Below The Bluffs Block Island

I had to walk down the 138(as I recall) steps to get to this vantage point...usually painted from the top it was good to try this view...the wind was blowing and my kind husband was willing to help me carry my gear down and back up....the canvas alone was like a sail in the wind...it was a beautiful sunny morning...no one around, the waves were crashing in, the air smelled of the sea and  the golden rod was blooming...oil on linen 32x45 "

View From The Andrew's House Block Island

Out to the island last week to get some work done...a beautiful time spent in the front bedroom watching the sunrise and the light pour in from the windows facing the town... I was as happy as a clam painting to my heart's delight...I kept thinking about the great American artist and freind, Sperry Andrews, who had painted in this house for years and years...this is the first of eleven studies I did that week ...oil on canvas 30x40 "

Potted Plant at Wheatleigh

This is an example of the glorious pots full of plants every where you look around this "cottage"...so amazing as is the architecture...oil on canvas 30x40"

Berkshire Cottage View

Up in Lenox Ma. there is a beautiful old estate by the name of Wheatleigh...now used as an  exclusive hotel... fortunately I know the landscaper and he welcomed us there to paint...the grounds are quite wonderful, which were originally designed by Fredrick Law Olmstead ( Central Park fame ) and as you can see there is a very good view of the Berkshire hills ...a great summer sky... more to come...oil on canvas 30x40"

Summer Bouquet

Picked this bouquet at home from the gardens and brought them to the studio... I adore the lilies...and this vase of my grandmother's (actually an Italian pitcher) is also really nice...sitting on the old stool was the perfect spot for a morning of painting bliss....30x30" oil on canvas....sorry so busy with all the summer work could not blog for ???

Black and White Studies

 

These lilies were so red I was challenged to paint them without color! I love to simplify with just the black watercolors...I have actually touched up some highlights with the white watercolor...more to come....22x30" ....22x22...watercolor on paper

Nature imitates Art or Art imitates Nature?

The little frog pond always entertains me... I love the frogs...and it is really funny when they sit like this next to the old stone frog fountain (which is not hooked up yet to the water, almost)...friends forever...

Block Island Ferry and Flowers

I painted this watercolor on the Island this past weekend  as a demonstration....in the rain....wet on wet...it was a real challenge...outside the Island Bound Bookstore on Saturday morning a small gathering of hearty souls...the wind blew the rain came down and I painted these beautiful flowers  fresh from the farmer's market...and of course...the Carol Jean...our most favorite ferry...it was a bit tricky when the rain started to wash away the paint(there was a small funny tent we huddled under) ...but it just made me have to paint with MORE conviction and love...a great time!  watercolor and gouache on 140lb hot pressed paper 22x30"

The garden in August

Here is the beautiful garden of lettuce gone to seed...and lots of other amazing growing ripe luscious things...It hangs in my exhibit at the Front St Gallery in Housatonic at this time...behind the garden lurks our humble home, the green barn...oil on canvas 36 x 36"

Show at Front St Gallery

Here is one of many paintings exhibited at the Front St Gallery of my recent work....the show will hang until September 8...if you have a chance please come in and see it...It is quite wonderful if I do say so myself....stay cool....as it was in my dining room last fall when I did this study of the table and chairs etc....dried flowers(grasses) means it was late in the season...oil on canvas 36x48"

Cool Water for a Hot Day on Block Island

I could spend days just painting the waves breaking over the rocks...it seems to change constantly and yet remain the same...to study a wave and how it moves is a wonderful prospect...on the left of the canvas there was a jetty going out to sea hence the straight line not common to water scapes...I loved the green moss on the rocks, wish I was in the water right now...looking at the painting will have to do....oil on canvas 15x30"

Summer Day in Sheffield

I have been so busy getting ready for all the summer exhibits! Time flies....An incredible property in Sheffield Ma...gardens galore...Peonies on the table, clouds in the sky , laundry on the line....a great day for painting...36x48" oil on canvas

Morning Dorry's Cove Looking South Sunset Dorry's Cove Looking North BI

 

I fell in love with the gulls flying over head ...the color of their bellies up against the blue sky...As the sun set the dunes took on the orange light...the end to a perfect day...

Block Island Studies

 

 

First the house at the bend in the road...late afternoon light...irises blooming in the marsh...second, Great Salt Pond almost sunset looking over the water from  the Sullivan House...what a magnificent time I had painting...how wonderful, uninterrupted work....16x20" oil on canvas 12x24"



White Double Amaryllis in a Blue Pot

 

 

 



This blossom broke off of the stem and I put it in a pot of water and placed it on the beautiful orange dragon fabric...I had wanted to paint it for a while but we had gone away... when we returned this was the only blossom left so I seized the opportunity and these are what came of it...plus one more....12x12" oil on canvas

Sunset 125th St Harlem

This is the view from the Metro North Station looking west down 125th st...It was summer and the sky was full of color and the trees were full of leaves....oil on canvas  30x40"

Pansies in the Spring

There is nothing like a pansy to get rid of the winter blues....the fact that anything is growing is always so helpful to the spirit ...let alone blooming....Two different kinds....oil on canvas 11x14"  16x20"

 



 



Times Square Night and Day

 

I was a bit overwhelmed at the thought of painting Times Square...but it really painted itself...all those  wonderful abstract shapes and colors...all man made...all those people, more abstract shapes and colors....so there you have it....30x40"  36x24" oil on canvas  

The Massage Therapist

This lovely woman posed in the studio on a very cold winter morning...I learned about her life traveling around the country as I painted her...I look forward to getting a massage from her some day...oil on canvas24x30"

Portrait of Peggy

The inspiration for this portrait began when I found this piece of fabric in an antique store a friend of mine owns...I fell in love...then came Peggy to pose one morning for the class....she had a good story and she told it as she sat very still...oil on canvas 24x24"

Is Three the Charm ?

I struggled very hard with this subject, and when I do struggle with a subject ,I try to get a different perspective on it in each study....this is the last one...a little simpler background....I have gotten to know the plant fairly well...I like each painting for a different reason but I think I like this one the best? Who knows? oil on canvas 24x24"

This Week's Studies of Heleobore(sp) in the Studio

 

This plant fascinates me...green flowers strange leaves...I am charmed by the subtleties of the blossoms...no matter how I paint , there I am...will continue the journey into the next study...oil on canvas 24x24"

Little White Turnips

 

 

I like to eat these raw, like a radish...they are great...even better to paint...every time I look...I want to paint them...so here they are in all their glory...oil on canvas 16x20"

Madison Ave at 90th?

A beautiful summer morning on the avenue....I love the flower markets...oil on canvas 20x24"

Oh the Places We have Been !

 

 

 

At the top we have the view from our wonderful hotel room in Greensboro NC..."The Proximity" a GREEN hotel , solar etc...I just loved the room and.... the view...Next, what you can see from Barretts' kitchen window in her home in Madison GA...always love the trains and the stations....finally, over looking Charlston SC from our hotel room at the" Francis Marion"...I had stayed here over 30 years ago with my mother on a house and garden tour of the South... I remembered loving cast shadows of chimneys on the rooftops...they were still there...the harbor in the distance... watercolor and gouache...12x12"   11x14"

More of St Croix

First scene, Carambola hills...for some reason the patterns here are wonderful every year I am inspired all over again, and the sky gets stormy in the afternoons...second painting also at Carambola looking into the rain forest....last view from Cramer Park on the beach ....grapetree and distant hills....great sky....watercolor and gouache 12x12" 11x14'

St Croix Landscape

Sunset at Fredricksted USVI ...the pier on the right where the cruise ship has just departed and the coral reef in front covered in moss with the waves washing up and swirling around the reef...all too beautiful to be believed...the sun must set on another day in this tropical paradise....watercolor gouache12x14"

Pink Lilies and Wonderful Cloth

I really liked how this fabric looked with the glass vase...all the blues and browns and then the one dying leaf as well as the blossom just opening up....nothing better than that bright orange pollen on a pink lily....16x20" oil on canvas

57th st and the IBM Building Looking West

I really liked the juxtaposition of this sculpture(by whom I forget?) with the lights of the windows across the street...all of the reflected light everywhere works for me...throw in a few strolling New Yorkers and voila! 30x40" oil on canvas

A Church in the City

I was struck with how the church looked so warm and small surrounded by the taller,cooler colored buildings on this late winter afternoon...I loved the long shadows cast by the walkers in the sunlight...and all the flags and all the reflecting windows, another wonderful NYC scene... oil on canvas 3'x4'

The Storm and The Form

 

Or, how the naked figures were buried in snow...we didn't get as much as Ct. but we got over a foot...here are my two gardens sculptures with their cone heads of snow and their lower halfs missing...the first figure (1/3 life size)I did at the National Academy in NYC 40? years ago in wet clay and  my mother had it cast in bronz after I cast it in plaster...the second figure (2/3 life size)was sculpted about 10 years ago here in the Berkshires at Ann Jon's studio in wet clay and was cast in bronz back then...I love to work with wet clay and the figure....sorry not to do more of it!

January Sunset in the Berkshires

I saw this view when we went out cross country skiing in the valley across from our house...this winter cornfield looks very different than in the summer...just the stubble of those huge corn stalks poking through ...I really loved the sky and how it reflected in the snow....the clouds become more important when there is no lush greenery around....the distant hills cold and dark...36x48"oil on canvas

The Painting....The Drawing

First came the sketch....I was sitting out on the back porch  to simply enjoy the late afternoon, the next thing I know I am sketching this beautiful scene, the next thing I know I am painting...it happened so quickly there was nothing I could do to stop the whole process...just go with the flow of inspiration and the joy of it all ....oil on canvas 30x40" conte' crayon on 22x30" paper

Portrait of my God Child

I was grateful when Cate was willing to pose at the studio one morning...We were so lucky to have her visiting all the way from Minnesota via Georgia ....She was an excellent model...I was really amazed as I painted her beautiful face...perfect lips,eyes.etc...etc.... a pleasure to paint...I did not do her beauty justice....would like to paint another and another....oil on  canvas 20x24"

57th St Looking West from Madison Ave NYC

Amazing what happens just in the patterns that are painted on the streets...Madison Ave crossing 57th St...a wide street,4 lanes, I used to walk down it every day to get the Art Students League...I commuted up from West 12th...another December afternoon....warm buildings, cool streets....oil on canvas 30x40"