artist at play
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The Write Way
I think I was 14 years old when one of my younger sisters sweet talked my dad into letting her break our family’s 3-cookie-limit one night. I was furious! Not fair! Not doing things the RIGHT WAY! I marched upstairs and started a journal, writing out my indignation with words in a small notebook. How… Continue reading
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Snow Day!
Even though I am no longer a student, am no longer a full-time teacher, and have only a small case load of tutorial students in my new status as more retired than not, and even though it’s a Sunday and I am therefore not required to study, teach, or tutor in any case, a day… Continue reading
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I Hear Tell It Is 2024
Were we not just fretting about Y2K a year or two ago? Blink. 2024. Really? As this new year opens, I see that my studio isn’t rising to the challenge of containing my creative clutter so I take advantage of my tutorial schedule’s being on hold until next week and expand the mess into my… Continue reading
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Do I Care What Day It Is? I Do Not.
Steady gentle rain tapping on the skylight in my study as I type. Print collage, a torn swatch of fabric (thank you, MaryAnn!), three French knots (one tangled), a paint marker, India ink and dip pen, a Stabilo Woody. Art journal p.1 roughed up a little. Feels great! Continue reading
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I Have No Internal Sense of What Day It Is. None.
Asked for and received an art journal for Christmas. Yay! Square format roughly 8 x 8″, with perforated pages. Had the impulse late yesterday to cover the opening page with something. Anything. You’ll see if you look closely the following words inscribed in the four small paintings that ended up on the page: • new… Continue reading
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Pop-Up Pockets
One of my favorite parts of the end-of-year holiday season is the popping up of unexpected pockets of joy—little moments that are unplanned, are part of no tradition or ritual, have little likelihood of being replicated, and might well be considered ‘everyday-nothings,’ yet which are deeply satisfying to me. In the wake of such experiences… Continue reading
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GMIT M
My daughter Meg and I text each other a daily Good Morning in the [ … ] Morning message. Here’s my GMIT M message for you today, dear readers. GMIT experiment in sketchbook with painter’s tape expired credit card payne’s gray resuscitated cartridge ink pen stabilo woody watercolor pencils bright sunshine and light heart M. Continue reading
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Gift Wrap Redux
In the middle of wonderful busyness and bustle with a houseful of cherished family this past week, a few quiet moments presented themselves when my earlybird proclivities allowed me to take advantage of the sweet hush of an otherwise sleeping house to pop into my studio where I created a small sheet of impromptu gift… Continue reading
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Back in the Saddle
You may—or may not!—recall that I started painting a 30 x 30″ canvas at the end of September, starting with a sketch in my art journal. I jumped ship on the sketch in short order and reverted to my default approach of figuring things out directly on the canvas itself. I posted work-in-process in early… Continue reading
My Story
In 2014, I grab an unexpected opportunity to paint.
To make art.
I get hooked.
In 2015 I start a blog—a diary of my creative practice.
I post my paintings and their stories. The good, the bad, the ugly.
In 2025 I begin writing poetry and include a poem and painting in each post.
My compass points: shake hands with fear, be playful, get messy, trust my gut.
