Plow Blades

I've been enjoying a nice creative burst lately; with painting ideas quickly piling up on one side of my studio and paintings accumulating on the other. I am at the point where the finished canvases need to find new places to live in my house in anticipation of my exhibition at the end of the summer at Dowling Walsh in Rockland.

Lately there's been a debate over just how much new work to show on my blog and website. On the one hand I love posting work once it's finished and I've been receiving such positive feedback that it's difficult to resist showing everything; on the other hand I'd rather not completely ruin the sense of anticipation and excitement for the exhibition (ok, so I'm excited.....I hope at least some of you are too.)

As a compromise, I do have a couple of studies from a recent project that I can share. The first is a study of L wrapped in her mother's shawl while sitting on the blade of her father's plow. The idea for her to pose on the plow blade arrived several months ago, but when she mentioned one day in early February that the Winter Dance was coming up and that she'd be buying a new dress, I knew that now would be the time to ask her to pose. I've finished one painting of just L and the plow, but have a second one planned (canvas stretched and primed...43 x 64 inches!) that will also include her father in the painting.  Between the study and the finished painting, I've now painted the plow blade twice. (Sarah is teasing me that I've done such a good job on the blade that I should consider marketing myself as "America's Painter of Plow Blades"--needless to say, I'll pass.)