When life gives you lemons, draw them, 11 x 14 inches dry pastels, graphite on paper

"When life gives you lemons, draw them." (Nikki)

"Color! What a deep and mysterious language." (Paul Gauguin)

Archive for October, 2010

A continuing saga

Friday, October 22nd, 2010


 

This could be your last chance, Sweets. I'm moving on up to Oregon.

“This could be your last chance, Sweets. I’m moving on up to Oregon.”

The Studio Affair saga on previous blog posts:  October 20th, 2009, October 28th, 2008 , October 30th, 2007

That’s right, me and all the skeletons in my closet are moving to Oregon, so the painting now is all about walls. I’ve bought a small 4 x 6 sketchbook, hoping to sneak in some time to do a few thumbnail drawings of my travels this year.

The past six months: starting with driving up to Madison, Wisconsin at the end of April to set up the Dancing With Trees Exhibition, after the show opening, it was back to Dallas then shortly afterward to Singapore for 3 weeks. It was amazing! Two days after returning from Singapore I drove up to Ottawa, Ontario. At the end of June, the drive back down through Michigan to meet my internet artist-friend, Virginia Wieringa (triple amazing!) then across to Wisconsin to pick up the DWT show, then down through Chicago to drop off Morning Light 01, through the U.S. Midwest and back to Dallas.

Fields of Flax, Rowley, Alberta - future paintingTwo weeks later I drove up through Oklahoma and North Dakota into Saskatchewan, then into Alberta. I took so many photos on the drive across Canada two weeks later, through the prairies and the Great Lakes region back to Ontario, where I stayed for another 2 weeks. Then back down to Dallas again! During September we found out that my husband is transferred to Portland, Oregon for work. So here we go again. The first week of October we both drove west in separate cars, across the Continental Divide, the red rocks and incredible geography in Utah, finally reaching our future home just outside of the Columbia River Gorge, and on the other side: the Pacific Ocean shores and the Sequoia and Redwood forests. I drove back to Dallas with a truck and trailer to refill, and will make the trip across only one more time before winter – hopefully the weather holds up. I’m excited to get to work again after such a crazy year of travel – lots of inspiration.

Oh well, maybe she still needs more time... guess I'll jus' hang around here for a while.

Mary Ann Pel’s Bench

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010


 

Mary Anns Bench, dedication to Mary Ann Pels, 11 x 14 inches graphite on paper

Mary Ann’s Bench, 11 x 14 inches graphite on paper

Illustration of a bench dedicated to a client’s sister by the staff at the University Arboretum, Madison, Wisconsin