My Little Chickadee

                "My Little Chickadee", 4x4" oil on black canvas panel

"Life is strong and fragile. It’s a paradox… It’s both things, like quantum physics: It’s a particle and a wave at the same time. It all exists together." — Joan Jett

The most challenging human condition is to live a life that's humble, fragile, vulnerable, giving, and seemingly weak. Yet lives each day, like there is no tomorrow: brave, strong, patient, tolerant, trusting, loving, kind, selfless, and resourceful. 

Great truth is heard from silent, tiny voices.

Thank you for the oneness of imperfection shared by all the members of our human flock. 
nancy

To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  • Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

Heart in Darkness

     "Heart in Darkness", 4x4" oil on black canvas panel

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"We live as we dream...alone..." — Joseph Conrad

Ever feel like this diminutive robin red-breast? He/she speaks to me of the inner strength of human spirit, and its ability to struggle and survive against seemingly insurmountable odds.

We've had our share of whoa lately between a car wreck, flood in our home, two huge dead trees ready to fall on our house...all resulting in major unplanned expenses. A lot of whoa? So I think, until I am reminded of so many others without even a roof, or a warm nest where to lay their children's heads. 

This is the time of year I look around and see how truly blessed we are for so many countless gifts, but most importantly the gift of life itself. This is what the merry in Christmas is about. The very gift of heart that continues, on from where it began in a stable, to burn bright with ongoing life into our surrounding darkness. 

I am thankful for the warmth and support of each of you on this branch beside me. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas! 

nancy  

To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  • Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

Little Bird Come Sit Upon My Window Sill

"Little Bird Come Sit Upon My Window Sill", 4x4" oil on canvas board

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"Use what talents you possess; the woods would by very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang the best." — Henry Van Dyke

Winter is here and my urgent need to paint birds has once again returned. In fact, I painted three over the weekend. I don't know why I am so drawn to paint birds in the winter months, but do love capturing their little forms all plumped up with added layers of fluffy down.  

Bracing cold and chill from solitary icy limbs and dangling phone wires, these tiny creatures appear so vulnerable huddling together for warmth in single-line formations. Sitting still, like hooded monks in pews at early morning vespers, their holy chants of praise are dimmed only by the numbing roar of engines processing bumper to bumper on the street below. 

I am sure my concerns for these feathered neighbors are amplified after just losing two huge old trees from our yard. First the towering pine sucked dry by thirsty pine beetles in a matter of days, followed by the gnarled and twisted oak that lurched like a staggering old man on crutches over our driveway and house the result of a lightening strike. I lay awake at night wondering how many homes were lost in those fallen trees. Where do those refugees go when abruptly finding themselves and their families homeless? Am I the only person who worries about this stuff?

Thanks for perching here today. I'll be tweeting more birds shortly. 

nancy

To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  • Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

Laura Elizabeth

"Laura Elizabeth", 24x24", oil on canvas

"Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They came through you but not from you and though they are with you yet they belong not to you." 

— Khalil Gibran

This painting hardly does justice to my beautiful daughter, Laura. I only wish we'd had the luxury of time to set up a live pose of her draped among loose folds of long white flowing linen, standing before a window bathed in cool Northern light. I could have spent days upon days trying to capture that wild Celtic hair, jewel-like blue green eyes and gentle loving spirit.

Time passes so quickly, a busy mom with two very active teenagers, she works as a full-time high school counselor. Day-after-day she faces one critical or life-threatening situation after the next, listening and responding with heart, mind and soul despite her own debilitating battles and suffering from Lyme's disease. I feel her pain, share in her sorrows, and find gladness in her joy. She is an authentic beacon of light and truth shining in the darkness.

I quickly snapped this photo reference of her in a rare still moment, as she sat on my couch checking emails, most likely responding to a problem with one of the students. I stand gawking in wide-eyed wonder at the incredible human being she has somehow morphed into right before my very eyes. How is it that all of this goodness was allowed to come through me? I am so honored to be her mom. 

Another of my precious children, please meet Laura. 
nancy 

To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  • Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

SOLD Arctic Fox

SOLD "Arctic Fox", 29x24", Prismacolor on Cranson paper

Polar bears may not be the only Arctic wildlife threatened by global warming. Scientists have discovered the arctic fox also struggles as ice disappears because they rely on the frozen seas to survive the bleak winters. 

A smaller cousin of the red fox, the arctic fox's fur camouflages to white in winter and brown gray in summer. The species can be found throughout the Arctic tundra, Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Russia, Norway, Scandinavia and Iceland. 

Arctic fox were one of the first mammals to colonize Sweden and Finland at the end of the Ice Age. As the ice retreated they remained in the mountain tundra areas. High hunting pressure led to a drastic population decline in the early 1900s. The arctic fox has not recovered despite protection and most likely would have gone extinct in this region.

The major threats for this fox species are lack of rodents and increased competition from the red fox which take over dens and kill the arctic fox. The increased abundance of red fox in the tundra in northern regions is most likely caused by climate change. With increasing average temperatures, the loss of sea ice, and greater tree coverage in the region predator red fox populations have increased.
   
ARTIST STATEMENT 

My goal in this series of endangered species, created in the mid-80s, was to capture the souls and spirits of our mute neighbors with whom we share the planet. I was captivated and haunted by the frank eyes of all of these creatures, so human in their longing and need, pleading silently for their future and ultimate survival. 

This is the final drawing from my endangered series.  
Thanks for viewing,
nancy 

 

To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  • Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

SOLD Bald Eagle

SOLD "Bald Eagle", Prismacolor on paper, 29x24"

Forty years ago this strong symbol of our nation was in danger of extinction. Habitat destruction and degradation, illegal shooting, and the contamination of its food source, largely as a consequence of DDT, decimated the eagle population. However, with bans on DDT and the protection of habitat, the Bald Eagle made a remarkable recovery and became a success story in August 2007 when it was removed from the endangered species list as populations recovered. 

Distinguished by a white head and tail feathers, bald eagles are powerful, brown birds that may weigh 14 pounds with a wingspan of 8 feet. They live near rivers, lakes, and marshes where fish is their staple food. Bald Eagles will also feed on waterfowl, turtles, rabbits, snakes, and other small animals and carrion. Their habitat includes estuaries, large lakes, reservoirs, rivers, and some seacoasts.
 
Eagles mate for life, choosing the tops of large trees to build nests which may reach 10 feet across and weigh a half ton. Bald Eagles can live 15 to 25 years in the wild. Breeding Bald Eagles typically lay one to three eggs once a year, and they hatch after about 35 days. The young eagles are flying within three months and are on their own about a month later.

ARTIST STATEMENT 

My goal in this series of endangered species, created in the mid-80s, was to capture the souls and spirits of our mute neighbors with whom we share the planet. I was captivated and haunted by the frank eyes of all of these creatures, so human in their longing and need, pleading silently for their future and ultimate survival. 

Thanks for viewing,
nancy

To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  • Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

Brown Pelican

"Brown Pelican", 29x24", Prismacolor on Cranson Paper

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In the 1970s, the Brown Pelican's existence in the southeast United States and California was threatened by pesticides like DDT and Deildrin which caused the pelican's eggshells to become too thin and incapable of supporting an embryo to maturity. With the ban of DDT in 1972, the population of the brown pelican increased enough to be removed from the endangered list. 

However in 2009, California brown pelicans—a slightly smaller version of the subspecies seen on the East and Gulf Coasts —experienced unprecedented nesting failures, and have starved to death by the thousands because of a sharp decline in Pacific sardines, their most important food. The U.S. sardine famine is now in its sixth year and the production of California brown pelicans is extraordinarily low. 

To learn more see full details in this article by Ted Williams, longtime contributor to Audubon magazine, in the Yale Environment 360.

ARTIST STATEMENT 

My goal in this series of endangered species, created in the mid-80s, was to capture the souls and spirits of our mute neighbors with whom we share the planet. I was captivated and haunted by the frank eyes of all of these creatures, so human in their longing and need, pleading silently for their future and ultimate survival. 

Thanks for viewing,
nancy

 

To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  • Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

Praire Chicken

"Praire Chicken", 29x24", Prismacolor on paper

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The Greater Prairie Chicken, sometimes called a boomer, is a member of the grouse family. Almost extinct in the 1930s, today these incredible birds remain threatened by habitat loss and loss of genetic variance and are extremely rare or extinct over much of its range. 

The male variety boasts prominent feathers called pinnae on their necks, a bright yellow eye comb, and a gular air sack on the side of their neck that is orange to yellow in color during the breeding season. During mating season, males inflate this air sack causing a booming noise, raise their pinnae feathers, and enlarge their eye comb to attract females for breeding. The largest remaining populations are in Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota.   

Of the three subspecies, Attwater's prairie hen is native to coastal Texas and Louisiana, survives only in small portions of southeast Texas, and is listed as endangered in the US. Another subspecies the heath hen which was historically found along the Atlantic coast is extinct.  

ARTIST STATEMENT 

My goal in this series of endangered species, created in the mid-80s, was to capture the souls and spirits of our mute neighbors with whom we share the planet. I was captivated and haunted by the frank eyes of all of these creatures, so human in their longing and need, pleading silently for their futures and ultimate survival. 

Thanks for viewing,
nancy 

To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  •  Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

 

The Trumpeter Swan

"Trumpeter Swan", 29x24" Prismacolor on paper

Here's another piece from my circa 1980s endangered species series. The Trumpeter Swan (Olor buccinator) weighing up to 35 pounds with a 8-foot wingspan are the rarest swans in the world. 

The Trumpeter Swan, while once abundant in the United States, was considered extinct in the 1960s until a nesting flock was discovered in Alaska. However, various states list the trumpeter as either state-threatened or state-endangered. 

Photo: The Trumpeter Swan Society

Trivia: A male trumpeter is called a cob. The female is called a pen and the young of the year are called cygnets.

I am happy to report this painting flew north and resides happily in Maine with one of my collectors. 

Thank you for viewing my work. 
nancy

To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  •  Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

 

Walrus

"Walrus", 29x24" Prismacolor drawing on paper

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I have been working around the clock with my Graphic Design business leaving me with literally no time to paint. So, rather than lose touch, I thought I'd show you some of my earlier artwork rendered in Prismacolor, a brand name of colored pencil in case you are unfamiliar with the medium. 

This piece is one in a series of six drawings of endangered species I drew in the mid 1980s (not to date myself ). Working with colored pencil is a very slow layering process of building up values and color. I begin with a mid-tone colored paper and from there build up countless layers to the lightest lights and the darkest dark. A piece this size usually taking 30-40 hours to complete.

My goal in this series was to capture the souls and spirits of our voiceless neighbors with whom we share the planet. I was captivated and haunted by their anthropomorphic eyes so familiar in their longing and need, seemingly pleading silently for their future and ultimate survival.
 
The walrus threatened with endangerment twice has made a come back both times with the help of humans. Most people don't realize the walrus plays a vital role in the ecosystem of the waters. Since they feed off of food from the bottom of the waters, their movements allow a variety of nutrients from the floor of the water to be mixed up. Without this happening it is unknown how many different plants and organisms would also be lost to the world forever. 

Thank you for checking in today. 
nancy 

To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  •  Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

Snips, Snails & Puppy Dog Tails

Snips, Snails & Puppy Dog Tails 8x8" oil on museum quality Gessobord

"Older people sit down and ask, 'What is it?' but the boy asks, 'What can I do with it? — Steve Jobs

Boys will be boys! The look on this little guys face, speaks volumes. For this portrait, the photo I was working from included a lot more dried dirt streaked across his face from an obvious recent adventure in the mud. I left most of his well-achieved war paint off, but had to keep enough so the viewer would appreciate the am-I-in-trouble-now expression in his eyes. Obviously his mom saw this as a priceless moment when she snapped the photo. According to English poet Robert Southey (1774–1843) 

 What are little boys made of   

Snips and snails and puppy dogs tails 

And such are little boys made of.

I am reminded of my own young children years ago, while on a hike through the woods, and having to dutifully instruct them by example, the fine art of taking the full measure of a high-high mud pond. What great mucky fun and a wonderful memory we still talk about to this day. Who says girls don't have a little snip and snail in their souls? "Sugar, spice and everything nice" is just plain boring.

This one is a commissioned painting so not for sale, but thank you for viewing.

nancy 

To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  •  Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

CAL Fall Art Show - 1st & 2nd Place Ribbons

I was truly honored that two of my paintings received awards in the Conroe Art League's Fall Show on Saturday. "Silent Repose" received 1st Place Professional Oil Painting Division, and "A Touch of Spring" received 2nd Place.

The show was judged by Houston artist Arielle Masson, her biography states, "Although born in Mexico in 1961, I grew up in Brussels, Belgium, and then went on to the University in Paris to complete a Master of Literature and postgraduate studies in Linguistics at La Sorbonne. After moving to Houston in 1986, I studied Fine Arts/Painting at the University of Houston, I have extensively exhibited in Museums and Galleries throughout Texas." 

Arielle currently teaches at The Glassell School of Art and The University of St. Thomas. 
 
To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  •  Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

Simple Pleasures

"Simple Pleasures", 8x8", oil on museum quality Gessobord

​"That man is rich whose pleasures are the cheapest."  

                          — Henry David Thoreau

This painting was a commissioned piece, so not for sale. However, I wanted to share the memory of a simple childhood moment that brought such great pleasure and refreshment on a hot, steamy summer afternoon growing up in St. Louis.

I think I derived as much pleasure painting this as I did as a child partaking of a cherry popsicle...that is, as long as it didn't stick to my tongue. When it's all said and done, it really is the simple things in life that provide the greatest joy.​


Thanks to all who stopped by my booth last Sunday at the Bentwater Fine Arts Fair. I had a great time and sold four paintings! I was delighted to meet a couple of followers of this blog, who drove out just to meet me. Wow, that was an honor! 

The winner of the drawing for a set of my Songbird Note Cards was Belinda Faulkner. Congratulations, Belinda!


To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  •  Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

Clouds Got In My Way

"Clouds Got In My Way" 10x8" oil on museum quality Gessobord

"Forests, lakes, and rivers, clouds and winds, stars and flowers, stupendous glaciers and crystal snowflakes - every form of animate or inanimate existence, leaves its impress upon the soul of man."  — Orison Swett Marden

As I was painting this from a photo snapped by my friend Angela, it occurred to me these dense cumulus cloud formations are a perfect metaphor for life. 

Here we are all jolly-olly orange traveling on down the clear cut path, everything is going smoothly; we are surrounded by a brilliant blue dome and warm radiant light. Then suddenly, out of nowhere,  these immense dark threatening clouds appear, extending as far as we can see in an unending caravan of troubles and doubts. Sometimes stacking up in multiple tiers of shadows so gloomy and thick we forget that above it all, we are still surrounded by a veil of azure. Then, just as abruptly, there is a little break and the sun bursts through once more as we continue on down the yellow brick road like nothing ever happened. 

Lord Byron sums it up so well, "Be thou the rainbow in the storms of life, the evening beam that smiles the clouds away, and tints tomorrow with prophetic ray."

BTW: If you're in the Lake Conroe area, please visit my booth at the Bentwater Fine Arts Festival on Sunday, Sept. 28th from 10 a.m.-4:00 p.m. at the Yacht Club. I have a wide assortment of my oil paintings available for sale. Mention this post and receive 15% discount off any of my paintings. To gain entry to this free show call, 936-597-6219.

Thank you for rolling across my page today. 
nancy

To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  •  Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

Freedom's Song

"FREEDOM'S SONG", 8X8" OIL ON MUSEUM QUALITY GESSOBORD

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 "In almost everything that touches our everyday life on earth, God is pleased when we're pleased. He wills that we be as free as birds to soar and sing our maker's praise without anxiety"  
                                   — A.W. Tozer

I shot the photo reference for this painting in Galveston, TX several years ago, but have been unable to paint it; somehow I couldn't feel the freedom I was seeing in the bird's flight. Today was different, I felt the wind, rode on currents of air, and soared while basking in the warm light of joyful bliss and abandonment. Today I flew!

I give thanks for the gift of freedom and life.  
nancy

To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  •  Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

One Orange Cup

"One Orange Cup", 6x6" oil on 1/2" deep wrapped canvas

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"After the ecstasy go do the laundry." — A Chinese axiom

Surprise! I am not dead, at least not yet. It feels like eons since my last post, but decided to take a little time off from painting to catch up in all the other areas of neglect surrounding me.

What I wasn't expecting is that when I finally showed back up at my easel, somebody else would be standing in my shoes. It was like I had never held a brush before and needed to learn to paint all over again. First I tried working on a large portrait for several weeks...big mistake and extremely frustrating. It's now sitting in a corner of my studio waiting for the enlightenment fairy to pay a visit and wave her magic wand.

So today, I decided to go back to basics and paint something small and very simple. I have come to understand that there are extraordinary miracles in everyday ordinary objects, that can be found even in one simple orange mug. Now how hard could that be? Enamored with the cast shadow, I snapped photos of this cup months ago. As G.K. Chesterton said about children, contemplatives and mystics (I'd like to include artists), "They have learned to look at things familiar until they look unfamiliar again." I felt inspired and jumped in. Although I truly struggled with this piece, I decided to go ahead and post my efforts. 

It does seem that 99% of life is doing the laundry, while waiting for the ecstasy as author Ronald Rolheiser talks about in his book, Against An Infinite Horizon. Guess I better get back to that mounting pile of laundry.  

Sorry I missed you...I'm off to buy more Tide biodegradable substitute.  

nancy
 
To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  •  Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

Bathing Beauties

"Bathing Beauties", 8x8", Oil on Gessobord

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"To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it." —Kurt Vonnegut

Because inquiring minds want to know...I recently caught these blatant sun lovers basking alongside the busy counter top in my local coffee haunt, Panera Bread Company. These kept-women flashing highly pedicured extremities and golden tans, shamelessly lollygaged the day away gossiping from an above-ground spa. They were so transparent! For hours on end they did nothing but sit by idly making snide remarks about patrons heavy laden with assorted bagels and hot frothy lattes. 

A self-admitted paparazzi, I couldn't resist exploiting their follies on the front page of my weekly tabloid. Thank you for reading this shocking true confession.  ;  )

nancy
 
To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  •  Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

Heads Up

"Heads Up", 8x10" Oil on Gessobord

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"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." — Oscar Wilde

The sleepy head models who posed for this painting were a mom's day gift. I love sunflowers and took a ton of photos of the quintuplets sitting near my kitchen window, while sunbathing in the morning light. These little ladies are definitely not morning people, for the life of me, I couldn't get them to lift their golden heads wreathed in Rapunzel tresses, and open their big brown eyes to face the camera. Finally the one in the back popped her head up and said good morning.


I really enjoyed painting this piece which is looser and more abstract than some of my most recent work. Stretching and reaching for light myself, I tried to stay focused on my goal of not reproducing each and ever petal, but rather to capture all the spots and shapes of colors I was seeing. It was fun giving my inner child permission to come out and color outside the lines. Jim Carey had it right when he said, "If you aren't in the moment, you are either looking forward to uncertainty, or back to pain and regret." 

Thank you for dropping by to play.
nancy 

To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  •  Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America
 

Shuttered Repose

"Shuttered Repose", 14x11", oil on gessobord, (framed)

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“There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.”

                                    — Aldous Huxley

Do you think the subject of this painting is the action of transforming early morning light, or the opposing destruction of late afternoon darkness setting up camp in the final winks of a retiring sun at the end of a long hot 12-hour shift? We find ourselves surrounded in a world of camouflaged reality. Is the light pouring in between slats lighting up this room, or is darkness aggressively painting its seizing stripes of devoured territory like an insatiable, half-starved Pac-Man caught in hand-to-hand battle defending hard won borders of line, form and shape like an ebony eraser? 

It's your call. Although the photo reference for this painting was snapped in the morning, there really is no right or wrong. We all see and believe what our senses perceive. We are just blank walls waiting to choose seats.

"Shuttered Repose", along with other pieces of my work, will be for show and sale next Saturday, June 21, from 2-6 p.m. as a part of the JoMar Visions', "Show it, Don't Say It!" exhibition. The studios are located at 902 Hardy St., Houston, TX 77020. See attached flyer. If you are in the area, please stop by and say hi.

Thanks for weighing in today. This painting is available for sale, however it will not ship until June 23. 

nancy


To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  •  Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America