No name

I finished this the other day, no title comes to mind yet. Any thoughts?

The last few days haven't been spent in the studio, but have been in the kitchen instead. I've been making soups. Soup and cold weather go hand in hand, don't they?
Yesterday was Mushroom Barley and today a White Navy Bean is simmering on the stove.
I'm trying breads too...don't know about this venture! I tried Rye this afternoon and had a heck of a time kneading it. You'd think with my ceramics background (wedging clay) that I'd have the touch. The final word will be when the bread is out of the oven and being sampled.

There is sentiment attached to the idea of making bread. My dad made wonderful breads. Last year when he moved to the nursing home while cleaning out his apartment, I took home his bread books.
My daughter Meg (the one going to Culinary School for her Advanced Pastry Arts Degree) spent much of this fall learning about and making breads. At home and at school. Watching her work with bread was another piece into my breadmaking foray. The other day I pulled out the books. While leafing throught the recipes and his notes, I figured it's time to try. Today is Rye Bread, soon I'll try his cinnamon bread---mouthwateringly the best he made!!
One of these days I'll bring him some bread. Ideally...edible and delectable!

By the way, a movie I enjoyed recently...JUNO. Loved it!

Sold off the Easel

A friend stopped by a few days before Christmas to buy a painting for his wife. We spent some time talking about lots of stuff, this friend is a great talker-and funny, very funny to boot.
Eventually we made it into the studio where he gravitates to this painting, which wasn't finished. I sold it to him along with two others (that were finished). I promised not to modify too much on the painting, it was almost done, just needed some tweeking. Christmas Eve he picked up the work, the one still a bit tacky. His wife loves the paintings. I painted on their property this summer and they saw a number of works go from start to finish, some good, others....so-so. They have already bought a few pieces generated from this summer's forays on their property.

I thought a few pics from our Dec. 15th snow would be fun to see. I'm not sentimental about having a White Christmas, this was good to have early and be done with in time for safe holiday travel.

Gleaning from a Beautiful Autumn

Many of my recent posts have mentioned or really mentioned the beauty of this past Autumn, although technically its not 'past' yet. Not until Dec. 21st. You wouldn't know it here though, as its 24 F. and snowy.
So I'm not done with Autumn yet. There are still a few things left to paint, I hope to get to them by the year's end. We'll see....
This one is in a different format, the canvas is 5 x 12 and is marketed by the name SQUANGLES. The come in different shapes (triangles) and sizes and are affordable.
It was interesting to squish the composition into this space.
The colors are slightly off, the blue should be more of a purple.

Addendum to last post:
The painting I talked about selling and being there for the sale. It was sold to Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond). Cool!

Also Tom the Russian Blue has moved to Lakewood for the winter.

Serendipity

i am Molly sitting tonight...Molly being my son's girlfriend Tracy's cocker spaniel-beagle mix puppy. cute as can be. fortuitously (sp?) she needed to step outside for a final bathroom break. it's a crisp cold night and we have about 4 inches of snow on the ground. full moon, silvery clouds..so we're out there, me, Molly and Woody Dog Sedivy.
just chillin.
first i heard them. i started scanning the skies in the direction of their odd calls. (reminiscent of the monkeys in wizard of oz).
the v-shape emerged coursing through streaks of silver cloud.
Up, way up.
50 or more.
lovely v shape. SWANS, Tundra swans.

earlier in the day, a visit with mom and dad. Tracy, Beau, me, Meg and Marilyn.
great visit..we ate some just made that morning pumpkin pie.
Tre delicier (sp?)
we stopped at BayArts the see my work there and to shop at the holiday boutique. what are the odds that as I'm there, the painting shown above is literally being taken down from the wall and sold! Cool! got to meet the buyer and look at the painting one last time. this is a favorite of mine and i'm glad to know where and with whom it will be. i don't know, maybe that sounds odd, but some pieces you get attached to. and i like to know where all of my work goes. it tells a story of time passage, geography, an excerpt of one aspect of my life and intersections with people.

the last taker for PAY IT FORWARD has emerged. Leslie. a fellow blogger and a writer. we have a twist! Leslie is a poet and for those interested participating in PIF and in recieving poetry--visit Leslie and read her poetry, evocative work. She has her first chapbook of poetry printed! Congratulations, Leslie!

all in all a fine day after thanksgiving. giving thanks, indeed.
Thank you to my takers!! Leslie, Shirime and Christine!

A Birding Morning

Went birding this a.m. at Headlands (this is a state park on Lake Erie, east of Cleveland). not much to see in the way of birdlife, but i did hook up with some friends and we had a nice time walking the dunes, enjoying the views and the wonderful mild weather. we had some nice views of about 10 or more great blue herons hangin out and circling about, didn't have my camera then, so no shots.
but, i took lots of reference photos, the colors were muted by mists.

the painting posted is done or nearly done, i may rework the tree-esp. the trunk.

lastly, there is room for a final taker on the Pay It Forward venture.

Mundane

a day spent doing the ordinary can be so satisfying after a couple of weeks full of activity.
a certain level of comfort settles into doing the mundane..the sounds that accompany the days tasks, the drier, the dishwasher running, the broom swishing against the kitchen floor.
clean laundry folded on the table. fresh towels.
outside it snow mists.
first suet of the winter season is out, birds feed all day long.
hot soup for lunch.
every year my mind down shifts to winter mode. re-learning acceptance of slower time, hush time (snow has a hush sound)and relishing it.
an excuse to curl up on the couch with a great book and coffee and yum...cookies.

an advantage of teaching painting to high school students is giving a demo.
the piece posted here is on such result. i love the freshness of color...the students don't want me to change a thing, i'm compelled to work in the area to the left of the building. (a retreat house on the property where i teach)

last...there room for one more taker on the Pay It Forward fun.

Happy Saturday!

Pay it Forward

After visiting Tracy"s http://worksbytracy.blogspot.com/
--forgive me here, not sure how to put in a link) blog yesterday and discovering the Pay it Forward concept going on in the artist's blog community, I was intriqued with the idea. Like Tracy says in her blog,(the humbug thing), I tend toward skepticism when it comes to this kindof stuff. But this is fun...it'll be interesting to see or find out how far it goes.
The added bonus for me is to have a piece of Tracy's gracing my humble walls!

So here is how it goes:

I will send a handmade gift (in my case I can specify that it WILL be a painting, probably a small one, but the real thing) to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

When you leave your comment, please also do one of two things: leave your post address or e-mail it to me.
So here goes!

some new stuff

inspired by the fall colors, the oddity of contrasts.
the autumn has lasted so long and there are daily juxtapositions of tree colors against backdrops that change.

Long Autumn

A prolonged season
Uncanny unusual


just a long autumn?

every day tops the last
now the colors soften

mute

snow is forecast

la nina

however

A Russian Blue, Horses and an Incredible Autumn

What an amazing autumn! It has been flawlessly beautiful on a daily basis.
The colors are edible and the light is exquisite.....can't get enough...

Tom at rest on the back deck, the direction he is looking toward is the view of my neighbors pasture and horses.
The day I took these shots was an overcast day that cleared up just in time for an hour of late sunlit angles on the landscape. Dark purply clouds to the east
yummmmm

Glamour Shots

Junior at her best. I can't take credit for the photography, Marilyn took these shots (among many) of our most photogenic cat.

What an exquisitely beautiful day. the light, the light, the light! the angles through the light and shade are amazing!

the fall colors are starting to happen.

no painting to post right now, but have sold 3 this week and have a solo exhibition in the works!

GO TRIBE!!

a lesson learned

right now i have no pics to post. for a couple of reasons...
i have a painting in progress, so its not posting ready and all my other pics which are stored in my computer are, sad to say, GONE.

our computer has been sickly for a few weeks. last week it seemed to be in its death throes. the computer guys where bob works thought it sounded like the hard drive. bob packed up the computer sunday night, put it in the truck to take to work on monday so the computer geeks could look at it.

bob goes to work. the computer guy comes in, bob goes to the truck to get the computer and realizes its not there.

we and some of our neighbors were robbed on sunday night. what are the odds? how many times do put our computer in the car at night?
unless the computer shows up at a pawn shop, i can say adios to everything on the computer that I DIDN'T BACK UP ON DISK. which is just about everything.
urghhhhhhh!

on the bright side, the thieves have a worthless computer. they didn't break in the house, it could have been worse, they could have taken more.

c'est la vie!


moral of the story:

back up your disks now!

Cats nap

i couldn't resist posting this photo.
if anyone out there actually sees this and you know me, then you might know about Tom. he's the gray cat. a russian blue that my daughter left with us after she moved to a house where she couldn't have pets.
so Tom came to the country. for his first year of life he was raised by college boys, so T. developed major attitude and defense mechanisms.
when he moved here, animosity ensued between him and my very old female cat. over time they've mellowed a bit, but not much.
the cat he is with in the picture is Junior, who has taken Tom's presence somewhat in stride. the photo illustrates a breakthrough. Although Junior tolerates Tom, this is a new site.
i think Tom is smitten with Junior. from day one he has followed her on her daily ramblings of the property.
tom will leave us when the cold hits. our daughter is in a pet friendly apt. in lakewood. second floor. so we're going with a joint custody arrangement. while its warm, he runs free here. when he'll be cooped in with the cold weather, off to the big city he goes.


art note.
have 6 pieces of art in two shows. woo hoo!!

Long time no post

Back to work.
For the last few weeks time hasn't been something I could always call my own. The start of the school year is always hectic. This year was no exception. However, I did make the time to finish this painting. It's been entered in a local art show, I'll know in a few days if it got in. I entered three pieces in a show on the West Side and got all three in. I couldn't make it to the opening last weekend, but I'll stop by this weekend and see how they look.
We were busy getting ready for our annual clambake-cornhole tournament on Friday.
All was looking great on Saturday. There was a 50% chance of rain.
The cornhole players arrived.
The food arrived.
We started the games.
We started happy hour.
Two rounds of cornhole ensued.
The Skies let loose.
It rained.
It poured.
It was epic and biblical in proportion.
Six inches in two hours.
An ark passed by with a white haired and bearded old guy trying to take my dog.
We escorted the elders into the house under umbrellas which turned inside out.
About 50 people crammed into this small house.
We ate and drank.
We had a great time!
Two hours later the rains stopped.
Some people went home, others stayed. We hung out under the tent and then sat around the fire til the wee hours.
All in all, we had a great time.
Sunday we cleared the flotsam and jetsam.

a new view

The image on the top isn't finished, but I like the new view I found. It's a place I see quite often, in fact I've looked at it so many times over the years, that it's one of those thing you don't see any more. This view is on a cloudy day, we've had incredible weather lately and the atmosphere and clouds are beautiful.
Stormy, muggy, heavy moisture, lend to nice atmospheric stuff.
The first time the view struck me there were gorgeous long shadows stretching across the road. I haven't seen the sun then in order to go back and snap a shot. Soon, I hope.
I don't directly work from photos, although I will use them as reference if I can't get out in plein air.
The cloudy day view was done using the picture on the screen of my digital camera.

The sunflowers is newish. Still tinkering with white balance and getting the picture image satisfactory. This is ok, not 100%.

White Balance

seems like its all about balance isn't it?

in this case thanks to joe and co-worker pete for their advice on white balance.
specifically in regards to attaining color accuracy in the digital photos of my paintings. i tried it today and i'm much happier with the results! i have a few technical questions for pete, but i think i'm getting it!

on a different note (no pun intended), i've been reintroduced to a music i listened to in the distant past, again courtesy of co-worker pete.
Loudon Wainwright.
excellent new music. Loudon's new album, Strange Weirdos: Music from and Inspired by the Film Knocked Up, is great listening.

Camera Difficulty

Finished this painting yesterday. I'm happy with the painting itself, but I'm having problems with the camera. Sometimes obtaining a clear, sharp image of my work is a challenge. I'm getting to know the camera and its settings. Its a Canon Powershot A530. Yesterday all the pics I took seemed not so sharp. I'll try again this weekend for better results-I've gotten them before! I'm not a photographer, so it is taking some trial and error. The other problem with this camera is that it shows lots of blue tones. Where there are purples in a painting, they show up blue. So I tinker with photoshop and adjust it, but its not quite true. What to do?
Back to work today. Shocking...summer vaca seems like a dream!

Summer is winding down...looking ahead

Last day of summer vacation...
It's been a satisfying summer in painting terms. I've been able to dedicate lots of time to painting and from that I'm seeing growth in my work. That's Good!! My brain is bubbling with ideas that I'll put on hold, ever so temporarily, I hope.
Once the school year gets rolling, in a few weeks, I'll be able to get back in a painting routine.
The painting shown here is one that started off great, went through a slump and I was able to revive at the end.
Other things about summer, good visits with family, reading books, listening to good music, eating fresh veggies and fruit daily, fires in our fire pit, practicing lots of yoga---plus making the decision to spend the next year in yoga classes obtaining my 200 hours in order to become a yoga instructor.
A new direction!
Oh yeah, the other fun and new thing is we're going to build a barn. Bottom for the New Holland and all the other stuff of yard and garden, top will be a studio---larger than what I have! We'll spend the upcoming winter in planning, break ground next spring, build... then do interior finishing work the following fall and winter.
yay!!!

Sunflowers and Beach Glass

The last 2 days have been peaceful and sad. Vermilion with my sisters, mornings with lingering conversation, good coffee, great food (all day!), afternoon at the local farms buying fresh, delicious, yuummmmy produce and driving through great views of countryside and farmland. shopping in vermilion in thunderstorms. finding a large metal turtle that I want so bad. price is wrong for me. but....hmmmm... talking with an owner of a new and very interesting gallery. wine accompanied with much silliness while cooking dinner. a walk to the beach. collecting beach glass as the sun sets. feeling emotion about dad... memories. sad he can't walk the beach any more, walk in the woods, all the gifts he shared he can't be a part of.


an afternoon of collecting beach glass. maureen is 10 years old, soon to be 11. she found a giant blue piece of beach glass.

stop to visit mom and dad at the nursing home. sadness upon leaving. dad changes almost every time i see him.

Frogs

Finished the row of trees paintings. I love what happened with them in terms of color, shapes and lines. I started a new painting today and was able to transfer the same characteristics to the new painting.

What a funny weather day. We had lots and lots and lots of rain along with strong thunder and lightening this morning. Which then left us with a MUGGY day.
A tree frog made it into the kitchen (probably with a bushel of the never ending green beans). Much to Bob's surprise when he was pouring his first cup of coffee this morning and it jumped on his leg and suction cupped itself to him. So Bob caught it to put it outside, but it got away. I found it this afternoon hanging out on the kitchen table.

Revisiting a favorite landscape

This landscape was done about 10 years ago. I was in my oil pastel phase. A perfect medium for a busy life. The kids were all in school, I was working full time (still am) and pastels are easy to use, work on in a spare moment, without lots of cleanup that oils would have.
I love the section of landscape this depicts. The look of fields of color showing through a line of trees is beautiful to me.
So I had this landscape in a drawer. It needs new glass and I can hang it. One of those little jobs I've put aside. When I found it, I thought of trying it in oils.
One image is conventional use of color, the other not so conventional.
Here they are, oil on panel (old dresser drawer panels), now that they're posted, I see a few things to adjust, but they're done otherwise.

Morning and 4 O'Clock

After feeding the birds this morning, I was wandering around the yard with my coffee and the camera. The hibiscus that my kids gave me for mother's day has been blooming beautifully all summer. I took it's picture as it was folded up, ready to open.
At 4 )'Clock, its hot. I'm sitting on my studio deck and was surprised to see the flower had completely opened throughout the day. Amazing. Both the fact that it opened up like it did and more so that I missed seeing it happen. Next time, I'll check every hour or so to see it unfold.

Yaro's Barn

Its been awhile since I posted anything.

I've had a busy week or so with painting Meg's room, reading HP (which I loved and have started to reread at a slower pace. There is too much to say about it, I couldn't cover it in this posting)

We've had a week of rain which was great as the gardens were crying for water. The rain was good, but, I didn't make it out to finish my painting at John's house. Tomorrow looks good though.

In the meantime, I worked on some pieces in the studio. The two shown above were started in the spring. More paintings of Yaro's barn. (accidentally put two of the same image up, I intended to delete the bottom image, can't figure out how!)

Who is Yaro?

Yaro is my husband's grandfather, who bought the property our house and our neighbors house is on--which used to be Yaro's and Emmas. He bought the land in the 1940's, built his house. Then Bob's parents built our house in 1949. Yaro and Emma are gone, but the land, house and barns are still here. The barn has been subject matter for me since we moved here in 1996. Before that, I was obsessed with Kleve's barn, just down the road. I love the sillouhettes of barns against the sky. Barns are becoming a thing of the past as more and more fall down or are torn down for development.

We spent yesterday celebrating Beau's (my son) 26th birthday. He and his girlfriend and her dog (good golly Miss Ana Molly) came from Columbus. We had a garden themed meal. The first hill of potatoes, yellow beans, zuchinni bread, local grown melon, with the addition of fantastic baby back ribs. All, Yum!! I gave Beau a collage. I meant to take a picture of it for posting and posterity, but forgot. He'll have to send it sometime.

Painting and Potter

Great amounts of painting were done this week. In my daughter's room. A necessary job, and more involved than anticipated. Isn't that always the case? Since she'll be home for the next two years while she attends culinary school, we figured it was time to make the upstairs her space. It is two rooms that she shared with her sister through grade school and high school. The rooms are connected and there is a bathroom too. Now it can be more like an apartment/suite. With the exception of some minor touch ups here and there, the job is done!

This morning I claimed as my own and finished a few pieces.

Marblehead was started in June on Marblehead Peninsula. It had a forty five minute beginning, then I fizzled-It was late in the day and I was hungry!

Purple Trees was done for the most part in June. I softened a few edges today and reworked some of the darks.

Red Barn or John's Field was painted last week at my friends house. I don't know what I think of this one. The image that I'm posting looks slightly overexposed. I love the textures and the movement of color. I like the sky.

Last is a painting I'm giving to my daughter for a college graduation gift. This is one of two that she selected. I painted this based on some photos I took in Arizona a few springs ago. I was just messing around with Raymar panels and I think waterbased oils. I was prepping for travel to Ireland. I brought panels and waterbased oils for ease of travel--the weight, the airline restrictions, etc. Well, Ali liked this one, so its framed and ready for her.

Last.

Harry Potter looms. I don't know what to think of all the hype. I am glad there are so many readers out there and its cool to think of so many people reading at the same time. It's like and international book club/read fest. It is quite a phenomenon when you think about it. All the hype seems somewhat commercial, though.

I love HP and can't wait to read the book. But it's bittersweet. I don't want the story to end.

slow learner

testing.

okay, i'm a slow learner. since the start of this blog adventure i've been thinking my blog template didn't accomodate putting images with my text.

it was bothering me.

so...i've been fooling around and lo and behold there is an icon right above the box i'm typing in that says add image.

ok, gonna try it.

it worked! i'm becoming so technologically savvy.

featured above is Woody. Woody Dog Sedivy, also known as Wooderson, and Hey, Bud.

13 years old, yorkshire terrier-poodle mix. aka a yorkie-poo.

woohoo!!
spent a wonderful morning painting at a friends house in the back field. weatherwise today was a splendid day with low humidity, amazing blue skies and big puffy clouds.
the painting was right
it was hard to stop. i got a good few hours in the a.m.
went to the grocery store, ate some lunch and back to painting.
tonight we are going to a wedding reception and i wish i could stay home and work some more.
i'll go back tomorrow to my friends fields.
after tomorrow the following days will be spent celebrating my dad's b-day on sunday (81 yrs old!) then my daughter and I will paint her rooms upstairs. she's moving back home for a while after a college stint. she's off to culinary school (close to home, commute to school, save on rent and food, have fun with mar and bob) to learn to be an advanced pastry arts chef.
yum!
so between time spent sittin here at the blogsite and eating meg's homework my shape will be shifting.

my mouth is sore and its hot, hot, hot
dental work is no fun, especially crown preps. but the worst is over.
i'd rather have the hot temps than the opposite-mid january and the snow is flying.
of course, what i'd really prefer is low humidity and upper 70's!
so, i've been painting lots around the yard and at the neighbors. i'm ready to find subject matter further afield. i've got a couple of locations in mind.
i've been playing with the versatility of oil paints. messing with some glazing. there is some deviation from showing the immediacy of the first brushstrokes-which i prefer to leave evident.

i'm
revisiting collage.
painting with oils on clay board, collage on top and carving/scraping into the oils.

Saturday Night

What a gorgeous day today.
Low humidity and sunshine all the way.

Frustrating painting day. The desire was strong, but I couldn't mesh desire with skill. The first painting I attempted was frustrating the whole time I worked on it. From set up to a frustrating stop for dinner. While eating outside, the sunlight on the trees in my neighbors yard grabbed my attention.
After dinner I started painting # 2. It flowed somewhat better.
But...
Still a bit off.
I think I'm tired!
Yesterday, I spent 4 hours on a breeding bird survey for the Geauga Park District. It is amazing and wonderful to spend hours hiking through the woods, birding in the company of fun biologists---they are fun! We start at 7 am.
The sunlight shining through the trees is remarkable.
We trek through swamp, wet areas, dry areas, cross beaver dams, sit in piney woods, bird in open fields.
After I birded, I worked for about 2-3 hours in the garden and in my flower beds.
yeah. I'm tired.
Tomorrow, I'll meet some art teacher friends at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens, then to see the Ansel Adams exhibit at the Cleveland Institute of Art, then another photo exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Last, dinner in Litte Italy, I think.

I'm reposting this, will it work?

The coffee is brewing.

While the coffee brews, I'm checkin email
This blog is a bit addictive right now
Hope it wears off soon

So I thought I'd put a landscape up for viewing, not sure yet what it will be.
Probably an Ireland painting.
I took a trip last summer with my sisters (2) and niece to Ireland's Beautiful West Coast.
Hauled the painting gear and produced about 8 little oils.
I loved painting in Ireland!
The landscape is incredible and it was a new challenge to paint the seashore and cliffs.

Painting aside, Ireland is amazing for the people--funny, mystical, kind, friendly.
The roads a bit crazy...

Quick Note While Dinner Cooks

Wow!
I got a comment on the blog.
Just messin around with this last night.
So Thanks to Tracy for visiting me!
So I do have a gallery for my work and things are picking up. At this point they've just sold a piece and there is interest in another work. Someone from Philadelphia saw it on the gallery website.
Cloud Nine Again!
But the pics I posted are pieces that I haven't put out there yet. I've been showing lots of landscapes.
This is stuff I do in the winter...introspective works. The cat pics are inspired by Little Kitty who hangs in the studio near the heat during winter. I was playing with texture through brushwork and playing with space, shape and color.

Anam is another story. More on that later.

the potatoes call for mashing.

Orion Art at White Dog Studio

Okay
Here I am.
Trying the Blog.
I'll post some paintings.
Let people know I'm here.

Hmmmm
What do I say?
Worked in the yard all day, prepping the flower beds for subject matter for paintings.
I think the bulk of the work is done, from now on its maintenance only.

Picked the first spinach from the garden.
Ate a great tasting spinach strawberry and goat cheese salad.
Yum.

Now that I've created this blog, I hope I remember how to get back in.