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Pure Joy!

9″ square mixed media on canvas paper

JUMP! Jump for joy! This image made me smile. It is a study for a commission. This painting took on a life of its own. It strayed wildly from the palette I chose for the commission. This image just didn’t want to be a beautiful neutral, it wanted to sing loud and clear! I used a Holbein acrylic color named “luminous opera” which has a much more poetic ring than “fluorescent pink.”

Please enjoy a celebration of pink paintings this month, in honor of breast cancer awareness. I paint for my friends and family who have fought the good fight against cancer, for their families, and for all caregivers who help along with the journey toward a healthy self (body, soul, and spirit). In my strokes of pink, are prayers of strength and healing.

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FS 151

5″x7″ pastel on sanded paper

The road that runs between Christ in the Desert Abbey, and Ghost Ranch is one of my favorite places in the world. I love the canyon, the drive, the Rio Chama, and especially what lies at either end of this forest service road.

After lugging many pounds of heavy painting equipment around all summer, I came home and lightened my load! Check out my new travel set up. It is the smallest Heilman pastel box, which I carefully adapted with the help of my, clever and handy, Spanish exchange student. The box is made to securely hold pastels on one side, and carry paper on the other. As designed, there was no way to hold the support in the top half of the box so it kept sliding down. Second, the paper holder it came with didn’t work very well. After some brainstorming, we removed the stock paper holder and then added the 4 pieces of silver hardware you can see in the top of the photo. We made them adjustable, so they can hold the lid, and paper of varying sizes, in place. The trickiest part was carving out part of the box to allow room for the hardware so that the box will still close.

Today was my test drive, and I am delighted!

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Hanging on it’s Stalk

5″x7″ pastel on sanded paper

I passed these sunflowers walking to school with my daughter. They seem to be the last bits of summer hanging on by a thread.

“The gaudy leonine sunflower Hangs black and barren on its stalk And down the windy garden walk The dead leaves scatter – hour by hour”. -Oscar Wilde

Please come see my one woman Walking to School show! Opens September 13th 6-8pm Sunderman Gallery DALLAS,TX.

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A day at the Beach

24″x18″ pastel on sanded paper

Today I brought the beach to Baylor Hospital in Dallas. The best magic trick I know is making a scene appear from a blank sheet of paper and bits of colored chalk. It was wonderful to share that process with doctors and nurses, patients, and their caregivers. I set up in a wonderfully busy atrium in the heart of the Sammons Cancer center. There is a small stage with lights and an easel. Then…I just made art. People could just walk by, or stop and talk as their schedule and curiosity allowed them. The beach has a universal appeal. My painting reminded many people of trips they had taken to the beach and many shared their stories: a honeymoon to Hawaii, a trip to Mexico in college, family reunions in Florida, and two little girls told me all about their adventures camping on Padre Island. Some people found reason to come back over and over to watch the painting’s progress.

I love that today my daily painting touched so many lives, and for a moment, people could imagine (or remember) a sweet time at the beach instead of their chemo or their busy day at work.

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Sunrise with Coffee

10″x8″ pastel on sanded paper

Plein air

My sweet husband is a runner, and he spends his runs scouting out fantastic painting spots for me. Today he made coffee in the dark, brought me to a spectacular beach, and even set up my easel.

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Wailele

8″x10″ pastel on sanded paper

Koke’e State Park

Wailele means leaping water in Hawaiian.

“There’s no better place to find yourself that sitting by a waterfall and listening to it’s music.” -Roland R Keller

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A Single Wave

8″x10″ pastel on sanded paper

“Just as the wave cannot exist for itself, but is ever a part of the heaving surface of the ocean, so must I never live my life for itself, but always in the experience which is going on around me.” -Albert Schweitzer