Potamac River Woodland

I photographed this scene in 2002 at a friend's farm on the Potomac. The day was misty and wet, with subdued colors. Painting the scene, I played up the colors from their gray tones. I was influenced by Wolf Kahn's lovely ethereal pastels of trees but used thick paint and a palette knife to build texture, scratch off paint, and spread more paint like icing on cake. I wanted to "feel" the scratchy twigs and rough bark, but I wanted to "see" the ghostly trees seen through a misty haze. Whether I was fully successful, I don't know, but I like the final image.

This particular area was the scene of a battle with Mosby's Rangers. The owner of the farm reports stories of hauntings in his old house. The farm itself is occasionally "haunted" by Mosby fans who trek to all the Mosby sites in our area. In the town nearest to me, the resting place of Mosby (in life and death), he is not seen as such a hero as he made lots of money after the Civil War in business with the carpetbaggers! Old southern resentments last long!

This painting is one of five on view and for sale at The Stable in Bluemont this weekend.

my three pears

I painted pears a lot when I studied at the Corcoran. A fellow student commented that my pears appeared to have human attributes by their relationships to each other as they leaned in or out in their grouping. I always think of my three kids when I look at this painting! This is one I don't think I would ever sell. My "model" was a photo by Priscilla Treacy.

visceral reaction

The heart is amazing. I did two heart drawings after having my own broken a few years ago - I shared them with a friend who grieved with me - left them with her temporarily, and then lost touch with her. Ah, but I'm glad to have them in her keeping. I did this painting last year; I wanted to make it beat and pump and glisten on the board using oil paint and palette knife like a scalpel. Some people don't like this painting, others really love it. One of my children has it now; she was one who seemed to have a visceral attraction to it. She used it as a prop in a play in NYC and told me many of the actors liked it, too!

the white pumpkin

I love this little pumpkin painting. It is for sale, but at a high price, as I don't want to see it go.

Sol LeWitt project

LeWitt is famous for conceptual art, writing instructions for other artists to construct. For my teen art class, I gave them his Drawing No. 46: vertical lines, not straight, not touching, evenly covering the wall. I adapted it to "evenly covering the page" and gave them each paper 11 x 18, and a no. 2 pencil.

This was a great project! They immediately wanted to collaborate and find a consensus of what LeWitt meant. This could have been a possibility to allow, but I wanted to see what each person would come up with on their own, so I asked them to mull their questions over to themselves and not talk with each other. Two pairs of drawings (done on separate tables) were similar, others had a different "take" on the instructions. Only one person's drawings obviously broke the rules - his lines curved back on themselves and touched.

I have not seen Drawing No. 46! I hope to find an example someday soon.

peaches

Three peaches on a white tablecloth - the challenge was to try to keep the tone low key.

path in the woods

A painting of where I run, on the road outside our farm. I started out "tight" but wanted to make the strokes bigger and looser. I hope I captured the light shining beyond the curve in the road.