Peacock Place and Hide and Seek 2 new paintings

Lately I have been living vicariously through my son Max's time in Florence Italy.  He is there taking an intensive workshop at the Florence Academy Of Art learning the old masters techniques.  He calls me everyday on his way home to discuss what he has learned.  I am so proud and excited for him during this once in a life time experience.  I cannot wait to visit in October and see for myself! 

I am enjoying working in these rich jewel tones.  I am a huge fan of 16th and 17th century classical still life paintings especially Dutch .  I see both of these pieces in a baroque style gold frame.  

I have had quite a few calls for more Tree Of Life paintings but I can only paint them when I feel inspired to do so.  They are coming but at the right time.  Thanks for looking and stay tuned! 

Enjoy the fall foliage.   

www.catherinenolin.org  

  

Hide And Seek- 14x18 still life

   My classic still life .  I worked on this piece a lot longer than I anticipated but I am so excited with the results. The colors are so rich, luminous  and  lovely.  I was so excited that I forgot to crop the left side I see! Anyway, so far this fall I am so busy and grateful with work .  Max leaves for Florence Monday for 3 months to study at The Florence Academy of Art and in about 4 weeks Scott and I will be visiting him.  I am also grateful for my son Zach and his wife Kayla who will be looking after Sam when we go.  

I have so many ideas in the works and wish I had more time to execute.  

Your life can change in an instant.

I think about that all the time.  In  both a good way and bad.  Just when we thought Sam has coming out of a difficult period things got worse. I was heart broken and at a lost for answers as to why he was suffering so much.  He is slowly coming around but something has changed and we need to go back and see many specialists to rule out G.I., orthopedic, etc.  so far dental has been taken care of.

I am so grateful for such a loving family full of support and hands on help as well as a wonderful staff at Sam's residence who truly care. 

I am hopefully back in the studio Monday about to continue working on some custom work I began before Sam's problems began.  No matter how hard life can be you can always find ways to be grateful.
 

On my easel

I am working on a large expressive piece that pretty much sums up what's going on.  These are all echoes of my mind.  It's evolved quite a bit from last week but I got some inspiration from some of my favorite artists.  This photo was taken with my phone in poor light but I think you get the idea! It's 24x36  For those who are interested -I plan on finishing up tomorrow. Thanks for looking

The week it's been

 I am feeling more and more optimistic as each day arrives  after a very difficult crisis weekend with Sam.  We didn't see it coming and just when we thought things were under control they escalated again.   I began to feel somewhat numb, indifferent because we couldn't figure out what was wrong with him.  His pain was heartbreaking.  -The absolute worst feeling which I haven't experienced in years as a parent of a nonverbal autistic now adult in uncontrollable distress.
Around Wednesday we were able to turn things around and I am grateful for all the help and prayers and positive vibes from everyone around us. It truly takes a village!  As bad as that whole experience was for  our son, many lessons were learned and some already strong bonds were now forever cemented.  Today I am back in the studio finishing up a few pieces I had begun last week.

What I'm working on

 I have been working on two pieces lately, going back and forth from one to the other.  One is 11x14 and the other is 14x18.  Sam will be starting horseback riding therapy(hippo-therapy)  which I am excited about since finding ways for him to exercise is challenging.  Of course one of my new pieces includes, you guessed it,  a horse!  The other is a sort of fatherhood theme but not what you think!
It's funny how a lot of my ideas, bringing objects together is subconscious initially and then
full of synchronicity! Next week we head to Scarborough Maine for a short vacation/ family reunion of sorts so I hope to wrap up my two pieces before we leave. 

The sun is so bright shining through my studio window I can hardly see, but so happy it  is warmer and not raining.  Today we pick up Sam for the day and Scott will bring him to see my mother as he always does at the nursing home.  It's the highlight of her day, life I suppose.  She tells him the same story of the three little pigs, even though he is twenty five  now, as always.  I am grateful she is still here at 91 mother of seven.  Looking forward to getting back to work in the studio  next week before vacation begins!