Tomorrow Night!
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Nothing New

           Her neck was sore from looking out the window. She watched the trees, fields, sky and road signs go by. This drive was nothing new. She had seen the same trees, fields, sky and road signs in every season, at all times of day. She had this drive memorized—she knew of every bump and pothole on that long stretch of highway. Though it was a natural reflex for her to move with the momentum of the car as they made their way down the torn up piece of road, it still didn’t prevent the valuable drip of coffee from bouncing out of the paper cup onto her distressed pair of jeans. What a waste, she thought. It was that hot steaming cup of black Ethiopian Yirgacheffe that pulled her out of bed so early this morning. The thought of that smooth, rich, liquid meeting her lips, encountering her tongue and warming her entire body is what got her through the mundane morning routine.

       It was an early morning adventure, and she had needed to get up extra early to leave enough time to primp and prep—go through the motions that beautified the natural beauty. It hadn’t taken the entire hour for her to get ready, but she had needed the few extra minutes to pack—one of her least favorite things to do. She could never predict what the weather would be or what her mood would entail so she stuffed a mélange of random clothing into her pink hard-shell suitcase. She’d found the task to be mentally draining and physically daunting and was out of breath from bouncing up and down on the suitcase in an effort to get it closed.

       They drove down the road silently—conversation was not a necessity. She examined her husband’s face, a face that she had looked at countless times, a face she had memorized.

       “What?” he asked after noticing the stare.

       “Nothing,” she answered. “Should we get gas?”

       “We can make it.”

       She moved her stare from his face to the window. The world passed by and she couldn’t remember if she had packed her night cream. Making notice of nothing new, they quietly drove down the familiar road.

 

Wednesday Night Dinner

Wednesday Night Dinner   16"x20" charcoal and chalk pastel on paper

I got kind of artsy fartsy with this piece, it was my final project for my drawing class. I wanted the drawing to have a diorama feel to it. I also liked the idea of putting bright and bold figures in a dingy room.

Painterly Palouse

Tomer Butte Composition no. 6    24"x48"

Tomer Butte Composition no. 5  18"x24"

The most recent of my Palouse Compositions. I was looking at Van Gogh's Arles paintings and Cézanne when I was working on these. My intent was to distort the perspective a bit and draw the viewer in, to explore the painting.

Self Portrait 18"x24"

I was looking at the work of Egon Schiele when I went about this painting. I focused on the figure, attempting to create an interesting composition from the pose. It doesn't look exactly like me, I am however happy with the composition.

Surrealism

Three Bathers 18"x24"

For this assignment we were to create a surrealist type painting. I was looking at Miró and decided to experiment with biomorphic shapes. The composition is my surrealist version of Cézanne's Three Bathers, 1879-1882. This painting is a bit of a stray from my normal style, but I was able to learn from it. When I showed it to my husband he said, "That's interesting" and continued to describe it as something that looks like it's from the 1980s...and I responded with, "Thank you?"

Palette Knife

Palette Knife Composition 18" x 24"

This was the first assignment of my spring semester painting class. The instructions were to combine two romantic landscapes into one composition and apply paint using only a palette knife. For inspiration I was looking at Cezanne as well as the artist Robert Moore who is from South Central Idaho.

A Place To Think

A Place to Think  42" x 42"

 I ended up changing this painting quite a bit. I just wasn't satisfied, I'm not sure if I am now, but I'm closer.