kitnight

Glass Harmonies

Silent Night

December 26, 2012

The world is a quieter place with several feet of fresh snow. Edges are softened. The activity of animal life momentarily animates the surface. A gibbous moon lights up the Sierra, making the landscape a luminous and silent blue.

I wish you, and all of us, peace on earth.

6" x 6" oil on panel sold

Midnight Rendezvous

December 19, 2012

For the guy in the red suit. We'll leave the light on for you.

6" x 6" oil on panel sold

On the Rock

December 12, 2012

A scintillating glass of whiskey over a block of ice, a new take on a traditional theme. This is a commission I just finished for a very patient collector - summer show schedules being what they are.

It was a chance to paint this collector's aesthetic vision, which never stops just there. I am also trying to capture something of the memory and the experience of frosty ice and dew on the glass.

It also presents a chance to refer to a memory of my own, and raise a toast of thanks and appreciation to jazz pianist and composer Dave Brubeck, who left us last week on the eve of his 92 birthday.

When I was a kid and we had moved to a different house, my dad did a very cool thing. He built a fire in the new-to-us fireplace and put a blanket on the living room floor, like we were on a picnic.

Then, in the sparkling glow, edged in darkness, he put Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond's "Time Out" album on the record player. This was my introduction to a lifelong love of jazz. What an introduction. Smooth notes accented with lively surprise, full of innovation and joy, collaboration and improvisation. In that sense, Dave's music never changed, it was a metaphor for how to live life.

I was thrilled to see Brubeck and his Quartet perform just a couple of years ago. He leaned against the back of his chair and played that piano like he was driving a boat. When a train went by, he included it in his music.

He gave of himself fully and included everyone. His warm generosity lives on as a role model. Cheers Dave! And, thank you.

8" x 8" oil on panel sold

The Stockings Are Hung

December 5, 2012

I could call this Monk's Melody for Christmas. I was having a blast painting these juicy clear colors and watching my paint turn into "glass." As I painted, I couldn't get the mostly "done" parts to not be glass and return to paint. What a kick!

Meanwhile, with the slush storm and bursts of sunlight raging outside in winter's madness, I had things nice and warm in the studio cabin.

With firelight and Thelonious Monk's playful notes of clear, musical colors popping around the room, I felt like I was painting the music. Or the music was painting the painting. Or wait!... let's play that tune again.

Cheers!

6" x 6" oil on panel sold

Out with a Bang

November 28, 2012

Who would have thought that clear blue and brilliant sun could bring so much color to a landscape that has already seen snow and cold?

What a thrill to have the day gleaming and the sun warming my back as colors blazed, rich red-orange of dogwood, rusty green of fir, and dazzling cerulean blue splashing itself across the river's surface. The river still had fish cruising up to kiss its surface in celebration of the day.

Look out, fish! Here is a bald eagle, landing on a rock in the river. He's come to find his own bit of Thanksgiving dinner.

6" x 8" oil on panel sold

Fall Harvest

November 21, 2012

Before they can become pie for the Thanksgiving table, they must first be glowing, juicy fruit plucked from the orchard amongst fall color. After a relaxing day and a stroll through their garden on a hillside, our friends sent me home with fresh-picked apples. The perfect indicator that the season of Thanks has arrived.

And thankful I am, for all of the art lovers and art makers I have met this last year, for their friendship and support. And for everyone who has taken the time to enjoy Art in the Morning. You have made my world a kinder and better place. Thank you.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

5" x 7" oil on panel Art in the Morning special

Tart Art

November 14, 2012

Looking at something in multiples can change how we see it. These are quick studies that create a kind of evocative narrative through light and shadow, while keeping things fresh. I like how the changing position animates the painting.

8" x 8" oil on panel

Good Vibrations

November 7, 2012

The "cure" for tonsil removal, when I was a kid, was Popsicles! So, when I heard our friend had to have his removed, (not quite the same for adults) I thought, Popsicles! Juicy, juicy cool to trickle down one's throat in candy-colored fruit flavors. Joined at the hip, there is the additional promise of two!

Our friend has bigger battles to fight, tonsils being the tip of the iceberg. But Popsicles still might be a good metaphor for visualizing the positive.

So, when each person reads this little art curative, for one moment, they will be thinking of G, and wishing him strength and health.

Dude! That is a lot of good vibes!

5" x 7" oil on panel sold

First Snow

October 31, 2012

I am so glad I took up plein air! I've been painting in the studio for two upcoming shows and, like a kid, I just get itchy to be out in the woods and the sunlight. This was a dash to catch fall color in the first snow of the season... before it melted!

The Kokanee were spawning in Taylor Creek. Focused on finding a good composition, I was thrilled to spot a gorgeous young cinnamon bear dining on salmon in the woods. Intent on watching, I practically tipped over when another bear came from stage left! Suffice to say, they are a lot more agile than I am!

I feel very lucky to have this to enjoy while a whole bunch of family and friends and AM readers on the East Coast are making it through the mega-weather event.

Here is a moment of peace. We're thinking about you. And donating to the Red Cross.

6" x 8" oil on panel sold

Slippery When Wet

October 24, 2012

With fall color still clinging to the trees, and twenty inches of fresh snow on the steps, it seemed like a good time to play with juxtaposition.

I like the surprise of confetti-colored licorice painted like a rainy night in the city, neon and brake lights playing off of dark sheen.

6" x 6" oil on panel sold

Act One

October 17, 2012

Like actors on a stage, this scene seems to be all about potential.

Here is your chance! Are you the playwright, director, lead or character actor?

8" x 8" oil on panel sold

Peppermint Patty

October 10, 2012

Ice cream is like the Mae West of desserts... all that whipped-up glow, all those curves. Vava voom!

It always brings a smile. Cheers!

9" x 12" oil on panel sold Art in the Morning special

The Sound of Silence

October 3, 2012

Late afternoon on a warm fall day finds me closing up shop, grabbing my paints, and making a dash to the woods in the pursuit of silence.

Like everyone, sometimes I find life is too many inputs. Too much sound, metaphorically and literally. Nature's silence is the great salve. Making time to watch the light move over water, hear a woodpecker sculpt a tree, and catch the autumnal shadows moving over the land is never easy to achieve. But it's always worth it.

I vote we all take one day a week to turn off the noise makers. In the peace and quiet of rediscovering nature's pleasures, we will hear a different music.

5" x 7" oil on panel sold

Cumulo-fabulous

September 26, 2012

The power of music.

I loved my small plein air cloud paintings and was excited to do some larger pieces on the subject.

I turned to my friend John Coltrane for a little help.

I put on a recording of Branford Marsalis playing Coltrane's, A Love Supreme. It's a big piece - a painting in music - filled with colors and silence and sound, love and beauty, pain and revelation. It fills your chest and your heart and your brain.

And this canvas.

16" x 16" oil on canvas sold

A Painter's Tomato

September 19, 2012

Up early, set up the still lifes, get the angle of light and shadow just so for diagonals and leading the eye through the picture, roll back the curtain to the art center entry and... it's show time!

Eleven people set aside three days to paint with me, feeling like adventurers in the focused search for creating space, understanding what makes objects sit down and behave, and how to make color sizzle and glow.

As one person noted - with everyone agreeing - he now sees so much more in the world around him.

There is a special camaraderie that comes from sharing the exploration, the persistence, the inside humor about the experience, and finally, the sense of pleasure and pride of accomplishment. They sure aren't doing it because it's easy!

What a thrill - to see each person's individual voice in color!

6" x 6" oil on panel sold

Scintillating Sunny Morning

September 12, 2012

Whoa! It is very exciting to watch the landscape come awake. Everything starts out quiet and cool and blue-purple. Pretty soon it's snap, crackle, pop!

The edges of things start to sizzle, the morning begins to glow with ambers and orange. The cool viridian greens move toward yellow-green. And the river starts to see the sky in its sparkling reflections.

I love the gift that the turning earth brings us. And I feel very lucky to chase the light in paint.

6" x 8" oil on panel sold

Afternoon Sunlight

September 5, 2012

I could have called this, Things That Appear Blue.

Sky.

Water.

Trees as they appear further in the distance.

Mountains viewed through the atmosphere of distance.

It was a great afternoon. Fish nibbling the surface of this pond. Gulls and a hawk overhead. Hold-on-to-your-easel wind. My friend attacking his canvas with intrepid dog Sadie at his side. Plein air painting is a great way to socialize. You get to share the big outdoors with others, giving and getting feedback. Then you pack up your gear and go home satisfied that you saw beauty and shared it, and challenged yourself to do something better than you did it yesterday.

6" x 8" oil on panel sold

After School

August 29, 2012

Got milk?

Check.

Got monster cookie?

Check.

Got Cookie Monster?

5" x 7" oil on panel sold

Centered

August 22, 2012

You’ve got your cup.

Exhale.

Take four slow breaths.

In. Out.

Think of your favorite scene in the last week.

Garden. Ocean. Trail. Mountain. Beach. Hammock. Sky.

Better?

6" x 6" oil on panel sold

Zen and the Art of Lollipop Maintenance

August 15, 2012

I am currently the Artist-in-Residence at Valhalla on Lake Tahoe. It's a nice opportunity to have a gallery show in a beautiful room in an historic building. And it's a chance talk art with vacationing families enjoying the bike paths and beaches among the tall Ponderosa and Jeffrey Pines. I have my easel and pedestal of five-gallon buckets for doing still life paintings. People are curious to see a painting being made. And it's great to hear the wide-open thoughts of kids.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of meeting young Oliver, an inquisitive boy of intelligent dark eyes and few words. He has an encouragingly-long attention span. Oliver asked his mom why someone would paint a lollipop. He wasn't being flip, he really wanted to know.

My answer was pretty simple. You can paint anything you want. Plus, if you let yourself have some fun, you learn faster.

Art is pretty serious stuff.

5" x 7" oil on panel sold

Mountain Meadow, Morning Light

August 8, 2012

Ahhh... the pause that refreshes. Have paint pack, will find bliss.

I wedged a paint break into a few intense weeks of shows - always a good time. Revisiting last week's plein air location for another dose of early morning silence was a welcome chance to hang out with the birds and the blue in the sunlight and sparkle.

In the quiet, I could hear the air currents shift direction with the sound of the lake water rolling onto the beach, delivering the aromas of soil and moisture.

I love the way shadow and light move with the earth to reveal and camouflage the folds of terrain - now highlighting the mountain face, now hiding a bush in shadow, or catching the glints of water on blades of grass. Another turn and... poof! Out pop the bobbing heads of unseen flowers in light, cool, blue-white.

Giving up sleep for a moment in nature was a good trade.

6" x 8" oil on panel sold

Mexican Hat

August 1, 2012

Mexican Hat.

Just love the name of these flowers! It makes me see them differently. They shoot straight upward in a celebratory kind of fireworks. Like they are flowers fueled by jalapenos.

Last weekend was a whirl of energy, old friends and new at my studio on the studio tour... lots of hugs and stories and catching up... a real sense of coming together with people from pretty far places! From Virginia to Carmel to Huntington Beach, hearing tales of the past year and meeting friends of friends.

Looking forward to next weekend's open studio tour, I took a quiet moment to bring my plein air easel out into the yard to paint one of the new members of my studio garden.

5" x 7" oil on panel sold Art in the Morning special

Cherry Coke

July 25, 2012

Some objects are icons with an instant flashback button.

There is olfactory memory, where a smell puts you back on a corner in Europe or at the end of a mountain lake in Glacier Park. There is audio memory, where a song or a jazz riff has you alone in a room channeling teenage angst or on 54th at Eddie Condon's Jazz Club, having the time of your life.

This chubby little bottle? Ah, the sweet summer days of youth. When it wasn't about bicycling to work or a wonderful and challenging summer stint volunteering in Teen Corps, it was about serious stuff - going to the beach with friends and listening to the latest music, seeing how tall I could make my water-ski spray, and, in this case, spending time with my dear friend. On a super hot day her dad Jack would bring a mini six-pack home for a special treat, a little, "I was thinkin' about you."

5" x 7" oil on panel sold

Rushing Toward Summer

July 18, 2012

My trusty telescoping tripod easel was rock solid, and looking like an octopus, on the edge of this rushing river. More than could be said for the painter balancing on cobbles along the sloped path.

Where canyon turns to valley this western view seemed a good perch. Backlit by the sun, the setting was all the better for catching the shimmer of light where water meets rock, the skimming path of a low-flying robin, and that moment of sunlight catching a leafy branch over cool shadow.

There is always nature's sweet reward for taking the time to pause.

8" x 10" oil on panel sold

Pretty Girls of Summer

July 11, 2012

Ahhh, a chance to dig in the dirt and give my little studio cabin a facelift for the upcoming studio tour. It's a nice change to be outside playing with nature's "paint."

I love the bold candy-colors of Gerbera daisies in the barrels along the road, sending out cheer to those dashing to work or errand. I mix them in with discordant colors, to wake up the eyes with a fresh take - kind of like jazz.

It's a little more wild along the little drive, with low-water textures of yellow yarrow, spiky purple, California Poppy-orange and magenta bits bobbing among the cobbles to dress-up my totally retro silver metal roof.

I'm pretty sure I heard the birds and bees and butterflies applaud.

6" x 6" oil on panel sold

Wind-riders

July 4, 2012

A very windy morning found me on the rise of a hill. The sun was gleaming across the land, which was dotted with dramatic cloud shadow. The clouds were fantastic in the light.

I decided to chase them across the sky with my paint.

What a great morning, meditating on clouds while little song birds filled the air and sent me for my binoculars to capture their palette of colors through the glass.

Happy Independence Day!

6" x 6" oil on panel Sold

A Turn in the West Fork

June 27, 2012

Out of the studio and into the woods! Hooray!

An intense week of plein air painting for the Markleeville Plein Air paint-out event offered me the glorious chance to sling my paint pack, easel, and binocs over my shoulders and strike out to be close to the earth, part of the wind, and surrounded by early morning birdsong. Up at 5, painting by 7, filled with excitement and anticipation. How could I not be, in the presence of such beauty!

It's great to slow down internally even as you're racing to catch the light with paint - the glimmer on the turn of rapid river water, the squall of wind dancing across tall grass, the play of shadow as it moves over a mountain.

While fully absorbed in the task at hand, some amazing bird sings an aria to the morning. A deer meanders across the scene. A shadow cruises across my painting, and I know some winged friend is high above me, riding a thermal.

The highlight, besides a painting breakthrough, was watching a pair of Bald Eagles in aero-dynamic choreography before circling back to attend to their chick. And my, what a big chick it was!

When in doubt, go out. It doesn't get any better.

5" x 7" oil on panel sold

Spring Columbine

June 20, 2012

Columbine are like some kind of happy creatures in a children's ballet. Their big open faces, with oversized heads surrounded by a sunburst of contrasting color, bob and dance in the breeze on spindly "legs." I am especially fond of them because they pop up in the woods, in addition to one's garden... trumpeting spring.

Speaking of woods, I am painting in the Markleeville, CA Plein Air event this week. There are a bunch of us painters in and around Hope Valley, Woodfords and Markleeville. If you're in the area, keep your eyes peeled for big hats, easels and earnest postures. The reception is Saturday afternoon at the Markleeville Art Gallery.

6" x 6" oil on panel sold

Plane Classic

June 13, 2012

Solid, un-yielding, and sharp - just what you need in a planer. After performing a lifetime of projects, and an addition for my dad, he gave it to us when we built a passive solar addition many years ago.

Looking like a piece of functional sculpture, it's ready when we are.

5" x 7" oil on panel sold

Clean

June 6, 2012

Clean lines. Clean design. Clean up.

I appreciate the way the shape is like a water drop that is also like a chemistry beaker. They took something unattractive, a soap bottle, and re-imagined it into something aesthetic.

In a way, that is what painting does. It helps us see things fresh.

5" x 7" oil on panel sold

Making Soup

May 30, 2012

Another Friday of Memorial Weekend, another chance to celebrate snow in the Sierra. Flurries of snow and hail brought out the big soup pot, beans, chilies, and a ton of vegetables for some chop-chop action.

Mid-stride, my eyes got excited by the cool turquoise, blue-green rubber band, in contrast to the yellow-green of the celery. Each color made the other more lively and vibrant. I showed it to my husband doing dishes beside me. He paused to look and said, "Yes, that does look nice!"

How lucky is that!

I saved the rubber band.

5" x 7" oil on panel sold

Red Light, Green Light

May 23, 2012

Not only are peppers one of my favorite foods in everything from omelettes to stir fry, tacos to kebabs, soups to spaghetti, or just roasted, they're a great way to light up a dish with color. And - big surprise! - for me it's all about color.

I like the hot red torpedo shapes in contrast to the chubby, bulbous green bell pepper. I enjoy the way their smooth surface provides opportunity for the play of reflected light. They know how to sparkle.

5" x 7" oil on panel sold

Kimono Dance

May 16, 2012

As is so often the case, I can start out with an idea of what something might look like - the objects, the scene, the colors - and then, something else takes over. The painting goes where it needs to and I am just along for the ride, the chaperone who tries to make sure we don't crash and burn.

The surprise comes from the topsy-turvy tilt of the orange wedges and the evocative nature of the dance.

5" x 7" oil on panel sold

Beachcombers

May 9, 2012

A walk on the beach is a great way to hit the reset button.

Within the surround-sound of rolling waves is a big scene of industry. Leggy birds of all kinds walk and bob along the shore, all finding opportunities to strut their stuff and dine at the beach banquet.

You’ve got the slender, longer-legged, speckled brown number who moves quickly, like a little woman with a purse over her arm, intent on an errand. Ungainly Brown Pelicans glide above jumping dolphins, making impressive drop-out-of-the-sky dives for fish. Then there are the ever-present seagulls. These are the casual dudes who are the surfer version of guys hanging out on the street corner - always an eye for what’s the next big thing as they catch a few rays or take a dip.

5" x 7" oil on panel sold

Night Light

May 2, 2012

Some of my best experiences happen in the light of a flame.

In candlelight or firelight, in solitude, with my sweetie, or with a group of friends, everything is warmer and more inviting when the light dances around the room or off the trees and bushes. I find myself making different links between ideas, more creative leaps, than I do under a light bulb.

6" x 6" oil on panel sold

Lemon Zazzle

April 25, 2012

Zizzle, zazzle, snippety pip!

Next time you have a fresh lemon, take just a moment to set it on a surface, find a wash of light. Now, sit back and look at the edges. See where the yellow turns a wee bit orange? Or, green?

Then, look at the highlights. The one on top is usually warmer (yellower.) The one underneath, that's the "reflected highlight" from the table's surface. That is usually cooler, (bluer, greener,) but not always! You can't assume anything.

Then you get to investigate the shadows. The ones on the lemon and the ones on the table. Wondrous shadows are opportunities for radiant color. Look at all of those arcs, curves and pops of highlight that tell you the lemon is round.

Wasn't that fun?! Isn't your lemon extra tasty?

6" x 6" oil on panel sold

Multi-tasking

April 18, 2012

Blind-sided but still standing… well, mostly.

Here is my heartfelt thanks to the nurses, nurses aids and staff who kept my sweetheart safe to see another day. Each brought knowledge, skill, comfort, and patience with every visit. These are people who have 18 balls in the air and lives on the line, who still take time to answer your questions, give a kind touch, accommodate a spouse who camps-out, and amazingly, always with a smile.

My special thanks to the doctors who made the right call, and acted quickly. Their decisive action made all the difference. Their attention, care, clarity of judgment, and their kindness, was exactly what we needed.

Thank you.

You Rock!

6" x 6" oil on panel sold

Landscape Painting

April 11, 2012

Art supplies are like the stuff in hardware stores. They're all about possibility. Depending on the user, the implementation can yield wildly different results. But usually optimism, a bit of romance, and a whole lot of persistence are involved.

5" x 7" oil on panel sold

Sliced

April 4, 2012

A story can begin so simply.

As a painter, I create a pool of reflective darkness to set off this lovely red tomato. I then take a sharp knife from the drawer, the one with a white handle for contrast. I slice into the tomato to release the scent and the juice and expose the bits of yellow seeds. The fruit falls to rest in angled balance. I put the knife at a diagonal to lead us into the painting.

Someone has been to market. In this room they prepare food for enjoyment, anticipating a welcome guest. The phone rings. Echoing upwards from the street below comes the clip-clop of horse hooves on cobblestones. A door opens.

You complete it.

5" x 7" oil on panel sold

Squeeze It. Drink It.

March 28, 2012

It can be a change of context, or seeing a single thing in multiples, that helps us see it fresh. Even the quotidian becomes interesting.

Painters often turn their canvas upside down to see what is actually there instead of what they think is there. It helps them see it "new."

That's what happened for me when I chopped these orange triangles and put them in a glass. They became sculptural, translucent jewels.

5" x 7" oil on panel sold

Beachfront Property

March 21, 2012

Sometimes, a tropical vacation is just the ticket.

Sometimes, pineapple and parasols will have to do.

Don't forget the sunscreen.

5" x 7" oil on panel sold

Jester

March 14, 2012

Falcon hoods are evocative, highly-crafted objects of beauty and function, rich with metaphorical possibility. This hand-stitched hood was custom made for a specific bird. Like blinders on a horse, they are used for calming birds during handling.

Some years ago, I frequented a raptor center to do drawings of falcons, amazing birds of prey. They were catered to by a devoted staff of doctors, researchers and volunteers nursing injured birds back to health. Those birds who could not return to the wild were given new lives as "educators." It was a wonderful experience for me.

With its happy/sad components of farce and drama, not unlike a clown or an operatic character, it made for a mysterious subject.

6" x 6" oil on panel

Singin' in the Rain

March 7, 2012

To heck with matters of composition. I just wanted to do a painting where the fruit were lined up like a dance line. These three tangerines are tapping out a rhythm of highlights and shadows, lights and darks... a form of call and response with the reflective surface they are on and the shadow they are in.

Not to mention, "Singin' in the Rain" is one of my all time faves for music, choreography, serendipity and daring.

5" x 7" oil on panel sold

Tomatoes on the Vine

February 29, 2012

Juicy red tomatoes sizzle on a cold winter night. The pattern introduces melody to the composition. A nice counterpoint to the cool colors outside as a winter storm moves in. Time to roll up the rug for salsa and salsa!

5" x 7" oil on panel sold

Fashion Week

February 22, 2012

Not having television, I'm grateful to NPR for keeping me informed of all of the important news events happening around the world. How else would I know about "Fashion Week"?!

Being a painter, my sense of fashion leans toward what's on my paint palette. I'm more concerned with "colour" than couture. Of course, part of that is due to the nature of oil paint. It somehow ends up on every article of clothing I own. Like today. I stop by the studio on the way to somewhere, see a one-dab correction I need to make and, voila! Ultramarine Blue is all over my front.

That said, considering I love Carhartts - they keep me organized - maybe I could use a fashion tip, or two.

About the painting. I like the way the secondary shadows lead you into the painting, and the primary shadows lead you back. I also like the crackle that the reflective highlights provide.

5" x 7" oil on panel sold

Winter Tulip

February 15, 2012

A touch of spring from a friend who brought tulips to my show opening at Bona Fide Books publishing last weekend. A really fun event full of community, cheer and fantastic live Jazz.

Capturing the dance of color and rhythm in nature, these tulips are a nice counterpoint to winter, hot, fiery light and cool temps, brilliant sunlight against the fall of darkness, celebration and silence.

5" x 7" oil on panel sold Art in the Morning special

Love Always

February 8, 2012

Sweetheart candies and Valentines bring flashbacks of childhood excitement and anticipation. Valentine's Day was an opportunity to make something full of color, glitter, and cheer. At school, it brought the rare chance to get out of your desk chair and move about the room exchanging sweet somethings of friendship and affection, a chance to make others feel special.

4" x 4" x 2" oil on panel sold

Sweet Talk

February 1, 2012

One might ask, what do barn swallows, duets by Louie and Ella, and Valentine's Day have in common? It kind of boils down to life in the studio, and... life.

In my previous studio, I had the wonderful annual visit of nesting barn swallows, just to the side, above the door. One year, they were real love birds and jazz singers extraordinaire. He, doing all kinds of pyrotechnic scat singing. She, doing a quick-to-respond melody. Back and forth all day long. These were a standout couple. I named them Louie and Ella. And, Valentines they were.

5" x 7" oil on panel sold

Hot Cha Cha

January 25, 2012

A red nose and cold toes on either side of a cup of hot chocolate, with pillows of marshmallow, says, "childhood in winter" to me.

This week I had a flashback to my best memories of childhood when I saw kids skating everyday on the local frozen pond. Skates and a stick, saw horses as goal posts, a basic wooden bench on the side of the ice, and crowds of dancing, swooping, wobbly people of all ages taking advantage of clear weather and cold temps… It doesn’t get much better.

Growing up on the prairie, this is what I did every day after school in winter. Thank goodness for a whole lot of free thrills, fun and exercise. If homework and sax practice was done early, sometimes I got lucky and could go back and skate again after dinner.

Walking to the rink at night was the best. Skate laces tied together and looped over my shoulder, it was exciting, a bit scary, and definitely an adventure. It was great fun cutting through dark yards, the occasional sweet smell of a dryer running or the ominous shadow of a creature that turned out to be lawn furniture looming in the dark. It was silly fun to approach a streetlight walking backward to see your shadow shrink and then face front, watching your shadow stretch tall into the future, full of possibility.

6" x 6" oil on panel sold

Cleanup Time

January 18, 2012

A writer, his dictionary. A search-and-rescue handler, her dog. A painter, her brushes and turp pot. Every "trade" has its tools. The users often wax poetic about the specificity and freedom they provide.

The other tool for creativity, of course, is time. Hard to paint, but you can find it here, in the shadows.

5" x 7" oil on panel sold

Winter Geranium

January 11, 2012

Hot color for a cold season.

The sizzling colors of geraniums in my studio are always a treat in winter. They make any day a sunny day.

6" x 6" oil on panel sold

Fuyus fo' You

January 4, 2012

What is it about persimmons, anyway? Besides being the fruit of choice to celebrate the New Year in Japan.

One of my readers wrote a while back to ask if I’d ever painted them. She then sung the praises of her persimmon of choice, Fuyus… their crispy sweetness, their satisfying crunch.

It called to mind another persimmon lesson some twenty years ago. This one from "old Sam," a bit of a legend, and one of the original makers of high-perf ski runs at a local resort. He was just the type one wants for a co-worker when moving to the mountains. Tall and lean as a fir, a face like a woods gnome, with patience and knowledge to match.

One day, quiet 80 year-old Sam came up to me on the mountain. Tucking his skis under his arm, he almost whispered, "Do you know about persimmons?" As a relocated flatlander, I hadn’t a clue. But I felt honored to be asked.

From his pocket, Sam produced two fruit of fabulous nuanced color, which he had grown at his other home in the Central Valley. His were the Hachiya variety. In intimate tones I learned how best to determine the ripening and sweetness. And how best to eat it. A spoon. I suspected I would never have the nerve to eat them. They were too beautiful. They needed to be remembered in paint.

6" x 6" oil on panel sold

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New!! The Book!

"Art in the Morning" is my way to greet the day. What began as an attempt to make the world a kinder place through art, has turned into four years 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

For book details, please visit my Home Page.