Smelling up the House and In My Next Life...

I am happily working on three large paintings right now and the smell from the paintings is rather strong.  I have an exhaust fan that changes the air in the studio every five minutes but it really can't do much about oil paint layers drying on large pieces of hardboard.  The first stages of my paintings are not interesting.  I spend a lot of time analyzing the space and value pattern.  In my opinion, and I think the opinion of most artists, how these two things are handled make or break art.  All the dazzling color and intricate texture patterns can't make up for poor space or value patterns.  I don't think the average person understands this but it is extremely important to me that my paintings have strong visual structure.  I used to think teachers that talked about art this way were either nuts or making it up to sound smart.  Now I talk exactly the way they did.  Art is quite a weird journey.

My husband likes to make cracks about mirrors.  The older we get, the funnier the cracks are.  He said he caught a look at the mirror from a distance and it was laughing at him and saying it was going to go on strike.  It couldn't take reflecting us anymore and it hopes to come back in the next life as a dog dish.

Be sure to check out my Limited Time offers on Fine Art America.  My most popular painting, "A Break in the Clouds", is on special as are "Samantha", and "Alan by our Window".

Too Much to do and the sale of Samantha

It is so hard to blog when you are trying to update a portfolio, get ready for a November show, teach four classes, and keep up with housework. I am worn out but I wanted to write about Samantha which I recently sold. The paintings and pastels that I did of my son's friends are very special to me. I was neighborhood Mom for many years and it was a wonderful time. I took kids skating, swimming, bowling, and fishing. They are all adults now and their portraits are more than paintings to me. They are monuments to some of my favorite years.

I hope they will all continue to be viewed in other homes after I am gone. I work hard to sell my work. I don't want them to be thrown away. I hope someone will see them and experience the joy I experienced in raising my son.