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When you record a commentary for NPR, you don't always know exactly when it will run. Breaking news can really move things around. So I didn't know that my All Things Considered commentary on this nearly-finished Year of Eating Locally was going to run until I started getting pissed-off emails from complete strangers.
The commentary is posted here, and I'll have more to say on the subject over at GardenRant. If you wanna get into it, head over there.
8 x 10 oil on gessoed art board. Click here to bid. Go here to see all eBay auctions.
Ahhhh, New York in spring. Amazing how one window box full of tulips can say "April" in a way that nothing else can. The great thing about tulips: they're even more charming when they've been battered by the rain. I've been wanting to paint this one for a long time; it was nice to finally get around to it.
6 x 8 inch oil on canvas board. Click here to bid. Go here to see all my eBay auctions.
I'm on a fruit kick. I used an upside-down Fiestaware dish for this one. Fiestaware is fun to paint--the colors and shapes are so bold and simple--I should play around with that more.
I think I'll be moving on to flowers soon...
8 x 10 oil on gessoed art board. Click here to bid. See other eBay auctions here.
When I go to New York, I take a lot of pictures of fruit stands. Fruit stands and doorways--that's my Manhattan oeuvre. I've got another doorway painting on my easel now.
But the thing about the fruit stands is that the stacks of fruit are so orderly and symmetrical, just like the pattern of buildings and streets behind them. On the other hand, they are these glorious spots of color in what can be a very grey streetscape. It's all so urban and interesting.
Just thinking about it is making me want to jump on a plane and get back there. Anybody got a line on a cheap Manhattan apartment? Hmmmm....
Oil on canvas board, 8 x 8 inches. Click to bid. Go here to see all eBay auctions.
Oil paints are the perfect medium for a writer. Writing is all about revision and reworking, and the same is true of oils. You try something, you wipe it off, you try something else, you paint over it. Scrape, erase, cover up, blend.
That's what happened with this painting. I wasn't happy with the background, so I let it dry and painted over it, letting quite a bit of the old background show through. The whole thing was kind of an accident, but it worked.
Oh, and in case you're coming here for the first time and wondering why I'm putting paintings online, go back to the beginning here. I just found an art supply store that carries the paints I use at a discount, and they accept PayPal (that's Merri Artist, in case you, too, have PayPal money to burn on art supplies) and thanks to you readers who have bought paintings, I actually got to take my ill-gotten eBay gains and stock up on paints for the new year!
And now I'm off to paint. Painting in the morning, writing in the afternoon. We'll see how that goes.
Oil on canvas board, 5 x 7 inches. Click here to bid. See all eBay auctions here.
All I want for Christmas is more time to paint!
It's been a busy fall. I've been working hard, but in the new year, I would like more time to PLAY! I have a new easel and I just ordered more boards and paints, so there's no excuse.
I was so happy with this funny little cherry painting that I held onto it for a while, but now I think I'm ready to let it go. In fact, I rounded up a stack of paintings that have been sitting around the house--all sorts of paintings I just couldn't bear to part with for one reason or another--and I'll be putting them all up on eBay in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!
Our store manager (who is inside, hard at work) happens to be married to someone with some talent for Christmas decorating, and she came up with the idea of the stockings with books inside them. We also managed to get a few lights up, although it's clear that we need more lights in our store windows. A project for next year.
We also did some decorating and sprucing-up inside, although there's more to come of that as well. Still, it's pretty yummy, don't you think?
We continue our Christmas tour at home. We bought a pretty scraggly tree from a near-empty lot after dark in the rain. At least it was on sale. We left the price tag on--somehow that appealed to me. Here it is:
and finally, I present our mantle, the only other bit of Christmas decoration in our house. The stockings come from Scott's aunt, and fortunately, my mother sent us some small presents so we have something to put in them. There is also a wreath from my mom and these two peasant farmer people from Scott's grandmother. They're not intended as Christmas decorations exactly, but when else are you going to put peasant figurines around your house? They fit somehow.
Our Lady of the Redwoods (between the stockings) is not actually part of the decorations--she lives there all the time--and she also came from my mom, who found her at a garage sale.
Ah, the underbelly of the antiquarian book business. We've been bookstore owners for exactly one week, and so far it's been just about the most fun we've ever had. We've also had some good media coverage, including:
This front page story in the Eureka Times-Standard.
This story in Publishers Weekly.
This write-up in Shelf Awareness.
A nice shout-out from GalleyCat.
And, after the jump, I'll reprint the piece I wrote the North Coast Journal, the alternative weekly where my garden column appears.
How are we going to fit this under the tree?
Eureka Books has been in Old Town for 20 years, and the owners were ready to retire. The store was either going to be closed or sold. Scott has loved this store for a long time and bought many treasures for his own collection there. (Like any modern marriage, we have separate blog posts up; you can read his here.)
So we joined with another local couple, Jack and Peggy Irvine, and found a way to buy the store and keep it open. We didn't buy the building, but we have a nice long lease. It's in a prime location--right across from the gazebo in Old Town, just a block from the waterfront, in the middle of all the tourist traffic.
We're lucky to have two more bookstores nearby--Booklegger, at the end of the block, sells general used books, and Consider the Alternatives, a block and a half away, sells new books on spirituality. The more bookstores, the better, as far as I'm concerned.
Scott's in charge of figuring out how to make this thing go. The store has three employees, who have agreed to stay on (thank goodness!) so we may pull a shift down there every once in a while, but mostly Scott will be freed up to think about the big picture.
Coming up first: some Christmas lights in those windows!
Change is good
