December 14, 2023 Almost the end of the year. I have written little this year. Now that the winter months are upon us, I hope to return to writing more about where I am emotionally and what I am doing in the studio, physically. The summer show at Mitchell-Giddings seems like a faint memory. The summer was difficult getting the work done feeling, so much pressure. I guess the show was well received with a few sales mostly to loyal friends.In the process I felt I continued to learn more about the CWM, dry pigments, oils and stones. One of many quotes I keep on my studio wall. "When people look to the right they are thinking of what's to come and to their left, of their memories. Someone said to me the other day, and it has been said before, you have changed so much in your painting throughout the years. I think people imagine artists to find something they are good and replicate and do that for the rest of their lives. Yes, I have often made changes but if one looks overall, I

change but also spiral. I leave a spot and then I move on only to return to where I left off, pick up the pieces again and onward until the next inspiration jetiscends me again. The latest continuation I suppose I would say is to not focus so much on the actual stones which I had been placing in their little cubicles but to focus on the surface of the stones covering the entire panel with monochromatic textures. After studying with Rebecca Crowell, I became more interested in her partner Jerry McClauglan who does large dark panels. He builds up layers and layers of texture. I am more interested in some colors of Nature rather than mostly black. His work is dramatic but too dark for my work. I love the lush greens and blues of nature. Also, by using dry pigments of glittery materials and crushed mica, the faint sparkles add some surprise to the monochromatic work. Deciding to not always insert stones in my work but rather to paint the surface of the stones, is my latest spiral on my path...and hopefully not my last.

During the past two weeks with a houseful of friends and family,during quiet moments I would sit down and read a bit of the Frances Hodges Burnett biography. She is the author who wrote The Secret Garden. Of course that was a favorite of mine when I was a child as it was for many children. Burnett was an extremely successful writer and made a good amount of money for a women back in her day. I loved this quote of hers....As long as one has a garden, one has a future and as long as one has a future one is alive. I feel like rewriting that with the same message. As long as one works in the arts one has a future and with a future one is alive. It has been a fabulous week with everyone here in a celebratory mood. And good old summertime weather as well. We picked gobs of beans and peas and ran to the grocery store every day. Swimming was good in the pond and the cat and the dog got along. During the reception at the award ceremony, I met Ernest Hebert the local writer. His wife was also a recipient. She is a painter who decided to use the ubiquitous plaid of New England in many of her paintings. It's quite wonderful. I talked with Ernest a bit and told him how much I had loved his first book where his main character climbs ontop of the infamous Basketville sign in protest. VT was the first state to make it illegal to put billboards on highways so that company placed an enormous sign in a field far from the highway but it was so enormous you could not miss it. It's gone now as is the store Basketville. I am back in the studio now that everyone is gone. Trying to finish up a rather small triptych with panels whose surfaces are very rough and stonelike and inserted in the boxes are small, white, smooth stones. I like the contrast of the rough surfaced panels and the smooth, almost porcelain like, stones. After all this amazing intensity and largeness, it's pleasing to focus inward. There is an intimacy that is rewarding right now working in a small scale.. In this newest triptych, I am trying to catch the grey silver of granite rock with a touch of the green moss growing over parts of it.

It has been a tremendous week. It has almost been a week since getting the phone call that I had won a Ewing Award. Never did I imagine that I would recive this coveted award. Several of my firends have gotten it such as my teacher Numael, Koo Schadler, Craig Altobella. I have been rather quiet about it but did post it on FB and have received almost 100 messages and emails so far. It has reafirmed for me, all the quiet and alone times I have spent in 'a room of my own'. It makes me feel so complete that people are able to embrace my view if the world.

I sometimes feel insecure about this newest work where I am inserting things and stones within the panels. I sometimes worry that it will look too crafty. So often I try to use pieces of things so that it will come across as suggestions. My latest two works are both 48 inches square. I finally used a small tin box with a lid I have had in my possesion for years. It has such character with a lovley blue distressed patina.I put nothing in it which I think ads to its allure. That piece as well as another 48 inch square piece, I submitted to the FAM juried show and hoping to get in. It's a great summer long show. Early June I will deliver works to the Arundel Gallery in Maine and then take some time off to pop over to Ithaca NY to see family. Winning the Ewing Award is definitely energizong so I do look forward to getting back in the studio. Maybe I wont have so many bouts of self doubt now that I have been so validated.

Sunday 28th of November. I've had an unusually interesting week. Work has progressed well, fall continues to linger so walks are enjoyable and I had 3 peeple over to dinner who topped it all off. I picked up Lance Richardson who is at the MacDowell Colony and invited Sy Montgomery and her husband Howard Mansfield for dinner. Sy has become so well known with her many books about animals but the one about the Octopus really put her on the map. They all got along so well and there was never a lull in the conversation all evening. My understanding is that they will stay in touch. Lance is writing the biography of Peter Matthiessen. Sy added another story about Peter about when she had dinner with him years ago. Per usual, it was not all flattering. What a complex man he was. Brilliant and sometimes difficult. My work seems to be going well. I have narrowed the subject down to about 3 elements. Greys for the colors of rocks and stones, celedon green for the ubiquitous moss in out area and just an astract surface on the panels representing both. A bit of blue for water or sky. I am using everything I learned the last few years with RC and Jerry Mclauglan. At first I did not understand his work as much as Rebecca's but after time I embraced it. Much of his work comes from bouts of depression while mine comes from simplifying what I love....rocks and moss and nature. At this point I have no images as nothing is complete. I hope to have some soon and to start my commission for Carol. As with previous works, there will be stones inserted into the panels but the colors muted to the three elemental ones.

My last post was in the spring! Now we are in the fall and so much has transpired this summer. A lumpectomy, radiation, gobs of house visitors, a new puppy followed by a heafty dose of Tendonitus. I will be happy to have life return to it's usual quiet, slow pace. However, there have been many positive events as well sprinkled amongst all the medical issues. I made several major sales of large pieces. Finally some sales of the Vanishing Landscapes. Nothing makes me feel more complete than a sale of my work so close to me. It's not the money persay but the gratification knowing that someone appreciations what I am saying enough to pay to own the piece and live with it hanging on their wall. Petrichor sold to a couple in Dublin NH and hangs in their newly renovated barn in their offices. Another favorite piece of mine sold as well. The last of my Stillpoint black figures. It is a 5 foot, mixed media figure. I miss having it in the studio giving me peace and inspiration and reminding me of my wonderful trip to Ireland with Rebecca Crowell. Since I was not in the studio much this summer, I worked with a friend to compile a catalogue of the past 3 years work. I brought together favorite quotes I like and am inspired by such as Thick Nhat Hahnh's "Be strong and enduring like a mountain and soft and powerful like water. Since my work is all based on nature, I continue to read about the magnificience of nature and all its intricacies. I am currently reading David Haskell's The Forest Unseen. He is a botanist who studied a square meter in the forest for a year and writes about all that goes on in such a small space. Of course some of it is explaining about the creatures and plants beyond what is happening that day on that site. I learned a lot bout how ants influence the spread of seeds. Aside from my work and self, I met with a Lance Richardson who is writing the biography of Peter Matthiessen. He is here at MacDowell and heard that I lived here. He came to the house to interview me. He is currently writing about the part of Peter's life when my father and Deborah divorced and my half sister Rue was born. Lance has already been writing for a few years and seemed to know all the good, bad and ugly about all those grownups after WW2.

Spring is almost here! The days are longer, the light stronger and definitely warmer days. I do remember March as the hardest month to get through. We used to have tons of snow. Now we have little. Though it's easier, it is a another sign of global warming. Tomorrow I return to the studio after about 10 days in the house pounding away on the computer. MY friend Lajla came for 3 days and we did a whirlwind job on a new website, photographs and other computer publicity. I am being forced to go online. That's where it's all happening. With galleries closing and the pandemic keeping people from traveling around, it's finally gotten through to me that I must embrace social media and the web. With about 8 paintings finished over the winter, It's time to put energy into finding another outlet. I feel positive about the newest work. Today I moved away from the stones and restored my love of poppies. Several years ago I had bronze sculptures made from dried poppy pods. They were made at a foundery in Chelsea MA. The painting series did not succeed too well so I was left with about a dozen of the bronzes. They popped into my head the other day. I had my neighbor, who has every tool in the world in his garage, cut the pod stems to the right size and then I popped them into the box where

I had been putting the stones. A new variation on the theme.

January 6, 2021 As I wrote in my 'end of the year' letter, during this tumultuous year of political turmoil, erratic weather patterns and a pandemic, I did have 3 wonderful events occurr. First was the birth of my second grandchild, Beatrix Clementine. The second was that my neighbors logged their property giving me a spectacular view of Mt. Monadnock. I was given a view of the entire ridgeline with Monadnock in the center. It's spell binding to watch the weather roll in and the colors change hourly on the mountain. And third was that the past years of traveling and residencies and workshops all seem to come together this summer. Though I am unable to go to FL I would have chosen not to as I need to be in my nothern studio where I have more materials and more space to work. Due to COVID, many good teachers from far and wide are posting their videos on Youtube. I have come across some wonderfully gifted painters which have added to my painting abilities. Combined with what I have already learned, I felt I made some giant strides.I returned to the stone theme with new techniques. I surrounded the 3 dimensional stone with my color fields. Slowly, building up layers of CWM and oils, I have acheived satisfying effects. The stones I place in recessed boxes. I am not sure what all the meanings are of the box. Is it a safe haven? Is the stone hiding? Is it a symbol of my aloneness? I leave that to the individual viewer.

These two, 14 x 14 inch pieces, are CWM and oils on panel. Stone inserted in the surface. They are titled Silent Sentinel One and Two.