a truck load of green

A new dogwood, a japanese maple and two viburnums are soundly planted in the yard.  We borrowed our friend Brent's truck for the errand.  We were grinning ear to ear driving across town with our gorgeous load.  The little truck looked so nice in our driveway that it was hard to give it back. 
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the past couple of weeks

 

The imagery from Japan is heavy in my consciousness right now (and my heart). 

 

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the first page

I started a new sketchbook.  It looks like this one's going out to Eudora Welty.

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sunday afternoon twig burning

bare oaks

My neighbor's stark white garage reflects the most subtle light changes throughout the year.  This early spring version is really gorgeous. 

the art economy

On a recent Wednesday night a lot of folks showed up for the lecture "One Hour Business School For Artists" by Amy Whitaker, sponsored by Crosstown Art.  There was some good information, but more than that what I left with was the buzzing energy of so many people eager to make what they do viable! 

when a painting finds a home

My friend Erin bought this painting and hung it in her kitchen.  Last week I had a leisurely lunch at her house with the early spring light pouring in.  It's hard not to get sentimental about the process of object making coming full circle when work is passed on, taking on a life of its own, becoming defined in completely new terms by the owner's space. Yes, selling work is thrilling.  It motivates and justifies spending so much time on art when often times there's no fiscal return.

from the studio wall

afternoon collaborating

I recently got to spend the afternoon in Hamlett Dobbins' Collaboration Class at Rhodes College.  These are the notebooks the students have been trading throughout the semester.  After they looked at the new developments from the past week, things shifted gears and I passed along the ever useful tricks of tracing and transferring.  We watched a great video of Ingrid Calame to get inspired and then Hamlett showed a bunch of images from Henry Darger to Amy Sillman.  Here's the drawing I did.  I traced things form my sketchbook and pulled some text from a National Geographic.  Good fun. 

two still lifes, much color