"Night Out", Blacksburg, VA

             

                                      "Night Out", Studio Work, Blacksburg, VA
                                                        Watercolor 18"x 24" $450

I painted "Night Out" in my studio while listening to a story about a Puerto Rican woman who felt displaced living in the US and went to visit her sister in Puerto Rico. The day she arrived her sister was amazed to see how much of the light and joy had been taken out of her by the hard life she lived in New York. So her sister took her shopping, bought bright red high heeled shoes that matched her lipstick and they went out dancing. I loved this story and found these red high heels in a thrift store. I was thinking of using them as a painting exercise for my students, but fell in love with them and kept them at home for many years.

"Mexican Pots and Blanket", Blacksburg, VA

     

                                            "Mexican Pots and Blanket", Blacksburg, VA
                                                             Watercolor 18"x 24" $475

This piece brought me back to the streets and narrow alleys of Mexico. Beautiful handwoven blankets were used to pack their pots to prevent them from being broken on the way to the markets.
The pots were created from the famous black clay mined in the state of Oaxaca. Every form was developed and supported by the architectural folds of the handwoven blanket.

"Pots at the Kansas City Art Institute", Kansas City, MO

                            

                                       "Pots at the Kansas City Art Institute", Kansas City MO
                                                                      Watercolor 18"x 24" $450

These pots were sitting on the steps of the Kansas City Art Institute where I was teaching Plein Air.  I loved the deep green windows and the empty ceramic pots. The hues of yellow and blue in the stone captured all the colors and I loved the bold heavy architecture. The charged watercolors gave great depth and shape to the pots and the classical architecture of the building.

"Roselle Court", Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City Missouri

                                                   

                                       "Roselle Court", Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri
                                                                      Watercolor 18"x 24" $525 (Sold)

I love this courtyard with all the complex details and colorful marble columns. I was working in this area after class. The scene was complex, but the light clarified everything I was trying to capture. I fascinated by the deep shadows of the complex architectural details and perspective.

"Plaza Tower", Kansas City, MO

                                                

                                         "Plaza Tower",  Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Mo.
                                                                       Watercolor 18"x 24"
I was teaching Plein Air at the Kemper Museum of Art and felt students needed to experience the challenges of perspective in Architecture. I love the Spanish influence on the Plaza which is a very famous area of the city due to the unique architectural designs. The Islamic influence prevalent in Spanish Architecture can be seen in the reaching spires and the colorful blue dome of the cathedral.

Early Fall Cedars, Artistic Trekkers, Vinland, KS

                                                      

 

"Fall Cedars", Vinland, KS 

Oil 18"x 24" $475

The early fall colors were just beginning to show and the deep grasses were moving in the wind as a rainstorm was beginning across the field. I loved looking up at this cedar field from the Nitcher's Farm in Vinland, Kansas. The cedars were full and their beautiful colors mixed with all of the colors in the wonderful tall grsasses that had yet to be cut. I loved the way the clouds moved over the field.Vinland Kansas is one of my favorite places to work. I have been taking students to Vinland for five years and still feel we have not seen all there is to see in this very small, very rural collection of historic buildings which is fifty miles from Kansas City in the rolling western hills of Kansas.

"Jeans and Mary Jane's"

    

                                                                                             

               "Jeans and Mary Janes", Houston, TX

Oil 18"X 24" 

Permanent Collection Living Arts and Science Center, Lexington, KY

"Jeans and Maryjane's" is a work that was completed in Houston, TX. Houston is an interesting place full of images of the Modern West. This piece came to me as I contemplated the odd mix of Houston's western culture with a contemporary heartbeat. The old oak chair was one of several chairs I found in a garage while I lived with my husband in Wyoming. I had thrown my jeans across the chair and took off my Mary Jane's just under it. The light was an afternoon light that was just manifesting across the room and I loved the play of the light on the walls and in the deep creases in the jeans. It was very demonstrative of Houston's western culture seen in the wonderful mix of burnt sienna walls and the old oak chair with a pair of well worn jeans tossed across it. The Mary Jane's are also a bit nostalgic.