Pay it Forward and Back

What fun to find in my mailbox on this cold snowy January Monday this gift from Leslie as part of the PIF fun. (it's so great to get a gift in the regular mail) She was gracious and kind in offering to send me this chapbook of her poetry as a return gift for the painting that I sent to her. I've read a few of the poems and I feel the pull of her words. She has some of her poems posted on her blog. Thanks, Leslie!

ps. junior kitty likes it too!

Fun with Pay It Forward

Pay It Forward was a great experience. But, I've been remiss or at least a bit tardy on posting this. Christine put up a nice post w/ a pic of my painting that I sent to her...I figured I could do the same for Tracy!!
The photo shows the painting I received from Tracy, it's the beautiful landscape next to the collage. It was like Christmas when it arrived (in fact it was just after Christmas)...I looked at it for a long time and kept showing it to people. Which led to explaining the art PIF. I walked around the house with it, trying to find the right place to hang it. For now, its in the kitchen, nestled with these other pieces of art. I can look at it all the time. Thanks Tracy!

PS: can anyone explain how or where i find out how to put links in the post. for example, i would have like to link tracy in this post...and Christine.

Autumn....again

I swear this is the last painting inspired by the beautiful Autumn (at least for now...until the imagery reemerges in the future ala Treeline Memory (last post))
at any rate here it is. the blues should be more purple, i can't quite nail the colors accurately w/ this camera. I did adjust the colors on the computer, so they're close.

Treeline Memories

I've revisited a place in my memory that I visited this summer (in my memory). I saw this row of trees in Ashtabula County about 15 years ago. The light and color of the fields behind the trees is what caught my attention, the row of trees themselves create a nice negative space for the background field. I'm having fun with this arrangement of shapes--pushing the color possibilities.
This diptych 'happened' the other day. I love it when a painting emerges, seemingly on its own...with a life of its own.

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.