Pumpkin Day

Here's Nicky, John, Ann, John and Me

All aboard for the hayride

Every year we have Pumpkin Day at my brother-in-law's farm.  He owns a 200 acre parcel of land and at one time it was actually a working farm.  All that's left of the original farm is the old farmhouse and barn.  We still call it the farm.

Picking pumpkins in the garden

On Pumpkin Day, everyone comes out to pick pumpkins and gourds from the garden.  The young kids love it and so do the adults.  For the past two years my husband and our friend, John Failla, have been running a hayride.  No actual horses.  They use a beat-up van to pull the trailer with bales of hay.  They pull their passengers down the roads and trails of the farm.  Everyone loves it.

               

Waterlilies Series

Lily Dance  Oil on Canvas  16x20

After many years of painting, I decided to paint the subject of waterlilies.  I've always been a big fan of Claude Monet and have probably been influenced by him more than I realize.  I began with a couple of waterlily paintings, then found that I enjoyed painting the subject.  So I painted a couple more.  Now I've painted nine.  I suppose that constitutes a series.

I started out painting from a few reference photographs of my own.  The subject is endless fascinating to me and I see hundreds of possible compositions.  So, do I continue?  At this point, I'm not sure.  I've taken a short break from painting, since I'm getting ready for an art opening.  All the framing takes a lot of time.  I'll see if the waterlily muse is still there after the show.

Searching for Zen

"Zen"  24x30  Oil on Canvas

I must admit that I'm new to this whole blogging thing.  Even though I've always loved to write my thoughts down on paper, the blog  is somewhat of a foreign concept.  Is it like a journal?  A letter? It seems that it's a little of both.  I get to write my thoughts and you get to read mine. And it's out there for everyone to see.  

Painting has been my passion for a number of years now.  I love holding the brush and and scooping up globs of oil paint.   Applying the paint to canvas, as any artist knows, can seem almost like a religious experience when you are in the zone.  Time flies by and I'm not even aware of how hot or cold I might be feeling.  It doesn't seem to matter.  Painting can become so engrossing.  I've heard it said that every painting requires two thousand decisions for the artist to make.  I believe it.

"Zen" was just such a painting for me.  I enjoyed every moment of creating this piece because I felt at peace with the subject matter and color combinations.