May 2025

May 31, 2025

May 2025

Self Portrait - March 2025

This past month was another whirlwind. First, I had my docent evaluation. For months I waited for my turn to be evaluated by the museum staff. Every time I went to the museum I was locked and loaded. I’d read the rubric a dozen times and was fully prepared … but alas, no review. Then, on Friday, May 2nd I was scheduled for two Animals in Art tours but all I could think about was my Eatonton plein air workshop and judging, and I was not prepared for an evaluation.

You can guess what happened. Yep, it was my turn. It seemed like things went okay and as I passed my evaluator in the hall on my way to the next tour, she said, “It was great, I’ll call you this afternoon.” She never called. I waited and waited, no call. Finally we met 10 days later. We were told we would get feedback in terms of a rose analogy : a flower, a bud and a thorn … well, I was waiting for my list of thorns but instead got all flowers!! Not a single bud, not a single thorn. She said, “I gave you the highest score possible.”

The truth is that I absolutely LOVE being a docent. Seeing little kids get excited about art makes me happy. I love going to docent training and learning about artists, art, materials, techniques and how museums work. I cannot tell you how many times I applied to work at the High and never got a response. It’s all worked out, but I’ve always known that this is my world.

I’ve just completed my 7th years as a docent and as a result, I’m now a Senior Docent. Instead of 25 tours per year, Senior Docents are only required to do 17. Hoping to knock out a few this summer and get ahead before the fall and all of those painting obligations. There are several very exciting exhibitions on view now and coming soon, so that’s even more motivation to spend more time at the museum.

Back to the subject of Eatonton. So fun. Barbara, my neighbor and friend, and I drove over on Friday afternoon and met with Linda. We drove around and looked at potential painting sites and settled on our spots. Then we had dinner with our host, Michelle, her husband, Linda and Rob. All of them are so kind, so nice, so positive. I feel lucky to have these connections.

On Saturday we went to our spots, met with our students and helped them from 9-noon.

One of my workshop attendees had never painted en plein air before. He was so excited. He kept saying, “I”m having so much fun. This is the best day ever. I can’t remember when I’ve had so much fun.” The BEST attitude! And it showed in his painting. A great lesson!

After a lunch break Barbara and I sketched then returned to the gallery for judging. We took our time and carefully considered each piece. We pretty much agreed on everything. She showed me a thing or two that I’d missed and vice-versa. Then we presented ribbons. Thrilled to see Ann win first place. It was a killer painting.

Barbara is one of my very favorite people. She’s incredibly smart, perceptive and clever. She also has great compassion and a true love of art. She’s humble and self deprecating and I just love her. I learn something every time I’m around her.

The other big, big news for this month is that my self portrait, “I Used to Paint in the Kitchen,” was juried into the Metro Montage XXV exhibition at the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art. Never in a million years did I ever think this would happen to me. What’s even crazier is that this is the 3rd painting of mine to be in an art museum this year - 2 at The Booth Museum, 1 at the Telfair Museum in Savannah and now Metro Montage.

My brain still cannot comprehend that my self portrait will be in a museum. The painting is weird and odd and quirky and honestly, if it hadn’t been juried in, it probably would have been tossed into our attic and forgotten. I would have never had the courage to post it publicly if it weren’t for the validation of this show. And you know what … it further emboldens me to keep pushing boundaries and breaking rules. That painting started with an electric neon lime green-Gatorade color underpainting. Why did I do that? Because I was in the middle of reading Larry Moore’s book, Fishing for Elephants, to prepare for his workshop. I was already implementing what I’d been reading and expecting to learn. Isn’t it all just so crazy??? Green lights. All green lights.

PLEIN AIR - warning: rant ahead :)

One of the PACE highlights was spending time with Kathy and meeting Harley Brown.

For the third time in three years I attended the plein air convention with one of the best, Kathy. She’s down to earth, supportive and one of the easiest going people on the planet. Just SOLID. The convention was, for the most part, a repeat of previous years. I just can’t take any more rah-rah pep rally dancing rodeos and I can’t listen to you-know-who talk about how broke he is. I’m done. There were a few presentations/demos that were interesting, but for the most part, there was nothing new. To be fair, there were even a few demos that were down right awful.

I didn’t take paint this year because lugging it across the country is such a pain in the butt. Instead I took pencils, colored pencils, a few tubes of gouache. I ended up just sketching. No regrets.

The highlight of the trip was meeting an artist whose work I admire tremendously. I also got to spend time with my friend, Bill, who gave me some excellent advice for which I’m thankful.

The truth about plein air is this: very few artists can go outside, paint for 2-3 hours and walk away with a killer painting. Quality paintings take time and 99.9999% of artists in major plein air events are working on their paintings for days. And then these poor people who go to the convention believe they should be able to do that too, and it’s SO not realistic. Even the pros can’t do it. And just because you can paint the desert doesn’t mean you can paint Piedmont Park. Wanna know how I know? Because I’ve seen pros who paint extremely well on their home turfs get stumped at Olmsted. Plein air painting is hard. I’d argue it’s just as hard as painting the figure, if not harder.

You have to know what clouds do, formations, how they hold moisture, their edges. You have to know how light changes over distance, in humidity, in dry heat, in snow, in rain, in the summer, winter, fall, spring, at sunrise, sunset and at night. You have to know what water looks like in the morning, afternoon, evening, and what the sediment below does to the color, what rocks do above and below the water line. You have to understand perspective and architecture. You have to be a geologist, meteorologist, botanist, chemist, biologist, arborist, climatologist, architect, engineer, mathematician, and then you have to paint it all effortlessly like an artist. It’s exhausting. And then - this is really the cherry on top - all the artists around you are just waiting for you to screw up so they can put you down and talk shit about you behind your back. “Did you see how she painted that sky?!? Oof! Doesn’t she know how to paint the fade of the sky?” YES I KNOW and I DON’T CARE. All paintings are an abstraction. I’m just taking it a little further.

I’m not giving up, I’m just worn out and frustrated. And sick of the BS and fakery. I heard so many artists at the convention say that a faculty member gave them advice, walked off only to have a different faculty walk up and tell them the exact opposite. No wonder people are frustrated.

Anywayyyyy …

Scott flew out on Friday and we spent a nice long weekend in Tahoe. Gah, what a blast. We absolutely loved it. The scenery is astounding. Snow capped mountains surrounding the Alpine lake, sun shining, fish jumping, fresh air, no humidity and no bugs. Duuuuuude, it was fantastic.

PAINTINGS

We have a new exhibition up at the bookstore. I was invited to participate in a group show in Dunwoody and I’ve already sold a painting from that show. Finished a few commissions. Best kind of busy.

POTTERY

Only a few more pottery classes remaining and I’ll take a break until January. It’s so much fun and I love my instructor, but it’s time to focus on painting for a while. Here are some of my recent pieces.

My prized alligator … easily my favorite creation

UP NEXT

The humidity, mosquitoes and temps are on the rise, so I’ll be spending a considerable amount of time at the studio in Decatur. Brandi and I are going to work on experiments in Fishing for Elephants, try to break some rules and see what we can discover. I’ll be working with a painting tutor over the summer. I’ll also be teaching quite a bit. But mostly, I’ll be painting.

WINSTON, LOUIS AND OTIS

Most days it’s a three ring circus around here. When Louis goes on a tear, he is out of control. He is obsessed with my handbag because he found some ponytail holders in there, so now I have to lock up my purse in the bathroom. He also LOVES pens. And he loves knocking things off counters. Doesn’t matter what it is. He and Winnie like to hang out in the kitchen while we cook dinner. And it takes both of us to make sure they don’t jump on the counter.

The 5 of us sleep together on and off. Otis jumps into his usual spot next to me. Louis in the middle. And Winnie comes and goes. I can’t remember the last time I got a decent night’s sleep. It’s worth it, but I am exhausted.

Otis still hisses but not quite as much as he used to. He spends a lot of time upstairs away from the tomfoolery. I understand :)