i remember a great quote by cezanne my friend lynne hoppe posted one time about the fact that one could paint a hundred years and a hundred years after that and still feel like you were just beginning. i have felt exactly that these past few weeks as i continue experimenting with new colors and new mediums. thrilling! 

i especially like having discovered the stabilo pencil which comes in many colors. you sketch and then paintbrush over it for a watercolor effect. look at those mona lisa hands! just with one pencil.

i used it again in black for the above portraits.

something went wrong along the week when i started to feel a bit sick and headachey, maybe from exposure to my art supplies, maybe just a bug. so i soent the next few days just sketching.

thinking of future possible paintings such as this version of a menina.

halloween has certainly had an influence 

i am trying to find my own artistic voice

i see a pattern of britishness.....well, i grew up in england so the influence seems embedded in my subconscious i guess.

although i have discovered fresco painting through kate thompson and loving it.

above is a pencil drawing of my friend jeanne marie in orvieto

cathy cullis continues to be a great go to. 

as is misty

and then there are those random moments of silliness

i love art, can you tell?

but the other good news is that i finally hot around to tidying the studio a bit thanks to a pink filing cabinet richard gave up for me

i turned a closet into a library

with autumn here, many hours will be spent here

if not here

a time of gathering

mandy patullo came from the border between england and scotland to teach 

at french general. what a treat! alrhough we only got her for six hours, we were able to hear her interesting philosophy on the use of vintage fabrics. i got very little done while there preferring to chat with mary and syd and donna and nola and sandy and colleen and susan and kaari and molly and even mandy herself. when i create, i prefer silence and no interruption and i also need time to plan the layout of the fabrics; it doesn't just come to me. but it is finished just waiting for the curtain rings to be hung.

ofcourse i couldn't just make one. this one is still a work in progress at the moment since i had a few other things fluttering in my mind.

like this smaller fabric collage pinnie.

but then came the paints. and a few entries into the moleskin.

i'm trying to practice a bit more with the effects of different mediums on brown paper

and the fabulous stabilo pencil

and just a plain mechanical pencil

and then back to embroidery again

flowers in our home are often an inspiration

and yes, there has been the seaside, but that's a whole new story.