To Sit and Stare

"To Sit and Stare", 24x18" oil on gallery wrap canvas, framed

      What is life if, full of care 

      We have no time to stand and stare? 

No time to stand beneath the boughs 
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

       — W. H Davies, Welsh poet and writer from his poem,"Leisure"

I love these lines. No matter if you stand and stare, or sit in a chair and stare, whatever your method, just take time to stare. After all, what is life if we miss the magic? 

I love to stare from my favorite blue chair in spring under pin oaks and crape myrtles on dappled carpet of cool Pthalo and slashes of brightest warm lime. Overhead in a gap of perched sky, edges tatted by lace of leaves, hangs a lingering ghost of moon waiting to be pealed away like a transparent sticker. 

Wren fledglings dart back an forth from low lying branches of budding gardenias, diving again and again, dipping fluttering wings into the shallow water bowl in utter delight. 

Bees sucking nectar, appear mystically suspended midair, as they joust from tips of spindly arms supporting the pink stars of delicate Guara, also known as Whirling Butterfly. 

And there's my dog, laying flat bellied on the warm cement in the largest mat of sunlight he can find. His paws outstretched like a yogi master, deep in meditation with eyes transfixed and half closed to reveal brilliant sparkles of purest glowing white. He knows how to stare. 

  

Today's painting is a larger piece 24x18" and is framed. It will be on exhibit and for sale in the CAL Gallery in Conroe, TX throughout June and July.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today.

nancy 

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

 

SOLD -Lady in Waiting

"Lady in Waiting" 8x10" oil on gessobord

"Love is always bestowed as a gift - freely, willingly, and without expectation. We don't love to be loved; we love to love."—Leo Buscaglia

I wanted to share a recent painting of my youngest daughter, Allie. She's all grown up now, married, and so excited to be expecting their first baby in August. 

For this painting, I worked from photos I took of her sitting in the dappled light filtering through the trees beside my garden. I intentionally wanted the design to echo the gentle nurturing curve of her protruding belly throughout the painting. Curves can be found in the lines of the deck edge, in her hat, chair, bushes, in the bend of her knee, wrist, neckline of her dress, lips, folds of the shawl, and shoulders. 

As you probably guessed, this painting is not for sale; I gave it to her at the baby shower today. 

Thanks for coming by, I should have offered you a glass of lemonade. 

 

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

SOLD -Samantha's Straw Hat

"The countenance is the portrait of the soul, and the eyes mark its intentions."   

                              —Marcus Tullius Cicero

I thought I'd share a commissioned piece I've been working on from a photograph. Meet Samantha, she's the granddaughter of my friend Carol Ann. I haven't worked on a lot of portraits, but really enjoyed this one. I am finding there really is not a lot of difference between painting a still life, landscape or portrait as long as you forget about trying to create a likeness and instead focus in to try and duplicate all the values, shapes and colors changes where you see them. Somewhere in the process, as if by magic, the spirit of the subject emerges through all the dabs of paint. Isn't she a cutie!

Thanks for viewing my painting of Samantha. 
nancy
_____________________________________________________
To see more of my art or to contact me: 
Gallery  •  Blog  • NEW Website • E-mail  • Graphic Design Studio