Friday, December 21, 2012



Imagine

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
 Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

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Monday, December 10, 2012


green shrine tree

i walked to the green shrine tree today even though i was sure it would be in deep shade - and cold...   when i got there, to my utter amazement, the tree was in the only patch of sunshine for quite a distance!  

i'm going to take a blogging break;  dip down into the quiet beauty that is this time of year in the northern hemisphere...  i wish you all beauty and love filled december days!

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left in a sunny spot yesterday - prismacolor pencils on shell

Tuesday, December 4, 2012


'mona' ~ water soluble oils on canvas panel - 4" x 6"

i was painting with oils until a few weeks ago when i started to run out of places to put them while they dried... 

oils and mixed media pieces hanging on a 'clothesline'  in my art room

i finally got some tiny clothespins so i could hang paintings on paper on a 'clothesline',  but by then i was off into watercolor land.   anyway,  i'm ready when oil painting fever strikes again!  thank you, amy, i got the clothesline idea from you...

mona was painted mostly with a palette knife - everything except her eyes and lips, which i used a small brush for.  i'm fascinated with palette knife painting...

8 1/2" x 11" stillman and birn 'beta'  on easel

i've also been trying out different ways to paint on bigger surfaces.  my tiny art room is *full*; there's no room for anything even slightly big in there, so i set up this easel in the living room.  a friend gave it to me a couple of years ago, and i think it'll be a good solution.  i want to be able to see what i'm working on throughout the day - stuff comes to you at the oddest times as you're passing by or just sitting and gazing...  


otherwise i've been working in my daily book - these are the last pages in the book that i finished last week.  monique, her daughter,


and monique's childhood doll, valerie.  they just all seemed related to monique!


in my new daily  book...   these pics are dark - we've had almost no sunshine in the last week.


the piece on the left is after (way after)  this painting by edouard vuillard.  her eyes and lips fascinated me - they're so subtle, yet so expressive - in edouard vuillard's painting!  he impresses me endlessly...

all of the daily book pages were done with watercolors, watercolor pencils, and graphite...


 four completed stillman and birn 'gamma'  daily books.  i remember very clearly when i started in my first 'gamma' last january.  i was so happy to have  found a  4" x 6" book that had beautiful and versatile paper in it.  i'm still happy...  : )

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“Regularity, order, desire for perfection destroy art. Irregularity is the basis of all art.”

~ Pierre-Auguste Renoir