Blog

"Murmur" 4x4, oil on canvas, $80.00 I picked up for my next read The Murmur of Bees not knowing it would be, in no small part, about the devastating influenza of 1918, which was both jarring and comforting.  I am trying not to read the novel too fast. It is hauntingly...

"All over the Place" 6x6, oil on canvas, $125 I’ve named this floral painting “All over the Place” because that’s what they look like and that’s how I’ve been feeling. See that big one at the top left? How does it even fit in that tiny vase and still stand up? All...

"Chance Encounter" 4x4, oil on canvas, $80.00 This morning’s painting session was going swimmingly, that is, until, once I’d finished this little guy and was ready to take him outside for a quick photo shoot. I fumbled him and he landed, jelly-side down on the...

"Having a Moment" 8x8, oil on canvas, $175.00 I am particularly proud of today’s painting. Each stroke felt strong and intentional. I wasn’t fighting with the paint, I was listening to it. I was having a moment-- the kind that are so often few and far between. So I’m...

"In Good Times and in Bad" 8x8, oil on canvas $175.00 Feels funny to type "day 32". I usually end on 31 days every January, but school is officially out for the rest of the year, I just bought my first masks so I can still make groceries, and I’m becoming ever more...

, "A Tune without the Words" 4x4, oil on canvas, $80.00 Today’s painting is a second attempt at this little open-mouthed European robin. The first attempt is in the trash. It wasn’t working. It really wasn’t working, and I kept trying to force it to work. A new canvas...

"Flash of Red" 4x4, oil on canvas, $80.00 "Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment." -- Claude Monet I have loved many things in my life-- watching rain through big windows, water that flows but doesn’t rush, the scent of the trinity (onion, pepper, celery)...

"Late Bloomer" 24x36, oil on canvas $1200.00  This is a pretty big painting. I started it before the apocalypse. I finished it during. There's a lot going on in this bouquet from big hearty blooms to little dainty ones to not even flowers at all (can you spot the...

"Resurrection" 10x20, oil on canvas, $450.00 Happy Easter, dear friends! Keeping this one short and sweet--hoping you  find light, peace, and hope. 

Untitled, 14x14, oil on canvas Well friends, it finally happened. I'm going to sound a lot like my writer friend Butch when I say this, but my muse just got up and left, and I've been sitting around with these dang knives waiting for her to return. Fortunately, I...

  "Courage" 6x6, oil on canvas, $125 Henri Matisse said creativity takes courage. I’m feeling the truth of that more now than ever.  We have to be willing to make bad art, play the wrong notes, stumble through the dance before we get to the good stuff. And even...

"Thank You Flowers" 6x6, oil on canvas $125 You know that game roses and thorns? We sometimes do it at the dinner table—you go around and everyone says what was the best and most challenging part of their day.  I’ve had my share of thorns this month; I know you have...

"Caged" 12x12, oil on canvas, $360 I know what this looks like, but think less Joe Exotic and more Joe Burrow, less cage and more stadium. Geaux Tigahs. Remember that one time they won a national championship? I have not succumbed (yet) to Tiger King on Netflix, but I...

"Morning Flowers" 6x6, oil on canvas, $125 I started my day with this floral painting before my son woke up. Since school’s been out, I’ve been sleeping in a bit, getting up about the same time he does. It’s nice, but I don’t get the alone time I crave. I forgot how...

"Should" 6x6, oil on canvas, $125 Today’s painting is a smaller version of day 14. I’m feeling those should’s start to creep up on me--  you should be trying new things. You should make every painting completely new and different and exciting every day.  But I’ve...

"Challenge Accepted" 6x6, oil on canvas, $125 Magnolias are more challenging to paint than some other flowers that have less precision in their forms. But challenging is a thing now and will be for a while. Might as well settle into it. Still seeking out the beauty. ...

"Little Things" 10x10, oil on canvas $300.00 I took a photograph of a cute cruiser bike resting against the fence at the Mockingbird Cafe in Bay St. Louis probably over a year ago, thinking there was a painting idea in there somewhere.  The bicycle created these...

"I Spy" 6x6, oil on canvas You’d think that because in a former life I was a teacher, I’d be good at this crisis learning thing. I can’t even call it home school. It does not come naturally to me. I worry constantly and then have this internal pep talk where I say...

"Yes, And" 10x10, oil on canvas, $300.00 My work anniversary came and went without my noticing yesterday. Six years and one day ago I started my very first daily painting challenge. I did 30 paintings in 30 days in April 2014, diving headfirst (like a pelican) into a...

"Wait it Out" 6x6, oil on canvas Since the are usually only 31 days, normally in my daily painting challenges, day 17 would feel like a victory. Over half way finished.  Only this time, there’s no finish line to measure my efforts. It’s like running. If I set out to...

"Generosity" 10x10, oil on canvas I’ve applied the paint pretty liberally today as a kind of reflection on generosity-- something I’m certain I’ll have ample opportunity to exercise in the coming months.  Would you help me in this reflection? What is an act of...

"Change is Hard" 12x36, oil on canvas, $720   Next weekend would have been Art in the Pass— a two day market running along the beach and throughout the park in Pass Christian, Mississippi. It would have been my third year participating. I started the painting I’m...

"Out on a Limb" 10x10, oil on canvas, $300.00 Poetry has been a gift, a comfort, and a friend to me during quarantine, and I thought this one particularly appropriate.  The Bluebird by Emily Dickinson Before you thought of spring, Except as a surmise, You see, God...

"Loner" 6x6, oil on canvas, $125.00  If I could tell you just one thing… I impulse bought this book the other week because when I opened it up, it landed on this quote: “The quality of your life depends on the quality of your relationships. Not on your achievements,...

"Waste Not' 6x6, oil on canvas $125.00 My great-grandmother was born in 1905. She was a redhead though I never saw it. Her full head of thick, wiry white hair made its appearance long before I was born in 1981. Her name was Pansy, and to this day I can’t look at those...

"Old Friend", 6x6, oil on canvas $125 I started my painting career back in 2014 with one subject matter in mind: pelicans. After today’s painting, I’d wondered how long it had been since I’d painted one.  I remember you, I said to the organic shapes of the neck and...

"Emotional Roller Coaster" 12x12, oil on canvas, $360.00 I’ve moved my studio outside and expanded my world by a few hundred square feet. Instead of connecting with extended family and friends, I am connecting with the occasional breeze and the sun’s heat patting me...

"Small Kindesses" 6x6, oil on canvas $125 I’ve had a lot of time for birdwatching these days. The titmice are still my favorites at the feeder. Such dark, lovely eyes.  I miss people though. High fives. Cocktails on a patio with good conversation that leads to belly...

"Heron Rises" 6x6, oil on cavas $125.00 Today's little offering is a 6x6 painting and a beautiful poem by one of my favorite writers. May it fill your spirit, as it has mine.  Heron Rises from The Dark, Summer Pond by Mary Oliver So heavy is the long-necked,...

"Grace and Grit" 16x20, oil on canvas One week down. Day 7.  My 31 group has stumbled across a theme-- "Grace and Grit". I feel the grit part in my bones. More on grace later.  The week's been long, and I'm finding forming sentences more difficult than...