Hard at work in the studio

While Talullah supervises from her basket, I've been working on a new series of paintings that I'm really excited about. I had started painting small 12"x12" paintings this fall. I didn't really have a focus as far as subject matter, which started to bother me. I've found that I need to have a theme. I can't jump around from subject to subject. So, I've started painting closeup images of plants and gardens that I photographed around our neighborhood. I'm lucky enough to live in close proximity to a lot of skilled gardeners who don't cut all their plants down in the fall. On my walks through the neighborhood it finally struck me how beautiful some of these plants are especially as they turn color and decay as the weather gets colder. I became even more inspired after it snowed which added a whole new element. So here is what I've come up with so far. I'm also going to start some large scale paintings in this same vein. I love painting small paintings, because I can finish them in under an hour if I put my mind to it--or take my mind away from it in some cases. But I need to have big paintings going too. More to come as those get underway.