Painting trees

FOLIAGE

Layers and layers of glaze. 

Light green. Dark green. Orange. Yellow. Red. Burnt sienna. Light blue. Dark blue. White.

Layers and layers and layers.

Painting Trees

The art history book is packed with fabulous stuff. 

I want fabulous stuff in my painting. 

So I cut the words out. Words. 

Lots of words become the branches. 

Words on the tree trunks. Words scattered on the ground. 

Following the Muse

The MUSE won. 

Painting it is. Painting trees.

Large Gallery wrapped canvas, 30 x 40". 

Going to be a lot of paint.

The tree trunks are paper collage. Ironically from an old old art history book. Don't you see a Van Gogh in there?

Following the Muse

A good start on new 2016 paintings. I've assembled the collections needed for the (2) galleries - Riverview in Havre de Grace MD and Studio 234 in York PA. I am currently exhibiting at the York Art Association for the month of March. I need to start the illustrations for a new children's book - but I still feel like painting.

So - should I follow my To Do List

or should I follow my Muse?

Book Review - THE GIRL WITH THE GALLERY

"In an era when American artists didn't count and women were expected to stay home, Edith Gregor Halpert burst onto the fledgling New York gallery scene, defying all cultural and societal rules. In 1926, Halpert, just twenty-six years old, opened one of the first art galleries in Greenwich Village and set about turning the art world upside down. Her Downtown Gallery, which she ran for forty-four years, laid the groundwork for the art market's modern era, and its aggressive promotion and sales tactics. Halpert cultivated the most illustrious art collectors of the day, invented the market for folk art, and pushed the first group of American artists working in a modern vernacular into the history books, including Stuart Davis, Jacob Lawrence, Georgia O'Keeffe, Ben Shahn, and Arthur Dove. Despite all this, Edith Halpert herself has been lost to history. Until now. In The Girl with the Gallery, journalist Lindsay Pollock brings Halpert and her era vividly back to life, tracing the story of how this remarkable woman, who started out a penniless Jewish immigrant, made it her mission to fight for American art and artists."

An interesting and riveting history of a truly remarkable woman. If you want to be inspired by someone who went after her dream with unparalleled passion - read Edith Halpert's journey.

Just a few of the artists Edith Halpert represented:

Ben Shahn

Stuart Davis

John Marin

Charles Sheeler

PAINTING CATS

Two furry friends. 

Folksy art. Vintage table cloth. 

Stenciled background.

Two more furry friends. 

Again - Folksy art. 

Parcheesi game board and stenciled background.

Painting cats

My daughter adopted a cat last year. Toby. I haven't had a cat for a very long time and forgot how much fun they can be. So, I think I should paint a few cats. This is just a base coat. I have no idea where I will go from here. I think I will just go where the kitties take me!

Red Cherries in the Pink

RED CHERRIES IN THE PINK

My second blue-haired lady. Finished.

Fabric for the hair. Definitely eye catching.

This painting has many elements I wanted to portray - the vintage cherry fabric, blue hair, moods - even at the blue hair stage of my life - I have to work at being in a good mood. It truly is a choice most days. 

Do I think anyone would hang this painting on their wall - absolutely not. So why do I paint it? Why do I even show it? The only answer is that I am compelled to. Some ideas live in my head for many years. evolving, resurfacing, just itching to get out. This is one of many.