It is now Autumn....

Even though I have been absent from this spot for several months, I have not been absent from my studio.  It is Labor Day, and since we were using this day as a "staycation", I thought I would work in the studio on a piece for my daughter.  She had wanted a pastel like Degas.  She didn't get it, but I managed to pull off a good picture and although I am reluctant to show it, it represents another milestone.

In other words, I was please with the whole piece this time.

And that is rare.

We will take it in tomorrow for framing. Now, I will think more about pastels to supplement my watercolors.
 

Offering for Ash Wednesday

Usually, trips are a great catalyst for me and I come back, if not brimming with ideas, then at least having a few pop into my head.  In this case, I went to an art fair in Boca Raton, and met a very nice (and I might say from his paintings, accomplished) artist who had a piece which was charcoal done on canvas and fixed with the usual fixative.  I had not heard of such a thing (being  ignorant and at the beginning of a steep learning curve) and so decided when I got home to try it.

This was the result.  It is called "Are you so sure?"  I really like the charcoal on the canvas idea, but not sure yet if it is durable enough.  I have put fixative on it and will see how it holds.

 

Sometimes Bigger is Better

I just finished a watercolor, a much bigger version of one I have hanging in my dining room.  The one there is a favorite of my husband's and it was his idea to enlarge it.  I hadn't done it for two reasons.  First, could I pull it off again?  Second, it would require an expensive frame and matting if I did pull it off.

However, everyone is gone and I decided to take paint in hands.  After a trip to the local craft store for a ginormous piece of paper this was the result, and the effect I sought in the first picture actually came to life in this one.

 So, sometimes bigger IS better!

In Praise of the Slow.

I have always, always been what you might call a slow person, who likes to take the time to deliberate before doing.  Indeed, if you rush me, as my mother always (many times rightly) tried to, I will misplace or lose or forget something.  It is one of those limitations I live with;  I can "rev" up, so to speak, but it always makes me tense and nervous.  Needless to say, in this country where the premium virtue is haste even in places of contemplation (!), I have often been the slower car--you know the one--who is taking their time while everyone else is rushing to the fire. 

So imagine my delight in finding this link called Slow Painting.

http://slowpainting.wordpress.com/

It isn't just about "slow art", but slow architecture, slow cooking, slow living.  I hope you slow people out there will enjoy it as much as I have.

And take your time.