monday

Went to the truffle fest yesterday and tried truffle cheese , truffle butter, and truffle ravioli , alfredo. Also sampled some home made pepper jellies that are local to this area . I am planning to have them here in my studio for sale. They were the best. peach habenero jelly and tayberry habenero . Awesome. No pics yet but my friend Lori bought some fresh truffles .... or should I say one , itty , bitty truffle.... we are having dinner together tomorrow and will be experimenting. I don't think they will become a staple in my diet but I did purchase a 30.00 , 4oz bottle of truffle oil. I understand it is to be used sparingly, do yuh think?

Truffles

Going to a Truffle festival at the Valley River Center in Eugene tomorrow. Maybe I'll find a group of truffle hunters. The truffles here in Oregon are not as high dollar as the european truffles but still around 3 or 400 an ounce.... I think? European are around a thousand or more. Needless to say I have not had the opportunity to cook with truffles so tomorrow I get to see what they are all about. I'll try to remember to take a few pics

I'm off to work on my floor cloth. This one was completed in 2009 and has been sold. It is quite large. 10 ft X 11.

The Guggenheim

 Just returned from NJ and was able to spend a day in NYC . Went to the Guggenheim , then to greenwich village and after that over to chelsea district to hunt down a fellow artist Shannon Weber's showing at the Gavin Morris Gallery. Unfortunately , couldn't find it.

The Guggenheim was awesome. I've tried to hit a different art museum with each NY visit. This one was much smaller than I'd imagined and they were doing an installation at the time so I was only able to visit the permanent collection which was  plenty for an afternoon. I was reprimanded for getting a tad too close to the art . Always a memorable experience.

This 9X10 bedroom painted in 3 shades of fleshy coral is my answer to giving a small nondescript space a sensual, comforting and expansive feel while using rich color.

I'm no Frank Lloyd Wright but this , I would say, did do the job for this very small room.

Another floor cloth that was completed a yr ago. this one about 6X7 feet . It was made with the vintage table in mind.

Sunday

It's a rainy sunday here and I am NOT going to paint. It is always tempting for me to dip a brush just for a little while. That's when I get paint on clothes that were not meant for painting. After so many years of doing the work I do , I've found that I am most productive and creative when I keep a disciplined schedule for artwork . If I did whatever I wanted, whenever .... I would always be painting, but stressed also because so many other things wouldn't get done. Like doing the laundry! So , today , I am not doing laundry, but I will enjoy a little bit of reading and relaxation with my dog Harvey. No deadlines.

Floor Cloth

I am currently working on a 12 x 7 1/2 foot floor cloth. Fairly large.  A commission piece for a large dining room. The design has greek key along with rosemaling since the couple who have purchased this piece are greek and norsk. Quite a nice combo . The greek key must be perfect while the norwegian rosemaling has much more flexibility. A good mix. The photo here is a previous commission .

Floor cloths : art for your floors. They last a lifetime. I have one in my kitchen , under heavy traffic and it is 20 yrs old and still beautiful. This one below was designed with the light in mind that hangs above the table.  The actual shape of the room is a trapezoid. This is not a distorted photo. The rug here is 11x10 foot

faux finish

Rag Rolling. Well.... I just this morning finished completing a job for a customer who had tried to follow a "do it yourself" instructional on rag rolliing . She had followed all the steps perfectly and yet the finish was completely non existent. I mean invisible, not even a hint of color over the original foundation color. We changed the glaze colors drastically to achieve the look she had seen in the pamphlet.

Their are certain basic principles and methods to follow in glazing that make the work easier. # 1 - going from dark to light is more difficult than starting with a lighter shade on the foundation . This was the problem with the noted finish. It called for a chocolate foundation color , then using a very light glaze mix over it. The darker the foundation , the darker the glaze over it needs to be. If it is lighter .... it will either be invisible or worse , it will look foggy or chalky. Instead I used a metallic bronze glaze mixed with glazing liquid. The bronze is from Modern Masters . Not cheap but goes a very long way. The outcome has a different look than what she saw in the photos but is beautiful and she loves it. Rich.

stepping out

My first post on this blog. I've had so much I want to get out there and yet I am daily in my studio painting away in solitude. I have taught a class here and there, but am only able to get the info out to others ever so slowly.  There are so many "would be" painters that can benefit from all the mistakes I have made through the years.

I would love to share my foibles but especially where the experience of trying new techniques will take you. Always an adventure!