It was 15 years ago that an inadequately trained crew crashed their plane into a home in Clarence, NY. Fifty people were killed including a man in the house. Relatives of the victims have been fighting ever since to require a "1,500 hour rule" for pilot training and have never given up despite all the airline lobbyists fighting against them. This ongoing struggle is still making news.

At the time of the crash, the entire city was in shock and mourning. I felt compelled to create this image the day after the event. Using pastels, I drew directly on the newspaper published that day. Ads for President's Day and Valentine's Day swirl around in the horror of the article about the crash.

I've been working on a new watercolor and graphite series and I'm eager to present it at the Buffalo Arts Studio Annual Show and Sale. This exciting event brings together all thirty one studio artists, each one with their own unique style.

The Open House & Artist Reception will be on Saturday, December 2, 2023 from 5:00-9:00pm. Every studio will be open and there will be free refreshments and a donation-based bar. It's always a busy and fun evening!

I was at the LIVING GREEN FESTIVAL at the UU Church of Amherst on September 23rd. I gave a little workshop on watercolor and nature journaling. I also presented a 'Make It and Take it" activity with little framed collages of natural materials. Everything was a big hit with all ages! 

I found a spot that humans don't care about - a place where they do not mow. In this case it is the drainage ditch by the Target on Delaware Ave. in North Buffalo. There appears to be a channel of water at the bottom where cattails are growing. This neglected spot is actually a little nature sanctuary protected by a chainlink fence. Birds are singing and a monarch butterfly floats by. I have had a bountiful crop of milkweed in the backyard this season and want to share it. I take out my bag of bursting pods and scatter them to the wind. I wish them a spot of soil, a bit of water, a good winter and a chance to rise up next year!

Here is Biff Heinrich of IMG_INK, in downtown Buffalo. Biff has pulled a full size print of the "Community Quilt" made from pieces of toy guns. The quilt was a long term project involving many volunteers. It began after the mass shooting at the Tops on Jefferson when toy guns were collected in exchange for healthy toys. The guns were broken down (a difficult job that even involved a steam roller) and then transformed by volunteers at the Buffalo Arts Studio. Each square was photographed by KC Kratt and then given to Lenny Lane of F.A.T.H.E.R.S. Now the quilt lives on as a print that can be easily moved around and hung in many locations.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE INVOLVED!

After working with plastics for most of the winter, I am taking a break and spending time outside. Watercolors are a form of meditation, forcing me to pay attention to the beautiful little details of life. Here are a few sketches of things found in the backyard.

Since the world is currently fascinated by Barbie, I want to show off my own Barbie doll -part of my Toyology series. Over the last several years, when I come upon discarded toys, I resurrect them. I make display boxes out of castoff wooden drawers that have their own long history of use and abuse. For each assemblage, I subsurface-mount a photograph of the discovery site to the back wall of the box. I paint the sidewalls with location markings and with graphics related to the toy’s background. On a side panel, I paint, in miniature, the graffiti I saw in the vicinity of the site. The toy, the location and the graffiti are all separate stories that come together.

Here is the world where I found my Barbie doll - Rodney Avenue in Buffalo. Barbie looked like she had been chewed up by a dog but looked better after I bought her a cute outfit at a thrift stop. I found a reference for Ken and painted him on the side wall. I think Barbie had an adventure on the wild side, but she's not talking.

To see more toys in this series, go to Portfolio > Toyology

This painting is my interpretation of a forest spirit mourning the wildfires raging across the continent. It has been so disturbing to experience the bad air quality and see the haze hanging over the landscape just at the time we want to enjoy nature. Now nature is in turmoil.

I painted this spirit in oil on Fabriano paper and then framed her in oak from ReUse Buffalo. 
She is part of the Hallwalls Annual Members Exhibit which opens on Friday, July 14th with a reception from 6 to 10 pm.

Hope to see you there!

After working with plastics for many months, it is a great relief to be outside exploring the natural world. My daughter, Eve, and I lead nature journaling activities for children at the Unitarian Universalist in Amherst, New York.  The church owns a large tract of protected land known as the Waterhouse Ecology Center.  We all enjoy exploring the trails and then coming back inside the church to study and draw what we have found. I am thrilled at the kids' energy and ability to make 
great discoveries!

In Buffalo, NY, on May 14, 2022, a mass shooter killed ten people at the Tops Supermarket on Jefferson Avenue.The peacekeeping group,  F.A.T.H.E.R.S., had been working with youth in the neighborhood for over twenty years. They set up a program to exchange toy guns for healthy toys and collected hundreds of guns. Rather than just toss them in a landfill, I volunteered to find a way to turn some of the plastic into an art project. The guns were difficult to break down into useful pieces and at one point had to be crushed with a steamroller.  With the help of a wonderful group of people, we went through the process of cutting, drilling and twist-tying pieces together to form a 'quilt.' Designs were loosely based on 'underground railroad' patterns.

I am so grateful to all of the people who helped. They are, in alphabetical order: 
Marti Cat, Hal Leader, Rowan Leader, Charles Martin, Becca Schwarzberg, Rose Synor, Phyllis Thompson, and Shirley Verrico. THANK YOU!