Loving Color

Crazy, Messy Studio - Getting ready for my upcoming show

My usually tidy studio (aka our living room) is cluttered and chaotic, as I'm getting paintings framed and ready for my upcoming exhibit with my daughter, Felicity Lingle, at the Cold Mountain Cafe in Bethlehem, NH. The show will be hung on August 14 - stay tuned for details about a possible opening reception - and stay up until the end of September, I think. Our work is very different - I haven't seen what Felicity has been working on, but she has some of her work on her blog. Check out the link on my blog list.

The orange painting of the pear is not finished, but I'm not sure what to do with it - it's so different, more like a fairy tale illustration than my usual landscapes - what do you think? There is a theory that people either love or hate purple and orange - I'm thinking the edges of the painting need to be toned down to allow the pear and the landscape to dominate. I welcome any constructive feedback.

Bleu Lavande - Fitch Bay, Quebec

Saturday morning we drove 90 minutes to Bleu Lavande, a picturesque lavender farm in Fitch Bay, Quebec. It was a perfect summer day. We have been growing lavender in our back yard, and we wanted to see how professionally grown lavender looks in comparison. It turns out, ours looks about the same - the peak intensity of color occured about a month ago. As it dries, the color of the flower fades, but the fragrance intensifies.

Bleu Lavande offers tours of the farm, a bistro, a spa with aromatherapy massage, a boutique with lavender scented bath and skin care products, a distillery, tents for weddings and social events and lavender picnic tables. It's a lovely drive and a spectaular setting with vistas all around.

Heat Wave in New Hampshire!

It's so hot that my plush tiger puss-cats flatten themselves as low as they can get. Picked mesclun and arugula from my garden and made myself a banana-peach smoothie. I found these old bottles in a box at the dump recently, which make a perfect display of my summer flowers. It's easy to be in denial about NH winters when we have this lush botanical beauty around us.

New Works in Progress

These are loosely based on photographs I took several years ago in southern "southside" Virginia. We were on our way to work, the sun was just coming up and I took the photos from a moving car.

Something Completely Different!

This is a tripych I did a few days ago. It is acrylic on gessoed panels, and is a very different style for me. I have always wanted to paint my flowers as they come into bloom, but get frustrated trying to paint them realistically, so I just decided to have fun and paint them in a whimsical, stylized manner.

New Paintings

I am finally getting back to painting after taking some time off to make jewelry and other things. I am a little rusty, but it feels good to be painting again.