DJ Geribo

Winter is not my time to paint since it is a little chilly in my studio and I keep the heat only high enough to keep my plants alive. But this winter I've spent several days painting at a friend's house, which has been wonderful and I've enjoyed that time we've had together. Usually she and her husband are away at their condo skiing, but over the years they have spent less and less time there and finally, last year, sold the place. Unfortunately now with the sudden scare of COVID-19 we are not painting together for a few weeks until we see what happens.

It seems as of late I'm in the middle of several paintings at once. Most are in oils since I've been working in that medium lately. I will often pick a medium and use that for several months. Then I start looking at say, my pastels, and then I'm off in that direction. I'm always working on something in acrylics only because they dry so fast and I can continue working on them. Also, they don't take any preparation, like oils that need turpentine and other solvents to work on a painting. All acrylics need is water. But I have been working on one of my favorite subjects, besides animals, and that is fruit/veggie still lifes.

Although the internet, particularly Facebook, can be a huge time suck, I do sometimes find something worthwhile and educational. And that is the case when, while looking at Pomeranian puppies on a Facebook page, I came across an artist whose work, which looked like either pen and ink or graphite drawings, was extremely photorealistic and very well done.

One of my regular places to paint now is at the LRAA Gallery in Tilton, NH when I am gallery sitting. I certainly make good use of my time there, particularly if it is a slow day. Sometimes it is quite busy and I never get to my painting - since the goal is to sell the artwork at the gallery, I certainly prefer having customers to painting.

I've been working on a couple of paintings that, although the size is nothing unusual for me, a 4"x4" square gallery-wrapped canvas, the way I'm painting on them is different. I was looking at the canvas and I turned it from a square shape to a diamond shape and I started painting on it. First I checked with Jim, who usually wires my canvases for me, and asked if this would be a problem wiring. He said 'no' and I was off and painting.