September 5, 2011: Signs

What are the landmark events of your life? I can recount certain people and happenings that pointed me in the right direction. Perhaps that's why I have always been inspired by this vista from a bridge overlooking the Oneida River on New York's Barge Canal. After a peaceful journey between crimson-tinged shores I can imagine boaters spying this sign "MARINA" - mounted on an old barge - directing them to safe mooring. The feeling of homecoming is what "River Landmark," 10 x 20 oil on canvas - just completed - is all about.

Step Back to the 1970's: August 3, 2011

When I was a senior art major at SUNY Oswego in 1973, I had the opportunity for planning art on a grand scale. Lakeside Dining Hall commissioned me to design and execute a mural on their double stairwell wall. My plan was semi-abstract shapes that suggested underground forms for the lower levels, and the main upper walls were landscape. Instead of tubes of paint, I had to use gallon pails of custom mixed paint from a local hardware store. My team and I (which included my future husband, Paul, and good friend, Charlie Brown,) worked long hours over Christmas break to complete the vast mural. We worked on scaffolding perched over the stairwell. First, we had to make a grid using a string line. Next we transferred the design, and began filling in the shapes with paint colors. After a week of twelve hour days, we completed the project. This weekend, our good friends from these college years are traveling from New York to visit us in Ohio. We'll be stepping back in time and re-connecting with our current lives.

Remembering William Henry Merchant: July4th, 2011

This couple's image is one of my favorites, and I drew them over three decades ago from an old tintype. They just happen to be my great-great grandparents. I would guess this is their wedding picture. How I wish Sally Pepper, my young ancestor, would pop out of the frame and we could get to know one another! She and William (we have many Williams in our family - our grandson is named William, too,) went on to have four daughters. William enlisted in the 149th  and fought in the Battle of Atlanta. He died of disease just before Union victory was declared. On this 150th anniversary of the Civil war, I remember him.

Rooms I Have Known: June 17, 2011

Many of my dreams revolve around rooms. Often they are under construction, with dry wall to be hung, or vast areas to be painted. Other times, we have just moved in and are expecting guests, and I still haven't unpacked, organized, or cleaned. On daily errands or long road trips, I often wonder what stories are happening inside the passing houses. Perhaps that is why one of my passions are historic home tours, where I can walk through rooms filled with the ghosts of past lives, as in this colored pencil drawing, "Lake View 1" of Rose Hill Mansion in Geneva, New York. It just won the Arthur Harliss Memorial Award at The Hudson Valley Art Association's 80th Annual in Old Lyme, Connecticut. www.hvaaonline.org

Rainiest April on Record: April 29, 2011

I grew up in Central New York, so I am used to rain. (In fact, I even find weeks of unending sun and blue skies boring!) But here in Ohio, as in most of the rest of Eastern states, we have had quite enough severe rainstorms, tornadoes,  and cool temperatures. We are anxious to enjoy the spring, and we want our farmers to be able to plant their crops. I am posting one of my latest collages, "Spring Planting," (acrylic and water soluble colored pencil on paper,) as a visual prayer for some sunnier, warmer days in May.

Spring Rush: April 8, 2011

When we moved back to Central New York after many years away, we were enchanted by all the water - everywhere!  Down the road from our house, water cascaded over a dam for an old power plant. Along the next road, water rushed through a boulder-strewn creek. The old Erie Canal meandered nearby. Beautiful Cazenovia Lake was minutes away, and Lake Ontario shimmered on the distant horizon. Perhaps most mesmerizing was powerful Chittenango Falls, which has been a destination for generations of nature lovers. Last week, I completed this oil painting, "Spring Frenzy," of rushing Chittengo Creek.  I contrasted the delicate budding foliage along the shore with the bold power of water. Can you feel how cold the water is?

March 25, 2011: Creativity or Chaos?

I often heard my mother observe that my father's rolltop desk was "so messy." He would always respond, "But I know where everything is!" As a curioius pre-schooler, I was fascinated with this forbidden jumble of rolled up blueprints, mysterious slips of paper, small pads and notebooks, and the crowning jewel - a ball point pen standing upright in a holder! I longed to write with that pen just as I saw my father do. And how I wanted to open those little drawers and poke in the cubbyholes and pull out all those sheets of paper. As you can see by this photo, I somehow made it up to the promised land, and it was just the beginning of my passion for the power of lines on paper.