December 2021

I went back to my December 2020 post to see where things stood a year ago. In that post I talked about vaccines coming, missing the opportunity to travel, and hoping to see the Wayne Thiebaud retrospective. It has been quite a year! We are vaccinated and boosted, we’re back to traveling, and we saw the Thiebaud retrospective in Memphis. I’ve been thinking about Mr. Thiebaud a lot lately. He died on Christmas Day at the age of 101 years old. What an amazing life he led! I was just talking about him a few days ago as I was working on my master copy of Van Gogh’s Oleanders.

My master copy of Van Gogh’s Oleanders (work in progress)

See the red line in the bottom left corner beneath the books? And the red line that makes the back border of the table? It reminds me so much of Thiebaud. Surely Van Gogh was an inspiration to Thiebaud.

There are so many Thiebaud paintings that I love, but here are just a few (some of these are close ups of larger paintings):

Thank you for your awe inspiring art, Mr. Thiebaud. You are a legend. 

“I wake up every morning and paint. I’ll be damned but I just can’t stop.”

- Wayne Thiebaud

LEARNING

The Elizabeth Robbins workshop at the Booth Art Academy was outstanding. A small group meant a lot of one on one time. I was very happy with the work I produced and learned so much from Liz. 

 

We talked a lot about temperature shifts, warms next to cools, edges and scraping/wiping out areas to give a sense of atmosphere and softness. I still have a long way to go, but it’s helpful to look at old paintings to remind myself how far I’ve come.

 

The one on the left was painted about 4 years ago. The one on the right was painted a few days ago. Who knows what my paintings will look like in 2025! That’s just one of many reasons I keep a blog.

PLEIN AIR

I painted a few times this past month, but with colder temps and grayer skies, it’s not the ideal time of year for plein air painting. 

DECEMBER PAINTINGS

Here are the paintings I worked on / completed this month:

Master copy of Van Gogh’s “The Souave”

Copy of a portion of Claude Monet’s water lilies

24x24 acrylic abstract

Practicing what we learned in Liz Robbins’ workshop

More practice!

16x12 sunflowers, oil on panel

SYDE 1 - my first diptych (can also be purchased individually)

SYDE 2 / acrylic, graphite, slick stix / 20x16

Basquiat Master Copy started in 2016, finished December 2021

Peonies 11x14 oil on panel

Earth Dog Zinnias oil on panel

This morning’s set up. Using my Blackwing pencil, I sketched in the shapes and smudged the graphite to indicate the darks, shadows.  I painted for about 90 minutes, focusing on shapes, no blending, bold, confident strokes. Then I used my wipe out tool to create some of the petal shapes and forms. I also tried a new background, which is a big step for me. It’s easy to go to the dark black/brown background, but I’m searching for ways to make my flower paintings different than what you typically see. 

EXHIBITIONS

“Slice of Orange” sold at the Acworth Arts Alliance Small Works exhibition. Hooray! Acworth also accepted one of my large abstracts for their first show of 2022. And this week I’m submitting two pieces for consideration for the Booth Museum’s Downtown Gallery. 

READING

I just finished, “Wanting” by Luke Burgis. The book dives deep into mimesis, mimetics, essentially how/why we follow people and wind up desiring what they want because the person is a model for us in some way. From a specific brand of sneakers to cars, from vacations to college majors, we want what other people want. Of course, social media exacerbates this tremendously, and it’s not all bad. But it is important to stop and do a gut check … Do I want ______ because I want it or because someone makes it look desirable? The author asks us to “Stalk your greatest desire. When you find it, let all of your lesser desires be transformed so that they serve the greatest one."

He also quotes Annie Dillard: "Seize it and let it seize you up aloft even, till your eyes burn out and drop; let your musky flesh fall off in shreds, and let your very bones unhinge and scatter, loosened over fields, over fields and woods, lightly, thoughtless, from any height at all, from as high as eagles."

If you know me or have read my blog, you know what I want … to be a masterful painter. That’s the desire I’m stalking, so this book served as a reminder to stay focused and not get distracted.

Last week I started “The Loft Generation,” by Edith Schloss. It’s SO good and filled with first hand accounts of life in NYC in the 40s and 50s and her friendships with many of the Abstract Expressionists. 

I’m also enjoying Robert Greene’s “Daily Laws.” I have to have a Robert Greene fix every day. 

JANUARY

I’m giving a free demonstration of Van Gogh’s Oleanders at the Roswell Square Gallery on January 22. Docent tours at the High Museum are back on, so I’ll be giving two tours next month. And I’m preparing for a show of my master copies at the Roswell Square Gallery during February. I’ll fill you in on all of that next month. In the meantime, here are some snaps of the two cutest kitties on the planet.

JuJu loves sheet changing day

JuJu Bear

Otis and one of his many balls

O doggie

Otis

Otis loves hanging out with us in the kitchen while we cook dinner

THANK YOU

Thank you for reading and following along. If you’ve purchased a painting from me, please know that it means to the world to me. It is such an honor when someone wants to purchase something I’ve painted. It keeps me going and only makes me want to get better. Here’s to a bright, healthy, prosperous, creative 2022! See you in a few weeks!