Audrey

Well, not much studio time this week. Most of the week has been devoted to my husband's eye surgery.  The surgery went well, but he has to stay facedown for a week.  He is dealing with the recovery with more grace than I could manage.  I wish I could make him better right away, but all I can do is hover and try not to be annoying.

I have managed to get some painting done.  This is Audrey.  I just finished her today.  She is 20" x 20" with a 2" thick gallery wrap canvas.  I was quite intrigued by the combination of greens and violets in the plant.  And I love the pinks.  Very Eastery (if that's a word).

Precarious

I call this new painting  "Precarious".  It is a wonderful succulent perched on the edge of a rockface.  The succulent is actually a South African native.  My friend, Cis, gave me photos from her trip to South Africa and I fell in love with this one. 

The succulent actually rests on a stalk of it's own dead leaves.  However, that didn't translate very well compositionally, so I added the rockface instead.

Precarious is 36 inches tall and 24 inches wide.

Winter travel in Italy

 I just returned from a winter trip to Italy, which is why you haven't seen any new paintings in Feb.   My friend Julie and I flew into Florence and out of Venice.  We had a wonderful time and saw some things that most travelers to Italy will never get to see.

David.....with no one around him.  That is actually my finger and a bit of my coat in the photo.  Cameras are not allowed, so I had to be surreptitious.

 This is Siena, in Tuscany, in the snow.  We were lucky that we missed the actual snow storm.  We met a couple that had gotten trapped in Rome by their first snowfall in 36 years.

Carnival in Venice.  A much more genteel affair than raucous Mardi Gras. Again, we luckily missed the icing over of the Venetian canals.












Sales signs in Italian shops.  I am guessing that summer travelers never see 70% off sales in Tuscany.








It was a wonderful trip.  I was happy to go and happy to return home.  I am looking forward to productive time in my studio and will have a new painting to show you soon.