Painted from a photo taken on a boat while sailing around Walkers Point in Kennebunk Maine.

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Why change and paint in oil?  For the last, almost a year, I have had a full set of oil paints just sitting around waiting for me to paint with them. I loved painting in oil but the smell would drive you right out of the house. In the last 15 years, since I stopped painting with oil, new brands like Gamblin, have come out that don’t make the house smell like a furniture factory. I had asked for them for my birthday last year and I couldn’t wait to get back to it. So I said but I kept putting it off saying “when I have time” but the time never came. Well the time came this March 15th, not right away but soon after the state, the country and the world shut down. Shelter in place they said so now would be the time.  I felt so excited to start again with oil, excited and nervous.  My first shot was not so successful.  I tried working the way I had when I left oil, painting with knives and not a brush.  My colors before had been hard and very bright, pretty angry really.  The paint was put on very thick like spreading icing.  I was so unhappy with the piece I had to stop in the middle of that painting and start a new one.  It just wasn’t working. Clearly, I no longer paint that way, I’m just not that person anymore. With oil I do not use black oil paint.  In sumi Ink the medium I have been using exclusively for the last 15 years, it’s all shades of black and gray with only a small splash of color.  To create dark colors in oil I use a mixture of Burnt Umber or Burnt Senna and a blue either Cobalt or Prussian depending on whether I want a green tinted black or a purple tinted black.  Shadows now have color and exploring that is exciting.  Have you ever really looked at a shadow?  It has muted shades of every color in the rainbow if you look close.  All juxtaposed together to give you gray.  My walks outside now take on new meaning and new exploration of color. Shadows can be outlined in blue.  The shadow combinations of color changes whether it’s on pavement or grass, time of day or season. Next time you look at a shadow, really look and see if you can pick out any colors.    ~

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 For me it’s the same as saying why do I breathe.  It’s what I do, it’s who I am.  I see the world in terms of color and in light.  I always have and was astonished when I realize no one else saw the world that same way.  I’ll be on a walk with a friend and I’ll have to stop and just look at the sky.  I’ll say isn’t the sky beautiful?  They’ll say “yeah, it’s blue. No, it’s not just blue, it’s all kinds of blues.  The clouds have purples and blues even yellow and greens, shapes and colors, beautiful amazing.  It’s different every day, every hour, and every minute. No it’s not just blue.  That is one of many reasons I really like to go for a walk alone. My favorite place to walk is Laudholm Farm in Wells Maine.  You can park your car, walk by the main house and down any number of paths, out to the fields, into the woods and my favorite, down to the beach at Drakes Island. When COVID hit this walk become my muse.  On March 15th 2020 COVID 19 hit, so many choices were taken away.  Shelter in place orders were laid out.  Wear a mask everywhere.  Stay 6 feet away from everyone.  Wash your hands, constantly.  Wash your groceries, always.  Because I am in the age bracket of “at risk” shop at 6 am only.  Buy for as many weeks as you can, on and on.  With so many choices taken away and so much time on my hands I needed to focus on what I could control and that was how I saw the world. I am an artist.  I’ve always been an artist.  I have done theater, acted, done historical storytelling, and was a professional costume designer but it always came back to painting.  I even looked at my costume design as moving paintings on stage.  So when COVID 19 hit it gave me time to pause.  It gave me time to regroup.  It gave me time to return to oil paint.  For the last 15 years I have been painting in sumi ink with a splash of watercolor.  I had discovered Sumi Ink when I moved to Maine and joined a drawing group in Ogunquit at the Barn Gallery.  Two of the artists were masters in the media and I loved their work.  Sumi Ink is the traditional Chinese ink used in traditional Chinese painting.  It is different than regular ink in that it flows when water is added.  Regular Ink is pretty static.  I loved the challenge to control the ink while letting it be out of control.  It could have a fresh, impulsive, spontaneous look or it could be just a mess!  I had received many years ago a Sumi Ink set from my brother when he returned from China.  He had adopted a little girl from China and brought back gifts for everyone.  Mine was the Sumi Ink.  At the time I did not realize what a great gift it was so I had packed it away. I went to work with the new found ink painting everything from photographs and soon found a market for my Sumi Ink with a splash of color.  I painted portraits of people, pets, homes and places all from photographs.  I learned how to do them quickly.  My skill in rendering improved, I learned how to control somewhat where the ink went but I had a feeling I was missing something in my work.  Then COVID hit. ~

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