Pumpkin Day

(261)
"Ultimately, my hope is to amaze myself. The anticipation of discovering new possibilities becomes my greatest joy"...Jerry Uelsmann

Fall Colors

(260)
"I drew and painted all through grammar school. For me, the high point of the day was when the paints came out"...Richard Diebenkorn (me too!)

Dazzling!

(259)
When my youngest son was 7, he drew a picture of roses for me and wrote an inscription that said "You are the most dazzling angel in the whole world" As you can see above, he knows all about "dazzling".
"Art and joy go together, with bold openness, and high head, and ready hand--fearing nought, and dreading no exposure"...James McNeill Whistler

Sailing...

(258)
Last days (hours) of warm weather!
"In photography, as with most things in life, there is a natural tendency to want to establish a clearly defined procedure. However, when the entire process becomes a prescribed ritual that does not allow for spontaneous variations and reactions, the vitality of the medium and our elation to it suffers"...Jerry Uelsmann

Underwater

(257)
I took this photo of my son with one of those disposable cameras - lots of fun (for him too) After- all, when else would your mom allow you to put a chair in the pool?
"Everyone wants to understand art. Why not try to understand the songs of a bird?" ...Picasso

Shadow Shot Sundays

(256)
I love this challenge by Hey Harriet! Check it out.
"Shadow is the absence of light, merely the obstruction of the luminous rays by an opaque body. Shadow is of the nature of darkness. Light (on an object) is of the nature of luminous body; one conceals and the other reveals"...Leonardo da Vinci

A New Day...

I began this blog a year ago with the intention of challenging myself to paint daily. The year before, I had only finished around 30 paintings, so it was a real stretch to consider adding 200+ to that number. In celebration of that feat and to honor a new beginning, I want to expand that challenge a little by moving toward more complicated paintings requiring more than a day; creating some from life and some in the studio. Meanwhile, my new challenge is the addition of photographs...my second love. No, I don't have a lot of fancy equipment, just a desire to capture fleeting moments in time, perhaps some works in progress in between posting paintings. And, if you frequent this blog, you already know that I love to collect quotes, and in so doing, honor the power of words. So... put it all together, and it becomes "paintings, photographs, poetry and prose...inspired by the beauty that surrounds each day" - if you are reading this in your email, check out the new look here.
Today's exceedingly inspired words come from ABC/Good Morning America's Robin Roberts and one of my favorite musicians, India.Arie as they composed this song in honor of Robin's breast cancer recovery:
"Early in the morning, the start of a new day... new hopes, new dreams, new ways. I opened up my eyes and, I opened up my mind and, I wonder how life will surprise me today. New hopes, new dreams, new ways..."
YES! to hear them sing it, go here
And here's hoping I can inspire you in the coming year toward new hopes, new challenges, new dreams, and a new day!

(254) Flower Alley
12 x 20, oil
This beautiful chestnut stallion stands at Kentucky's Three Chimneys Farm.
" A seed doesn't struggle to become a tree- it simply unfolds in grace"...Deepak Chopra

(253) Promenade
12 x 16, oil
This week marks the one year anniversary of this blog. In September of 2007, I attended a Sante Fe workshop with daily painter Carol Marine, (her second workshop) and it was there that I was instructed on how to begin. Although I haven't finished a painting every single day since I began, I am pleased to say that I have painted on most days, so technically I guess that makes me an "almost" daily painter. So, what have I learned? Well, perhaps I will ponder that in the coming days, but in the meantime, I want to offer congrats to other participants from that workshop: Lorrie Drennen, Paula Cravens, Terry Rafferty, and Vicki Shuck, - friends from Mississippi, Canada, Arizona and Oregon who have continued to keep the same comittment to painting, and have encouraged and inspired me along the way. We represent a third of that class. Carol has taught many workshops since then. I wonder what percentage of her other workshops have begun blogs...anybody know?
"Flow is being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz"...Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

(252) Chestnut
8 x 10, oil
Toulouse-Lautrec loved redheads. Me too - although I'm not sure I ever met one who knew just how beautifully their orange/red/copper/auburn colors glisten in sunlight. It is pure magic. But then you spot a Chestnut horse majestically strolling along - and you know he/she knows. They get it.
"In our time there are many artists who do something because it is new; they see their value and their justification in this newness. They are deceiving themselves; novelty is seldom the essential. This has to do with one thing only; making a subject better from its intrinsic nature"...Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

(251) Lucky in Love
private collection
6 x 8, oil
Although I enjoy seeing the horses race, my favorite moments at the track are "behind the scenes" like this early morning workout. Some of these guys are jockey "wannabes" who cannot meet the 110 lb. weight limit, but they live for the chance to just be here. Horses are their passion, and riding is their art.
"I'm bettin' on a filly down at the track
A natural-born winner, that's a fact
A hundred yards from the winning post
The horse fell down, musta seen a ghost...
But there's a place where I still win -
Oh, I'm lucky in love!
Yes, I've got the winning touch
Lucky in love!! Suddenly, I'm dangerous"...Mick Jagger

(250) Keeneland in October
8 x 10, oil
Fall in Kentucky means Keeneland, especially beautiful this time of year, offering a grand opportunity to collect reference photos for paintings like this.
"A work of art revives and re-adapts time and space, and the measure of its success is the extent to which it makes you an inhabitant of that world - the extent to which it invites you in and lets you breathe its strange, special air"...Leonard Berstein

(249) Morning Song
8 x 10, oil
"Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile"...William Cullen Bryant

(248) Glow
8 x 10, oil
This is that last light of day when the sun is a red rubber ball moving behind the mountains- and just for a moment it casts a fleeting orange light on the tree trunks...my favorite time of day. It just doesn't get any better than this.
"Would you teach your children to tell the truth?
Would you take the high road if you could choose?
Do you believe you're a victim of a great compromise?
Cause I believe you could change your mind and change our lives.
In this undiscovered moment
Lift your head up above the crowd
We could shake this world
If you would only show us how-
Your life is now"... John Mellencamp (happy birthday, John)

(247) Golden Light
12 x 16, oil
"Thriving as an artist--in all of its forms--our entitlement to our lives and livelihood, our imagination, our believed limitations, our expectations and dreams for our work, our professionalism, our perceived competition and, most importantly, our JOY, requires the serving of an eviction notice to the voice of doubt squatting inside us"...Sara Genn

(246) Same, But Different...
private collection
8 x 8, oil
“Each person designs his own life,
freedom gives him the power to carry out his own designs,
and power gives the freedom to interfere with the designs of others”...Eric Berne

(245) Tree Portraits
8 x 10, oil
And "just like that" I'm back posting new work again. I enjoyed the break but missed painting. Nature's patterns of light, color and design caught my eye and I knew I had to do a few tree paintings.
“I have nothing against the Queen of England. Even in my heart I never resented her for not being Jackie Kennedy. She is, to my mind, a very gallant lady, victimized by whoever it is who designs the tops of her uniforms"...Leonard Cohen

(244) Early Morning Reflections
16 x 20, watercolor
The day began with heavy fog, and as it began to burn away, these brilliant light patterns began to emerge as I peered down from the bridge above. Venice...in the quiet of early morning light - enchanting, magical, lovely. Sigh.
“About half my designs are controlled fantasy, 15 percent are total madness and the rest are bread-and-butter designs"...Manola Blahnik