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If you've heard random cries of glee lately, it's the floral painters in your local area. Because it's spring. And spring means ALL THE FLOWERS.I’ve spent the last two Mondays at peony fields about an hour south of where I live. I have to hold myself back from doing a reenactment of Maria running through the fields a la the Sound of Music. The excitement is overwhelming. This is probably how Christmas felt to my 7-year-old self.   But once I calm down, apply sunscreen like an adult, pet the farm cat, I head out into the fields to immerse...

For me, it’s the smell of daffodils and the rain. It’s that wall of bruised blue sky that meets the horizon and there, a blazing bright green. We’ve emerged from an endless grey to a season bursting with drama.  Reference from WildRootFloral, Title TBD After a long winter (and this year was indeed long) that contrast makes you feel like you’re taking your first breath back into the world again. You don't even mind the impromptu rain showers because they are somehow glittering with sunlight. And from the ground where yesterday there was only mud, today a field of bright purples...

I’m beginning to look at past work as not just a guide from where I’ve come but as a way finder, forward. Each painting is painted at a specific moment in time. It’s THAT artist with THAT idea with THOSE materials and THAT level of skill encapsulated in time through paint.  It’s fascinating to see the ideas I’ve tried on and put away. Half formed. More fully formed later. It’s like listening to a recorded conversation and just thinking about how the people were feeling at the time of their discussion.   They are also a really useful catalog for...

I’m running into a new challenge. The weather really affects how quickly things dry. My studio can be cold and very damp. This won’t be a problem once the heat of the summer begins but some of my processes won’t translate to winter. I either need to make sure I'm working through a bunch at a time with some taking days to dry OR I need to swap out some of my techniques. Or, I guess, both. Swapping techniques is the most straightforward. Some of them will have one to one options. For example, if I’m doing a float using...

Well. I’ve short term abandoned my 7. I have no idea where to go. I keep sitting down intent on figuring it out and I’m caught between uncertainty and preciousness. I’m worried I will ruin the elements within the painting I like.  So here are the new starts. I’m using some of what I’ve learned with the 7. It’s very fun to be able to start again and use what you’ve discovered.      Variation of type size: Using the one set of larger stamps I have. That definitely akes s difference. Focal areas: I’m trying to be mindful of...