"White Peonies", 20" x 16" Oil on Board
The Hildt Gallery, Chicago
Happy Holidays and Seasons Greetings To You!
I hope that this message finds you healthy and well. Here in Denver at Chez Feldman, we are patiently awaiting the arrival of the vaccine and a new year.
Life in this downtown high-rise has whittled down to the basics over the last year. I'm so fortunate to have an art studio nearby. I close the door, put on my headphones, and delve into my painting. Here's a photo of my studio setup:
I've been painting still lifes and flowers lately, since portraits and landscapes are off the table for a bit. I've been enjoying focusing in on flowers, really concentrating on how the petals turn, and how light sometimes passes right through them. I have flowers delivered to me from a local florist, and I can spend hours photographing them, in the hopes that one of the photos will be good enough to paint.
Here is a recent photo I took in my studio. This one has definite possibilities!
I do miss painting people though. I recently found a box of portrait sketches that I did from life over the years, and couldn't resist putting these old friends up on my studio wall.
Do you recognize me with my complete pandemic hair? I grabbed this opportunity to stop coloring it! I feel quite liberated, truthfully.
A Seasons Greetings note would be incomplete without a blurb about the family! John and I are happily adjusted to our lives here in Denver, both of us busily pursuing our work. Daughter Emily and son-in-law Doug have bought a house just outside of Boston. Josh is visiting us now from DC, where he moved with girlfriend Dylan for her once in a lifetime job with the federal government. Jordie is in Steamboat, in property management, and we're lucky to be close enough to see him now and then.
I cannot thank you enough for your support through the years, and especially this one. Let us toast the end of 2020, and ring in new beginnings in 2021!
All the best,
Ann
Ann, your flower work is truly amazing. I miss your classes in Barrington so much. I gained incredible knowledge from you and enjoyed the camaraderie of the other students. I still consult the notes I made from your demos. I have been plein air painting as recently as Wednesday. It kept me sane this year and along with hiking I have improved my painting along with an intense rediscovery of the nature and light and shadow around me. I’m having a show of my plein air and studio work at the McHenry county Conservation District this summer. My painting has been concentrated at these amazing sites. They stayed open during the pandemic. So grateful for that. We have been well but I miss my daughter and family in New York. Best wishes and more success in 2021. I think of you often. Thanks and again— your florals are fantastic!!
ReplyDeleteThis is Janet.
DeleteHow wonderful to hear from you Janet! I’m so glad that you’ve been painting right along during these tough times. I’d love to see some of your work. I miss our times in Barrington too, and I think of you often. Here’s to a new year and new creative possibilities!
ReplyDelete