"Cedar Fields" Vinland, KS

                                                                  

                                                              "Cedar Fields", Vinland KS

                                                                           Oil 24" x "32 $550

I love the Vinland Hills of Kansas. It is only 50 miles from downtown Kansas City. It is a very remote,  rural area. It is just south of Lawrence, Kansas. I taught at the Lawrence Art Center where Kansas University is located for many years. The Lawrence Art Center is an artistic engine in the region and many artists working in a variety of different mediums have come to this area due to the growing arts culture. Vinland is a community and consists of one street that circles a small cluster of historic buildings. I love it here and always bring students here to work painting Plein Air. (You can view their work from Vinland at artistictrekkers.blogspot.com). It is unrestricted. Many of the beautiful farms and scenery are just there and don't require someone's permission to access the areas. In the fall when this was painted there were lovely colors and vibrant meadow grasses that reached up into this beautiful grove of cedars across the road from the 100 yr. old library. It was a windy day and the colors in the tall Kansas prarie grasses were vibrating with the changing light created by the wind. I believe I could paint in just this one area for the next five years and still not capture all there is to see.

"Outside of Lone Tree Wyoming" Wyoming

      

             

                                                                "Outside of Lone Tree, Wyoming"

                                                                   Watercolor 18"x 24" $450.00

"Outside Lone Tree Wyoming" is one of my favorite places on earth. This is one of the last places in the continental United States that is not fenced. Traveling across Wyoming has been part of my life and this particular area just south and east of the Unita Mountains in southwest Wyoming is vast and wild. This is an area that has not been touched by mankind. The land moves from deep rock canyons to clusters of scrub cedars. There is a unique stillness and truth in the vast and beautiful emptiness that this land holds.

"Chair, Blanket and Mexican Rug" Living Arts and Science Center, Lexington, KY

Chair, Blanket and Mexican Rug"

                                                                          Watercolor 18"x 24" $475.00

"Chair, Blanket and Mexican Rug" is a work I completed while teaching in Lexington at the Living Arts and Science Center in Lexington, KY. The Day of the Dead Festival had just been completed and my heart and mind were filled with memories of the light of Mexico. My husband and I spent fifteen years living, working and traveling throughout Mexico. Everyday was filled with the magic of discovery of this very ancient land. Color is everywhere in the handmade Contemporary Mexican Folk Art. I loved this rug and we acquired it while working on developing a collection of Contemporary Mexican Folk Art for the Smithsonian Institutions. Mexico and her light will always be a very important part of my life and my experiences.

"Venice's Boots" Lawrence Art Center, Lawrence, KS

                                                 

                                                                              "Venice's Boots"

                                                                              Watercolor 18"x 24" $425.00 

I completed this painting just after I returned from Wyoming and was teaching at the Lawrence Art Center. These boots belong to my niece, Venice. She lives in Jelm, in rural southeastern Wyoming. Jelm is actually a town with a post office, gas station, small store, bar, cafe and eight log cabins that her parents rent out to tourists. The resort is called "Woods Landing". It is located on the Laramie River and is listed on the historic register. It is a beautiful place to live and grow up. I also lived in Jelm when I was in college at the University of Wyoming. I lived in one of the eight cabins that line the Laramie River long before Sue and Bill, my sister and brother in law purchased it. My heart always seems to be in Wyoming. The long harsh winters create a unique relationship between the land and the people who live there and I love the silence of the vast landscape. I was in Wyoming working on a mural project for Harmony School which is the school Venice attends. There are 26 students. The mural told the story of Wyoming from the time of the dinosaurs to modern times. I stayed at Woods Landing with Venice and at the end of the project, Sue, my sister in law asked me if I wanted to take Venice's boots. She had outgrown them. These are Venice's old boots that she wore while she barrel raced in Wyoming. I was deeply grateful. I carry them with me everywhere and students have painted them all across the United States where ever I teach and work. I am deeply grateful to Sue for giving them to me because I am able to carry a part of Wyoming with me where ever I go.

"Pots and Mexican Blanket"

                                                          "Mexican Pots and Blanket", Blacksburg, Va

                                                                           Watercolor 22x30" $525

My husband created these pots while we were living in Oaxaca, Mexico studying Spanish at the Instituto Culturale. We went to school in the morning for language then in the afternoons we had the opportunity to take ceramics, cooking, or weaving. We loved visiting all of the indigenous villages and archaeological sites in the region. We returned to the States and life found us in returning to graduate school in southwest Virginia. We were surrounded by the Appalachian Mountains and we loved going to school, however, during those cold winters we often thought of our trip to Oaxaca, the warm sun and the wonderful adventures we had. I began to miss Mexico and during one of those cold December days, I gathered up his pots and one of our Mexican blankets and began this painting remembering the warm sun, welcoming people and the sounds of Mexico.

$475.00

"Morning Strawberries"

                                                             Morning Strawberries

                                                        Watercolor 18"x 24"  $425.00
                                                
                                                                         

"Morning Strawberry's" is a painting I worked on while I was teaching a Still Life class in Watercolor at Baker University with the Community Art Students. The sun was coming through the clouds warming the strawberries. The beautiful reds in the strawberries contrasted beautifully with the colors of the window sill, sky and bowl. I loved the brightness of the yellow bowl against the deep red in the strawberries. This painting is a simple expression of an early morning bowl of ripe strawberries.

"Amy's Laundry"

                                                                               

                                                               "Amy's Laundry"
                                                        Watercolor 16"x 20"  $425

Amy was my neighbor in Blacksburg, Virginia. She was against using a dryer because of the energy it wasted and she loved the way the fresh air permeated the clothes. She had this wonderful clothes line in her backyard and one day she was drying all the jeans and they were so full of personality. All sorts of adventures were revealed in those jeans. Hiking trips to the Appalachian Trail, bike rides through town, hours spent in university classes, long nights out and walks through town. I loved the colors and the way the light hit the basket and the shadows the jeans cast on the walls.

"Long Days Ride", Figure

                                  

      Long Day's Ride

Watercolor 16"x 20"

$220

This was a very fast image painted from life. The cowboy was reclining and looked just exhausted after along day working at the ranch. I love the fast immediacy of this painting. Everything came through in his worn expression on his face and the way his head just dropped forward.

"Red Canna Lilly"

                                                               "Red Canna Lilly"

                                                               Watercolor 16" x 20" $175.00

 I saw this lily in a garden on the campus of the University of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg where we were living while I was getting my MFA. The lilly reminded me of a garden we visited in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. San Miguel de Allende was full of Canna Lillies of all shades and colors and suddenly I felt as if I was standing in that same garden listening to the sounds of Mexico. This image was painted from life and all the rich colors of Mexico are represented in the bold elegance of the Lilly.

Apple and Pitcher

                                                                  "Pitcher and Red Apples"

                                                                      Watercolor 18"x 24" $850

The magic in this image is in the bold folds of yellow fabric, the muted blue of the ceramic pitcher and the bright red apples. These are all complimentary colors. The movement of the fabric flows against the structured forms. The rich warm color of the background wall made the colors of the fabric, apples and pitcher stronger and more vibrant. I painted this with my watercolor students at the Lumberyard Arts Center in Baldwin, Kansas. 

"Midway" Midway, Kentucky

 "Midway" Midway, KY

Oil 11"x 14"$450.00

This is a wonderful town located in the Kentucky Bluegrass. All of the buildings have tremedous character and life. I fell under the spell of the bright yellow building with the purple window trim. The red brick building with its colorful bright blue trim continued the wonderful colors on this street. This was also an oil that was painted after "Early Fall at Keeneland". This was a slower painting but I never got tired of the fun, bright colors.

"River Birches"

"River Birches"

Watercolor16"x 20" $425.00

I love working Plein Air. This little group of Birch trees were standing in a collection along the New River in Virginia. They seemed to be moved by the tide of the river. The wind was blowing and the whole image seemed alive. This was a very fast painting due to the constant changing light in the wind.

"Training Barn", Lexington, KY

                                                 "Training Barn" Lexington, KY

22" x 30"

Watercolor $425.00

"Training Barn" was completed at Colonel's farm in the horse country of Lexington, Ky. A wonderful place with lots of beautiful horses, chickens roosters, and a great dog. I used to go to Colonel's all the time to work because the farm had so many interesting things going on. I returned from a project teaching and working in Kansas City and sadly the farm had been sold. But I have wonderful memories of being there. I love the colors and light that is reflected in the hay bales.

"Shadow Mountain"

"Shadow Mountain", Shenandoah Valley, Virginia

Watercolor 18"x 24" $475

Shadow Mountain was a beautiful cabin my husband and I stayed located in the gorgeous Shenandoah Mountains in Virginia. The owners found out I was an artist and asked me to do a house portrait for them. This painting is the portrait of our cabin. The cabin had a lovely lookout tower where you could see the surrounding grounds. Magenta is one of my favorite colors and I see magenta in the shadows of many of my architectural paintings. We loved it here. 

"Shadow Mountain", Shenandoah Valley, Virginia

Watercolor

18x24

Commission

"4516 W.Seminary" Richmond, Va

"4516 W.Seminary"

Watercolor  22" x 30" (Sold)

As I sat in the front of my friend's yard working on the painting of "Husny's Bungalow" the neighbors stopped by and commissioned me to do a painting of their house. They were a little concerned because their house was all white and I assured them that I was a watercolorist and saw many beautiful colors in the dramatic shadows and details. When the painting was finished, they redecorated their living room according to the colors in the painting. Fun!