Bonita Bacalhau (Codfish project), Digital sketch as of Apr 8, 2025

It's time to start working on my codfish project.  Every year some 50 area artists are invited to decorate a wooden codfish form to be displayed and then auctioned off to support the Marblehead Festival of the Arts.  This year I am going to decorate my codfish with a pattern inspired by Portuguese tiles.  I am returning to a theme that I used a number of years ago when I painted "Bela Bacalhau"*.  But Bonita will look different from here older sister Bela, first of all because the shape of the codfish form has been revised since then, and second because I will use a new design and different colors.  I have been thinking about Bonita for a while, but yesterday I actually tried some ideas out on my iPad.  I came up with this (very rough) sketch, which I cleaned up a bit for posting in iPhoto. I used Procreate to make this sketch, and Procreate captures your work as you draw, so I plan to publish the resulting video tomorrow.  

*Posted here May 26, 2016

Piano Duet (Mom and Dad, rescued snapshot)

This image began with a snapshot that I found yesterday as  I was looking for a photo to post for their anniversary; they were married April 4, 1943. I usually post 1940s era photos of them taken during their courtship or early marriage.  But this is  a Polaroid snapshot that I took of them playing the piano in 1971, in the house where I grew up.  My husband Mel was away at basic training for the National Guard (he had lost the draft lottery), and I was staying with my parents with my baby girl. I was about 22 and my parents were in their 50s. The photo that I found was damaged, scratched, and deteriorating as Polaroid snapshots typically are. But I love the image of them playing the piano, something I often saw and heard during my childhood. So I scanned the photo into my computer and did some cropping and  retouching in iPhoto. Then I used Painter to simplify the background (with cut-and-paste and digital pastel) and used some overlays to add color. As I worked, I thought about how often my parents played piano together when I was growing up. My father was a very talented musician who played piano by ear, as if by magic as it seemed to me as a child. My mother also played the piano and had many books of sheet music which I still own, and the music was and is much too difficult for me to play, even after years of piano lessons. I thought about how they met. My father was from Brooklyn but was stationed in Pueblo, Colorado,  for training before he was sent overseas during WWIi. My mother was in the USO and she and my Aunt Edy often went to the USO dances at the Army Base, and they each met their husbands that way. My mother and my aunt would sometimes bring soldiers home for a family meal with my grandparents. I bet that for my dad, the piano in my mother‘s house was a big attraction. I can imagine that they played the piano together right from the beginning. Maybe those duets contributed to their romance. It’s great to remember that they continued to play piano duets throughout their marriage, so I think this is a good photo to post to celebrate their anniversary.

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), Acrylic Painting

Here is my finished painting, Prison Bars and Roses.  I gave it the subtitle "Scarlet letter project" because I painted it for a special event at the Salem Athenaeum held to celebrate 175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter."  I based this painting on a quotation from the novel, shown below.*  I made the prison bars into the background for the lines of text. And I painted the branches of the wild rose bush in the shape of the letter A, with the scarlet roses on its long branches. I am glad I had a chance to do this, and I think I understand the novel because of this project.

On Mar. 28,  having brightened some of the roses to make them more  intensely scarlet, and having obsessed over the shading on the prison bars, I finally decided to just check that I hadn't obliterated any commas while I was moving text around to refine the spacing.  So I opened the novel, found the quotation, and sure enough, a couple of commas were now missing.  That was easy enough to fix.  But I also noticed that "would" in the last line should have been "could."  I am also a proofreader, so I am doubly glad I caught the error, even at the last minute. This is not exactly a spelling error, but I must written the wrong word when I originally transcribed the quotation, because the mistake is in my initial sketch. have made the mistake when I first transcribed it.  It was easy enough to add the missing commas, change 'would' to 'could", and while I was at it, I modified the 'm' in the last word (him), to make it easier to read. Once everything was dry, I wrapped the painting up for delivery to the Salem Athenaem. 

*Here is the (correct) quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him."  

 

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 27, 2025

Here is my painting as of Mar 27, 2025.  I call this the "Scarlet letter project" because it was painted  for a special event on March 30th at the Salem Athenaeum held to celebrate 175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter."  I designed this painting based on a quotation from the novel, shown below.* The prison bars serve as the background for the lines from the novel.  And in my painting,  the wild rose bush that is mentioned in the quotation shows itself  through the prison window, with the red roses on its long branches suggesting the letter A in red: the Scarlet Letter of the novel. 

On  Mar 27, 2025, I thought my painting was done.  I had made a lot of very small changes, behavior that I now take as a signal that I am almost finished with a painting.  So I signed it and installed a wire on the back, in prepration for delivering it to the Salem Athenaeum the next day.  And no, I still hadn't realized there was an error in the text.  I knew I would keep fiddling with the painting until I actually turned it in, like I always do.  And in this case, that turned out to be a very good thing. To be continued. . .

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."  

 

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 26, 2025

Here is my painting as of Mar 26, 2025.  I decided to paint this for a special event at the Salem Athenaeum to mark the 175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter."  So I based this painting on a quotation from the novel, shown below.* I decided to use the prison bars as the background for the text. The wild rose bush, mentioned in the quotation, is visible through the prison window, red roses on its long branches position to suggest the letter A in red: the Scarlet Letter of the novel. 

On March 25th and 26th, I was working close to the deadline so started to refine the image.  I continued to work on the prison bars, concentrating on making the lighting consistent (using nearby window blinds as a guide!).  I also worked on brightening the roses.  And still didn't realize there was an error in the text.  To be continued. . . .

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."  

 

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 25, 2025

Here is my painting as of Mar 25, 2025.  This painting is for a special event at the Salem Athenaeum, marking the 175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter."  This painting began with a quotation from the novel, seen below.*  I used prison bars as the background for the text. The wild rose bush, mentioned in the quotation, in my painting is visible through the prison window, with its long branches positioned to form the scarlet letter A which is central to the novel. 

On Mar 25, having resolved the issue of the color for the window frame, I knew I had the final composition, so began to refine the details. I got my T-square out again and began to straighten the lines of the prison bars and the window frame.  At this point, I still hadn't noticed any problem with the text. To be continued. . .  

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."  

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 24, 2025

Here is my painting as of Mar 24, 2025.  This painting is for a special event at the Salem Athenaeum to mark the 175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter."  I based this painting on a quotation from the novel, seen below.*  I used the prison bars as the background for the text. The quotation mentions a wild rose bush, which in my painting can be seen through the prison window, its long branches positioned to form the scarlet letter A which is central to the novel. 

On Mar 24, after looking at my painting for a couple of days, I decided to change the color of the window sill from dark brown to a lighter gray, close to the color of the bars. So I quickly painted in the change (on the front of the canvas and around the sides as well.) Once that was done, I was happier.  I think the change made for a more coherent composition, with tension between two components (inside and outside) rather than three (the window frame). The added benefit is that the lower contrast with the sky will make any little errors in the edges less distracting. And no, I still hadn't realized there was an error in the text. . . To be continued. . . .

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."  

 

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 21, 2025

Here is my painting as of Mar 21, 2025.  This painting is for the special event at the Salem Athenaeum to mark the  175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter."  This painting is based a quotation from the novel, seen below.*  My painting uses prison bars to provide a background for the  text of the quotation. The wild rose bush of the quotation appears through the prison window, with its long branches positioned to suggest the scarlet letter A which is so important in the novel. 

On Mar 21, 2025, I added a layer of gray to the brown window frame, and then began I began straightening the lines of the window.  At this point, I thought I was close to finishing this.  But I was wrong.  I also thought the text was correct.  Turns out I was wrong about that, too.  To be continued. . . .

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."  

 

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 20, 2025

Here is my painting as of Mar 20, 2025.  This is for an upcoming special event at the Salem Athenaeum to mark the  175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter."  I based my painting on a quotation from the novel, seen below.* In my painting, I used prison bars as the background for the  text of the quotation.  The wild rose bush mentioned in the text is seen through the prison window.  I know that each year the wild rose bush in my yard makes long branches (called runners), hence the long branches on the rose bush in my painting, positioned to suggest the letter A, so important in the novel. Ane though the wild roses I have seen are usually white, and rarely even pale pink, I decided to make this roses red so that the branches form a scarlet letter.  

On Mar 20, I worked on the window frame (and edge of canvas), adding a layer of brown over the purple.  My idea was to follow this with a layer of dark gray to achieve a color close to black. But as you will soon see,  I eventually changed my mind about that. Meanwhile, I worked a bit on the blue background and started cleaning up some of the lines. To be continued. . . .

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."  

 

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 19, 2025

Here is my painting as of Mar 19, 2025.  I am painting this for a special event next week at the Salem Athenaem, held to commemorate the  175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter." At least 10 paintings will be on display for the occasion.  My painting is based a quotation from the novel, seen below.* In my painting, prison bars serve as background for the text, and the wild rose bush (also mentioned in the quotation) is seen through the prison window.  The long branches of the rose bush suggest the scarlet letter A which is so important in the novel.  On March 19th, I started working on the sides of the window, and added this purple.  But don't panic:: this was not intended as the final color.  My idea was to use a very dark gray, almost black, for the window frame.  I decided to build the color in layers, rather than mix it, starting with a layer of purple, to be followed with a layer of brown, and then paine's gray.  I was planning to use the same dark grey on the sides of the canvas (to seal it), so also extended the purple on the sides of the canvas.  In fact, I ended up changing my mind about the dark windowsill, more on that later, but meanwhile here is the painting with a purple border.

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."  

 

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 18, 2025

This is my painting as of Mar 18, 2025.  This is for a special event next week at the Salem Athenaem, marking the 175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter." I think there will be ten paintings offered by artists from Porter Mill Studios and perhaps elsewhere.  I based my painting on a quotation from the novel, seen below.* I am combining prison bars, which also serve as background for the text, with the imagery of a wild rose bush, mentioned in the quotation. In my painting, the rose bush can be seen through the prison window, and its long branches suggest the letter A, which plays an important part in the novel.  On March 18th, I continued working on the lettering and the shading on the prison bars.  I also added some darker leaves to the rose bush.  I added a coat of pale gray to the outer border, but I was still uncertain about the color. 

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."  

 

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 17, 2025

This is my painting as of March 17.  I am painting this for a special event next week at the Salem Athenaem, to mark  the 175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter." My painting is based on a quotation from the novel, shown below.* I am using the imagery of prison bars, which also serve as background for the text. I am also including the imagery of a wild rose bush, which in my painting can be seen through the prison bars.  In my painting, the runners or long branches of the rose bush seem to form the letter A, which is so important in the novel. On March 17, I started adding some shading to the horizontal bars, to see if I could make them look three dimensional.

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."  

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 16, 2025

This is my painting as of March 16.  I am painting this for a special event in Salem marking the 175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter."  I am basing this painting a quotation from the novel, shown below.* The imagery of a barred prison window serves as a background for the text. The passage also mentions a wild rose bush, which I am showing as if through the prison window.  And the branches of the wild rose bush seem to form the letter A, which has an important role in the novel.

On March 16, I continued working on the lettering, and painted all the horizontal and vertical bars with a pale paine's gray.  This is not the final color, but I used the light background as an aide in working on the lettering.  

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him." 

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 15, 2025

This is my painting as of March 15.  This is for a special event in Salem to mark the 175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter."  My painting is based on a quotation from the novel, shown below.* I am using the imagery of prison bars as the background for  the text.  The wild rose bush, also mentioned in the passage, can be seen through the barred window. The branches of the wild rose bush are positioned to form the letter A, which plays an important role in the novel, as a public humiliation and punishment for adultery that the protagonist Hester Prynne is forced to wear. 

On March 15, my multi-day effort to improve the lettering continued. using dark paine's grey to outline the letters, and paine's grey mixed with white as a background color to add definition. I adjusted the lettering of the third line from the bottom to make the line more symmetrical.  I made other small changes in spacing,  If all this sounds tedious, it is.  But it is important because the text is part of the painting. A belated thanks to my high school art teacher Robert Corty who always included a six-week unit on lettering each year.

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him." 

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), Painting as of Mar 14, 2025

This is my painting as of March 14.  I am painting this for a special event in Salem, MA,  to celebrate the 175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter.")  My painting features a quotation from the novel, shown below.* I decided to show the text as if written on prison bars. The imagery of the rose bush also comes from the passage.  In my painting, the roses can be seen through those bars. with branches of the wild rose bush positioned to suggest the letter A,  which the novel's Hester Prynne was forced to wear as punishment for adultery.  On March 14, I began a multi-day effort to try to get the lettering just right.  To be continued. . .

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him." 

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 13, 2025

Here is my painting as of March 13, 2025. (I am painting this for a special event in Salem, MA,  to celebrate Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter.")  I am using a quotation from the novel, shown below,* writing it on prison bars.  The rose bush is also mentioned in that passage.  In my painting, the roses can be seen through the prison window.  The wild roses in my backyard produce long branches (runners) which I prune, but here I painted them in, positioned to form the letter A, which the novel's Hester Prynne was forced to wear as punishment for adultery.  On March 13, I wanted to make the roses smaller and more subtle and I also needed to add another (lighter) coat of blue for the sky, so as I did that, I used the background color to cut in to the roses and leaves to define them and in some cases make them smaller. To be continued.

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him." 

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of March 12, 2025

Here is my painting as it looked on March 12. (This painting is for a special event in Salem to honor Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter.")  The text I am using, shown below,* is a quotation from the novel. The passage suggests the imagery in my painting comes from that passage: prison bars, with Hawthorne's text written on them, and branches of a  wild rose bush seen through the prison window.  The shapes of the "runner" branches of the rose bush are positioned to suggest the letter A, which is very significant in the novel.  On March 12, I was working on placement of the roses, referring to my sketch.  The flowers are very rough, but I was happy with them although they will need to be smaller.  To be continued. . . .

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter:

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 10, 2025

Here is my painting as it looked on March 10.. (I am painting this  for a special event in Salem to honor Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter.")  The text, shown below,* is a quotation from the novel. The imagery in my painting comes from that passsage: the wild rose branches seen through the prison window, with Hawthorne's words written on the bars. On March 10, my focus was to designate the main lines for the rose bush, with the "runner" branches bending to suggest the letter A, which Hester Prynne was forced to wear as punishment in The Scarlet Letter. I had already traced the lines for the branches using pencil on canvas, but now I was ready to paint in the branches with transparent brown paint. 

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 9, 2025

Here is my painting as it looked on March 9.  I continued to work on the text and the background behind it.  I also used a layer of transparent blue to mark where the blue of the sky is going to go. (This is for a special event in Salem honoring Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter.")  The text is a quotation from the novel, supplied below.*  The imagery I am using comes from that passage (see below), with Hawthorne's words written on prison bars, and wild rose branches seen through the window (so far just penciled in), suggesting the famous letter A that is so important in the novel.  

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."

Wooden Form for Cod Auction 2025

Last weekend I drove over to Marblehead to pick up my wooden form to decorate for the annual Cod Auction to benefit Marblehead Festival of Art. Everyone starts with the same form.  This year, all the codfish forms had sticky tags to make sure that all the finished fish face the same direction.  I have been trying to figure out what to do this year.  Some years back, I created a fish decorated with Portuguese tile pattern.  I am thinking of doing that again. . .same idea but different design.

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of March 8, 2025

Here is my painting as it looked on March 8th, the day I finally began to put brush to canvas. This is for a special event in Salem honoring Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter.")  The text is a quotation from the novel, supplied below.*  The imagery I am using comes from a quotation from the novel (see below), with Hawthorne's words  written on prison bars, and wild rose branches seen through the bars, suggesting the famous letter A that is so important in the novel.  This part of the project is pretty tedious: laying out the lettering to make sure everything will fit.  As I began with my rough pencil sketch on canvas, I was uncertaiin of the color scheme.  I tried a transparent layer of light Paine's grey, just so I could still see the pencil sketch.  As I worked, I made my decision: pale grey for the background (prison bars) and dark grey for the lettering.). I was happy with the contrast and the general placement. 

Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), sketch on canvas

On March 7th, I began working out the layout for this painting.  (This is for a special event in honor of Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter.")  I am using a quotation* from the novel, written on the prison bars, with the wild rose suggesting the famous letter A in the background.  I had already made a sketch (posted here on March  5th). From there,  I worked out the basic layout on  10" x 10" graph paper to get the proportions and measurement right, and then finally sketched out the layout on the canvas in pencil.  This part isn't fun, and the resulting sketch is not pretty, but all this necessary to produce a good result. To be continued. . .

*"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."

Reposting: Spring at Kelleher Pond, delivered to art show

This is my painting of Kelleher Pond in spring. I painted this with a combination of acrylic and oil bar.  This is one of two paintings that I delivered to Boston on Monday.  (The second painting is "First of May at Long Hill, recently reposted here Feb 5th)  These will both be on display in a show titled "Chromatic Currents" at The Art Gallery TAG.   

Prison Bars and Roses (Sketch for painting)

I made this sketch today (with Sharpies on paper), trying to formulate my idea for a painting.  This is for an upcoming show in Salem, of paintings inspired by Hawthorne's novel, "The Scarlet Letter."  My plan is for the background to be sky blue, and I would try to use gray for the bars (to suggest prison) with lettering in gold. This is the third of the three sketches that it took to get this far.  The text is "But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to  him."

Cheyenne Lake (Acrylic Mixed Media) heading to new home

This is my painting of Broadmoor's Cheyenne lake, I am reposting it today because yesterday I shipped it off to its new home. I cropped the reference photo for this painting from a family photo taken during a trip to the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. This is acrylic paint and pasted paper on aquabord, 16x20.

Necklace with Blue and Green Wooden Beads and a Carved Accent Bead

I finished this necklace today, using wooden beads in blue and green, gold spheres, and a carved wooden accent bead. The design is a riff on a familiar pattern, but I am learning a new way to finish a necklace without a clasp, and in the process of learning that, I had to start over from scratch three times.

Reposting: Tree and Hillside (Appleton Farms), Oil Bar Painting

I painted this back in 2015, but am reposting to day in celebration of Tu B'shat (Jewish "new year for trees").  I painted this from a photo that I took during a visit to Appleton Farms, in Ipswich, MA.  This is oil bar on canvas.

Reposting: A Tree in A Year

I made this video a few years ago using a drawing program on my iPad.  The program captures each stroke as you draw and the end result is an animation.  I am reposting this to celebrate the Jewish New Year for Trees (Tu B'shvat) which starts at sundown tonight.  Just press play and watch the seasons change!

Squares and Spheres Beaded Necklace

I made another necklace today, with wooden spheres and squares, accented with brown metallic beads.  I put the design together on waxed cotton cord, and tied many, many knots.  The necklace is long enough so that it doesn't need a clasp.  It is asymmetrical and can be worn back-to-front or even sideways.

Beaded Necklace with Wood and Copper-Colored Metal

I made this necklace today, with two kinds of wooden beads, and copper-colored metallic beads incised with a spiral design. I strung these on a black waxed cotton cord, making knots as I went along to keep the beads in place and create the design. (Let me tell you, those knots are in there forever, as I found out when I made a mistake.)  I made sure to make this long enough so it doesn't need a clasp.  I am pretty happy with how it came out.  So the question is, should I keep it or sell it?

Reposting "First of May at Long Hill" as my TAG profile

I am excited to say that in addition to being a member of Galatea Fine Art, I have been accepted as a member of Tag (The Art Gallery) which is right next door to Galatea, on Harrison Avenue, in Boston's SOWA district. I am looking forward to participating in TAG’s shows and events. TAG is part of the New England Art Center. And like Galatea, TAG participates in Artsy, so faraway facebookers will be able to see TAG’s exhibits on Artsy, and my work when I am in a show at TAG or Galatea.  I am so grateful to be part of three wonderful art communities: TAG, Galatea Fine Art, and Studios at Porter Mill here in Beverly.

Reposting: Tree of Life Menorah (2018)

I created this in 2018 and here is what I said at the time: " My idea was to start with an image of the "Tree of Life" and then transform the tree into a menorah,  in honor of those lost in the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburg. (I make these videos by drawing on my iPad with the Procreate app, and the video is created as I draw.) "

Yellow Ribbon Menorah 2024

Here is my "menorah" video for this year! Finally had a chance to try to work out my idea.  I wanted to see if I could base the menorah on the the yellow ribbon worn to remember the hostages.  And here it is. I drew this on my iPad with the Procreate app.  Spread a little light!  Just press play.

Reposting: Light the Candles (2011)

This is the final frame of a video I created on my iPad back in 2011, using the Brushes app.  (I would post the video but am unable to upload it to Blogger for some reason.) When the Brushes app was no longer available, I switched to Procreate, which also creates a stroke by stroke video as you draw.  Anyway, this style of menorah reminds me of the inexpensive and portable versions used in Sunday Schools.  It doesn't matter what the menorah looks like.  (People can get very creative with their menorahs.) It's the light that counts.

Reposting: Light the Menorah (2023)

This is from 2023.  For some reason I am not able to post the video on Blogger, so I am posting the final frame (Jpg) instead.  We still need a little more light. So go ahead.  Just press play.

Reposting: Menorah in Window (from 2016)

Here is a menorah in the window, created on my iPad with the Brushed app n 2016.  Lots of things have happened since then -- Covid, October 7th, and more -- but we can still light the menorah and spread a little light. For some reason Blogger won't let me post the video, so here is the still image (last frame)

Reposting: Quick_Little_Menorah

Reposting from 2021 when Chanukah came right after Thanksgiving.  But Blogger won't let me post the video so I am posting the mpeg.  Here is what I said in  2021."This is my Chanukah post for the first night.  Yikes! We are still eating Thanksgiving pie and it is already Chanukah!  Everything seems too rushed, and was thinking that maybe I don't have time to make a Chanukah video this year.  And then I thought, maybe I do.  So I opened my Procreate app on my iPad and drew this little menorah.  It's not fancy; I didn't even use a stylus.  But still it makes me happy and I am glad I did this. So if you want to see the candles light up, just press play."

Reposting: Menorah 2019

I hope to post menorahs all week.  Here is one from 2019, created on my iPad with Procreate.  So go ahead. and press play to see the candles light up.  Spread some light.  Happy Chanukah.

Reposting: Squirrel (Still) Says Happy Holidays

I created this on my iPad several years ago.  I know I have posted this before, but I am very partial to this squirrel.  Sending this out to wish everyone happy times and safe travels over the holidays.

Colorado Front Range in Autumn (Acrylic Mixed Media Painting)

I took this picture after I finished this painting (on December 23, 2024).  I made a lot of small (probably imperceptible) changes. Over time I have figured out that this means I am almost finished with the painting.  I made some changes to the foreground, adding some shadows, and modified some of the shapes in the foothills.  But the most important change:  I made sure the top line of the mountains in the distance extended all the way to the edges of the painting.  Then I was done, and I signed the painting.  Good timing, because in just a few days I needed to take it to Boston for Galatea's All Members Show. 

Colorado Front Range in Autumn (Painting as of Dec 22, 2024)

Here is my painting as it looked on December 22, 2024.  At this point, I had already added the pasted paper, and was now refining the painting, which included painting back into the areas that contained collage.  I added some dark blue-violet shadows to the mountains, and added some touches of red  (from my red sun) to indicate places where the sunlight would hit.  I did that on the distant mountains, and then continued to do that on the areas just below the sun, from the topes of the foothills to all the areas below, including the stripes on the road.  At the edge of the road, I used some rough brush strokes to suggest vegetation.  Almost finished!  To be continued.

Colorado Front Range in Autumn (Painting as of Dec 21, 2024)

Here is my painting as it looked on December 21st.  I added a layer of blue wash to the sky, and continued the color over the purple mountains.  I painted into the pasted paper on the foothills.  I added pasted paper to brown area toward the lower part of the canvas, creating light and dark areas that I could see on my reference photo.  Getting there!  To be continued. . .

Colorado Front Range in Autumn (Painting as of Dec 20, 2024)

Here is my painting as of December 20th.  I had a bit more time that day, and was able to start applying some pasted paper to modify colors and shapes.  You can see this at the top line of the mountains, at the base of the brown foothills, and in general on the peach colored strip just below.  Still a lot to do, but this is getting closer to my plan.

Colorado Front Range in Autumn (Painting as of Dec 19, 2024)

On December 19, I continued working on this painting.  I toned down the yellow, going over it with a kind of golden apricot color that let some of that yellow show through.  I used a soft purple to paint in some mountains, and used a similar color for the road.  I put down a coat of pale blue for the sky, with some peach-colored clouds.  And of course, added red to the sun.  Although the brown areas look pretty rough, I left them alone for now because the color wasn't too far off. At this point, there was a lot to fix, but the color scheme was closer to what I wanted.  To be continued. . . .

Colorado Front Range in Autumn, painting as of December 18, 2024

I finally had a chance to begin this painting.  Although it was late in the day and nearly time to stop, I quickly applied a couple of "placeholder" colors to my sketch, just to indicate the shapes that I considered the most important in this composition:  the dark shadows and the strips of yellow light.  The colors you see here are not the final colors.  In the case of the yellow, not even close.  But it was good to get started.  To be continued. . .

Colorado Front Range in Autumn (Sketch on board) as of Dec 18, 2024

I was finally able to get this painting starred on December 18.  This is the sketch I made with blue conte crayon, working directly on the gesso board panel, working from my reference photo. 

View of Mill Through Window (Oil Bar) ready for trip to new home

I painted this in 2008 for a special solo show at the University of New Hampshire Graduate program in Manchester. The show was called "Mill and River." I took photos of the old mill buildings, and then created a series of oil bar paintings that were displayed  along with the photos.  This painting is very different from the rest, a view of a mill building seen through a window, the only interior view in the show. Today this painting is on its way to its new home in Tennessee. I had planned to just reseal the edges and spiff it up a bit before sending it, but of course I noticed one little line that was not quite straight.  And then another. So I decided to check and fixed all the lines. These were very small revisions but I think it was worth the effort and I was very happy with the result.  This is how it looked just before I wrapped it up for shipping.

Colorado Front Range in Autumn (Reference Photo)

Getting ready to paint!  I used Painter to modify the snapshot that I had chosen as inspiration for my next painting (see yesterday's post).  I cropped the photo to get the right proportions for my painting, and as I did so I eliminated the car's interior and the other car on the road, seen through the front windshield.  Then I used some cut and paste and digital pastel to get rid of some poles and power lines.  I did a little selective posterizing to cover my tracks, and then I was ready to print this out.

Colorado Front Range in Autumn (Photo), Inspiration for Painting

Time for another painting, and time to look for inspiration in my photo albums.  I found this image, a photo that I took from the passenger's seat on a trip back home to Colorado.  I am not sure of the year, but this was in the fall, sometime around 1990s, on a drive between Pueblo and Colorado Springs. Most of my trips home involve driving up and down the Front Range. I liked the bright strips of yellow light contrasting with the dark shadows.  I decided to base my next painting on this photograph.

Sixties Sunglasses (Digitally Restored Painting)

In early December, I finally quit procrastinating and unwrapped some old paintings of mine that have been stored in my basement for years and years.  We have had a few floods down there so I was expecting to see damage and I did, but instead of being upset about that, I was just overwhelmingly happy to see them again. Most of the damage is stray marks. The paintings are all acrylic and  I hope to restore them "in real life" but meanwhile I am cleaning them up digitally so I at least I will have good images of them.  I painted this one while I was in college in Colorado, either while I was at Southern Colorado State College in Pueblo or at the University of Colorado in Boulder. I think this one must be about 4 feet square. Possibly inspired by a curly haired cousin of mine. Anyway, it was lots of fun to see my paintings in the style (flat, colorfield paintings), especially because I drew from that style for my recent "Alice in Wonderland" project, "Teacups and Saucers."

Two Small Flower Drawings (Framed)

Here are my two small flower drawings as they looked on December 3 when I framed them.  They are now on display in the Small Works Show at Porter Mill Studios in Beverly, MA.

Comforted by Flowers (Drawing)

This is the second of two drawings that I started on November 30th, both small sketches of flowers made with Sharpie Creative Markers on paper.   This is how it looked finished on Dec 2nd. That day I added some more orange and red flowers to balance the composition.  Then I signed it and framed it so I could take it to Porter Mill Studios for the Small Works Show.  (It is 5.5 x 8.5 inches.)

The Courage of Flowers (Drawing)

This is the drawing that I started on November 30th, a little sketch of flowers made with Sharpie Creative Markers on paper.   I thought it needed a few more leaves, and then it was ready.  I signed it and framed it so I could deliver it to Porter Mill Studios for the Small Works Show.  (It is 5.5 x 8.5 inches.)