Peace Like a River

 A while back, another artist suggested that I try painting on bifold doors.

Cool idea, I thought, and went to the ReStore in Salem, CT, and bought four. They were insanely cheap, and I brought them home, gessoed them, and began painting.

I made a sunflower painting on the first one, and instantly found out why everyone doesn't use bifold doors as canvases.

For starters, the paint dries even more slowly on them than on canvases, because you're essentially painting on wood. Where paint dries from both sides on a canvas, it really only dries from the one side on a piece of wood.

Second, it is insanely difficult to deal with them. There's no way to pick them up easily, and at 14 inches by 79 inches, they're interesting - but tough to pack.

Still, every time I have brought one to a show, it's sold.

This time, I thought I'd put the background on the sunflower painting first. (I usually put the flowers on, then fill in the background). So I started painting, and in a while, I realized that I had something more than a background. I had a painting. Yes, a little decorative, a little sweet (I hate sweet) - but abstract and expressive and interesting, too.

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IT'S MY MOM'S birthday today, and I miss her more than ever. I celebrate her birth this day, even though she has died. She was the best mom, and I was lucky to have her in my life for 50 years.

Here's a photo of her, on the screened-in porch of the house where we grew up. That's my sister, Laurie, in the foreground, and Mom in the background, looking at something, or hearing something, or dreaming and thinking something - or all of that together.

                               

                         

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Dogs of the Day

  

Came across this dog family as I was looking for a place to paint.
They were thin, but seemed happy and healthy,
and very friendly, indeed.