paintandsimple

10″x8″ pastel on sanded paper

“Art is man’s expression of his joy in labor.” – Henry A. Kissinger

This is my beautiful friend Jan, who inspires and encourages me in many ways.  She is a talented artist, well ahead of my art journey.  She is also happily married for the 55th year, something that inspires me more than a successful art carreer.  Her joy and enthusiasm is so contagious, that you can’t help get swept up in it.  

7″x5″ pastel on sanded paper

“Nobody sees a flower really; it is so small. We haven’t time, and to see takes time – like to have a friend takes time.”  -Georgia O’Keeffe

20″x16″ oil on panel

Chickens are perhaps the thing I find most enjoyable to paint, I love the simplified shape of their bodies, and how I can play with light and color from their feathers.

10″x8″ oil on panel

Spring rain, summer sun, and hard work all came together for this beautiful bounty.  My beautiful next door neighbor left this for us on my porch this morning.

  
10″x8″ pastel on sanded paper-SOLD

I loved how this mother tucked her vegetables in with her child.

  
7″x5″ pastel on sanded paper

“Even when there is no rooster, morning will start” -African proverb

   
10″x8″ pastel 

10″x8″ oil on panel

Two studies, two mediums, three spring chickens.
 

  
14″X11″ pastel on sanded paper

“It’s the way you ride the trail that counts.” – Dale Evans

  
6″x24″ pastel on sanded board SOLD

I am teaching painting at Ghost Ranch, and this was in last week’s show.  Someone who works at the Ranch told me how much they enjoyed the show.  To her, this painting was a prayer of gratitude. She was so moved she had to leave the show.

That of course, gave me pause.  Was it?  I try to live my life from a disposition of gratitude…could that come through in a painting?  I made a quick list, a habit started long ago when my boys were young, my days were long, and dinner seemed like a hard thing to get through.  We would make “grateful lists” and leave them on the table for my husband to see when he got home from long nights at the hospital.  “Grateful lists” made dinner (and everything else) easier.

I am grateful:

• To be at the ranch
• For my family, especially my 4 kids
• To my husband for doing my job and his for two weeks
• For having such great students
• For the change in weather, from freezing wind – to perfect
• For a beautiful picnic and plein air day at the monastery
• For all the delicious food made in the dining hall
• For a breathtaking sunset
• For the feeling I had as my students watched me paint this, with all the appropriate oooos and ahhhhhs when I added key accents
• …….

My heart is full, and perhaps the colored dust held that feeling, or perhaps the suggestion was just enough to redirect me to who I am meant to be, either way…

I am grateful.

  
10″ x 8″ oil on linen panel

Spring break 2016!  Pack up your sun hat, winter coat, and road trip snacks.  You get to come with me to the Southwest.  This year is a superbloom year in Death Valley, CA.  Who knew 1/4″ of rain could yield so much color?