Well, I’ve managed to neglect my updates for the past several months, but there has actually been a lot going on. First, I moved into a larger studio space, which has had the unexpected (though not surprising) effect of increasing my productivity. I liked my old space, but as I produced more paintings, was finding myself getting more and more constrained in the physical space. So, when a studio mate decided to move out, I moved into her larger space. Once I spread out physically, I found myself starting to spread out mentally and creatively. Funny how that works.
I started working on a couple of commissions for friends – each one a gift that they requested for others, with special significance. While I love each of the photos that were requested, they were departures from my normal aim.
Leif and Darwin presented a certain challenge because… well, to be honest, I don’t have an affinity with cats and was concerned how that would translate on the canvas. Their stripes were a great technical focal point for me, and I enjoyed getting lost in the therapeutic brushstrokes involved in blending them!
Blanquita was from a photo that a friend of a friend had taken on a flight home to NYC from Puerto Rico, where he was vacationing and met this sato. He had filtered the image a little, and a friend forwarded it to me to paint as a gift for him. This image of her almost as if anticipating a new life of love & comfort was compelling, to me.
I was also offered the walls of a salon in Boston’s South End to exhibit my work. At first, I balked. ‘I want a solo show in a gallery, not a hair salon,’ said my entitled artist self. When I went to meet with them, I realized that 
the folks at Kent Newton Salon on Washington Street know what they’re doing. They select only four artists per year, each leaving the work up for a few months. One of the aspects that I love about this venue is that all of the mirrors provide a really great visual effect, creating faces everywhere you look. The opening was held on the First Friday of August (SoWa has a lively First Friday scene!), and I so appreciate my friends and fans who came out to enjoy some bubbly and hors d’oevres. My work is up until November 27 (and I will be rotating pieces a bit as work is sold and/or new work is completed). Kent Newton is at 1315 Washington Street. Super people, too! Go visit.
One of our local businesses, Float Boston, offered a program for local artists in order to show how flotation tanks can increase creativity. From my floats, I was inspired to paint portraits of plants — but on a grid of smaller canvas panels. Each on its own is an abstract image, but collectively portray the plant image. I call it Gestalt painting (the whole is greater than the sum of its parts). This one is a Vinca. This is just the underpainting, and I’ll blog its progress separately. Lots to say in this one!
OK, off to do some more work so that I can post an update later in the week… I promise that I will.
canvas major 