Tiverton farmers - 12 " square

Just a start but I wanted to get in a final post for February. I am really, really wanting spring to get here and totally jealous of most of my family who are living in areas where it has been in the 60s or 70s for a month. Just want to get in a quick poltical message here.........."united we stand, divided we fall." As a lifelong union member and a retired state employee (law enforcement) I am watching Wisconsin closely and planning artwork to celebrate what is happening there..............we citizens must wake up, turn the tv off and let our creative voices ring out if we wish to have a world that is worth living in.

wet sidewalk - 12" square

I simply could not get rid of the slight glare on this one - dark colors are so hard and it is still really windy here so the painting kept blowing over. I worked at the gallery today and noticed a definite uptick in the number of people out & about...........a sign of spring? Oh, please, let it be.

progress on early morning

I have been working on this today. Boy, I can't wait until this winter is over...........I don't even care if it rains tommorrow since the weather report said it would be 57!!!!! I thought it was much warmer when I went out for a walk - only wore a polar fleece over a turtleneck; way, way too little so I jacked the heat up to 62 & I am hoping for the heat to kick me into the painting zone.

early morning, late winter - 20x16"

Yes, yes, another start..........this actually began as a portrait commission but, after I layed in the faces, I realized that the canvas was too large for the portrait. Since, I like to do my preliminary lay in with a mixture of burnt sienna and ultramarine on a bright white ground, I had to use it fast so began this instead. This scene is of North Tiverton, RI and I see it all the time.......it was a little duller than this until they painted the building in the foreground a rich reddish maroon (they are renovating). The area is quite boring in mid-day light but is very interesting early in the morning and late in the afternoon.

sitting in the sand - 8" square

Another cold day today - I am itching to get outside to paint again! I did manage to finish this, take a two mile walk and work on a portrait.  

finally completed - 12" square

This picture has been on my drying wall for a long time. Today, I decided I would re-do the sand so it didn't look as dead as it looked to me. ......it's a bit better. Sometimes a picture is borderline - parts of it work well enough that you are not willing to wipe it down but something seems wrong. I am pretty ruthless now and  don't save much - if I am unwilling to sign it or frame it, it goes.

winter thaw - 12" square

Still working on this - I am not so averse to posting progress reports recently since I just don't like painting much smaller than this and larger pictures generally take longer. Anyway, I love the reflections of the melting snow on the sidewalk and it is pretty similar to the reflections on wet sand that I love so much - water on mineral so I guess it isn't surprising!

snow at the dock - 11x14"

I thought I would add the mostly completed "Unrelated" to this post............it goes to the drying wall. "Snow at the dock" depicts the dock at the foot of State St. in Bristol. We certainly have had enough snow this year....... it is pretty hard to get the feeling of the motion of the flakes in the air but I think I sort of got it.

reworking unrelated - 16x12"

This probably doesn't look a lot different than the last time I posted it but I have been working on it pretty steadily for the past two days! Ah, the frustration of being an artist - sometimes things just flow and other times you have to scrape and rework and scrape again. I try to leave a picture in a sort of neutral state when I am finished for the day......without obvious errors or areas I know I have to change. That is where this picture is (I have a few in that state). At least the days are getting noticably longer......yipee.

unrelated - partially complete - 16x12"

I just started this last night and brought it with me to work on during my shift at the gallery today...........taking a photo is always a problem if I wait til near dark but there was little choice today. I went to the MFA in Boston on Sunday to meet my son and see the new "Art of the Americas" exhibit and saw these people near Mass Ave. I was struck by how four people could be so close to one another and remain so totally unconnected.  It was a relatively warm day so the cold doesn't explain it............it wasn't even a bus stop so it just seems to be a city experience. These things always fascinate me. For anyone who lives near Boston, the new exhibit at the MFA is wonderful and the John Singer Sargents are unbelieveable - some I have never even seen in a book.

just to get it done!

I am not too into this one and finished it more to see if I could make it work at the end....not a great reason to finish a painting but it is small enough so I didn't feel it was too huge of an investment. We all have these days, I suppose. Time to begin another.

frustrating week - local fish store - 10" square

Normally I would have finished this by now but it has been an annoying week. I was a criminal investigator for years and, sometimes, I don't think I will ever be done with court and old cases. I have spent hours on one of them this week - reading hundreds of pages of legal documents and spending a minimum of four hours on the phone with an attorney. It is really amazing how quickly I can slide into my old life and equally as amazing how that life can exhaust and destroy creative energy and productivity.

over there - 12" square

This photo came out much better than I thought it would since it is so dark and dreary today. I don't mean to complain since I know that much of the country has it worse at the moment but I am getting a bit sick of winter. No matter how much you try to appreciate it, it finds a way to make you hate it all over again. Thank goodness for seasons!