Frame detail images:

Milkweed Melody finished. Oh, the joy of color! 27H x 33W inches Oil Pastels on 140 lb cold pressed premium on WC paper. Has brassy-gold frame painted with an extension of the drawing, frame detail images above. Below: work as it was in progress.

Lucas at the Museum, 11H x 14W inches graphite on paper, originally posted March 23, 2007 – today notified as part of the exhibition Growing Up and Looking Back – Reflecting on Childhood, Parenting, and Home at Gallery RFD in Swainsboro, GA October 12th – November 3rd, 2007.
See more of the Children Series, graphite illustrations available as cards, matted prints and framed prints.

Dancing With Trees 02, 48H x 48W x 1D inches acrylics on canvas. Layers of glaze used in final stages: Hansa yellow light, Pthalo blue, Pthalo green, Permanent green, thio violet, Mars black, Cadmium red light, Dioxazine violet

It’s the sky’s turn to dance! White glaze will attach itself to the varnish I dripped on the other day.

Dancing With Trees 02, started August 30th – 48H x 48W acrylics on canvas – progression details are combined into one post. The oil pastel with the same name, posted in March 2007, inspired the painting.

I’ve tried lots of new things with this one – am hoping to keep just the impression of branches. I don’t want too many details.  Using washes and glazes to help create the cedar branch texture I’ve dripped water, paint, glazes, and varnish across patches of color, splattered it on with a brush and also painting upside down.

Beauty – the moon, the sun, and a routine of daily painting!

This is the second time around for doves nesting in the wreath by our back door. I’m sure it’s the same pair who devotedly cared for two eggs, taking turns in shifts as they are now. The chick in the second thumbnail is from the first brood hatched in May. It mysteriously disappeared after two days and the other egg didn’t hatch. There was no trace of that chick anywhere..no body, bones, feathers..nothing. It was not old enough to fend for itself – could the parents have eaten it I wonder? Maybe there was something wrong with it, or the parents were first-timers. The lizards and salamanders around here are too small to eat a meal that size, and other birds would not have been brave enough to come so near to the door I don’t think.  Nature takes care of itself though, so no tears. Hopefully these ones will survive and we can watch them mature.

Sept. 3rd: One of the chicks hatched! There were about six Starlings on the roof overlooking the evestrough, which is not usual for them – at our house anyway- so I’m thinking maybe they are interested in robbing the chick from it’s nest. Maybe they  were the egg-robbers from the first nest.

Sept. 4th: The chick appears to be so much larger today, and it’s the first time I’ve seen it so exposed. It seems so vulnerable on that small flimsy nest.

Sept. 5th: The chick has been left on its own a lot in the past 24 hours, also becoming quite vocal.  The other egg is unlikely to hatch.

Sept.9th: The nest is overcrowded. The chick ruffled its feathers and snapped its tiny beak at me when I took these photos – the instincts are strong – how sweet is that?!

Sept. 11th: When the parent sitting on the chick is up in the air above the nest, it’s time for little chicky to leave! That’s what I thought the day before the chick flew away, and sure enough it was time.   It’s so funny when the parent sits on top of the chick trying to hide it – there is hardly enough room for two in the nest, and she/he is not fooling anybody!

Sept. 12th: Fortunately I walked out just in time to see the chick fly from the ground to the fence nearby. There it remained for about 90 minutes then it was gone. That night I wondered where it would be sleeping, and if it was truly on its’ own now without parents, how it would survive. Less than a month before it was not even in the form of an egg!!

Sept 13th: didn’t expect to see it again, but while sitting outside at dusk, there they were, the mom (or dad) and chick. It was so pleasing to see them sitting on the fence together.

Sept 16th: I still see the little one come into the yard, much bigger now. It is smaller than an adult, and I’m sure that must be the same chick. Full circle!

7 a.m., spider webs on the Crepe Myrtle, Lewisville, Texas

Three quaint old apartment buildings in the Strathcona District on Whyte Avenue in Edmonton, Alberta were demolished to make way for a large condominium complex — a shame, considering all the new windows that were just replaced a few years ago. To remove them beforehand would not be financially viable for the new builder, but it’s not the way things are done in oil-rich Alberta these days. Everything: fridges, furnaces… someone’s home the week before — smashed and crushed within 36 hours.

Individuals would gladly use these second-hand materials, even volunteer to take them out. China would kill for that wood. The trip to Mexico is still fresh in my mind, and of how they utilize everything, even wire frames of old mattresses as fence material. This destruction was wasteful, almost painful.

On the other hand, it was very interesting to watch! It’s these sorts of extremes that conjure up perplexing conflicting emotions, and all the travel this year leaves me with so much revitalized energy to draw upon for a long time. I haven’t been painting, but these kinds of experiences are where all worthwhile art originates.

Mountains of houses as far as the eye can see in Irving, Texas. There’s a hill in Irving that looks down onto numerous cities in the DFW metroplex, where you can see miles of grey-black rooftops.