Commission For Laurel

This is a commission piece I created as a graduation gift from mother to daughter.  The mother shared with me some background on her daughter telling me "she is the strongest person I know."

At the age of 12 she was severely injured in  a car accident with multiple skull fractures and trauma to her head which left her with learning disabilities.   She endured  a series of  surgeries and  rehabilitation.  While other  girls  her age were becoming interested in boys, going to dances and doing their nails this young lady was learning how to read again.  Her mother told me she never complained or asked "Why me?  "

Next month she is receiving her Master's Degree from the University of Washington.  I was very happy to paint this tribute .

Sunflowers and Blue Moods

My new painting.   I began with the thought of wanting to use browns with blues.  I started  thumbing through an old  Van Gogh book my son Max gave me for Christmas one year when he was 10 years old.  He wrote an adorable inscription which said, "Thought you could get some ideas for your paintings in here.  Love, Maxwell. " Well I did.  I also started looking at another Picasso book which is where the blue woman came from.  I love using  a lot of symbolism .  I don't want to just paint a room anymore. 

Commission for Renee

This is a ( not so good) image of the commission painting I completed this past week. I felt so much anxiety handing this precious package over to the UPS person to ship. . I pictured the box with fragile stickers all over it getting tossed around and some how damaged in route to it's destination! I wasn't using the power of positive thinking here, as my husband preaches to me. Anyway, it did arrive safely and it is being enjoyed by a lovely family now.

Provence

This whole blog thing is totally trial and error for me. I have five sisters and we laugh a lot about our in ability to figure out anything computer related. Some how it seems to be working out ok.

My son Sam is about to crash through the door for a home visit. I miss him so much but sometimes after a few hours I realize we have made the right decision in living at the school. I am able to paint, he is pretty happy. My mind has become uncluttered from what to do to help, cure Sam to how to improve my art, promote it and reconnect with my husband and two other sons. I love the blue in this small 8x10 painting. It's sort of Van Gogh meets Cezanne.