Seville, Alcazar sketch

Art and art history motivated the trip.

The light, the textures, the architecture, and the choice of graphite as the medium, all shape the story.

And, the memory!

 Nice that 'history' includes the word 'story.'

5.5" x 5.5"   ink in sketchbook   nfs

Checkers

It's a puzzle.

It's a game.

Wait... It's a food group!

Working on my neuroplasticity.

6 x 6"   oil on panel   $360   Art in the Morning Special

Golden Pears

The green of spring turns

Golden summer sun rises

Shadows pool and climb

8" x 8"  oil on panel $430   Art in the Morning Special

Morning Walk Wonder

About a year ago I added something to my morning walk, the idea of taking notice of at least three 'wonders' along the way.

It gives me the chance to savor and appreciate. And I can come home and report somethig fun or beautiful or surprising or cool that I come upon in nature.

 It might be noticing the track a snake or lizard leaves in the dirt. Or aspens backlit by the morning sun. Or these wonderful tepee-like sculptures built by someone who spent time in the woods, collecting sticks and evaluating their shape. Propping and re-arranging them. Imagining.

Yup. Morning Walk Wonders.

6" x 8"   oil on linen panel   $380   Art in the Morning Special

Licorice Jazz

Sweet stuff gives me a chance to play with vivid colors that make people feel good.

Jazz is how I listen to vivid notes that make me feel good.

I painted this listening to Chick Corea's 'Trilogy': Chick on piano, Christian McBride on bass, Brian Blade on drums. Masters, all. These guys are in improvisational sync. And, smokin'!

 I like to learn from musicians whenever I can. This trio has me asking how I can apply their rich variety of sound to my brush strokes.

I love how interesting and endless that is.

6 x 6"   oil on panel   $360   Art in the Morning Special

Morning Sun Rose

Blazed by morning sun,

The coral breaks into light.

Sweet of scent, nature.

8" x 10"  oil on linen panel   $480   Art in the Morning Special

Villa Tuscany - sketch

June 4, 2025

Architecture in Italy is like character actors in a play or movie. Distinct, quirky, full of charm or style, often with that hand-hewn look.

There is a story to tell.

So much stone. So many arches. Timeless.  

5.5" x 5.5"   ink in sketchbook   nfs

Most Likely to Succeed

May 28, 2025

A creative thinker. 

Well groomed, self-sufficient, knows how to walk into a room.

8" x 10"  oil on linen panel   $490   Art in the Morning Special

Water & Glow

May 21, 2025

Every day in the studio, I'm always looking at the painting on my easel, as I work or mix my paint or eat or ride my bike and evaluate. Sometimes my painting is upside down so I can see it fresh.

When I determine a painting is done, I remove it from the easel to keep it safe.

As I clean up and move about the studio, preparing for my next painting, my eye automatically goes to the easel.

It's always a bit of a shock when my gaze lands on nothing. An empty easel. The room feels lifeless.

Without thinking of it consciously, I regularly experience the power of painting, the power of art, to affect our lives. I'm reminded of the serenity, or the drama, or the unexpected, but always the presence, that a painting brings to a room. It's absence always lands like a small punch of loss.

Better get back to work.

Peony & Fog

Every painting is a process of discovery and surprise. I love that.

As I painted these beautiful, and beautifully scented! peonies, the opportunity for creating atmosphere presented itself. This brought a greater sense of stillness and intimacy.

A moment of quiet.

11" x 14"   oil on linen panel      $680 sold

Oh, Goodie!

What a treat! A glowing confection of color that brings happiness.

6 x 6"   oil on panel    $380 sold  

Sunny Sand Harbor

Nature can provide the most amazing color massage. Serene turquoise and ultramarine dazzle with scintillating overlays of transparent color.

Queue the rhythmic lapping of the waves.

Mama mallard and her fuzzy golden chicks come motoring along. All are fanned out, equi-distant from mom, being good students.

One little guy has his face down, beak and eyes submerged, checking out what's down below.

He strays to the left. Mom and crew head right, around a big rock. She beeps. He's clueless. Life is so interesting!

They cruise out of sight as he pops up. Hey! Where'd everbody go? He runs up on a flat rock and scurries off on a short cut around it. Aha! He spies the group and falls into line.

You can just tell what mom is thinking.This kid will be the dreamer, the creator. Oh, oh.

15" x 30" x 1.5"  oil on canvas   $1620   Art in the Morning Special

North Wind Firewater

With winds of 35 miles an hour, and gusts to 45, the river was a whipping, wild, alive thing.

I put on all the clothing that was in my pack and filled the pack with rocks, hanging it from my easel for ballast. It was a giddy challenge to hold on to hat, easel, and painting.

If the wind gusted from the south, the river became hot orange, turquoise, and gold.

Here, the wind was blasting in from the north, coloring the river in rich blues, with a shimmer of reflected gold.

 Nature makes an impression!

30" x 36" x 1.5"  oil on canvas   $3890   Art in the Morning Special

Hillside Tuscany - sketch

April 16, 2025

When I was teaching in Tuscany, prior to the workshop, we stayed in a small lodging of assorted stone buildings on shaded grounds run by a woman and her vintner husband. Across the hillside we looked to Pienza.

Every late afternoon a sheep herder came out and dotted the green hills with white sheep under a blue sky. He would spend hours in solitude walking the land with his sheep as the light moved into the golden hour. They came running  when he called at end of day. Very peaceful.

I decided that's what I want to be when I grow up, a wool-growing sheep herder in Tuscany.

5.5" x 7"   ink in sketchbook   nfs

Tulips Aflame

April 9, 2025

Clear and starry night,

Snow lies quiet in the woods,

Morning aflame in red.

6" x 8"   oil on linen panel       $380 sold  

Peony Rain

The music of the rain pattering upon the leaves is so calming.

 The scent of the peony perfumes the air as it rises.

The wet earth smells rich and clean.... the coming of spring.

Meanwhile, outside, it's snowing. Yay!

8" x 10"   oil on linen panel   $450   Art in the Morning Special

Glow Red

March 26, 2025

Like a glowing ember, subtle color shifts within a field of orange-red give off scintillating light.

I bet we could warm our hands by that painting.

10" x 10"   oil on panel   $665  sold

Pop Goes the Tulip

Since my beautiful model Tulipery Splendora was in the studio, I painted a new piece a few days later.

It is so cool the way every aspect of a painting makes such a difference. From the tiniest brush stroke to the smallest color relationship, everything affects everything else.

I love the surprise of this field of luminous blue. Juicy!

6" x 8"   oil on linen panel   $360   Art in the Morning Special

Painted Peonies

March 12, 2025

Dipping into the colorful end of nature's palette and finding beauty...

Not to mention, aroma therapy.

Have you smelled a peony?!

6" x 8"   oil on linen panel   $360  sold

Tulipery Splendora

March 5, 2025

And the Oscar for Best Dressed goes to...

6" x 8"   oil on linen panel   $360  sold

Abacus

Exploring different ways of seeing, blurred and focused, flat and receding, I find surprise in where it leads.

Like improv in music or theater, the unexpected is part of the aliveness of painting.

Very cool.

9" x 9"   oil on wood   $620   Art in the Morning Special

Sunflower Power

Sunlight in winter

Golden wash upon the walls

Nuthatch trumpets day.

8" x 10"   oil on linen panel   $450 sold  

Interior -  San Giovanni d'Asso

February 12, 2025

A day of pouring rain during one of my Italy workshops found me sketching this interior.

Balancing a sketchbook while one draws brings its own challenges. But it's worth the effort.

The act of focused looking, trying to capture angles and textures and the telling details that might reveal you are in Italy, puts one solidly in the moment.

A beautiful room that one normally passes through becomes a clear memory. And with it comes the weather and movements of an entire day.

5.5" x 5.5"   ink in sketchbook   nfs

Luminous Kiss

If you've ever sat across from someone who loves enjoying chocolate, you've seen the effects of the brain awash in 'happy chemicals.'

Their nostrils flare in anticipation. Their pulse slows and their breathing almost becomes a sigh.The air around them seems to hum a bit.

That's how some of us respond to luminous color.

When looking for moments of joy, maybe put a chocolate by someone's coffee.

4" x 4"   oil on wood block  $215    Art in the Morning Special

Undersea Music

Humid atmosphere, the air dense with exotic birdsong, plants with leaves bigger than me... it's good to leave the familiar behind.

Something calm, spatial and a little mysterious, something like the music of Estonian composer Arvo Part, would make a nice soundtrack.

56" x 61" x 1.5" oil on canvas       $11,400 sold

Buoys - sketch     Lake Garda, Italy

January 22, 2025

I like the idea of buoys as a metaphor.

To keep someone afloat. To warn of hazards ahead. Or below the surface. An aid in navigating unknown waters.

The GoFundMe campaigns popping up for those who lost their homes and communities, their musical instruments and livelihoods, in the LA fires, is heartening.

Volunteers coming to the fore with shelter, food, a place for one's pet.

People are willing to do something tangible to help others in tragedy. Even people they don't know.

People say they feel buoyed by doing this.

Tonight I will dream of a world populated by buoys.

5.5" x 5.5"   ink in sketchbook   nfs

Cookies 'n Cream

I figure we could all use a bit of cheer right now.

12" x 18"   oil on canvas  $790    sold

Hula

No wonder people start dancing!

6" x 6"   oil on panel   $360 sold

Sandalwood

 January 1, 2025

Tranquility.

The hum of color. The scent of warmth, a hint of spice.

Another land.

9" x 9"   oil on wood   $620   Art in the Morning Special

Twilight, Starry Night

December 25, 2024

Wishing everyone peace and beauty,

randon acts of kindness,

quality time spent in the silence of nature,

and good will toward all.

 4" x 4"   oil on wood block   $230  sold

Wetlands

Watery surfaces. Bathed in sunlight.

We can swim its liquid light.

Don't forget your towel.

10" x 10"   oil on wood panel   $630   sold

Paris Delight

A tower of light, made of French confection, seems only fitting for a city known as The City of Lights, and for another tower.

I love creating radiant light.

Power on.

8" x 8"   oil on linen panel   $530   sold  

Say, what?!

Eager for a trip tp practically anywhere, I've been doing a bit of armchair traveling via my sketchbook.

Here, we grabbed a lunch break in Madrid, before returning to Sorolla's house to drink up more amazing paintings from the master. In the ordering process I may have discovered our waiter had an astigmatism. Or something.

My request for an artichoke brought this little burger. I decided to draw it in lieu of eating it. Next, a 'salad' brought sardines.

Each thing we ordered and pointed to brought us the item on the line above. Oh well, travel is how we get outside our comfort zone.

And drawing anything is good practice.

5.5" x 5.5"   ink in sketchbook   nfs

Just the Two of Us

Sun upon the field

Yellow glows from the flower

Night of blue and moon.

6" x 8"   oil on linen panel   $360   Art in the Morning Special

Sundae sketch

November 20, 2024

Painting something that defies gravity and is full of serendipity helps me discover a world I have control over.  Creating radiant light is an alchemy that I love.

 It puts me smack in the middle of my mission in life, to make the world kinder through beauty.

12" x 18"  working sketch   nfs   

A Different Night in Tunisia

Starlit night above

What change of light, this turning

The trumpet plays clean.

9" x 9"   oil on wood panel   $620   Art in the Morning Special

Orchid

Monkeypod, bamboo, orchid

Whales breach into rain

Sound is soft upon the moss.

56" x 61" x 1.5" oil on canvas  $11,400  sold

Full Moon Brew

October 30, 2024

Midnight blue forever sky

Orion, arise

 Still the moon spills from my cup.

8" x 8"  oil on panel   $430 sold  

Solar Power

Golden pigment, a classic truck, blue sky, and the alchemy of oil paint. 

8" x 10"  oil on linen panel   $530  sold

Night Waters

Bird song illuminates the undersea.

Notes echo outward in the spacey depths of teal and prussian.

Water, like a whisper, moves against the skin.

56" x 61" x 1.5"  oil on canvas   $11,400   Art in the Morning Special

Sunbeam

Pillars of their community, catching some rays.

30" x 36" x 1.5"  oil on canvas   $3890   Art in the Morning Special

Carousel

A toast of admiration and gratitude, and deep appreciation, for Dame Maggie Smith, who has left the stage this past week.

She gave to us her lifetime of wit and grace, clear-eyed observation and empathy, sadness and surprise.

She made us believe every character she inhabited.

She remains radiant.

6" x 6"  oil on panel    $330  sold  

Balance, In Yellow

September 25, 2024

Flower as role model.

8" x 10"  oil on linen panel    $460  sold

Watermelon Buzz

September 18, 2024

I'm riding the wave to the end of watermelon season. Another gush of juice. Another rush of glowing color.

 Another color endorphin fix.

I googled watermelon nutrition, and get this! It's loaded with antioxidants and B6, which is known to increase dopamine - the feel good, stress reducing chemical in our brains.

And here I thought it was just the color that made me happy.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel    $360 

Flaming Tulip

Oh, to be a bee, and live among such flowers.

To spy flaming coral and crimson-rust and zoom in for a landing. To dance upon their billowy petals.

The dazzle of crawling over a landscape of sunny yellows and into shadows of lavendar. Then, to nuzzle the dusty brown of the anthers, and let my wings brush against their softness.

Oh look, there's another flower!

Buzz, buzz.

8" x 8"  oil on linen panel    $430 sold   

Wild at Sea

Power and beauty are the sea, strange and exotic life, foreign and full of wonder.

The wild of it presents the unexpected.

It frees the mind to imagine.

56" x 61" x 1.5"  oil on canvas   $11,400   Art in the Morning Special

1960 California Dreamin'

The senses of sight, sound, smell, and automobile?! tell a story, a period piece.

Bathed in sunlight, the cobalt sky is dotted with creamy clouds that tell you it will be a good day.

Sea air blows in from the Carmel coast, carrying the call of gulls and pelikans.

 Dark trees scent the air with eucalyptus and cypress.

Open-road freedom is parked at the curb, promising your next adventure.

Let's go!

8" x 10"  oil on linen panel    $630  sold

Tropic Sound: Night Bird

 August 21, 2024

The texture of sound lights up the night.

Every step an adventure. Every song a mystery.

 56" x 61" x 1.5"  oil on canvas   $11,400   Art in the Morning Special

Red-Hot Hot Red

Hot off my easel, this was exciting to paint.

I love how the colors glow. How the red goes from near-scarlet to sizzling coral. How there isdistance and flatness. I love that contrast.

They give me go power. You too?

 20" x 22" x 1.5   oil on linen     $1590 sold   

Tropic Sound: Garden Isle

August 7, 2024

Birdsong is everywhere when painting in Kauai.

The deep mahogany tones of 'woodwinds' resonate. The 'brass section' is full of light, bright notes bounce off the surface of things. The air pulses with the colors of sound.

In the distance are low volcanic mountains and the winding paths that climb to them. Dogs sleep in the shade. Egrets navigate their angular whiteness through permanent green.

 Palm fronds clack in the wind, and everywhere is Gauguin.

56" x 61" x 1.5"  oil on canvas   $11,400      Art in the Morning Special

More Watermelon!

Juicy, juicy, watermelon.

Juicy, juicy, color!

Endorphins are your friend.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel    $360  sold   

Clear In Blue

July 24, 2024

Searing summer light,

Cooling slice of cobalt blue,

Soon the stars of night.

6" x 8"  oil on panel   $360

Special Delivery

July 10, 2024

I figure everyone, everywhere, on land, at sea, in orbit, could use a little package of love right now.

apx 4" x 7"   ink in sketchbook   nfs

The Italian Guys

July 10, 2024

White hair, wisdom, wine, and weighty matters.

Whew! I'm glad someone's at the helm.

8" x 10"  oil on linen panel    $530  sold  

Watermelon!

Looking for cheer, my thoughts went to watermelon.

Fun wedges of hot pink and lime green with an inner rim of cooling sea-foam green. Toss in a handful of confetti by way of seeds... now it looks like a party.

I wasn't prepared for the gush of sweet juice that filled my mouth. There's a reason it's called watermelon!

Be chill.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel    $360 sold    Art in the Morning Special

Origami

In this painting, I challenged myself to see just how flat I could make space and still get the fruit to sit down and behave.

The patterning takes abstraction even further.

The surprise of it was so exciting, it made me laugh.

9" x 9"  oil on wood   $620  sold   

Floodplain

Have object.

Add light.

Comes a shadow.

Equals time.

The familiar re-imagined.

9" x 9"  oil on wood   $620     Art in the Morning Special

Italian Blonde Profile - sketch

I love that when working from the model, you have a room full of people and, except for a soundtrack, it's totally silent.

It's a terrific challenge to capture the nuance of curve, the values of light and dark in the shadows, the warm or cool of cheek and forehead, the fold of the eyelid - the tiniest adjustment changes so much. It's pretty fascinating.

 Then someone's phone rings with the sound of a large barking dog, the model jumps in the air, and the room rides a wave of laughter.

Okay. Back to business.

8" x 10" oil on linen panel   $490        

Road Sketch

Mid-April found me on the road delivering a commission.

Daytime was making someone happy with a couple of large glass paintings. Pretty fun.

Nighttime in the motel was editing a certain author's next mystery. A chance to spend time with another's creative process.

I'm glad when I have the presence of mind to squeeze a sketch into the margins. It always reminds me where I was.

about 2 x 5    ink on paper     nfs

Sunburst

May 29, 2024

With their golden butterscotch and carmel tones and their  gestural toss-about petals, sunflowers are the flip-side to our current, moon-filled night sky.

By day these flowers of sunlight dance about, echoing the warmth of the sun.

By night their petals are painted in cool blue moonlight.

Both invite us to go outside. Wow.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel   $360   sold    

Full of Light

Thin china and gold leaf filigree, whirly-cue handles and serendipity edges, let me paint fanciful strokes in a play of luminous light.

The subject calls to mind a time of hand-written letters, history recorded through correspondence, a breeze at the window.

6" x 6"  oil on panel   $330 sold    

Tuscan Utility

I love how even the trucks, maybe especially the trucks, tell you when you're in a foreign country.

I was teaching a workshop in this little Tuscan village.

Everything from the truck to the shuddered windows, the exposed old stonework, to the solid window frames, the climbing and potted flowers, even the cat, said "we're in Italia!"

8" x 10"  oil on linen panel   sold  

Sophisticated Ladies - daffodils

May 8, 2024

Spring's elegance.

A dance between realism and abstraction, space and light, darkness and warmth.

I love to explore fresh ways of seeing.

8"  x 10"  oil on linen panel      sold    

Sunlight II

May 1, 2024

Sunlight in a glass. Sunlight upon glass. Luminous warmth.

Endless visual exploration. The serendipity of bounce.

Color endorphins, to be sure.

36" x 40" x 1.5"  oil on canvas   $5190  sold    

Sardines & Lemon

I may not be able to go to Sardinia, but I can eat sardines.

 Sustainable travel.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel   sold    

Romancing the Daffodils

The first to bloom, now

 Like birdsong, it signals spring

 Welcome light through fog.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel   $360     Art in the Morning Special

Total Solar Eclipse 2017

With all the buzz about Monday's total solar eclipse, I revisit the awe-inspiring experience we had in 2017 on that total eclipse of the sun.

Even just getting there was a fun experience! We traversed states up to Oregon. The highway crossing Nevada is normally fed by semis and pick-up trucks. But on August 20, 2017 along comes an "ant trail" of NPR, 'Science Friday' types. You have the affluent tech people in their Teslas and Porsches, and way many more boxy Scions and Honda Elements. The science nerds were on the move.

The next day, our viewing was in the perfect place. (I hope everyone feels that way about wherever they were at.)

Ours was a wide-open bend at a campground on the Snake River. Families on blankets and telescopes on tripods were set up all along the grassy grounds and the river bank. Kids were sitting, talking to their folks. Older cousins were playing with younger ones on stacked hammocks. Dogs chased Frisbees.

 I couldn't figure out why it was such a nostalgic scene from a Norman Rockwell painting. Then I realized... there was no cell reception. Hence, everyone actually experienced the totality of the total eclipse - the magic of the strange reduced light contrast, the diminishing of shadows.

Then the imminent event. All was a-buzz. Then, all was silent.

 The birds stopped chirping. The temperature dropped dramatically. People became backlit by a crisp light as all gazed upward in awe.

 I don't have the words for the beauty the universe provided us. It was singular, other-wordly, breath-taking. Everyone was sharing in this miraculous event, focused, outside themselves. Present.

Then everyone cheered.

It was a thing of remarkable, life-changing beauty.

5" x 8" graphite in sketchbook     nfs

Ocean

The colors, the shapes, the light and movement, make me think of the ocean with a storm moving in.

Drama on the high seas!

6" x 8"  oil on panel   sold    

Star-Maker Machinery

When I paint from the model I always look for what I want to say. I strive for a likeness. But I'm really after evoking something about them.

This model was unlike any other I've painted. She had created her own content with her perfect packaging, her almost surreal smoothness.

It was actually kind of disorienting.

What I kept thinking of  was the Joni Mitchell lyric, "stoking the star-maker machinery..."

As always, it's a thrill to be able to work from the model and the intense focus that requires.

9" x 12"  oil on linen panel     NFS

Tapestry

 I'm in love with Dexter Gordon's sound.

When I'm in the studio I surround myself with the sound of beauty in hopes that I will create beauty, too.

Dexter's 'Ballads' recording gives me just what I seek. His saxophone delivers so much empathy, warmth, and a full richness of sound. To me it's love.

It helps me find my better self.

Plus it has some mighty fine playing by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. Very cool.

4" x 4" x 1.75"   oil on wood panel   $230

Brilliant

 Skies of winter gray

Brilliant comes flower yellow

A mirror of light.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel  $330  sold  

Winter Light

March6, 2024

 Winter light is luminous and full of color.

This day, the warmth of horizontal sunlight paints the vertical of the tree trunks with glowing golden sienna.

The radiant ambient light upon the snow brings out the blues of the water within it, and the peach of sunlight upon it.

Snowy reflections dance upon the water in points of silvery light.

I love nature's quiet reveal. 

9" x 12"  oil on linen panel  $545   Art in the Morning Special

In Full Bloom

February 28, 2024

 Sometimes flowers come in the form of beautiful metaphors.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel  $330 sold  

Autumn Song

Most of us have enjoyed the experience of walking down a road or trail in the cool crisp of a golden fall day. The sun warming our skin, birds singing in the trees, water making its own music in the stream, nature doing that 'feel-good' thing that it does best.

Then you look up and your breath is snatched away by the spectacular backlit leaves of gold and orange against a cobalt blue sky. The leaves dance on the calligraphy of black branches, adding to the shimmer.

Let's just stop and savor a seasonal flashback.

11" x 14"  oil on linen panel  $680  sold  

Surprise Kiss

February 14, 2024

It's fun to see the unexpected in a new way.

Who doesn't enjoy the right kind of surprise?

4" x 4" x 1.75"   oil on wood panel   $215  sold

Liittle Black Dress

February 7, 2024

Considering my wardrobe consists almost entirely of men's Carhartt, I thought I would paint an alternate universe.

4" x 4" x 1.75"   oil on wood panel   $230

Waiting to be Kissed

Rumor has it that there is a fun holiday ahead, the one where we can exchange absurd, or comical, or heartfelt sentiments with friends or Valentines.

Or something colorful and calorie-free! that lasts forever.

4" x 4" x 1.75"   oil on wood panel   $215   sold

Rain in Japan

I like the surprise of the foggy atmosphere, the rain-soaked surface, the solid objects like architecture.

The dramatic light sliding in from the side takes us to another place.

It feels like a mystery, an adventure to me.

4" x 4" x 1.75"   oil on wood panel   $230

Wild With Nature

The fastest way to bring sunlight to a cloudy winter day?

Sunflowers!

I love the way they always capture the 'wild' of nature.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel  $330   sold  

Stage Presence

Stephen Sondheim nailed it with his lyrics to "Putting It Together."

This is a shout-out to the many people I talk to at shows: painters, film makers, writers, physicists, even tech start-ups, who sometimes think they are the only ones who struggle with concept and execution. Not so, it's inherent in all creativity.

If one already had the answer, we wouldn't be searching.

The trick is to get comfortable with discomfort. To know we will never have all of the answers in our pursuit and to realize how exciting that is.

Color and music are all about relationships. We can achieve the hum of wonder and suddenly make an off-key choice. Harmony is lost to discord. With persistence and an open ear, we get the satisfaction of coming out the other side.

As Sondheim said, "Bit by bit, putting it together."

Here's to persistence.

8" x 8"  oil on panel  $430  sold  

Clear Blue Winter

Winter night falls white

Morning wakes to golden light

Clear runs the river.

8" x 10"  oil on panel  $530 sold  

Sunset Solitaire

Sunset colors glow

Complement wintery blue

The year's horizon.

 5" x 7"  oil on panel    sold  

Good Morning, Santa

A night spent riding the sky, dodging stars, and keeping nine reindeer heading in the same direction earns a cup of something warm at the bottom of the chimney.

Cheers!

6" x 6"  oil on panel   $310  sold   

Blue & Sparkle

I love the harmony of these colors - the way they evoke seascape, nightscape, landscape. Calm. 

I love the glints of scintillating light. They make the depths deeper.

4" x 4" x 1.75"   oil on wood block   $230  sold

Twilight, Starry Night

A new way to play with the joy that is color.

A surprise that brings starlight down to earth.

4" x 4" x 1.75"   oil on wood panel   $230

Glow & Sparkle

November 29, 2023

A fun-house mirror.

A crystal ball.

An altered world in saturated color.

The magic of paint.

4" x 4" oil on wood panel  $230   sold  

Golden Trail

Where's my horse?!

11" x 14"  oil on linen panel oil  $680 sold  

Quaking Gold

November 15, 2023

Nature creates its own radiance.

And it comes with its own soundtrack.

 ...Hear the leaves quaking?

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel  $360  sold  

Flamenco Sketches VI

November 8, 2023

The subject is luminosity - color relationships that create radiant light.

The soundtrack is the masterpiece, Flamenco Sketches, from the Miles Davis Sextet: Davis on trumpet, John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderly on saxaphones, Bil Evans on piano, and Jimmy Cobb on drums.

Their subject also appears to be luminosity, and, to my ear, love.

How better to greet the day... in music, love, and light.

9" x 9"  oil on wood   $620   Art in the Morning special

Sky Dreams II

Wielding my brush to create open spaces of luminous blue and veils of thin clouds is the closest I will get to being a pilot of the sky.

Then I gain altitude and head into the big voluminous shapes of peaks and valleys, light and shadow, and the bounce of reflected light.

I just love cruising up there.

24" x 24" x 1.5"  oil on canvas   $1780   sold      

Blush

The sun rides lower

Leaves turn scarlet-orange on the wind

Blush comes to the pear

8" x 8"   oil on panel  $430  sold  

Sunshine in a Flower

When driving by a field of sun flowers, I always notice they turn their heads toward the sun. An entire field of flowers looking the same direction. It changes how I see them.

It calls to mind the grace and stillness of movement and energy of so many people in parks across the world. Be it Qi gong or Tai chi... a kind of calligraphy of movement to greet the day.

No wonder it's called sunflower.

8" x 8"   oil on panel  $430  sold 

Sky Dreams

Painting a sky of clouds can feel a bit like scuba diving. Spatial. Sensorial. Floating.

Turns of unexpected light create luminous hot edges in the depths.

It's an adventure of discovery.

24" x 24" x 1.5"  oil on canvas   $1890     Art in the Morning Special

Dance of the Tulips

 Belles of hot red, rimmed with golden yellow, bob and dance on stiletto legs in shades of green.

Occasionally they break out in angular, fast-footed jazz moves.

It's a ballet called Dance of the Tulips. Probably composed by Terence Blanchard.

Why not? It could be. I can't wait.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel  $330   sold  

Dreaming Clouds II

A window into space, time, and radiant light.

Easy travel to other planets. Ahhh...

24" x 24" x 1.5"  oil on canvas     Not  for sale       

Golden Creekside

 I love that art can take you where you aren't.

36" x 48" x 1.5"   oil on canvas  $4840  sold    

Rain in China

 Paintings can evoke what cannot be explained.

9" x 9"  oil on wood   $620   Art in the Morning special

Golden Reflections

Shining a light on a common object can really change how we see the familiar.

Suddenly, it is full of presence!

8" x 8"   oil on linen panel   $430  sold

The Bill Evans Trio

 In the early 2000s I dove into paint and jazz as a form of life vest from incivility.

 I shifted from huge white canvas to small black wood, from seeking deep space to riffing on abstraction.

 I wrote letters of thanks to creators who had shaped their field and how the rest of us see and hear.

Jazz pianist Marion McPartland was generous in her response, expressing a particular attraction to this suite of paintings based on Miles Davis and Bill Evans - her old friends.

9" x 9"  oil on wood      $620         Art in the Morning special

Chasing Moonlight

 The night sky always transports me. It transforms my state of mind.

When I awake in the night to full-moon light pouring in the window, I feel a sense of comfort and wonder.

22" x 20" x 1.5"   oil on canvas  $1380  sold  

Bourbon Street

 Part of my Citrus Jazz series:

Drawing on how jazz musicians use space and color in their  melody and sound, I was seeking to do the same.

Thinking of New Orleans' rich history of music and musicians, and its humid atmosphere, I painted a watery reflective setting to evoke the place.

9" x 9"  oil on wood      $620         Art in the Morning special

Dreaming Clouds

 Poetry in motion.

A ready place for meditation.

24" x 24" x 1.5"  oil on canvas        Not yet for sale

Sunlight

 Just as sunlight moves through the day, touching this edge, glinting on that glass, kissing a lip, splashing upon the table, so too my gaze travels through this painting.

I love the surprise.

22" x 20" x 1.5"   oil on linen   $1380 sold  

Sierra Verte

 I find a roaming peace in this place of green.

It encourages one to walk - to see what shimmers along the rocky pebbles of the sandbar, to learn what rests in the depths of the turn in the river.

What grows upon the shoulder of the downslope?

What view will the top of the ridge lay open?

11" x 14"  oil on linen panel  $680  sold    

Duet in Rose

 Sweet song of summer

Notes like petals on a breeze

Ride toward the magic of a waxing crescent  moon

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel  $330  sold 

Pear de Deux

 'Tis an intricate dance, beautifully balanced.

8" x 8"   oil on linen panel   $430   sold  

Spring Rush

 A winter of record snowfall makes for spring excitement.

The rivers rush to their next elevation. Rapids rush to their next pool to gather in the quiet.

I rush to the bank of the river to gather my own pool of quiet.

10" x 12"  oil on linen panel  $540  sold  

Exuberant Tulip

I'm taking dancing lessons.

From a tulip.

Shall we?

8" x 8"   oil on linen panel    $430 sold

High-water Spring

High-water spring

Sunlit clouds

Atmospheric moisture

The trees and streams are alive with birdsong.

10" x 12"  oil on linen panel  $540  sold  

Morning Cup

Houston, prepare for cognition.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel   nfs

Majestic West

Clean is the sky

Green is the grass

Open are the clouds

Wide is the land

Let's soar.

10" x 12"  oil on linen panel    $620  sold

Sunset Glow

My paintings of glass feel like a landscape to me. An ocean scape. A light scape. They invite your eye to explore.

A window opens. A breeze comes in. A bell rings in the distance.

Listening to the music of Estonian composer, Arvo Part, provides the perfect sounding board for each brushstroke.

22" x 20" x 1.5"   oil on linen  $1380   sold

Tulips at Sunrise

Painted by the morning sun, dancing on a breeze, we greet the day.

8" x 8"   oil on linen panel   $430 sold  

Swimming in Blue

Diving in...

Painting glass always finds me swimming in its depths, its abstract space and light.

Passages open, waterways carry me. There is freedom to explore and improvise.

Recommended soundtrack: 'Green In Blue,' from Miles Davis' Kind of Blue recordings.

Dive into the cool.

5" x 7"  oil on panel  $270  sold 

In My Element

May 10, 2023

Movement over water

Time under sky

Winged origami of a Great Blue Heron

We turn our heads.

Watching.

11" x 14"  oil on linen panel    $680  sold

Tulips Set Sail

I've always thought of myself as more of a tool painter.

So I was surprised to discover that 59 feet of snow, with no view or light from any window, turned my gaze toward flowers. Their juicy color, their ever-changing composition, their delicacy and boldness... it really jazzed up my palette.

And my brain chemistry.

I took to calling it "Tulip Therapy."

... Works for me.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel  $330 sold  

Marine Layer

The atmosphere that results from the interaction between different layers of color temperatures and densities of paint.

Don't you love alchemy.

5" x 7"  oil on panel   $270   sold

Call Me Irrepressible

When it comes to getting a color fix, flowers are right up there with color crayons.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel  $330  sold  

Sunlight

Ahhh... sunlight. The cusp of spring.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel  $340  sold  

Golden Winter

It's invigorating to entertain two seemingly mutually exclusive ideas. It opens up a lot of 'what if' scenarios.

A cul de sac becomes a boat launch. The honks and grinds of the city become a symphony. Or beatboxing.

 A cold winter day in the depths of a record-snowfall winter becomes a warm enticement.

I'm looking for my canoe. 

9" x 12"  oil on linen panel    $620    sold 

Winter's Grace

Yes, I know... Fifty-plus feet of a beautiful thing is an awful lot. Life, and light, as you know it is comprehensively changed. Scale has changed. Your home is not to be found.

But it remains a silent, velvety place of utter beauty. And, how lucky are we in that.

 I find getting out to smell its fresh moisture, see the life that inhabits it, find the quiet places on the river, to be a magical thing.

If you stand still, just now, you will hear the soft ripples of the river. Feel the sun on your left shoulder. Hear the hawk's high call overhead.

Speaking for myself, sometimes a padded cell is just what I need.

8" x 10"  oil on linen panel    $570

Sunlight Comes to the River

Just like in travel, or in writing a novel, on your way to a really good idea, sometimes it's good to follow the surprise.

My good idea was to paint the silvery tones of the quiet winter before me.

The surprise was the unexpected warmth that came from my underpainting sketch.

Shazam! Suddenly I had scintillating sunlight skipping into the day.

Oh, yeah.

8" x 10"  oil on linen panel    nfs

Prelude to a Painting

I sketch my paintings with a thin stain of color.

In this case, I did something I never do... a quick undersketch first in charcoal.

 I wanted to see how the charcoal would inform the color-temperature of the scene before me.

As sometimes happens, I love the image as it is, watery and transparent - visceral and underdescribed.

8" x 10"  oil on linen panel    nfs

A Breeze of Tulips

In painting we often make use of complementary colors.

 In snow storms one can make use of complementary experiences. 

The call & response of rich warm reds found in the language of "tulip" provides both.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel  $360    sold

Older But Wiser

March 1, 2023

It takes time to develop class.

With grit, comes wisdom.

8" x 10"  oil on linen panel    $450  sold 

Pop

Charisma.

It's hard to quantify.

But I know it when I see it.

Kissed by aTulip

Now you are, too.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel    sold  

Calm is the Morning

February 8, 2023

The howling winds of nightfall took down trees and freed the smokestack from its mooring.

Next came swipes of lightening across the night sky, followed by the crash and rumble of thunder. Seriously?

A hurricane, it wasn't. Winter doing its version of, "Stella!," it was.

After climbing over trees to get out, I followed the morning sun to the river.

Silence and sunlight lay upon the land.

11" x 14"  oil on linen panel   $680    sold 

Italian Truck - "Tomato"

There's something about Italian design.

Even their trucks have style.

... now I want some pasta al pomodoro.

Si.

8" x 10"  oil on linen panel    sold

Gee's Bend, Too

With complete admiration and respect for the artistic genius of the master quilters of Gee's Bend, I title this painting after them.

While not claiming any of their brilliance, the pieces of color, and abstraction of fractured light, remind me of their work.

It gladly gives me another chance to mention the Gee's Bend Quilters so that you might take a moment to look them up.

Working in isolation in the bend of a river in Alabama, this small African-American community began creating a stunning new artform before the 19th century.

Inventive and filled with music, to my eye, they bathe the brain and the spirit.

 I hope they receive a MacArthur Genius award.

5" x 7"  oil on panel   $265 sold

French Curve: Sketch

The dance of the sketch is something to savor.

So is a cup of tea. Ahhh...

Waiting for the power to return, the heat, the internet, the telephone...

Beauty is everywhere!

6" x 6"  oil on panel  this became a full painting on August 24

Glowing Firelight

January 11, 2023

A color massage. An excitement of space and abstraction. The familiar made fresh and new.

I love painting glass.

30" x 36" x 1.5"   oil on canvas   sold   

Mystery Tour

Wishing all a new year of surprise, adventure, and magical beauty.

6" x 8"  oil on linen panel   $330  sold  

Golden Hour

December 28, 2022

It's nice to spend time in the luminosity of shadows.

8" x 10"  oil on linen panel    $450  sold    

Previous - Art in the Morning 2021

Please Enjoy My PBS Interview!

"A Conversation with Kit Night..." Painting on location at Sand Harbor, while I talk with Brent Boynton of PBS

The Book!

"Art in the Morning" is my way to greet the day. What began in 2011 as an attempt to make the world a kinder place through art, has turned into thirteen years, and running, of weekly paintings accompanied by my musings on nature, painting, life, and jazz. 

Once a week I send out an email with a painting, hot off my easel, for you to enjoy with your morning cup of coffee/ tea/ chocolate before you dive in to your work day. It's just a moment to relax. 

It's my attempt to make art a part of our every day lives. All of the arts should get out of the cloisters and into the moment. Any moment.

Share it with a friend. If they want to receive it regularly, they can just send me an email with "Please Add" in the subject line. I never share your address.

Email me: Kit@KitNight.com  (this is not a link)

Night has no "K".

Thanks and enjoy!

- Kit

Thanks for all of the great sales of my Art in the Morning book. After many printings it is now sold out.

Birthday, Anniversary, Wedding, just -  life!... Paintings make a great celebration. (You give two gifts at once.) Thank you for supporting the arts!... Especially now, when we need even more beauty in our lives.

Easy. Just send me an email. 

Thank you for adding art to your life!