Happy As A Clam

(326) 20 x 24
I took a photo of this little guy at the beach last month. I'm not sure what it was about him, maybe his attire, but I sensed he was a "old soul" in a little boy frame, someone wise beyond his years.
"The truest greatness lies in being kind, the truest wisdom in a happy mind"...Ella Wheeler Wilcox

tree portrait

10x10, oil
“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds"... Edward Abbey

A Day at the Met

8 x 16, oil
about this painting...During a visit to NYC's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the woman in the painting above walked into the gallery of American Painters and stood in front of Paxton's "Tea Leaves"--I couldn't believe my luck; she was poised and graceful; the perfect "model" in her long dress and hat. Camera in hand, I tried to be as unobtrusive as possible as I watched her walk about the room. I noticed that her dress was just about a size too large as it kept slipping off her shoulder, revealing the strap of the camisole underneath. I couldn't help but be aware of the irony that just a few feet away hangs another painting involving a painted over loose strap : namely Sargeant's Madame X, a painting that created much angst, outrage and controversy in its day. Lost in my thoughts of how that scandal would forever change the artist's career and his model's life, I was suddenly jolted back to reality by the realization that my "model" was now standing right in front of me. She startled me by saying "Excuse me, but I just couldn't leave without first telling you that you look as though you could have stepped out of any one of these paintings" What?... ME? What about you? Smiling, she simply turned and floated out of the room.
“I do not judge, I only chronicle”...John Singer Sargeant

~The painting above, along with about 20 more of my paintings will be part of a three-woman art exhibit entitled "Petals and Poses" beginning this Friday at The Capitol Arts Galleries. Also included will be original oil paintings by artist Rhonda Hartis Smith, and jewelry by Susan Lackey. So, if you are "in the neighborhood" please stop by our opening night reception between 5-7 PM on the 17th and say hello~
Also, just outside our gallery, the summer-concert-in-the-park series will continue, so it promises to be an enchanting evening filled with art and music~ just the sort of summer night that I long for all winter.
(After Friday, our show continues through August 5th, with gallery hours from 9-5 M-F)

Blue Ridge Mountains

I recently had the opportunity to meet a couple of friends for a painting trip in the mountains. As I looked out onto the layers of blue upon blue upon blue, I decided that mountains carry a sacred and powerful energy that is all their own. As you look out into the distance, you can't help but feel that all the things that seemed so urgent and important five minutes ago have evaporated just like the mist before you.

(322) 8x16, oil
“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves"...John Muir

Grace

10x10, oil
"Perfumes are the feelings of flowers"...Heinrich Heine

Peony Party

(320) 9x12, oil'Tis my faith that every flower Enjoys the air it breathes!" ~William Wordsworth

a play within a play

(319) 12x16
Yikes, this one was a wee bit more complicated.
“My logic tells me why strive for complicated, difficult-to-sew arrangements when simple squares, diamonds and triangles are so endlessly fascinating as long as the colors are alive.” Kaffe Fassatt