Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Happy Holidays

What a busy few months.  I took an art class at the Concord Art Association.  It was fun and inspired me to try new things.  It's always a challenge to figure out what I am doing in a class, to get my bearings.  I am better working in my studio.  This class set things in motion and I came home with new ideas and energy each week that I followed through on.  I also participated in the Acton Farmer's Market Holiday Fair.  I keep telling myself that I am going to take time off and relax.  Then I am presented with an opportunity and can't resist taking it on.  Today though, I promise to take a nap!!!  Here is what I was selling at the fair.  Collage boxes and blocks.  In the background, what I made as a result of the class, playing with cardboard.  Something I've never tried before.

Happy Holidays to all.


Friday, November 18, 2016

Here's to New Adventures

I had a wonderful Artist Reception on October 28.  I am grateful to family and friends who attended.  It is a bit overwhelming but great fun to be seen as a working artist.  Life presents so many opportunities and if we open to them, we can go on many adventures.  This is my newest journey and I am exploring and expanding with each step.  I continually challenge myself and it is not always comfortable to do so yet I am impelled to keep moving on.  My brain needs to be stimulated and making art brings me to my highest heights.  I drink in the colors and patterns and my endorphins go crazy.  I may struggle with a piece but when it comes together it is such a wonderful feeling of completion and connection.  My next journey is into the world of teaching.  I will be running a collage block workshop on Sunday, December 11 at Artists Corner Gallery.  Here is the link to the website and pictures of what we will be doing.  Keep moving forward and allow yourself to adventure out.

www.artistscorner.gallery/workshops


Sunday, October 23, 2016

Focus

Open Studios was last weekend and it was an uplifting experience.   I had a whole wall filled with my work and it was a bit overwhelming and exciting to see how far I have come.  A number of people asked about my process and expressed their desire to get back to their own artwork that got neglected along the way.  As I have said many times, it is so easy to get taken over by life and it takes focus and determination to pursue any interest that has meaning for you.  Believe me, there are times when I have to push myself into my studio, then once I am there, I am so happy.  Though I know some artists who say that they must do something every day, even if its for five minutes.  I'm best when I have a deadline, whether self-imposed or external.  Next Friday evening I will be hosting a gallery reception at Reasons To Be Cheerful, 110 Commonwealth Avenue, West Concord, 6:30-8:30.  Please feel free to drop in for hors d'oeuvres, wine and some colorful work.  Here is a photo of my wall:


Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Moving Forward

Now I am in the thick of it!  Open Studios are this weekend - actonopenstudios.org and www.youtube.com/watch.  I will be at the Artist Corner and Gallery, 566 Mass. Avenue, Acton - 12-5 Saturday and Sunday.  On Friday evening, October 28, I am having an artist reception along with Rozsi Moser at Reasons To Be Cheerful, 110 Commonwealth Avenue, Concord, from 6:30-8:30.  Our work is colorful and uplifting so please do come and feel free to bring a friend.  So much to do.  I am having fun mounting my work on wood panels.  It presents a whole new dimension.  I have been working feverishly to get things done and along the way have allowed myself to let go of what I am not satisfied with and reconfigure the piece or concept.  What I have ended up with has pleased me because I did not allow myself to become blocked.  I just relaxed into the process and moved forward. 





Monday, September 19, 2016

Dare to Try

It's a warm, rainy day and I am home with my sweet dog Chloe.  I am getting ready for a gallery reception and have to hang my work next week though the reception isn't until the end of October.  I am challenging myself to put out work that is different from what I have been doing.  And in between, working on personal projects.  My granddaughter is turning one in a few weeks.  When my daughter turned one, I bought her a beautiful little wrought iron chair from an antique store.  I saved it. My husband cleaned it up and painted it and I made new pillows.  It came out just the way I had hoped.  Sewing is always tricky for me because I never make the same thing twice and all the measuring is annoying to me.  It's always a battle with lots of ripping out and redoing.  I never am sure if what I am working on will come out looking at all like what I picture in my head.  It's like that when I bake as well.  Too much measuring and following instructions.  Cooking is a more creative endeavor for me and I can experiment.  That's why I enjoy collage and abstract painting. There is no recipe,  I don't have to know what the result will be, and I just flow with it.  Well, this is a ramble!  I guess the theme here is dare to try new things and enjoy your creativity.  So, here is Anika's  chair.  I hope this will be passed down to her little girl.




Monday, September 5, 2016

Letting Go

It was a wonderful summer and now I am back in my life.  It is clear to me that I need structure.  One month away was enough for me.  It was filled with family, friends, beach time and lobster.  I was also able to take a fabulous three day book making workshop.  I loved it.  I had summer art goals that I actually met and now I am getting ready for an open studio and a gallery reception, both in October.   Oh yes, and both my grandchildren's birthdays, an apple picking party that I am re-instituting, an Art Garfunkle concert, my 39th anniversary weekend and who knows what else?  I learned a lot about myself this summer, it was empowering.  Mostly it was about trusting myself, honoring myself and letting go of residual fears and life regrets.  I thought I had already figured this out but I went deeper and feel as if I came fully into myself. I learned more clearly how to take a step back and breathe through the rough spots and then let go.  Worrying and holding onto anxt does not serve any purpose.  I remember telling a client who worried a lot to save all his worries up and sit down each evening for 1/2 hour and then allow himself to worry.  The next week when he came in, I asked how it had gone.  He said he didn't do it because it seemed stupid and a waste of time.  "That's the whole point" I replied.  So let go and free yourself up!!!

Take a look at some of what I did this summer:

Paste Painting


 Paste Painting

 Books


Book Sculpture

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Happy Summer

Summer is flying by, as it usually does.  I have done some work, not as much as I had hoped to.  I will be in Maine for the month of August and hope to have some free time to sit on my porch, listen to music and paint.  I have an Open Studio and a show in the fall - both in October.  It is always a bit of a struggle for me.  Do I want to exhibit or do I just want to work when I want to and not put myself out there?  There are positives and negatives to both.  Participating in shows forces me to do the work and keeps me connected to other artists.  When I am working, I am enjoying myself.  It is very easy to get caught up in daily life and then time goes by and nothing gets done.  So that is my dilemma.  I am sure it is a common one.  I guess my answer is I will keep doing what I am doing (shows I mean) until I don't want to do them anymore.  When I was younger, I wanted to be rich and famous (like the movie Rich and Famous).  Now, I just want to enjoy myself.  Happy rest of the summer.  See you in the fall.

Thursday, June 30, 2016

Making The Effort

I am really making an effort to get to my art space and work during the week, even if it's only for an hour at a time.  I always feel so good when I do a piece of work.  I find this is especially true when I am feeling anxious or stressed.  Creating calms me.  So does being with my grandchildren.  I am fortunate to have such great passions.  I will share a bit.  I was holding Ari and singing to him - "You are my sunshine, etc. which ends with "Please don't take my sunshine away."  He lifted his head and in a soft voice said to me "I won't take your sunshine away.  It doesn't get any sweeter than this.  Happy Fourth.


Jai

Monday, June 20, 2016

Lost in Space

I have been lost in time and space.  I did not realize that it has been so long since I posted.   Posting weekly is becoming more and more difficult as the weather improves and I begin spending more time in Maine.  I am hoping to bring my art supplies up this summer so that on long weekends in July and especially during August, when I am there for the month, I can sit outside on my porch and paint.  That is, if friends are not visiting or my grandchildren are not with me.  For when the children are around, nothing gets accomplished except lots of playtime, laughter, hugging and exhaustion!  Yesterday when I asked my 2 1/2 year old grandson to help me clean up his toys, he said "No.  I'm sitting."  Then he moved his little chair closer to me and said "Nana clean up.  I'll watch."  What can you do but laugh???  Here is a little piece I finished last week.






Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Pushing Through

I have been missing in action for a few weeks.  The class I have been taking, and completed, was all consuming.  This was without doubt the most challenging art experience I have ever had - and the most rewarding in so many ways.  It was a true grit experience.  It was a course that integrated technique, color theory and composition, and required that we trust our intuition.  Each week we learned a new concept and then had to produce six finished pieces, then post and blog about them.  There were times when I thought my brain would explode.  There were times when I felt that I was doing it all wrong and could not grasp what it was I was supposed to be doing differently.  There were times when I just wanted to quit.  But I didn't.  I persevered because my passion for the work superseded my fears and frustrations.  I came away with a clearer sense of myself as an artist and feel so much more inspired to explore my work.  I am exhausted but excited about sitting down again to continue to develop and create.  Pushing through anything in life will always lead you to a more evolved sense of self.  Here is a sample of the monoprint/collage work:






Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Reflections

I have a BIG birthday coming up in July and have been doing a lot of processing about my life so far.   Some decades just arrive, barely noticed because of the busyness of daily life.  Others rear their heads and demand attention.  This is one decade that has been insisting that I stop, look and listen.  It seems to correspond to this weeks art lesson.  I am doing small studies using monoprint and collage.  I've had to pay close attention to white space, values, texture, shapes, composition and elemental relationships.  The assignment moved me into thinking about how I allow for balance in my life, how I give myself breathing room, what is meaningful to me, how I've learned to let go of clutter (thoughts, feelings, people, things), the value of my relationships, and how colorful or stimulating my life is.  All these questions came up for me as I was working.  My internal response is that I am exactly where I want to be at this point in time.  I've always felt that I was ten years behind myself.  It took  a while to figure it all out but now, I believe I've caught up.  How interesting that my art studies challenged me and then encouraged me to evaluate where I am at this point in time.  Rather than dreading this next birthday, I will welcome and honor the energy it took to get here and the wisdom I've achieved that is allowing me to appreciate all the gifts I have been given.  Here are a few of the studies.  Nothing major but certainly got my internal juices flowing!






Saturday, April 23, 2016

So Much To Do

So much to do this week and I am moving quickly from one activity to the next.  On one hand, that's a great thing because everything is interesting to me.  However, I am feeling overstimulated.  I had my grandchildren one day, I worked at The Manse (a historic house in Concord), did homework for my art class, and prepared for the Passover seder at my home tonight.  Most every week is filled to capacity.  We live the life we create for ourselves, so be sure that it's the life you want to be living.   You can always reassess.  Now I have to run to the market.  Here is my favorite piece of art for the week:

Ari and Anika at Artfest

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Flourishing

"Imagine starting your life's work at seventy-two".  This is from The Paper Garden, a biography of Mary Granville Pendarves Delaney, by Molly Peacock.  In 1772, at the age of seventy-two, Mrs. Delaney discovered the art of working with papers and created collage art.  She made the most gorgeous collage flowers, so lifelike that at first glance, people thought they were real.  She was a fascinating woman who led quite an amazing life in England and Ireland.  Until now, it was Grandma Moses who was my role model.  She began painting at the age of fifty-seven.  I've passed that age and now have a new role model.  It is never too late,  and you are never too old to explore new vistas and to discover new facets of yourself.  I am at a most exciting next chapter in my life.  I have little babies to play with and my art to passionately dive into.  As Peacock says "A life's work is always unfinished and requires creativity till the day a person dies.  Even if you've managed major accomplishments throughout your life and don't really need a model for making a mark, you do need one for enriching an ongoing existence."  I pass this along because I so strongly believe that life is constantly unfolding and if you engage, you will flourish.

 Rosa gallica - Mary Delaney


 I have just begun another wonderful Jane Davies on-line workshop.  This one is monoprint collage.  I had to make collage papers using the gelli plate and here are a few examples:


Also, take a look at my pinterest page: https://www.pinterest.com/jsrd2/.  I finally figured out how to post my own art.  See, it's never too late!

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Posting Comments

Several people have told me that the site wouldn't allow them to comment and I did not know why.  I got a consult and fixed the problem.  I'd love to hear from you.

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Mentoring

I had a wonderful workshop experience last Wednesday at the Artists Corner & Gallery in West Acton with Jane Davies.  Jane is a joyful teacher and has been my mentor over the last five years. The definition of a mentor is "an experienced and trusted advisor" and that, she is.  A few years ago I signed up for a one of her online workshops and was not quite sure I ought to be in such an advanced class.  There were artists from literally all over the world - Russia, France, England, and the U.S.  I sent Jane an e-mail asking if she thought I was up to this.  Her response was "Yes, of course you belong in this group.  Jane believed in me and in my potential.  I think this was beginning of my truly seeing myself as an artist.  When someone believes in you, it nudges you into beginning to believe in yourself.  I experienced this as a clinician as I supported and nurtured the people I worked with and saw them flourish and now, in my new incarnation as an artist, I am fortunate to have someone I admire and respect nurture my endeavors.  Mentoring actually goes both ways.  As you give knowledge and support and see someone's growth, you derive pleasure and satisfaction in having been a part of their process.  The unexpected gift is that you learn from them as well as they present new and different perspectives.

Don't forget ArtFestII this coming weekend at The Gallery at Villageworks in West Acton.  I visited the space we will be in the other day and it is lovely - open, light and airy.  There are ongoing art exhibits there.  Here are two of the pieces I will be showing:


 Maya
Acrylic/Collage



Six Vases
Acrylic/Collage

Monday, March 28, 2016

ArtFestII

Busy getting ready for ArtFest April 9 & 10.  There are so many details to take care of - finishing work, getting things framed, matting pieces that are smaller, and packaging them in sleeves, making labels, e-mailing, getting flyers ready, etc, etc.  I think it will be great fun and I look forward to spending two days with other artists.  Usually when I do an open studio, I am home and people come in and out but it is not a shared experience.  I am also attending a Jane Davies workshop on Wednesday and am so looking forward to seeing her.  I am beginning an online workshop with her in a few weeks and know that will certainly be inspiring.  The other thing I am beginning to delve into is Zentangle.  I have heard of this process but never tried it.  Quite interesting and not as easy as I would like.  It is about drawing intricate patterns and designs and requires patience.  Drawing is not my forte so this will be a something I will have to spend time with.  I've done a few designs but see that I have a lot to learn.  Here is the information about ArtFestII:


Thursday, March 17, 2016

Create for Yourself

I'm in production mode this week getting ready for ArtFest2 to be held April 9 & 10 in West Acton.  Please take a look at the Facebook page.  There are wonderful artists in the area who will be displaying their work.  There is also a new brew pub in the building so you can get a beer and a bite to eat afterwards.  I will post more as we get closer to that weekend.  I'm not usually as consumed with art making as I have been of late.  I know a number of artists who create full-time.  They go into their studios and work an eight hour day.  They teach and have gallery shows and are fully immersed in their work and I admire that spirit that drives them.  For me, a three hour journey into my work is a great accomplishment and if I get into my studio more than twice a week, I am thrilled.  I recently had a conversation with a fellow artist who talked about reading everything she could about art and observing everything around her for inspiration.   This is the world inside her head and I very much respect this.  I might have felt intimidated or that I wasn't doing enough in my own art practice yet I realized that for her, art is her primary focus.  For me, art is my outlet, my grounding place and what I do to fulfill a creative yearning.  It is an important part of my life, not my focus.  I mention this because I also speak with artists who feel guilty because they don't get work done for weeks at a time, or don't feel they are committed enough to the process.  Often my husband will come home in the evening and ask if I've done any artwork that day.  I finally asked him to stop asking because if I say "no" then I feel guilty, as if I've failed in some way and should be doing more.  The time I devote to my work fulfills a need for me.  Sometimes, I need a lot of time in my studio, other times I am caught up in other activities that are equally as important to me.  I have to remind myself that I am creating for myself and that I need to let go of the "shoulds".

  Here is a new piece that feels very different for me.





Monday, March 7, 2016

Kickstarting

What a busy few weeks this has been.  My intent is to blog weekly, however,  I had no opportunity last week.  I am getting ready for ArtFest in April and will write more about this next time.  This past weekend I attended a workshop given by Adria Arch, an artist I wrote about in an earlier post.  The topic was about how to move forward when you are stuck.  It was an intense and useful workshop. What I came away with (yet again) is that I need to relax more into my work and be present with it instead of trying to produce a finished product.  I don't know that I will ever be totally free from that inner voice that prompts me to be the best, do the best, etc. but I certainly was able to do this by the end of the weekend.  One of the exercises was to do a series and make up rules about the series.  So, my rules were: 1) Use black in each piece because I rarely use black 2) Each piece had to have a circle and a curved line 3) As the work evolved, a new rule was to add a turquoise line 4) Each piece would have red dot in a bottom corner.  Simple.  And it was!  I produced six pieces in two and a half hours and did not feel stuck at all.  In fact, it freed me and I found this very counter intuitive.  I moved quickly from piece to piece, then would go back into a piece and add something, a color, a line that felt right.  It was great fun.  Although I am an intuitive painter, I also like structure and this provided both for me.  What is most important, and the theme for the workshop, is that I shut down the critic in my head.  It was a very interesting exercise.


Wednesday, February 24, 2016

The Unexpected

Life is unexpected.  You think you are making a right turn, then suddenly, you are going left.  This goes for both positive and negative events.  When I began this art journey, it was for my own pleasure and learning.  I am a person who usually sets a goal for myself, envisions what I want to happen and then I move forward.  I often make vision boards as a part of this process.  So imagine my surprise when the day before I left for vacation I met with Rozsi Moser, co-owner of Artists Corner & Gallery in Acton and she asked to have the gallery represent my work!  She took four pieces and my collage cards.  Having my work in a gallery was never an expectation and suddenly, here I am.  I must say, it is very exciting.  I was introduced to Rozsi through Jane Davies my mentor and friend.   I spoke about Jane in an earlier blog.  Our connections with people are so very important.  What I would like to share here are two things, the first being vision boards.  They absolutely work.  When you want to create something in your life, you need to envision it.  Making a vision board is one way to move your wish into a reality.  Decide what you want to happen then go through magazines and cut out words and pictures that resonate with you.  Take those cut outs and paste them to a board or just a piece of construction paper.  The collage you create will embody what it is you desire.  Put the board up in a place in your home or office and look at it several times a day.  It could take a week, a month, maybe even a year for things to develop.  Be patient and keep believing.  The second share is that when I brought some work into the gallery last week, Rozsi's partner Margaret was there.  She suggested that I bring in smaller pieces that I could mat myself.  They would be original and would be more affordable.  I thought this was a great idea.  I came home and looked through the piles of work I have and saw so many larger pieces that were not complete but if I cut them down, they made great smaller originals.  Here is an example.  Try it and have fun.



     11x14
5x7












Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Letting Go

I've returned to reality - wind chill minus something my first day back.  The coldest day in Boston since the 1950's, though today is going to be in the 50's.  However, I am in a good frame of mind having had a wonderful break and I came back with a nice suntan.  We were in the Sarasota area for two weeks on a lovely little island and found so much to do, especially museums.  Take a look at these pictures from the Chihuly Museum in St. Petersburg.  The colors are stimulating, exciting, and happy.   I went to the exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston a few years ago and could not resist seeing it again.  We also went to the Dali Museum and took a docent tour.  Dali is an extraordinary artist and having someone point out all the details in his work that I never really saw before made it so much more meaningful. The whole trip was like this, clarifying.  I understood more about my need for stimulation and then how to take a step back and allow myself to regulate to a slower pace. I discovered that I don't have to be stimulated, active and purposeful every minute of the day.  It was a pleasant insight and I learned to flow a little better.   I'm hoping I can stay more in touch with this part of myself.  Life is demanding and we all get caught up in the "doing".    Here is one way to clear out the clutter in your head.  Sit still and allow internal demands to come up (i.e. "I should be, I should do ...." whatever your "shoulds" are).  Give yourself permission to literally breathe out these thoughts. Then replace the undermining thoughts with a positive message ("I am okay, I feel good about...").  It's simple and takes only a few minutes.  Trust me, it works.  I hope you enjoy the pictures.












Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Following Through

It really takes energy and focus to commit to getting things done.  I recently had a conversation with another artist about this.  She said she has two art spaces in her house and all the materials she needs and time to paint but finds it difficult to actually motivate herself to sit down and work.  Another friend said she just procrastinates and then the day is over and she has not gotten to what she had planned to do.  Twelve years ago I decided to write a book.  I had an idea and made a schedule for myself.  Every Monday would be my writing day and I did not veer from this commitment   It took a year to complete.  I found that creating a routine actually worked.  I suggested to my artist friend and she choose one day a week to do her artwork and if it led to more art time during the week, then great. If not, then at least she would have the satisfaction of following through on that one day.  It feels great to complete what you set out to do.  It doesn't have to be a big thing.  It could be setting aside time to read a book, or calling that friend you've been meaning to contact.  It's about setting up a goal for yourself and then when you've completed this one goal, move on to the next goal.  A wise mentor taught me this.  When you don't complete what you think you want to be doing, you start feeling guilty and then frustrated and it diminishes self-esteem.  My goals for this week were to complete a piece that I was working on and to blog.  It took several days to figure out how to fix what I didn't like about it and required plugging along.  Now that it's is done,  I feel a sense of accomplishment and am on to my next goal - packing for a two week vacation in the sun.  I don't like to pack.  I obsess about it but am determined to finish by tonight.  I leave on Saturday, so yes, I am a bit OCD.   It's only Wednesday.  Oh well.  We all have our little quirks.  Here's what I did. 



Friday, January 15, 2016

Another Life Lesson

I was working on a piece last week that I thought I might submit to a show.  I knew it needed more work but I wanted an outside opinion so I showed it to my husband.  Not a great idea.  The feedback was that there was too much bright color and it needed to be toned down.   Color, lots of it, bright, rich, full of flavor color is what I respond to, what moves me, what excites me.  For some reason, I didn't trust my intuition about the piece and I changed it into something that was not at all a reflection of me.  So I kept working at it and trying to perfect it.  I ended up feeling frustrated and annoyed with myself.  Should I cut it up, I wondered, throw it out, set it on fire?  Well, that's a bit dramatic.   Today, I sat down again and decided to just play and not worry about the outcome.  This was for me and it needed to flow from me.  I took the pressure off myself.  This was not going to be for a show, or for someone elses' approval.  Yet another reminder about trusting myself,  listening to my own voice, and trusting my own inner wisdom.  I transformed the piece that was initially blocking me and what I came up with felt right for me.  I don't know if it is finished, but it was fun to create and it's all mine.




One of the revisions that I did not like


What I ended up with






Thursday, January 7, 2016

Open A New Window

Yesterday I attended a workshop given by Adria Arch on how to use Golden paint products.  Adria is a gifted artist and the day was great fun.  What was most exciting was that I came away with some wonderful insights.  I began my journey as an artist over ten years ago when my friend Judi taught me about stamping.  That evolved into taking a multitude of classes and workshops over the years including collage, print making, painting, abstract art, composition, color and design, etc.  It all felt risky to me, scary and often uncomfortable.  Art making is a very personal experience and when you take classes, people look at your work and teachers give feedback.  I kept on pushing myself to learn and to stay open to the learning and to the discomfort and the feeling that compared to others I was studying with, I was not nearly on their level.  My first collage teacher, Joan, would tell those of us in her class to think of ourselves as artists.  I never could accept that concept.  Yesterday, when I walked into the workshop, who did I find there?  Joan!  What a funny feeling to be taking a workshop with her as an equal.  At the beginning of the day, Adria mentioned that she was excited to be teaching this workshop to experienced artists.  As I sat next to my former teacher, I smiled within because now I do see myself as an artist.  I do feel confident in my abilities.  I still get stuck, I still feel fearful at times when I don't like what I've produced or don't know where to go next.  The difference is that I do know what to do when I find myself in these places and based on the foundation I've built, I know I will eventually move forward.  I don't know it all and intend to keep on learning.  This is one of the things I love so much about being an artist.  It is a never-ending learning process and can never be routine.  I am developing new neural pathways.  That's what happens when you open to new experiences.  You grow.  New things are always challenging, and can create fearful feelings.  But as Auntie Mame sang (I hope some of you know who this is) "Open a new window, open a new door, travel a new highway that's never been tried before."  The gift is that when you take the risk, you change the status quo and you evolve.  You may decide that you are not so good at something or don't really enjoy it but that does not matter.  What is important is that you've tried it and that is a good beginning.  Maybe the next thing you try will turn into your passion.

Here are a few workshop pictures.


Adria's studio in Arlington




Playing with Golden's Micaceous Iron Oxide

Sunday, January 3, 2016

New Beginnings

Well, here I am blogging!  I've thought about doing this for years and I guess now is the time.  Art & More will be about my artwork and whatever life experiences I might like to talk about.  I was a psychotherapist for over 30 years and eleven years ago, I began to explore the artist within.  I didn't even know she existed and now she has become an integral part of me.  I studied for five years at the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, Mass. and then went on to work with a wonderful artist, Jane Davies. She has inspired me, supported me and pushed me to places I didn't have the slightest idea I could go.  Now I am displaying my work in open studios, art galleries and have sold a number of pieces.  It is so affirming and exciting to keep on growing and developing oneself.  It is great fun to have a next act in life.  When I retired a few years ago, I was concerned that I would become bored.  Well, then came along two precious grandchildren, volunteer work that is interesting and stimulating, exercising, meditating and painting.  I am anything but bored.  Some days I am overstimulated!  It is essential as we age to stay involved, informed, and connected.  I will be posting some my work and hope you enjoy what I have to share.


SAURA


PURPLE UMBRELLA


SCRIBBLE SCRABBLE




SPRING



WAITING



6 VASES