getting to the danger point

Like a homing pigeon I return to the beauty of trees, in particular, red trees. I am tempting fate with my new series. How far can I push the beauty of the color and not allow to get too garish or quiet? How close can it come before the tipping point yet stay there and entrance the viewer?  How much light , dark, intense or neutral does a painting need?  This is why I paint.

on fire and RED

8x8 pastel

Do you ever feel that your muse has left you for greener pastures? That is how I felt for the last month. Ick. Why does she do this to me????? It makes you feel a little down and not like working, right?
 But I know better by now. When that little rascal moves off and that feeling comes over me  I make myself work harder. This feeling means I am in a rut so I encourage experimentation.  This time I took out many of my unsatisfactory plein air pieces and went at them with abandon. I completely deconstructed so that I could reconstruct again. I brought each one back to a complete abstract and rebuilt. This one was my break through. Now, I can't wait to see where I go next! My muse is back!
Has this ever happened to you??????

In the meantime mark your calendars for my upcoming events:
1. RED, a holiday show, collector's preview, Waverly Street Gallery, Bethesda MD, Sunday, December 6, 4-6 .
I will have at least 15 paintings in this group show.

2. RED- reception for all, Friday December 11, 6-9 Same place as above.

3. Online sale- Sometime in the first two weeks of December I will post an online sale on my facebook page. I will post it here as well and link you to my page. (even if you aren't on facebook you can see). I will be selling between 10-20 small pastels (unframed) at a great price. These are paintings that won't go into my next two shows simply because they don't match the theme. I will ship them off to you right away.

Orange steps forward

Now orange takes the floor but works beautifully with magenta. Notice to keep both in check I need a little bit of cool color for which I chose a blue-green.
FYI Coming up soon is the Waverly Street Gallery's RED show for the holidays. About 15 of my orange and magenta pieces will be on display. The Waverly Street Gallery is in Bethesda Maryland, 2 miles outside the DC line on the metro. Please come if you can. The show runs December 8-January 3.

maryland public TV pop up gallery

Last night the Maryland Public TV displayed a small pop-up gallery of my work. What a nice surprise!  I found out when I received an email to my website... a new collector!
 Here is the link if you want to see it.http://video.mpt.tv/video/2365484282/
It truly is just a notation in the program...still I am delighted!

Rothko trees and upcoming show

oil on linen 36x36

I am finishing my paintings for the upcoming show at Gallery B in Bethesda. It will be up April 1-25th.  I will have my easel set up at the gallery and working there Wednesday through Saturday 12-6. There will a couple of free classes as well. Sign up for my newsletter and I will be sending out the specifics soon. (Link for my website.) Or, of course, you can email me and I will snail mail the show postcard.
The inspiration for this painting was a plein air painting I did this autumn. Patience and glazed layers was the way this one was created. I want to do the same layered opalescence. It's funny, my wonderful framer Bosco said to me that I was continually changing in this body of work. The only thing I could think was I kept seeking the best way to "feel." I'll still keep looking.

Interpretive painter? what do you think?

24x24 oil on wood

I was delighted that Judson's Art Outfitters choose to write about me on their blog! Last year, in Sedona, I met Carl Judson when he honored me with the Alcantara Paint Out Award. Carl is an avid plein painter himself and travels all over to different plein air events, so it means a lot that he chose my work.  Thanks Carl!

I found it interesting that I was labeled an "interpretive plein air painter" in the article about my work. Here's the Link. It's funny, I do realize, when I am at the plein air competitions, that my work does not look like the other work. I don't intentionally try to make this happen. Yet, I have always felt I was distilling and seeking the essence of the landscape. I guess that is interpreting.
When on location I try to feel my place, thus I prefer to be a "frequent flyer" and simply return to the same places time and time again.  I guess it is not really about the place. Or the place is so well known to me I can discard the "place" and paint. Does that make sense? Maybe I am an odd match for plein air competitions, but I just LOVE to paint on location (as well as in the studio.) What do you think? How do you see/paint?

resplendent

pastel 8x8

Oaks are resplendent right now.

red tree 2 warmer palette

14x15 pastel

 I decided to play with the red tree and see what would happen when I make my palette warmer. In the meantime I am preparing a wood panel in order to paint much larger in oil: 36x36 vs the 15x14 you see here. The oranges are more a part of the grasses and trees. They replace the abundance of violets. I may like the first cooler one better. What do you think?