Chips are Down

Chips are Down

Oil on Wood

10"X8"

Super Bowl excitement is building. I love the anticipation, the game, the extreme weather, the fun food, and more than anything, the ads. I even like the pre game hype for the ads which is a new phenomenon that escalates yearly. Advertising is an art form too. Don't miss the beautiful Guinness Olympic ad about the Barnes Twins Biathletes that is making the rounds online today.  Simple, beautifully imagined, and moving. (This may no longer be online by Friday)

Yesterday I read Steven Kurutz's entertaining New York Times article, "Cleaning Up in Their 90s"about 91 year olds, Lee and Morty Kaufman who by chance became pitchmen for Swiffer products. Oh, to be grabbing the limelight together at 90. The mere thought of it set me up for the whole day. 

Gone But Not Forgotten

Gone But Not Forgotten

Oil on Wood

8"X6"

There were cookies in this glassine wrapper. Now there is nothing but the memory of their sweetness and the exquisite beauty of emptiness. 

This is the third and maybe last in the cookies-wrapped-in-glassine series that includes "Half Full" and "Mundane, Meet Dramatic" posted earlier this month.

Into the Wind

Into the Wind

Oil on Wood

9"X12"

"Into the Wind" was the lead-in to today's New York Time's frothy article on fashion, "Airy Enough to Take Flight," by Cathy Horyn. I don't understand fashion,  but these concoctions, the way they are presented, and the words used to describe them is a delicious soup of visual and written extravaganza. Beautiful and evocative and as entertaining as a good theater production. Be sure to see the slide show online. What does this have to do with a memory of the sea and the wind and beach from last summer? Nothing. Except this: Inspiration is around every corner, hidden in nooks and crannies where one least expects to find it. Be on the lookout.

Half Full

Half Full

Oil on Wood

8"X6"

To follow up on last week's post, Mundane Meet Dramatic,  I have been meaning to write about a recent New York Times article extolling the benefits of procrastination. In the meantime, other events caught my attention and time went by. Some was wasted and half the cookies have been eaten. Being in a more optimistic frame of mind today, I am choosing to view this glassine as half full, reminding me of Jane Brody's article, "A Richer Life by Seeing the Glass Half Full," which has stayed with me since it ran in the Times last year. Bottom line, staying positive is a good thing to do.

Wedding TOASTer

Wedding TOASTer

Oil on Wood

10"X10"

No wedding is complete without a TOASTer or two. For Rori and Bob,
celebrating the very miraculous in every day mundane.

Ring Cycle

Ring Cycle

Oil on Wood

8"X6"

And just like that, they rode their bikes to City Hall and now they are wed. Love for Life and for each other. What more could anyone want? Each one luckier than the other. And all of us, their family and friends, look on in awe and admiration, counting ourselves luckier still to be in their realm.

Mundane, Meet Dramatic

Mundane, Meet Dramatic

Oil on Wood

8"X6"

This morning over coffee, it occurred to me to let newspaper headlines inspire the day's painting.  The truth is, this painting of delicious cookies in their cello container was begun yesterday afternoon as an antidote to an otherwise unproductive day. The headline, "Mundane, Meet Dramatic," a rave review of  "Brand New Ancients" starring Kate Tempest  caught my eye. Then I read, "Finding the majesty and mystery in ordinary lives is precisely the aim of “Brand New Ancients...” Precisely the aim of this artist as well.  It's enough to make me want to hop on a plane to Brooklyn to see the show. 

Daydreaming in January

Daydreaming in January

Oil on Canvas

14"X11"

I don't know about you, but I have been procrastinating more than usual lately. I have not made a dent in the list of things that need doing, and I continue to find plenty to do that isn't on the list of "shoulds." There is something about long nights and short days that makes me want to curl up with a book and call it all off. But then, I can make a case for that scenario in the summer too. And then there's spring fever, which is just around the corner threatening to take me away from the business at hand.  Maybe imagining summer is a cure for what ails me. Or maybe this is the stuff that gives life to Life. Daydreaming. 

The Quilters Convene

The Quilters Convene

Oil on Wood

6"X8"

Talk, listen, laugh, cry. We did it all this morning, my friends and I, at our monthly breakfast at the Dipsea Cafe, and later as some assembled a communal quilt. And just like that, my dark mood lifted, replaced by a deep feeling of gratitude for just being in the presence of these wonderful, fun, interesting, imaginative, loving women.  

February Thaw

February Thaw

Oil on Canvas

14"X11"

I know it's not February yet, but it will come. I have been imagining  a 12 month series. This could end up being November for all I know. Warm and cozy inside is a good idea any time of year, so that's where I am. In my mind, in my studio, and in my house.

January

January

Oil on Canvas

14"X11

Chasing the January doldrums away. Or trying to.  I don't make resolutions. But if I did, it would be to give up on preconceived notions of all kinds; to focus on the ordinary good that is right here in our midst and be satisfied. As Mary Oliver expresses in her poem, "Mindful,"

"...It was what I was born for -

to look, to listen,

to lose myself

inside this soft world -

to instruct myself

over and over

in joy,

and acclamation.

Nor am I talking

about the exceptional,

the fearful, the dreadful,

the very extravagant -

but of the ordinary,

the common, the very drab,..."

Cream Puff for Ian

Cream Puff for Ian

Oil on Wood

8"X 10"

I wish I could deliver this right to Ian's bedside. Crusty on the outside, soft on the inside, and just the right amount of sweet through and through. Like him. A confection that would turn an ordinary day into a celebration. To Life, Love, Family. Never enough of a good thing.