Sunday, April 28, 2013




How to make a rose bloom

My best-known rose paintings were done in graduate school and people have asked me to do a rose painting demo many times over the years. I start them at workshops and finish them at home or at other workshops.  I think it is very important for artists to see the stages in making a painting.  We can be in a hurry and want to make everything perfect all at once. 

These pictures, showing three stages helps you see how to develop a painting start to finish.  I cover pigments you should use and how to mix them and get started in my watercolor workshops.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013


Small statue at Temple of Isis ruins at Dion, Greece

My dear friend Xenis drove me to this site where his daughter had done some archeological work and he knew I would like the site.  He was right. It was mesmerizing. I went back for a day of painting, taking 3 inter-village buses to get there. It was worth it.  The place was silent but for the song of birds and frogs who began singing after I settled into my painting. I was alone with the ruins and the small statues. The site was filled with six inches of fresh spring water, adding a beautiful blue to the scene.

This painting was exhibited first in the "Virginia Woolf and the Natural World" exhibit at Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky along with three other Greek watercolors I did on site. It was also seen in my solo exhibition "Journeys" at Quincy College, Quincy, Illinois.