Salut! to a New Year

In Florida a few weeks ago, I watched a great blue heron poised in a pond, one leg up, neck outstretched, waiting in perfect stillness for a fish to swim by. Against an impossibly blue sky, the origami shape of a white egret barely moved a feather as it glided across the horizon. Wings spread wide, a steely anhinga perched on a pier for hours, as quiet as a sculpture.

I love the beauty, stillness and serenity of the birds. The women and girls in my latest works are very self-contained, serene, at home in their environment, much like the birds circling overhead.

On my easel today is the sixth in this new series of 16" x 16" oil paintings. Two storks have taken flight. The Costa Rican sky is turning a deep, unexpected teal. A young girl gently protects a fledgling bird in her hands, as its mother watches. I have just begun to block in the water.

This painting should be finished this month, if all goes according to plan.

A new series of 24"-square wood panels now awaits my brush. Images, ideas and stories are already percolating.

I've chronicled the progress of The Procession of Hope and Feathers in this blog for over a year. It spent a month and a half on the Mezzanine of R. Michelson Galleries in Northampton, MA. Now it will get a bit more paint, varnishing, and my signature - and then I can call it done. I look forward to it leaving my studio and finding an appropriate new home. At 132" x 68", it is the largest piece I have ever completed.

Another big project this year was the development of a portfolio of archival fine art prints. I worked with my longtime photographer and friend Stephen Petegorsky for months, as we created limited edition, museum quality prints of selected work spanning thirty years. Many of the originals reside in private art collections, and it was fun and illuminating to revisit the images. Some of these new prints have already found homes coast to coast.

My updated website now includes the new square paintings and the ability to purchase my fine art prints directly online. I also took some time to create images of my paintings and prints hanging in rooms, so you could visualize my art in the real world - or in your own home.

Please do take a few minutes to browse through the site. I'd love to hear your thoughts.