Jay

Blue Jay, oil on panel, 12" x 12"

Here is a recent painting of a Blue Jay that flew into an on coming car this past summer.  My daughter and I witnessed the poor bird's accident while on a walk together.  As you may know, I have been painting dead birds for at least a decade.  The first dead bird was a Mourning Dove left as a prize by our cat.  After that first painting, people started to bring me their cat kills and dead bird finds.  I see these birds as fleeting gifts of infinite beauty.  It is a challenge and honor to try to capture that beauty.  You can find a few examples of my previous bird paintings on the still life page of  my website.  Unfortunately, most of the birds were photographed using old school 35 mm slide film.  Remember that stuff?  Well, those slides don't scan so well and those paintings have found good homes long ago.  So I don't have very good images to share with you.  I guess I'll just have to keep painting new ones.  :) 

Blue Jay, oil on panel, 12" x 12" (detail)

Blue Jay, oil on panel, 12" x 12" (detail)      

Architects + Artisans

Thank you to Cheryl Wilder who wrote a very nice article on my work and the Women Painting Women exhibition and On Expedition in Charleston.  You can read the article by visiting Architects + Artisans.

Teaching at RICA

I am so very excited to share that I will finally be returning to teaching! For several years I taught the foundation level classes (such as Fundamentals of Figure Drawing, Fundamentals of Painting etc) at Laguna College of Art and Design. As life happened, I had to turn my attentions away from teaching and I have very much missed the classroom and energy of my students ever since.

It is with great honor and anticipation that I announce I will be teaching a Contemporary Realism in Oil Painting class at the Raleigh Institute of Contemporary Art, starting January 9, 2011!  This four week class is for all levels of artists interested in exploring the concepts and techniques of contemporary realist painting. Using a variety of subjects (still life objects, figure or objects of the student's choice) we will learn the basics of composition, value relationships, color, form and space as well as more advance techniques of oil painting.  We will be meeting every Sunday, 12:30 - 3:30, January 9 -30, 2011.

Due to RICA's great success and popularity it has now out grown its original facility.  In January, please come visit the new, beautiful space right in the heart of downtown Raleigh at 424 S. Dawson St (between Davie St & Cabbarus St.)

Raleigh Institute of Contemporary Art

424 S. Dawson St

Raleigh, NC  27601

(919) 800-0208

For more information on RICA please visit the website www.ricanc.com or to find a complete list of class schedules and to sign up click here (my class is listed all the way at the bottom).