Portraits and birthdays...

This is my husband's and daughter's birthday. When Doug was 40, I painted him in a three piece suit and tie and hung the sample portrait in the board room of our office. In recent years, he hit another milestone, and I suggested we do a more casual portrait. He said,"Yes, but this time paint the real me...the beach bum!" Well, although he grew up on the coast of Carolina, he hasn't lived there permanently in over 50 years! But one day, the light was right, the pose was accidental, and everything fell into place. This is a 40 x 30 oil portrait... I have as a sample in my studio now. Our children said it was "so Dad...in his story-telling pose." The Son of a Fisherman...

Drawing - college prep class...

Back in Raleigh I met with my college prep class tonight. These are all high school students 14 to 17 years old...all such talented, interesting kids. What a great bunch! I wish I could have more time with them. Tonight we worked heightened charcoal drawings from white statuary with single light sources...a great way to begin good habits. Here is the 15 minute demo I did...and a wall of most of the students' work tonight. Loved it. Looking forward to next week with everyone.

...so much for nearly daily posts...

All season I have been filling you in on travel and activities as they happened. This month there have been some family events with the older generation that needed a great deal of attention. Painting, business, communication has virtually stopped for the past two weeks. Things are on the upswing now. I will be leaving Florida to return home to Raleigh, my husband, my studio, my activities early this week. But right now I am watching the most beautiful sunset over Clearwater bay on the west coast of Florida and can finally feel the juices flowing to start working again. This is a 20 x 16 oil painting still life I did here some time ago. A view of one of my mother's tables with pearls, teacup, and Italian mirror. Elegant. Quiet.

Beach Beauties and Blogs...

A wonderful artist friend, Mike Rooney, the North Carolina coastal artist who encouraged me to start this blog, offered to share some notes about using blogs in the art business. I am the speaker at the Pastel Society of North Carolina program this coming Saturday ( a week from today) and plan to include his information in this presentation. He's a great guy...just got back from painting in Cape Cod. You need to check out his site at http://mikerooneystudios.blogspot.com/
And so in his honor I am going to run this 5 x 7 oil of a beach beauty digging mussels one more time...
$150.00/ $9shipping/ NCSTx

Ballerina backstage...

This theme was helped along by a lovely young ballerina who posed for me in my studio. We had the opportunity to try a number of things including this 7 x 5 oil painting of a Ballerina on a Box. I love the backstage work. So many wonderful shapes and colors to play with...

Reflecting...

Do we love these little 5x7 oils of ballerinas because of their pensive qualities? Or do we love their poses because they are consumate athletes and are as graceful at rest as they are on stage...

Pastel Portraits and Children...

Like all women I am many things...wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, friend. As I walked through a building today, I observed a 4 year-old happily shadowing her father - who she clearly adored. I remembered that time when I was that little girl. Later in the day, a family came into the studio. The preteen hanging on her mother enganging her in adult conversation, sharing a girls' moment. "Oh, Mom, look how lovely the dress is in that painting. She looks so beautiful." I remember being that girl, too. I hope that when all is said and done, that my paintings will help the families I paint remember those moments. This is a detail from a pastel portrait of two sisters...the younger one shown here was the flirty, precocious one. I hope that comes through...

Silverpoint drawings...

Today was full of arranging plane flights, preparing papers for classes, and pulling together some images as examples. I was working on two of the classes I will be teaching at Jerry's Art of the Carolinas in November in Raleigh. One is this great "Mr. Wizard's Color of Light Bounce Effects - Physics for Artists Painting Light 101"!! Okay so that's not really the title, but that will be the real point of the class... or show, in this case. I was also working on the class about drawing and painting hands and found one of my old silverpoint drawings that I will be including in the powerpoint explanation. Silver is used... Drawn on clay coated Italian paper 4 x 3 inches. This was done in Florence from a statue in the Medici Chapel.

The Perfect Day...

Today was the perfect day. The weather was at its very best. The sky was incredibly beatiful. I managed to study this morning, write a little, paint without a deadline, cook a great meal, and enjoy it leisurely on the patio over looking the lake until the sun finally set. Perfect. There have been few days like this recently. I am grateful for it. It reminded me of another day in Italy in Panzano near Florence... It was much like the day in this 24 x 30 oil painting. Can you feel the sunlight?

Splendid First Friday...

The evening started off very slowly. So all the artists thought that everyone had gone to the beach for the holiday weekend. Not at all. We had a stunning crowd by 7:30 and it never let down all evening long. Shoulder to shoulder, it was a massive group, all ages ranges. Great interest in the artwork, great questions, great fun. Here is an 11 x 14 pastel on Ampersand board to toss into the mix...

Italian Landscape - Vicino Panzano - the next step...

This project was begun by an invitation to do a show with five other artists for a gallery in Raleigh, NC. Judy Jones, the gallery owner and a marvelous printmaker, decided that it would be interesting to see the results of a show called "Painters under Pressure." This intaglio print that I posted yesterday is of a location near Panzano, Italy. The print image is 4 x 10 with the sheet size being 10 x 16. To hand tint them, I simply used a watercolor wash. Each print then became individual and unique. I did left a few untinted because I loved the pure simplicity of the print and the texture of the paper. Our show opens tomorrow night for Raleigh's First Friday Art Walk.

Italian Landscape - Vicino Panzano

This is an intaglio print that I created this week. The image is a location near Panzano, Italy were we stay frequently when we go - a serene location with lovely rolling hills and vineyards in every direction. The print image is 4 x 10 with the sheet size being 10 x 16. I used a rich chocolate colored ink on creme colored Italian paper...hmm, I must be hungry... Here is the full image and a closeup detail. Tomorrow I will take the prints and hand tint them.

Carolina Coast - One more time...

Here are a couple of closeup images from yesterday's post about the unusual restaurant at the coast of Carolina. Thanks for the calls and emails about this image. I agree with you - it was a most memorable place and it had to be painted. This is a pastel 20 x16 on Ampersand board, and here are two of the interesting areas.