Sometimes you have an opportunity to travel for a few days to attend an event and take a mini-vacation. Since the blizzard and continuing freezing temperatures we’ve had this year in NY, I’m lucky to be attending an event in California. The temps in NY have been in the 20s and 30s during the day and here right now where I am in CA it is in the 70s & 80s during the day and 50s in the evening. What a delightful difference!

Just north in LA, I stopped to spend a few hours at the J. Paul Getty Museum. It is an architectural marvel, an inspiring garden and a museum with significant artwork. I spent some time in the Impressionist section plus time with their two Turners. Berthe Marisot was represented with her painting, The Shuttlecock, which she painted in 1841 in Paris. It exhibits her trademark loose and immediate brushwork that she paints with bravado. The delicate palette spoke to me and was perfect for this painting of a young girl inviting you into her life. As an artist, I continually study art history and techniques in museums and books. It gives me inspiration and helps me to develop my eye and to view different methods of expression. Museums are great research institutions for artists.

These daily studio notes lead toward my 2026 solo exhibitions in New York City and  Poughkeepsie, NY.