A Journal of my Artsy Experiences

Why I am I talking about New Year's Eve (or Ole Year's Night as we call it in the Caribbean) in March? That was eons ago! Well December 31st 2022 was a special Ole Year's Night, as it was the 85th birthday of my cousin Sonya, and it was the inspiration for my first new painting of 2023: It Happened at Midnight.

How comfortable are you with unpredictability? For me, the allure of my painting technique is a huge a dollop of just that!  

I don't have full control over what appears on my canvas... while I can direct the fluid colors where I want them to go (more or less 😉), they pretty much have a mind of their own when they're several layers thick and they're on the move, interacting with each other! 

Curious about how I got into art as a career? Check out my conversation with Chip Freund Photography as part of his Artist Spotlight series!

Yup... there's some unusual stuff buried under the 'stripes' in these 3 pieces. But wait! Before you read on, scroll down to the closeups below and see if you can guess what they are!

So... am I shrinking, or are my paintings getting taller? Probably a bit of both, actually 😉

Perfect Day is 72 x 48"... almost as tall as me! Now this one was really a doozy to paint! You see I have to keep my canvases flat, because I'm working with fluid paints.

My table is set up so I can walk around it... so painting top and bottom isn't an issue. 

But I have to stand on a step stool to lean over to the middle! 😅 Even so, my painting shirt got almost as much paint on it as the painting itself! 

Isn’t it interesting the way our minds tend to bring negative things to the fore and push back the positive? Reflecting on 2021, I found myself focusing on the in-person shows where I barely made my expenses, the online shows where I didn’t sell a thing, etc., etc. 

Then yesterday I went through my files and looked at the paintings that I did sell and thought, “Wow! A goodly number of people loved my work enough to take it home! Down, gremlin!” Many prints also left my booth or website as well. "That’s a lot of good stuff that happened... let's focus on that instead!" 😃   

I've been a working artist for about 3 decades. Fabric painting, silk painting, quilting, felting and now acrylic painting, have been my media of choice. Over the years I've collected buckets-full of odds and ends from these media, all stashed in various parts of my studio.

Today, as I'm getting ready for my next art show one month from now, it hit me that I have been doing Art Shows for over 30 years! What??!!

What I've realized, from the questions I get consistently asked, is that most people have no idea of the journey, from the artist deciding that they want to participate in a show, to that lovely display of artwork that you see set up on the street or inside the convention hall or wherever. And why would they? I was just as clueless about the art show circuit world until I did my first show all those many moons ago. 

These paintings are currently on exhibit at The Colonial Center for Performing Arts in South Hill, VA. Accompanying the paintings are poems written about each piece by intuitive writer/poet Karen Louise Wilson.

River Wild I & II

This pair of paintings take us on an emotional journey of trust, hope and optimism that no matter how rough the waters, there is always brightness on the horizon. We can ride out turbulent times and all will be well. Things can even turn out spectacularly beautiful, beyond our wildest dreams.

The Grotto, 10 x 8 in., acrylics on canvas

As I've said before, when I start a new painting, I don't have a clear image in my mind of what I want the painting to look like... not consciously anyway!  

But I think sometimes my subconscious has something in mind, that's only revealed at the end.  Take "The Grotto", for example. When this piece was finished, I had the feeling of being on a cliff, looking down at the swirling ocean below.