Family Paintings

This is Ricky, my stepfather's grandchild. He is obviously having a great time at the beach.

Maegan is my niece. She is very artistic and I hope I captured her here while she was drawing in the yard.

Ben is my nephew and a wonderful guitarist as well as a good sailor, caregiver (professional nurse), carpenter, world traveler, spanish speaker and soon to be husband.

This is an early portrait that I did of myself for a self portrait show. I have always been a fan of
Frida Kahlo so this is a homage. The dog is my beloved labrador Roxy and the crow is the image of a crow I painted that won me an award in our local art show.
The dead fish reflects the fact that I was doing a lot of fly fishing for trout at that time.

This is one of my earliest oil paintings. It is of my granddaughter Ava taking a walk. She is asserting her independence by walking beside, instead of riding in her stroller.

This last painting is of my nephew Bevan. It was a birthday card for his mother, but later I developed it into a larger painting. He is gazing into the sun and dreaming.

Pumpkins the Cat Art Show

My sister, Sadie in New Zealand, has a cat that loves to curl up in her potted plants out on the porch. The cat lovingly called "Pumpkins" spends lots of time basking in the sun. Sadie sent a photo to the family of Pumpkins pursuing this pleasure and we agreed that it was paintable. So Mum in Nova Scotia (Olga Neal), her two friends (Roberta and Mary), Sadie and I all decided to paint Pumpkins. Here are the results.

"Pumpkins of Ahaura"

Watercolor on Paper

Sadie

"Pumpkins"

Watercolor on Paper

Mary Fraser

"Pumpkins' Patch"

Watercolor on Paper

Olga Neal

"Precious Pumpkins"
Watercolor on Paper
Roberta Way-Clark

"Potted Pumpkins"

Oil on Canvas

Annabelle Baker

My sister and my mother are watercolor artists. Sadie, my sister, in New Zealand just participated in an art fair. Here is the link. http://www.artinthepark.co.nz/

The piece at the right was recently painted by Sadie and is called "Music is in the Air".

South Harbor

South Harbor, a watercolor, was painted cerca 1997.

This is called "Buoy 11" and I tried to capture the special green color of water here. The Rogue is a hard working fishing boat and I caught the reflections of the tanner crab pot buoys in this watercolor called "Rogue Reflections".

Sentry came about from an encounter with an agressive stellar sea lion that was protecting his brood near a haul out in the Inian Islands. I painted this in 2003 (I think).
This huge sea lion was the dominant male in the south harbor and ironically named "Sweetie" by the fishermen. He would eat the scraps the fishermen threw into the water when they were baiting up for long lining halibut.

We dock our home in the south harbor. During the winter, the sea lions, especially the males are very active. I think of them as our neighbors.

Pear-ody

I painted this during the fall of 2005 while I was undergoing my second round of chemotherapy for breast cancer. The following was written for the show, Metamorphosis, where the piece was displayed.


2005 has been an amazingly transformative year for me. I turned 50 in January. Finally it became impossible to shy away from the stigma/joy/challenges/relief of being middle aged.

Secondly, I moved from watercolors to oils and have been reveling in their bold pigments and sculptural qualities. I love their texture and the freedom to make decisions midway through a piece. I’m having way more fun than ever before.

In early summer, I had to let my 15 year old dog go. Roxy was not well physically and I could no longer care for her. She was a part of my identity. She was my most constant companion and greatest muse. I still miss her everyday.

Lastly, and perhaps most dramatically, I was diagnosed with breast cancer in February. Unfortunately, my malignant tumor had been misdiagnosed as a benign cyst and the cancer was in an advanced state. While I felt great, I had to ingest tremendous amounts of chemotherapy that made me fragile, threw me abruptly into menopause and denuded me of every hair on my body. The first round of chemo was only partially successful, so after the surgeons attempted to cut out every bit of the cancer possible, the doctors put me back on chemotherapy to try and keep the cancer from spreading any further.

Surprisingly, the greatest impact of the cancer has been emotional. My illness has been a white water raft ride of discovery. Thrills and spills. Highs and lows. I have discovered the importance of my beloved friends and family, the wonder of each moment in each precious day, and the strength and devotion of my husband.

What do my pears have to do with all these changes in my life? I have always loved painting pears because of their gorgeous shapes. I use the pear as everyman. Each one of us is the same, a pear. Every one of us is so different. Each of these pears is a caricature of me during some phase of the changes that have occurred over the last nine months. I especially used color to provide you with a hint at my emotions. Also look at the placement of the pear in its space. One of the pears is missing a slice. So am I. One of them has been split in half and is vulnerable. Ironically, since my bilateral mastectomy, I am more pear-shaped than ever. Hopefully some of them look happy and hopeful and determined. And if they just look like brightly colored pears, that is good too.

Pia's Primroses

I was given these flowers by my friend, Pia. They are oil on canvas.