Blog
It’s been twenty years since…
I nervously took my first art class in 2000 at Spring Hill College. My professor’s kind but direct handling of me and my work turned out to be exactly what I needed. Unlike my peers, I was just discovering a penchant for art– not at eight, but at eighteen. And so for...
What is Good.
I will defend my position with the gusto of a hummingbird claiming her spot at a busy feeder: the currently popular sentiment (as evidenced by mugs at every home goods store and tank tops on instagram), “good vibes only” is not only unrealistic but also irresponsible....
Mary Oliver’s “Hurricane”
I had two friends reach out recently about hardships they are facing. The kind of hardships that feel so unfair, so unnecessary. Both times I immediately thought of Mary Oliver’s poem, “Hurricane” which I have taken to reading nearly every morning. I’d love to create...
Blessing for when things don’t go as planned
Tell me about that person, again? The one whose life unfolded exactly as they’d hoped and planned it would? The one who by doing all the right and warranted and acceptable things, got exactly what she’d expected? No really, if she exists, please tell me about...
On the seven hundredth day…
I do a painting a day every January to set the tone for my year, establish strong creative habits, and to make sure I prioritize my art which, over the years, has become synonymous with prioritizing myself. But when February (finally) came, as it always does, life...
Day 31. Blessing for the Seeker
"Seeking, Striving, in it with all my Heart" 48x48in oil on canvas “I am seeking, I am striving, I am in it with all my heart.” -Vincent Van Gogh This is the part where I stare at the blinking cursor on my screen. Because there’s a jumble of thoughts, of what I could...
Day 30. Ride the waves
"Circling Back" 8x8 oil on canvas If you aren’t a painter, let me describe the typical process for you. 1. An idea! 2. A decent start with the first few marks of the piece. 3. Looks like trash. 4. Looks like the most glorious things you or anyone else has ever created...
Day 29. Probably had been for quite some time.
"Expanded Horizons" 10x10 oil on canvas This bird has been my mind all month, but I’ve resisted the urge to do 31 paintings of her. I’ve seen several since the start of the month: on a drive where she flew over me for at least a mile and I had to force myself to focus...
Day 28. For A New Beginning
"Courage Kindled" 6x6 oil on canvas Today’s painting did not come swiftly or easily. I scratched off more of it than I added. But, in the end, I really think this is the painting that wanted to be brought to the surface. This is the one that took all that scraping off...
Day 27. The bird is coming from inside the house.
"Breakthrough" 6x6 oil on canvas Today’s painting started off just as the egret, but I placed it too far to the top of the canvas which in turn made the whole thing just beg for a figure. And the stripes? Those are an experiment. Let me know what you think? I can’t...
Day 26. Easy to miss
"Morning Walk" 8x8, oil on canvas I’m looking at my line up of paintings from the month, and if there’s a “which one is not like the others,” it’s this one. I started a folder on my phone called “morning walks” just in case I ever wanted to refer back to some little...
Day 25. Go far, go together
"Go Together" 8x8, oil on canvas “If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together”.-African Proverb Another bouquet, another day to reflect on what it means to be part of a community. The group of artists creating with me this month (in all the...
Day 24. Complicated dinner recipes and photographs of birds
"Paraclete" 6x6, oil on canvas I was scrolling on pinterest. The algorithm seems very aware that I am into both complicated dinner recipes and photographs of birds. So right after the “fiery lamb ragu on parpadelle” pin, I saw a stunning image of a white peacock. A...
Day 23. Nostalgia
"Nostalgic" 6x6, oil on canvas This past September, I went to Mobile, AL to visit a dear college friend. We walked around Spring Hill College campus reminiscing about our years there. We toured the entirely new art building and found some relics from the past– the...
Day 22. You do not have to be good.
"Family of Things" 6x6, oil on canvas Every time I do a 31 in 31 there comes a point where I hit a wall. I question work I once adored. I worry that, contrary to the stacks of paintings that have already collected and which stand firmly in evidence of my ability to...
Day 21. Leaning in, looking.
"Lean In" 6x6, oil on canvas “The temple bell stops But the sound keeps coming out of the flowers” ― Matsuo Bashō Back when the pandemic first hit, and we realized “two weeks” had been a laughable prediction by people who had no reference for what an actual timeline...
Day 20. Our endless and proper work
"Pay Attention" 4x4, oil on canvas “To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.” –Mary Oliver Twenty days in, and I’m still not sure I’ve found that rhythm yet. If not now, then when? Guess I’ll keep trucking along. I bought a protractor and compass set at...
Day 19. Things you can’t reach, but can reach out to them.
"Connection" 8x8, oil on canvas There are things you can’t reach. But you can reach out to them, and all day long. The wind, the bird flying away. The idea of God. And it can keep you as busy as anything else, and happier. – Mary Oliver in “Where Does the Temple...
Day 18. Not Alone
"You're Not Alone" 6x6, oil on canvas I had a lot of fun with this one, working as much with the background shapes and colors as I did with the birds. I didn’t have it in mind exactly, but after I painted it, I was listening to a playlist I’ve been adding to for three...
Day 17. Contrasts
"For Now" 8x8, oil on canvas This month I keep turning to flowers when I’m not sure what comes next. They are the perfect playground for texture and color. They are a relief from studying the exact shape and form of something because they need not be precise. My...
Day 16. Remembering what it’s all for
"Where the Wind Takes Me" 8x8, oil on canvas Another day, another painting that I thought was going one way and then decided it should go another. It’s always the faces that feel the scariest to paint over. But then I remember what all this is for: experimenting,...
Day 15. What’s covered up
"Exposed" 8x8, oil on canvas So many of my paintings this month have involved erasing– often an element that I initially really liked. In writing they call it "killing your darlings." In today’s painting, I experimented with drips, letting my thinned out paint run...
Day 14. Ritual
"Feeling it Out" 4x4 oil on canvas I have been a little overwhelmed lately. Not by painting per se. Painting is how I handle overwhelm. But sometimes there’s nothing better than taking color to a tiny, almost insignificant canvas and seeing what happens. No thunder...
Day 13. Connection
"On Top of the World" 4x4 oil on canvas Today I decided to bring back the bluebird that I erased in yesterday’s painting. I wasn’t sure where I was going with it (is that the theme of this month?), but I placed it in the center of the canvas rather than at the bottom,...
Day 12. This I know in my bones…
"New Season" 10x10 oil on canvas Today’s painting is a rework of an old one. It never felt quite right. At least a decade ago, when I was a teacher in New Orleans, I went to an art educators conference and attended a session with renowned artist James Michalopoulos....
Day 11. Not much to offer
"I See You" 8x8 oil on canvas Another collection of florals on a day where the impermanence of life feels especially vivid, especially incomprehensible. I have a friend who is suffering deeply right now. I don’t have much to say about this one other than taking my...
Day 10. What I like best about daily painting
"Figuring it Out" 5x5 oil on canvas A little hummingbird on day 10 while I think about what comes next. I used some linseed oil to thin down the paint a bit. Even though I still painted most of it with my knife, I didn’t pile the paint on thick as is my normal...
Day 9. Making it up as I go
"Inspiration Visits" 6x6 oil on canvas This is my attempt to put some of my day 7 flowers on a figure. Sometimes for the faces I use a reference photo, usually from pinterest. And sometimes, I just make up the face entirely, which is what I did today. I don’t usually...
Day 8. On being sketchy
"Always on my Mind" 4x4 oil on canvas This 31, unlike all my previous ones, I have kept a sketchbook. I don’t pull it out every day, but when I do, I try to work out some ideas for paintings I’d like to do instead of just going straight for the oil paint on canvas...
Day 7. Because
"Just Because" 8x8 oil on canvas In the past, when stuck, I would paint a small bird on a small canvas. But now I turn to slightly larger canvases of flowers. Because you don’t have to get their shapes just right. There are no eyeballs that if misplaced will throw the...