the ballet

I had the opportunity to see the Russian National Ballet Theatre company dance the full-length in four acts Swan Lake.

I wish that I could describe how much this affected me. I was transported by the performance. I forgot where I was for an evening and floated, whirled, and soared. Those amazing artists make an activity which must be incredibly difficult look as easy as blowing a feather about.

I held my moleskin sketchbook in my lap and tried to capture something of the line, but it was really happening way too fast for me.

and another

Tropical flower, as common as sand and a beach towel in warmer places.

I could just paint these all day.

another family portrait sketch

Holiday time is great because I can force my family members to pose for me. They might not be too patient but sometimes they don't have anywhere else to go and I can sketch away.

Thanks to all my family for being my models.

a boy and then a man

A portrait from this past week.

A young man in that fascinating transition time.

in my mind

I am still in Florida in my mind.

It is really cold and dark here in Chicago.
Another small watercolor sketch from the deck overlooking a lagoon on a very sunny warm day last week.

I am not making excuses, I like this sketch, but I forgot to pack a brush with my watercolor pan set and had to make do with an 80 cent hardware brush with plastic bristles. I happily painted in the sunshine anyway.

a new start for all

Happy New Year to all my friends and fellow bloggers.

Thanks to some hospitable family friends, I was able to spend Christmas in paradise-that is Florida. Now I am back in the reality that is Chicago in January.

It is that wonderful time to think up lots of new ideas for a fresh new start.

Here is a small plein air watercolor painted at my friend's home last week.

blogging through this year

And one more page from my people-watching sketchbook.

I have had this blog as sort of a visual notebook for one year now. I have found the practice to be everything I hoped for at the beginning. I have been able to show my current work process to various people who are interested. My friends in locations all over, my family, (especially my mother-in-law and greatest fan!) and new acquaintances. I was also hoping to make some new friends, among other artists who blog and have so generously shared with me across the digital world. I appreciate all who have commented and made my life so much richer.

Thank you all, and may the next year to come be even more happily blessed.

people watching at the show

I enjoyed my time at the art show more than I expected.

(The larger figure on this page is my husband reading a philosophy book while minding my booth)

Talking to people about my own work is always enjoyable. And I can sit and people-watch for hours and not get restless. Here are some of my quick people-watching sketches.

a statement

My process begins in brief, domestic moments; flowers from life, quietly gracing my home. As a painting evolves, contour, line, color, and shape grow to explore the depth of those moments; the floral subjects expand and intensify--tiny details in petals and leaves become valleys, mountains. A floral landscape emerges, bursting. The domestic moment is no longer quiet. Whether returning to an original, wild energy or reveling in refined cultivation, on canvas the flowers sing.

This is just one of several statements that I have prepared. The whole business of "artist's statements" seems sort of contrived, and I have a hard time with articulating a statement. And that is partly why I have been working at this blog, to get some of those difficult artist thoughts out and written.

I have benefited from the help of a few good friends who are more experienced writers, among them one is a poet, and one an actor, a Phd in Literature helps too. I had some suggestions for titles to my paintings, this one is titled "My Heart Tonight".

post-mortem about the show

What a busy last couple of weeks with the art show and then a week of teaching, including taking 27 upper-school students to the Art Institute of Chicago on the train. Lots of bad weather to complicate matters, trekking through blowing snow and bitter winds to the museum with high spirited 6th graders (they did not mind the weather).

I am finally starting to relax and clean out the rubble in my studio. Art shows are such a huge amount of work for the artists.

At this time, my feelings about the One of a Kind Show are mostly disappointment. I did not make much in sales and lost money on the endeavor. On the positive side, I have many new contacts which I intend to follow up. And I did have a very good time interacting with all the visitors who came by.

Above, one of my paintings, titled "Moonlight Rose" 40x30 acrylic on canvas, framed.