Blogging FB...

Five bokushos in progress... goal was white paintings but they have minds of their own.
The little landscapes along the top are leftovers from Colony...

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Here's a blog link about one artist's discovery of Facebook... explains a lot ;)

I'm guilty... I've neglected this blog as well as reading many others that I really enjoy. FB does make staying in touch much easier and quicker... a short status update can often say as much as an entire blog post. There are times, however, when it doesn't... and the need to explore, untie the knots, really understand what I'm trying to sort out, can only be done by blogging.

So don't think I'm going away, this is too therapeutic to toss to the wind... plus it's my diary. Personal FB thoughts are lost after a page or two of status updates... probably still there but not searchable or neatly labeled (not that I label these posts anymore... I figure the Google blog search will find what I look for.)

Truth be told, I'm not certain that I have many goals left to track... I really thought with the economic turn-down that I'd quietly withdraw from the commercial scene and begin folding my studio tent... maybe retire to a hobby of sketching and watercolors. I still think this is a good plan... focus on setting records straight and maybe print out a book or two to pass down in the family... but basically, move on. Seems there's still a bit of momentum left in the career, however, and a new possibility sends me scurrying to see what I can catch... I'm as competitive as ever. Drat!

Family Fun

The second big summer event has come and gone... I won't bore you with details but this fun video pretty much says it all. Yes, I'm just recovering, it was exhausting but oh, so much fun!

Testing Mobile Entry

Check it out.

Sent from my iPhone

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AHA! It worked... I've learned a new tech trick ;)

I'd been meaning to figure out how to make blog posts from my iPhone and I think I have the right formula in place... so many times while downstairs in the studio, I think of something post-worthy and always have my phone handy... but by the time I'm back upstairs the thought is gone so nothing is said. Or we're off to the lake house and I can post from there... hopefully, because it will depend on phone connections rather than wi-fi. We'll see how it goes...

Painting Just For Me...

Archives - 1988 - Magnolia 5 - W/C - 22 x 30

Prepping for another surge of family at the lake house... will be out of pocket for the next week... but that's another story...

As most who follow these wanderings know, I'm not one to stay too long on a chosen path. At some point I must (briefly or not) shift directions and either explore something new or revisit something from the past. The latter is the current infatuation, a journey back into realism combined with a medium I've never really mastered but will give one more try... oils.

An FB friend mentioned this Josef Albers quote: "Knowledge does not destroy spontaneous work; rather, it ceates a solid base for it."

I consider this research for knowledge... painting directly from an old photograph, similar to the w/c above, but in oil. First I'll work as realistically as possible on a small canvas, sharpening eye/hand coordination, reaching back to a time when this was my primary way of working. I knew exactly what the finished work would look like: nearly identical to the photograph. Second purpose is to get the feel for oils again... not as a big-brush-palette-knife abstract process but an exploration in color mixing and detail application. If things work out, I'll move to larger supports.

Why? First, to make sure I can still make the calls... that I'm not controlled by habit and routine. Where's the creativity in that? Things have become so predictable in the studio the challenge has left the room. I've a large inventory spread across several states and I don't really need to keep growing it at this point. So now is the time to play... to see what I can still do, to entertain new thoughts that may lead to just time out to paint for me... or a new direction all together.

I'll take sketch and w/c materials with me this next week... since I won't really be in charge, maybe I'll find time to work on that eye/hand coordination thing...

Just Deal With It...

...clutterclutterclutter...

You may think I'm not blogging much these days but a look at my list of posts shows many drafts... unfinished thoughts or second thoughts, like "maybe this doesn't really need to be shared" kind of thoughts.

The same situation defines my studio... unfinished thoughts... works that, for one reason or another, aren't ready for prime time. In fact, that's possibly one of my weakest areas... unfinished projects of one sort or another. A current (and recurring) effort has me digging out, clearing out, sorting out... not only the studio and inventory, but all through the house. Just a shelf or drawer at a time... no need to rent a dumpster, or not a very big one. Goal: to be able to see everything in a room, closet or drawer in one glance. To cut ties with saved materials that will never see use and merely take up space. To have a clear and unobstructed view of what I really want to do next!

You see... I have this problem. Not uncommon but also not really fixable. Best I can do is deal with it... and that's where the cleansing comes in. The ole memory is not serving so well anymore. Nothing to get excited about, the usual age related dementia to be expected and most of us complain about (beginning the first time you lost your keys) and can be counted on to only get fuzzier with time.

Of our three kids, the oldest has the largest collection of my work through the years. (They all know they can have most anything they want.) He didn't realize he would pay the price by being designated 'Keeper/Manager of the Inventory' when I can't do it anymore. Because we had the job of dealing with both mother's belongings when they passed, I realize how daunting this job can be. So while I still have my wits about me, I will try to make better order and toss the nonsense.

This, of course, is not the first time for such an effort... seems to be another project that never gets finished!

And Then...

Conclusion: it was, for the most part, well done. You take six kids (seven, with a play date thrown in for the youngest) ranging from 8 to 14 and you aren't dealing with children anymore. There's the transition into teendom (Heaven help us all!) that I didn't fully prepare for and had memory prods of what an attitude I had at that age! The oldest flew home after the first week leaving two BFF (Best Friends Forever) pairs plus the youngest-who-will-not-be-ignored!

The all time favorite was tubing on the big lake with the old man successfully causing them to lose their grip and fly off... someone kept score but it wasn't me. Big grins all 'round. Our little lake saw a bit of action, but not much... thought the sail boat and kayak would be hits but not. The old golf cart made repeated hill climbs with various drivers and just about went up in smoke but survived... I think.

We did break out the watercolor kit but the assortment of Oops paint from Home Depot was more fun. When will I learn? I'd picked up some $1 frames from Michael's for them to paint and then went searching for odd scraps of wood which was just as fun to paint. Pollock would have been proud of their spattering. The local community had an Art Walk one night and we visited Kentuck Fine Craft Museum with all it's open studios, meeting artists and seeing demos... then made a gallery visit before rains washed us out.

The cooking camp part consisted of one evening of discussing a meal everyone would eat (vast taste differences) and settled on shrimp kabobs with grits. Big success in my book! They contributed whenever appropriate with other meals but I didn't push a big organized effort to control. We visited a resturant with a counter that viewed the kitchen and the owner took pains to entertain... we appreciated! I'd anticipated more involvement with daily cooking but, like Xmas, anticipation is where the real fun is!

Technology played a big role in this group... some were on their phones almost constantly... texting or talking... way into the night. No need to keep parents updated, they were probably more informed than I ;) I joked to one that there was no way I could mistreat them as they would tell on me immediately! But that's part of their lifestyle and I certainly understand, I'm hooked too.

There were some good side trips... the local Science Center has a great kid set-up of all kinds of exploration... and the University Museum of Natural History was more time well spent.

Conclusion... Good times and good memories were made. I love these girls, with all my heart! Always will. But as teens, I think I'll leave the details to their parents who understand better than I what today's society is all about. We had our turn and produced three really great kids I couldn't be more proud of! And they're doing a super job with their not-so-little ones... my hat is off to them!

Now... back to the studio where I think I might know something... if I haven't forgotten!

Moving Right Along...

Five of the six G-Chicks soon to arrive!
(Photo/scrapbook credit to my photographer daughter, Julia!)

So here's the deal... the next few posts will be mostly about g-kid worship. Although there is a lone g-guy in the younger set (another lone g-guy in the older tier) we have mostly g-girls... sometimes referred to as g-chicks as they are (or nearing) teeny bopper category. We have two here in town and will be driving to NOLA on Friday to pick up three more and bring back for a two week "camp" at the lake house... mostly. A sixth g-chick will fly in from Arkansas... making a total of six for the last week. The young man will visit later in the summer with a buddy of his... believe me, this is the most humane way to treat an outnumbered guy kid! Chicks can do a mean job on a lone young brother/cousin!

Well laid plans (you know how those go!) include a Cooking Camp and an Art Camp plus the usual boating, swimming and tubing that actually takes priority. My theory is that they will not just learn a few recipes, but how to plan and shop and put together a few decent meals for future reference in this kitchen... I want them to feel that this is THEIR house and their responsibility to make it function appropriately. Including the nitty gritty parts. I don't expect to play hostess/caretaker more than absolutely necessary!

I've probably gone overboard with art materials, but each will receive a wood box watercolor set, a palette, a spiral watercolor book and a newsprint tablet... and a Dollar Tree $1 bag (cute) to keep it all together. The idea is that they will keep a sketch journal of the time they are here. I remember seven or so years ago, I'd taken three of them to the zoo and had forgotten my camera... "don't worry, Grammie," the oldest said, whipping out a little notebook, "I'll just draw everything we see!" And she did, and my biggest regret is that I didn't keep the dozen pics she drew... thought she should have it and now it's lost. But I did keep these two pics:
The zoo animals are missing but she nailed the rugged climbing rocks and apparently there was a contrail in the sky with the sun... and I got the full treatment but my daughter only has the beginning of a head due to limited drawing time... can hardly wait to see what the journals produce!

Here's all nine from three years ago, not easy to get them all together anymore!

Is that a good looking bunch of G-Kids or what!?!
(They could have stayed that size! Or smaller!!!)

Uh, oh...

.....

The Grids 1 & 2 - 36 x 36@

I'm reminded of a blog post I made a few months back about an inquiry into three of my paintings... seems I was more than a bit leery of the writer's intentions and said so. My readers were divided as to whether I handled it appropriately... most of them having dealt with suspicious inquires at some point. Plus, I had a really bad head cold... I felt snotty and acted it.

So a few weeks ago I receive another email about my work. This time I don't have that underlying feeling of distrust and even if chances are it won't go anywhere I behave myself. Now, fast forward to today... and the above paintings are being shipped to California via the gallery to which I referred the potential buyer. What a vote of confidence this gives me... and a lesson!

Now see, Karen? That wasn't so hard! You don't really know if that other emailer might have been on the up-and-up! It's quite possible that you can't read minds and too quickly assume the negative.... I am humbled!

What Is A Colorist?

2009 - PIEDMONT - 48 x 64 - mixed media on canvas

So there I was... finishing up my FB status with the disclaimer: "I am NOT a colorist!" How surprising and encouraging to hear from several respected artist friends, including the artist/author/color expert Nita Leland, adamantly disagreeing with me. "You are too a colorist. Or have you given up loving red?" she sez...

Ah, the illusions we paint, the hidden struggles under those layers of unfortunate selections and assumptions. A real colorist can go straight to a properly selected and mixed hue, knowing it will juxtapose comfortably or excitedly with the whole. Perhaps what I consider to be my weak suit led indirectly to my exploration of abstraction... even with realist watercolor I painted in thin layers of glaze until everything merged appropriately. My abstract texture relies on many color trials (underpainting, it's professionally called) and if I get it right early on, I'm in big trouble because I need to keep on painting... probably missed a better option!

So, what about all that red paint? It's become my signature color in some circles, almost to the point of saturation! Is it a true love of the color? A lopsided proportion of sales of red paintings? A crutch?

Crutch! The ugly word from teachers of yore... must avoid crutches at all costs! A frequent and easy choice that eliminates real thought or imagination would probably qualify as a crutch. Am I considered a colorist because I use a lot of red? Umm... this does not fit my definition even with a broader palette. Seems to me a colorist would know and manipulate color with more ease... seems... or is a colorist one who is never satisfied with the color arrangement and always searching? Ha! Yeah, that would be me!

Manufacturing Deadlines...

Harry Ally and Karen Jacobs With Thistles
photo credit - Suzanne Ally

This morning my FB status read: "Three paintings in progress... with deadlines!" Okay, maybe that's a stretch, not the number of PIPs (probably three times that many at one stage of incomplete or another) but just what qualifies as a deadline?

One is a commission which will be delivered to NOLA when we drive that way at end of May (a dance recital plus bringing the g-chicks back determined the date.) So that's legitimate. Another painting has been a PIP for over a year... a good idea which just hasn't resolved itself as yet, but I want to get it to Atlanta along with a few others before I make the NOLA trip. That's a rather fluid deadline... could be scratched but really need to refresh the work there and this big one would fit nicely...

The third is another landscape with a much looser approach, trying to let Harry Ally's influence work with me... and it would give me another painting to deliver to NOLA along with the commission. Am really trying to loosen up... not happy with recent efforts, have overpainted a bunch that just got too real and precise... constipated, if you'll pardon the thought.

So there you have it... if I wait for others to set my deadlines, I'll float through life letting whatever strikes my mood have it's way with me. It's all about discipline and sometimes, especially in spring, especially when thoughts turn to upcoming g-kid visits, my will to work falters. Got to keep the ole momentum going one way or another!

BTW, the thistle bouquet has been on my kitchen counter since returning from Colony... today it burst forth with giant dandelion type seeds all over the sink ;)

It's Still A Good Time!

It was good... it was very, very good! From the NOLA side step to the spring drive through three states with one beautiful sweep of wildflowers after another. Two audio books held my attention and made the miles fly by. And then the welcoming hugs by both old and new friends at Colony... everyone needs a peer group like this to touch base with over the years! The guest artist, Harry Ally, was right up my alley... delighted to make his acquaintance and that of his artist wife, Suzanne (a new blog and Facebook friend!)

The painting went well... at least I proved to myself that oils are still a possibility, but I don't feel a strong pull in that direction... mainly just got it out of my system for the time being. Face facts, I couldn't find anything that suggested that oils would contribute anything to my process that acrylics couldn't do quicker, just as well and more intuitively. We're talking about MY process here... no offense to you oil enthusiasts out there, I admire it and wouldn't be continuously trying to make it work for me if I didn't appreciate the quality. But I've yet to make oil magic happen for me.

So here I am... home, but slightly still in transit. I'm pleased, very pleased, to have been awarded the important Purchase Award blue ribbon for work that has not been appreciated on it's round of galleries and had been absorbed into my own personal collection... you know the type, you love it and see it's worth but it's sales potential is, um... well... I was told that the corporation that sponsored the award has a really fine contemporary collection and will be happy with the judge's selection. I feel good about it's new home.

Now to figure out what's next...

Road Trip... Colony and Beyond...

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2008 - Construct 1 and 2 - 48x24 @ - mixed media

Monday morning I'll leave for NOLA with about a dozen paintings to deliver. I had planned to deliver a commission based on the Construct pieces above... but larger. Turns out they aren't in a hurry and we need to work together to be sure all is right with color nuances, etc. A deposit has been made and these people have bought other work of mine so I'm feeling good about the arrangement... and very relieved that I have more time to devote to the painting.

I'll also get a quick g-kid fix and on Tuesday I'll check in at Mississippi Art Colony, a return to a great art retreat after too long an absence. Located in central rural Mississippi, at the well appointed Camp Henry Jacobs (no relation.) Returning home the following Sunday.

The visiting artist for this session is Harry Ally, an artist whose work I've admired since spotting it in an Atlanta gallery years ago. It will be fun to meet and hear from the artist himself... and pick his brain for all it's worth! His wife, Suzanne, is also an artist and will be joining us. I've met her via Facebook and Twitter and I've no doubt she will add a fun element to the mix. She's promised to report with video and comments about the experience so if you're interest, sign up! Her blog link is on her website and you can get to FB and Twitter from there if interested in keeping up. I may be able to upload an occasional photo or blurb to FB but will focus on getting the most out of Colony and chatting it up with a bunch of good artist friends.

The amazing thing... and I'm sure this is true all over... is that really good art is not confined to the big galleries in big art centers... in fact, there are a good dozen or two in this group who could hold their own with any of the big $$$ artists you can name. I see this everywhere I go... and it's one of the disappointing aspects of visiting NYC or Santa Fe... like hey! I know people who paint better than this! It will be good to be with them again and feel that current! I'm going to be so jazzed!

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Which Way Is Up?

2008 - Theatrics - 36x60 - mixed media

The horizontal "Theatrics", shown above, sold in NOLA over the weekend... but not as shown. They liked it this way best:

I often wire my abstracts for two orientations, but I never saw this as a possible vertical. I'm rather liking it, however, and may revisit the composition!

There's A Tree On Our Roof!

Last week... the way it was...

This week... the way it is...

We had a bit of wind come through last night... I woke to loud gusty sounds, house creaking a bit, occasional thumps on the roof... could hear deck furniture being stirred around, but other than one really loud SWOOSH! I wasn't too alarmed. Noted the flashing 12:00 so checked my iPhone for time and radar... saw that the bulk of the storm had already passed us so I went back to sleep. The master never stirred.

This morning I took my coffee for a walk to check the trashy limbs and leaves left behind and LO! a big tree had come down on our roof!

We now have a skylight in the garage, where our two cars are held hostage since the garage door track is disabled. Insurance and crews have been called, our work is cut out for us... so to speak. Not how we'd planned to spend the week.

So lucky! We needed a new roof anyway, the garage door is ready to be replaced... no harm to the living area (though I wouldn't have minded a kitchen upgrade, not this way!) We live in a very wooded area full of big old trees, beautiful but potentially harmful... which can be said of most anything.

Yes, we do have a NOAA radio but we seldom have it on at night because it sounds off for storms many miles away from us that would never be a threat. Until they can let me know when danger is one zip code away, we can't bring ourselves to put up with constant needless alerts. Will rely on our wits... for better or for worse.

Gearing Up For Colony

2009 - B. Paiji (pages) - 48x38 - mixed media

It's been a long time... didn't realize I miss it so. In the beginning, around 1986 or 87 when I first learned of Mississippi Art Colony and signed up, I attended religiously every spring and fall. Never daring to miss out on the benefits of working with my peers and absorbing whatever the visiting artist (not instructor, everyone works independently) chose to part with. Some were able to deal with the hungry crowd of 45-50 better than others... stopping to talk at each personal work area at least once if not twice a day can be a trick... especially if he/she gets caught in the web of one of our talkative little southern social types! But most did their best and we were all the better for it... more than a few exclaimed that they learned as much from us as we did from them. Well... the regulars include teachers on college level and a number of professionals in their own right. We all have something to give... and that's what's so remarkable about this group, there's a lot of giving going on.

So what happened that I began to slack off and skip sessions, and finally not attending at all for a number of years. Well, thanks to Colony, I began having a lot more confidence in my work and my own career began to take off. There's only so much energy to go around and gallery inventories began sucking it all up... a good thing for sure, I'm not complaining. Then we moved from NOLA to B'ham and I was still in studio mode much of the day... my social life became more entwined with the Internet and less with real life participation. I knew few artists locally, very few.

But being busy has a way of hiding details like this, until one day you realize what you're missing. Fortunately, I do have a number of real life friends scattered around nearby states... and many of them are Colony regulars. So I look forward to getting back in the Colony habit, becoming a regular again. Kickoff is Tues, April 21, and proceeds through the following Sunday morning.

I'll be working small oil studies, using techniques that have long been on my mind since Rebecca Crowell pointed out the magic of cold wax. My encaustic supplies have long been packed away, hot wax had a good run but it's over... so now I'll try it cold! And since in my early enthusium I bought a gallon of the stuff, I'm more than ready to go! Not knowing how to work with trial sizes means I have super size tubes of oils on hand as well. Now to sweet talk my personal carpenter into building a few more panels...

Surpise! Blue Angels Over Our Lake!

So there we were... a lovely spring day, dogwoods whispering, azaleas loud with their riot of color (why did I think I needed every color available?) Measuring, sawing, clamping and drilling our new 'above the ivy' hill steps to the lake, when... well, imagine giant alien bugs buzzing around your head, I mean VARROOOOMM!!! Again and again!

Now, we lived on or near Air Force bases for the first twenty years of our marriage, and we've know how they can be... but this really got our attention! It was Friday and the locals are hosting an air show Saturday and I guess they were working on their timing.

And then... WOW! Blue Angels! Four of them making passes over our lake! I whipped out my holster camera and always seemed to be too slow. Later I went through the dozen shots and whoa! I got one!

I understand a B-52 will make a pass over the airfield during the show (no way the small town airport could host a landing) and since that was J's plane, it would be fun to see. Can't go to the show because this isn't the week my "studio assistant" comes to tidy up the place and we've got house guests coming tonight. But they put on a great show for us and I always get a lump in my throat when I see our proud military showing off...

Spring... Into Action!

Spring rains dictate our calendar these days... plus any number of other distractions. Trying to get the bulk of the hillside steps built before heat and humidity have their way with our good times. An hour's drive away, we try to outguess the weatherman with day trips but yesterday we thought we could overnight there and sneak in another days work... but not.

I don't sleep well after a day of, um... exertion. Must remember to stock a Tylenol PM for such times. Numerous trips up and down the hill do a job on my legs which I don't notice at the time, but are nagging reminders later... the few steps that are finished hint and how much easier it promises to be.

A new development is an alert that the lake level will drop within the next few days as repair work is done on the spillway. When we lived there before, they would purposely drop the level every few years so people could work on their docks and retaining walls. We've been holding off building a new dock and this took us by surprise... arg! Hold everything while we shift gears! A quick study needed in how to best go about doing this...

But hold everything... the garage sale golf cart we bought a few months ago is demanding attention... like it's smoking and won't... go! Was doing fine but is now posing all sorts of challenges at a time when we really needed it to carry building stuff up and down the hill... more research needed! For a family of do-it-yourselfers, we sure know how to keep our to-do list full!

Just to make sure all bases are loaded... a commission is needed in NOLA... soon! And it's a big one so will be driving it down, along with new inventory stock sometime around Easter... that's not very far away!

Maybe it will rain...

Retrospective, NOLA, Part 2

I've divided the fifteen years we spent in New Orleans into two parts because it was such a transition period. I credit the "big city" art community with providing opportunities that I may not have been able to make elsewhere. I can be assertive, but it's not really my nature. I tend to rely on putting myself out there (in traffic, so to speak) and hope to make a connection. All gallery connections I've ever made work thanks to a recommendation or they found me through one venue or another. I'd had a couple of gallery reps previously, I knew how it was done, but it took a friend of a friend to open the door to a gallery in NOLA for me. And that, in 1991, marked the the real beginning of my career.

My new gallery, strange as it may seem, encouraged me to grow and develop... they weren't concerned that I stick to the same style. A new series developed... patterns, geometrically and loosely based on oriental rugs. I worked to rhythmic music, used all sorts of mixed media crayons and paints... and canvas began to replace paper as a support. The series lasted just a few years, but it helped me understand abstraction and work larger on canvas in both acrylic and oil.

In 1994, they learned that an Atlanta gallery was looking for abstract work and I was advised to send slides... naturally, these slides were mostly from the patterns and tracks series, very busy. The Atlanta gallery liked them and suggested I bring a few up for them to see, and I did. And... I got the critique of a lifetime! Why they even wanted to see my work in the first place is a puzzle, but remember, I'm still at the point where I listen to anyone, and I figured they knew their market. And, I WANTED to be in that gallery! One of the owners made a rectangle with her hands and held them over a portion of my painting. Can you paint just this composition? Well... sure! And the rest is history. They still make suggestions from time to time as to what they think will sell, and I still listen... sometimes muttering, but I listen.

As far as the rest of the retrospective goes... you've heard it all here before. I continue to explore new venues... encaustics before galleries wanted to handle them (too delicate... ) though I did find a few who would deal with them, they didn't really want to bother. Several years later they became all the rage. But I had a studio equipped with proper ventilation in NOLA... and when we moved again (2001) I couldn't see much future with wax and didn't build ventilation into my new studio.

I finished the retro show with geometric abstracts and a few bokushos since that's my last big change of direction. It's important to note that although I focused on what I call 'Cornerstone Series'... those on which my personal development pivoted, they overlapped in such a manner that it is sometimes difficult to note what year they were most important. I still work several genres at one time... I get bored easily, feel the work gets stale when I focus too closely on one thought. Perhaps this isn't very professional of me, but it sure makes the studio a more interesting place to play.

Retrospective, NOLA, Part 1

So there we were... loving our old house on a lake, thinking it would be forever. Then in 1986 an offer came that couldn't be refused and we were soon moving to New Orleans (with both our mothers needing to move along as well.) Our youngest was entering high school and the search for a good school lead us to a spit of land squeezed between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, upriver and about 30 minutes from the city.

I felt isolated but teamed up with a new artist-friend who was just as hungry to grow as I was... and we were off and running. Made many trips into the city, joined anything and everything in order to feed our hunger to be involved and to grow as artists. Read about an artist retreat just a few hours away in rural Mississippi which held gatherings twice a year featuring an invited artist of note... talking, critiquing and judging a traveling show. The Mississippi Art Colony became a strong force in our development. Can't say enough for all it offered... and all I received.

These years were devoted to refining my watercolors... competition helped hone a 'look' that would catch the judges eye, stand out as different but with quality. These were my grasses... any elongated leaf in tangled detail, sometimes tied in knots. Gone were the flowers and still lifes that marked my early years, I was seeking something outside the norm.

Watercolorists can take advantage of a strong network of competition through well respected National and International watercolor societies. I worked my way up from the local Louisiana W/C Society, earning signature status up through the National Watercolor Society and acceptance in American W/C Soc... and with that last one, I was finished with this segment of my career. I felt I'd done everything I could do with the subject and the medium. It was time to move on.

At Colony, I had to opportunity to pick the brains of many different visiting artists and each in turn helped me sort though the puzzle of how to proceed from where I was to where I wanted to be.

As it happened, I had to make tracks... Patterns and Tracks...

Retrospective, The Awakening

So there I was... a young mother of two, wife of an AF Officer, stationed at remote AF Base in Montana... and alone much of the time. The seeds of art began as a way to ward off cabin fever... little did I know. My leanings had been to music, not visual art, had never been in a gallery or museum in my life. One year of college, one year of accounting and then marriage.

Fast forward to 1971, we are station near DC, the family now includes two in school and a babe in diapers... and one day, on an exploratory visit to DC, I walked into the Corcoran Gallery... into several rooms of giant stripes by the Color Field painter, Gene Davis. Epiphany! So THIS is ART??? Drab brown renderings of the Old Masters (no matter how exquisite) were quickly replaced by my new discovery... I HAD to know more. And so began my real art education.

I located the Maryland School of Art and Design in Silver Spring... small at the time, now quite impressive. I was able to take several classes including serigraphy which I latched on to with gusto. I made my version of Gene Davis stripes... but also explored all types of images. I also spent four years studying watercolor with Skip Lawrence at his studio in Laurel, Md. I made every effort to associate with fine artists and teachers wherever I went, gleaning info, soaking up as much as I could to make up for what I considered the embarassing lack of a formal education... a degree or two to head my skinny little resume.

By the time we transferred again, I was ready for the art festival circuit... and Alabama served me well in that regard for the next ten years. At last! Something to put on my resume... not only that I could be accepted into selective art festivals, but win a few ribbons as well. I was pumped!

And then... New Orleans...

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Talk and Take...

The Retrospective has come and gone... a truly fine experience I am glad to have had the opportunity to be part of. Why wait until it's too late and someone else is in charge of looking back and assessing your life's work this way? It certainly gave me tremendous insight into where I've been and what I've done. Didn't really reveal anything about where I'm going, but that's a chapter yet to be written. I have thoughts...



We arrived shortly before the 2:00 talk was to begin, having driven around the picturesque little college town and timed our arrival so as not to be too early. Grateful to see at least a few cars parked in front but a bit in awe of the room full of folding chairs waiting... no way those would be filled. But they were. And I was told most were well established artists in their own right. Oh, geeze! I really had pictured an informal little group of three or four that would follow me around the room asking questions in a conversational manner...and I wouldn't really need to "talk!"

But it was my stuff and if I can rattle on about anything, it's the how and why of the work I've done... so I did. Probably not as I would have written it, but it seemed to entertain.

Moving around the room...

Notebooks, etc...

Good stuff to eat!