A BREATH OF SALT AIR
”Don’t Be “tsaka tsikyi”
Cut, chop, grab the right pan. Taking the least amount of steps as I rush around my kitchen is a little game for me. Flip open the fridge and get the butter, the organic eggs, the cheddar cheese. I was cooking an omelet for my mom, for me a very easy task. My mom’s...
Brigadoon? or Just Heaven on Earth?
A 2nd storm was coming when I was painting this at the Art Barge in Amagansett this Fall. The clouds whirled by. The fog lifted, and you could see deep into the distance. The next moment, the fog descended and all was impenetrable. When I first started to...
The Commission Quandary- in a pickle or an opportunity?
Some artists will never ever take on a commission. For me it is a solemn pact. The person who engages me is putting their trust in my ability to create something that they are going to love. That’s a huge honor for me, an opportunity to reciprocate on a deep level by...
A Look Under the Hood (How I Start a Painting)
After my 10th Cover on Dan’s Paper’s this summer, someone called to ask about seeing more of my work. She visited the studio and liked quite a few pieces. But the one she really loved, where the colors made her feel so good, was small, just 12 x 12 inches. She...
2nd Storm At Napeaque
There is so much joy in living with a painting that you love, one that gives you energy or a piece that calms you down. When I view a wide expanse of open water, I can feel both sensations simultaneously. At Napeague Harbor you can see a storm brewing from a good 30...
Abundant and Fleeting Flower Field
I’m awestruck whenever I come upon a unexpected flower field. When a garden is planned and planted you will experience flowers close up, intimately. But a flower field stretches out and sweeps across, your vision takes in the entirety. Your peripheral vision is...
Bay Point Hush
Can you make out the Sag Harbor-North Haven Bridge in the far distance? In 2008 it was renamed the Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter Veterans Memorial Bridge in honor of the young man who gave his life while serving as a Marine in Iraq. Jordan was a classmate of my son's who...
Pink Sky = Pink Water
There was an icy chill to the air so I double wrapped myself in 2 sweaters to walk the beach. For only a few precious moments the air filled with pink. The sky turned fluorescent pink and the water reflected flecks of pink from the sky and melted into a lavender...
They Paved the Beach with Asphalt?
I’m almost finished with this triptych (three separate panels) of a salt marsh in Southampton. The wide view is glorious, and delicate, so alive and vibrant. Notice how my abstracted piece "Floating World" relates to the landscape in color and the use of...
How to Find Your Way
My abstract paintings generate thoughts that can’t quite be expressed in a traditional painting. We are bewildered in the face of the new world we now live in and that calls for new perspective. We have to think differently. We have to learn how to function...
My Painting Was Stolen!
We were all still wearing heavy winter coats and it was Thursday, the day that Dan's papers is distributed in stacks and bundles to every outlet in the Hamptons. I was having a show of my paintings at a small jewelry store on Main Street, Southampton. My painting...
Which side are you on, Team Art or Team TV?
It was late on a rainy Sunday morning when the TV was blaring. The sound was ruining my cozy feeling of being warm and comfortable while I drank a hot cup of coffee. I just wanted to hear the rain blasting against the window with me safe inside. Do you have a TV in...
Painting Like the Tides
The waves come in, the waves go out. I paint it in, I repaint it out. Often people have asked me, "how long did it take to paint that picture?". I never know the answer. I know approximately how long the painting was on my easel, but determining when a painting is...
“Quartz Wave” Reflections
Here at the ocean it can feel balmy on a gray day. Cloud cover usually warms things up. I can smell that salty scent floating in the air and it sends memories of days that feel just like this one flooding into my head. My mind travels back in time. I could be looking...
If everything is changed, what now?
You feel the full frontal force of nature coming toward you in both of these waves. They are majestic in shape and color. I love how oil paint can be thinned to transparency and layered to achieve the sensation of looking through water. Blend and dab the paint...