Hello Friends

It’s been awhile since I’ve put on a new blog post. I haven’t disappeared!  But I’m in a quiet mood and not painting. My mother passed away last week after 99 years of a wonderful life.  The last weeks were tough on my sisters. I was in Europe, feeling very guilty, needless to say.  But it’s over and we will have a lovely celebration of her life two weeks from today at the Mattapoisett Congregational Church, the church I grew up in.

I’m not completely apart from art however. I decided in the spring to give two 2-day sessions of a landscape drawing class. We had the first session  last Monday and the others will be on succeeding Mondays this month. It’s something a little different and kind of fun. And I have a very wide range of people coming to the workshops, in addition to my regular students.  The first session focused on trees, clouds and perspective of buildings. Our second session will focus on compositional sketches, values and value studies, and how to transfer drawings to the painting surface.  I decided to do these workshops because I realized that standard drawing classes don’t regularly include landscape elements.  It’s been a great learning experience for me as well!

And–this past week I purchased a grand piano!  I’ve played piano most of my life and have a lovely upright that I bought about eight years ago. But I had the opportunity to play an Estonia 6’3″ grand on Tuesday and fell in love with it.  Went back Friday morning and signed on the dotted line!  It’s coming on Wednesday.  I guess I’m looking at my life, after my mother’s passing, and realizing that I probably have 20-25 years left to play. I might as well have a good piano to play on.

In September, I’ll be resuming my regular classes with a focus on composition and mood. I’ll also be teaching 6 Saturday sessions.  And on Monday afternoons, I’ve invited a group of women pastelists to join me in the studio to paint together.  I”m very much looking forward to that in the hopes that we can critique and inspire one another.

I hope that you are having a good summer.  August is a time to rest, I think. Take it easy. Enjoy the fresh fruits and vegetables that are in abundance.  Read. Don’t feel guilty about anything. Do what you want to do!

I’ll be back in September, I’m sure.