Life at the edge of our field is always interesting and inspires my painting practice. Many of you who live in a more rural part of the Piedmont know what I’m talking about, and even if you have a small backyard you may see some of this wonder as well! Every day is a new visual experience depending on the…
As luck would have it after retiring from my day job I moved from my home of 45 years in Chicago to the small town of Carrboro known as "The Paris of the Piedmont." I love this small town and the people who are enthusiastic in supporting the Arts. Here I have continued to pursue my two loves — garden…
“Kookaburra sits on an old gum tree...” goes a song from my childhood. Gum is a large family of Australian trees which are locally known as “Mallee.” Burls from Mallee trees are especially beautiful and, when you find them available in the US, are expensive. Because of the expense, I was unwilling to turn Australian burls for several years after…
As an artist I am never at loss for painting ideas. Most of all I love animals. These ideas often come to me as I paint instead of setting out to depict a certain scene. As I paint the colors and images all come together and I change this or that until I can say in my heart I am…
The Orange County Artist's Guild is committed to hosting a safe and fun open studio tour this year. We want all of our guests to feel comfortable and know what to expect when visiting any of our member studios. That is why we have created several new resources to help everyone plan their tour experience this year: Interactive Map with…
From Jackson Hole to Charleston and all points in-between, it’s the same thing. Oils, acrylics and 3-D sculptures are in every gallery across the land, but very few have watercolors on their walls. Why is that? For many years, watercolorists have sought a level playing field compared to other mediums. Galleries are quick to point out their perceived ‘lack’ of…
This past summer I’ve focused on making wholecloth painted art quilts. These are not quilts for beds, but textile art to display on the wall. Each piece starts with plain white fabric, which I paint with acrylic textile paint. I then layer the piece with batting and a backing fabric before free-motion machine quilting it. I love both the process…
Covid has been a very challenging yet interesting time for me. Since I typically work alone in my studio each day, the isolation has not been as difficult and it has given me the time and permission to paint again! I love to paint, and it comes easy to me after working with the metals and stones of my jewelry…
Woodturners are always on the lookout for beautiful pieces of wood: those with interesting colors, grain patterns and voids. In recent years, I have augmented my wood collecting to include species and other samples that provide an opportunity to combine the wood with epoxy resin. Manzanita, a western woody shrub, is an excellent example of a wood that combines well…
The first art book I ever bought was Betty Edward’s Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. The book’s premise was that any beginner could learn to draw, and I was a beginner. Although I had zero formal training as an artist, I had a very big urge to create something. I had studied creative writing and had a…