Rainy Days

My oldest son lost a tooth yesterday, one of his molars.  Since the tooth fairy still visits the house, he found $5 under his pillow.  I'm not sure how many more teeth he has to lose, but at the age of 12, I don't think it's many more.

Well, I'm still home since I'm not much of a painter on a rainy day.  It's really kind of a bummer, but rain really effects my mood and my creativity.  So up here in Maryland, and it seems all along the Eastern Seaboard we're having a particularly wet day.  I'm quite a go getter and I hate not feeling productive, so on days like this it really becomes about the house and the laundry.  I think I'm going to whip up a good chicken and sausage gumbo too, it's a perfect day for that.

I'll be heading back down to Louisiana in November, something which I always look forward to.  Lots of work to do for Frederick l'Ecole.  So many good things are happening with the organization.  It will be exciting when I can actually talk about some of these things as they come to fruition.

Back in August during the fundraiser "New-Nu's is Better than No-Nu's" at The Blue Moon Saloon in Lafayette, the hosts of the event got the idea to create a video that would "speak" to the producers of "Extreme Makeover Home Edition".  Of course the hope is that they will see what we have lost when our building burnt down and hopefully they will also see the great deal of community support we have for our organization.  If you feel so inclined, please share this with your friends.  It's pretty amazing.

Echo XXIII

It always feels good when I've gotten past the halfway point in a painting.  My painting speed definitely picks up when I'm more finished, than not, and increases exponentially until it's complete.  It's funny, my paintings used to go so fast, and now it seems that my style and my methods have taught me to have a lot more patience.  It's odd that I've even allowed myself to slow down on my work like this.  I'm such an impatient person, in general.  This patience thing, if I do say so myself, has all been for the better.

Echo XXIII
oil on panel
48"x48"

I've been toying with the idea of painting on canvas or linen.  Toying so much that I'm removing a window in my studio to extend a wall so I can set up my canvas there.  Why am I doing this?  Well, I LOVE my panels, I mean LOVE.  Painting on wood was a love I discovered one day when I was working in my studio in Baton Rouge.  I haven't put a brush to canvas since maybe the late 90's.  My hopes in moving back to a fabric surface is that this will help to alleviate the risk of damage and also make shipping a lot easier.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the surface will lend itself to my style and we will work well together.

The Long and Winding Road Back Home

Up to Thursday, September 16th of last week my friend George and I had been working tirelessly on a grant to help rebuild our little non-profit cultural education organization, Frederick l'Ecole des Arts.  George delivered the package to FedEx to be delivered overnight and in their hands on Friday morning.  We are now holding our breath to see if our organization makes it to the next round.  So, for the rest of Thursday, I kind of felt like someone had let all the air out of my tires.  It was weird, it was like all that crazy, frenetic, 5 hour long phone conferences, staying up till one the morning stuff, though it exhausted me, gave me a sense of purpose.  When all of it was over, I felt kind of sad.  But then Friday morning came, the sun was shining, I put on my music and picked up my brush, and got back to work on my poor, neglected Echo XXIII, YAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 6 of painting on Echo XXIII

Okay, so this weekend my family and I headed to Wheeling, West Virginia to visit with my mom and dad.  It's a kind of difficult thing to do because, well, my dad is getting really old.  He's only 73, but he's been suffering with all kinds of problems.  He recently had surgery on his spine.  He'd been having a great deal of pain couldn't walk because of stenosis.  At least now the pain is pretty much gone, but he's struggling so hard to regain his strength.  His muscles had atrophied so much.  On top of his physical problems, he is also having signs of memory loss and other related issues with the mind.  My dad was a very powerful attorney in his day.  A really smart man with quick wit and incredibly handsome.  He looks so much like George Clooney that when I see George Clooney in a movie, it's like watching my dad.

So we spent hours talking to my dad, engaging him in conversations and watching old home movies.  In the movies I watched as my sisters and I used to spend hours doing handstands against the wall, turning cartwheels, playing in the snow, swimming and just goofing around.  Looking back at my mom and dad in their youth.  It was great to reminisce about the past, and I really enjoyed seeing us dressed in the styles of the 70's and early 80's.  Oh man did we kill a lot of plaid! 

The one lesson I am taking from this weekend is that I don't want to wait until I retire to do the things I want to do, travel, live in exotic places, learn new languages, etc...  My dad never got to enjoy his retirement.  He worked up until he couldn't anymore, and now he is old and struggling to maintain some type of quality of life.  My husband's father had a similar experience, dying in his sixties as a result of radiation treatment he had received in his thirties for cancer.  He too never retired, worked up until the day he had his heart surgery.  Unfortunately, the damage and calcification was too great.  He was never able to fully recover and passed four months after the operation, never being able to leave a medical facility because of his fragility.  Life is precious and short.  I know my days are numbered and I want to be able to look back and know that I have done it all.

Go West!

I received some good news yesterday.  A call came in from Melissa Morgan of Melissa Morgan Fine Art in Palm Desert, California.  She discussed her interest in representing me at her gallery.  Now, I had been thinking for a long time about representation in California. Los Angeles was an obvious choice of cities, for me, as I have a friend out there I can visit and it's such a hopping metropolis.  But I hadn't really done any research into the gallery scene there, so it was still just an idea floating around in my head.

Then I received an email about a week and a half ago from Melissa asking if I might be interested in showing in her gallery.  At that point I got on the computer and started checking things out.  The gallery looks beautiful and Ms. Morgan really seems to be a "go getter" type of person.  I was pretty impressed, so, taking the proverbial "leap of faith," I accepted her offer and am getting to work on six new paintings to ship out to her.  I will keep you posted as to when those paintings will be shipping out.

You can find out more about Melissa Morgan Fine Art at www.melissamorganfineart.com

DC, Annapolis, and My Kids

This past Sunday the weather here in Maryland was simply divine so we headed down to Washington DC early to walk around a bit and enjoy the sights before heading to Siroc on 15th for dinner with friends.  Okay, maybe I should not have worn my black boots for walking, but hey, I wanted to feel pretty.  You know, in all the years I have lived here, I don't think I had been down to DC on a Sunday.  That place is absolutely dead, it was almost impossible to find a parking garage that was open.  I was completely blown away when all the coffee shops had closed by 6.  We eventually found a little hole in the wall kind of place that served instant coffee.  Not my idea of a great coffee experience, but it supplied the needed caffeine.

At 7:30 we (husband and I) strolled over to Siroc and met our friend Javier who was visiting from Chicago.  As a surprise he had also invited a mutual friend Coqui.  My husband Phil had met Javier and Coqui when he worked on the school newspaper at SMU.  Conversation topics at the table ranged from politics (of course, we are in DC), to marriage, to fabulous NYU law seminars (including dinners at fancy NY restaurants) my husband enjoyed during his year there, to Latin America and the drug problems in Mexico, to thoughts of where we would wish to retire some day, and finally to our adventures in parenting.  We were the last table to leave and had spent about 4 hours talking, it was just wonderful :)

On Monday Javier's flight wasn't leaving till about 7PM so we decided to take a jaunt out to Annapolis and enjoy steamed crabs at Cantler's.  Another divine day of low humidity drew us to sitting outside by the water.  After lunch we headed into downtown Annapolis walked around and enjoyed the remnants of our weekend, sans children.  Before leaving town to head over to my sister's house (she had brought our boys back from their visit with Nana and Boompah) I bought them some fake "gold teeth" that they could wear with pride.  Just a little something to welcome them home.  It was perfect.

La Fête Cultural and New-Nu's is Better than No-Nu's

Last week I took a trip down to Louisiana for two events, La Fête Cultural in New Orleans and New-Nu's is Better than No-Nu's in Lafayette.  Both events were fundraisers, the first for The Louisiana Cultural Economy Foundation and the second for the rebuilding of Frederick l'Ecole des Arts (the organization for which I am president).

I had donated a painting, "Yellow Apples and White Orchid" to be auctioned in La Fête and was happy that it sold.

Yellow Apples and White Orchid
36" x 18"

Taking a Hike

Today my husband and I (kids are visiting with grandparents this weekend) decided to take a small road trip out to Shenandoah National Park and hike up to Mary's Rock.  The trail was quite rocky and it was 3.5 miles round trip.  I have always been a slow walker and there was no exception on this trip.  It took me about 3 hours to do the hike and, as usual, folks passed me on the way up, and on the way down.  Oh well, at least I can.  From Mary's Rock you have a 360 degree view.

Arnaudville Experiment

My life never seems to get boring, and this couldn't be more true right now.  As well as being an artist, I am also the president of a non-profit organization down in Arnaudville, Louisiana, Frederick l'Ecole des Arts.

In July we had a terrible blow to our organization when the building we shared with Town Market, Nunu's Café (George Marks's family business) caught fire and was a complete loss.  Since the fire it has been amazing to see the community of people, who have come to know us collectively as "NUNU's", rally together and work to raise funds so we can rebuild.  I recently got back from a trip down to Louisiana where our first fundraiser was held at Blue Moon Saloon and Guest House in Lafayette.  What a night!  Six bands donated their talent and time to help us out.  George and his Mom worked tirelessly serving food they used to prepare for the café.  So many volunteers stood by our side, rolling up their sleeves, doing whatever needed to be done.  My hats are off to all of you, with your help we can accomplish just about anything!


You can help us in so many ways.  One way is to follow this link, register and vote for the Arnaudville Experiment of which Frederick l'Ecole des Arts is a component.  This Place Matters, Arnaudville Experiment=Louisiana Culture.  This is a grant program through the National Trust for Historic Preservation and we can win this grant if we get the most votes.


We have a website listing our upcoming fundraisers called Phoenix Rising / Nunu's where you can see what is going on.  Everyone is welcome!  If you can not attend a fundraiser, but would like to donate, you can make a donation to the organization on our secure Frederick l'Ecole website donation page : http://frederick-arts.org/donationform.html.  Please also consider becoming a member of the organization.

A Very Busy Summer

My first post on my new blog.  Welcome to all of you who are reading this.  The name of my blog, Reflections, is about the purest way I can express how I paint.

Okay, a little about me.  I'm an artist, a wife, a mom, and a pretty happy person.  I live in Maryland, but my heart is in Louisiana where I grew up (in New Orleans) and went to college (in Baton Rouge at LSU).  The first time I met the man who would become my husband was on a trip to Paris back in 1990.  The next time was as an employee in his book store / coffee shop, Caliban's, in Baton Rouge.  Phil has been so incredibly supportive of my artistic career and has stood behind me right from the get go.

It's been 14 years now since I began developing my professional career and I'm happy to say I'm currently represented by four different galleries, Ann Connelly Fine Art in Baton Rouge, LA, Harris Gallery in Houston, TX, Duane Reed Gallery in St. Louis, MO, and Blue Gallery in Three Oaks, MI.

My latest series, "Echoes" is all about reflected light, and I mean, all about!  This series explores the beauty of light reflected off of water.  All of my work adresses the beauty of reflected light, but painting light reflecting off of a moving surface was something I had been thinking about for a long time.  Back in June of 2008 I decided to take the artistic "jump off the cliff" and create images that were completely different from what I had been painting and the Echo series was born.

Echo XX
Oil on panel
36" x 48"

I have recently taken photographs of beautiful water reflections when I was on my trip to Veracruz, MX this summer.  I have already begun my first painting for that series.  Here are some images of the work in progress.

Echo XXIII, Day 1

Echo XXIII, Day 2

Echo XXIII, Days 3-5

I'll be posting the continuing progress on this painting.