Becoming an Artist

And the Final Poem

2009-04-30T10:32:00.001-04:00

4/30/2009 10:22:24 AM

Penultimate Poem and It is ALL TRUE

2009-04-29T11:55:00.000-04:00

4/29/2009 11:45:34 AM

A Sestina--Form great, meaning, hmmm. Not sure if it makes a lot of sense.

2009-04-28T17:00:00.002-04:00

4/28/2009 4:49:43 PM

And posted again, with the form corrected in the first stanza, at

4/28/2009 7:46:57 PM

Only 3 more after today...

2009-04-27T16:59:00.001-04:00

4/27/2009 8:39:19 AM

Never Know What Will Come Up

2009-04-26T12:05:00.001-04:00

4/26/2009 11:55:36 AM

A Bit Political, A Bit Mushy

2009-04-25T16:03:00.001-04:00

4/25/2009 3:52:05 PM

Why was today's prompt so hard????

2009-04-24T15:20:00.001-04:00

4/24/2009 3:09:31 PM

Who Knows Where These Things Come From? I really wanted to write a poem about high school!

2009-04-23T13:01:00.002-04:00

4/23/2009 12:49:37 PM

Not at all about Earth Day, which was not the prompt but hey it should have been

2009-04-22T15:41:00.002-04:00

4/22/2009 3:31:23 PM

Not a Haiku

2009-04-21T10:58:00.001-04:00

4/21/2009 10:47:45 AM

Whew. Another day another poem

2009-04-20T16:55:00.001-04:00

4/20/2009 3:53:49 PM

Poem for a Day When I am feeling Very odd

2009-04-19T13:43:00.000-04:00

4/19/2009 1:33:01 PM

Today's Time

2009-04-18T16:35:00.001-04:00

4/18/2009 4:25:08 PM

And Time for Today

2009-04-17T09:30:00.001-04:00

4/17/2009 9:20:46 AM

TIme for Today

2009-04-16T18:15:00.001-04:00

Here it is:

4/16/2009 6:04:46 PM

Poem A Day Times

2009-04-15T16:01:00.002-04:00

Ok. I am also becoming a novelist, screen writer and POET. In light of the latter, I will post my Poem a Day times here on this blog. Here are they all up until today:
Go to this site. Click on “comments” on the right after each day’s prompt and sample poem to get to the poems. They are arranged by the time of posting. Find mine by scrolling down until you find the time I listed next to each date below, which is the time I posted.

Enjoy—and let me know your favorite(s)!

http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides/CategoryView,category,Poetry%20Prompts.aspx

4/15/2009 1:40:28 PM

4/14/2009 12:54:58 PM

4/13/2009 9:01:41 AM

4/12/2009 9:22:14 AM

4/11: 4:39:15 PM

4/10: 9:28:22 AM

4/09: 10:54:29 AM

4/08: 11:18:35

4/7/2009 10:45:11 AM

4/06: 12:15:45 PM

4/05: 8:28:52 AM

4/4/2009 1:33:36 PM

4/3/2009 8:48:59 AM

4/2/2009 2:20:56 PM

4/1/2009 9:03:29 AM

Finished Swamp Rose Mallow Pix

2009-02-22T16:39:00.001-05:00

This is it, though hard to see in detail. I plan to have a scan made of it on Tuesday at Katonah Image and then hand the scan in on a CD to Teatown on Thursday. I have become nervous about putting the real thing on my blog or anywhere else that I can not protect. I have noticed that artists put pieces of their work on their websites, sometimes not the whole piece!

Something to Remember

2009-02-03T16:21:00.001-05:00

Swamp Rose Mallow

2009-02-03T16:09:00.001-05:00

I have been working on a portrait of the swamp rose mallow. This is actually my first commission--it will be the card for the wildflower of the year for Wild Flower Island at Teatown Nature Reservation. This is quite exciting, but a bit paralyzing too, as I keep having to deal with my own PERFECTIONISM. It just never gets to be good enough... Anyway, here are some early and more current pix of my progress. It was tricky because the flower blooms in September, and my deadline is March 1, so I have been working from photos and sketches I took last September. Not an ideal way for a botanical artist to work, but there it is! These pods are the hardest and most frustrating, though they look so innocent.

Dad's Yahrzeit

2008-10-13T11:53:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow will be the one-year anniversary of my dad's passing. Usually there is an unveiling at around this time, but because of on-going family issues there is no gravestone for my dad right now. In order to give myself closure on this year of mourning, I created a personal shrine for him and will light the Yahrzeit candle in front of it tomorrow.

Poem read on 9/11/08 at Ground Zero

2008-09-11T12:14:00.000-04:00

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

--Wendell Berry

Writing Spa

2008-09-05T17:48:00.000-04:00

This is a picture of my writing spa group. Jen Louden, one of the two faciliators, is on the ground in front of me. It has taken me over a month to post this, because I really want to try and find the right words to describe the whole experience. There I am with my perfectionism again. Not enough to write about it. Has to be "the right words." Well, here are some words anyway. It was the most supportive, creative, loving, focused-yet-not-forced week I have ever experienced as an adult. Whew. That sounds like something. And it really was. In beautiful Taos New Mexico. I will write more about all of this at another time.

A First Place!

2008-09-04T19:56:00.000-04:00

So Connie talked me into entering my art in the Yorktown Grange Fair, Art After 55. I took some coaxing...I mean, it isn't exactly a juried art show, like the one I entered today in Ridgefield. And I sort of felt like I was a cute baby goat or a jar of jam. I guess I really am a snob. But at this point in my career--hey, it's exposure. And how cool is it to have a blue ribbon? So here it is!

Weird Eggplant for 2008

2008-09-02T21:31:00.000-04:00

A year ago I found a strangely shaped eggplant. (look at old posts to find it. ) Now here is one with a schnozzola.

Art In Progress

2008-09-02T21:18:00.001-04:00

A finished plant portrait: Monarda

And below are some examples of the prep work involved.

Maine Adventure

2008-08-19T21:09:00.000-04:00

Three shots of the sky from a friend's boat, an hour before sunset.

This is an island off the coast, near Boothbay Harbor
This is the foggy, rocky Maine coast.

Professional Orchid Scan

2008-08-19T18:20:00.000-04:00

I took my work, now called "Moth Orchid," to a place that did a high-res scan. Here it is.

Another First!

2008-08-19T18:16:00.000-04:00

Here is my first ever abstract painting. It is called "Colors of Santa Fe." The scan suffers from the same problem as the orchid--shadow because it is too big to lie flat on the scanner bed.

Summer Adventures: Body and Spirit

2008-08-13T22:16:00.000-04:00

We spent two weeks in the Southwest from July 19th to August 2nd. The difference in the terrain and the colors from the Northeast were quite striking. The sun-washed oranges and reds of the high desert, the vast distances across the mountains, the storms that flash lightening in one direction while the sky is bright blue in another--so different from the deep greens of the Hudson Valley. The first two pictures are from Bandelier National Monument, where you can climb up to ancient cliff dwellings, as Connie is doing. Next is the Santa Fe farmer's market, followed by us in front of an old church on the high road to Taos. The amazing rock formation in the next photo is called Chimney Rock. We hiked up to it on Ghost Ranch where Georgia O'Keefe lived and painted. The next photo is looking down at the Rio Grande from an overlook in White Rock NM, followed by a distant view of Pedernal, a mountain near Abiqui which is also Georgia O'Keefe country. She painted this scene. The final picture is a rock formation on Ghost Ranch.

4 kinds of Monarda (Beebalm)

2008-07-09T11:13:00.000-04:00

Here are 4 different varieties of monarda--a purplish red/pink growing in the back next to the arbor, pink growing by the porch trellis, lavender, just opening, also by the arbor, and my favorite red (Jacob Kline) in the front garden by the mailbox.

See what I mean?

2008-07-08T13:55:00.001-04:00

Explanation

2008-07-08T13:51:00.000-04:00

This is the top 3rd of an orchid done in colored pencil. I unfortunately do not have a scanner with a big enough bed to do the whole piece at once, and I am having great difficulty putting the 3 scans together in Photoshop. The reason for this is that the paper sits at different heights from the bed when I put it in different places, and this affects the color of the background. It is hard to match up the whites, as some are in shadow. Does anyone know where I can find a scanner with a big bed to use for this piece???

The top third of a colored pencil work

2008-07-08T13:43:00.000-04:00

Late!

2008-01-20T16:17:00.000-05:00

I see that my last post was on the 12th, so I am already a day overdue in posting. I am in the midst of participating in a teleconference for artists--not an excuse, but perhaps an explanation. This is an on-line and on the phone seminar about being an artist and selling your work. It's called SMartist-Telesummit and includes many excellent coaches and artists and entrepreneurs in the arts. Registering for this is another way for me to take my art and art career seriously. I do not know where I want to go, exactly, but this is all giving me much to think about. Claudine Hellmuth, the collage artist whose site is on my hit list of sites, is taking part in this conference, as is one of my favorite gurus of personal growth, Michael Bungay Stainer, whose site Box of Crayons is a welcome newsletter every two weeks. I am still working on colored pencil exercises, this week on a color wheel and on mixing colors. I will post some of my work soon.

Links to Visit

2008-01-12T22:54:00.000-05:00

I am beginning to compile a list of websites and possibly blogs that include botanical artists and other folks whose work I admire. It is on the left. Please check out these sites!

Resolution for 2008?

2008-01-12T22:06:00.000-05:00

Well, it has been a while since I blogged. And what is a blog (noun) if one does not blog (verb). Therefore, my new year's resolution is to blog every week. From now on. It is already 2 weeks into the new year, so I am already challenged--but, as Janice Taylor says, "All is forgiven. Move on." (Who is Janice Taylor? She is an artist/weight loss consultant, with a terrific motivational blog and a book called "Our Lady of Weight Loss.) And this reminds me that I want to add a list of websites and blogs to this blog. I am taking a colored pencil class with a wonderful artist named Lauretta Jones. Her website shows off her amazing work. I will include that. In the first class, we discussed issues related to pencil use and did some exercises with lines and colors. I love the preliminary exercises that good teachers begin with. They are fun and free of judgment, since they are only exercises, filling squares with color. But Lauretta said something that I think is very profound. I told her that one big problem I had with my art work--and with pencil work in particular--was that I had a tendency to go too fast, to rush. And she said, if you rush, then you do not get to the same place. You get someplace, but not where you wanted to go. I really like that. I have been saying it over and over to myself, as I watch the tip of my pencil and try to control its speed.

A Day to March

2007-10-23T21:16:00.000-04:00

This Saturday, October 27, people in 11 cities around the country will be marching to protest our warring in Iraq. I will try to be there, although it will be difficult for me. It has been just 10 days since my father died. A rough time. Very draining, emotional, exhausting. Sad. But participating in a protest might make me feel more positive about the world, more a part of trying to change the mess we seem to be in.

Black-Eyed Susan Vine

2007-09-25T22:04:00.000-04:00

Here is one flower three ways: winding around our mail box, in a close-up, and in watercolor.

Nicaragua

2007-09-25T21:17:00.000-04:00

We went to Nicaragua on June 30th and built two houses in a week, working with Bridges to Community and the local people. These are just a few of the many pictures I took, and they can not begin to explain the experience we had. The children fell in love with us, and we with them. Very hard work under extremely challenging conditions--bathing out of a bucket, sleeping in a church under mosquito netting, in a place of great beauty and great poverty.

Cute Kitty Pix

2007-09-25T21:12:00.000-04:00

Here are Beebalm, Connie with Beebalm and a huge over-grown home-grown zuke, and Snap under the cover that is supposed to be protecting the chair.

Opening in Beacon

2007-09-25T20:58:00.000-04:00

On September 8th, we went to Beacon to attend an opening at John Prendergast's new gallery. John has been cutting our hair for about a quarter century. He is an artist in his cutting and also in more traditional media. He has become an art dealer in recent years and here I am next to a work he represents. John can be seen in the background. Now I have the fantasy of moving to Beacon--which has become a real artists' town, with Dia Beacon on the river and lots of new galleries opening. I would have a studio with big glass windows overlooking the Hudson, and sell my work to crowds of increasingly enthusiastic art lovers.

New Classwork

2007-09-19T15:00:00.000-04:00

Here is my latest work from my class. The focus this week was on veggies with a shine. These peppers certainly fit the bill. Now I am working on a squash--something textured. Next week is leafy, and the week after something knobby, like garlic. I am learning so much from Kathie Miranda, who is an excellent and generous teacher. She is doing demos in all mediums including graphite, colored pencil and watercolor. Her own work is exquisite and I feel very fortunate to be taking this class now.

My latest watercolor: "Tomato Season"

2007-09-03T21:17:00.000-04:00

This is not--strictly speaking--a botanical work, since I have included the container that the yellow tomatoes are in. I think that my art is constantly evolving, and I am not bound by any definitions.

Last Week's County Fair

2007-08-31T17:07:00.000-04:00

These photos are from the Dutchess County Fair in Rhinebeck, NY. Huge affair, with wonderful garden displays as well as the expected livestock. These pigs and rabbits seem to understand the design principle of "threes."

Three Pears: Watercolor

2007-08-30T10:39:00.000-04:00

Summer's End

2007-08-30T10:20:00.000-04:00

August 30th. The summer flowers are just about over. You can see the center flowers of beebalm without the outer red ray flowers. This part of beebalm provides winter interest in the garden.
As a botanical artist, the brightly colored arrays of newly harvested vegetables and fruits at the farmer's market are tantalizing. A fresh chance to capture garlic on the stalk, striped eggplants, 17" zucchini and yellow heirloom tomatoes. I found an odd eggplant that I bought to draw, but now feel it might be better just photographed--who would believe it? Starting the week after Labor Day I will be taking a course at the New York Botanical Gardens called "Drawing Summer's Bounty: Selections from the Farmer's Market." Every year I try to draw and paint the amazing gourds and squash of the fall, and every year I am unhappy with my work. Perhaps this year I will get some guidance from Kathie Miranda, the class instructor.
The fall/winter catalog from the NYBG just arrived two days ago, so there is still time to sign up for classes. I did it a couple of weeks ago when the info first appeared online. I am so anxious about being able to get into the classes I want--especially the pen and ink class this fall and the colored pencil class that begins in January. I need to learn how to use these very different mediums in my work.