Where I Am, and Where I'll Be...

I'm pleased to announce that my painting, Self Portrait - 2024, will be on exhibit in the Visual Arts Alliance 40th Juried Open Exhibition from April 1- May 11. The opening reception is at The Jung Center, 5200 Montrose Blvd, Houston, Texas, 77006, on Wednesday, April 10th, from 6-8pm. The juror for the exhibition is Houston gallerist, Kerry Inman, and I consider it a huge honor to have had my work chosen by her for this exhibit. The Amazing Reese and I would love for y'all to join us at the opening reception!

Self Portrait - 2024 

In our life here in Texas, it's bluebonnet season, and we're enjoying the bluebonnets in particular, (see photo at top), but, really, all of the wildflowers are beautiful. We have been staying at a friend's ranch for a few days in Blanco, Texas, in anticipation of the total solar eclipse happening in a few hours, and we've thoroughly enjoyed the wildflowers, butterflies, and change of scenery. We'll be back in Houston for the exhibit, though, so come on by and see us. :)

At the Bus Stop

Sitting in the passenger seat of our car at the stoplight on the corner of Montrose and Westheimer in Houston, I saw this woman sitting at the bus stop. Her hands were constantly in motion, like she was trying to brush something off. She was keeping some sort of rhythm with her movements that only she could hear or feel.

"Art is beauty in ordinary moments." That's the opening line in my artist statement. This tiny moment, a snapshot in the life of someone I don't know, is just that -- a slice of rawness in an unexpected location that was beautiful to me. That's why I wanted to paint it. 

It's 24" x 30", oil on canvas. 

The Grey Scale

This fella was sleeping near the bottom of some stairs along Buffalo Bayou in the downtown Houston area, though it seems like it's a scene that could have been anywhere. That's the thing with homelessness, or whatever brand of outdoor living this is. I don't know this guy's story -- I don't know anything about him other than how seeing him there, vulnerable and oblivious, my eye was drawn to the composition and color scheme and the poignancy of his aloneness in the vastness of this city. 

This painting is 24" x 30" oil on cotton canvas. I usually paint on linen instead of cotton, so it's always interesting to see how the paint moves on a different surface as it is applied. There was a bit of a learning curve painting on cotton, which hopefully I'll remember as I have several more cotton canvases that someone gave me to use. I've already started the sketch on another cotton canvas so we'll see how the next one goes. :)

Self Portrait - 2024

Lately, instead of standing at the easel, I've been sitting in this green chair to paint. One day recently, while sitting at the easel, I noticed the harmony of the greenish blue shirt I was wearing, the soft blue of the walls, and the light reflecting onto and bouncing around my hair, and I knew that I had to paint what I saw. So, voila.

Self Portrait - 2024, oil on linen, 20" x 16"

And, it just so happens, over the years, when in between projects, or unsure of my place as an artist, or afraid of starting something new, or about to tackle something new, or any or all of it, I have come back, again and again, to painting my self portrait. It's a bravery exercise. It gets me back in the studio, back at the easel, back to mixing paints. It is a great motivator to shake the sticky cobwebs off my fingers and dust out the underutilized corners of my mind. 

The green chair very closely matches the color of spring happening right now outside the studio window. It's a happy thought.

Heart Health

Edit : Sorry for the confusion -- I was trying to do something on my blog and accidentally unpublished this blog post from January 31, 2012. I'm re-publishing it, but the original, THIS story was from 12 years ago. I guess I'm not as tech savvy as I thought. Oops. Thanks for being understanding. (It's going to really bother me that it's out of chronological order.)

February is heart health month. In that vein, this is the art heart I created for a member of the Circle of Red Society for the Go Red for Women portion of the American Heart Association.


I started working on this last summer, first with a practice sketch, and then on the giant heart itself. The front of the heart is very three dimensional, sort of like a wedding cake, which makes drawing on it rather difficult.


The back is a flat surface; much easier for drawing and painting. It's been a long process, but today it is finally going to its rightful owner. I couldn't be more delighted.