Winter Sunrise

My favorite time of day during winter months… very early morning. Maybe because my dog wakes me up before the sun rises, although sometimes I am up before him! The quiet before most people are up and moving, the crisp winter air, combined with the warmth of the sky colors… this is the only time…

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New Year/ New Knee!

This is the year I finally decided it was time to deal with my bone on bone arthritis. After last June, working the Wells Street Art Festival, barely able to walk at the end of the show, the physical toll of working a weekend festival was a reality check. I couldn’t keep getting cortisone shots…

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Revisiting Giverny and Claude Monet

I was in France this past September and one of the highlights of the trip for me was visiting Claude Monet’s home and gardens. Just incredible, to be where Claude Monet lived, where he worked, gardened, painted. I was in awe of the wide variety of flowers in the English Garden, every color imaginable, along…

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IAPS and Upcoming Exhibitions

Tuesday morning I am headed to Albuquerque to attend the International Association of Pastel Societies biennial convention – IAPS There has been so much hype on social media and I can’t imagine what it will be like, I am very curious and excited! I started painting with soft pastels during the pandemic when the world…

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Before and After

I’ve been spending time reviewing some of my older encaustic paintings and have reworked a few of them, this first example shown above has changed completely from the original. I had painted the Sugar Hill Lupines back in 2016 and at the time had done a series of lupine paintings. I used an electric tjanting…

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A New Normal

Because of COVID 19, artists have had to find ways to adjust to the way we exhibit, teach, and even reconnect with the creative process. It’s been a challenge, to say the least. For me, after a few weeks of disbelief and confusion about what was happening in the world, I was able to tap…

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Revival; before and after

Springtime is when I have to start planning my exhibition space for the upcoming summer festival season. It forces me to review art inventory, and re-assess what paintings are “show worthy”, and those that need to be re-worked. Ever since I started incorporating alcohol inks into encaustic medium, I have found a new way to…

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Alcohol Inks

I’m having the greatest time, playing around and learning about alcohol inks! The fun started by incorporating the inks and fusing layers of color into encaustic medium. The translucent qualities of the inks mesh beautifully with the similar translucency of wax medium. After an initial introduction to inks by combining them with encaustic medium, I…

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Geisha

New Geisha paintings                     Definition from Wikipedia: Japanese name Kanji 芸者 “Geisha (芸者) or geigi (芸妓) are traditional female Japanese entertainers. They are skilled at different Japanese arts, like playing classical Japanese music, dancing and poetry. Some people believe that geisha are prostitutes, this however is…

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Summer Inspiration

I recently visited the Chicago Botanic Gardens knowing I would find visual inspiration. The colors of gorgeous velvety red roses in the Rose Garden, to the perfectly manicured bonsai and pine trees in the Japanese Garden, were a gift. In the English Walled Garden, I watched as wedding vows were exchanged, the scene felt like…

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