O'Keeffe, Motherwell, museums in SC and FL

I am about to start painting again after a hiatus of nearly nine months. I just have not felt creative since the death of my husband. I have given this fact a lot of thought. Perhaps creativity is linked to the future, a need to make something, share something, to offer the world something new. Even if the subject matter of the art is something from the past, the "creating" something of the present, the thing created is for the future: a legacy.

In the past month I have visited two amazing art museums: the Museum of Fine Arts in Columbia, SC, and the Norton Museum in West Palm Beach. Both have exquisite collections of just about everything. But the best thing was the special exhibit of a huge number of Georgia O'Keeffe paintings paired with Ansel Adams photos at the Norton.

At an auction in Delray I was able to get at auction a 1966 signed art poster by Robert Motherwell. I do not much care for Motherwell's art, but I respect his having done something new, with "abstract expressionism." And on my mother's line I am related to Motherwell, and obtaining this signed poster will be part of my own legacy to my son.

Death of My Husband in May

We had a big historical/architectural house tour here in May for a bus full of history enthusiasts from Blacksburg, VA (home of Virginia Tech).

My darling husband died May 23rd, and the event here described was obviously cancelled. On May 28th the art group I belong to, Bald Knob Artists, would have come here for a tour of art and for a demonstration in my art studio.


Can you see me in the reflection in the silver cream pitcher? I was wearing blue that day.





Hmmm...preserved in a pitcher.
That makes me richer...
shining in silver,
preserved in a silvery
curve.
The nerve! The verve!
A silvery curve.
I'm richer for being...a pitcher!

Portraits

This is Mother's Day, the first one without my Mother. She died 7 months ago after complications after a fall. The medical and institutional mistakes took her life. But on this special holiday I want to remember her as a loving, thoughtful, beautiful, healthy, funny, spirited lady, and mom to three daughters.

This portrait of her was done in 1949 in Chandler, AZ, by Viennese-born artist Fritz Werner. He posed her in a Spanish-style gown, possibly because she is half-Irish, and is "Black Irish," a black-haired descendant of the Irish whose ancestors were interbred with Spaniards when the Spanish Armada strayed from their course in 1588 and ended up on the shores of Ireland, instead of landing in and attacking England. A beauty all her life, my mother was a perfect subject for a portrait. I was born the year after this portrait was done.

On this Mother's Day 2008, I thank my late father for commissioning this superb portrait and I thank the late artist for capturing her personality and beauty so well.

My oil paintings on display in Rocky Mount

I am going to put as many of the oils on here as I have photographed, so people can enjoy them even if they cannot make it to the show at the Franklin County Public Library (through April 15th). I paint to bring a smile to the face of the beholder.

Plates II

Britney Spears Watchers

Pitcher Shadow

Coffee and Cream

Tea and Letters

Unfinished Lady

Self Portrait 2008

Plates III

After a Thibault painting

Fork and Oysters

Plates I

Florida Nurses

Fork and Beans

Workforce 21 st Century

Teenagers

"Mall Curfew" oil 2008

This is one of the 19 oils exhibited from March 1 through April 15th at the Franklin County Public Library on Franklin St. in downtown Rocky Mount, VA. I called it "Mall Curfew" because it represents three colorfully dressed teens who cannot get into the mall, but who like fashion and shopping.

Coffee and apple dumpling

I have been taking photos of cups of coffee, trying to get some good shadows and shapes so I can start my new "coffee series" in my studio this weekend. This photo will be the first I work from. I love the bright spot on the surface!

Yesterday I took pal Diane Kelly to Salem to enjoy time at writer Peggy Shifflett's new Cottage Curio http://www.cottagecurio.blogspot.com, where artisans and writers and her sister-in-law Hilda featured weavings, basket making, readings, and baking. It was a really fun time, and I brought 12 huge apple dumplings back for my husband's upcoming 86th birthday. Yummmm.

I saw fellow writers Dick Raymond, Becky Mushko, and Marion Higgins there.
Check out their blogs by seeing my writer's blog at http://www.ibby-paperfaces.blogspot.com

The leaves are turning here. Nuts are green on the trees and the squirrels are busy. But I will be in my studio working on coffee art and sipping freshly-ground "Sunday Afternoon Blend," the kind of thing my character Ann Cunningham Bow, from "Moving Day: A Season of Letters" http://www.blueladybooks.com would have concocted to perfect a wonderful day!

New in the studio

Here are some photos of my art studio, where I just completed an oil of (mostly)Fiestaware plates,pitchers,bowls, and cups. (You can click onto the pictures and they will enlarge.) The painting must dry for another day and then I will add a protective coating of gloss, let it dry, and get it framed. I am now working on the bigger canvas, which I drew last Spring. I put some of the turquoise paint on yesterday and added some green before dinner last night.

I have a show (Jan.-March 2008) to get ready for at our local library. After these two bright paintings, I will shift over to my "coffee series" of cups filled with coffee, shadows on the table, and the occasional creamer or some other piece that goes well with the colors and shapes.

I also have a picture of the worktable, made for me by my art teacher's father, Donald Way. I have it cluttered right now with tubes of paint and my newest glass palette, which will be scraped today and readied for the new painting project.

Yesterday, I put the musical "Showboat" on in my studio, to paint to. Today I will listen to Gordon Lightfoot and Judy Collins. (Judy C. will be in Roanoke for a concert Oct. 5!)

The pecan trees outside the windows have pecans on the branches. The "money tree" plant with its display of silvery, translucent "coins," stands to the side of my path. A warm breeze comes into the studio most of the day, making it pleasantly cool inside.

I have invited some of my artist pals to bring their easels down here to paint with me. Stay tuned, as this new painting evolves.