Above photo credit: Jaylyn McFadden
On the Easel
Swimmers, Lambs, Farmboys, Lupines, Sunflowers
No end to the variety on the easel this month. Audiobooks are my companions, mostly: I just finished the latest Richard Osman, and now I’m beginning This is Happiness by Niall Williams. The sun shines a little. Snow flew yesterday. The dark nights begin at 4:45. Cue the twinkle lights, please.
My studio is the former taproom in an 1830s brick house in rural Vermont.
But my favorite studio is under the sky where I get started on most of my paintings. The French call this en plein air, meaning in the open air. My brother gave me an old easel and it accompanies me around the back roads and hillsides near my home. In 2022 I started painting from the bed of our old pickup truck (I saw the Irish artist Elizabeth Cope doing this on the pages of Faire magazine and had to try it). I spend the winter months finishing my summer paintings, and creating dreamscapes that are composites of the places I’ve been fortunate to go. I work in slow-dry acrylics by Golden Paints and use wide hardware store brushes and Rosemary artist brushes. Just love them!
Paint, snap, write,
design, teach
Let’s work together!
Do you want to learn to paint, draw or sew?
Would you like to commission a painting?
Can I paint some patterns or birds on your walls, or restore damaged wallpaper (yes, I do this).
Do you need branding or photography for your business?
register!
Winter/Spring Classes & Workshops
These in-person classes and workshops will be held in Pomfret, Vermont, at Artistree Community Art Center.
3-part Class: Draw Paint and Collage a Creative Sketchbook, Jan 10, 17, 24 / 6-8 pm
Artful Visible Mending for Woolens Workshop, Jan 21 / 2-5 pm
Mix, Mingle and Make, FREE workshop, Feb 1 / 6-7:30 (register to participate)
Artful Visible Mending Workshop, Feb 4 / 2-5 pm
3-part Class: Painting with Bigger Brushes, April 23, 30 and May 7 / 6-8:30 pm
Mix, Mingle and Make, FREE workshop, April 18 / 6-7:30 (register to participate)
From my journal
It’s All So Fragile
It was 10 below zero when I woke up this morning. The sun is shining so bright I need to pull the shade to avoid squinting. And layered over an ordinary March morning is this ceaseless ache for the anguish across the globe. Moments in Ukraine—described by...
Good Madness
I’ve had these words pinned beside my desk since last spring when I came upon them. I tried to live by them in 2021. But 2021 wasn’t so easy. It followed 2020 which was somewhat worse. But 2019 was really hard for me with the death of my mother, so I’ve...
What Does it Mean to Be Lucky?
Here we are, dust settling around the nation's Capitol, snow on the ground, my daughter planning her 16-hour drive back to college, and a new surge of coronavirus cases spiking. So much to worry about. Thinking back to last year at this time, my mother had...
Follow Along
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