A Crab to take Home

This painting hangs in the stairwell leading up to the dormitory at the Oregon Hatchery Research Center.

Shivering Daffodils

I am keeping my eyes open for inspiration. This morning brought a snow shower and the daffodils hung their heads as a snowy wedding veil covered their too early to bloom petals. In past years I noticed daffodils blooming in March always were followed by snow. It isn't even March yet. I must paint this one.

Memory of Water Falls from Heavy Rains

This painting was begun in 2002 after a walk in the rain at McDonald's Forest near Corvallis, Oregon, It is acrylic on canvas, 4' 8" x 3'.

Liquid Energy

"Liquid Energy", acrylic 3 1/2 feet x 5 feet. Begun in 1997, with adjustments in 2003 and the past few days. It makes me feel better now.

Crooked River

Crooked River, Eastern Oregon, Acrylic, 48" x 24" Hangs in the stairwell leading to the dormitory at Oregon Hatchery Research Center. This is one I used to think was finished but I thought it would be better if I put a wash over some of the river in the foreground. So often touch ups like this kill the energy in the painting but this one is exceptional.

Painting inspiration going with the flow

Coit Tower Mural, San Francisco

I was going to throw a dice to start doing new work. Maybe it would land on planning a mural type painting for one of my large canvases;doing ink drawings of kitchen utensils or a watercolor of yarn balls symbolizing women's creativity; abstract paper carving and collage, painting outdoors in the mist, changing my slide show, "Could Fish Hooks be the Most Important Invention Ever?" so it can be enjoyed without me moderating it in person. Couldn't find a dice! So I flipped a coin - heads ink drawing and tales watercolor. Heads won. Couldn't find my new pen points so I used a rusted one and tried to go over pencil lines from the elk I sketched last week near Reedsport. That lasted about five minutes and I started cleaning my studio table top. Then I worked on my slide show.

Inspirational motivation VS. critical appraisal and Dr. Watson's plan

Sea Bass that Don caught the other day.

For some weeks I have been critical of maybe over a thousand of my past works. I identified some gems from the mass that just didn't have enough cut. I put the incomplete work in recyclable piles. Maybe a few changes would save them. Experience, however, shows my best work is in the immediate here and now. Small changes to works that have been around for some time usually kills the energy and life of the painting. After being in the critical mode, I am having trouble switching to inspired energetic painting.

I accept my difficulty of going back into painting while being concerned of how I am expanding with more paintings. Commencing painting again requires confidence. Making more, however, will be problematic ten years from now when I might want to live in smaller quarters. Ultimately my children will have to deal with too much of my work if I haven't found a place for it. I could dwell on the fact that I have not found a market and I don't want to be a slave to the marketplace.

Years ago a psychologist Dr. Watson suggested putting a cap on the amount of works I could make and keep. For him one painting was all he needed to feel he was an artist. Actually my benefits from making art is more than ego but a way of life. I ignored the Watson plan for years so now I am going to go to greater lengths to be a responsible family member. I am not only going to limit my work in numbers but I am going to reduce my inventory.

I have gone ahead for 25 years with confidence that my paintings will be found. Every new piece was begun with confidence that I would be able to store it somewhere. I had in 2010, however, reached the point where I was spending more time moving paintings from pile to pile than actually working.

I am going to continue painting but with a plan of reduction. Every year for eight years I will paint big ones starting at 3 feet by 5 feet using the supports I already have. Canvases will be removed for the purpose of becoming table coverings or rugs. But every year I will make sure I reduce the number of large painting supports by two. So when I am mid way through my 80's I will have only one large painting left.

Now that my plan is set, it is difficult to get into painting again, because I am in the severely critical mode. What will I do?

I have noticed interesting sunsets and clouds yesterday. We might go to the beach. I have made some tinted watercolor papers and have 17 empty tinted canvases. Also some ink, pens and new drawing pads. I'll start by rolling a dice to select which direction. The important thing in inspiration is not wait but get started then the inspiration comes.

The High of an Art Reception Coupled with Humbling Studio Management

In one painting of a thousand or so unfinished ones I poured rehydrated Bengal Rose gouache. It powdered and pealed. Then I put semi gloss, UV, satin varnish on it. The paint became brittle and pealed more. I like the pealing but it is so fragile, I am not sure I can save it. Today I adhered the 300 pound cotton rag paper to a museum board and flooded the pealing areas with Liquitex gloss varnish and medium.
An important reason for this show is empty our house so I could go through my work and separate what is important to me from the works that fall short. And there are many unfinished or do not rise my pulse. I framed works selected by my daughters and prepared 17 large surfaces for oil or acrylics.
For years I have not been so critical of my own work. Every day more and more goes in the recyclable pile. Tomorrow I hope to start working from the immediate here and now instead of trying to save an old work.

Sunday my retrospective reception talk and tour was attended by loving family and good friends. The theme of paintings was paintings while my husband fishes the past 46 years of the 50 years represented. My 9 slide show brought some good suggestions as to whether or not fish hooks were the most basic invention upon which all others stem. To cover their ideas, I am adding four more slides from our trip to South America.