Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Celebrating a Friend

             oil                        For Cathey         click image to enlarge
Decided to do a quick painting yesterday, tried out new panels (very smooth Ampersand boards). Only had about 90 minutes - forced myself to get darks and lights laid out quickly.  The smooth finish really threw me at first - the paint drys very quickly which is a plus when you can add new paint over the bottom coat and make changes easily but harder to mix paint into paint on the surface.

This orchid was a special subject.... from Sunday when several friends, along with her family, gathered here to celebrate a lovely and talent friend.  Through shared stories we learned so much about this quiet and gentle soul. Her husband played CDs full of the songs she  wrote, sang and recorded over many years (beautiful - not unlike Joni Mitchell) and displayed art and jewelery she created. We knew she did a little art 'occasionally' -but all marveled to seethe depth and breadth of her work.  Quietly she went about her life, taking joy in the act of creating.  I like to think she guided me in this little quick painting.   click here to purchase.

3 comments:

Peggy's Closet said...

Your paintings are absolutely beautiful!

Mary Valente said...

Thanks Peggy. Just looked at your sewing blog. Do you do work for others and sell? the pieces are beautiful. The photography is also very well done. How come you have more hours than the rest of us :-) work..writing..sewing..and more!

Susan said...

Really lovely and crisp whites in this piece, Mary. I took a look at your website and find your work to be really lovely - masterfully contemporary! I especially love the abstract still lifes.