Oils and Pastels by Margaret Dyer

Meet Kia and her two sons, Eden (1)  and Royalty (5). I met them in the laundromat when I was washing my comforter a little over a week ago on a freezing day. In the middle of our conversation I realized my machine was the only one operating. "Are you doing laundry here? " I asked her. No, she told me, they were homeless, just getting out of the cold. Kia left her home in Kansas City and came to Atlanta to start a new life. Things didn't work out as she had hoped, and she wound up sleeping in friends' cars. To make a long story short, I brought them into my house, with the intention of putting them into a room above my studio. The long-term plan is to get her a job, secure daycare (there are social and charity services for that, get her on the food stamp program, get her a dependable used car, and her own place. I don't know how anybody pulls himself out of poverty without help. How much more impossible is it if you are a mother of two young kids with z...

" Petite Beaute" is a small works exhibition at Cecil Byrne Gallery in Charleston, SC.  The show features works by award-winning artists from across the USA;  I'm honored to be a part of it. Here are the 5 paintings I sent the gallery; Im not sure if all 5 will be exhibited Friday. But if anybody ever wants to see more of any particular artist's work, all galleries are only too happy to bring you to the back and show you everything they have.  I wish I could be there for opening night, but I would be honored if  you are in the Charleston area and are able to attend the reception. If you do, please tell me about it!  Opening reception Friday, December 7, 5:00-8:00. Cecil Byrne Gallery, 60 Broad Street, Charleston, SC 29401 Open daily 10:00-5:00 843-312-1891 cecilbyrnegallery@gmail.com

Click here to register for my pastel class at Scottsdale Artists School . Click here to register for my oil painting class at Create Center for the Arts in Palm Desert, CA Click here to register for my  pastel class  at  Create Center for the Arts in Palm Desert, CA

Well, my December 19 class filled so quickly, I have a waiting list for it. So I've decided to hold another workshop on  Wednesday,  December 5. Email me if you're interested.  pastels@margaretdyer.com

Email me at pastels@margaretdyer.com to register.

Contact Debra Zamperla

 In just a few days, the  Operation Fundstorm: Hurricane Michael Relief Fund auction has raised over $83,000.00 with artist donations! With this astounding success, they've asked us to put up a few more pieces. Right now there are 75 new paintings on the site; here are mine (lot numbers 251 and 252). 100% of the proceeds go to help the people in Florida's devastated panhandle. Thank you for spreading the word. https://www.32auctions.com/NotForgotten2018…  

I am one of 107 artists who have donated a painting (or paintings in some cases) to raise funds to help the people in the Florida panhandle, hit by the recent hurricane. We are auctioning off the works, opening bids begin around 1/10 of the retail prices. The auction begins tonight! Here's the info: PREVIEW begins Sunday (tonight) at 5pm EST!!   BIDDING begins at 7pm. GO TO:   https://www.facebook.com/operationfundstorm This is a great opportunity to help the victims and pick up some incredible art at incredible prices. The auction will continue for a week.

I did it! I canned 12 jars of fig preserves! I feel like quite the homesteader. I don't know why I was so afraid of it. I still have a tree full of figs and plenty of time to can them with all the rain we've been having here in the south. I talked with Meg. Her neighbor rushed out to her when he saw her the other day, not knowing she had been in France with me. He and his wife had been frantic, seeing her car not move from her driveway for 3 weeks. They were afraid Meg's husband, Alan, a really nice guy, had done-off with her and had buried her in the backyard. If you're in the Chattanooga area tomorrow, please drop by for our opening reception. The more the merrier. Here are a few of the pieces you'll see there...

I'm surprised that I'm feeling eager to get back into the studio, especially when I consider that only a month or so ago I was seriously thinking I was wasting my time and money trying to paint. I'd look around the studio at all the mediocre paintings and try to calculate how much money went into canvases and paints and classes and framing. I figured I had gotten as good as I would ever get, and that was just not good enough. Maybe it was time to do something else with what little time I may have in this life. But I think I may have broken through a creative block. All of the sudden painting feels easy, and for the first time I'm thinking, tentatively, that I'm really painting. Since I returned home from France, my sleeping schedule is out of whack; I'm going to bed late and waking up at 5 a.m., after only 3 or 4 hours of sleep. So I have my 2 cups of coffee, catch up on the news, and go out to the studio when it's light enough. And I'm excit...

I fell into bed while the sun was still up last evening, exhausted after the long day traveling home from Paris. This morning I'm unpacking, doing laundry, getting to know my cat again, who is perfectly content because Debbie, my house/cat sitter, took such good care of her. Even my houseplants are happy. Thank you, Debbie. I walked the back yard to see what's new and what I'll be doing the next few weeks and discovered that I have arrived home in time to rescue my figs from the birds! For the first time in years!!! They were all over the tree (the birds), and they fluttered away when I approached this morning. I've never done it before, but I'm making fig preserves this year. But first I need to find someone who knows how to can figs and who will be willing to help me do it. I purchased all the canning stuff several years ago in anticipation of this day. And my pear tree is heavy with fruit, dropping pears on the ground. What a delight. I...

We spent two days in the Latin Quarter in Paris with Kippy, Brigette and Kathy. They are now on their way to Giverny to visit Monet's home and garden. Meg and I are going home. While in Paris, we all visited the Musee Marmottan Monet (it's not really winter in France...I've swiped a photo from the internet), to see its permanent collection of paintings by Berthe Morisot but were equally thrilled by Monet's landscapes on the bottom floor. I especially enjoyed his vivid abstracts toward the last few years of his life. I remember seeing these years ago and not being impressed. Now I love them. It's funny how our taste changes. We were also pleasantly surprised to discover the current exhibition of portraits by Camille Carot., who is mostly known for his landscapes. I wonder occasionally if Meg has been overdosed by art; the rest of us were consumed by it for two weeks and still couldn't get enough. I don't hear her complaining or swear...

Friday afternoon we transformed the creative chaos in the studio, stacking and sliding furniture to the back of the room, vacuuming, dusting, into an inviting exhibition. Guests began arriving right at 6:00, and they kept coming until the room was crowded. And they stayed a long time. There was plenty of champagne (I'm trying to recover from it this morning) which helped tremendously as we conversed or tried to converse with all our French speaking guests. Here are the artists and their works:   Liz Glatzer from Providence Rhode Island. You must see Liz's very clever and funny blog: www.amusingboomer.com . Deb Wicks from Venice, Florida, is a Signature Member of the Florida Watercolor Society. Check out her gorgeous paintings: http://dwicks.faso.com/works . Kathy Kuryla (sounds like gorilla) is from Englewood, FL and Lyme, CT, is retired from a successful career in interior design. Sophie Curlee turned 18 today. She plays violin, dances, enters Rhode ...