Bright May Morning

As long as I have painted I have been influenced by seasons as well as my emotional state while working. My approach to a bouquet, a landscape, or an interior will be different depending upon weather, the quality of light, whether I am tired and crabby or energized and happy. All are reflected in the final image. The way I push paint around a panel, feel the paint on my palette knife and brush, are dependent upon my feeling state and the current season.

I try to keep the surprises that make their way onto a panel and stop the painting a few steps before it is finished. Sometimes the image might look awkward and slightly underdone, but if it feels genuine and somehow a reflection of how I see the world in that particular moment, then I want to keep it. When I keep working past that point, the likelihood of scraping the response away, or having an overworked image, is great.

As you look at my flowers and interiors in January, birds and blooms in May, reflections of my studio and hot bright light in August, and the somber light of fall landscapes and end of season blooms, I hope you catch a glimpse of the world as I see it.