Always a beginner in painting

      Sketchbooks are a great place to start over again. I often keep one on the breakfast table along w scissors and glue to cut up the newspaper, pencils and pen for the mini puzzle and some colors for when inspired by a photo or idea. In the sketchbook is where I found my cow in the sky for a recent painting (see last month's blog post). The steer was better in the sketchbook. I worked on the painting again today Don't laugh, but I wondered if cows in their anxiety have a cow in the sky for solace.Also, I think I finished another painting of that Palo Duro sunflower. I always wondered why artists painted the same subject over and over. Now to get Joe to frame those paintings as he did Paula's today! Joe finished the day to go a book reading by Steve Almond (author Bad Stories); and I took off for a class at the Apple store for painting with Procreate on the iPad.

     I had fun throwing on the paint for the sunflower, thickening the sky. I wanted to paint some rain for the Panhandle but went for a clear sky. The painting is not quite so dark as this. Then I looked at the sketchbook cow to make the one in the painting better, but I still have work to go. This guy is just wonderful. In no time, Joe made a frame for Paula's painting of her dancing with son at his wedding. It is probably a surprise for him so SHHHH. Jean and Neal I achieved quickly with Procreate, the fabulous painting program on the iPad. It is a lot of fun and the classes "Today at Apple" are free.

     

April Art Action

      Not only was it fun to have three paintings (The Fire Trilogy) in Fairytales, Folktales & Fables, but a bit of a write-up in the local Belmont paper. That done and nostalgic for my roots, I started an oil painting "Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam, and the skies are not cloudy all day." I'm not sure how it will clean up! I have some more tunes in mind. Click to enlarge photos.

 

      Then Joe and I headed to NYC for an art trip, courtesy of son Jim and Colin who were on the road traveling. Joe and I first hit the Neue Gallery for a touching show Before the Fall, about art life during the rise of Hitler and before the Holocaust, the works of artists of different persuasions at that time and what they offered. There were only a few masterpieces in the show, but the collections there were moving. We didn't want to miss the Met Breur's Like Life with all the shocking and amazing bodies. Then we ran to the Frick for the last day of Zubaran's Jacob and his sons, giant portraits of the founders of the 12 tribes of Israel. Other days there were Grant Wood nearby at the Whitney and the Met's thoughtful Thomas Cole with paintings reminding of our three years nearby in South Hadley when Joe taught at Mt. Holyoke. I loved Cole's warnings to America at the time of Jackson's presidency!We stopped at MOMA and saw paintings by the Brazilian artist Tarsal do Amaral who wanted to paint her homeland.We made it to several gallery shows, but David Hockney's was by far the most exciting to me with his new giant digital photographs and shaped canvases. We went down to the Bowery to see the Triennial at the New Museum and learned Banksy had just been nearby. Then to Chinatown for blue and white bowls for our new blue and white dining room. 

     Joe and I had fun eating very casually at The Rocking Horse Cafe for Mexican food, Neue's Cafe Sabarsky for Viennese food, the Whitney Studio Cafe for toasts, La Bonne Soupe down from Trump Tower, the Empire Diner and Le Grainne in Chelsea near the High Line, the Oyster Bar with a stop at the New York Public Library, and Atticus in New Haven on our way to the fantastic New Britain Museum of American Art for the Prendergast brothers.  I will continue the magic with books I got for myself and the children. Joe has his thrillers. It is finally 63 degrees here and the jackets are back on their hangers!

for Linda

for the grandchildren and Linda

for the kitchen from Japan