Passionate about Sky Blue Rose of Sharon

    It is said, paint what you love - what calls out your name. The gorgeous blooms of the sky blue rose of sharon growing in front of our chicken coop called out my name. 

I answered!  Five times!  

An artist teacher and friend once encouraged me to paint a subject five times in five different ways.  Here is the result of a four day painting frenzy.  Sennelier makes a color that I can't paint without called Royal Blue.  It was the perfect color mixed with permanent rose, indigo blue and winsor red to capture  the essence of this beautiful flower.

Watercolor Abstracts????

      Abstracts are not my usual  subject  for watercolors.  I love florals, landscapes, nature, subjects that are recognizable and  grab my heart. But.... there is a different process that  is a challenge and a delight -   painting  intuitively.  It has been said:

Energy and motion made visible – memories arrested in space” ― Jackson Pollock

 “Art has a voice - let it speak.” ― Rochelle Carr

 Abstract art was the equivalent of poetic expression; I didn’t need to use words, but colors and lines. – Etel Adnan

 Teaching abstracts at Paint Party Salem NH was a great experience.   It is the titles that are the challenge. 

String Along

 Matters of the Heart

Fragmentary Blue

  In the Flow

Summer Painting - Paris to Pellham

  This has been a full summer in more ways than one,  painting along the way.      In July we celebrated the 11th annual Mimi and Papi camp with our grands in Paris. I didn't do much painting while we were there, but did paint in my travel journal from photos I took while we were there.    There will be more to come.

My red travel journals I've used since 1999 are no longer available.  

I have found the replacement!  Luchetti true flat sketch books. 

I am loving it!

 https://www.luchetti.co/collections/luchetti-true-flat-sketchbooks

 I decided my first entries would be from our marsh here in Pelham, NH.

       Even our chickens!  What fun they are - cackling, laying eggs in exchange for table scraps. 

   The Luchetti  journal  has many more pages for future entries.

Oops Woah! I just updated the wrong blog!!!

Please click on  the following link for my current update! 

https://artztourdefrance4.blogspot.com/2026/05/woah-time-for-overdue-update.html

Before you do, here is my final update entry! Chalk up my confusion to Afib brain.

Last Saturday I joined my fellow Art Tribe friends to paint plein air at the Nevins Memorial Library, Methuen, Massachusetts, in the cold. I love this ancient tree in front of the  library where I took photos of my grandkids a few years ago. The kindness rock garden at the base caught my eye. Paint a rock - take a rock. 

https://artztourdefrance4.blogspot.com/2026/05/woah-time-for-overdue-update.html

A lot has happened since February!

 Wow! I just realized I was so preoccupied with my “Artz Tour de France” blog that I haven’t posted personal paintings since February!

A quick pictoral update!

In March I exhibited at the Greater Salem Art Association spring show at the  Lake Street Garden Center in Salem, New Hampshire. I am loving being a member of this organization.

In April, along with getting ready for my upcoming art trip to France (visit the blog: https://artztourdefrance4.blogspot.com/?m=1), I painted a little and had the joy of teaching art to my daughter’s 2’nd grade class. 

Then in May, the beginning of the art adventure of facilitating the painting trip to rural France for 17 artists! (Visit the blog: https://artztourdefrance4.blogspot.com/?m=1)

What a surprise to get interviewed by a local paper in Salem, N H before the trip and then again in France by a regional paper!

My travel journal is where most of my painting happened during the trip, but I have painted a few actual pieces inspired by the trip.

More to come in the next update!

Sunrise with Eagles

To catch the Maine harbor sunrise, I was up and outside at 5:30 watching the spectacle unfold waiting to catch a glimpse of the eagles in their nest. I was not disappointed! 

Still enjoying winter on the marsh

 

I

Self Portrait

Winter Cattails

Snow Falling

Beaver Lodge

Carefree

Cattails in Winter 2