Studio Glimpses - Mary Ahern Artist

November 9, 2026

QR code: listen to the A Space For Centering statement

A Space For Centering – A multi-sensory installation

When life gets loud, I head to my garden. It’s where I center myself, my mind and my body. I slow down, look closely and see differently.

My garden has taught me patience. I am a small contributor to an ecosystem that goes on without my input, my attention or my assistance. Looking closely at a petal or a stamen, or listening to the song of a finch, centers me.

You enter this space through a circle of the flower centers I paint. Look closely at flowers from my garden on the monitor. Pick up the headphones and listen to the birds. Glance at the reflections as water circulates quietly over the sphere. Touch the herbs.

Stop, look, listen, smell, feel, and think. Experience, in a small way, the centering effects of time spent with the fragment of my garden I’ve brought indoors. Come away a bit more calm and more refreshed, knowing you can find all this on a grander scale by slowing down and spending time with nature.

Listen to the A Space For Centering Statement Here (3:29)

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
My solo multi-disciplinary exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be on view at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
featuring digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

This Week in the Studio – November 1-8, 2026

This Week in the Studio – November 1-8, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up: Studio Glimpses

This was the week it all came together. Centering in the Midst of Chaos opened at Ceres Gallery on Election Day, November 3.

It takes many hands to hang a show this large. Dave and our grandson CJ carried everything from the cars into the gallery, set up the installation frame, and hooked up the video and audio, while I positioned and hung the art. We drove two SUVs into Manhattan, steered around the NYC Marathon, and put in a twelve-hour day with no catastrophes. I could not have done it without them.

The first time I walked into the finished space, it felt surreal. I didn’t feel like I had created all this work, and yet I remembered having my brushes in hand. Color transforms a space, and now it is doing that for a steady stream of visitors.

Thursday was the First Thursday Opening Reception in Chelsea. I hired a bartender so I could focus on the people, and the conversations ranged far and wide. Afterward I walked the High Line and through Hudson Yards and caught a great shot of the Empire State Building.

By Friday, the postcards and show handouts were nearly gone. Instead of resting, I printed more handouts and labeled over 100 postcards until I ran out of ink. That is a great problem to have.

Centering in the Midst of Chaos is open at Ceres Gallery through November 28, 2026. Tuesday – Saturday 12-6pm.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for multiple solo and group exhibitions in 2026 & 2027.

Scroll down to see all the Studio Glimpses for a behind the scenes view of how an exhibition comes together.

November 7, 2026

I wore my favorite jacket to the Meet the Artists reception. It is a piece of artwork all by itself. I had a wonderful afternoon speaking with people about my work and how it is a reflection of my ideas rather than paintings of flowers. I tell them that the flowers are totems of my beliefs and that’s what I’m actually sharing. The conversations become very broad, and all of us are transformed by them. On the walk back to the Moynihan train station, I was drawn to the sun setting on the high-rise. The orange was so beautiful. Hubby Dave and my friend Susan Rostan waited while I took my photos. They were so generous to indulge me even though we were all tired and didn’t want to miss the train. We didn’t.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
My solo multi-disciplinary exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be on view at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
featuring digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

November 6, 2026

Bloomberg Connects gave me piles of postcards and bookmarks. The back of the cards didn’t have any information about the show, so I’m printing labels for the backs

I created handouts for the show so people could find info about the show, the paintings and the installation. I made audio recording for each painting saying something about why or how I created the piece. Happily, all the handouts were gone in two days so I printed more. If you’d like to download one yourself you can Click here and get the PDF version.

When I arrived at the gallery yesterday, almost all the piles of postcards were gone, as were all but the Desk Copy of the 5-page show handouts with the titles, specifications of the art, and the QR codes to listen to my audio files of each piece of art. So instead of a day of rest, I printed many more copies of the handout to bring back to the gallery on my next trip tomorrow. I also printed labels for the backs of another 100 plus postcards before I ran out of ink and had to stop. The postcards had been supplied by Bloomberg Connects, which has my exhibition on their website, but they didn’t include information about this particular show so I’m doing that. I’m so happy that I needed to do all that printing since that means that a lot of people are seeing and interested in my work. Having to keep resupplying printed material is a great problem to have.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
My solo multi-disciplinary exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be on view at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
featuring digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

November 5, 2026

It’s a busy night in the Chelsea art district on the first Thursday of each month when all the galleries in this arts district have Opening Receptions. I hired a bartender to handle the wine so I could concentrate on speaking with the visitors. A steady stream of interested, knowledgeable people came through and spent considerable time looking at and discussing the art. It’s one of my most favorite parts of an exhibition, talking to people about art, their ideas, interpretations, and responding to their questions which always range over a wide range of subjects. After the gallery closed, I walked back to the Moynihan Station on the High Line, then through Hudson Yards, where I caught a great shot of the Empire State Building. It was a magical evening.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
My solo multi-disciplinary exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be on view at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
featuring digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

November 4, 2026

Centering in the Midst of Chaos – Exhibition Statement

When life gets loud, I go to my garden. Looking closely at a single flower brings me back to balance. This exhibition brings that practice indoors, and I invite you to come slow down with me.

The show includes large oil paintings of magnified flowers from my Northport garden, layered over images of the galaxy. There are also digital works made from live flowers captured on a scanner. At its center is A Space for Centering, an immersive room of flower video, sound, living plants, and water. Step inside, put on the headphones, and take a few quiet minutes for yourself.

Listen to the full Exhibition Statement Here (2:25)

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
My solo multi-disciplinary exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be on view at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
featuring digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

November 3, 2026

Centering in the Midst of Chaos, my solo exhibition at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, NYC, opened today, Election Day, November 3, 2026. It was a momentous day for so many different reasons. When we arrived the other day to begin setting up the show, the view on the left was what we saw at the gallery entrance. Now, when I get out of the elevator, the view on the right shows the view. Color transforms a space. It turns on the bright lights of happiness for me, and it is now doing this for a constant stream of art lovers who stroll through this Landmark Building. The first time I walked into the gallery space after I finished hanging the show, it was surreal for me since I didn’t feel like I had created all this work. It felt so distant and yet my memory retained memories of having my brushes in hand. It’s somewhat of an out-of-body experience.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
My solo multi-disciplinary exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be on view at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
featuring digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

November 2, 2026

It takes many hands to help with an exhibition this large. Hubby Dave and our grandson CJ brought all the artwork and installation from the car, onto the elevator and into the gallery. They worked on setting up the frame of the installation and hooking up the hardware for the video and audio tracks, while I positioned and hung the art on the walls. It was a really long day, but it all went smoothly with no catastrophes. We drove two SUVs into Manhattan, avoiding the NYC Marathon runners who were also doing their own thing the same day. For us, it was a twelve-hour day and well worth the effort. I’m so thankful for the help they gave me. I could not have set up this entire project by myself in time for the Opening.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
My solo multi-disciplinary exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be on view at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
featuring digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

November 1, 2026

Walking into this huge empty gallery space to set up my solo exhibition was quite an experience. Such a huge, pristine space had me hoping that I had planned right all these many months. It is quite a daunting experience to finally have an entire gallery for yourself. I’ve had other solo shows throughout the years, but this one, in particular, is a bit overwhelming in so many different ways for me. Over 50 years ago, I had a goal to be in a feminist art gallery in New York City. And now this is actually happening. Wow!

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
My solo multi-disciplinary exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be on view at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
featuring digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

This Week in the Studio – October 26-31, 2026

This Week in the Studio – October 26-31, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up: Studio Glimpses

This was the last week of preparing before we hung the show, and every day brought one more task to check off.

While triple-checking everything, I realized I had never painted the edges of my gallery-wrapped painting, Centering – Pink Peony. I found my notes on the paints I used and got to work. Then, as always happens when you’re stressed, I knocked my paper palette onto the floor, paint side down. A little turpentine took care of it.

I designed an 11×17 poster for the gallery door and entrance wall, using one of the paintings in the show and pulling its colors into the text and accents. I also sent my newsletter to the almost 1,000 people who have signed up for my mailings over the years. I love hearing from collectors who are still enjoying art they bought from me ten and twenty years ago.

I finished the last painting for the show, the Cosmic Paph Orchid, and oiled out her surface for a soft, even satin finish. She’s ready for her debut.

I also mapped out the layout of the walls so I could see which pieces would look best together and how to invite guests in from the entrance. So much of a show happens beyond the art itself: staging, transportation, assistants, catering, and marketing. Each part is creative in its own way.

On Halloween, with no trick-or-treaters on our long driveway, we carried the art, installation, and plants down from the studio and loaded our two SUVs. Our grandson CJ came over to help, and those younger legs made all the difference on the stairs.

Centering in the Midst of Chaos opens at Ceres Gallery on Election Day, November 3rd.

Scroll down to see all the Studio Glimpses for a behind the scenes view of how an exhibition comes together.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for multiple solo and group exhibitions in 2026 & 2027.

My solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.

October 31, 2026

It’s Halloween and like all years, no kids came by for Trick or Treating. Where I live the driveways are long and the houses not very close so the parents take the children into town to the shopkeepers on Main Street. That gave us plenty of time to carry all the art, installation and plants downstairs out of the studio and load them into our two SUVs. Fortunately, our grandson CJ popped over to help us or we would have been working until midnight. I had already bubble wrapped all the work, boxed up the plants and wrapped the installation parts. There were many, many trips up and down the staircases so it was great having a younger pair of legs doing that for me.

Centering in the Midst of Chaos opens at the Ceres Gallery on Election Day, Nov 3. It’s crunch time!

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

October 30, 2026

This is the weekend we hang the exhibition at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea. I’ve been working on the art and the installation, but also working on what to hang and where to hang it. The gallery entrance opens onto the back wall so it’s important to have a visual statement to invite guests to enter. I used a wall layout program that allowed me to put in the dimensions of the walls so that I was able to approximate how many pieces would work and where they would look best together. So much planning goes into a show, not just creating the art. There’s the staging, planning, transportation, assistants, catering, and extensive marketing to invite your collectors. All of the individual parts are creative in their own way.

Centering in the Midst of Chaos opens at the Ceres Gallery on Election Day, Nov 3. It’s crunch time!

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

October 29, 2026

Once the oil painting is completely dry, I do a process called oiling-out to unify the surface. Sometimes different pigments and mediums look different once they’re dry. By pouring on a mixture of ½ Galgyd and ½ Gamsol, brushing it evenly over the surface of the finished canvas, waiting 5 minutes and then carefully wiping it off with soft cloths, mitigates that problem. With this treatment, I get a soft, satin, and even surface to the painting. It’s not the same as finishing a painting with lacquer, but it has been very effective for me. I’ve just finished the last painting that I’m bringing to the show, the Cosmic Paph Orchid. She’s now ready for her debut this coming week in Chelsea.

Less than a week until my exhibition, Centering in the Midst of Chaos opens at the Ceres Gallery on Election Day, Nov 3. It’s crunch time!

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

October 28, 2026

Today I sent my newsletter to my email list which I’ve been accumulating for well over a decade. This time I decided to write a shorter newsletter than I usually send. For this show I’ve posted on my website some photos and a blurb about how I created the work for this and other shows, I’ve posted on social media, written about it in Sanctuary Magazine and on my Substack column. This newsletter is sent to the almost 1,000 individuals who have, over the years, signed up for my mailings. It is so nice to hear back from people I’ve met in the many, many years I’ve been creating and selling my art. There are countless people who write to me to tell me they’re still enjoying the art they bought from me ten and, in some cases, twenty years ago. I’m so lucky to have the opportunity in my life to bring joy to people.

Less than a week until my exhibition, Centering in the Midst of Chaos opens at the Ceres Gallery on Election Day, Nov 3. It’s crunch time!

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

October 27, 2026

I created a poster for the show that opens in six days. I need one for outside the door of the gallery and one for the entrance wall. I chose to design this in an 11×17, 300 dpi size using one of the paintings that’s in the show and picking up the colors from it to add to some text and accents. Just when you think you’ve covered your entire To Do list, another task pops up. The printer said they’ll have it ready before Friday so we can drive it in with us on Sunday when we go to the city to hang the show.

One more week until my exhibition, Centering in the Midst of Chaos opens at the Ceres Gallery on Election Day, Nov 3. It’s crunch time!

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

October 26, 2026

In double-checking and triple-checking everything for the installation of my solo exhibition at the Ceres Gallery this weekend, I realized that I never painted the edges of my gallery-wrapped oil painting, Centering – Pink Peony. So I checked my notes and found the types of paint I’d used on this particular canvas. As always happens when you’re stressed, something goes awry. I clumsily knocked the paper palette onto the floor, and of course it landed paint side down… sigh… Well, after I finished painting the edges, I cleaned up the floor using turpentine. Thankfully it didn’t remove the floor finishing or that would have been another problem entirely.

One more week until my exhibition, Centering in the Midst of Chaos opens at the Ceres Gallery on Election Day, Nov 3. It’s crunch time!

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

This Week in the Studio – October 19-25, 2026

This Week in the Studio – October 19-25, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up: Studio Glimpses

This was a week of finishing. With the installation pieces done, I came back to my studio and to all the quiet tasks that turn a painting into a finished work ready for an exhibition. I picked up the Paph Orchid again after two months away and saw it with new eyes and made some adjustments. I signed the What I See painting and oiled out the surface to give it an even, soft glow. Each finished piece gets its own index number, title, copyright, and signature on the back, plus D-hooks and wire for hanging, and all this info goes into my documentation system.

With just over a week to go we began to work on the next steps of bringing the work to the gallery. Dave dismantled the installation and padded the frame and table legs with insulation tubing, so the metal won’t scratch. That gave me room to wrap all twenty artworks, fifteen oil paintings and five digital works, in bubble wrap.

We hang the show on Sunday, November 1, which turns out to be the day of the NYC Marathon. We think we’ve found a route to the west side that avoids the roadblocks.

And after handing out my last business card at an opening for some artist friends, I ordered a fresh supply from Moo. Guests love choosing their favorite flower from the assortment of images of my paintings.

Centering in the Midst of Chaos opens at Ceres Gallery on Election Day, November 3rd.

Scroll down to see all the Studio Glimpses for a behind the scenes view of how an exhibition comes together.

Only one more week until I hang this show, which opens on Election Day, November 3, 2026!

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for multiple solo and group exhibitions in 2026 & 2027.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.

October 24, 2026

I was at an opening reception for some of my artist friends and handed out the last business card I had in my wallet, which made me realize I’d better check my supply. Good thing I did since I’m almost out of cards and that’s not a good idea heading into a big show in Chelsea. So, I sat down at my computer and designed my card on Moo.com as I’ve done for the last many years. I get square cards with an assortment of some of my artwork on one glossy side and my contact info and a QR code on the other matte side. I really like the quality of their product, plus their color work is a great match to the actual paintings. The cards will arrive before the first opening reception and I’m sure they’ll be great and ready to use since that’s how I’ve felt with all the other orders I’ve given them over the years. People love picking out their favorite flower when I offer them an assortment. I love to see smiles.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

October 23, 2026

Once the frame for the installation was dismantled in my studio it gave me the room to begin to wrap each painting in bubble wrap. There are fifteen oil paintings and 5 digital works so in total there are twenty artworks that need to be wrapped and protected for transporting. We still don’t know how many cars we’ll need to transport the show into the city. The hanging is on November 1^st. We’re trying to minimize the number of vehicles we put on the road that Sunday since we just found out it is the day of the NYC Marathon. Yikes! That’s a huge number of runners and spectators in the city that day. The gallery is not on their route and we may have figured out a way to avoid the major obstacles and roadblocks to get to the west side of Manhattan where the gallery is located.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

October 22, 2026

Hubby Dave helped by dismantling the installation in anticipation of setting it up at the gallery next weekend. In order not to scratch the metal he went to Home Depot to buy some insulation tubing for the frame and the table legs. While he was busy doing that, I was working on prepping the wall labeling I’d created for the titling and QR code for each painting. Double duty today moved us forward in the final days of planning and preparing for this show.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

October 21, 2026

A while back I decided that this painting was finished so I set it aside and began creating the installation for this upcoming show. The painting remained on my easel all this time, right side up and I knew there was something unfinished about it for me. Every time I would pass the studio door and look in I would stop to look & study this painting. Today, I turned it in its side and glazed some of the petals on the top and sides. At times it’s easier to turn the painting than try to paint at an inconvenient angle. I’m glad I keep a daily journal on each painting so I was able to recreate the palette colors I was using. I need to spend some more time looking closely at all the color transitions and the edge treatments to decide if it’s done. But this painting has to be ready to hang at the gallery a week from Sunday so I better make some decisions, get to work and finish it.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

October 20, 2026

After I finish a painting and I have let it completely dry, there are additional tasks that still need to be done. I have to document the piece with the index # that will follow it throughout its existence plus the title. I write the info on the frame on the back of the painting and include my copyright and signature. This is the legal and provenance part of the work. All this data is put into my Excel and Artwork Archive documentation. I also add the hanging hardware. I use my lightweight portable drill to put in the D-hooks and then string the coated wire between the two opposing sides. Turning the painting face up, I then do some oiling out with 50/50 gamsol/galgyd mixture. It protects the surface and unifies it into a soft satin finish. Then I let the painting dry again in time for its debut at the show.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

October 19, 2026

I’m back in the studio now that the details and parts of the installation are done. I’m finishing up some paintings and other necessary tasks. I finally signed the painting, What I See. Somehow that had escaped my notice until I began review all the last-minute inventory checks. I also oiled out the painting surface to give it an even soft glow. Paint can dry differently, some are more glossy than others depending on the chemistry of their mediums and pigments. Oiling out has worked perfectly for me since I’m able to just pick up a painting I’ve previously decided was complete only to decide years later to work on it again. I also put in a few hours working on the Paph Orchid. I stopped painting it about 2 months ago and now I’ve returned to it with new eyes. The moment I picked up my brushes I remembered how much I absolutely love painting with traditional mediums as well as digital. Only a week and a half before we hang the show so if I’m going to paint, I need to do it now, this week! The clock is ticking to the countdown.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

This Week in the Studio – October 12-18, 2026

This Week in the Studio – October 12-18, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up: Studio Glimpses

Every show starts with a spreadsheet. I set up columns for everything I need to track: whether each artwork is ready, sizes, prices, mediums, website links, and where every file lives. It takes time to build, but having it all in one place saves me far more time later.

At Tuesday’s Techspressionism Co-Working session, I used our silent hour to build a three-minute PowerPoint on how I create and exhibit a body of work. Pulling it together reminded me how many programs it takes to organize, market, and mount an exhibition, and that’s before making the art itself.

Two large plants will flank the entrance to A Space for Centering: a Cordyline fruticosa ‘Red Sister’ Ti Plant that grew from a 12″ specimen this spring, and a Codiaeum variegatum ‘Petra’ Croton I’ve grown for years. Together they make a colorful invitation to step inside a bit of my garden. I’ll also show five of my digital scanner artworks, each with a written statement, an audio recording, and a QR code linking to its page on my website.

Two wholesale nurseries later, the herb collection is complete. I found sage, rosemary and thyme, and this time parsley too, both curly and flat. I potted them up in white pots on the deck, their scent making my mouth water. Now I have six weeks to keep them looking their best, and a backup source in mind since the wholesaler stops bringing in herbs after November 1st. They stay outside where the cool air keeps them fresh, with covers ready if nights drop below 40 degrees. I staged some in the installation to count how many pots I need, and the space feels calmer already.

Centering in the Midst of Chaos opens at Ceres Gallery on Election Day, November 3rd.

Scroll down to see all the Studio Glimpses for a behind the scenes view of how an exhibition comes together.

Only two more weeks until I hang this show, which opens on Election Day, November 3, 2026!

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for multiple solo and group exhibitions in 2026 & 2027.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.

October 17, 2026

I am keeping the herb plants outdoors on my deck since the cooler weather will help them last longer. Of course, I’m watching the temperature closely and if it goes below 40 degrees, I’ll cover them for the night. I took some of them up to my studio where I’m staging the installation to see how many pots I really need. I don’t want to take up any extra floor space so the big plants will be outside the installation. Some of the small herbs will sit on the table to surround the monitor and water fountain and the others will sit on the floor. I like the feeling in the installation now with the plants. They always make me feel calmer.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

October 16, 2026

I went to two different wholesale nurseries to look for herbs for the installation as part of the sensory experience. I was fortunate to find sage, rosemary and thyme. Of course, I needed to get parsley too which I did, curly and flat. I have an assortment of white flowerpots, some plastic and some ceramic so out on the deck, I spent the afternoon potting them up. It’s great working with herbs since they smell so good they make my mouth water. I’m hoping to be able to keep them alive throughout the show which is the entire month of November. Since it’s now the middle of October, I have to keep them looking good for six weeks. After November 1^st, the wholesaler said they won’t be bringing in any more herbs, just selling off what they have so if these plants don’t last, I’ll have to find a second source.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

October 15, 2026

I will be showing 5 of my digital artworks at the upcoming exhibition. Since this is a multi-disciplinary show, I wanted to include some of my scanner work. I’ve written a statement about how and why I make these artworks, then made an audio recording using the Voice Memos app. I made a layout and put the page up on my website. Next to the artwork will be a statement with QR code taking you to the online recording.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

October 14, 2026

I’m planning on putting two of my large plants on either side outside of my installation A Space For Centering. The red plant on the left that I bought this spring as a little 12” tall specimen, is a Cordyline fruticosa ‘Red Sister’, commonly called a Ti Plant. She’s been growing in my outdoor planter near the bird feeder all summer. The multi-colored one I’ve grown for many years indoors in the winter and on the deck in the summer, is a Codiaeum variegatum ‘Petra’ though most people call it just Croton. I think they’ll brighten up the gallery and make a colorful statement as an invitation to come inside to experience a bit of my garden which is where I always go to center myself and find renewal.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

October 13, 2026

At my Coworking Techspressionist group meeting today, I made a PowerPoint to explain the process I use to create and exhibit a body of work. I had 3 minutes to present to the group, and it took an hour of our silent working time together for me to make the script, gather the images, and create a succinct, informative overview. It was a nice challenge and reminds me to appreciate how many programs I use to organize, market and create an exhibition. That doesn’t even include making the original art.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

October 12, 2026

In order to stay organized for any show, I create spreadsheets that have columns for all the particulars that I need to reference for different reasons, from making sure all the artwork is ready to lists of the sizes, prices, mediums, links to where it is on my website, and where to find files in various locations. It is somewhat satisfying to me to gather all this information in one central place. It takes time to set up, but saves me a lot of time in the long run.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

This Week in the Studio – October 5-11, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up: Studio Glimpses

This week A Space for Centering came together. In my garden, aluminum prints of my paintings stand beside live plantings, the real and the made side by side, a bloom’s short life next to an image that lasts. The installation recreates a small version of the garden I’ve designed and tended for over 35 years.

The heart of it is the video. I edited 15-second clips of flowers from my garden that dissolve one into the next, the camera nearly still so the eye can settle and observe. Bees, insects, wind, and shifting sunlight do the moving. I added birdsong too, because I hear the birds every time I step outside.

To hide the cords under the table, I shopped online with my feet up. Fifty years ago in art school, browsing hardware stores for assemblage materials, I was eyed with suspicion just for being a woman wandering the aisles. That was then. I also visited one of the wholesale nurseries where I’ve held accounts for 26 years as a landscape designer, a feast of color, and came home with sage, rosemary and thyme. No parsley though. On Friday the curtains arrived and now hang from clamps, no drilling, giving a smooth finish below the table. All that’s left is adding the plants.

I closed the week recording audio statements for each painting. Small 4×4″ labels with QR codes will sit beside every piece, linking to the recordings on my website and carrying the show beyond the gallery walls.

Scroll down to see all the Studio Glimpses for a behind-the-scenes view of how an exhibition comes together.

Only three more weeks until I hang this show, which opens on Election Day, November 3, 2026!

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for multiple solo and group exhibitions in 2026 & 2027.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.

October 10, 2026

I have been making audio recordings for each painting in the upcoming exhibition. I wrote each statement about something that spoke out to me either before I started the piece or sometime during the creation. Each is personal. The QR codes lead to the audio recordings which I’ve hosted on their own page on my website. These small 4×4” labels will be next to each painting in the gallery. This effectively expands the show beyond the 4 walls of the gallery and brings in the immense and unlimited space of the cloud.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

October 9, 2026

The curtains I order earlier in the week arrived. We hung them on the curtain rod using clamps so we didn’t have to drill into the table. The image on the left is from last week when the new monitor arrived and you can see the cables underneath the table. Now, using only one of the curtains we have a smooth covering beneath the table that doesn’t take away from the finished look above. At this point, most of the design work is done and now I’ll just have to add the plants. I was lucky that I had enough room in my studio to stage this installation so I didn’t have to either keep it in the living room or out in the garage.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

October 8, 2026

For the last 26 years, I’ve had accounts at various wholesale nurseries since I’m, among other things, a landscape designer. Walking through the massive greenhouses is always a visual feast for me to see the waves of color and texture. I’ve never been to the spring tulip fields in the Netherlands, but the views in these nurseries are a very good substitute. I went there to buy some plants for my installation and came away with some sage, rosemary and thyme. No parsley though.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

October 7, 2026

I want to cover up the line cords and the small amount of equipment hanging from the table in my installation so I went online shopping again. Years ago, I mean 50 years ago when I was in art school and making assemblages, I would go browsing around hardware stores, to see what they had that I might be able to use to build the projects I was inventing. This was before Home Depot style stores existed, At that time, women did not just the walk around hardware stores, they would go to the men standing behind the counters to explain their problem and the men would go fetch the items for them. Since I just wanted to wander without any specific problem that needed fixing I guess they suspected me as some sort of shoplifter or worse. That was then and this is now. I can sit with my feet up and shop online to gather ideas and make purchases that get delivered to my front door. It sure is a more efficient process for me.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

October 6, 2026

I’ve been editing the video that will be playing on the monitor in my installation. It has flowers from my garden in 15 second clips before they dissolve into the next view. The clips of the flowers are meant to encourage observation. There is almost no movement of the camera and if there is it is very slow. Some have bees, some other insects and some just wind movements and sun patterns. I also added the birds singing in the garden for background ambiance. I hear the birds every time I’m outside so I knew they needed to be featured along with the flowers to give the full effect of what I experience in my garden.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

October 5, 2026

I have aluminum prints of my paintings throughout my garden next to live plantings. The real and the fabricated have a nice juxtaposition for me. There is a balance between time, duration, and lifespan in these encounters. The quiet video I’m making for my upcoming exhibition will be on view on the monitor inside “A Space for Centering” installation. It is part of the calming and sensory environment I’m recreating, in a small way, what I find in my own garden that I designed & have maintained over the last 35+ years.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

This Week in the Studio – September 28-October 4, 2026

Week in Review: September 28 to October 4

This week was all about the installation. A Space for Centering is the part of my exhibition where I’m bringing my garden indoors, and piece by piece it’s coming together in the booth I’ve built in my studio.

The week started with a frustrating detour. I spent hours trying to get the audio on my Vimeo videos to play in Chrome on my website. It never did. I asked Vimeo for a refund, and they sent it within minutes. Lesson learned, and time to move on. The rest of the week was much kinder. I gathered the bird songs I recorded on my deck this summer with the Merlin Bird ID app: the House Wren who raised her chicks right off my deck, the Goldfinch, the Catbird, the Cardinal, the very loud Blue Jays, and more. Their voices will be the soundtrack for the video playing in the installation.My custom printed curtains came back from the seamstress. The left panel holds the centers of my digital paintings and the right holds the centers of my oil paintings. I was nervous clipping them onto the frame, but they came out almost exactly as I envisioned.

I went plant shopping and came home with a hibiscus who will appear in the video before she overwinters in my plant room. I also wrote about the Techspressionism Co-Working group. About fifteen or so of us meet every week, and they are the most generous artists I’ve ever worked with. And a new 22″ white monitor arrived and is set up in the booth. The proportions finally feel right from the previous 16″ display. Centering in the Midst of Chaos opens at Ceres Gallery on Election Day, November 3. One month to go.

Scroll down to see all the Studio Glimpses for a behind-the-scenes view of how an exhibition comes together.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for multiple solo and group exhibitions in 2026 & 2027.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.

October 2, 2026

I decided that the original 16” display monitor I bought in August is not the right size for the installation. I checked with Wirecutter and they recommended this 22” monitor that came in white. The miracle of overnight shipping, and here it is, already set up in the booth I’ve installed in my studio. The proportions are great now, and the monitor’s white case really makes a difference too. Just a few more things to add and this project will be ready for her grand entrance. It’s very satisfying to see all these bits and pieces coming together. The exhibition opens one month from today!

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

October 2, 2026

I went plant shopping today. It’s one of my favorite things to do! This picture perfect hibiscus jumped into my cart and demanded I take her home. She knows I’ll be overwintering her in my former root cellar, former dark room, current plant room. Gardening is all about optimism and planning for the future. Meanwhile, she’ll be featured in the video I’m editing for the installation in my upcoming exhibition. You can even hear some of the birds chirping in my garden in the background. I feel calmer already.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

October 1, 2026

I’m a member of the Techspressionists group. We are a group of people who are working in many different art forms using technology in some aspect of the work. The Salon is the worldwide organization and they meet the first Thursday of every month at 12 noon Eastern Time. The Co-Working group is a subset of the main group. We’re about 15 artists who meet once a week to talk about our work, spend a quiet hour working alone/together and then sharing what we’ve been working on. This is the most generous group of artists I’ve ever had the benefit of working with over the years. There is much sharing of information, acceptance of all forms of artwork, critiques and suggestions. I’ve had the benefit of people in the group helping me to think outside the box and greatly expand the thinking behind my work.

I’m a blend of traditional fine artist with my oil paintings and traditional mediums. Having been in the creative fields of technology since the early 1980s I also make art using a variety of hardware and software technologies. I capture content for audio tracks & videos with a variety of cameras and microphones along with gimbal stabilizers, and various scanners. I edit and create with apps like Photoshop, Procreate, Corel Painter, Topaz and more using a Wacom tablet & art stylus. This crossover from tech and luddite has been welcomed by the members of Techspressionism and I am so grateful for their input and support.

If you create art using technology in some way, check out their website and be prepared to be amazed. (FYI: I don’t work with the projection and animation that many of our members do as you see on the homepage. I work using tech in my own artwork in my own style) https://techspressionism.com/

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

September 30, 2026

Today I picked up the curtains that I was having hemmed by the seamstress at the cleaners. I was so nervous about clipping them up on the frame of the installation to see if they were what I had planned since sewing and working with fabric isn’t my forte. However, they came out almost exactly as I’d envisioned. The flowers are what I had custom printed on the cotton fabric a short time ago. The images on the left panel are the centers of some of my digital paintings and on the right are centers of my oil paintings. I designed the layout of the images in photoshop where I also isolated the centers of the artworks by painting mattes with my art stylus on my Wacom tablet. I designed the big circle of circles for the entrance to the installation which is titled, “A Space for Centering”. This will be on view in my exhibition that opens on Election Day, November 3 of this year. The entire show is a recreation of some elements of nature that help me to stay calm in a chaotic world.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

September 29, 2026

Today I worked on retrieving the audio files I’ve captured using the Merlin Bird ID app. When I’ve been sitting on my deck, I use this app on my iPhone to ID the birds that are coming to my garden for the food and water I supply. I also save the audio files from these birds with this app. The assortment of birds I’ve identified in my garden this summer are: Eastern Wood-Pewee, Northern House Wren (who BTW raised her chicks in the birdhouse right off my deck), White-breasted Nuthatch, Gray Catbird, Bue Jay (they’re really loud), Mourning Dove (who are ground feeders and I’ve never seen at my feeders) Song Sparrow, Northern Cardinal (who look especially gorgeous with their red feathers in the winter snow), American Robin, Red-bellied and Downy Woodpeckers, Black-capped Chickadee, the gorgeous yellow, American Goldfinch and the blushing red House Finch. There were others but these are the ones who show up more often. I’m using these bird songs as the soundtrack for the video I’m making that will be on the monitor in the installation for my upcoming show. The installation is called, A Space for Centering. I’m creating a space and bringing my garden inside to help people enjoy a bit of the comfort I gain from nature in my own garden.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

September 28, 2026

Today I created an entire layout for the home page on my new Vimeo Channel. Then I hosted some of the videos from Vimeo on my website using the WordPress Editor with the Vimeo block embed. Even though I had the video set so it didn’t auto play but also didn’t mute the audio, the audio didn’t play. What good is playing a file that gives an audio statement about a painting but doesn’t play the audio. I worked with Claude checking and double checking every setting in the Chrome browser and the Vimeo settings. This problem doesn’t exist in Safari or Firefox. I spent hour after hour checking every setting in Chrome and Vimeo over and over again. No luck. I wonder it’s because Google owns Chrome and YouTube so is throttling Vimeo’s features so people don’t have a choice if they want the most used browser to play audio. What a waste of my time and a waste of my subscription money for a year’s worth of Vimeo hosting. The time lost is more valuable to me at this age then the money. I can’t afford to waste my precious time on stupid software decisions by huge technology firms.

UPDATE! After sending a complaint about the deprecated features in Vimeo and demanding a refund, within minutes after I pushing the send button, I was refunded $156.60 to my PayPal account from Vimeo. No argueement. No threats. Just a full refund. I’m really pleased that they did the right thing. Apparently Vimeo was bought by Bending Spoons and is moving away from independent filmakers. They had huge layoffs when this happened within the last year. I’m glad they did the right thing by me!

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

This Week in the Studio – September 21-27, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up: Studio Glimpses- September 21-27, 2026

The week began with my 79th birthday, celebrated the way I start every Monday and Thursday, at the gym with my trainer, Jimmy. I keep my eyes closed and picture the muscles I’ve drawn and sculpted during the many years I studied anatomy. An art practice asks a lot of the body. Standing at the easel, packing a show, and carrying work up and down stairs all take strength and balance, so staying fit is part of the job.

On Tuesday I built a three-minute slide presentation about my current work. I wrote it all out first, then went back and forth with Claude until every word was mine. I’m the writer and creator. Claude is only an assistant editor, and that works well for me. Midweek I began bringing plants in from the deck, repotting them and settling them on the plant stands in our sunny dining room window, starting with the ones I’ll likely use in my installation at my upcoming solo exhibition.

The rest of the week belonged to the curtains for the installation. The loops I pinned on the top pole and the folder clips I tried didn’t look right, so I searched the internet for curtain clips. I found what I was looking ofr at my local IKEA website and drove there to pick them up. They were the answer, small, clean, and perfect for the job. I finished pinning and making sure the two panels were exactly the right lenght, drove to the tailor, and learned the seamstress only works Saturdays and Wednesdays. So on Saturday, in a nor’easter with winds too strong for an umbrella, I delivered them. The price surprised me, but I was glad to put away the ironing board and hand off the sewing. They’ll be ready to pick up on Wednesday. Now I can begin video and audio editing which I enjoy far more than working with fabric.

Scroll down to see all the Studio Glimpses for a behind-the-scenes view of how an exhibition comes together.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for multiple solo and group exhibitions in 2026 & 2027.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.

September 26, 2026

I took this photos sitting in the car after delivering the installation curtains to the seamstress with the rain pouring down and the wind howling during the storm.

I inherited this ironing board from an aunt of mine that passed over 40 years ago. It’s still in good shape since it usually stands quietly in the corner of the laundry room.

In our area this weekend we’re having somewhat of a nor’easter. Intense rain and extreme winds. But I was committed to making sure that I got the curtains into the hands of the seamstress at the cleaners since she only works there on Saturdays and Wednesdays. I bundled up with my raincoat since an umbrella would have been blown away and after calling and finding that she was there, I drove to where she works. I was stunned at how much it was going to cost to just stitch up the hems that I had already pinned since she didn’t need to do any alterations, i had done them all. I guess she knows how long each job takes so after agreeing that she’d have them ready for pick up this Wednesday, I left for home. Walking into my studio I was so relieved that I was going to be able to put away all the materials and the ironing board I’ve had set up for far too long. I have no feel for sewing so I’m glad to hand this part of the project off and return to creating the parts of my art that I enjoy.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

September 25, 2026

Well, happy day! I finally found the solution that will work for me. The curtain ring on the left with the clip just didn’t look smooth enough for me. Also, it caused too big a gap between the top pole and the curtain. This solution from IKEA is perfect. The curtain is light weight enough that the small clip will have no problem holding it up. It also looks like it’s made for the job, not some put together problem solver. Once I determined that this was the solution I wanted, I was able to resume pinning the top for the right length so the two curtains would hang perfectly where they met. After pinning, I folded the fabric with all the hemming pins and drove up to the tailor who has a seamstress my hubby uses for alterations only to find that she only works there on Saturdays and Wednesdays. So home I went again..sigh.. to resume this part of the project tomorrow. It’s always something!

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

September 24, 2026

I’ve had a really difficult time coming up with a solution to how to hang the curtains on the top of the installation. I pinned a loop and slid them into the pole at the top but I didn’t like the way it looked. So yet again I went online to find a different solution. I found these clips made for hanging curtains that seemed that they were exactly what I was looking for on the IKEA website. Checked and they were in stock a few towns over, so I hopped in the car and off I went. I walked the entire in-and-out length of the store and still couldn’t find them, but I pulled up a photo and asked the employee, who knew exactly where they were. She threaded me through shortcuts that I didn’t even know existed in the meandering path that IKEA uses to keep you engaged and there they were. Tiny white boxes about an inch and a half square in a spot off the main walkway in that huge store. Next time I’ll be smart enough to ask for help immediately. Paid for them and got back on the highway just at rush hour, so by the time I got home, the day was over. The testing will happen tomorrow. Fingers crossed that this time I’ll have the perfect solution.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

September 23, 2026

During the summer, I take just about all the plants outside for their vacation in the outdoors. I have to be careful not to bring in all the little pests tha live on the plants. That’s why I shower them when I bring them in.

It’s good to bring the plants indoors before the heat goes on in the house. Otherwise, the lack of humidity proves to be a great challenge for the plants to thrive.

I began bringing in the plants that I’ve been overwintering outside on the wraparound deck. First I cleaned up the plant stands I bought a number of years ago online. They fit in front of our south-facing dining room window and enjoy bright lighting most of the day. These stands are made of eucalyptus, which isn’t sturdy enough for outside but works perfectly indoors. Once dry, I repotted as needed, then watered each plant with room-temperature water and, when dry enough, put it on the stand. This is just the tip of the iceberg since most of the plants are still outside. I wanted to start with the plants I’ll probably be using inside and out of my, A Space for Centering installation at my upcoming show. Every single day I get closer and closer to putting together all the bits and pieces that make up this installation and also this entire exhibition.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

September 22, 2026

Most of the day I worked on creating a PowerPoint of what I’ve been working on for a presentation coming up soon. First, I wrote the entire project and what I wanted to say about it in Microsoft Word. I took all that text and pasted it into Claude AI. Wrote a prompt saying that I needed a three-minute slideshow from the content I was providing. Claude returned in extremely condensed form, It was exactly what I was looking for. Outlined were the reasons for the seven slides, content for display on the slide, and notes at the bottom about what I was going to say during the presentation. Also was a full color design utilizing many of the features I’d mentioned in my responses too. Although it was really good, it still wasn’t saying what I wanted to say, so I rewrote it and updated each slide. I also added photos to each slide to encapsulate the focus statement. After I sent my revisions back to Claude and it returned a response, we went back and forth several more times before I was satisfied that the language was completely mine and that there was no trace of AI contribution. This is exactly how I benefit from bringing AI into my workflow. I’m the creator, and Claude is an assistant editor. I’m very comfortable with that.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

September 21, 2026

Today was my 79^th birthday and I started the day by working out at the gym with my trainer, Jimmy. He specializes in training senior citizens which is perfect since I am one. For years I’ve been working with him twice a week. The reason I book an appointment with him is that I need an official play date in order to show up on schedule every Monday and Thursday. Yes, by now I know how to work with all the machines and what weights I need. Having Jimmy keeping track of the amount of weights and the adjustments to each of the machines is such a bonus since I don’t have to think about any of that. I just have to concentrate on which muscles in my body I’m working on strengthening. Since I’ve studied anatomy, drawn it and even sculpted it in clay, I know where the muscles are and focus on them. I keep my eyes closed so I can “see” the muscles and picture how they’re moving.

How does this fit into my art you ask? Let me tell you. Running an active art practice means there is a lot of standing, lifting, stretching, balance, and endurance that’s required. (This is also true for gardeners BTW.) Just packaging up all the work to transport it to a show takes a huge amount of muscle strength. Balancing when you’re taking artwork up and down stairs is a challenge at any age, more so at mine. Staying fit and agile is a critical component of my art practice and one I don’t take for granted.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

This Week in the Studio – September 14-20, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up: Studio Glimpses- September 14-20, 2026

The Locust Grove show is officially home. Dave and I drove upstate through pouring rain, took the art off the walls, wrapped everything in bubble wrap, and loaded the car along with the prints and notecards from the gift shop. Over two days it all got carried up to my second-floor studio, unwrapped, rehung where it would fit, and stowed away. It’s the unglamorous side of being a showing artist, and it’s done.

Tuesday brought my weekly Techspressionism Co-Working session. We check in, turn off our cameras and mics for an hour of working together alone and in silence, then come back to share and talk. I’ve never been in a group so welcoming or so rooted in art and technology. With nights dipping into the 50s, I also started moving plants indoors to my basement plant room, a former darkroom now lit with LEDs on timers that follow the seasons. Keeping a garden inside carries me through the dark months of winter.

My Take a Minute videos, short clips of flowers, clouds, and moving water, will play on the screen in A Space For Centering, the installation in my November show. They grew out of the long, slow looking I did as a child. I also picked up my new iPhone 18 on launch day, and my Sony RX100 now gathers dust. As for the installation curtains, the iron-on tape didn’t pass the test, so I pinned every edge by hand for the seamstress. Bleeding fingertips, no stains. Whew!

Centering in the Midst of Chaos opens at Ceres Gallery on Election Day, November 3rd.

Scroll down to see all the Studio Glimpses for a behind the scenes view of how an exhibition comes together.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for multiple solo and group exhibitions in 2026 & 2027.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.

September 19, 2026

I don’t sew, but I can pin. I bought iron-on tape since I thought it would work perfectly for me to create a finished hem on the curtains for the installation. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the outcome when I tested it on some extra fabric. So now I’m hemming the edges on the sides plus the bottom and top to take to the seamstress. I really don’t like sewing or pinning. My fingertips were bleeding & I was afraid of staining the fabric. But I didn’t. Whew!

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

September 18, 2026

Today is the first day the Apple was making their brand new iPhone 18 available to the public. So what did I do today? I went to the Apple store in the Mall near me and picked up my pre-ordered new toy. So yes, this proves it. I’m a well-known Toy Pig and an early adopter. The lines out the store were amazing but we walked right in since we had ordered it there the day before. We backed my phone up at home so it took about an hour to transfer all the content from my trade-in iPhone 13, and a few more hours at home for me to play with it. It’s a little bit heavier than the 13 and a little bit thicker but I’m sure I’ll adjust to that in a few days. The camera quality is amazing! Outside of the Apple store, I went to the Zagg popup and had them put on the screen protectors for all the photo lenses and main screen plus the protective case. My Sony RX100 sits by my desk gathering dust at this point. I don’t have a compelling reason to use anything except the iPhone I carry in my pocket every place I go and can capture anything I need instantly. Long ago I sold all my Nikons and lenses that used to hang around my neck like heavy weights. Now I just wip the phone out of my back pocket, push the side button and the amazing camera is ready for the shoot. Times sure have changed and lots of it for the better!

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

September 17, 2026

These are some of the short videos on my YouTube Take a Minute Playlist

One of my creative endeavors is creating short videos of things I find calming and want to share so others can experience that feeling, in some way. As a child, I spent long periods of time just staring at various things like flowers, clouds or the movement of water. I’m so grateful that I had that experience and still use this ability to just look slowly in wonder. On my YouTube channel, I post some of these mini-videos in the playlist I call Take a Minute videos. In my upcoming exhibition, I’ll be showing versions of these calming videos on the screen in my installation, which is called A Space For Centering. I’m hoping to share with viewers in this increasingly fast-paced world where we’re bombarded with content, a reminder to slow down and just experience calmness.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

September 16, 2026

This is an assortment of plants I’ve overwintered for years spending their summer vacation on the deck.

I donated the Leica enlarger and all the darkroom equipment to Farmingdale State for a fundraising event for the benefit of their excellent Horticulture curriculum.

This is a panoramic shot of the plant room in my basement’s former root cellar. Originally, I installed fluorescent lighting, but the room became too hot, which led to insect and fungal problems on the plants. The LED lighting doesn’t give off heat so once I converted the fixtures, the plants remained healthy all winter.

The weather is changing here on Long Island. The nighttime temperatures will be dipping into the 50s so it’s time to start bringing in some of my plants from their summer vacation outside in the garden and on the deck. In my basement, there is an unheated room that was probably a root cellar when the house was originally built. When I bought the property in 1989, I designed the room to be my darkroom. Once I went all digital, I donated my entire assortment of darkroom equipment to Farmingdale State, where I had studied for a degree in Horticulture. Since the sink and counters were there, it was easy to convert it into a plant room with just some LED lighting fixtures. I have all the lighting on timers and I mimic the daylight hours throughout the changes from fall, to winter and then spring. Having my garden indoors helps to keep my spirits up during the short days and long dark and cold nights of winter.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

September 15, 2026

The Co-Working group is a subset of the main Techspressionist group. We meet every Tuesday at noon and weekly attendance is entirely optional.

At the next general Techspressionist monthly meeting our Co-Working group will be presenting.

Today is Tuesday which means that at noon I met with a group of other artists who work with technology to create their work. We always discuss what we are working on, then spend close to an hour working on a project by ourselves because we turn off our video and audio. We work together alone and in silence. At the end of that time, we come back online and each of us shows something we recently worked on and a discussion ensues, questions are asked and answered. It’s a time for each of us to gain insights, share ideas, stretch what we’re doing. All of us work in different styles, use a very wide variety of tech resources and all of us are creating unique art forms for display in different types of venues online and offline. I’ve never been in a group before that was so welcoming and also had such a broad and long history with art and technology before. This Co-Working group is a subset of Techspressionism. Here is their statement: Techspressionist Salons are a time and place in cyberspace where artists gather once a month to hang out, share their work and discuss matters relating to art, philosophy, and technology. These meetups were conceived as a modern counterpart to the Surrealist salons of the 1920’s, in which artists could meet informally to socialize and discuss ideas. Techspressionism is a 100% volunteer-based international artist community. The main group meets the first Thursday of every month. You can join in from the website. The Co-Working subset meets every week. All people working using some form of technology, cameras, video, computers, software, hardware, different apps, AI, and other forms of technology assisted work are welcome.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

September 14, 2026

When I buy a car I always measure the inside to make sure my art will fit in.

Multiple stacks of bubble wrap are on high shelves in my laundry room out of the way of daily living.

Hubby Dave and I brought home all the artwork from my solo show at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie. I began driving in the pouring rain for an hour before it let up and by the time we arrived at the site, the rain had stopped altogether. After that three-hour drive, we took all the art off the walls, wrapped it in bubble wrap, and loaded it in my car. We also had prints and notecards that had been for sale in their gift shop. The drive home was only 2 ½ hours and we made it home before dark. We unloaded the car and carried everything upstairs to my studio on the second floor of our home. It took considerable time over two days to retrieve the work, drive it home, tote it upstairs, unwrap it, rehang what we could and stow away the packing material and the rest of the artwork. This is decidedly the unglamorous part of being a showing artist.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for solo and group shows in 2026 and 2027.
Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

This Week in the Studio – September 7-13, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up: Studio Glimpses September 7-12, 2026

This was a full week, bookended by an ending and a beginning. Monday, I spent the day writing. My MailChimp newsletter went out, and pulling it together meant taking stock of everything at once: the Locust Grove show closing, the Ceres Gallery show opening November 3rd, my latest Substack article, and the piece just published in Sanctuary Magazine. Seeing it all in one place is a little exhausting, but I do love the work.

I ordered binder clips for the installation project. The wrong size arrived, then the right ones showed up the next day without me leaving my desk. In the 1970s, finding the right material meant driving from store to store. Now it arrives at the door.

The custom-printed fabric for the installation is pinned up, but it still needs hemming, and I don’t sew. Iron-on hemming tape has arrived, so that’s next.

I also solved a problem with my video setup. My gimbal keeps the camera steady while I’m walking, but close-ups of flowers were unsteady since my arm alone can’t hold still. A monopod to mount the gimbal on turned out to be exactly what I needed: light, easy to adjust, inexpensive.

Wednesday, 9/11, some days you want nothing more than flowers, nature, and time to remember.

The week closed out at Locust Grove. After three months there, the show ended on Saturday. Dave and I drove up from Long Island, three hours each way, and packed everything ourselves, paintings, drawings, prints, note cards, the print racks, and the baskets. The lifting wasn’t bad, we both work out with weights at the gym a few days a week, but six hours of driving in one day is not my idea of a good time. But it’s done now and we got home safe and sound!

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for multiple solo and group exhibitions in 2026 & 2027.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.

September 12, 2026

This is the last day of the show at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie NY. It’s been there since the beginning of June. The summer sure went fast! Hubby Dave and I drove upstate from our home in Long Island which is about a three hour drive. We took down the work, wrapped it in our bags of bubble wrap and loaded the car. We had paintings and drawings for the main show and prints, and note cards they sold in their gift shop. There were also two wooden print racks and numerous baskets for displaying the work in their shop for us to pack. The car was not entirely full so there were no obstructed views which made for safer driving. Since we both work out with weights at the gym a few times each week, the lifting, carrying and packing weren’t too difficult. The driving was what was tiring. Six hours round trip with me behind the wheel is not my idea of fun.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for two solo exhibitions and a few group shows in 2026. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, was on view from June 5 – September 12, 2026. In November, 2026 I will have work in the Queens College Alumni Show and at Guild Hall in East Hampton, Long Island. Check my News & Exhibitions page for additional information.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

September 11, 2026

There are some days you only want to look at flowers, spend time with nature, and remember. This is one of them for me.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 12, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

September 10, 2026

Using my gimbal to steady my camera while I’m walking works perfectly. But I found that holding it for slow close-ups of flowers is unsteady since my arm moves. The image is not jittery, but a bit unsteady. I bout a monopod to mount my gimbal on so I can walk or stand still and get steady videos for most of my recordings. This monopod is exactly what I was looking for. Extremely lightweight, clips to easily adjust the height, a screw at the top to hold my gimbal safely and a few other options that just enhance the purchase for me. I think the amazing thing is that this excellent piece of equipment was so very inexpensive. I wasn’t shopping for price, but it is a definite bonus.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 12, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

September 9, 2026

Now that I’ve pinned up the custom-printed fabric for the installation, I need to hem it. I don’t sew! Not even buttons that fall off. A friend suggested I get some iron-on hemming tape. It was just delivered, now I have to get what we call, Around Tuit. I’m busy writing press releases and renewing my artist’s statement for the upcoming exhibition, so I’ll get around to it soon.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 12, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

September 8, 2026

In the 1970s when I made assemblages, I would get in my car and drive to many different stores to look for specific items or to just wander around until something I saw inspired me. Now, I sit at my desk and shop and in a day or so the product shows up at my doorstep. If I don’t like it or it’s the wrong size, damaged or I found something better, I can just return it. Shipping in either direction is usually free. Of course, we all know that nothing is free in this world, but at least I pretend that shipping is free. I ordered white binder clips for my installation project, and they were too small. So I ordered larger ones, and the next day, without getting in my car and driving, they arrived. Shopping has sure has changed over the last 50 years!

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 12, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

September 7, 2026

I spent most of the day writing, getting images, proofing and testing before I published my MailChimp newsletter to my mailing list. I try to publish one a month but I’m not very successful at that so it’s usually every other month. I had a lot to cover with the Locust Grove show closing on September 12th, the Ceres Gallery show opening on November 3^rd, my latest Substack article, and the article I wrote that was just published in Sanctuary Magazine. Also included a sentence or so about these Studio Glimpses posts. It isn’t until I pull all this together for one publication do I realize how much I’ve been doing. I get tired just thinking about it. Ha! But actually, I enjoy all the work I do. I’ve worked for myself for most of my career and you can’t be successful unless you love working all the time. Success to me is enjoying what you do.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 12, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

This Week in the Studio – August 31-September 6, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up: Studio Glimpses

This week the installation for Centering in the Midst of Chaos started to become real. The custom-printed fabric arrived, and after a nervous day of not opening the package, I finally cut into it. The colors are bright, just as I’d hoped, printed from the centers of my oil and digital paintings. White doesn’t print, so a few petals will need some imagination to complete, but I’m not letting that small miss slow me down.

By Saturday I was up on the stepstool pinning the panels to the front of the installation to test my idea. It worked. The two panels match in size and position, and they’ll form the circle of circles at the entry just as I designed it. Next comes measuring and hemming, and I’m deciding whether to try iron-on tape myself or hand the job to a seamstress. Sewing has never been my thing, and I’ve made peace with that. We can’t be good at everything.

I also spent a full day recording the statements for each of the oil paintings in the show. It turned out to be harder than I expected, closer to acting or narrating an audiobook than writing. I wrote each statement first, then read it aloud maybe ten times before I felt ready, and it still took several tries per recording to get one I liked. Sitting up straight and breathing from the diaphragm made all the difference, something I hadn’t thought about since I played the trumpet.

In between, I spent a day at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum filming dahlias for the installation video, bees included. And my article for Sanctuary Magazine, on slow looking as a counterbalance to chaos, was published, which feels like it’s speaking directly to the work happening in the studio right now.

Scroll down to see all the Studio Glimpses for a behind the scenes view of how an exhibition comes together.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 12, 2026, and my work for the group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC which was on view until July 18, 2026.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.

September 5, 2026

Today I got out my stepstool and pinned the custom-printed fabric to the front of the installation to see if my idea would work as I hoped. It will!! The two panels match in size and position, so they will form a circle of circles at the entry as I designed. Next step will be to take all the exact measurements and hem them. I’ve ordered some iron-on hemming tape and will first try it on some extra fabric to test how it will work. My other option is to hire a seamstress since sewing has never been my forte or interest in the least. I even take items to the tailor if a button falls off a blouse. We can’t be interested or talented in every single art or craft in my opinion.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 12, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

September 4, 2026

It’s prime dahlia season right now on Long Island where I live. Since I needed more video for my installation, I spent the day at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum where there is an extensive collection of dahlias managed by the Mid-Island Dahlia Society. The bees were having a wonderful afternoon buzzing around from blossom to blossom. Some flowers were more to their taste than others. I mounted my iPhone on my Hohem gimbal to capture the videos. This time I’m using a horizontal aspect ratio since it will be showing on the monitor. When I’m making content for YouTube, I use a vertical version since that’s the way that their Shorts are viewed. Those are mostly created for phone viewing. That’s the difference between deciding which direction to capture your shots, is the content for television/monitor viewing or for phone viewing. This just makes capturing a little bit more complicated and also creates a need for a much greater storage capacity for these different variations. I am careful to document in my storage which videos are which, so I can more quickly find the content for editing.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 12, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

September 3, 2026

The custom-printed fabric arrived. Actually, it arrived yesterday but I was too nervous to open the package until today. I’m so happy with the printing! I didn’t expect the two pieces to come in on one long roll of fabric, but that’s OK, I own scissors. The colors are bright just as I hoped they’d be. I chose a thin cotton weave from Printree’s vast collection and expected it to be more sheer to allow people to see through it a little so they’d want to go inside the installation. But it’s just fine. I’m happy with the outcome so far. This was a giant leap for me, selecting the images from my oil and digital paintings to focus on just the centers. I made one error, I hadn’t thought about the fact that the color white doesn’t print so the white in some of the petals will take some imagination. I’m not letting that minor error interfere with my enjoyment of creating this installation. Life isn’t perfect, and neither am I!

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 12, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

September 2, 2026

An article I wrote for Sanctuary Magazine was published today!

Some questions don’t have one answer. What am I doing to stay sane in these times? For me, it’s not doomscrolling. It’s slow walking through my garden, paying attention to the texture of a leaf instead of the weeds that need pulling.

My latest article for Sanctuary Magazine, Exploring At and Nature as a Counterbalance to Chaos, goes deeper into this, the research behind “slow looking,” and how centering and chaos live together in my work heading into Centering in the Midst of Chaos my solo show in Chelsea, that explores these issues this November. Read it now here: Sanctuary Magazine Article.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 12, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

September 1, 2026

I spent the day recording statements about each of the oil paintings that will be in my upcoming show. I have new respect for actors and for people who record audiobooks. Wow! It’s hard to do well. I used my DJI Mic Mini to improve the quality of my recordings. I wrote each statement and then asked Claude to review it, and “he” gave me quality feedback, some of which I incorporated. But the hard part was overcoming my Brooklyn accent and not garbling my words. I found I had to recite the statement about 10 times before I was ready to record. Then it often took two to four tries before I felt the recording was acceptable. I also had to sit up straight in order to get enough air into my lungs to carry me through the sentences. I had to breathe very much like I did when I played the trumpet many, many years ago. Inhale from the diaphragm, not from the lungs. What a great project! I learned a lot by doing it.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 12, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

August 31, 2026

I’ve been doing tutorials on my Hohem gimbal. There are so many controls on it that it takes a bit of time to learn them all. Each button has multiple actions depending on how many times you press it. The gimbal is used to keep my iPhone steady when I’m taking videos, and it really works well. It has an extension that lets me do high and low shots and a built-in stand for when I want to video myself while I’m painting. It can even track me if I move. The controller can be removed from the handle and used remotely. There’s a small lighting feature, but I don’t know how useful it will be for what I’m doing. There are so many variations of the Hohem and other gimbals on the marketplace. Mine is an iSteady V3 and it does what I want it to do.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 12, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

This Week in the Studio – August 24-30, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up: Studio Glimpses

This week the installation moved from idea to something I could actually see working. I placed the order for my artwork to be printed on sheer curtain fabric that I’m planning to hang on the frame of the installation. I made myself press “Place the order” despite every voice in my head insisting I wasn’t ready yet. A large part of my week was trading iMovie for CapCut. The new video editor is so feature rich that I watched a lot of tutorials to find what I needed. Learning a new set of tools mid-project because the new editor is more versatile with horizontal and vertical aspect ratios added many additional hours to my work week that I hadn’t expected. Editing is its own craft, full of decisions. Sorting through many years worth of image and video content, writing captions and storylines, deciding on music for the background ambiance, and selecting the right transitions to use between clips. By the end of the week, the video draft for the display monitor in the installation was live on the Raspberry Pi. Headphones were connected and working as expected. The monitor booted up and automatically displayed the video draft I created. A power strip was mounted safely in a basket underneath the table, and all the electronics are controlled with the flick of one switch, including the water fountain. By the end of the week, I finished editing My New World – Anemone Redux, a video following one painting from 2018 to its 2024 revision. I hosted it on Vimeo rather than YouTube, which I’ll use for all the videos I create for the exhibition since it has no distracting advertising. Having a working system was a huge step to reducing the stress I’ve felt about bringing my ideas to fruition.

Scroll down to see all the Studio Glimpses for a behind the scenes view of how an exhibition comes together.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 12, 2026, and my work for the group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC which was on view until July 18, 2026.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.

August 29, 2026

Another step in the creation of the installation has been checked off the To-Do list. The video draft has been uploaded to the Raspberry Pi, which shows it on the display monitor. The headphones are also now connected and the audio from the video is clear. All the electricity is running off one power strip located in a basket underneath the table. Security has been considered, and all electronics are resistant to unauthorized removal from the installation. The video on display can be changed by uploading it remotely, which is very convenient, as is the fact that only one switch on the power strip boots up all the devices, including the water fountain.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 12, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

August 28, 2026

I posted my latest video on Vimeo. It shows the painting of an Anemone from its beginning in 2018 to its revision in 2024. What isn’t shown is why I took it off the wall and overpainted some of it. What spurred the change in my work was that during Covid I began looking at the imagery from NASA. It made me realize that just as a healthy garden comes from cooperation and community, our galaxy also requires harmony for our continued existence. Recognizing that need for balance in both our macro and microcosms is now a thread throughout all my oil paintings.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 12, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

August 27, 2026

**View the Take a Minute Video on You Tube here:** **https://youtu.be/-w6KU07LKhg**

There are some surprises that stop you in the middle of whatever you are doing. This is what did that for me today. I was looking in my deck planters, and the sun caught these delicate strings of flowers from a volunteer grass nestled between the begonias I planted. The juxtaposition of the brilliant colors the sun was promoting on the undersides of the begonia leaves with the fine threads of an unexpected bloom just took all the stress out of my day. These are the moments of joy and the visual treats I experience each day that I walk through my garden. It is a place of miracles and wonder, as Paul Simon sang. The garden carries me through all the low points and makes my best days even better.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 12, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

August 26, 2026

Making videos is a far cry from making oil paintings. But, I’m doing both for my upcoming exhibition. Fifteen oil paintings, 5 digital artworks, and an installation are what I’ll be showing in November. When I had the idea to do an installation which will include video, I didn’t think about how much work would go into it or how much I had to learn in order to create it. After all, I’d been making videos since I borrowed a Super 8 in the 1960s. Capturing content is very different than editing a video. I found I needed a storyline. What was I trying to show? Did I have the right material to add to the timeline? Was what I was trying to express clear to the viewer? What is the context in which I wanted this video viewed? Did the video need captions, subtitles or voiceover? Was this video being created for a horizontal or vertical aspect ratio? How about music? Did it need it to set the mood, or would it interfere with the message? So many considerations I hadn’t really thought of in depth before. This is what I’m dealing with now.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 12, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

August 25, 2026

I’ve been working on editing videos for both the installation and for the wall label QR codes for my upcoming exhibition. For years I’ve used iMovie for editing, but they don’t handle vertical videos well, so I decided to move over to CapCut. Oh my! What a difference! There are so many additional editing features available in the new program that every time I’m working with it, I spend even more time doing tutorials. There is so much information online from CapCut itself but also from a wide variety of independent instructors. Many of whom are excellent. I’m working on making a draft of the video I’ll be displaying on the monitor that will be inside the installation in my upcoming exhibition. Each step along the way is taking far more time than I ever expected. So glad I’ve been working for months on this part of the project.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 12, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

August 24, 2026

Today I placed the order for the sheer cotton fabric for the curtain that will hang on the front of the multi-sensory installation I’m creating for my upcoming exhibition. My own artwork will be printed on the fabric. Printree, the vendor, has a good website with an abundance of information which helped considerably with the ordering process. Before I created the artwork, they encouraged me to meet online with someone to go over the details of my printing project which was critical to getting the outcome I’m hoping for. Even with all this support, I found it difficult to push the “Place the order” button. There are always a million details in your head telling you that you’re not ready. But for years I’ve studied the many tricks we use to put obstacles in our way of getting things accomplished. My marketing guru, Seth Godin, often says, Ship It! So I clicked the button and moved on to the next part of the project.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 12, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

This Week in the Studio – August 17-23, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up: Studio Glimpses: Week in Review
Week in Review August 17-23, 2026

This week I worked on the entry curtains for my November installation, Centering in the Midst of Chaos. After a meeting with Printree, the fabric printer, I had the fabric specs I needed and built a circular grid in Photoshop of some of my artwork to make an entry statement into the installation. Partway through, I realized I’d made this shape before, over 20 years ago, drawing the Compositae family for my Botanical Illustration Certificate. Circles within circles, decades apart. Different tools, same center.

Sharing the project with my Techspressionism group led me somewhere new too. A member connected my work to the Healing Arts movement, and I’ve been reading the book she recommended, Your Brain on Art, ever since. Slowing down and looking closely has always been at the heart of what I make, in paintings and in my garden alike. I also spent a day sorting out Vimeo versus YouTube, deciding to keep YouTube for my regular videos and host exhibition work on Vimeo instead. I finished the week masking the centers of my artwork in thin transparent layers so they will print on the sheer fabric hanging on the installation. I’m chasing that same sense of transparency in pixels that I’ve always worked toward in paint and also my life.

Scroll down to see all the Studio Glimpses for a behind the scenes view of how an exhibition comes together.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 12, 2026, and my work for the group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC which was on view until July 18, 2026.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.

August 22, 2026

I’m creating the graphics that will be printed on the sheer cotton fabric I’ve selected for the front of the installation. I paint in thin transparent layers and I’m trying to duplicate that for the overlapping floral centers. The unit itself comes with an opaque curtain fabric, but for my purposes, I want there to be a feeling of some transparency, so I’ve selected the sheer cotton weave from the printer. The artwork is derived from my own work. The five floral centers on the left are from some of the digital paintings I create using Corel Painter. The five on the right are from my original oil paintings which I create with fan brushes, oil paint on cotton duck canvas.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 15, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

August 21, 2026

For the installation for my upcoming Exhibition, I’ve been recording the songs of the birds who come to visit in my garden. The Merlin app is installed on my iPhone and it captures, not only the sounds of the birds, it identifies them for me so I can learn the different bird calls. There are different times of the day when the birds are more active and sing for their supper, shall we say. I had no idea that such a wide variety of them come on a daily basis to enjoy the water and other nourishment they find throughout my garden. Their sounds are so calming to me as I sit out on my deck and enjoy their serenade.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 15, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

August 20, 2026

Today I spent time researching the differences and best uses of Vimeo and YouTube. On YouTube, which I’ve been using for years to post videos of my garden, studio, work in progress, and my series of Take a Minute videos, is more commercial. Since they don’t charge for posting on my own dedicated channel, I am the product, which means they are using my work to sell advertising to generate income. Nothing is free. If you don’t pay for something, you need to figure out how a company is generating revenue from you in other ways. Vimeo has a free intro plan but quickly becomes limiting, which encourages you to purchase a monthly or yearly subscription. Because of this, however, no ads for other products or sources pop up at the end of my video. This is a more professional presentation for posting work that will be connected to my art exhibitions. I’ve decided that I will use both but in different ways. I’ll continue to use YouTube as I’ve always done, but will host my Exhibition work on the Vimeo platform since it’s more upscale.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 15, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

August 19, 2026

I spent today designing the graphics for the sheer entry curtains that will hang in the installation for my November show. Partway through, something clicked. I’ve made this design before. Over 20 years ago, working toward my Botanical Illustration Certificate at the New York Botanical Garden, I drew the Compositae family, flowers whose petals all radiate from a central circle. And here I was again, decades later, building circles within circles. It’s strange and grounding to catch yourself returning to the same shape across a whole career. Gardens, drawings, pixels, oil paint. Different tools, same center.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 15, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

August 18, 2026

I am in a co-working group of artists who meet on a regular basis. The connection is that we all create art using some form of technology in our work. The main organization is called Techspressionism. This week I shared with the group this Studio Glimpses column and the installation project I’m creating for my upcoming show. When I finished speaking, one of the members pointed out that my work is actually aligned with the Healing Arts movement. I had never heard of it but she sent me some links to get started, I was engaged immediately and by the next day I was sitting on my deck reading the book, Your Brain on Art. For many years my work has focused on encouraging viewers to slow down and spend time thinking about what I’m trying to say with my large flower paintings and the abstract galaxies I layer them in, under and in-between. Slowing down, looking and thinking is a big component of the focus of my work. Using another creative medium of mine, I have been designing my own garden over the last 35 years. The space I’ve created isn’t for sitting on a proscenium looking a flowers in the distance, it is for wandering along the woodland walks and meditating on the subtle changes that nature provides on a daily basis. The journey through life and the journey meandering in my garden are both subjects of contemplation in the things and spaces I create. Now I’m beginning to have new language for my work which I’m just now learning to fold into my writing. This also is part of my continuing journey. A huge thanks to Marya Triandafellos for pointing me in this new direction. See her incredible work here: https://www.marya.nyc

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 15, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

August 17, 2026

I have been working on designing the curtains for the front of the installation for my November exhibition. I’ve been back and forth with ideas and think I may have finally decided on a design that works given the theme of the show, Centering in the Midst of Chaos. I’ve included a photo of the installation in its current state to help you visualize the design concept. The printing on the sheer cotton fabric will serve as a welcome entry into the nearly visible interior, with a monitor showing video, a water feature, and headphones for audio, all surrounded by plants. After a meeting with customer support at Printree, the fabric printer, I now have the dimensions of the width of the fabric and a better understanding of their filetype requirements. After determining the circular design, I created a grid and layout in Photoshop, adding various round shapes to determine scale. Once I determined the format, I gathered some of my digital artworks, and then using the matte feature I brushed out the exterior petals using my Wacom tablet and stylus, leaving only the centers to support the circle concept. The right panel will have centers of some of my oil paintings.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 15, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

This Week in the Studio – August 10-16, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up: Studio Glimpses: Week in Review
August 10-16, 2026
This week the pieces of “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” kept clicking into place. It started with a studio lighting fix, new LED bulbs that finally solved a flickering problem I’d wrongly blamed on the switch. From there I moved forward on creating my installation: a Zoom with Printree to nail down the specs for my curtain fabric, then off to Micro Center for the display monitor. The water feature arrived and fit the booth perfectly. I gathered footage for the meditation video, drawing on the spirit of my Take a Minute You Tube series. I also picked a new microphone, the DJI Mic Mini, for recording the painting statements that will accompany each work. And on my Naturally Inspired Substack column, I wrote about my little six-year-old self who first taught me to look closely, and how that habit of observation became the center I keep returning to.

Scroll down to see all the Studio Glimpses for a behind the scenes view of how an exhibition comes together.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, and my work for the group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC which was on view until July 18, 2026.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.

August 15, 2026

I have a Substack column titled Naturally Inspired where, just about every other week, I post articles about art, gardens, aging gracefully and staying centered. Today’s post was about how living a life as a six-year old girl calmly looking and absorbing my surroundings in nature, led to a lifetime of close observation that still is the source of all my art and where I find my center.

Here is a link to the article on my Substack column. You can subscribe if you choose.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 15, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

August 14, 2026

The lights in one of my studios weren’t working very well lately. I thought it was the switch since I had to flip it on and off multiple times before all the bulbs would light. The electrician I’ve used before came and immediately determined that it wasn’t the switch but the ballast in the fixtures. So, he rewired them and brought six brand new LED bulbs which fit easily into the existing fixtures. He set the switch on each of the bulbs to 5000 degrees Kelvin which was a selection between daylight and incandescent lighting. The lighting in the room looks great and the problem with what seemed to be the switch is no longer a problem. It’s always great to see a person at work who knows exactly what they’re doing and does it carefully. They are artists in their own field of work.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 15, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

August 13, 2026

Today I gathered video content for the installation I’ll be showing at my upcoming exhibition, “Centering in the Midst of Chaos”, which will open on election day, November 3, 2026. I have a series on my YouTube Channel called Take a Minute Videos, this is what they are for: Take a Minute Videos offer a brief sanctuary from the rush of daily life. These short videos provide a meditative pause—a moment to breathe, reflect, and find calm amid the chaos. Let yourself settle into stillness and allow space for healing. I’m working on a video presentation with this theme.

Visit my YouTube Channel to see more of my videos.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 15, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

August 12, 2026

I’m going to be doing audio recordings of the statements I’ve written about each of the paintings in my upcoming exhibition. After testing I realized that I needed a better microphone than what comes installed in my computer. Doing research on an affordable option for using the microphone on my iPhone and also on my desktop Mac, I chose the highly rated DJI Mic Mini. Nice and easy setup and very clear audio playback. I have a lot of studying to do to understand the jargon of audio work but that’s part of the fun of creating. There’s always something new to learn.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 15, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

August 11, 2026

The water feature I ordered a few days ago showed up today and I think it’s perfect. The size is right for the booth and the color, or lack of color, works for me. There is a pretty big water basin so I believe it will hold enough water to last for two or more days which shouldn’t be a problem for the gallery sitter to take care of. It’s run by electricity so will have to be plugged in to the power strip that will be below and behind the curtain. Plants under the table will be hiding all the cords once the installation is set up in the gallery. Another part of the project fell into place with this water feature today. Glad to check it off my ToDoist list.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 15, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

August 10, 2026

I had a zoom meeting with a rep from Printree.com to discuss the specs I need to consider when designing my on-demand printing for the curtains of my installation. They were very helpful with clarifying the size of fabric I need to work with, the widths, and the number of yards. Also, the resolution they use is 200dpi rather than my usual print settings for 300 which is important they said since it might throw the design out of proportion. They will give me a view of how the design will look before the printing begins, which is great, and they can also supply me with a print sample to evaluate the color if I choose. They use the sRGB profile which is important to know for color accuracy. Following that Zoom, I went to Micro Center to buy the display monitor for the installation. It seems a bit smaller in height than I expected but it met the width requirement. The aspect ratio is scaled for video display.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 15, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.
It will feature digital artwork, oil paintings, and a multimedia installation.

This Week in the Studio – August 3-9, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up: Studio Glimpses: Week in Review
August 3-9, 2026
This week was largely about research and problem-solving for the November installation. I spent a good chunk of time in Photoshop testing what to print on the fabric panels, eventually landing on the idea of masking just the centers of my paintings, a nod to the show’s title, Centering in the Midst of Chaos. I also lost hours searching for the right water feature, one that could bring a sense of calm into the space without fighting its aesthetics. Alongside that, I worked in CapCut editing garden footage for the video component, including a hibiscus that bloomed and was gone within a day. And on Saturday, family pulled me away from all of it, a long drive to Brooklyn, an audiobook about Frances Perkins, and a reminder that the work will always be there when I get back.

Scroll down to see all the Studio Glimpses for a behind the scenes view of how an exhibition comes together.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, and my work for the group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC which was on view until July 18, 2026.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.

August 8, 2026

Hubby Dave was a an over 200 mile bike ride this week from Troy NY to Brooklyn where I picked him up. The next day he took the train back upstate to retrieve his car. During the ride he celebrated his 75th birthday!

I had read off and on about Frances Perkins from a variety of sources but this book is a perfect example of why we have not learned more about her amazing accomplishments in improving the lives of millions or human beings.

A busy day for me, but I did not work on the projects for the upcoming exhibition. Family first. Drove into Brooklyn to pick up hubby Dave from his Cycle the Hudson Bike Ride, which he’s been doing for the past week. 200 miles of biking and then sleeping in a tent for a week. Different strokes for different folks. The round-trip drive took me over 4 hours due to traffic, but I listened to an audiobook about Frances Perkins, who helped found Social Security, a 40-hour work week, unemployment insurance, and more, working for FDR during the depression and WWII as the first woman in the Cabinet. She was the Secretary of Labor. Thank you Frances!

The book title is “The Woman Behind the New Deal. The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR’s Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience”.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 15, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.

August 7, 2026

Working with CapCut today to edit the videos that will be part of the installation project for the November exhibition. I like to capture close-up videos of flowers and features in the garden that I find interesting. I spend a considerable amount of time in the garden just looking. It is a place to regain balance and harmony in my life. A place to put stress aside and just be part of nature. To ponder why. Why are these flowers the way they are? What is the purpose of their existence? What is ours? I find these quiet conversations with myself calming and relaxing.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 15, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.

August 6, 2026

In the close-up process of editing the Take a Minute video, I realized that I’ve painted a version of a hibiscus flower before so I went hunting through my archived documentation.

This painting of a Disco Belle Hibiscus was in an exhibition in January on Long Island and is currently in an exhibition in Poughkeepsie NY.

While I was editing my Take a Minute video with the hibiscus, I realized that a while ago, I had made a painting of another hibiscus flower I had in my garden at the time. This year it has been in two exhibitions. In January it was on view at the Art League of Long Island, and currently it is in the show, Portraits From My Garden, until the middle of September 2026.
You can take a closer look at the original Disco Belle Hibiscus oil painting on my website here.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 15, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.

August 5, 2026

Today I was treated with this amazing hibiscus flower which one day will end up in one of my paintings. Instead, I captured video of this beauty, and it will end up in the installation piece in my show in November. Hard to believe that the plant creates this stunning piece of color and complexity for it to last only one day. By later this evening, this flower will have already crumpled and collapsed. But for a few short weeks, there will be another bud opening in the morning, whose only job it is to attract pollinators.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 15, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.

August 4, 2026

Working on my installation project for my upcoming exhibition in November again today. This entire show’s theme and focus are about centering and staying calm in chaotic times. My own history comes into play with this subject. One of the many ways I stay calm is to meditate, another is to be in my garden, other gardens or by spending time in nature. I find the sounds of nature, birds, and water are calming for me too. One of my friends said that in that case, I need to add water to my installation. So today I spent hours looking for just the right water feature to fit in the installation space and have the aesthetics in keeping with my vision. You can lose hours of your precious life looking for just the perfect something or other, can’t you!

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 15, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.

August 3, 2026

I decided to work on what images I want to have custom printed on the fabric panels of the installation. Initially, I thought about my tall ornamental grasses since the panels will be about 24” wide and about 70” tall. Ornamental grasses would work well for those dimensions. But there would be no flowers or colors echoing the paintings on the four walls of the gallery. One friend suggested printing my paintings, but I didn’t want to put squares and rectangles. Then I pictured just parts of my paintings. Mostly the centers. That would pick up the theme and title of the show, Centering in the Midst of Chaos and echo the colors around the gallery. So, I spent the day working in Photoshop and masking some of the paintings just to see whether that might work. I still haven’t decided, but at least I’m experimenting.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for three exhibitions. My solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, on view from June 5 – September 15, 2026, and my work that was on view in the June, 2026 group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” in Chelsea, NYC.

My next solo exhibition titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” will be at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, November 3 – 28, 2026.

Ceres Gallery 547 West 27th St. Suite 201Chelsea, New York, 10001

A Space For Centering – A multi-sensory installation

This Week in the Studio – November 1-8, 2026

Centering in the Midst of Chaos – Exhibition Statement

This Week in the Studio – October 26-31, 2026

This Week in the Studio – October 19-25, 2026

This Week in the Studio – October 12-18, 2026

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Ceres Gallery
547 West 27th St. Suite 201
Chelsea, New York, 10001