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I finally realized that painting, making art, won’t solve everything. At least, not for me anyway. It won’t bring predictable weather, it won’t solve the covid-19 pandemic, find a cure or a vaccine, open the restaurants and other activities, it won’t be a complete happiness cure. It doesn’t even give me peace of mind when I do too much. Now that everything is closed down, I have been painting too much My studio is in my house and beckons. I enjoy the work; it feels good. But

My first house in Nova Scotia was in a small fishing community. I bought an old house and renovated it. I had a big studio and two beautiful golden retrievers. The contrast with New York City was a joy. I remember sitting on my back deck, talking to my daughter in NY and telling her “I can’t hear you. The sea gulls are making too much noise!” I’d sit in front of the large living room window with a bowl of popcorn. Life seemed ideal. But it was a hard place for me to live in o

As a New Year gift, CBC had three of their top radio hosts be the ones to be asked questions. These hosts, and most of the broadcasters at CBC radio and television, have become my “friends”. I look forward to hearing them, know their schedules, can plan my day around our “dates”. Usually I know what time of day it is by what is on the radio. Obviously I’m a big radio fan. Always have been. We didn’t have television until I was in my teens. When I was about eleven or so, my ne

A couple of days ago a friend asked, via text, what my favorite color scheme is. She is poling people and wouldn’t tell me why. So I’m left wondering. Color scheme? For what? My response would be too lengthy to go in a text, although I think it will anyway (exercise my thumbs). Currently, for my house, I am preferring whites. But I do have intense color accents on the stairwells. All the places I lived in New York were like this, mostly white with a bright red, blue, green wa

I certainly feel lucky when I look around me, look at my life as it unfolds its daily trek to the unknown. I have a beautiful house on a beautiful piece of land, amazing neighbors, wonderful children, friends, a great dog and have made a career doing exactly what I want to do, painting. And very important: it’s not what I have, but how I feel. I feel lucky. I was talking to a friend the other who said he didn’t believe in luck. It is just hard work that pays off. That you are

One of my constant obsessions has been thinking about what makes something beautiful. People tell me my dog is beautiful. He’s just a puppy still, but he magnetizes other beings, all ages, sizes, species. He has a dignity in how he holds himself. That is, when he isn’t acting like a goofy nine-month old puppy. He has a basically lovely personality and that makes him beautiful. Or maybe it’s that he is well proportioned, has beautiful hair, sweet eyes, etc. I don’t really know

Today is National French Toast Day. Did you know that? Or maybe it’s just in Canada. One of my favorite French toast memories is from when I lived in NYC. There was a restaurant on the corner of 8th Street and University Place that served a French toast sandwich with chopped liver between the bread slices. It may not sound so great now, but it certainly did taste good then. Another is my mother serving chicken in a cream sauce over French toast with hot cranberry sauce, sour

When I was painting the walls of my house recently, I put together chips of the various colors I wanted to use: various grays, light and dark, dark blue, split pea green, robin’s egg blue. My friend, Sylvie, said “If this were a painting, what color do you think it need?” Red, of course. But I had had so much red in my house, I was trying to avoid it. I kept saying no, no red. But eventually, the red had its say. Now the wall going down into my studio is a deep tomato red. It

Usually I’m not much for working sitting down, especially when I have some big paintings on the go. But for the past few days, it has been necessary. It’s that springtime energy blast that has put me in a chair. Besides gardening and making art, I decided to paint one room upstairs a brighter, lighter, yellow-green (it had been a subdued, darker green). I like it so much I decided to paint the entryway a more interesting color, a warm gray. From that, one wall in the kitchen

It may be time to resurface, think about things other than when I can get back into my studio, what needs more work, what works, how to solve those inevitable, nagging possibilities.  I’ve been painting with an intensity that’s been building on itself.  Now I want to stop, take a break, even for a week would be good. I’m having photographs taken Tuesday morning.  Phil, the gallery owner, is picking up the work after that.  The opening reception is Friday.  What I want most no