I-95

Oil on Ampersand gessobord, 5 x 7"

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 The hypnotic power of repetition is reliable, grounding, mesmerizing.  

Silver Creamer with Concord Grapes

Oil on Ampersand gessobord, 5 x 7"

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For Arielle and Maura

My daughters’ small 

determined hands 

reach through bramble and 

twisted vine 

to pull whole bunches 

of dusty purple

Concord grapes free 

from the wildness of it.

Itchy arms speckled with tiny cuts, 

squatting 

in chickweed and dandelion with 

dirty faces and shining hair 

to eat wild foraged fruit 

in the summer sun.  

Silver reflects and contains, 

holds and pours, 

remembers. 

-Sharon Egan

Hermine

"Hurricane Hermine", oil. 

“Stroking it’s blue shore/throughout the night, patient, patient,” 

– Denise Levertov, from ‘The sea’s repeated gesture.’

Eat A Peach

"Eat A Peach", oil, 5 x 7"

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“I make a home for myself in my work, yet when I enter that home I know how flimsy a shelter I have wrought for my spirit.”– Anne Truitt

Listening to Antrese Wood interview Kathleen Speranza on her fantastic podcast The Savvy Painter, I’m struck by Kathleen’s inspiring honesty about her approach to painting, her love of the qualities, forms and ephemeral beauty of her subjects, her love of the language of painting, the discerning advantages of aging.  As I listen, this peach challenges me to capture the way light melts into its fuzzy surface, its leaves turn and taunt, the old, chalky green milk paint on the wooden crate opposes the living green of the peach leaves.  As I struggle to communicate these textures, Antrese and Kathleen talk about being allowed to paint whatever subject you want and really, most especially, the satisfaction of being able to do so. 

Monday in August

Monday in August, oil, 5 x 7"

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Naomi Shihab Nye defines the word “contemplation” as a long, loving look.  Lately I have been hearing a lot about ideas calling upon creatives to bring them into being.   An idea might arrive all of a piece, as Naomi’s poem “Kindness” did for her, but most require contemplation.  Meditation. Seeing.  A long, loving look. 

Naomi's poem, "Kindness"

Kelly Drive at Dusk

Kelly Drive at Dusk, oil, 5 x 7"

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“We are magic talking to itself, noisy and alone.”  –Ann Sexton, For You, Doctor Martin

Grocery Store Flowers

"Grocery Store Flowers", 6 x 8, oil 

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“The conscious necessarily rejects the unconscious.” – Carl Jung

On this steamy summer afternoon I’m listening to Stewart Cubley talk about process painting on his podcast The Painting Experience.  He talks about the act of putting paint on the brush, touching it to the canvas, what that feels like, the zen of that.  The inner critic.  Focusing on the experience of creating the painting vs the outcome.  “Let things exist in their own way, without coming or going”.

Oyster Creek

"Oyster Creek", oil on board, 8 x 10"

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“Painting is but another word for feeling” – John Constable. 

Winds rose over Great Bay, sailors warning, to form ominous clouds advancing a change in the weather.  While tucking into heaps of crabs, clams and oysters, diners watched the dramatic sky from the screened porch of the Oyster Creek Inn.  

Audrey Claire

Audrey Claire, 5 x 7, oil on Ampersand Gessobord

  "When inspiration does not come to me, I go halfway to meet it." - Sigmund Freud. 

 I’m pretty sure Freud means I should go out to dinner more often.  As if the great food in this little Rittenhouse Square restaurant isn’t enough of a lure, and it IS, I love the deep window sills adorned with huge bouquets of flowers.  

Sketchbook

My best model is always willing to sit in the surf for me as long as his cell phone is handy.  I think that seagull wants to make a call.  

Framed against towering cumulonimbus clouds over the ocean, an Ocean City Parasail floats high above the wake of its speed boat. It's been a long time since I've gone up but I will never forget the joy of peering down upon a large school of skates gliding gracefully through ocean waters far below.