Oils and Pastels by Margaret Dyer

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 ...

We went back to Paris Wednesday to go to the Musee d'Orsay and the Musee de L'Orangerie to see Monet's water lily paintings. Some of us window-shopped between the train station at the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay and made a few stops. We flipped through designer clothing at a boutique (not interesting to me because I ruin everything I wear) and bought a few things at  Sennelier , a world-famous art store in Paris since the late 1800's.  They make excellent quality handmade pastels and oil paints, products used by most artists I know. I really looked forward to walking through the Musee d'Orsay with my daughter. I wanted to be with her when she first encountered Degas' work (which we never found damnit). But what a thrill it was to come upon her almost in tears as she stood in front of "Birth of Venus" by Bouguereau. She also loved the Art Nouveau decorative arts section. As do I. She snapped photos of the beautiful carved beds. Should I bore ...