Season's Greetings

We are getting our first real snow tonight...6"-12" they say. This will make fellow Vermonters happy. I will try to appreciate the beauty of having my world transformed overnight. It is always a magical event and made even better by a little sunshine! If your December is a dark gray gloomy one, here are some rays for you. 4pm Winter Garden.

This large pastel is finally in the frame after a particularly long gestation period in which it just hung around and hung around my studio...sort of like the snowdrops...wishing won't do it...one must just wait until the time is right. Not sure where it's next stop is, but I think I will enjoy it for awhile in it's finished state.

Family at Cottonmill

Saturday December 7 10-6
Sunday December 8 10-5
2013
FREE!!! 
74 Cotton Mill Hill, Brattleboro, VT

15th Annual Cotton Mill Open Studios and Holiday Sale!

Zoe Tilley Poster and I are guests in Michael Poster's Photography studio for the BIG weekend. There will be over 60 artists, artisans and small businesses showing their work or opening their doors as part of this vibrant community at 74 Cotton Mill Hill, Brattleboro, VT. Michael will be showing some of his recent photographs. Zoe's illustrations, cards, prints and shirts of various beasts drawn in graphite. I will have some 2013 selections from my Fifty State Plein Air Painting Project up on the wall.

Not only is the food by Entera (Tristan Toleno) but there will be Caricatures by Chas. Rak. That's in addition to circus acts, marquetry, blown glass, felted wool, really huge ceramic vessels, owl food, sterling silver jewelry, framed sports and music memorabilia, turned wood, jazz, custom furniture and MORE, way more cool items that may just delight someone on your list. Did I mention caramels and jam...and  the best granola ever? Crepe paper flowers and skin creams. Dance and.....sugarplums? 

 Michael and I would love to have you stop by. The Cotton Mill seems to have a changing intriguing cast of characters. Come visit your faves and see who's new in 2013.

Beware, there's a chance you might want to run away and join the circus.

Happy Thanksgiving

There are many, many things to be thankful for today...one of the small things is that there are still sheep in Vermont. I just love sheep...what is it about them?  There is a whole flock of brown ones on Western Avenue in Brattleboro. They were freshly shorn when they arrived at Solar Hill in September. and I thought they were goats. I should not have hesitated to paint them...who knows where they will be by spring. Maybe I will still get a chance this fall.

I hope your Thanksgiving is a warm and safe one. Eat hardy. Be nice.

This is the painting I fell on Halloween week. I think I actually improved it and with a bit of tidying up it turned out better than I had thought before the tumble/smearing.  

Two Finnsheep 12 x 16 soft pastel on Wallis Belgian Mist board framed and for sale on a wall near you soon.

Calendar Features my Painting

 The Historical Society of Cheshire County is producing a calendar featuring 12 art works from the 2013 exhibit 64 Miles; Along the Ashuelot River in New Hampshire. My plein air pastel painting, is one of those chosen.

Ashuelot River Homes

Drawing Marathon

Twice a year River Gallery School puts on a 12 hour life drawing event. Ten AM found 12 plus artists from New England and NYC lined up at our easels, shuffling palettes, chalks, pencils. With the first model on the stand quiet descended and the rhythm of the day took shape. There was music and scratching on paper and three very different models...they posed for quick 1 minute poses to "get acquainted", then a couple 5 minute and a 10 minute and a 20 minute pose. Then several 30 minute poses, until their 3 hour stint was up and a different model replaced them. I am happy to say that about 4 artists finished out the day. I was not one of them...my recent hand injury cramped my style after 9 hours, but I am all ready looking forward to spring 2014 to the next marathon.

That much time and that many poses lets one explore a new medium or a fresh idea.  I worked in charcoal most of the day, trying to express how I felt about each pose...and trying not to make the same familiar miscalculations over and over; trying to let the drawing flow out of me unhindered by my own criticisms and crutches; guiding with a light touch.

Sargent's Watercolors

 John Singer Sargent's Watercolors at The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston did not fail to leave me starry-eyed. 90 of my favorite paintings ever!...and sort of old best friends. The first real artist's monograph I ever owned was Donaldson F. Hoopes Sargent Watercolors pub. 1970 Watson Gupthill. I scrutinized those images for hundreds of hours at the time I was learning to paint in watercolor. As is always the case, the actual paintings are dazzling. Seeing them in the extensive purple galleries, perfectly lighted made for an unforgettable experience.

The colors! The strokes! The composition! The draftsmanship! The light! Masterful!

I know many of you saw this exhibit in NYC. The story of how the Broooklyn Museum and Museum of Fine Art came to purchase the bulk of Sargent's watercolor paintings a hundred years ago is an interesting one. They have aged superbly...relevant now in their abstract picture form and spontaneous paint handling. His sparsely painted figures live and breath with the merest of gesture and feature. He considered his watercolors to be a body of work in it's own right...not as staging or support of his monumental oils.

The galleries are arranged by subject; Venice, Mountains, Alpine Streams, Figures, Carera Marble Quarries with workmen, Gardens, Bedouins. It is worth braving Boston traffic to see. Take two friends. I did.

Vermont Pastel Society Exhibit November

This month the Vermont Pastel Society is exhibiting some of their members work at Hooker Dunham Theater in Brattleboro. A blog post gives you a nice glimpse of the show including my painting, Dahlia Season (above) as well as details and links.

My HALLOWEEN week mis-adventure

A lovely crisp fall day brought all 5 of the Tuesday Painters out of their warm studios to paint some sheep and cows at the farm of The Putney School. Two of us were just finishing up our paintings. As I started to carry mine to my car a short way down the farm road, a goblin snagged my toe causing me to plant my face rather abruptly into the gravel and freshly applied pastel. As I dragged myself to my feet, checking to make sure all body parts appeared to be in working order, my friend turned to see me staggering toward her with blood pouring from my two sand and gravel filled lips and the rest of my face wearing 'grass green', 'sky blue' and 'barn pink'. OWWW that hurt!

So this is what it looked like moments before that happened.

Many Thanks to my level headed fellow artist, Basha Freudenberg, who was not the least bit fazed by all the blood, for her assistance and kindness! Later my husband encouraged me to let him drive me to the ER for a professional exam. Spooky.Hours later the understated Dr Terwilliger looked at my lip and inquired, "bleed much?" A right hand X-ray showed that to be wounded but not broken. Tetanus shot...always a good idea when you eat dirt next to the manure pile.

As for the painting??? just a little blood on the margin, but my carefully selected and applied colors, have been 'bewitched'. When I get my glasses fixed I'll see what can be done. Beware...evil lurks.

Many Moons

Eight of the small square pastel series, Many Moons, hanging on the studio wall. I've decided to frame them separately in a shadowbox style of wood frame. This will happen a little later as I want to continue making them as they occur to me. I intend them to be ready for the Butternut Gallery in early 2014.

The motivation behind the Many Moons series is my habitual interest in stepping outside last thing at night and first thing in the morning to look at the sky...and sniff the air. I am fortunate to live under relatively dark night skies here in rural Vermont...not perfect, but pretty good. At those times I can regain touch with the universe as well as my own neighborhood. By sketching in the dark at that time and then translating to a little painting later that day I capture and preserve those moments. I have been relying on drawing, notations and memory rather than a camera. Sometimes the moon is New and then it does not appear at all. There are still owls to hear, dogs who howl, stars and planets and, with luck, the milky way ...and frogs croaking. The moon is a powerful symbol of mystery and I like to know that it is predictable and scientific as well as beautiful, even while it appears altered each time I see it.

Connecticut River at RT 9

One chilly morning, Charlotte Fischer and I set up our easels on the old bridge (retired from vehicular service when a new one was built) to Chesterfield NH from North Brattleboro, VT. After 2 and a half hours on the bridge....not getting much warmer...we gave up...not entirely happy with our results, but at least glad we'd risen to the challenge. We both agreed that we had watched one of nature's magical miracles - foliage turning color before our very eyes! Really. There was much more yellow and gold along the banks when we packed it up than when we started.

This 12 x 12 will be for sale soon. It may need a few small finishing touches, but it is almost ready for framing. It is not one of those who hangs around the studio torturing me for months.

Far Flung Sketchers

This week found only two of us to sketch together at Southern Vermont Natural History Museum at Hogback Mountain on RT9. We had so much fun we hardly missed our friend who is in Italy for three weeks, and another who is cruising on the Danube, and a third who could not leave home for fear of missing the internet repairman's call. Such is life... ups and downs, isn't it. 

There are many stuffed creatures in display cases at the museum; collected at a time when that was fashionable, even legal. The live birds are there for educational purposes because they are unable to live in the wild. The bald eagle was hit by a truck in Wyoming and subsequently guarded by the truck driver until the wildlife rehabilitator could get there. The kestrel had been hand-raised by a human and preferred visitors to her "mate". I picked the saw-whet owl to sketch because she was just about the cutest thing I ever saw. She was trying to sleep in the darkest corner of her large, woodsy cage. So I missed a few fascinating details, I'm sure. It was a special hour spent face to face with her. She had a calm attitude and knew she was cool.

My friend and I were pleasantly distracted from our sketching by the assistant director who was training and feeding the birds and there were many things to learn from him.

What's going on here?

Hint: Only 7! states left in my 50 State Plein Air Painting Project. I'm not quite ready to book that Alaska trip, but getting close. Read all the exciting Michigan details there.

Plus; the moon has briefly re-appeared...and I did some sketching in the dark last night....much closer to home...outside my front door...coming soon...more moon mini pastels.

Tuesday Painters Exhibit at Latchis 4 Gallery

For the month of September the Tuesday Painters are exhibiting their recent oils and pastel paintings at Latchis 4 Gallery. All 5 of us will be at the artists' reception First Friday Gallery Walk...5-8:30...September 6. At other times the gallery will be open whenever the Latchis Movie Theater is open; enter the theater lobby and turn left through the first door. It's all on Main Street, downtown Brattleboro, VT.

Tuesday Painters is a group of 5 women who like to hang out together while painting outdoors. Charlotte Fischer, Basha Freudenberg, Cicely Carroll, Deedee Jones and Rodrica Tilley all work independently, but the experience of painting together at one location can be creatively inspiring....and Eye Opening! It has been a joy for me to get to know these artists in my new community...as well as the places they have taken me to. 

My painting above, upper left, Boxwoods and Bench was inspired by a friend's lovely garden in fall.

So hoof it on down to Latchis 4 --- meet me and my friends --- check out our awesome paintings.

Then, just around the corner on Flat St. at Vermont Center for Photography, my husband, Michael Poster has an exhibit: Dreamland - pictures about the effects of natural gas development and production on a small rural community in northeast Pennsylvania, that used to be our home. 

That same Friday night, our daughter, Zoe Tilley Poster,  is part of the Enormous Tiny Art Show in Portsmouth, New Hampshire at Nahcotta 110 Congress St. Three simultaneous openings! You can purchase Zoe's framed original drawings online....or you can go in and have a look now. 603.433.1705

Stormy Moon

I was chatting with a friend this morning. She lives about 20 miles away from me, but the moon looked the same to both of us; just past full, surrounded by a rosy red blush. She wondered what makes that red ring? I think it is the earth's atmosphere....moisture, dust, pollution? Anyway, I hope you saw it, too. It was spectacular and brief. I observed and sketched for half an hour just after 9pm. I saw big banks of fast moving dark clouds (north to south - sort of). And I saw flashes of lightning, but no bolts and I heard no thunder. I even saw the moon wearing a fuzzy dark cloud hat...amusing.

Then the show was over. The sky had darkened for the pending storm and I went to bed.

Greenhouse in Moonlight

Today's 6" x 6" studio pastel painting made from last night's sketch (below).

(photographed this morning on the windowsill, but drawn in the dark...using the light of the moon)

Full Moon Setting

As readers of this blog know, I am an early riser.  I sat on the edge of the bed to sketch this morning's full moon, just sinking through the pine trees.

This is the 6 x 6 pastel I later did in the studio. I have always liked following the moon and knowing what phase it is in and where it will appear when. It is a mysterious magical orb that is also completely logical and predictable. I guess I am a fan of science and art. Since my first school science fair project I've known they were good bedfellows. (cotton glued to blue poster board to illustrate the different forms and types of clouds and their significance in weather science)

Sturgeon Moon

The full moon has influenced me to do all kinds of unusual things...like draw....no, not blood...pencil to paper in the dark....complete dark....didn't want to ruin my night vision by lighting anything.

Then, today at the studio I turned my memory and scribble drawing into this little sketchy 5" x 5" pastel.

And I have plans for tonight....yes, it's true I will be lurking in the shrubbery...fumbling with my assortment of tiny lighted objects, sketchbook, pens, etc....please don't come 'round my house and scare me.

The Gardener's House

SOLD

This is an early morning plein air painting of a charming property that the Tuesday Painters were invited to visit and set up our easels. It is 16 x 16 and available for purchase framed.

Imagine having a gardener living in the midst of an extensive garden...or being a gardener living in this cute place. (I think many decades ago I read a banned book about this. My mother smuggled it over the border during one of my father's fishing trips in the 1950's. He was concerned about not exceeding the number of allowed dead fish in the cooler. I wonder if he knew about Lady Chatterley's Lover in my mom's suitcase. Neither of them knew of my secretly reading it a few years later)

Nine days in the Mid West...and Home Sweet Home

I'm home after an intense road trip through the mid west, the purpose of which was adding 7 new states to my Fifty State Plein Air Painting Project. I visited a few museums, too. You can read all about the fun and frustrations of a solo sojourn in scorching heat and see the paintings by clicking the link. I am still adding finishing touches in the studio so all 7 states will be posted by this time next week. Only 8 states left to paint in!

I returned to my Life Drawing class at River Gallery School of Art and a challenging pose and set-up above; willow charcoal on a buff printmaking paper of unknown name. 20 x 16

Then off to Sketch Group the next afternoon. This is the second year in a row we have sketched during afternoon rehearsals of the renown Marlboro Chamber Music Festival. While we are working out the dynamics of hand positions and composition and head tilts the quintet is debating and questioning the composers intent and how best to express the music through their instruments and sensitivities of interpretations. It is without a doubt one of my favorite sketch occasions. Apparently anyone is welcome at rehearsals, even if you just want to take a beautifully accompanied nap. In my graphite pencil sketch below the clarinet player had not yet appeared.

This blog is all about me and my tangents, but I am interested to hear your reactions, responses and what is happening in your life. Have you thought about forming a sketch group in your town? It is free and fun...just need a pencil and paper and maybe money for coffee. Ours started with two sketchers who became two friends and invited others. Now we are four to six regulars and other occasional drop-ins.

I welcome comments and emails.

64 Miles, The Ashuelot River

Two of my plein air paintings have been accepted into this juried art exhibit highlighting the twisty length of this scenic and lively New Hampshire river. I posted the first painting earlier in the spring when I made it. This one was painted at the Atlantic Paper Mill ruins. (am I right about that location name? tell me.) It is called A Colourful Past. 

I'll be back exploring and painting this river in the months and seasons to come. Regular readers of this blog know that I like to find the unusual views and unsung spots. I'll leave the covered bridges for other artists to love, while I try to avoid poison ivy, searching out my own unique picture and learning a little local history.

This exhibit is on view all summer from July 19 until September 30, at the

Historical Society of Cheshire County, 246 Main St. Keene, New Hampshire.  603.352.1895 ext 5

Feeling Hot? Get cool...

Visit the cool art exhibit at The Brooks Library on main street in Brattleboro, Vermont - now through end of August. Three of the Tuesday Painters (Charlotte Fischer, Deedee Jones and I) have put up a show of oils and pastels. The cooling effect is provided by lavender, waterfalls, shady glens, pools and snow. Dive right in and sign our guest book so we know you were there. 

PS: The Brooks Library is air conditioned.

Where the Trail Meets the Road

SOLD

Dummerston, VT - Where West River Trail joins Quarry Road there is a nice high view of the water and mountains to the north. I hoped to get a Close of Day kind of painting. I usually aim to stay in the slow lane, but catching the last moments of daylight is no place for hesitation. I arrived at the scene at 7pm...made two trips to the car and was set up ready to paint by 7:14. No, nothing would make me skip my thumbnail sketch, but I only did one and it took about 5 minutes. I went with that. I painted as fast as I could for one hour and quit. I was home by 8:30. It is 12 x 12 and after some minor adjustments in the studio, will be for sale this summer. And I will try the same spot again another evening and also check out what it looks like at the Crack of Dawn, too.

Sketch Group Visits the Petting Farm

Yesterday was a great day...not just because it finally stopped raining. Friday morning Tai Chi class always puts me in a happy mood, then in the afternoon our sketch group drew farm animals....but not all of them. I completely did not have time to draw any bovines. I'm going back soon for the Scottish Highland calves, cow and huge ox and for the  young steers, assorted sheep, goats, llama and chickens. I tried to get a good drawing of 4 miniature donkeys, but I think I was smitten by CUTE and was unable to function. Next time I will stay all day. (Next time I will not sit on a hay bale in stretch pants to draw the donkeys...hard to concentrate.)

These are quick charcoal sketches made at Brattleboro, Vermont  Retreat Petting Farm. What a great place....and not just for kids. The animals have it pretty good and were chosen, not just for their good looks, but are friendly. Visitors are encouraged to feed hay to certain animals. They like this and are quite obliging.

Yes, animals move a lot. Get over it. Do your best to observe and remember...this is a skill that can be developed through practice. Look for actions that will be repeated over and over. If the rabbit is chased out of his box by the gang of four year olds, the rabbit will return asap. If mama pig has just been given a huge pile of grain, she will stand right there until it is gone, lest her piglets should steal a kernel from her. Not every page of your sketchbook needs to be pretty...many will have fragments of feet, tails, ears and noses...unpaid models who fled.

I wanted to bring that little black and white piggy home....at least I have my sketch. Squeeeeeeeeaaaal! snort.

My years of sketching at The Harford, PA County Fair paid off yesterday.

Our sketch group welcomes fellow drawers.

Water Power!

My friend and I painted along the Ashuelot River in south western New Hampshire yesterday morning. We chose neighboring towns; Westminster and Hinsdale...(our chatter didn't annoy each other...just innocent passers-by). My 14 x 18 pastel Homes Along Ashuelot River was done in about two hours of intense work with another hour of work and looking in the studio today. It is finished, mostly.

The Ashuelot River is beautiful, varied, freshly stocked with fish (I saw state of NH doing that) and of great economic, cultural and historical interest. Grist mills, saw mills, paper mills, fabric mills, electricity generation-today and yesterday. I will check out my presumption, but these homes probably housed workers at the huge brick shabby industrial complex across the river. ??? Sometimes an artistic decision on my part arouses my curiosity and I will have to figure out what was manufactured there and when.

We are both going back tomorrow for another chance to spend a day on the Ashuelot, hopefully with dry feet.

Welcome Hill

Today is my first time painting out of the studio this year. My new knee is now working much better than the old one and I was really eager to be out plein air painting. What a lovely day to join two friends and zip over to New Hampshire, to a road called Welcome Hill. It is 3 miles from my home and I'll be going back before the daffodils, magnolias and bloodroot are all gone. Some one did a lot of planting quite some time ago by the looks of the trees and then made us all feel welcome to enjoy them. There are two benches to overlook the "wild" woodland gardens. SOLD

This is a poor ipad photo taken by me as I brought my painting in off the easel. sorry. Better one to follow. After painting this 16 x16 I was too lazy to use a real camera.

Butternut Enters 8th Year

This past weekend I visited Montrose , PA for my mother's memorial service. I stopped in at the Butternut Gallery where one of my recent pastel paintings, Vermont Garden Triptych looks good on the wall. As usual, I was in good company...some old friends,  excellent painters and intriguing work in many media. The graphite artist, Zoe Tilley Poster has some of her charming "beasts" on exhibit, too.

Unfortunately the photo I took at the gallery was of unacceptable quality so I'll post a pen and ink drawing I did on March 12.

and a pencil wash sketch I did last week during our weekly cafe sketch gathering.

ipad methodology

Because during winter in Vermont most days are too cold or too short for plein air painting, this is the time of year I do my studio work.

During the last year I've found more and more uses for a new favorite tool. My ipad goes most places that I do. I take pictures with it. I use those photos primarily as inspiration, but also as sources when developing ideas for new paintings.  I do not paint literally from photos. Nor do I want my paintings to be mistaken for photographs. My own photo references jog my memory, suggest elements, inspire light effects.

After a session of studio work before I turn out the lights and leave the building, I photograph whatever is on my easel. This gives me a daily record of progress. It also allows me to continue the process elsewhere...3 miles away over coffee before dawn. It was simpler when my studio was attached to my house, but the ipad helps bridge the 3 mile gap.

I do not digitally manipulate either my source photos or the photos of my paintings. I don't care about the quality of my photos. They are always good enough to use for ideas. I plan how I will continue my work when I get back to the studio. It is a chance to step back and think.

Somewhere in the act of transferring work from the easel to a computer screen a critical eye appears; the magic editing tool! Awkward areas, not quite right color choices and clunky composition decisions jump off the screen to hit the artist over the head. Thank you, thank you.

This 24 x 30 winter garden scape is in process right now. I'll post the finished painting sometime. I toned white Wallis paper with pastel and odorless thinner and am working in multiple layers of soft pastel.

Birds of a feather...

....in spirit at least.

"I don't mean to complain about my own garden. It serves me and satisfies me quite well, except at the moments when I get into despair over it: very frequent moments, when I long to have some other sort of garden, quite different; a garden in Spain, a garden in Italy, a garden in Provence, a garden in Scotland."

                                                     Vita Sackville-West

Our new cat

'Charley Parker' was adopted from Windham County Humane Society on a very lucky day in December. They have a no adoption fee program for older pets going to homes of seniors. They listed my cat at "over three"...his exact age is unknown. 

He likes to play with toys. He doesn't mind the dogs at all, despite the drooling, barking and nose poking. He seems to like all humans. And he is a very amusing large cat. Charley Parker is surprisingly dog-like; he greets us at the door along with his two canine buddies and can often be found lying next to them. He gallops on the wooden stair treads around our home, his large paws sounding like little hoofs. He can take a hint (don't walk on the keyboard). And, best of all, he naps often making him an excellent model. 

Our vet has put him on a "weight management program" (less food-duh) because he has no apparent waist! Oh, well...just like some of the rest of us 'seniors'. I think he's perfect. He loves lap-sitting. Here are 2 charcoal drawings of him and a pen and ink of how my other sweetie starts his day... with Charley.

Community Garden in Autumn

I love gardens in all seasons; a little chaos - tomatoes under the tangle, kale in the fog. Nature has her way of getting the upper hand, certainly by October. The gardener is no doubt sealing up those last quarts of sauce in the steamy kitchen.

This is  one of a series of 24 x 30 pastels; three autumn gardens, one winter garden that I have been working on lately. Please leave a comment. I'd like to know what you think.

Gardens in the Off Season

I love gardens in all seasons; blanketed under snow in winter, after the ripeness of summer and before the new shoots of spring. Their structure can be loose or geometric, their fences shabby, sparrows on the bean poles. It is all redolent of growth, sunshine, fertility....really good earth! 

This is Number Seven, one of a series of 24 x 30 pastels; 3 autumn gardens , one winter garden that I have been working on lately. Please leave a comment. I'd like to know what you think.

Eastern Horizon

This is the view I see every morning. Different colors, temperatures, seasons, moods. I love the sunrise and feel bad if I sleep through it...rarely happens.

This particular pastel painting, done in the studio this month, will be on view at Gallery Wright in Wilmington, VT beginning in February.  On your way to or from Mt. Snow go take a look. Gallery Wright has moved to 103 West Main St,(Rt 9) Wilmington Vermont. 802-464-9922

Eastern Horizon image size is about 15 x 22, framed with a mat to about 22 x 29.

Editing

The new year seems to be a good time for sorting through a heavy pile of twelve months of figure drawings. My teacher has requested a drawing or two from each student to exhibit at the River Gallery during February. I picked out my favorites as I organized the pile and taped them up in my tiny studio. This is the almost final cut - an even dozen (charcoal and one abstract pastel).

Editing is a skill in itself, worthy of honing just like laying a graduated wash. I am working on this. Don't you wish more people practiced editing? Just think of viewing all the photos your sister took on her vacation. I'd rather see the 5 really good ones; the ones with the interesting story or the beautifully composed ones.

So many considerations...I think my teacher will like this one. Maybe this one is too explicit. Will anyone else appreciate this one? This is quite a good likeness of the model. Those are not real criteria, in this case. I need to decide which of my 12 "best" really please me; which one is the successful result of my goals for that particular drawing. I will ponder this until Tuesday when I will deliver my choice for the wall. By then I may be able to articulate my goals, which right now must have something to do with 'expressive' quality, 'interest in all areas of the picture', 'mystery.'....

First Friday in Brattleboro 5:30 til 8:30 and all the rest of the month at River Gallery School of Art...

Looking forward to 2013

"I want to think again of dangerous and noble things.
 I want to be light and frolicsome. I want to be improbable and beautiful and afraid of nothing as though I had wings."
                                                                    -- Mary Oliver 

 I intend to hold Mary Oliver's words in my mind as I paint and draw and live and breathe.

Please tell me of your plans and intentions. 

Above is my work in progress, pastel painting, Bench with Boxwoods, 24 x 30, inspired by my friend, Barbara's garden. SOLD