Maybe it’s California’s drought… Walking in our backyard after a morning drizzle and seeing droplets on their leaves and petals compelled me to paint these lovely roses. The water is so precious in California now. A beautiful rain storm washed months of dust from our garden making the greenery and flower colors spectacular. Life […]
Fresh bread glistening and warm, the centerpiece of an perfect breakfast in Saint Remy de Provence. Savoring a gorgeous June morning with these treats, large cups of cafe au lait and hours of conversation is a wonderful time to remember.
This is the view from the Lafond Winery’s picnic area in Santa Barbara wine country’s Santa Rita Hills. Lafond is hands down our favorite Santa Barbara County winery. The tasting room manager and staff are good friends as is the winemaker. Plus, many items we have purchased from their wonderful gift shop that have found their way into my paintings.
Richard Schmid is one of the few courageous and incredibly talented artists, late 20th Century artists who swam against the tide of pop, post-modern, conceptual and other movements to kept representational art alive. Schmid is not only a great painter he is one of the most generous and gifted teachers of the fine art of painting.
The theme of this little painting, Peeled Lemons, is a favorite of mine – peeled fresh fruit with old books. This book is a prayer book dated 1715. I love the mix of textures. The intertwining of old and new intrigues me. The fleeting freshness of the lemon’s peel and juicy meat dried within hours of being peeled. The peel almost embraces the prayer book, a treasured possession of a now forgotten man or woman whose notes, written nearly 300 years ago, can be discovered on its pages.
Ah Paris! It has been a few years since we have been in Paris but the memories of the beautiful city are intoxicating. Rue Mouffetard is an area of Paris’ Left Bank not far from Notre Dame and the Latin Quarter, that has a fantastic open-air market. The aroma of flowers, produce, pastries, and cheeses fill the air as does the chatter of Parisians and tourists. This display of artichokes was so expertly displayed, with a great sense of color and texture, I could not get the sight out of my mind until I put it on canvas when we returned home. Paris is an inspiration.
The Adventurers is my salute to my first art hero, Winslow Homer. His paintings of endless summer days, Breezing Up, Snap the Whip, his watercolors of the Bahamas. I love the carefree feeling he created of being in nature and embracing life. He also had the amazing gift to create timeless and universal images from contemporary life. My hope was to come close to doing the same in The Adventurers.
The mums are coming along just fine. After the initial block in and color lift I contoured the vase a bit and worked on the flower pedals. And bottom row the blossoms have become quite yellow. That is all part of the plan. That under painting, along with the in red in the shadows under […]
White Mums features a blue and white vase with white chrysanthemums (of course). Unlike most of the flowers I use, these were not from our garden but store bought from a charming little flower store inside a local super market, ha. I love the way light plays with the surfaces, especially the depth and […]
Velasquez and Burne Jones was painted for the prestigious art show, Artists for the New Century. The artists for this invitational show were nominated by the editors of American Art Collector, Southwest Art, and Fine Art Conniosseur magazines. The textures and the way the light play on the fresh fruit contrasts with the earthiness of old leather-bound volumes. I simply I loved painting it. Artist for the New Century will run June 6 and runs through July 14, 2012 at The Bennington Center for the Arts, Bennington, Vermont.
Flower Collection
Landscape Collection
Fruit Collection
Still Life Collection