Judy Gilbert Levey Art

Color Portrait

2012-02-15T09:41:00.000-08:00

I went after color very aggressively in this painting, completely enjoyed doing it.

The Height of Idiocy

2012-02-14T07:47:00.001-08:00

Well, it's clear to me now that the height of idiocy is 7 feet. The challenge of working with a tall painting continues. I worked today on the painting while it was lying on its side across an easel. I had to think through the direction of my brushstrokes as they'd appear when the painting was upright. I also found myself unable to be sure what the result would look like until I got the painting upright again. I could, though, see a lot of areas where the paint needed work that were impossible to detect when it was standing.

So after working for a while, I flipped the painting back up. Not something easy at all and I don't think I'm going to do that more than once again in my tight space. Time to see how the painting dries and how it looks when I can get it actually flat against a taller wall (right now it's got bends where the canvases connect since the ceiling is too low).

Pattern Painting

2012-02-13T10:56:00.000-08:00

I felt like I had nothing to lose today -- last day with this pose and a painting that needed something. I picked up patterns from other fabrics in the room and painted them into the wall and drapery. The pattern on her jacket and the vase were there, but I hadn't really gone into them before. The painting session was over and I'd neglected to fix her too-long, too-stiff arm... so I have to fix that before calling this one done.

Monument, Sideways

2012-02-09T10:21:00.000-08:00

I had to turn the painting sideways today -- it was clear that I couldn't really paint lying on the floor to get the bottom third. Why did I now have to find out that my studio is so small that I can barely have the 7ft painting on its side?

Sideways, I can see areas where the paint's too thin or needs color adjustment since I can light the surface more evenly than I could floor-to-ceiling.

3rd Day Progress

2012-02-08T09:02:00.000-08:00

Trying another approach to painting the model, Lise. I think I'm getting there.

Soft Portrait

2012-02-06T08:59:00.000-08:00

The model was a bit late so I mixed up colors before she came. I was happier with the color overall, but I think I scraped out the image 3 times... maybe a 4th was in order.

Start of Something Big! The Washington Monument

2012-02-03T11:21:00.000-08:00

This is an exhilarating experience! I've painted a large mural outdoors before, but it's been a while since I've dealt with a big, wide brush and huge gobs of paint. My 7 ft tall Washington Monument is coming along.

I'm working from a sketch I did which had -- wrong! -- the stone of the monument whiter at the top. It's not -- the "white" marble is two colors and the top is definitely a yellower stone. I'm going to play with the color a bit as this painting progresses.

The limitations of my set up: I am up on a step stool to paint the upper part and I've gotten just a bit of paint on the ceiling since the canvas is wedged up against it. I have to get onto the floor to paint the bottom. I've been thinking I could separate the canvases so I could work on them all at normal height, but I need to see the work as a whole, so I will suffer for art.

7 ft Ceiling

2012-02-02T13:56:00.000-08:00

Next time I decide to assemble a 7ft tall triptych, I will think first about the height of the ceiling in my studio. The sketch of the Washington Monument alongside the canvas is what I'll be working from to make this painting.

Looser, Softer

2012-02-01T09:44:00.001-08:00

We've got this model again for 3 more sessions. I'm going to keep working on making new paintings, looser, softer each time.

Model with Parasol, Update

2012-01-30T09:57:00.000-08:00

I spent some time today working on improving the likeness in the face to our model. I had taken out all the umbrella spokes, only to find I needed to add them back in again for the painting to work. The parasol is smaller and I think this is worked up enough.

After calling it quits on the portrait, I did a small sketch of the pose.

A Monumental Project

2012-01-27T14:22:00.001-08:00

I have a show in September at the Foundry Gallery and I've decided to paint large canvases. It seemed to make some sense to paint monuments in monumental sizes. I'm planning on a 7 ft tall Washington Monument, a 6 ft wide Jefferson Memorial, that kind of thing.

I started sketching today. I'm having a grand time on the small versions and wondering how successful I'll be making them into large scale paintings. I did a tiny 3 x 5 painting of the Lincoln Memorial, using a penny as my reference and some shiny copper paint. A magnifying glass would have been helpful, I'm not sure that I'll try to turn that one into a full-size work. The 8 x 12 Washington Monument, though, which I painted from a vision in my head, just might work. I have to get out when the sun's shining, I hope in early morning, to get down some more sketches of possible subjects for these paintings.

Model with Parasol

2012-01-25T09:21:00.001-08:00

Painting of a Backache

2012-01-18T09:14:00.001-08:00

Our model in the studio today was asked if he wanted to take a break mid-morning. His answer was, "no, I'm fine, but does anyone have any Advil?"

Cake Baking

2012-01-10T09:19:00.000-08:00

I don't paint in "series" and I don't cook every day (although there are those who would like me to!). Today I had to bake a cake and while the ingredients had to come to room temperature, I figured I might as well paint them. I am using a cookbook stand as an easel!

I think they came to room temperature quite some time ago! I kind of lost myself in making this loose painting of little touches of color, no drawn shapes. Time to bake the cake. I'll have to work on a little refinement --not too much -- later on.

Fresh Pasta Painting

2012-01-10T06:44:00.000-08:00

Here's the final outcome. I played around with warming and cooling the foreground and background, simplifying shapes and then adding in more complexity... the result is that the paint is thick and highly textured.

Breaking Painter's Block

2012-01-09T08:11:00.000-08:00

For the past few weeks I have been fighting "painter's block" and lacking the spark I needed to get a painting started. Finally combining tonight's dinner -- fresh pasta -- with a painting set up seemed to do the trick today. I was getting out the ingredients when the gleam of the metal bowl, warm color of the brown eggs and pyrex greenish glass looked like a painting to me.

Island Painting

2012-01-02T07:02:00.001-08:00

I once again struggled with interactive acrylics on a beach vacation -- this time my problem was a palette the size of a baseball. Way too small for any real mixing of paint. I think -- in my dream life where I have time for this -- I should be spending time before vacation mixing this paint to see how it's going to work out and then I'll be able make my quick beach sketches work out a bit better.

Deconstructing Buildings

2011-12-11T10:06:00.001-08:00

I haven't gotten to resolve much of the right side yet ... and the reflections in the 2-story window/stairwell in the minty green building are way off, but my main concern at this point is breaking down the building shapes to up the abstraction level. This is definitely more complex than painting problems I usually confront, which I hope I'll think is a good thing by the time I finally finish this.

Working on the Bethesda painting

2011-12-09T07:44:00.000-08:00

As I'm playing around with color in this painting, I'm also planning the painting that's going to be next to it -- there's a minty green building which housed Gallery Neptune that's just out of view ... and I'm going to paint it and looking a bit to the west in the next work. That's forcing me to keep in mind how the colors are going to work when there's a companion painting. The paintings are too rest hang side by side in my studio easel, so this is going to force me to do some creative studio spacing to get everything to fit.

In January at Bethesda Library there's an artist whose work is going into our display cases... and these paintings are going to go on the wall.

Bethesda in the Rain

2011-12-07T14:58:00.001-08:00

I went up to the top floor of a parking garage to get this rainy view looking up Arlington Road in Bethesda. I've got more work to do on this, a lot of work especially on the gray rooftops with mechanical vents and such, but this is the start.

Water

2011-12-06T13:42:00.001-08:00

I used to paint a lot of reflections, silver, chrome, bodies of water. Inside today on a rainy afternoon I managed to get out my paints for a short while with only a glass of water for inspiration.

Great Falls

2011-11-14T09:10:00.000-08:00

Great Falls, Beautiful Day

2011-11-09T10:33:00.000-08:00

I came back to Great Falls to work on the painting, below, that I'd started on Monday. The ground, in particular, needed nuance. I brightened up the sky where the sun was burning through the trees and built up the purple hills in the background (which are the banks of the Potomac in Maryland). There was still time to take a closer look at the trees on the left side of the horizontal painting -- in the new, vertical painting, I was working on a board with a lot of oil and the paint was sliding everywhere. I need to spend more time on the far shore of the Potomac in that painting, which will be the plan for next week. I fully expect that all of the leaves clinging to the trees will be gone by then.

Doing "Nothing" at Great Falls

2011-11-07T09:57:00.001-08:00

On the way out to Great Falls, Virginia, today, I passed a political sign that said a candidate for office "Does Nothing." This might have escaped my notice except that last week I was told by my younger admiring daughter that she wanted to do what I did when she was older -- "nothing." So the phrase "doing nothing" was playing in my head like a stuck song. This is the result of doing nothing all morning, proof perhaps (yet again) that the blacker my mood is, the more light and energy end up in my paintings.

Back to Gaithersburg Town Center

2011-11-02T10:26:00.000-07:00

I started this a few weeks ago, glad to get back to work on it more. I can't even begin to describe how much happier I was with a palette full of oil paint after a week painting with acrylics.

Last day in Mexico

2011-10-30T16:24:00.001-07:00

Legs

2011-10-29T16:24:00.000-07:00

Through the trees at the beach

2011-10-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

This is what it feels like coming to the beach -- deep in shade, looking through the manzanita trees and seeing the beach beyond. Jane was wise enough to pull a pareo over herself before she fell asleep and became the inadvertent model for the painting.

more Mexico beach views

2011-10-27T14:53:00.000-07:00

I am using a ton of white, being surprised every time I mix paint and find the intensity of the interactive acrylic paints too powerful.

The painting of my friend Teresa is one I started last year, got to work on again this year. Not quite right yet, but getting there.

Painting on the Beach in Mexico

2011-10-26T15:42:00.000-07:00

I'm using "interactive acrylic" paints -- a product that's new to me and so far so good. I brought only red, blue, yellow and white and I'm mixing to get color ranges. The Pacific Ocean is an amazing blue green, hard to get right, but I am going to keep trying!

Carousel Sketch at Glen Echo

2011-10-19T09:29:00.001-07:00

It's hard to resist painting the garish colors of the historic carousel at Glen Echo... but I did. After about 45 minutes standing under an eave in the rain, this is where my sketch ended up.

I always liked it when I went with small children and they picked the deer or rabbit to ride on instead of the horses.

Foundry Gallery's New Website Launches Today!

2011-10-19T06:12:00.000-07:00

Check it out -- www.foundrygallery.org -- it's our new website! If you find anything worth commenting on or needs fixing, let me know (glitches, typos, bad grammar) since I'm one of the administrators and I'll fix it.

Fall Along the C&O Canal

2011-10-17T08:33:00.001-07:00

A beautiful morning to paint along the canal at Swain's Lock. The leaves were starting to turn and I exaggerated their intensity while the sky was grey and dark -- when the sun came out, the color was all there. There's some shine in the image here that's from wet oil and the camera flash, but I have to see how the painting dries a bit to figure out whether there's also some real life spots that I need to fix.

Ready to Move On

2011-10-07T12:36:00.000-07:00

I've now explored the effect of lighter and darker foregrounds, warmer and cooler light areas... and I think this is it for the Brookside Garden banana plants... until next year.

Model & Banana Plants, 2.0

2011-10-05T11:32:00.000-07:00

A gorgeous day today but I didn't finish the painting. Much improvement in depth, model's hat, light/dark balance, but I still have unresolved areas around the pot on the left and just to the left of the model. We won't be painting again at Brookside, so this is going to force me into my studio (and force me to clean the work space!).

Black, White, Burnt Sienna

2011-10-03T08:50:00.001-07:00

Dreary day outside, we had the model in the studio. Painted with a limited palate, chose to keep her skin tones all warm and let her dress, the chair and background stay cool.

Back to Banana Plants

2011-09-26T09:38:00.001-07:00

Today I was back at Brookside Gardens, back to my favorite pots of banana plants. I painted from a spot at a little different angle, and I sat down in the wet grass so I could catch the back of the model sitting in the middle of the scene. If experience is any guide, I'll be looking at mums when I get back to finish the painting as the banana plants give way to fall. I've got some work to do on the hat -- the "easy" part of the painting! -- which needs emphasis on the back of the hat, a better fit on the model's head and maybe some color adjustment to take its proper place in the arrangement of pots and arching leaves.

Back at the Orchard

2011-09-14T08:49:00.001-07:00

I brought back yesterday's painting to put another hour into resolving some of its distance issues.

Butler's Orchard

2011-09-13T09:46:00.000-07:00

Beautiful day at Butler's Orchard. They had huge bags of honeycrisp apples, our absolute favorite. The painting wasn't bad, either, but I was rushed (aren't I always?), this time because I had the 9-week-old puppy at home and was worrying about him. My friend Marie and I compared notes about teacher/artist Christine LaFuente as it turned out she'd also taken a workshop with her. I am hoping the puppy wouldn't mind if I go back tomorrow to get a few more thoughts into this painting.

Mark your calendars! 2012 Shows

2011-08-28T13:01:00.001-07:00

I've just scheduled 2012 --

I will be part of a two month group show in January - February 2012 at Har Shalom Congregation in Potomac, Md.

In June 2012, I will be part of a group show at the Ratner Museum in Bethesda, Md.

September 2012 will be my next solo show at the Foundry Gallery. BIG paintings are in my sights.

On an ongoing basis, I'll have work at the Foundry Gallery's group shows.

Quartermaine's Next Steps

2011-08-24T07:43:00.000-07:00

There's something unsettling about painting a coffee shop before you've had your morning coffee. I almost left the paint in the car and went in to get coffee, forget this painting stuff. But the weather was beautiful and the work had to get done. I added people sitting at the tables, juiced up colors, light and shadow. There's some refinement to be done (how sad that I painted the name of the store without the "m" and need to fix that up) and maybe the blue umbrellas will come and seem like a good thing to add... or not.

Pizza Boxes & Jumper Cables

2011-08-19T17:35:00.000-07:00

I learned two things while in Maine:

1. you can buy empty pizza boxes and transport wet paintings in them -- this is a wonderful thing;

2. if your car dies and you pop the hood, every grizzly bearded guy in the state will stop to give you a jump. And when the jump doesn't work, they will happily diagnose your problem, offer a ride, whatever you need. I think there's a reality tv show in there somewhere. Happily, for $35, the problem was solved by "Big Al" and I am eternally grateful.

Loose in Maine

2011-08-17T11:58:00.000-07:00

I can't describe -- so here's a photo -- how spectacular the porch is of the house I'm in. I had time to paint this morning on a sparkling day and there were five Windjammers anchored right off the beach. They departed while I was painting, but I tried to catch a few just before they left. After last week's workshop, I felt a need to loosen up some more (bigger brush).

Maine Workshop

2011-08-15T10:53:00.000-07:00

I had the amazing good fortune to paint this past week with artist/teacher Christine LaFuente -- christinelafuente.com -- in a workshop run by the Acadia Workshop Center.

Rossdhu Gate, before the rain

2011-08-03T08:27:00.000-07:00

This is how far I got before the rain started this morning. Close, maybe close enough, to being done.

Quartermaine's Coffee Sketch

2011-08-01T06:31:00.001-07:00

This painting is being done as a commission for Quatermaine's Coffee to use in a future marketing campaign. I've been waiting to start it in anticipation of blue umbrellas coming to the patio, but my time is short and the flowers are at peak state, so I got it underway this morning. The inclusion of the railing that curves along the patio is to add depth to the painting. I may be adding some people to the painting as it progresses.

Perspective, Looking up at a House

2011-07-23T19:37:00.000-07:00

I had a small deck to stand on, looking up to paint this old Vermont house. When the sun got high enough in the sky to get past the roofline, it was impossible to look up and the glare obscured the view. I had to paint early in the morning and I didn't have nearly enough time to do it.

Like all these old houses, this house has a front section, a kitchen wing off of that and then a barn attached to the kitchen. Renovation has turned the barn into a really nice living space.

To get the full perspective on the foreshortening of the different segments of the house, I'd have had to stand back further -- an impossibility since there's a steep drop-off from the deck.

In this as well as the other Vermont photos/paintings, I used the camera in my phone for the images. Not as good as my normal digital camera and I think the color is a little off.

Here's a first sketch and the painting as far as I could take it.

House Painting in Vermont

2011-07-23T19:17:00.000-07:00

I took up a spot across the street from the house -- here's what I was looking at and how I painted it. The hardest aspects to this painting were 1) making the street go downhill (it's a steep one); 2) using my sensibility to create the color of the house down the hill .. and having to use sense to make the house I was painting the right shade of gray to match the owner's view; and 3) 97 degree heat in Vermont.

In the winter, you can see the Village Green down the hill. It was peeking through the trees in the lush summer leaves, but I gave the landscape a little pruning so you can see the green a bit more in the distance.

I loved that you can see the mountains surrounding Woodstock beyond the houses.

Busy Week in Vermont

2011-07-23T19:01:00.000-07:00

I was up in Vermont, really on vacation, but with the plan to paint at least one work -- the house I was staying in. While I was working on that painting, a man stopped by, asked if I'd paint the house he lives in. It was just up the hill, an 1800s bungalow that will be torn down in the next month by its owners.

There were so many interesting emotional aspects to this painting. In front of the house was a huge woodpile, clearly the result of many hours of hard work chopping wood. The house was surrounded by a spectacularly colorful garden with a rich array of perennials and annuals in such abundance that even hungry deer couldn't diminish its beauty (although you could see how they'd been feeding off the sunflowers!). And there was this old house, a survivor on its last days, showing its age. I took the photo from a little different angle than the spot where I'd painted, and you can see that I edited the view a bit to include more of the garden.

It was a wonderful experience, including the bouquet of flowers left for me on the front porch by the man who'd commissioned the painting.

Nostalgia for the old playroom mural

2011-07-14T11:12:00.000-07:00

Back in 1998, I painted a mural on three walls of a room in our house that the kids used as a playroom. It was painted over 4 or 5 years later when we renovated. I recently tried to recall what it looked like, but really couldn't remember. The room has silvery green walls now.

I knew I'd painted farm animals and my older daughter (who was then 6) and I'd added my younger daughter when she was just pulling herself up to stand. I didn't remember at all using the Playskool dollhouse, horse and carriage that they played with as the house in the garden. I completely forgot about the boat and pond.

I found these photos from 1998 of the mural in a file of completely unrelated paperwork.

Light, Shade & TV Cameras

2011-07-12T09:52:00.000-07:00

I was invited to paint this morning with Walt Bartman, who is being filmed for a pilot for a TV show. I'm not sure exactly when, if ever, anything will come of it. The cameramen filmed a lot of Walt talking about art -- I think I'm looking on attentively in the background -- and also offering suggestions to painters on works in progress.

We painted out at Washington Grove and my mind was very much on a painting I'd sold last month. The painting has a pattern of light splashing through trees. Today I was thinking both about that rhythm and the progression along the gravel path. The front of the house was a light yellow, but in shade I think it needs to go a little darker than I have it now.

Coming Up! Commissions...

2011-07-07T15:12:00.001-07:00

I've got two commissions to work on in the next month. One (not unlike the form I signed today that asked for my relationship to Judy Gilbert Levey) is "self" commissioned. I am going to work on a painting of a Woodstock VT house as a gift to its owners. The view past the house is of the gorgeous town of Woodstock and I may use a bit of artistic license to capture the house and town on one canvas.

The second, very cool project, is that I'm working on a painting for Quartermaine's Coffee Roasters, our local and wonderful coffee shop. They have a painting I did last year of their store in downtown Bethesda, and they've opened a second store on Old Georgetown Road that needs to have its "portrait" done as well. The store will be getting a large Q logo on the corner and some royal blue umbrellas for its tables before I get to paint it -- I did some scouting today and it's clear that morning sun is going to be needed. These two paintings will be used in upcoming marketing for the stores and I may just be coming to a mailbox near you this fall.

Canal Painting Update

2011-07-07T12:12:00.000-07:00

With a little fine tuning once the paint is a little drier, I should be able to wrap this up.

I hate to spend time making window muntins line up but I think my loose play of the way light makes some panels and edges seem stronger and others not so important is failing me a bit here. I could protest that you don't see it that way in real life when you look at the actual painting, but maybe you do.

Glad I got rid of the lock. I think when I go back to the canal next week I'll paint the water, bridges and locks, looking west along the canal instead of across it.

Working on the Canal Painting

2011-07-06T11:25:00.000-07:00

I've been home today (first rain, now waiting for a home repair) and working in the studio instead of returning to Georgetown. I don't have anything to refer to, like a photo, but I'm finding that it's pretty clear what direction the painting needs to go.

One interesting issue I'm having is over the lock. The lock is right in front of the brick house, closed, but I find the shape of the lock gate and the dark void where the water level drops to be a distraction. Although the painting is about the span across the canal, the depth of the reflections and the play of light along the buildings, a scheme that should easily include a lock... I think the lock may move downstream and out of view, as will the stone pad that a lock opener would stand on that runs along side.

Along the C & O Canal

2011-07-05T09:32:00.000-07:00

This is a start to a painting that I may never finish. Or I may get my courage up to go back to Georgetown and face the parking meters again. I used the pay by cell service, got a text confirming my parking was authorized... and got a ticket anyway. Although I know there's a whole procedure to protest the ticket and it will be resolved, the experience rattled me. Last time I painted mad, I ended up with a better painting than I expected... not so today, not yet.

I need to get the lights and darks under control -- some areas of the painting have the right depth, others are too flat and there are some colors and spaces that aren't occupying the intended space. Stay tuned.

Key Bridge, from Georgetown

2011-06-29T11:05:00.000-07:00

Foundry artist Melissa Miller (in the photo) and I met up at Key Bridge today to paint.

It was very breezy so I used a bungee cord to tie my easel to a light pole. I like to look at the choices we made -- I was very taken by the dramatic rise of the bridge as it comes closer; Melissa chose a longer canvas to paint the bridge head on.

That's what makes it so much fun!

Great Falls Virginia in the heat!

2011-06-22T12:05:00.000-07:00

Melissa Miller (another Foundry Gallery artist) and I met today out at Great Falls Virginia and got to work in 96 degree heat. The sight of water was not enough to cool us off. My painting is on the left on the metal easel, hers on the right.

Foundry Show -- In the Gallery 6/23, show closes 6/26

2011-06-21T18:12:00.000-07:00

I will be in the gallery from 1 to 3 on Thursday, June 23 to meet up with some friends who are coming to the show. Join us!

The show comes down on Sunday, June 26 at 6 pm.

The Foundry is at 1314 18th Street, NW., open W-F 1 to 7 pm, S & S 12 - 6 pm.

Back at the Airport

2011-06-14T05:29:00.000-07:00

I added other planes to the painting and deepened the shadows on the plane in front. It was hard to reduce the wing width -- you can't help but see the wings as huge and wide -- but their right place in the painting is as a mostly horizontal surface which simply would stand up vertically if painted any wider. I still have some work to do in the sky and in the little white plane on the right.

Streamside in Seneca

2011-06-08T08:48:00.001-07:00

It was too hot to paint at the shade-less airport this morning, so I set up by a stream in deep shade. It was lovely.

Too many airports, too little time

2011-06-06T12:47:00.000-07:00

I've just returned from a less-than-24 hour trip to Hanover NH. I was up this morning at 4:30 a.m. in NH to fly back to DC and in a state of sheer exhaustion joined the group of painters at the Montgomery County Airpark. I wasn't sure if I was seeing planes or just hallucinating. I not only had a short trip out of town (which was rivaled only by my trip to Camden NJ three days ago -- that was a 4:45 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. day trip) but I also didn't have a whole lot of time to look at this plane I was painting. My dad used to fly small planes and I can remember feeling queasy in planes that looked a lot like this one. I hope it's still sitting at the airport on Wednesday when I'll get back out there.

Show Opening

2011-06-03T19:41:00.000-07:00

Two paintings sold -- the live lobster and a tree painting, Yellow Light. A very nice evening and fun talking to friends. Elena, who modeled for me over the winter, came by with her husband Reinhold -- I think she wanted to see the paintings she'd posed for, but they didn't fit into the show.

Another Peek At the Show

2011-06-01T14:55:00.001-07:00

Still, it's even more exciting to see it in person!

Show Installation- Foundry Gallery

2011-05-30T08:22:00.000-07:00

The show was installed this morning! The gallery will be open Wednesday - Friday 1 - 7 pm and Saturday and Sunday 12 - 6 pm. The reception is 6 - 8 pm on Friday, June 3.

I will be at the gallery on Friday from 1 - 8 pm -- stop in!

Janis's Farm, Redone; daisies

2011-05-23T10:42:00.001-07:00

I started this 2 weeks ago, when it was a lot cooler. Today, as the temperature started to climb to 90 degrees, was I sorry to be painting in the sun! Not to mention that in the past two weeks the early irises had faded away. Still, I wanted to get rid of an excessively sweet feeling the initial sketch had and I reversed much of what had been light, putting it in shadow. The result was a great improvement.

Over the weekend, I finished the gerbera daisies.

Gerbera Daisies

2011-05-20T14:33:00.000-07:00

The Foundry Gallery show opens in 11 days, the reception for the show is in 2 weeks. Nonetheless, I was at the garden store, planning ahead, and I thought these pots of gerbera daisies would be great for decoration in the gallery.

There they were in my house -- how could I not start painting them? I took the canvas from the painting I'd started outside with my sunflowers and started painting this over it. That painting just wasn't going to work. It's a 24 x 30 canvas, and here's the initial sketching in of the flowers. I put them on a silver tray (which I retained from a catering job I had 32 years ago and has periodically shown up in my paintings) and used a canvas as a backdrop. I should have time tomorrow to take this further.

the self portrait

2011-05-19T12:40:00.000-07:00

This is what I've finally decided I look like. I didn't look in the mirror while I was painting the revisions to the portrait I'd been working on. The earlier versions definitely didn't capture anyone's idea of what I look like.

Finishing off the cake

2011-05-18T14:02:00.001-07:00

Cake for the Victorian Book Club

2011-05-17T13:18:00.000-07:00

I wasn't going to paint today. I've been a bit crazy with the constant painting or framing or working on my show, so I thought I'd take a break for a day. But...

The Victorian Book Club at Bethesda Library and the Center of Civic Literacy of UMd are both having programs tonight and through an error somewhere in the system, the meetings were booked for the same room. I was going to get food for the forum on Economic Security anyway, so I also ordered a cake for the book club. It was a very big cake. And it wouldn't fit in the library refrigerator so I had to bring it home before the program so it wouldn't spoil.

I have to get the cake and other food over to the library before I can fine-tune the painting, but I think the idea is there anyway.

And there you have it. My excuse for painting on a non-painting day -- and I'm sticking to it.

The Lobster Car

2011-05-16T11:24:00.000-07:00

I was having signs made up for my show next month and noticed "car decals" on the sign store's list of services. I no longer fear that I'll lose my car in a parking lot.

Mosquitos, Poison Ivy and Paint

2011-05-16T08:43:00.000-07:00

Nice spot I picked this morning to paint the one-lane bridge in Poolesville. I think I donated at least a pint of blood to the insect population and I must have dropped paint brushes into poison ivy at least 10 times.

About the painting -- I wanted this to stay loose, a constant push-pull between the very geometric lines of the bridge and the lush vines along the stream. I can see I still need to adjust the tension a bit.

Polishing Paintings

2011-05-13T11:21:00.001-07:00

This work is part of the polishing I need to do to get ready for the show in June. Just a little tweaking on some and a new sunflower painting.

Farm, flowers

2011-05-11T09:10:00.000-07:00

This is probably the last thing I'm going to be working on before my show that can possibly be dry enough to be included. The irises, clematis and amsonia were pretty beautiful today. This isn't done so I hope to get back to the farm or continue in the studio later this week.

Last Day in Washington Grove

2011-05-10T09:28:00.001-07:00

I had to go back once more. This strange place, with its narrow houses, pathways instead of streets, and yards full of odd collectibles and junk just was magnetic in its attraction.

Painting Mad!

2011-05-09T09:23:00.001-07:00

I got to Washingon Grove late this morning and I was mad! First I had to drive my daughter to school... then my husband called to say he was downtown in his suit job and had forgotten shoes when he biked to work, would I mind coming downtown to bring him shoes? An hour and a half later after I spent a lovely rush hour driving around DC, I was finally getting my paints out. I had a lot of blue on the palette and I just dug into it.

Maybe anger works for me! Maybe I need to get really riled up every time I paint.

Portrait of Holly

2011-05-08T13:50:00.001-07:00

Sunflowers, Iris, Viburnum

2011-05-07T11:56:00.000-07:00

Sunny, cloudy, sunny... it seemed like I couldn't get the great shadows I saw to stay put. I was also sorry that I didn't make a bigger deal, compositionally, of the bowl. I really liked painting the lemon decoration on its inside.

Tomorrow I have a portrait to paint in the gallery.

Geraniums

2011-05-06T14:38:00.000-07:00

The good news is that I not only have the painting mostly out of the way -- I've been thinking about it since I got the geraniums yesterday -- but I can get them planted now before it rains.

I may play with the leaves a bit, but for now, the brushing says most of what I think needs to be said about leaves.

Start of Julia's portrait

2011-05-06T13:17:00.000-07:00

Julia is a beautiful woman with high cheekbones and long hair she sweeps back and over and it changes color and shape, well, constantly. I started painting her today and I am fighting the "good painting" with "good likeness" problem. I want there to be no conflict between the two -- but that's going to take a lot of work.

I think I'm going to paint a nice loud geranium and clear my mind of worrying about faces for a bit.

Claudia with or without patterns

2011-05-04T06:28:00.001-07:00

I was asked last night at a meeting unrelated to art whether the pressure of an upcoming show was a distraction. The meeting was a distraction (although we are planning Civil War programming for the library and how cool is that?)!

I was painting until I fell asleep, not quite brush-in-hand. And this morning, back at it. I'm at the point of choosing whether to further resolve the patterns in fabrics (Vuillard, what should I do?) or go with the brushing which is a huge part of what makes my work mine. Will be thinking about that.

The soundtrack this morning was a big help. I decided not to play the music of a 13-year-old but instead my stuff -- Deja Vu, Rain on Me, Back on the Chain Gang...

Beginning of Claudia

2011-05-03T19:26:00.000-07:00

I'm not sorry that once the portrait of my older daughter was underway, my younger daughter needed to keep me painting. Here's the start of Claudia, who posed for me tonight.

This is another very big 30 x 40 canvas. At this point, the paint is still very thin but I'm working with a big brush just to get the idea down.

An Idea I Couldn't Resist

2011-05-03T07:47:00.000-07:00

I started working on a portrait today.. from a photo. As I am known as a photo snob -- never, ever paint from photos! -- it's either a sign of my great weakness or just an idea I couldn't resist. In Lebanon, NH, we happened upon The Cupcake Queen and this moment of joy was experienced alongside the town square, coconut cupcake in hand. As a photo, it's not the greatest... but I think it's going to be a fine and fun painting.

The canvas is big -- 30 x 40 -- so this is practically life size and I am using huge gobs of paint and a big brush. Too much fun.

Washington Grove, one done

2011-05-02T09:04:00.001-07:00

I shifted the focus a bit in the painting from its earlier version. I might play with it a little more... or not.

I've been buffed!

2011-05-01T18:31:00.001-07:00

The mural I painted in 2009 has been buffed -- the street term for the addition of graffiti to a work of street art.

There's now "I love you TEA -- sh" next to the tennis raquet and a pencil thin mustache on the wheaton terrier. I will now get to find out just how easy it is to clean the German Keim paint system I used for the mural.

"At First Brush" at the Foundry Gallery

2011-05-01T18:24:00.000-07:00

June 1 - 26, at the Foundry Gallery, 1314 18th St., NW, Washington DC. A show of my work, most of which will be recent (some yet to be painted!) -- and an opening reception Friday, June 3 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Washington Grove, Again

2011-04-27T08:53:00.000-07:00

The light was completely different today than Monday, so I had to start a new painting rather than finish the one I'd started. This one came together quickly, a good thing since it started to rain as I packed up.

Washington Grove

2011-04-25T09:16:00.001-07:00

Fran's Portrait

2011-04-23T13:35:00.001-07:00

Back to Landscapes

2011-04-12T16:57:00.000-07:00

It's nice to be painting a landscape again. I made progress today in the studio, but I have an old issue cropping up again. I have a lower left corner problem that happens because I foolishly choose to paint a view that the upper right corner of the canvas obscures. I used to do this all the time, didn't think about it yesterday, and here it is again. In the actual landscape, there's a nearly dead kalmia (mountain laurel) in that spot, not something I'd highlight in a painting anyway. I started to put the slates that make a path back to the hammock in place, so I might move them over and balance out the way-too-dark one in front anyway.

Painting in the Garden today

2011-04-11T09:01:00.000-07:00

I was pelted by magnolia blossoms falling this morning, but got a start on a morning light painting. I had to quit at 11:40, as the light was getting too far from my original set up (and I still don't understand if "noon" is 12 when it's daylight savings time or if "noon" is defined according to standard daylight time -- whatever it is, when the sun's getting close to directly overhead, a morning painting is no longer morning). The weather tomorrow is not going to cooperate ... and if the blossoms fall and the trees leaf out, it's going to be a new world. I may have to finish this in the studio.

Working on Ed's portrait

2011-04-07T13:55:00.000-07:00

I spent 2 hours the first day on Ed's portrait. I think I painted and wiped it out at least 4 times. I was painting from life --the photo is just to give you an idea of what he looked like, but it's not exactly taken from the same position I was painting. Still avoiding the photo, I worked on the painting today. I can see I need to do next...

Ed is a painter whose work can be seen at www.bearmiller.blogspot.com

Continuing the self-portrait

2011-04-04T14:20:00.000-07:00

I painted today, scraping out that false smile, trying to envision myself without looking in the mirror. Maybe closer.

At Gallery 322 in Frederick

2011-04-03T14:55:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Jan Kaufman, working in Frederick today at Gallery 322, for inviting me up to paint a still life. She left her paints at home, so in addition to setting up the work, she modeled for me too.

Frederick is a very lively place, many people stopping in (although I was a source of curiosity, painting in the window) to see the work of the 8 artists on display there.

Portrait of Nancy -- the start

2011-03-30T11:59:00.001-07:00

I had just an hour to get this painting started today. My "model," Nancy, regaled me with stories about a recent trip to Syria. Nancy is a glass artist whose energy and animation need to be brought back into this painting!

Hmmm. Is this what I look like?

2011-03-29T13:08:00.000-07:00

In-house art critic says this is what I look like. I decided that open-mouthed was a more natural look (especially when I am around in-house art critic). Less hair, more nose, more angular face, tighter eyebrow-to-eye space.

Enough already. I have a model for tomorrow who will be much more interesting to paint.

Changes, changes

2011-03-29T09:48:00.000-07:00

I adjusted my hairline a bit... took some puffiness out of my cheeks, but I think I still need to make my nose bigger. Very hard to look in a mirror and see what other people see!

Fear of Self-Portrait

2011-03-28T08:56:00.000-07:00

So this is very funny. I started work today, about 45 minutes, on a self portrait and figured that I just had to be brutally honest about my big nose, asymmetrical features.

My in-house art critic told me I had a wildly distorted self image and I wasn't nearly that scary looking. My New Hampshire art critic said that I needed to get over the idea that I had a small forehead, big nose, funky eyes ... so I spent another 25 minutes tonight. Brought my eyes down an inch, shortened my nose, made myself more symmetrical, warmed up my skin.

I'm still worried my original sketch is the way I look in my head. This is the kind of thing that doesn't require therapy, just more painting. I'm told by the in-house critic that the new version is better, but not right yet. Either she wants something like new jeans or she really does think I look younger in real life.

The starter sketch:

Portraits of the Artists

2011-03-27T16:09:00.000-07:00

I've decided to embark on a portrait painting project -- and my first series is going to be portraits of the artists of the Foundry Gallery. Stay tuned.

Last Studio Portrait Day!

2011-03-21T08:22:00.001-07:00

The end of winter indoor painting -- now I'll be moving back to plein air. It's been a very interesting winter and I may still have some indoor still lifes in me.

Rethinking the Portrait

2011-03-14T08:53:00.000-07:00

I decided to make another go at Elena's portrait today. I painted her while sitting down and I'm definitely (as the Sundance Kid would say) better when I move, or at least more comfortable with the physicality of my painting style. Still, it gave me a chance to work out some new ideas.