Quiet

"Quiet"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas 
There had been so much going on; planning, laughter, cooking, conversation, entertaining, frivolity, feasting, then nothing but quiet. The quiet of a household after a five-day party is often as unnerving as the commotion of a full to overflowing house. This painting depicts what it felt like when they all left. Quiet. 

My family celebrated a fifteen-year tradition of Faux Thanksgiving over the weekend. Friends and family came to eat turkey and play for five days.  It happens two weeks before real Thanksgiving every year.  And every year it gets louder while they're here and quieter when they leave.  For all of this, I am thankful.

Love,
Carol

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Withering

"Withering"
6" x 6"
Oil on canvas panel
The second leaf to flutter from Mark's tree landed later the same day, after I found the first red leaf.  It was already closer to becoming compost than that first one.  The turning curls of leaves have always delighted my eyes.  Leaves are like fabric, in that their backsides are seldom the same color as the front... thankfully, or it would make painting them less interesting. 

 Carol

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Grapes

"Grapes"
8" x 8"
Oil on canvas panel
I eat a lot of grapes. They replaced mangoes, which replaced cherries waaaaay back in summer.  I don't think grapes go out of season, but they may not be as good as they are right now. I adore the globe table grapes I'm finding at Whole Foods. They are LOUD to eat, though. I'm always startled when the skin pops and the juice flows under my tongue, or down my chin if I'm laughing on account of my noisiness.

Another pre-painted panel. I made about ten of them one day.  I work like that, at times; do all one kind of thing, assembly-line style.

I love that you come to visit me.
Thank you.

Carol

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Homage to Wolf Kahn

"Homage to Wolf Kahn"
11" x 14"
Oil on wrapped canvas
One of my followers mentioned Wolf Kahn in a conversation we had over the weekend.  She told me she was a fan, so I described this painting, and promised to post it.  Here it is for everyone to see. If you know the title, please let me know. 

 In an attempt to simplify my work, a few months ago, I painted a copy of one of Wolf Kahn's images.  I don't recall the title, but it was in the palette of colors I wanted to explore, so I copied it relatively closely.  Understand, it's not my own composition or subject matter, but a copy.  Have you ever known me to paint like this, besides?

Carol

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Purple Haze

"Purple Haze"
8" x 10"
Oil on canvas panel 
Two ginkgo leaves tumbled across the path where I found a maple leaf the other day.  They tumbled because they had withered and curled. I'd only seen these leaves flat and sprinkled like gold coins spilled from a parking meter.  I brought them in and drew them before they curled into cocoons or spooned like lovers.  The purple haze is a glazed complement to the golden leaves, and placed on another of my textured backgrounds.  

Carol

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Maple

"Maple"
6" x 6"
Oil on canvas panel 
The trees are bare in my zip code, except for one maple in my neighbor's yard. He's been waiting for a month to tend to them. They've been reluctant -- no, rebellious about letting go until it's too cold to rake, and the village no longer picks up leaf bags.  Yup, this is one stubborn maple, and here's the first leaf to fall from it.  I picked it up while walking my dog today.  Adamant, I say!  

Carol

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Turban Squash

"Turban Squash"
9" x 12"
Oil on canvas panel
I had never touched a turban squash, let alone painted one, yet I plan to eat this one now that I've done both.  Apparently designed by a committee of fashion engineers, this beauty is cinched in at the waist in an attempt at containing her ample girth. Tres chic? Not hardly, but I'll bet this fat lady can sing! 

The background is another of my previously-painted panels, made just for displaying a single subject such as this.

Carol

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Peel Me

"Peel Me"
8" x 8"
Oil on canvas panel
I saw the light and shadows on the loose outer peel of this Bermuda onion and decided if I could get her home without the cashier mishandling her, I'd paint her on one of the backgrounds I had prepared for exactly this purpose.  It worked.  
I could grow to like painting from life ... more regularly.  

Carol


Squashed

"Squashed"
9" x 12"
Oil on canvas panel
I painted with friends today; heard their sorrows, their joys and knew that I had been missed. There's something right about painting with people, every now and then. I'm a studio painter and paint alone 95% of the time, but being with this group makes my heart sing. 

I painted this squash from life while I was in Woodstock today. I also made a couple of new skies that I'll post over the next couple of days. It was a productive and cathartic day away.

Love to all of you,
Carol

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Oyster Pearl

"Oyster Pearl"
12" x 12"
Oil on wrapped canvas
When first I saw her, she glistened, held captive by the morning light. Luscious, like the pearl in an oyster, she wore simultaneously, the colours of the sun and the moon.  

I loved painting this rose, but her colours did startle me as I examined her closely, so closely. Then her fragrance distracted me... too.

Carol

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Snow on the Peak

"Snow on the Peak"
16" x 20"
Oil on hardboard
I was in Colorado in September a year ago when we wakened to snow on the Peak.  Pikes Peak acts as an indicator, a harbinger of sorts, to announce the arrival of autumn. 

I was also there in October when I took the photo that inspired this painting. I love the colors of Colorado in the fall. Green is kept to a minimum and I get to squeeze colors from tubes I seldom use in Illinois landscapes, or roses.

Carol

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Sandy

"Sandy"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard
I heard that a storm was walloping  the east coast of my country, so I decided to turn on the TV to see what was going on. I do not watch television, yet, I began to list all the people I know on that coast, and thought I should be cognizant of their peril. I offer my prayers for your safety in Connecticut, Maryland, New York, Massachusetts, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. You know who you are.

Love to you,
Carol

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Serenity

"Serenity"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard
There are days when peace envelops me, despite what's brewing, or stewing around me and it shows in my work.  I had wonderful conversations with my online friends today that made me joyful as I began to paint.  I got to the bottom of this painting and decided to opt for a minimalist approach, instead of mucking it up with clouds or birds or trees. The horizon of still water and a signature completed this little piece of peace. 

Love to you,
Carol

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Scoops of Sherbet

"Scoops of Sherbet"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard
Sometimes a sky takes on the look of squirted shaving cream, or cotton balls, or in this case, food. As I painted and assigned color and texture to the small, smooth surface I paint these skies on, I kept thinking sherbet... or maybe even sorbet. I like those cold confecitons like sorbet, sherbet and even gelato... okay, ice cream, too.  Yum. 

Carol

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About To...

"About To..."
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard 
I begin these sky paintings with every intention of making a sunrise or a sunset, but when I get to the end there are nights that I don't know whether I've made the end of one day or the beginning of another.  It's like what's going on with my friend who is on an adventure in Madrid for a couple of weeks.  He is about to wake up while I type this, and I'm about to go to sleep.

Goodnight and good morning.
Carol

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Surrender

"Surrender"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard 
After the sun tumbled below the safety of the tree line it sent up its colorful flag of surrender.  Surrender to the dark of night, the end of a day, its position of power in the sky, just the end.  When endings come, there's not much more to be said, but goodnight.  

My son's wedding has come and gone. I will be posting regularly again. It feels good to be back in the studio tonight, although it's been difficult to make my hands do what my head thinks they should do.  Sometimes we just have to surrender, and do what makes the brush happy.

Carol

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Adam and Jessie's Ketubah

"Adam and Jessie's Ketubah"
16" x 20"
Giclee of an Oil painting




















My son, Adam, is going to marry Jessie on Saturday afternoon.  For this event I was asked to paint the Ketubah, the art that supports their vows, written in Hebrew and in English. She wanted champagne grapes in the colors of her bridesmaids dresses.  I honored that request, and then had the text printed in bridal white on a giclee of the original.  They will fill in the blanks with a pen I had to special order from Amazon. Even though I live in a metropolitan area with art supply stores in every town, I could not locate a supplier for a pen that wouldn't soak into the dark paper and fade away to nothing. I didn't think it would be a good omen for their names to fade before their first dance.  

 I've not been painting every day. I have however, attached a gazillion rhinestones to a letter K for the cake topper, white flip-flops for the brides tootsies to dance in, wine glasses for their toast, the centerpieces and the decorative pieces that will line the aisle, as well.

Thank you for being patient while I tend to the things a mother of the groom must do during wedding week.  I will be back soon.

Carol

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