THEME: RED - Los Angeles/CA/USA/online

THE BACK STORY

TITLE: HOMAGE TO A HIGH SIERRA SNOW PLANT

The painting on the right began in the High Sierra’s when there was little snow on the ground.  I was there with my two giant schnauzers who were running and playing like it was their private playground I was admiring a strange yet beautiful plant life bursting through the snow crust.  I thought I’d discovered either a new life form or one that was about to go extinct.  Calling over my travel companion to see my discovery, my two dogs bolted over to make sure I was OK.  As Hoss, my older male, ran over he ran over the plant.  I was devastated.  It was my belief he has wiped out the whole of its species 

Creating a drawing of the destroyed plants, it became my mission to preserve its memory as a painting. I soulfully hung this painting in my living room in homage.

Years later a guest walked into the room and declared, “Oh a Snow Plant!”  To my surprise and relief, I was informed that these plants a’ many and plenty in the High Sierra’s and that I had not. 

MEDIUM: ACRYLIC ON CANVAS

SIZE: 36”x 30” - 91.44cm x 76.2cm - YEAR: 1980

THEME: GILDED - NORFOLK/VA/USA/In-Gallery Exhibit

THE BACK STORY 

TITLE: WE SHARED A LIFE TOGETHER IN ANOTHER TIME

          This odyssey began back in New Orleans when I was searching for an artistic direction.  I embarked searching the French Quarter and yard sales looking for and finding old photographs from the 18th century. Among my finds was a family album full of their ancestors.  Bringing these people to life again was fun.  I was and am drawn to what their lives had been like. Fast forward to the 21st century  a distant DNA relative asked me to paint a six-trip of our common ancestors.  Full circle I began painting those “whose shoulders we stand on”.  While painting this New Orleans child,  I started her Jackie.  My paintings are asking the viewer to breathe, to remember, to return to their roots, and feel their connection to All That Is.

MEDIUM: ACRYLIC AND GOLD LEAF ON LINEN

SIZE: 12”x 10” - 30.48cm x 24.5cm

THEME: Water - Nova Scotia/Canada/online

THE BACK STORY

TITLE: ETHEREAL

          This painting begins as many of my water paintings begin.  I received an image from my muse, Vicki, who herself is a multi-talented, multi-faceted human being.  The simple photo of a white feather holding a single water drop captured my attention.  It sat on my laptop desktop and in my mind’s eye for several weeks before I could put aside other day-to-day matters.  This painting evolved quicker than many of my pieces because I had “mapped” it out in my subconscious long before I began it.  

          I knew the canvas had to be glass smooth to draw the painted lines.  Today there is a medium which goes on thick, dries slowly however as it dries it lays down smooth as glass.  Of, course I was out of mine as was my art supply store.  Because of this hiccup I had to go old school in preparing the canvas for paint.  Instead of an overnight job, the process took me 3 days to begin.  I may paint it again but, unlike AI or digital to change the colors, I stick to traditional.

          The jpg I sent in to this juried international competition was of an incomplete painting.  I thought it was good and entered it on a whelm, to see if I was on tack.  The image in this blog is of the completed painting. 

ACRYLIC ON CANVAS

SIZE: 24”x 24” / 60.96cm x 60.96cm