The JOY of Eating Ice Cream

oil on linen, 16" x 20"

Oh, the joy of eating ice cream -- does life get any sweeter than this? This is one of those paintings that has been on the back burner for a while, that I wanted to finish before starting my next commission, kind of like making sure that my fingers, heart, and spirit are nimble enough to start the next thing. It is 16" x 20", oil on linen. 

In other news, yesterday was the opening of Masur Museum's 60th Annual Juried Competition exhibit in Monroe, Louisiana where one of my pieces, Three Girls will be on display until May 6th. Of the 1300 submissions for the competition, Three Girls was one of 72 works selected for the show. It was juried by Jovanna Venegas, assistant curator for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. (!) The opening reception is on March 9th from 5:30-7:30pm. The Amazing Reese and I will be there for the opening reception and welcome anyone to join us if you happen to live anywhere near Monroe, Louisiana. (I'm so delighted that my precious parents are going to drive over from Jackson, Mississippi to attend the opening!)

Three Girls, oil on linen, 24" x 36"

The First Picnic

Our church is making a concerted effort to be a good neighbor to the surrounding community. One of the ways we're doing that is through an initiative called the "traveling table" -- where church members take an actual picnic table to a nearby apartment complex, and host a meal for the residents there. 

The Amazing Reese and I are on one of the teams going to a specific complex with a traveling table (that our group designed and painted -- see the photo below) and sharing a meal with the people who live there. The idea is to have a few "picnics" over a period of a few months and get to know the people there with no strings attached. 

Our first picnic was great. The traveling table was laden with an abundance of food. The area around the picnic table, near the manager's office, was quiet at first. Gradually, though, residents came out of their apartments and joined us for an hour or so. We all chatted, and ate, and played cornhole. It was fun. We had our second picnic last weekend, comprised of assorted crock pots of chili, cornbread, and smores by the fire pit for dessert. We'll start planning our third picnic soon. 

In conjunction with the literal picnic table that we painted, the church commissioned a painting (by yours truly) to go along with the "traveling table" theme. The idea is that the church wanted to have a visual reminder for us to live lives of hospitality toward our neighbors. 

This is how I interpreted that concept.

The title of the painting is The First Picnic. It's large, 30" x 40" and oil on linen.  

It just so happens that the first place our painted traveling table went was to the apartment complex on the other side of the wall that is depicted in the painting (behind the trees). 

The First Picnic, oil on linen, 30" x 40" 

There is a place waiting for you at the table, and extra food in the basket. All are welcome.

Editor's note: I've been sitting on this story for a while. The painting itself took a few months to complete, and then I had to wait to say anything about it until the painting was officially "unveiled" at church, which happened this morning. 

It was a challenge to paint -- in essence, it's ten portraits and a landscape with a little still life thrown in for fun. The people in the painting graciously agreed to pose for me one day after church last fall at which time I took over 100 reference photos. It took a while to sketch. And for continuity and harmony in the piece, I changed the colors of some of the clothes. 

The Local

Every now and then, a friend will post a photo on social media that I'm sure will make for an interesting painting. This was one of those photos. My friend Lorna with Atlas Adventure Trips took the pre-pandemic reference photo several years ago while on a trip in Purmamarca, Argentina. She graciously let me use her image for this painting. 

The monochromatic colors in Lorna's original photo intrigued me. The dirt and rocks in the mountains surrounding the town (according to Google images) are these same colors. It's almost as if the old man is made of the same clay and rocks, which of course reminds me of the latter part of Genesis 3:19....for dust you are and to dust will you return, which, incidentally, is why I don't dust -- it might be someone I know. ;)

The painting is 16" x 20" oil on canvas. 

 

The Neighbor

The Neighbor

As I've been cleaning house and going through old files and documents, emails and photos,  I rediscovered this photo taken at a friend's wedding over 10 years ago, which had been saved to use for a painting some day. Our friends have three kids now and a middle schooler to boot, so it's safe to say that this painting has been sitting on the back burner for a while. Honestly, this would never have come to fruition had I not been going through dusty old files and throwing things away left and right. 

It's 14" x 18", oil on linen.