versa. A personal feel, perhaps. Art brings us together!

New Work: The Landscape

"Very little grows on jagged rock. Be ground. Be crumbled, so wildflowers will come up where you are." ~Rumi

This painting is still on the easel, unfinished! Now the first of March, it's time to put up a celebration of spring ahead painting. Winter hasn't yet left town, but the doves are building a nest close by: and I'm enjoying hearing the rustle of wings, and their soft talk back and forth to one another. Bluebirds will be building their nests soon. Sunshine-filled daffodils are blooming here, and their tender whispers of fragrance lifts my spirits. Always. Life goes on, here in my small town, here in my old house, here in my heart. Every day, I get up and feel grateful for one more day. Another day to make art and create: you won't find me spending hours at the malls or local bars: it seems like time gets shorter and more precious in how to spend it: so I choose carefully. You'll probably find me outside on the back deck if the weather is good: painting or working on a new sculpture. There's nothing I'd rather be doing.

The Landscape: New Work

This is an oil landscape on board, in progress--will be shipping it to Patricia Carlisle Fine Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico after I get the drill out and attach a plein air frame. At this point, my intuition is telling me to quit: so I've buffed a thin layer of cold wax over it, and will let it sit. In putting pieces in a visible spot, they speak more to me about when 'done'. Like life, I just go with the flow, and the art takes me where it wants to go--I'm just a conduit, a messenger.

"If you catch a fragrance of the unseen,
like that, you will not be able
to be contained.
You will be out in empty sky.

Any beauty the world has, any desire,
will easily be yours.

As you live deeper in the heart,
the mirror gets clearer and cleaner." ~ Rumi

The Landscape: In Red

Winter brings the month of February, the month of red, warmth, and inner thought. This is a red landscape painting that's going to Skyuka Fine Art Gallery today: it'll be available there during the "Showing Off Saluda" exhibit that runs through March. While many of my latest landscapes are becoming more and more 'tender' and ethereal, this one is definitely passionate and sensual, yet retains an ethereal feel. There are always two sides to the coin of art!

The morning wind spreads its fresh smell.
"We must get up and take that in,
that wind that lets us live.
Breathe, before it's gone." ~ Rumi

New Work: The Landscape

“Everything in the universe is within you. Ask all from yourself.” ~ Rumi

This is a new landscape I've worked on and finished up yesterday: ready to be framed and shipped to Patricia Carlisle Fine Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Last month, when heading to Florida, I stuffed a number of small boards and canvases in my art supply bag--then worked on getting pieces started one balmy soft afternoon spent near the blue sea, the white sands, the soft cypress trees whispering overhead. When I returned home to North Carolina, the pieces all had a similar feel and spirit, as if they'd captured the thoughts of that peaceful afternoon. A kind soul recently brightened my day with a note that my art and musings had made a difference in their day: making a donation through my paypal account for art supplies, etc. Sometimes unexpected gifts transcend and inspire. It's a reminder that I'm not alone, nor are any of us in this world, that goodness and love do prevail. Indeed.

New Sculpture: Goddess Fragment Series

“The only journey is the one within.” ~ Rilke

The long road of winter led me away from home, hundreds of miles away to warm Florida sunshine and tropical breezes. As ever, I continue to choose the rockier paths, the road divided, and it does make all the difference, to paraphrase Robert Frost! I've turned in notice to the gallery day job, made other changes: and sat at a sidewalk cafe downtown Sarasota, leaves fluttering in sunlight over head, and felt free, open, and that it will all be alright in the grand scheme. Two art shows are coming up, so I've come back to get work ready for those. It dawned on me, during the time I was away, that paintings and sculpture I've been making have become solely an extension of myself: simple and true, a statement. Life is short: make art. Follow your dream; don't be afraid. Spin the wheel, walk into the day.

Art shows opening in February 2012 are: Theatre Art Galleries, High Point NC featuring seven Saluda artists, including me. Also, Skyuka Fine Art in Tryon NC will feature ten Saluda artists as well.

This sculpture is part of the "Goddess Fragment Series" and is fired clay, concrete, barbed wire, mixed finishes mounted on rebar/black walnut base. Collection of Joyce Fox, Sarasota, Florida.

A New Dawning

The new year has come, and with the cold days of winter, new journeys and paths open up. Old doors close, others in the meantime open. All things are changing, and under the snow, crocuses, daffodils and buds yearn to break free. Such a metaphor for life! Winter is a pensive time, a time for thought and understanding that bare branches hold green leaves. This month, I'll be heading for a respite from ice and cold here to warm sunshine in Sarasota, Florida again...thanks to a generous friend who's a supporter of the arts. In driving those many miles betwixt here and there, I'll take time to think about all roads, including those that are metaphysical. As ever, I'll be taking the one less traveled, and that will make all the difference. What's your road ahead?

“When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it is over, I don't want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.

I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.”
~ Mary Oliver

New Work: The Landscape

"Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving." ~ Kahlil Gibran

This is a new landscape in progress from the "Esto Perpetua" series I began several years ago. The paintings keep evolving and transcending...and each one becomes a new love of mine. This one will head to the Southwest to Santa Fe when I get it done to Patricia Carlisle Fine Art, Canyon Road. It's 36 x 36 in a muted soft palette that dances in the evening woods.

The Landscape: New Work

“I am a forest, and a night of dark trees: but he who is not afraid of my darkness, will find banks full of roses under my cypresses.” ~ Nietzsche

This is one of many new landscapes I've worked on with oil and cold wax finish, either on linen or gessoboard. Some have been sent out to Santa Fe, to the Patricia Carlisle Gallery, and some are being worked on now. Also, I just finished up a bamboo grove: a commissioned painting where the buyer has been willing to let me do my thing, without heavy demands or a forced viewpoint. By going with the flow, and letting the paintbrush find the way, it's become a beautiful piece!

Color & Light

Color and light shine beside one of my new paintings on a late fall afternoon, fleeting summer flowers peek through brilliant maple leaves, the golden painting alongside. For me, color and 'feel' are much of what give a particular piece 'soul', plus that extra touch that is without definition. It just 'is'...

The Landscape: New Work

Do you love this world? Do you cherish your humble and silky life? Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath? ~ Mary Oliver

The Landscape: New Work

'Let choice whisper in your ear and love murmur in your heart. Be ready. Here comes life.' ~ Maya Angelou

More leaves tinged with scarlet, gold, russet hues brush softly through the fall grass; the sky today is impossibly blue...colder weather brings a melancholy, a time of remembering to the heart, as it does every year--the changing of all things is constant. Seasons have their time, as do we. This painting is in progress: a gold gesso ground, with layers of oil paint and Gamblin cold wax. Those falling leaves whisper secrets of the road ahead--a underlying desire to pack up and head to parts unknown, to be a gypsy spirit. Yet, as an artist friend of mine reminds me: it's always good to have a place to hang your hat. And your paint brush!

The Landscape: New Work

'The artist does not see things as they are, but as he is.' ~Alfred Tonnelle

Fall has arrived; summer a blur of warm days. The sun shines today in a high blue sky; the morning mists long gone. Leaves and acorns are beginning to fall, a crescendo of rustle and nature's songs, reminding me that change always comes. Fall tends to make me pensive, thinking. All seasons have their own beauty, their own 'feel'. Again, I'm reminded of the shortness of life, and the continuing drive to make art while here...to stay true to purpose and course. This is one of a number of smaller oil paintings I've worked on lately to get ready to send out into the world. Some have cold wax: all have many layers.

Art: From A Different Point of View

'A leaf fluttered in through the window this morning, as if supported by the rays of the sun, a bird settled on the fire escape, joy in the task of coffee, joy accompanied me as I walked.' ~ Anais Nin

September brings cooler nights here, blue-skied days growing shorter, and a sense of change in the crisp air. Sunny mornings find spider webs sparkling over the boxwoods out front. While sitting in the front porch swing, surrounded by late summer petunias, trailing geraniums, and lush ferns, I watch all of nature with my cup of hot fresh coffee in hand. No hurry, only the soft whisper of the swing, a sense of peace, of realizing that all things change: that this moment is beautiful, to be enjoyed in the present.

These days find me creating art from a different point of view, you could say. The eyes have been having issues, causing blurry vision (this will be fixed at the end of the month!) So, instead of feeling sorry for myself, I've found a chance to see things a bit differently. Hey, Matisse and Monet did the same when their vision worsened. Here is one of two new portraits of my neighbor, Joni. To make a long story short, she'd had a portrait done by someone who used a projector and painted her 'literally'. It was her, yet lifeless. Could I do something, she begged. So, I took her out on my front porch and snapped pictures...the wheels in my head turning (of course!). So here is one of the resulting paintings from that moment.

**If you're interested in having a "AS I SEE YOU" portrait: I'll fix you one up. I can work from your favorite photo OR take one of you if you're local. Just inquire...

New Work: The Landscape

Hints of fall color blue-sky August afternoons; mornings grow a little cooler, a welcome respite after the merciless heat of summer. I've been moving things around after the Open Studio tour, trying to get back to 'normal' (if such a thing can exist!). The dining room has been undergoing some transitions, too: curtains pulled down, sculptures rearranged, and a gas stove added for those frozen days of winter ahead. While pulling curtains down, I found Jungian symbolism in letting more light in, a clearer view. Changes.

New Work: The Landscape

'When you possess light within, you see it externally.' ~ Anaïs Nin

This is a small painting I worked on recently, with gold gesso subtly shining through layers of rich color. It evokes Monet and spring, and something about this piece touches my spirit, the spring that still blooms in my heart, despite the odds. The touch of indigo blue? A trace of green? The hint of water, of willow? Perhaps defining things are not as important as just knowing.

New Work: The Landscape

This small landscape hung in my study for the past year; I'd look at it and think about doing something else to it a number of times. Finally I took it down before the open studio weekend, added touches in fresh rich oil hues, then framed it in a plein air frame. With a few brush strokes, it transformed into a piece I loved. It sold, to someone else who loved it too! Thank you, K....and I hope to hear how you're enjoying the piece, when you come to a resting phase on your journeys. Ah, when a piece finds the 'right' home, I feel good about it! Sometimes paintings find the right person, and vice versa.

New Work: The Landscape

Here's a new painting I just completed for the open studio event, along with several larger pieces with the same color fields. As I was working on the first one, I applied paint directly to the canvas, then added a bit of this, a bit of that. Luscious effects happened. I like this! By going with the flow, so to speak, I found that something happened: my mind was free, I wasn't worried about the finished piece, and magic happened. These are deceptively simple, yet I have found over the years that less says more. Sometimes there's too much information going on in our lives, and it's time to take a step back to simple and beautiful.

Open Studio Tour: 2011

Mark your calendar! Art Trek 2011 open studio event arrives July 30-31 at artist studios all over the area! I'll be one of them again! The fabulous preview party will be held at Upstairs Artspace, Tryon, NC featuring all artists and a corresponding gallery show on display for two weeks. Open studios will be July 30, 10-5. Then July 31 from 12-5. It's a great time to get in the car and visit lots of artists, ranging from painters, clay artists and potters, a luthier, wood-turners and more! I'll have both painting AND sculpture. Plus, as a special treat, will have note cards featuring four different bird paintings, and a moon hare note card, too. Here's a new piece I'll be putting in the gallery show along with others--it started out as an abstraction of a computer circuit board, then evolved to an orchid painting with gold gesso background and many layers of finishes.