I made 7 LILY paintings this summer. Then I went back to the CREEK series and made a new 48 x 30" and put a few finishing touches on my first pieces too. So I have seven lily and seven creek paintings for my show. The show opening will be from 5 to 7 pm on JANUARY 8 at the CHAPIN GALLERY on Route 206 in Princeton, NJ. It will be up until January 29. My cousin, John Spedding, will be showing his beautiful sculptures together with my paintings, and I'm very excited about this!

Surprisingly, when I lined up all my paintings today in my studio, I realized this project is finished! I had intended to make more--some 16 x 20's, but I feel strongly it's time to move on!

I've worked on these for ten months. Maybe that's my rhythm.

Anyway I have learned a lot. When I started last November, I was coming out of two years of realistic charcoal drawing only. I was desperate for color. My first painting, which is huge (60 x 48"), was kind of a checking back in to the world of oil paint. The more I progressed from that initial place, the lighter and simpler my work became. I look at the big one now almost as a study for what would follow it. As I went forward, I learned that especially if you are abstracting the work, the canvas has to rule. I had to let go of my realistic notions and just go with what was happening on the canvas. The more I did this, the more the painting worked.

One thing that I am very pleased with is the effect these paintings have had on me. The process was a very happy one!

Of course there were many moments when I puzzled over what to do next, but it was more intriguing than struggling. These paintings just flowed, one into the next. With Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett music blasting in the studio, I had a really good time making all of them!

A TRIP TO LONG ISLAND CITY TO THE JEFFREY LEDER GALLERY SMALL WORKS SHOW

Pal Mic Boekelman was part of a wonderful juried show of small works in Long Island City's Jeffrey Leder Gallery, jeffreyledergallery.com. Mic does bold, colorful, modern portraits. Her pieces for this show are part of her Trenton Ten series. She is collaborating with photographer Delonte Harrod to tell another story of Trenton through compelling portraits of young Trentonians. See Mic's work at www.micbstudio.com.

I had the pleasure of spending time at the show with another fabulous artist whose work I really admire. Jenne Glover does gorgeous mixed media pieces and oil paintings as well. She loves the work of Romare Bearden as much as I do. Even got to meet him. Check out her beautiful work at www.jenneglover.com.

It was also a pleasure to meet super energetic entrepreneur April DeMarco, a fellow B-Schooler with both a jewelry and painting business. She was wearing a gorgeous turquoise and leather bracelet and turquoise necklace that she made. Really fabulous looking. You can find her at www.demarcostudios.com.

So as the color comes onto the leaves, it's time to get back outside again. This time I will work with both pastels and oils. And I'm thinking of standing on my neighbor's bridge over the creek. Seems like it would be fun. We'll see how that works out!

I'm also looking to do some more collages and working on my musicians and dancers. We'll see if anything comes of it!!

In the meantime, happy creating!

love,

Kathy