I think my on-going love of painting owls falls into the former category!

I’m calling this series, “Further Insight,” because owls have symbolized wisdom and mystery for many cultures and I like the punnish quality since these paintings are all centered around a single eye.

Hope you enjoy them!

It used to bug me, but I’ve decided to let them be for now. I realized while talking to a client recently where each style originates and it was kind of interesting.

I heard myself say, “These kinds of paintings happen when I take the lead (pointing to my more realistic paintings) and these kinds of paintings (pointing to my flatter, more abstracter style) emerge when I let the paintings take the lead.”

It’s true. And funny and weird. But really cool once I figured it out.

You see, most of the time I start painting with a clear idea in my head of what I want to achieve.

On a really, really good day, they come out looking something like this:

Which is great and I LOVE when that happens. Those kind of painting days makes being an artist feel really magical!

But on other days, usually when I have no idea of what to do, or I am really tired or uninspired, I’ll set up a canvas and say,”OK painting: what do you want me to do?” And I won’t make a move until an idea pops into my head.

And then I’ll do just that — put on a particular color, or shape, or what have you, and then I’ll stop and wait for the next suggestion. It can take a while but something always pops into my head. It’s important not to analyze or think about it too much.

I’ve done several paintings this way in the last couple of months, and I have to admit, at first they kind of scared me.

Because they were kind of, well, whimsical. Here I was trying to be a serious artist, digging down deep into my psyche and what comes out is — this? (see below)

To be honest, I was actually a little freaked out by them. In fact, I didn’t show these paintings to anyone for a while but when I did — people LOVED them.

More astonishingly, I’ve sold most of them.

And it occurred to me, later on, that it’s OK. After all, it’s not a bad thing to tap into my inner self and come up with playfulness, joyfulness, and innocence and yes, whimsy.

What was I expecting anyway!?!?

Does “deep” art have to be dark and full of angst? Why? Why did I think that? Who makes up these rules anyway???

This is from a new series I am working on. It's also about love.

Well, I’ve been waiting for confirmation on some big news and finally can tell you: my painting, “Capturer of Souls” (shown above) has become part of the permanent collection of the View Arts Center in Old Forge, New York! Whoo hoo!

I am very excited as this is my first permanent collection which feels like a big step in my career. Further collaborations with this wonderful place are in the works, so stay tuned!

Many, many thanks to Krissa Johnson and Gail Parker for making this happen.

Birds inspire me over and over again

Inspiration starts at home: Last weekend I had a chance to go kayaking in a local marsh which drains into a big lake near my home. The lake is pretty but lined with houses and often filled with loud speedboats. Since we thrive on peace and quiet more than speed and noise, my husband and I chose the marsh. It was meandering, empty of people, and surrounded by forests of trees in just-about-peak foliage. In other words, deeply soul-soothing.

This place where I live is inspiring. Most of my work, in one way or another, is an effort to celebrate it and preserve it. Nature feeds my spirit.

People inspire me too. I also spent part of last weekend visiting other artists who were part of the Monadnock Artists Open House Tour. I love seeing what other artists are doing and their unique spaces. I made a point of visiting Luann Udell — a very talented woman who lives in Keene, NH. Luann not only makes amazingly beautiful, animal-inspired jewelry and wall-hangings, she writes a great blog too. I have learned so much from her and am so appreciative of her sunny nature and positive outlook. AND she gave me one of the best hugs I have had in a while — so thank you Luann! You rock.

And of course wildlife. Obsessions can be unhealthy but I think it can also be the fuel that keeps your engines firing too. I find animals — both the wild and the mild ones — so incredibly fascinating. I can’t imagine living on this planet without them. This year I have been painting birds and wow — the shapes, the colors, the variety! Simply mesmerizing. Thank you great creator for birds and the many ways they have blessed my life.

One of the first ever in my backyard bird series.

I like to make note of the new moon every month – it’s considered a good time for beginning new projects. I’ve been spending a lot of time getting ready for my upcoming open studio and trying to create a thoughtful plan for the next year.

So my new moon goal will be to do some painting! It’s often surprising to me, even after all these years, how much time I spend not painting as an artist. There’s so much paperwork and promotional things and organizational stuff. Who knew?

But I have a window where I can get some painting done — I’m going to pick up an on-going series of backyard bird portraits I’ve done on and off over the past few years. Six to eight small paintings which I will hopefully get done in time for the annual small works/holiday season.

Now, if cold viruses, jury duty, and the beautiful fall weather can stop getting in the way, I can get back to work!

Just a quick note (I really really do want to get back to this on a regular basis but I’m already late for a meeting) — my 5th annual open studio will be held on Saturday and Sunday, October 22 and 23rd from noon to 4 pm both day!

Whew — just sent the files off for the postcard. If you are on my snail mail list, you’ll get one.

If not, click here and you can be.

Thanks for your time and interest and I’ll be in touch soon! I swear.

This is from a new series I am working on. It's ultimately about love, but then again, all of my work is!

Today is Valentine’s Day. I’ve been thinking about all the kinds of love I have in my life — and its quite humbling. I am incredibly blessed.

And I am so in love with being an artist. It feels like I won the lottery every day.

So here’s a poem that I often read before I start painting. It’s by an artist named Alex Grey whose work amazes me and kind of overwhelms me at the same time. But he has very inspiring thoughts, including these:

Artist’s Prayer

Creator of the Universe,
How infinite and astonishing
Are your worlds.
Thank you,
For your Sacred Art
And sustaining Presence.

Divine Imagination,
Forgive my blindness,
Open all my Eyes.
Reveal the Light of Truth.
Let original Beauty
Guide my every stroke.

Universal Creativity,
Flow through me,
From my heart
Through my mind to my hand,
Infuse my work with spirit
To feed hungry souls.

I hope you get to enjoy all the things you love today too!

Louie also finds the Internet such a great source of inspiration sometimes!

So I’m getting back into painting in a big way after (finally) my studio renovations are done, the holidays are over, and well — it’s what I want to do more than anything else. It’s more than a job — it’s my passion.

A recent Facebook discussion prompted me to recall a TED video I saw featuring Simon Sinek. He makes so much sense: To be successful in life or business or in your cause, Mr. Sinek says,  you need to know the “why” of what you do. Not the what or the how — which are usually pretty obvious. But to attract followers/customers/patrons — you need to let them understand WHY you do what you do.

He explains it so much better than I can: so click here to see the video. It’s totally worth the 18 minutes. It might even change your life!

It certainly has me thinking about why I paint what I paint. Yes I love animals. But it’s more than that. I find them mesmerizing. I am enthralled by their way of being. They changed my life — in many ways, I would not be an artist living in NH if I hadn’t run into a group of birders in Prospect Park in Brooklyn where I grew up. After seeing my first non-gull/house-sparrow/pigeon with the help of their binoculars — something inside me changed forever. An entirely different world revealed itself to me — a more enchanting, colorful, and hopeful world than the path I had been heading down. I changed everything — my job, my profession, most of my friends, my home, left my family behind — to pursue knowledge of this world. That was twenty years ago and I have never regretted one minute of it.

But is that my why? I don’t think it is, exactly. So I’m trying to explore more of those why’s in my art this year. Step one is clarifying it I guess!

I’ll keep you posted on what I come up with of course.

If you watch the video, let me know what you think — I’d love to hear how it inspires you!

PS: Thanks to Luann Udell who clued me into this gem!

Acrylic on panel, 18 x 24"

Fall is my busiest season for getting my art (and myself, really) out into the world. I really enjoy meeting the people who like my art — of course! And I love just being outside too, at this time of year. It truly is one of the most beautiful times of year to live in New Hampshire.
But the days are growing decidedly shorter — I must admit that I’m fairly obsessed with checking the amount of daylight in the newspaper. We are moving rapidly towards less than 10 hours from a high of 15+ in June. But I don’t really mind — like the black bears preparing for hibernation, I too am slowing down now that my annual open studio is over.

I’m even preparing a cozier den —  some very exciting renovation work begins next week in my studio. It’s going to be a lot of work but I’ll soon have a more comfortable floor, plumbing (!) and better storage. My plan is to really get back to painting in a big way come January. By then the light will be returning too, along with my focus. And to keep the metaphor going, just as many black bears will be giving birth in the deepest days of winter, I often find myself doing my most creative work too. I too hope to emerge in the spring with some new offspring —

In the meantime, I have a couple of freelance articles to write, my weekly painting class to teach, and a stack of books to read. Most of them are related to a brave new series I plan to start in the new year. I’m trying to take a more philosophical approach to the underlying story in my work.  I’ll try to post a review of at least one of the books soon!

"Nothing But Blue Skies III" acrylic on canvas 24 x 24." A recent painting experiment somewhat influenced by John Nieto and a previous painting I did a few years back.

So, I’ve always liked fall. Even though it’s been a long time since I was a student, I still fall into that “back-to-school” mentality. And fall is often my busiest time, so it fits well with the mindset.

This year, in addition to my open studio (October 16 & 17th), I have two other exhibits, two writing deadlines, a commission to complete, an art group retreat, and I start teaching an 8-week painting class. At times it makes me hyper-ventilate a bit, but it’s all good. It feeds my obsession for making lists and poring over my calendar.

AND: Almost everything will be done by November 1 (except the class) and then I plan to tackle a MAJOR clean out of my studio in preparation for some remodeling work I’m having done to make it more useable this winter. Which all leads up to my next favorite time of year — New Year! By then I will have carved out a huge amount of space and time to really really paint paint paint. It tends to be my most productive time (January — May) for getting work done, and I am trying hard to honor my natural cycles. It is also a slow season for sales for me so it works out pretty well.

Now what did I do with that paper bag?