Wallflowers and Wallpaper

I have once again fallen behind terribly at updating the blog.  There are so many things to juggle in life, not to mention actually painting!

After getting back from Italy, Joseph and I bought a little brick house that we fell in love with, our teenage daughter got Chicken Pox, and we had to have one of our dogs put to sleep.  Then of course we get to settle into the new old house and repair some things.

The big loss with moving from our former place was the big studio in-home.  Now I paint smaller pieces at home in any room I feel like using (usually the kitchen), and share AESTHETICS STUDIO with a couple of fellow artists in a local arts cooperative building for portraits and figures.

Why Wallpaper and Wallflowers? (the title of this post)

Well, the Wallpaper is obvious.

and "Wallflowers"

is the playful but woefully negative word I seized upon for my current work theme.  I think my work has a solitary sweetness to it that sort of resonates with the word "wallflower". Since I often paint portraits of flowers-it also has a bit of tongue-in-cheek mixed in there.  You can see more of the recent pieces that bloom under this theme on my website's Current Works page (obsolete link).

On the easel- May 2011

Hello!  I've fallen behind on posting here....keeping up with technology takes a lot of time!  I'm learning how to get newsletters running and e-posts of new work.  Somehow I manage to paint, teach, and raise a family, too!  Here is a pic of me working on a self-portrait.  I really couldn't paint sight-size on this one because of the easel feet hitting each other and the way the light was coming in and lighting (or not) my painting enough.

"Forsythia" 16x12 oil on panel

Self-portrait about halfway through

Works lined up for summertime showing.  I love seeing a wall of them at a time.  It seems so seldom that I amass any amount of them and get to see them as a group.

Self-portrait finished.  I'm wearing my favorite short-sleeved sweater and my Zecchi's painting apron.