New Zealand Blue

New Zealand Blue

8" x 10"

A small painting of my favorite place in the world! well besides where I am ...New Zealand, so picturesque I hope to return 

Beach Paintings and Turquoise Fireplace

Beach Paintings and Turquoise Fireplace

I painted my fireplace a while back as it was so dull! and blank..I quite like how it turned out with the wooden chair painted in JUTE paint and the coastal paintings..it now makes a nice display.  Who knew turquoise could be so neutral??!!

Sea Oats

Sea Oats

24" x 24"

acrylic on canvas

I did find this a challenging painting..Keeping in mind the overall of grasses at the same time detail.  It was a lot of back and forth...but I do feel it came out well and it is one of my favorite paintings at the moment!

Beyond Here

Beyond Here

24" x 30"

acrylic on canvas

Truly I love an open view out to the wide open ocean..

The Lily and the Peony 2

The Lily and the Peony 2, 30" x 30" acrylic on canvas

The two flower friends togeather again!..

Lily and Peony

Lily and Peony

30" x 30"

acrylic on canvas

I love painting flowers!  This was from a beautiful bouquet I bought last spring..somehow the Lily and Peony seemed like old friends..!  i guess i have an active imagination.  I have no idea why all the photos on this blog have disappeared so I guess I will start afresh.

My photos have disappeared!! a mystery

Beautiful quote

I love this description..

so hard sometimes to describe why we do what we do..

Robert Irwin, saying it in his inimitable plain speak:

***
Some people call it “the inner life of the painting,” all that romantic stuff, and I guess that’s a way of talking about it. But shapes on a painting are just shapes on a canvas unless they start acting on each other and really, in a sense, multiplying. A good painting has a gathering, interactive build-up in it. It’s a psychic build-up, but it’s also a pure energy build-up. And the good artists knew it, too. That’s what a good Vermeer has, or a raku cup, or a Stonehenge. And when they’ve got it, they just jump off the goddamn wall. They just, bam!

***
It’s about presence, phenomenal presence. And it’s hard: if you don’t see it, you just don’t see it; it just ain’t there. You can talk yourself blue in the face to somebody, and if they don’t see it, they just don’t see it. But once you start seeing it, it has a level of reality exactly the same as the imagery—no more, no less. And basically, that’s what I’m still after today. All my work since then has been an exploration of phenomenal presence.

and this bit from the Slow Muse...http://www.slowmuse.com/2015/03/04/staying-curious/

I come back to these favorite quotes constantly, holding them as a talismanic reminder of what really matters in a creative practice. Those of us who are about that work make assessments every day, repeatedly. Is this coming together? Is this moving? Is it taking on a life of its own? Maybe you get some feedback, a review or a useful critique. But in the end the process is personal, private and subjective.

Painting Process

I think my favorite part of painting is the very beginning..where the possibilities and out come are not yet know to me.!  Maybe that is what keeps me painting.  Always something to discover!  I always start painting with a very loosely painted drippy wash generally in a warm colour as i paint with a lot of cool blues.