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Waiting for Camellias

 Our neighbor has some camellia bushes that are right outside our kitchen window where we sit to eat. Every year they bloom early, so early in the spring that oftentimes the opening buds get hit by snow and freezing temperatures. Right now in February, the buds are starting to swell a little more every time we get a warm afternoon. And as I gaze at them, I am reminded that they will be some of the first blooms of spring. Since they are still buds, I decided to paint them from memory. Are you yearning for spring or still enjoying winter?

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Have My Pie and Eat It, too!

 We’re told to “paint what we know” and often, for me, that may be something from my kitchen. This time it’s blueberry pie. Blueberry Pie, watercolor, 8″ x 10″ Now my husband likes pie, especially apple, peach, or blueberry pie. And he gets dismayed when he sees a pie go from the kitchen into my studio (as a painting subject) instead of onto his plate! This time I managed to finish baking the pie in time to get an initial sketch done before we wanted to eat it, so I got to paint my pie and eat it, too. What’s your favorite kind of pie? How would you respond if…

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A Fresh Look

 I am participating in a local art show and was looking through my current inventory for pictures to take. “Nothing Says Love like a Rose” has been hanging above my work table for a while and as I have been looking at it, I have been thinking that extending the rose out onto the mat…

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Painting Metal – Tin Cans

 My students have asked for me to do some lessons on painting metal and glass, objects that require the artist to see and depict abstract shapes and values in order to render the object in a realistic manner. It takes a different way of seeing and thinking to depict shapes for which there are no words. One has to think, “I put the paint down in a shape like…that. And then this part has to be darker (or lighter). This color is reflected … here… like this.” A new year is a good time for rekindling friendships. Although I painted tin cans, I made them into the kids’ version of…

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A New Year, a New Journey

 The turning of the calendar into a new year is a good excuse to make a new start, or to start again something that has lapsed, like my participation on this blog (yikes!). A new start is like a journey and we don’t know what the year will bring. In keeping with the idea of a journey, here is a picture of an imaginary landscape, a forest of multi-colored trees with a couple walking through the glowing forest. What new starts (or re-starts) are you making as we enter 2019? Where do you imagine your journey taking you?

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Eggplants

 One of the joys of summer is going to a farmers’ market or stopping at a local produce stand. One of the stands near us had these wonderful eggplants, each one being 3″ – 4″ long. A friend of mine saw them and let me know they were there as she said, “You simply HAVE…

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Tree Studies

 I don’t usually start doing tree studies until autumn, but in teaching one of my students how to paint a landscape, we stepped away from the whole scene to practice single trees. I’d forgotten how much I like doing these! First, I used the lightest color to paint the whole mass of leaves, making the…

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Sunny Summer Day

 July 1st, deep into the Maryland summer, and the sun is shining on the office of the Marina next door to our house. The owner’s daughter keeps the gardens neat and plants lots of flowers. It looks wonderful! We’re so thankful to live here. Our sailboat is in the marina, which makes it right outside our back door on the creek. On a hot summer day like today, it’s cooler on the water, so we’re going to spend the night on the boat.

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Lilacs

 For a brief period in spring, the lilacs bloom and fill the surrounding area with their delightful fragrance. Blooming in either pink, white or lilac(!) the cone-shaped bunches of flowers drape elegantly from the ends of the new growth. Lilacs, watercolor, 3” x 3” What are your favorite spring blooms?

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