WIPs Archives - Mary Ahern Artist

July 31, 2026

One of the things I have to decide is what aspect ratio to use for the video portion of my installation for the Nov exhibition. I had thousands of videos but had to do some sorting. First was to split the horizontal & the vertical videos. Then to sort them by subject. I was looking for how many usable videos I had available to edit into the video loop I plan to create. Even though I have far more vertical format videos, I’ve decided that for this project I want to use the horizontal format. Humans are used to seeing things horizontally. We view televisions horizontally. We read paper books horizontally. Our eyes are balanced horizontally. I believe more calmness is perceived if we see images in a horizontal format so that’s what I’m going to create.

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.

July 30, 2026

This 8×10″ image on the table is just too small to make a statement.

I’m thinking that this 12×16″ image would make a good size for a monitor given the restricted space. Standing in the confined area, looking at the images on the monitor of this size would be comfortable and even a bit cozy.

A 16×20″ monitor would make you want to step back and that would not be feasible in this structure since it would make the space too claustrophic

The next decision I’m contemplating is the size of the monitor I want to put on the table. Too big and you want to stand back from it, which won’t work in a tight space. Too small and it won’t have gravitas. Not having a variety of monitors in different sizes to trial, I put different sized prints on a stand on the new table inside the structure. I think the middle size is the Goldilocks decision since it has the right amount of screen space and will encourage the viewer to stand at an appropriate distance and not feel claustrophobic.

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.

July 29, 2026

Here’s a screenshot of the table I found on the Ikea website. Fortunately, there is an actual store about a half hour away so I was able to pick it up immediately, and assemble it to see if it worked well for its use. It did and that’s another item to check off my To Do list. BTW, it will be easy to transport to the gallery for the exhibition since the legs unscrew from the bottom of the table.

The simple white table from Ikea fits perfectly and has adjustable legs, which allow for standing and working. I moved the curtain further back to drape behind the table and will have another solution for the front of the structure.

For my installation project, now that I have the structure and the fabric samples, I turned my attention to the surface I need in order to put a monitor on for the video I’m creating. The table had to be taller than a desk and wide enough to fit well into the back of the display. Once I had the structure assembled and the curtains attached, I felt the space was too claustrophobic if I added the necessary table. So, I didn’t want one that was too deep but just enough so that the curtain could be draped behind it and thereby extend the floor space beyond that footprint of the structure. I spent hours upon hours researching possibilities. Desks were too short for the viewer who would be standing, and standing desks were beyond the budget. There were so many things to consider, such as color, simplicity of style, height, depth, width, and, of course, budget. I finally found one on the Ikea website, and it fit all the specifications. So off we went to pick it up at the store, which is about a half hour away, brought it home, and assembled it immediately. And Bingo! It fit perfectly, just exactly as I had envisioned what would work. Yet another part of the installation falls into place. Now on to the next task.

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.

July 28, 2026

Now that I have received fabric swatches from three different on-demand fabric printers, I’m deciding to work with the one located in Long Island City, since they are closer to me than the North Carolina and Canadian companies. Their prices and shipping are very competitive, which doesn’t hurt either. I spent quite a bit of time looking at the fabric samples I’m considering from PrintTree, and I like the way they print images, color, grayscale, and text on their samples so you can see the full breadth of color and text printing quality. My thought is that I’d like to have my own art printed on fabric to use as curtaining for my installation at my upcoming show at Ceres in November. I’m leaning towards using a translucent fabric which might intrigue people if they see outlines of what is inside and decide to enter and view the entire presentation 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.

July 27, 2026

I’ve been doing more tutorials on how to use CapCut. For years I’ve edited with iMovie but found it limiting when working with vertical formats. So, on the recommendation of many friends, I decided to try this, new to me, app. I’m using the desktop version since editing on my iPhone isn’t appealing to me, although I’ve been using InShot for some social media posts. But I wanted to up my game a bit so I’m biting the bullet and working with the Pro Version of CapCut. It has too many TikTok-style effects that don’t interest me, but I’m coming up with ways to streamline my workflow around them. Here’s my first “Take a Minute Video”.

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.

This Week in the Studio – July 20 – July 26, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up: Studio Glimpses: Week in Review
July 20-26, 2026
This week took me from Ceres Gallery to my own backyard planning table. I spent a day in Chelsea helping hang our next group show, then wandered back to Penn Station along the High Line, gathering ideas as I always do. At home, I used Art Placer to mock up the gallery walls for my November solo show, testing how the paintings might live together, such a relief for a visual learner like me. Dave and I took a break to celebrate 29 years of marriage, returning to the Northport Harbor dock where it all began. I got back to work composing my newsletter (and was reminded, happily, how much I actually accomplish when I stop staring at my unfinished To-Do list). And I kept working through the early stages of the installation itself, testing a table and draped fabric as one possible solution to the curtain problem, narrowing in on possible dimensions, and welcoming a batch of fabric swatches that opens up a whole new set of decisions to consider. Every step forward seems to bring more options rather than fewer, and I’m enjoying following where it leads.

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.

July 25, 2026

The fabric swatches I ordered have arrived. This is for the installation project I’m designing for my upcoming show in November. I’m thinking of having my artwork printed on fabric and using that instead of the curtain that came with the frame I ordered. These printable fabrics come a wide variety of material and weights. Some are sheer and see-through and others thick and opaque. Once I decide on the fabric and the cost of printing, I’ll decide if this part of the installation is feasible. Lots of steps yet to go. I’m enjoying the process, it’s very creative since there are so many variables.

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.

July 24, 2026

One reason I chose this particular booth set-up was that the front was circular. Considering that so much of my iconography is about circles and spheres, this was a great addition to my quiver of ideas.

I rolled one of my smaller tables into the booth but kept it out back beyond the frame. This allowed me to add another foot or two to the interior and make the interior far less claustrophobic.

Today I focused on the structure of the installation I’m making for my next solo show. I hung the curtain that came with the frame to see how I would be hanging the fabric. The curtain that comes with the frame is the perfect size for the use it was designed for but proved to make the interior of the space too claustrophobic for my unique project. I put a table outside the frame footprint and draped the fabric to the outside of the table which proved to be a good solution because it gave more freedom to resize the interior. A 12” by 40” table or shelving would be the perfect dimensions so it’s going to take some research to find that size. The table needs to hold a small monitor. Today I got some important factoids which moved the project forward.

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.

July 23, 2026

I spent the day composing my latest newsletter. I’ve been using MailChimp for many years since I moved off of Constant Contact when they began charging me. I have a Legacy plan with MailChimp, so it has a greater volume of contacts and emails I can send for free than I otherwise would be paying if I signed up now. I had committed to myself to send one newsletter a month this year, but that hasn’t happened since I’m so busy making art, writing my Studio Glimpses, my Naturally Inspired Substack column, plus living life. The images are screenshots of what was in the newsletter. Sometimes I surprise myself when I see all the different things I’m accomplishing. I, like many people, look at the uncompleted items on my To Do List and rarely look at all the things I’ve done. So, putting together this newsletter is helpful for me too.

If you’d like to sign up for my newsletter, click 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.

July 21 2026

Using Art Placer, I created a mock-up of all the walls in the Ceres Gallery based upon the site plan they provided. Of course, the room is rectangular, not one long wall. Then I used Artwork Archives and my Excel spreadsheet to begin “placing” the images of each available painting on the “walls”. The Art Placer app adjusts each image based upon the size dimensions you put into the inventory category. This provided me with a visual approximation of how many pieces and what sizes and colors will work together to make a cohesive display. This type of planning helps me considerably since I am, of course, a visual learner. Now that I have somewhat of an idea of what my space for my November solo exhibition will be, I can be comfortable with the next stage of planning, which is designing and creating the installation piece for which I still don’t have a title, just an idea.

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.

July 20 2026

Today I took the LIRR into the city (that’s what we call Manhattan in our neck of the woods) to help hang the next group show at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea NYC. There are two large rooms with many artworks in very different sizes and styles that needed to be hung in such a way to complement each other. Four of us worked for many hours hanging the work and touching up the walls. After the art was all placed and hung, the lighting had to be carefully redirected to show each piece in the best possible light. Pun intended. For me, one of the treats to the hard work in the gallery is walking back to Penn Station to catch my train home, along the Highline, an elevated park built on a former transportation railway featuring gardens, art, and backed up with stunning views of the NYC Hudson Yards neighborhood. I always gather ideas for potential paintings, native plant selections, and installation projects for exhibitions or for garden design. It was a day of camaraderie with other artists and creative inspirations. I consider that a day well spent

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 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.

This Week in the Studio – July 13 – July 19, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up: Studio Glimpses: Week in Review
July 13–17, 2026
The studio for me is wherever I create, whether standing at my easel, sitting at my desktop, or bending in my garden. My studio took several forms this week — the easel, the desk, my photo archives, and the garden, where I’m always out shooting new reference photos to add to the collection I draw my inspiration from for my artwork. Having just signed the “Cosmic Magnolia” painting, I turned my attention to the purple paph orchid painting, deliberately choosing a lighter and less dense color palette than before. One day was spent reworking the ABOUT pages on my website and Substack column, which had drifted out of sync with the work I’m actually making now. I finally joined a Techspressionism Zoom call after years of curiosity. This is a group of artists from around the world who work in many forms of digital art, something I began doing in the 1980s. I cleared some studio congestion by moving another batch of canvases to my rented climate-controlled storage unit. Then closed the week, starting to source vendors for sheer fabric printing, the material for the meditation space I’m building as part of my solo exhibition at the Ceres Gallery in November, titled “Centering in the Midst of Chaos”. Fabric samples should arrive by next week.

Click here to read all the week’s Studio Glimpses

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.

July 18 2026

Today was a research day on my computer, another of my “studio spaces”. I wanted to learn more about the options for getting my own artwork printed on fabric. This is part of the installation I’m working on for my upcoming solo show at the Ceres Gallery in November, titled Centering in the Midst of Chaos. I’m designing a type of meditation space that replicates the calmness offered by an engagement with nature. I am hoping to have my flowers printed on sheer fabric to hang from the frame to enclose the space. A number of different vendors are sending me fabric samples which should come next week. I hope I’ll find something that will work for what I am envisioning.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show, “Hearing Women’s Voices” at the Ceres Gallery in from June 23. to July 18, 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition titled, “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” in Chelsea, New York City

July 17 2026

I bought the shelves at Ikea. The storage unit is at PS Storage.

These are digital prints of paintings I’ve made.
They’re on canvas and gallery wrapped on thick stretchers. Some of them are framed.

A few years ago, I rented a climate-controlled unit in a storage facility near me. I no longer felt it was safe for me to be climbing a ladder to get into the attic to retrieve and replace artwork that was coming and going for exhibitions. I generally try not to climb ladders anymore since the price is too high if I fall. My grandson CJ came over today to help me deliver work to the storage unit and store it. I brought a number of my digital prints on canvas that I’ve painted over the years but no longer have walls available to hang them in my home. With 17 pieces up in the Poughkeepsie show which will be returning in mid-September and the 15 plus large paintings for my upcoming solo show in Chelsea in November, I was beginning to feel claustrophobic. Tonight I can breathe a little bit better since I have more room.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show, “Hearing Women’s Voices” at the Ceres Gallery in from June 23. to July 18, 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition titled, “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” in Chelsea, New York City

July 16, 2026

Visit the Techspressionism website at: https://techspressionism.com

This was me demonstrating the Chyron Chameleon at the Woodbury Cablevision studio in June 1985

I began working with digital graphics in the early 1980s for a company named Chyron. I sold computer graphics devices and electronic paint systems to the broadcast television industry for about a decade. Then I established my own graphic design business focused on that industry since I knew all the small and medium sized companies who needed their sales collateral material branded and designed. Having created my first website in 1995, the year after the internet was introduced, I was able to repurpose my client’s work from print onto the websites I created for them. Since that time, I have gone back and forth between digital and traditional media for creating my art although even my traditional paintings are usually composed in Photoshop. There is always a digital component to my thinking and it’s embedded in my workflow. I have heard about the group Techspressionists for years now but finally took the plunge and joined one of their zoom meetings. It felt great to hear the speakers talk so comfortably about technology. It’s rare that I am able to communicate with artists who use computers to create in such a broad variety of styles. It felt like I was coming home to friends.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show, “Hearing Women’s Voices” at the Ceres Gallery in from June 23. to July 18, 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition titled, “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” in Chelsea, New York City

July 15, 2026

One of the processes I use when I’m considering my next painting is to scroll through the 35,000 close-up photos I’ve taken over the decades to find something that interests me at that day. It might be a flower type I haven’t painted yet or at all. Or it might be a color combination that speaks to me that moment. Bringing the jpeg file into Photoshop, I go through a process of cropping. This helps me to see different ways of possibly incorporating it into a composition. It also helps me to disengage with the fact that it is a photograph of a flower and just concentrate on color and form. These mockups are stored in the cloud accessed by all my computers in a folder titled WIPS (Work In Progress). Growing the plants, taking the photos, documenting thousands of these photos for research and access, selecting one, working on that image in various ways on the computer and storing the versions for reference, are all part of my creative process.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show, “Hearing Women’s Voices” at the Ceres Gallery in from June 23. to July 18, 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition titled, “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” in Chelsea, New York City

July 14, 2026

Today my studio was at my desk. Every once in a while, I need to review what I’ve written on the different places I publish. In rereading my writing, I found that the ABOUT pages on my website and on my Substack column, no longer reflected the work I’m currently doing. So, I spent the day reviewing and rewriting. It doesn’t seem as glamorous as the image of an artist covered in paint, but this is as important for my art as my paintings are. Writing about the intent of what I create and how I do so is critical. There is a school of thought that says, “My art speaks for itself”. I believe that artists who say that about their work use it as an excuse not to write, since writing is hard. Understanding why you create what you do and giving words to it so that others can appreciate the depth of your vision, is a very complex series of skills. Understanding why and writing about it is very hard for many artists. Since I’m fortunate to be left and right brained balanced, I enjoy both efforts, not equally, but enough so I don’t avoid what needs to be done.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show, “Hearing Women’s Voices” at the Ceres Gallery in from June 23. to July 18, 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition titled, “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” in Chelsea, New York City

July 13, 2026

On April 16^th, 2016 I went with Hubby Dave and my grandson CJ to see the orchid show at the New York Botanical Garden. As a member and a graduate of their famous Botanical Illustration program, I feel a special connection to their gardens and conservatory. I’ve personally had no success keeping the Paphiopedilum Orchids alive, so it is always a treat to see these miracles up close. Having just signed my latest painting, the Cosmic Magnolia, I decided to challenge myself with a completely different color palette. I also wanted to paint something that felt lighter and less dense. As with all my paintings, I never repeat myself. I try new colors, different brushes, aspect ratio and size changes, lighting considerations, flatness or depth perception, new medium recipes, and more. It may seem to some who don’t understand what I am doing is that all I do is paint flowers. But instead, with each painting, I push myself to try something new for me. Otherwise, it gets too boring, and I hate being bored.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show, “Hearing Women’s Voices” at the Ceres Gallery in from June 23. to July 18, 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition titled, “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” in Chelsea, New York City

This Week in the Studio – July 6 – July 12, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up: The paph orchid painting is nearing completion, with the final stretch spent on subtle glazing and value shifts to balance the composition and push the background back without overworking it. Once signed, I moved into the wiring and documentation process I do for every finished piece, then turned to a fresh challenge: designing a garden-based installation for my November solo show at Ceres Gallery, Centering in the Midst of Chaos. After a greenhouse enclosure proved too large, I found a better-fitting alternative and started reworking its dimensions and fabric design in the studio — a fun departure into three dimensions. I also spent two days in an Akimbo workshop learning to use Claude as a true coworker for long-range project planning, which I’m excited to apply to coordinating the many moving parts of the exhibition. And in the garden, a daylily I’ve waited years to see bloomed for the first time this week.

Click here to read all the week’s Studio Glimpses

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” at the Ceres Gallery in from June 23. to July 18, 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition titled, “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” in Chelsea, New York City

July 11, 2026

I find it interesting, after I’ve signed a painting, to look back at the model I used when I was first deciding what flower to paint. There are times when one can see the completed painting and recognize the source. This is not one of those times. Partway through the process of painting day after day, I put the model aside and let the painting decide what it wanted to become. There were many steps and stages and a variety of very different color schemes. But this is the final outcome of what the painting wanted to become after months of work. Getting to the end was quite an interesting journey. I’m happy with the outcome even though I was surprised by the direction it took.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show, “Hearing Women’s Voices” at the Ceres Gallery in from June 23. to July 18, 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition titled, “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” in Chelsea, New York City

July 10, 2026

During the course of painting the paph orchid, certain small details change over time. As I concentrate on various parts of the canvas, some other areas begin to develop in response. The shapes don’t necessarily change, but the focus on their importance might and I make those changes mostly with color. I try warm and cool tones taken from the larger surrounding colors. I work on whether areas want to recede or not, whether they want to be focus. I change these by playing with saturation, the brightness of a color and the value which is the lightness or darkness of that color. Eventually over time, as the entire painting begins to coalesce, the details do as well. They announce themselves to me when I move them in the right direction. Painting for me isn’t a journey where I know the destination point. It is instead an exploration of an untraveled path.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show, “Hearing Women’s Voices” at the Ceres Gallery in from June 23. to July 18, 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition titled, “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” in Chelsea, New York City

July 9, 2026

I had this idea to create an installation for my solo exhibition at the Ceres Gallery in November. The show is titled Centering in the Midst of Chaos and opens on November 3, 2026, which is the midterm election day. I needed an enclosure for the project so looked online and found a small 6’x6’ greenhouse which seemed perfect for my garden based installation. When it arrived, we set it up and realized that it was too big for the space and would overshadow so much of my artwork that will be hanging on the four walls, so back it went. Looking some more, I found these curtained enclosures for trying on clothes in a temporary setting. It arrived, and once it stopped raining here, we put it together in the garage this afternoon. The size seems like it will work with some modifications, so I brought the frame upstairs to my studio, where I can work on the dimensions and fabric design. I’m really enjoying expanding my thinking beyond two dimensions for a bit of time. The ideas keep percolating in my head. What fun!

I almost kept this cute little greenhouse for my own use in propagating but decided I’m too busy at the moment to take on another project so back it went.

I found this little dressing room online and thought the size might work for my installation project. With modifications this might be just what I need.

The frame for the dressing room, now renamed, the installation, is lightweight and very easy to put together. Since it’s freestanding, I won’t have to disturb the walls in the gallery, which is a big plus in my estimation.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show, “Hearing Women’s Voices” at the Ceres Gallery in from June 23. to July 18, 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition titled, “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” in Chelsea, New York City

July 8, 2026

I’ve been taking a workshop on how to use the AI tool Claude as a coworker, rather than just as an entity that helps to edit and correct my writing. I learned so much in the two-day workshop even though I thought it was just eating up my time that would be better used in the studio. What I found instead, is that, connecting Claude to the other apps I use to manage my time and projects can help me to do long range planning. I want to have it help me schedule all the many parts of the projects I’m working on for my November solo exhibition at the Ceres Gallery. Since I’m not only showing my paintings but doing an installation as well, there are many parts that need to be considered. I also have a long timeline to create audio and video files that will be needed for this multimedia exhibition and for my Bloomberg Connects listing. Using Claude in a more sophisticated way will help me stay organized and on time. It’s like working with a virtual assistant. The workshop was offered by Akimbo. I’ve taken many of their programs over the years and I highly recommend them.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show, “Hearing Women’s Voices” at the Ceres Gallery in from June 23. to July 18, 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition titled, “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” in Chelsea, New York City

July 7, 2026

Once I am done working on a painting and it’s signed, I then wire it for hanging. I also document the piece with the date of completion, since that’s a number that will never be reused for another work. For the placement of the wiring, I measure 1/3 of the piece’s height down and mark the stretcher. I drill a small hole in the wood and then change the tip of the drill and screw in the D-hooks. From a big reel of covered wire, I thread it through the D-hooks & pull it tightly to the opposing ends of the stretchers. I also write the Index #, the title of the work, medium, and put © and my name and signature along the bottom stretcher. I do this for all my paintings. This info, along with photos, is added to my Artwork Archive account in the cloud and also to the Excel spreadsheet I maintain locally. When you’ve been creating work for decades, you need to stay organized for many reasons.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show, “Hearing Women’s Voices” at the Ceres Gallery in from June 23. to July 18, 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition titled, “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” in Chelsea, New York City

July 6, 2026

Back at the easel after the holiday and making incremental changes as I believe that I’m moving towards a completion of the paph orchid painting. I pushed back the lower background using glazing of a transparent ultramarine blue to cover the Phalo Turquoise. Now I just have to balance the left bottom with the right. I also pushed back the center labellum and created more depth. The changes become more subtle as I near the end. It’s a critical time since I don’t want to overwork it but make slight tweaks to enhance the painting.

On another note, The adorable daylily opened. She’s been planted in my garden for a few years and this is the first time she’s strutting her stuff. I’m so happy!

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show, “Hearing Women’s Voices” at the Ceres Gallery in from June 23. to July 18, 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition titled, “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” in Chelsea, New York City

This Week in the Studio – June 29-July 5, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up:

The week opened with a Substack post I published, “My Flowers Are…,” a list poem built around a repeated refrain, tracing the ground from botanical symbol to feminist manifesto. From there came days of balancing botanical accuracy against abstraction on the purple paph orchid on my easel, a pull between my love for intense color energy and years of close botanical study. One day was given over to an Akimbo workshop on setting up Claude as a co-worker, followed by five hours of learning a new video editing program to edit the Ceres Gallery opening footage I took on the day of the opening reception. Heat in the upper 90s kept garden work off the table but not garden pleasure. Daylilies began opening, each bloom living just a day and teaching a lesson on the ephemerality of life. Studio time each afternoon on the orchid continued moving the painting forward. A short lesson in hosta maintenance & architecture was posted since I’m always fascinated by how nature evolves with purpose. The week closed with a rescheduled barbecue for the holiday (heat and humidity won out), freeing up studio time to push into edge treatments on the orchid painting hard, soft, and merged. Enjoying a daily garden walk among the daylilies in pinks, corals, purples, light yellows, and white was, as always, inspirational.

Click here to read all the week’s Studio Glimpses

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” at the Ceres Gallery in from June 23. to July 18, 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition titled, “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” in Chelsea, New York City

July 4, 2026

Since the temperatures were in the high 90s with accompanying high humidity, my decided to reschedule his barbecue gathering until tomorrow. This left me with time to paint and stay in the air conditioning. The Paph orchid is coming along and I’m starting to work on some details at this point. Edges make a big difference. Hard edge? Soft edge? Merged colors edge? Each of these treatments make for completely different paintings. On this painting I’m either doing soft edges or merged color edges. The types of brushes I use makes a big difference in the look of the color merging.

I also spent some time walking through my garden and admiring the daylilies that are in bloom. I have some stray orange ones, but I usually transplant them outside of the deer fence and out of my line of sight. Orange doesn’t play a big part in my garden. Pinks, corals, purples, light yellows and white predominate.

I went to heavy on the Thalo on the bottom background. Have to wait until it dries to tone it down.

Midnight Orchid Daylily growning in my front garden.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show, “Hearing Women’s Voices” at the Ceres Gallery in from June 23. to July 18, 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition titled, “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” in Chelsea, New York City

July 3, 2026

I put in some good studio time today on the Paph Orchid. There are some days you are there in the studio working and nothing seems to be going right, nothing has moved the painting nearer to the day you sign it. There are other days, when you put in the same amount of time and you’ve leapt forward towards a vision. Today was one of those days.

On another note, I wanted to mention something about my large Hostas. If you look closely at the center there is an accumulation of garden debris in the center of the large leaf. If you don’t help the plant, and clean that channel you might have a problem. The architecture of this leaf allows the rain to roll towards the center and flow down into a channel on the stem, thereby delivering the water to the base of the plant and the root system. With the opening to the leaf channel clogged with debris, the water doesn’t follow this path, and the plant doesn’t benefit from the adaptations it has developed towards survival. I find it personally very satisfying to help the Hostas breathe and survive.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show, “Hearing Women’s Voices” at the Ceres Gallery in from June 23. to July 18, 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition titled, “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” in Chelsea, New York City

June 30, 2026

I walking a balancing act at this point of the painting. I’m trying to be botanically accurate on the one hand and abstract enough on the other. I’m inspired by the energy and color shifts in the images from NAWA, even though I imagine the color is an artifact of the translation of recorded vision. But I’m also drawn to the years spend up close with flowers and also the intense study of their details in working in botanical illustration. Merging these two interests is where the tightrope is for me. And where it is most interesting as well.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show, “Hearing Women’s Voices” at the Ceres Gallery in from June 23. to July 18, 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition titled, “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” in Chelsea, New York City

This Week in the Studio – June 22-28, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up:

A full week, anchored by two trips into the city for the Ceres Gallery group show, Raising Women’s Voices — first to hang it, then to celebrate it at Thursday’s opening reception, where rich conversations with visitors made the long commute more than worthwhile. Back in the studio, a new orchid painting is underway: composition mapped digitally, grid transferred to canvas with pastel, and the first thin washes of oil paint now in place. A small detour with a Mr. Clean eraser solved a pastel-too-dark mishap. Meanwhile, the eternal tightrope between botanical accuracy and abstraction remains the defining creative tension. Off the canvas, a switch from iMovie to CapCut opens new possibilities for quiet, vertical video — a natural fit for the Take a Minute series on YouTube.

Click here to read all the week’s Studio Glimpses

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden” at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show, “Raising Women’s Voices” at the Ceres Gallery in from June 23. to July 18, 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition titled, “Centering in the Midst of Chaos” in Chelsea, New York City

June 24, 2026

I began blocking in the Paph orchid with thin washes of oil paint, thinned with 50/50% galkyd/gamsol. Because I had drawn the outlines with a fairly dark purple pastel, the medium didn’t completely erase the line so I used a Mr. Clean magic eraser dipped in gamsol. That did the trick quickly. Next time I’ll use a much lighter pastel but this time I wanted to make it darker so it would photograph more clearly. I won’t do that again since it took precious time away from actually painting. There’s always something new crossing your path no matter how many years you’ve been doing something. That’s so interesting in my opinion.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show at the Ceres Gallery in from June 23. to July 18, 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition in Chelsea, New York City

June 23, 2026

I always start my paintings in a somewhat traditional way, but with a touch of technology. I use my computer and photoshop to help me with the initial composition choices rather than doing thumbnail drawings or other hand techniques. Since I’ve worked on computer graphics since 1984, I’m very comfortable, actually, more than comfortable working online. Once I have the composition I plan to start with, I import the work from my desktop Mac to my iPad Pro and then into the Procreate app. I make a grid superimposed over the composition, a feature built into Procreate, that I then mimic those lines on the canvas using pastels. Looking at the grid and referencing the subject on the screen, I draw the outline of the flower on the canvas. Skip the digital part and you have an historic grid method of upscaling. It feels good to work in these classic procedures, even if now they come with a modern twist.

I import the composition I created in Photoshop into Procreate on my iPad. There I use the drawing guides to make a grid which I use to upscale the image onto canvas.

I replicate the grid I’ve created in Procreate on my iPad using pastel. and a T-square.

Using pastel, I use the Procreate grid on my iPad to sketch in the outline of the composition as a way to get started with my painting.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show at the Ceres Gallery in from June 23. to July 18, 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition in Chelsea, New York City

June 22, 2026

This is the week we open our annual group show, Raising Women’s Voices at the Ceres Gallery in Chelsea NY. I took the Long Island Railroad into Penn Station and then walked to the gallery along the Highline. A group of us hung the show in a few hours since we all know our particular roles. Group shows are notoriously difficult to hang since you have to consider a variety of aspects when deciding placement, it’s not something you can plan for in advance. You think in terms of color, size, scale, and subject matter in order to determine the best placement so each of the works is shown to its best advantage. I don’t generally like to make those decisions, I’d rather be the person with the hammer and nails. I was too busy unfortunately to take photos at the install, but here are some snippets of the show.

The lighting hadn’t been finalized when I took this photo. My Cosmic Phalaenopsis is in the corner on the left wall.

This is a clip of details of all the works in the Ceres Gallery annual group show.

Raising Women’s Voices is the title or our Annual Group Show at Ceres Gallery.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show at the Ceres Gallery in from June 23. to July 18, 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition in Chelsea, New York City

This Week in the Studio – June 15-21, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up:

The magnolia is signed — abandoned, as I prefer to say, because a painting is never truly finished. While I was still working on it though, I grabbed a quick studio video, painting clothes and all, it was impromptu and completely unplanned. I sometimes rotate the canvas to get a comfortable angle for the edges, and you can see that on the video on my YouTube Channel. Now the next canvas is picked, the flower is being chosen, and I’m deep in my photo archive and Photoshop — chugging on all cylinders with the excitement of starting a new painting. And over at Sanctuary Magazine, Myrna Haskell wrote beautifully about the Locust Grove show. A good week.

Click here to read all the week’s Studio Glimpses

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepared for my June-September 2026 solo exhibition at the Locust Grove Historical Site in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November Solo exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

June 20, 2026

Today I published my latest article on my Substack column, Naturally Inspired. The article is titled, “My Flowers Are …” It is a series of sentences conveying the entire scope of where my flowers started, how they evolved into paintings, and then, how they involved into ideas. Since you are here reading what’s on my website, you’ll also like what I wrote there so go take a look.

Here’s the link: Mary Ahern-My Flowers Are

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show at the Ceres Gallery in June 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition in Chelsea, New York City

June 19, 2026

Now that I’ve picked and prepped the canvas, I’m trying to decide what flower I want to paint next time. I’ve decided on an orchid, so I started to go through my thousands of closeup photos of all types of orchids. Once I pick which one I want to spend my precious time on, I’ll match it up with some inspirational images I have from the NAWA Astrology of the Day website. At this stage, all my work is on my computer using an image database and Photoshop for analysis. This stage is very creative since I have so many sources to choose from and my mind sails into the endless possibilities. Here is a perfect blending of my lifelong time as a gardener with a degree in Horticulture, my 45 years in digital imaging, my studio practice since the 1970s and my degree in fine arts. At this point I’m chugging on all cylinders with the excitement of starting a new painting.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show at the Ceres Gallery in June 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition in Chelsea, New York City

June 18, 2026

Today I am trying to decide what size painting I will do next. I have 24×24”, 30×30”, and 36×36’ canvases available in my studio so I can choose small, medium or large. Also, I painted the edges of the Magnolia painting. I always get 1 ½” thick stretchers for my canvases since that makes the painting sturdier and more substantial. I don’t frame the work since every collector adds their own style of framing that will work well in their own location. Frames are a very personal decision. Wood or metal? What type of wood or metal? Modern and sleek or historic and ornate. Over the decades, I’ve learned how very important it is for people to pick out a frame that will enhance the art but also not clash with the other art hanging on their walls. Not supplying frames without the input of the collector is something that continues to work in our favor.

As one painting is waiting to dry, a new fresh canvas is on the easel waiting to see what it will become.

I paint the edges of the canvas with the same technique as most of the painting. It’s a way for me to show my process of glazing and layering.

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show at the Ceres Gallery in June 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition in Chelsea, New York City

June 17, 2026

I took a video in my studio while I was painting the Magnolia. Too funny, I didn’t realize my painting clothes were going to look so good. It wasn’t planned. Since I’m a right-handed painter, I sometimes have to turn my paintings in order to get a comfortable angle for painting edges. If I don’t do that, I lose control of the precision.

Visit my YouTube Channel for more videos: https://www.youtube.com/maryahernartist

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show at the Ceres Gallery in June 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition in Chelsea, New York City

June 16, 2026

There is no “completion” of a painting for me. By making smaller and smaller incremental changes, I begin to realize that I’m experiencing an asymptote. If a person walks halfway across a room each day, when will he reach the other side? They won’t. Just because the increments are smaller, it doesn’t mean they can reach the other side if they can only go halfway. Instead of saying I’ve finished it, I call this abandoning a painting. There are times I go back sometime later, and that might include years later, to work on the piece again. But right now, I’m spending many hours and making little gain so I’m ready to think about signing this magnolia and beginning my next one.

In my garden I plant very few plants with prickly edges. I want soft, friendly plants instead. But this Mahonia japonica ‘Bealei’ was a gift from my professor, Dr. Richard Iverson when I was studying horticulture for my degree decades ago. This plant blooms with yellow flowers in late winter and once fertilized they turn into these luscious berries. Once day this summer, the birds will all agree that the berries have ripened with there will be a cacophony of birds singing and enjoying their feast. One year I was lucky enough to spend an afternoon sitting on the bench in the garden in the midst of the celebration. It was an unforgettable memory!

I began this daily journal in February, 2026 as I prepared for my solo exhibition at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work for the group show at the Ceres Gallery in June 2026, and my upcoming November 2026, solo exhibition in Chelsea, New York City

This Week in the Studio – June 8-14, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up:

After the whirlwind of the Locust Grove opening, this week was about finding my way back to the rhythms that sustain me. Time in the studio, time in the garden, and time with the ideas that feed both. The magnolia painting took another significant turn. I overpainted much of the blue cloud sky, and the effect was immediate — the petals unified, the harsh edges softened, the color transitions gentled into something warmer. Now the painting feels like it’s telling me what it wants to become rather than resisting me, and I’m genuinely excited to follow it there this coming week.

A quieter joy this week: discovering my name in the Acknowledgements of Seth Godin’s This Is Strategy. I’ve studied Seth’s work for decades taking his workshops and reading his books. To have contributed in some small way to this one is an honor I didn’t see coming.

The garden is at peak privacy right now. The massive Rhododendron roseums are in full, exuberant bloom all along the property edges. I moved so many of them over the years and I think by now they’ve finally landed exactly where they belong.

Also, this week: a reminder that good tools deserve good care. In my brush-cleaning ritual after each day of painting I use Gamsol, Murphy’s Oil Soap, Master’s Brush Cleaner along with quite a bit of scrubbing keeps brushes I’ve owned for decades still performing beautifully. You take care of your tools, and they take care of you.

Click here to read all the week’s Studio Glimpses

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepared for my June-September 2026 solo exhibition at the Locust Grove Historical Site in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November Solo exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

June 13, 2026

I did another big transition in the direction for the magnolia painting. I overpainted most of the blue cloud sky. I think this unified the petals of the flower better. I was bothered by the harsh edges and color transitions. Now that I’ve softened all of the I’m liking what this painting is trying to become. I like the warm glows of the color range. I can’t wait to see what the painting is trying to say this week in the studio.

In the garden the huge Rhododendron roseums are in full bloom. They edge so much of the property, shielding the garden from the street and providing privacy. Over the years, I’ve moved so many of them into different places in the garden. I wouldn’t have the strength anymore to dig them up, drag them, and replant them, but I think they are by now just where they should be.

This is a daily journal of my solo exhibition at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026, my work in the group show at the Ceres Gallery in June, and my upcoming November solo exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

This Week in the Studio – June 1 – 7, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up:

This week culminated in the opening reception of Portraits From My Garden, my solo exhibition at Locust Grove Historic Site in Poughkeepsie, where 17 of my original paintings and drawings now hang through September 15th. The days leading up to Sunday’s reception were a full production — prepping prints and note cards for the venue’s gift shop, shopping for wine and refreshments at Costco, and driving upstate to get everything in place. At the opening reception, I had the pleasure of spending time with Myrna Haskell, founder of Sanctuary Magazine, for a rich conversation about women in the arts. Hubby Dave and I also carved out time to visit Hyde Park and the Walled Garden at Bellefield, designed by landscape architect Beatrix Farrand — a perfect counterpoint to all the logistics. Back in the studio and garden, the magnolia painting continued to evolve as I worked to blur edges and dissolve boundaries, while the Mountain Laurels and a late-blooming Chinzan azalea kept reminding me why I paint what I paint.

Click here to read all the week’s Studio Glimpses

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

June 5, 2026

It turns out that Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie has a gift shop. Since my work is all about gardens and flowers and so are they, I was asked if I had any prints they could put in their gift shop. I still have quite a bit of inventory sitting on shelves since I’m not in the art festival circuit any longer nor am I in the little local gallery/gift shop where many people stopped in to buy small gifts for themselves or others. Today I checked out my note cards and prints and made consignment sheets so the folks at Locust Grove will know what inventory they’ll be starting with. I also staged and photographed the print racks I used when I was on the art festival circuit so they could see what I plan to use to display the work. An entire day spent prepping the prints, note cards and documenting everything. Tomorrow, we drive back upstate to Poughkeepsie to set up the show and Sunday is the reception. Sometimes it feels like it takes less time to make the work than to prep it for viewing. I know that’s not true, but that’s what it feels like since prepping is far less interesting than creating.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts for my solo exhibition at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026 and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

June 4, 2026

Getting ready for an opening reception for your solo show, isn’t all about making the art, packing the art, hanging the art. Shaking hands and smiling. It’s about going to the stores to shop. You need drinks, both alcoholic and non. White and Clear. Munchies. Since Covid this has been tricky. I used to put out cheese, crackers, grapes and other finger food. Now people are a bit more finicky so at times I bring individually wrapped fun food. So today I hit Costco and Bottles N Cases. Because of the season I got Chardonnay and Rosé instead of a white wine and a red. Then comes the bowls, cups, napkins, plates, and other miscellaneous items we’ll need to welcome people when they show up to see my artwork. It’s an uneasy time since you never know how many people to expect. Do I have enough glasses? Enough wine? Enough munchies? This has nothing to do with, “Will people come to see the work I spend many months creating”. It’s a bit of an out of body experience changing from studio artist to event planner.

How do you know how much and what to buy when you are having an opening reception. You don’t. So you just do the best you can. Isn’t that all any of us can do!

Walking in my garden and seeing this gorgeous peony finally calmed me down and all the stress of the shopping and planning disappeared. Flowers and gardens tend to do that for me.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts for my solo exhibition at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026 and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

June 2, 2026

Spent hours this morning weeding, pruning and centering myself in the garden today. As tired, sweaty and dirty I was afterwards, I felt a calmness I haven’t felt in days. The garden does that for me. The Kalmia latifolia (AKA Mountain Laurels) are in full bloom right now and I’m in awe of their majesty. They are thriving in the garden with the Holly Tone and irrigation I’m giving them. With care, I’ve brought so many of these native shrubs back from oblivion. In the studio, I continued to blur the edges of the magnolia painting. I’m trying to bring together visually, the clarity of the magnolia with a hint of the complex universe we all survive in together.

Working in the studio so often brings me surprises once I stop thinking and just let the painting guide me.

The little Buddha statue seems also contented to be sitting in the middle of this phenomenal display by nature.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts for my solo exhibition at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026 and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

June 1, 2026

Back at the easel today while recovering from my 5 hour round trip to Poughkeepsie to deliver my artwork to my Locust Grove solo exhibition, “Portraits From My Garden.” We’ll be driving back this weekend for the Opening Reception. But today I spent time recovering and healing in my garden. The Chinzan azalea is in bloom. This Satsuki Hybrid Azalea is a dwarf azalea gets to be about, 18-24 inches in height with a spread of maybe 3 feet. It’s one of the latest in the season to strut her stuff in my garden. I’ve had Rhodi’s in bloom since late February. Every few days another surprise opens and lights up different parts of my garden brightening my vision and my mood. I like the Chinzan, since she has tiny shiny leaves which gives it multi-season interest in my opinion. Shade gardens are all about subtlety and texture.

In the studio, I’ve been adventurous with my brushwork and colors. At this point, the painting has taken over all the decision making from me. That’s appropriate since while I was painting today, I was listening to the audio book, Zen in the Art of Archery, a book by German philosophy professor Eugen Herrigel. I definitely got into the zone on this one today.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts for my solo exhibition at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026 and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

This Week in the Studio – May 25-May 31, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up: This week was consumed by one enormous task: delivering 17 paintings to Locust Manor Historic Site in Poughkeepsie for my solo exhibition, Portraits From My Garden. The logistics were real — organizing everything remotely from Long Island, using Art Placer to virtually map the walls, creating price lists and artwork labels, and triple-checking every detail before the work left my hands. On Sunday, Dave and I made the 2½-hour drive up the Taconic, got everything inside safely, toured the space, and made it home before dark. The studio looks bare now, and I’ll miss the work while it’s gone — a little like when your kids move out.

In between the packing and paperwork, the magnolia painting took a significant turn: I broke the edges, merged background and foreground, and finally felt the painting come to life. And the garden kept calling me back to center — Mountain Laurels at peak bloom, a Peruvian Daffodil unfurling on the deck, Itoh peonies at the nursery that I heroically did not buy.

Click here to read all the week’s Studio Glimpses

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 31, 2026

This is the day we deliver the art to the Locust Grove Historical Site for my 2 ½ month Solo Exhibition. Finally. We drove from our home up north to Poughkeepsie. The GPS time said it would take a bit over 2 hours, but it actually was a 2-and-a-half-hour drive. Not as bad as I expected I’m happy to say. The hardest part as always, was getting off Long Island. We took the Throgs Neck Bridge and then the Taconic Parkway. Locust Grove was easy to find and seemed to be a well visited location with many people walking the gardens and nature trails. Hubby Dave was again my hero and carried all the work inside. I do the driving, he does the lugging. They will unwrap everything and store all my bubble wrap for mid-September when we pick it all up again. After a tour of the gardens and the show location, we headed back home. Happily, we made it well before dark, tired but glad to be home safe and sound.

We had competing GPS apps to tell us different ways to go. We used Waze on the way up and my car GPS on the way home. Sightly different twists and turns but we made it nevertheless.

The art transported safely and is now in the hands of the curator of the Locust Manor Historic Site. She will do the hanging this week and we’ll return next weekend for the opening reception.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my Solo exhibition at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026 and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 30, 2026

Today we loaded the car for the drive tomorrow to Poughkeepsie. I have 17 artworks ranging in size from 3 ft by 3 ft to the smallest at 16” x 16”. It’ is hard to plan a show from a distance so I’m hoping I’m bringing the right amount and the right sizes for their space. I’ve done all the measuring, layouts, side by side comparisons, color, and subject planning that I could think of. Now I have to just bite the bullet and let it go.

The studio looks so bare with so much art leaving the walls. I’ll have to think about rehanging work since the work in this show at Locust Manor will be there until the middle of September. I’ll actually miss so much of the work while it’s gone. That’s the strange part about being an artist. You create miracles from a potion of fabric and pigment and then you miss them when they’re gone. It’s a little bit like when your kids move out. You’re happy they’re having new life experiences, but you nevertheless miss them when they leave.

All 17 pieces of artwork are loaded in the car. When I went to buy this car, I did a lot of measuring since I needed enough room to load my artwork for solo shows and not have to take two cars or rent a van. Not all artists have these issues to consider.

Looking at empty walls in my studio is so bittersweet.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my Solo exhibition at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026 and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 29, 2026

Spent the day taking artwork out of storage and off the walls, checking for dust and then bubble wrapping them. I get my bubble wrap bags at Uline and my large rubber bands on Amazon. It makes packing much easier than using rolls of bubble wrap. I staged everything outside my studio in the hallway until it got to crowded and then made piles elsewhere. To recover from the stress, I did what I always do, I went for a walk in my garden. The Kalmia latifolia, AKA Mountain Laurels are at peak bloom this week. They are native to my area and have flourished since I set up an irritgation system in the garden. They had been suffering from drought. Once I spent some time walking around, looking and capturing images I felt renewed again. The stress of the day left me and I recovered my center.

A lot of organization goes into documenting, planning, wrapping, and transporting the artwork. It is incredibly easy to get the title wrong or the price, or have it damaged in some way. Shows are a very stressful time for an artist.

Walking throughout my garden is always a way for me to relax and center myself. Every single day, there is some new surprise the garden shares with me. Some of them better than others. The mountain laurels are spectucular this year and this is the week they’re strutting their stuff.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my Solo exhibition at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026 and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 28, 2026

I took a completely new direction in my magnolia painting. I decided to break the edges and merge the background and foreground, rather than delineating hard edge barriers. I also lightened the lower background colors and the large petal areas. It’s a major change that I think will finally bring this painting to life for me.

For hours I worked on creating the labels for each of the artworks I’m delivering to my Poughkeepsie show on Sunday. There is a lot of documentation needed in order for the curator at Locust Manor to have all the correct information for each piece. The title, size, medium, and price. It has to match the price lists correctly that I made yesterday. Details matter.

To relax, I spent time looking at the Hymenocallis festalis, AKA Peruvian Daffodil blooming in one of my deck containers. It’s a tropical bulb that I’m able to find each year in the early spring in Costco of all places. I have to rummage through their racks in order to find these exquisite bulbs but well worth the trouble. All the stress melted away from my body and mind when I spent time looking closely at the intricate architecture of these amazing blooms.

I took a radical step and changed the direction of where this painting was heading. But who was directing the change, the painting itself or me?

Getting all the details right and each artwork labeled with the correct information is one of the many jobs of preparing for a solo exhibition.

*Hymenocallis festalis*, AKA **Peruvian Daffodil**

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my Solo exhibition at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026 and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 27, 2026

Took a break from getting ready for delivering the art to the Locust Grove site in Poughkeepsie this weekend and went to the wholesale nursery to see what’s new. The Itoh peonies were in bloom and I managed not to buy one. I’m so proud of myself for not succumbing to its gorgeous seduction. I can see why the pollinators can’t resist. Being around all these flowers is so calming for me. They are such ephemeral miracles. After my excursion, I worked on paperwork all afternoon for the show. Getting all the little details right takes so much concentration. Glad I’m an organized person in general or this would have taken 15 times as long. Created a price list which can be printed for handout at the show or distributed as a pdf file. Double and triple checked the details & sent it off to the curator. Moments later, of course, I found an error. Isn’t that always the way!

Itoh Peonies are a cross between herbaceous and tree peonies.

Any time I want to relax and renew, I head out to a garden, my own or someone elses. This is one of the wholesale nurseries I frequent.

Getting all the little details right is so very time consuming but so very necessary when I’m doing a solo exhibition.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my Solo exhibition at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026 and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 26, 2026

I’m preparing the work I’m showing for delivering to Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie this Sunday for my solo exhibition titled, Portraits From My Garden. In order to visualize where and what I want to hang, I used an app called Art Placer to design virtually the size of the walls my work will be hanging on from the dimensions they sent to me. This lets me see how big a 3’ square vs a 2’ square painting would look best. I’ve decided to show four of my graphite drawings in one of the niches. There are so many tiny details in each of these pieces that I think will benefit from being in that spot. Programs never match completely the way the work will look once its on the walls, but it’s a pretty good approximation. Most times I change things on the spot but that will be up to them since they will be hanging the show. I also find that it’s important not to hang too many pieces close together, they need breathing room to be seen with more clarity. This has always been a problem for me since I always want to show more work, but that is actually not a benefit to each of the artworks. They need their own space to shine.

These four drawings hang over the table I use for holding my palette and brushes while I’m painting. In the show, I’ll have them spaced further apart to give them some breathing room.

This is a room mock up of the space for that particular wall at the Locust Grove Historic Site. The sizes of the arwork is consistent with the actual size of the walls so this helps to define what to show and what should be shown next to each other.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my Solo exhibition at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026 and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 25, 2026

This week is going to be busy. I’m getting ready to deliver the artwork to the Locust Grove Solo Exhibition on Sunday. I’m working on the site layout and planning stages plus the paperwork that I need to provide them. Logistically, they are not at all near me, I’m on Long Island and Poughkeepsie is upstate NY, about a 3-hour drive if I’m lucky. This means that everything has been organized remotely which adds a nice piece of complication to the project.

In the studio, I continue to play with color combinations on the Magnolia painting. I have no particular vision I’m working towards, so it is a nice experimental endeavor. Out of my comfort zone, which is a nice growth opportunity for me.

As I continue to experiment with color combinations, I’m not always happy with the outcome of my work for the day. Unlike computers, there is no easy Undo so I have to wait for paint to dry to overpaint and try another option,

I’ve decided to include this oil painting , Cosmic Orange Lilies, in the Locust Grove show. She’s been hanging in my studio for a while so it’s time for her to go out into the world to strut her stuff.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my Solo exhibition at Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, NY, from June 5 – September 15, 2026 and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

This Week in the Studio – May 18-May 24, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up: Two paintings held my attention this week — and they couldn’t be more different in their demands. The dahlia is complete, and I made a one-minute video tracing its transformation from start to finish, a practice rooted in years of daily studio documentation. Meanwhile, the magnolia is finding its own direction: I let go of the reference photo entirely and gave myself permission to just play with color — a genuine challenge for someone as procedural as I am. A cloud-like treatment on some petals cracked open the composition in a way I hadn’t expected.

Next week, I’ll be shifting gears to pack for my solo exhibition at Locust Manor Historic Site in Poughkeepsie — a complicated, all-day undertaking that requires knowing the space, the traffic flow, and exactly which paintings will live well together on those walls.

Click here to read all the week’s Studio Glimpses

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 23, 2026

Each day, after I finish painting in the studio, but before I clean my brushes and my palette, I take photos of the painting. I’ve been doing this for years. I also keep a journal where I write what I worked on and how many hours. Documenting has always been a part of my life since seeing my father, writing columns of text and numbers on long yellow legal pads. Statistics was part of our family. Using my photos from my days in the studio, I made a one-minute video of the daily transformation of my painting, “Duality of Light – Dahlia.” I hope you enjoy it!

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 22, 2026

I took a drastic leap on this magnolia painting today. I decided to make some of the petals with a cloud-like feeling just to see if I would like it. It opened up the hermetic feel of the composition when I did it. It was a brave leap for me, but I totally enjoyed the freedom to paint something I wanted to, rather than paint something I thought someone else might want me to.

In my garden, I place a lot of round things. This one is a bird feeder that I don’t use to feed birds. I just like the sculptural structure in the middle of this garden bed. I planted yellow hostas to brighten up the shade.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 21, 2026

I’m no longer looking at the original photo of the magnolia for inspiration as I paint. I’ve decided to just experiment with color and play to see what this painting wants to be. Since I’m a very procedural person, this isn’t easy for me to accomplish. But, since it’s not easy, I decided I needed the challenge to just keep trying different ideas with color. I’m surely not there yet, but I’m thoroughly enjoying the process.

Since the weather went from 90 degrees over the last few day, we had rain and now the temps are in the 60s again. It’s playing havoc with some of my flowering shrubs. This beautiful dwarf azalea is a Koromo shikibu Purple Spider. People are usually surprised to hear that it’s a rhododendron. All azaleas are rhododendrons, but not all rhododendrons are azaleas.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 20, 2026

Next week, I will be packing up the artwork that will be shown at the Locust Manor Historic Site in Poughkeepsie, NY. Planning what to bring to a show is very complicated. First, knowing the space you will be displaying in is critical. They sent me a photograph of the gallery space with a few notes on dimensions. I brought the image into Photoshop and scaled it up to approximate the wall space. You have to know where the doors and windows are, and how the traffic will flow through the space. Once you have that, you look at your inventory and see what sizes you have available and are not committed to other exhibitions. You also need to have a cohesive show that will hang together well and work that will not compete with its wall neighbors. Colors, size, and treatments must complement each other. Driving to and from Poughkeepsie will entail an all-day event, so I want to be able to transport all the work in one vehicle. There are many decisions throughout the process of having a show, but particularly, a Solo show. Next comes the inventory & price sheets, plus the marketing, so people will know where to see my work. This is a really busy time!

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 19, 2026

On this unseasonally hot, 90 degree day, I hosted a garden tour for some clubs. Fortunately, most of my garden is in dappled shade so it was a little bit of a relief while I walked around all day with the visitors. I love sharing my garden and also love all the questions people ask that cover a wide range of interests. From, what is that flower, to what size is the garden, to when and how did you start gardening to where did you learn? I enjoy sharing the philosophy that is the underpinning of how I designed decades ago and how it’s evolved. I also love to talk about how the garden has influenced my life and my art. There is a seamlessness between the garden and the studio for me.

I’ve created woodland walks throughout the garden that all season light up at different times of day and the month.

One of my friend, Sue, took this photo of me and then sent it to me. I so enjoyed showing her my garden and so often she has come to my art exhibitions to see the outcome as well. Now, that’s a friend!

Back in the studio in the afternoon, I began again to experiment on this magnolia painting. It’s been a great day inside and out.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 18, 2026

I guess I must like this dahlia. I just realized that a while back, I’d done a colored pencil piece of the original dahlia shown below. It was sitting on the bookshelf in my studio all this time. It’s a little 4 ½ inch square drawing, double matted and framed to 10”. It’s listed on my website here. In looking at these two works together, I realize how much more free I am when I work big. With a small piece, I sit at the drafting table and work mostly with my wrist with tiny, pointed brushes or colored pencils. For oil paintings, I work standing up and paint from my shoulder and elbow with fan brushes. These different ways of working lead me to create very different styles of work. I love that!

Two different mediums, techniques and sizes. Very different outcomes. I’ll bet if I did it again, it would be different than both.

This is the original photo I took of this dahlia, and have enjoyed the many hours of being inspired by it.

This little colored pencil drawing is double-matted and in a 10″ frame. You can see it on my website here.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

This Week in the Studio – May 11-May 17, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up:I declared the dahlia oil paint is finished, really finished this time. After I stepped away the first time, I saw different possibilities the longer I saw it out of the corner of my eye and put it back on the easel. I added and subtracted while also defining areas and now had a much better appreciation of the final version. I was struck by how far the painting had traveled from its original inspiration. The magnolia painting is next, and I’m already exploring more dramatic color possibilities on the computer and in paint. Meanwhile, I completed all the steps I do to document a painting. I add an index # that follows it throughout its existence, and I create a title. I call this “productizing” a painting for readying it for my database, website, ecommerce, application for exhibitions, and adding it to my website. I also make sure the edges are painted to show the workflow pattern, I oil out the surface for a unified sheen. I also document the number of hours I worked each day on the piece, and what pigments I used. Wiring the painting for hanging is critical.

The garden offered its own rewards this week. Some of my favorite azaleas were in full bloom like the Apple Blossom azaleas in the woodland garden in tappled shade. I offered a garden tour to my garden club members to see the garden at its peak. It’s a busy season that doesn’t wait for someone to have free time, so I also made a second visit to see the Tree Peonies at Bayard Cutting Arboretum, catching their fleeting peak. A bike ride on the weekend at Jones Beach on the first hot day of the year reminded me why staying fit matters. Being an artist for me entails a lot of physical work, like standing, lifting, and stretching. Studio life requires being physically fit, but so does the garden. Together, they are colluding to keep me physically and mentally active and healthy.

Click here to read all the week’s Studio Glimpses

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 17, 2026

I decided to enjoy the first hot day of the year by taking my first bike ride of the season at Jones Beach. Each year, I worry that I’ll be too fearful to ride, but this is not that year. Riding isn’t the difficult part of riding a bike. Stopping & starting, getting on and getting off are the most vulnerable actions in my opinion. As I always say, so far, so good. Staying fit is so important to my studio practice because my work involves considerable standing, lifting, and stretching every day.

In the garden, one of my favorite azaleas is in bloom, the Apple Blossom Azalea. The buds are a lovely pink, and the flowers open with white petals and a delicate pink edging. To me, it’s a very girlie plant. I have a few of them in bloom at the moment around my woodland garden. The amount of flowering on each of the shrubs differs depending on the amount of sunshine the plant gets during the day, although all of them do flower in dappled shade.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 16, 2026

Now that I’ve finished painting the dahlia, I’ve returned to the magnolia painting I started a few weeks ago. I’ve decided not to use all the soft pastels I had originally intended, but to potentially make it more dramatic. At this stage, I’m playing around with color possibilities on my computer and also in actual paint without having made any decisions

Hubby Dave and I took a break and went to the Bayard Cutting Arboretum to see the Tree Peonies. Last week when I was there only a few flowers were open. Now, we caught it in full bloom. Tree Peonies are very delicate and if it rains, or there is another major weather event, like too much sun they wilt immediately. Since they’re so precious, the grounds crew sets up a tent to protect them from damage for the short time they’re in bloom. We so much appreciated their efforts.

Not having a specific concept for the outcome I want for this painting presents a different kind of challenge. When I was doing botanical illustration, I knew I exactly what I wanted the finished piece to look like. Both these approaches are difficult but different.

This reminds me of the years of art festivals we did in six different states. Setting up our booth and taking it down each day was quite an adventure for us.

Last week, when I came to see the Tree Peonies, there were only two or so in bloom. What a difference a week made!

This magnificent turkey was carefully protecting his harem. Each time we moved closer to them, he puffed up considerably and clucked some warning sounds. Fascinating experience for us to stumble upon.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 15, 2026

Very important to me is the documenting of the painting. After each day in the studio, I write a journal entry with date, # of hours worked, and state briefly what I did that day. I also keep track of what pigments I used which has been helpful when I’ve had to retouch a canvas if it’s been damaged in transit to or from a show. I also assign an index # and title to the painting, write it on the back bottom of the stretchers, add a copyright, and sign the painting in indelible ink. This date is entered into a spreadsheet on my desktop and also in my online documentation in Artwork Archive. In order to hang the painting in a show, I add D-hooks and wire 1/3 of the way down from the top of the frame. I call this procedure, productizing my work. By doing this immediately, I am always ready to show the work in an exhibition or to a collector.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 14, 2026

After I finish a painting, there is still more work to be done. One is to make sure my painted edges are finished on all four sides of the stretched canvas. I use thick stretcher strips with no visible staples, so the canvas is wrapped around the edges cleanly. With this style, I can exhibit work without the extra cost of framing. When a collector purchases a painting, they can decide whether to hang it as I do or to add their own frame, which suits their specific decor. One of the other tasks after my painting is dry is to brush on a layer of medium. This is called oiling-out, and it unifies the glossy and matte surfaces of paint so the entire piece has a smoothly unified surface. This is a very satisfying stage of creating work.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 13, 2026

I have decided that I’m finished painting this dahlia. After signing it a while ago, and again returning to it, this time I’m truly stepping away. I took out the original model I based this painting upon to see how far I journeyed. I guess I could say that it was a long way from the original inspiration. But that’s one of the wonderful things about being an artist, you create your own vision, your own reality. Shortly after I began painting, I stopped looking at the model and went in my own direction. At a certain point in time, I felt that the painting itself was in command of its outcome and that I was only holding the brushes. It’s a wonderful experience being in the “Zone”.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 12, 2026

Today I turned the dahlia painting upside down to get a better sense of balance with color and brushwork. When you change the way you look at a painting, you see things differently. I usually need to do this since over time, I’ve found that the left side of my paintings can be weaker since I’m a right-handed painter. The way that I hold my brushes gives the right side of the edges more attention. Here is where you can see that I have made the usual bottom part of the painting darker than the part that is normally at the top. I’ve done that on purpose. I’m including a photo of my glass palette that I’ve been using for decades. At the end of each painting session, I scrape off the paint with a straight razor. There is something soothing about the rituals of setting up your paint at the start and cleaning up at the end of the session.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 11, 2026

I’m back working on the dahlia painting again. Now, I’m working on the colors and textures on the bottom of the painting, trying to make it darker with more color contrast. Working on not creating muddy colors, which can be tricky. I want the clearer, brighter colors in the center and then moderating them with each outward layer of petals until they merge with the background.

A few years ago, I moved a very little bright pink azalea to the end of the driveway. I was designing the garden to have non-competing colors during bloom times. Now, she’s flourishing and is giving new meaning to the term, curbside appeal.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

This Week in the Studio – May 4-May 10, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up: Spring pulled me in two directions this week — canvas and garden both demanding attention. I returned to a magnolia painting after a few weeks away, revisiting my photo database and rethinking the color palette; the lemon greens showing up everywhere in new spring foliage have made their way into the petals. The dahlia painting, which I thought was finished, came back onto the easel. I worked through some compositional adjustments using pastel, exploring ways to create a rounder, more balanced flower. A mid-week supply run to Dick Blick, 45 minutes each way, $250 later, was a good reminder that painting is an investment in every sense.

Outside the studio, a visit to Bayard Cutting Arboretum to see the tree peonies left me with a camera full of photos and a new painting idea forming. At home, Hubby Dave heroically made about 20 trips up the stairs from the plant room to bring my overwintered plants back out to the deck, where my massive container-planting project finally got underway.

Click here to read all the week’s Studio Glimpses

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 9, 2026

If you paint long enough, you eventually have to buy more art supplies. I took a break from the studio and drove to the Dick Blick store, a 45-minute drive from my home if it’s a good day with no traffic. I bought the mediums and paint tubes I needed and walked out of the store with a small shopping bag and a credit card receipt for over $250. Being an artist is a big investment, not only of time but also of economics.

After viewing the dahlia painting in my studio over time and talking with a few friends, I decided to put the painting back on the easel and add some more petals towards the outer edge of the canvas to make it a more robust composition. Today in the studio, I began that process.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 8, 2026

I decided, after spending time looking at this painting of the dahlia that I had already signed, I wanted to add some additional petals to create additional balance to the composition. I worked on some possibilities using pastel to outline different options. Since the paint was dry, I just used a moist paper towel to erase any lines I didn’t want to keep.

Before I went to work in the studio, I went with my friend to the Bayard Cutting Arboretum to see the tree peonies in bloom. Turns out, they’ll be in peak bloom in two weeks, so I’ll happily have an excuse to go back. But one of the plants was blooming, and I have many photos of this gorgeous flower. I’m seeing a painting in my future!

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 7, 2026

There are some days that make you sad each year. So what I do is to invite people to come to see my garden, to share in the joy it delivers each year, the first week in May. There have been rhododendrons in bloom since the beginning of March, but this week is always spectacular. Such beauty is meant to be shared. Gardens bring down the stress in people’s lives. A perfect remedy for sad days.

This is a view when you enter the front garden just as you pass the deck.

Looking at the house from the garden, towards the deck. One of my aluminum prints is hanging on my deck.

When you arrive in my driveway, this is the view at this time of year.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 6, 2026

I didn’t get much done in the studio today since the garden is calling for my attention right now. While the magnolia painting is drying, I put the dahlia painting back on the easel since I saw a few things that began to bother me. I’m trying to figure out what I can do to reduce the petals in the 4 corners from being too prominent. I want the entire flower to have a more round composition, but the dominance of some of the corner petals is causing the composition to be more square. Often, it takes quite a bit of time to see areas of artwork that need some attention, even if you’ve already signed the piece.

In the garden, I potted up some canna rhizomes and printed labels for my garden club sale. Every year, we dig up plants from our gardens, pot them up, and sell them to other gardeners in the community. This helps to fund the club’s many community programs throughout the year.

After spending time with my dahlia painting off the easel, but in my vision daily, I see some places I’d like to make some alterations. Glad I keep a journal and know all the different paint pigments I used to make the original work. It will make the touch-ups much easier for me.

This is how my canna looks by mid-summer. I donated rhizomes of this beauty to my garden club plant sale. They’ll make some smart gardeners very happy!

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 5, 2026

Ever feel like you’re pulled in many directions at once? Things you want to do. How you want to spend your time? This is my time of the year for a target-rich environment. I’m in the studio, working on paintings for upcoming exhibitions. But, at the same time, Mother Nature isn’t waiting for me. My garden is in full, all-out peak viewing season. I love the spring. It gives me such a wonderful feeling of optimism and new opportunities. The colors are a feast for the eyes and make me happy to be alive. The lemon greens in the new foliage are affecting the color palette I’m working with in my studio. I hope everyone can take a moment to stop what they’re doing and look around them for something that is joyous and uplifting.

In the studio I have been redrawing some of the petals to bring more balance to the composition. In order to do that I have to apply very thick paint which takes longer to dry than usual.

This is the view at the edge of my entry deck. The white flowers are a rhododendron named ‘Koromo Shikabu’. I have a purple one as well. They are stunning!

This is a view from my studio into the entrance to the woodland garden. The tree with the white flowers is a dogwood. The bright yellows are Hosta varieties which I placed to add bright focal point highlights in the perennial beds.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 4, 2026

Since I haven’t worked on the painting for a few weeks, I needed to go back over my saved image database to see where I started and where I’m going. I took the original photo at an arboretum since I don’t have the acreage to grow magnolias in my garden. Once I selected the images from the tens of thousands of flower photos I’ve taken over the years, I made a grid in Procreate & transferred the outline to the prepared canvas. Then I blocked in some colors to create an underpainting. Today, I again began working on this painting and changed the colors I had originally worked with which were first the blues then the purple/pinks. I think the wonderful colors of spring have moved me to now add some of that beautiful lemon green to the magnolia petals. That doesn’t mean that tomorrow I won’t again change my mind about what colors I want to use.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

This Week in the Studio – April 27-May 3, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up: The dahlia painting was winding down and I was in the final stage of small, incremental touch-ups, which tells me the end is near. Before heading to the studio each day, I’ve been working with my Wacom tablet and stylus to experiment with composition and color direction for different current and potential paintings. I signed the dahlia this week and finished its edges, and I’ve been living with it in the studio. I keep turning it on its sides and up and down and catching it from unexpected angles. I also played with alternative compositions for the Magnolia in Photoshop

Click here to read all the week’s Studio Glimpses

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 2, 2026

As an artist, I spend quite a bit of time analyzing the work before I commit to a painting, the difference between how a composition looks when created on the computer screen and how it looks once I put it onto canvas. Each day, I spend time looking at a piece before I begin painting and after I’m done for the day. Even after I’m finished with a painting, and even after I’ve signed a piece, I spend time looking at the work from many different angles and in different lighting situations. I also like to put the painting in places where I don’t expect it to be so that I “accidentally” see it without expecting to. Living with a work for some time after signing it, sometimes brings out my brushes again when I see something I hadn’t seen at the time. I’m not averse to taking one of my paintings off the wall and modifying it. In fact, I’ve often done that with my work. After all, it is my work, isn’t it?!

After signing this painting, I stood it up in my studio so I can look at it many times in different lighting.

In the studio, I keep all the newer work within my view so I can glance at it now and then. I’ll even turn the paintings on their sides or upside down for a day or so to see in from different viewpoints.

My entry garden is popping this week. I love the lemon yellow greens with the vibrant azaleas. I have had rhodi’s and azaleas in bloom since the beginning of March in many different colors that all harmonize with each other.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

May 1, 2026

One of the issues I had with this canvas is that there was a bit of a problem with the weave on the surface of the canvas in a section of about half an inch in width, along the full length of this 36” square canvas. When I last worked on the problem a few weeks ago, I used a thick impasto painting style on the natural weave of the canvas. You can see the difference if you look closely.

From a distance you wouldn’t notice any difference in the texture of the canvas.

This is a close-up of the natural weave of the canvas with a gesso underpainting and paint applied using a thinning medium and pigment applied with a fan brush.

Here’s a close-up of the impasto paint I applied with a palette knife to cover the imperfect weave on parts of this canvas.

This is a daily journal of my creative efforts as I prepare for my June 2026 solo exhibition in Poughkeepsie, NY, and my November exhibition in Chelsea, New York City.

April 30, 2026

When I’m experimenting with visuals, I don’t use a pencil and a sketchbook. Since I’ve been working with computer graphics systems since the 1980s, I’m much more comfortable working on ideas on screens than paper. I have a Mac Mini hooked up to a 24-inch monitor with a 4.5K Retina display. With that, I use a Wacom Intuos Pro tablet and an Art Pen. I also have a MacBook Pro laptop and an iPad for when I’m not at my desk. Though there are many design programs, I still use my trusty Photoshop since I’m so familiar with it, even when it’s overkill for what I need at any given time. Why learn something new when you already know how to do it with what you have?

Today I wanted to try some alternative compositions for the Magnolia painting so I tried a variety of possibilities in multiple layers in Photoshop. Getting up from the chair, walking away from the monitor, and looking at a distance always helps me make design decisions.

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

April 29, 2026

In the studio today, I took the canvas off the easel so I could finish painting the edges. Years ago, I decided to use deep gallery wrapped canvases. This saves me many hundreds of dollars in framing costs for every painting I create, plus it enables collectors to decide what treatment they want the painting to have that will look right in their own home. After I finished the edges, I signed the painting. It usually takes me a few attempts to get the signature to look the way I want. I don’t want the signature to stand out but melt somewhat into the colors of the painting in a more subtle way. Once that was done, I filled out my daily journal entry with the history of the work and assigned it an index reference number. That number, along with the title is used to track where it will be and has been shown over time and where it will finally find a home.

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

April 28, 2026

I’m making small, incremental touch-ups to the details of this dahlia painting. That means that the end is near.

In the meantime, our quiet little street has been turned into a construction site with many trucks coming and going all day long. This is the 2^nd day in a row they’re installing an additional drainage system to address some flooding down the block from us. We didn’t know if they would be digging up our whole driveway since they’d marked our gas lines along the entire edge of our property, the driveway, and yellow flags right up to the side of our house. No one would answer us. It was so frustrating, but I believe it’s that each of the workers only did one job, and none of them knew the entire scope of the project. It turns out that the only work done on our property was lots of spray paint. It would have been nice to know.

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

April 27, 2026

Before I went to the studio today, I worked with my stylus and Wacom tablet to experiment with color. I was trying to decide what colors I wanted to lean toward on some of the petals. I experimented for a while, full well knowing that the colors on my screen would not match the colors on my canvas. At least I knew what color range I wanted to move towards. Following that, I went to the studio to glaze the center and surrounding petals so they would unify the rest of the work on the outer petals and background. I’m savoring these last days of working on this painting.

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

This Week in the Studio – April 20-26, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up: The dahlia painting is closing in on a decision point — not finished, but approaching what mathematicians call an asymptote, where each session brings only the smallest of changes. This week brought glazing, compass work to recenter the flower, and careful attention to the intricate architecture of the center petals. Meanwhile, the garden is in full spring stride: pastels in the deck planters, a now-towering rhododendron that was once a gift from the Rhododendron Society, and a lemon-green haze of new growth everywhere. A trip to the wholesale nursery fed the creative well, and a brunch with my grandson CJ was the kind of time that refills everything.

Click here to read all the week’s Studio Glimpses

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

April 25, 2026

I may be nearing the end of working on this painting. Some say they’ve finished a painting. I feel that a painting isn’t finished, it’s just abandoned. The way to know that it is time to sign it and move on is that there are only minuscule changes at the end of each studio session. This is what’s known as an asymptote. Imagine that each day, as I begin painting, I am halfway finished with it. Continue forward through the days and weeks, and the realization is that it will never be finished since it will only ever be halfway done. There will always be another edge to soften, a color to shift, or detail to be added. At some point, the changes become infinitesimally small each day, so I make a decision to set the painting aside and begin the next piece. I am approaching that point with this painting.

While I’m working in my studio, my garden is working hard and making large gains, opening up new blooms every day. I’m loving all the pastel colors blooming in my deck planters at the moment. The rhododendron in the near distance was given to me as a gift when it was less than a foot tall, for hosting a garden tour for the Rhododendron Society a number of years ago. It clearly is happy to be here and so am I.

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

April 24, 2026

So what does spring feel like for you? Colors describe it for me. Lemon green for the new growth on trees, pink and yellow pastels, and shades of purple around my garden. In my studio, the dahlia painting is taking form with some of those shades. Though most dahlias are fall-blooming plants, the flowers I paint are not guided by the time of year. This is the season I’m torn between where to spend my time. There is so much creativity to be explored both indoors and outdoors. Conserving enough energy for both is critical for me.

Today I planted ranunculus in the deck planters. In the distance to the left is a pink *Rhododendron* ‘Aglo’, *Grape Muscari* and daffodils in the center bed, and a *Cercis canadensis,* ‘Rising Sun’ and a PJM rhododendron.

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

April 23, 2026

Looking into the center of flowers has always fascinated me. There is so much architectural structure in each flower. Like there is in human faces, there are personalities in each. Today I took a trip to my local wholesale nursery to see what is coming into the retail stores this season. Since, as a landscape designer with a degree in ornamental horticulture, I have the business credentials to have accounts at the wholesale nurseries, I take advantage of the opportunity to see masses of color and form. It is part of the inspiration for my art, both indoors and out.

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

April 22, 2026

Earth Day today. I remember when all this started back in the day. It’s when I began recycling and haven’t stopped since. I worked some more on the center petals of the dahlia. Working on the three dimensionality of the piece. It’s always true that as you get closer to the completion of a painting, it gets harder and harder letting it go. This isn’t ready for prime time yet, but we’re getting there.

My grandson, CJ Ahern, came over to take me to brunch. He gave me coupons for some breakfasts and one dinner as a Christmas gift. It’s the perfect present he could give me, time with him. We took our annual photograph of him on the garden bench. We began this in 2002 and now, a different bench, but the same kid. The garden sure has also been transformed.

Added more shadowing to the center petals to begin to create dimension and depth.

My two-year-old grandson, CJ Ahern in 2002 sitting on the bench in the garden. He had been meandering through this garden since before he could walk.

This year’s photo has CJ sitting on the third version of the bench in front of the PJM Rhododendron we planted there years ago.

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

April 21, 2026

There is a time in each of my paintings when it asks me to concentrate on details. In this painting, even though we’re not close to the end, I knew I wanted to begin addressing the details in the center of the flower. This is where the action takes place in all flowers and human growth. It’s where the pollen is formed and the pollinators fertilize the flowers which then creates seeds and in turn, is used to create the next generation of flowers. This is the continuation of the species. A very Darwinian moment.

The model I used for this dahlia painting was a photo I took of the dahlia with an unopened center. For each flower, the center changes every single day depending on the stage of fertilization, so there is no right or wrong. Plus, just like humans that all look different, so does each and every flower regardless of what cultivar or scientific name they have been given.

I worked on the center of the dahlia painting today, outlining it with Hansa yellow, Leaf green, and Permalba white to draw the petals.

This is a close-up of a photo I had taken a few years ago and used as a model for parts of this painting. The center looks like a sphere, but in reality, it is a grouping of unopened petals.

This is a close-up of the center of the painting. It is not this green, but I guess this is what my iPhone camera decided it looked like.

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

April 20, 2026

I began unifying some of the colors in the dahlia painting in the studio today. I’m glazing the yellow and also the magenta petals with thin washes of different warm and cool greens. It is helping to tone down the magentas and give more shape and three dimensionality to the layers of petals. I also needed to recalibrate the center of the painting and redraw the inner circle since it had moved over to the left about ¾” from when I initially drew it. For this part of the work, I took out my drafting compass, centered the pin at the exact center of the canvas, then pulled the graphite at the end of the ruler in a circular motion to redraw the center of the flower. I have so many tools from many different parts of my life’s journey. I had this compass from some landscape design projects I did about 20 years ago. It still works and today it saved me time and made my day infinitely easier.

Now I’m trying to unify all the various colors and create some dimensionality in the petals. I’m using all the flower colors to create the abstract background.

The pin in the center of the red logo is where I place the center of the compass. There is a lever on the side to allow me to pull the measuring rod out and there is a holder for holding pencil lead or other drawing material to mark the circle on, in the case, my canvas. A very handy tool.

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

This Week in the Studio – April 13 – 19, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up: The dahlia painting has kept me both challenged and intrigued this week. I’m working toward a rich palette of purples, magentas, yellow-greens, and lemon yellows, but the colors have had a mind of their own — veins of orange where I wanted yellow, a wet layer of Permanent Rose bleeding into a fresh glaze and shifting the color scheme entirely. A compositional reset required painting opaque white and lemon yellow to recenter the flowers, leaving the center flatter and bolder than I intend for now. The background is starting to reflect the color range I’m hoping for, but I’m still finding my way. On days when the dahlia was too wet to continue, I returned to the magnolia — rethinking its palette too, toning down an angry red and wondering if an entirely new color scheme is what it wants. Through all of it, I’ve been using digital tools to test color and composition before committing paint to canvas, a habit rooted in my decades with computer graphics.

In the garden, forsythia are singing, grape muscari are in bloom, the camellia is flowering beside its aluminum print twin, and four yards of mulch arrived exactly where I needed it. Two successes in one day — studio and garden alike.

Click here to read all the week’s Studio Glimpses

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

April 18, 2026

The palette I’m working towards is a rich range of purples, magentas, yellow greens and lemon yellows. Also, I worked on restoring the centering of the flowers in the middle of the canvas. I had to paint opaque white with some lemon yellow to cover the off-center lines, so now the center looks far more bold and flat than I intend. The background is starting to pick up the color range I’m hoping for, but I’m not satisfied at all yet.

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

April 17, 2026

I’m still struggling with the color scheme on this painting. The yellows became far more orange than I was aiming for, and I’m trying to compensate with a compromise. I haven’t reached it yet, but I’m still trying to realize my goal. It’s so frustrating to work on this day after day and still not be satisfied.

In the garden, the camellia shrub is in bloom. This is the model for the camellia that I had printed on aluminum, which is in the distance in my photos. This weather-resistant print of my artwork has been hanging in the garden for years in all seasons. Both the actual camellia plant and the aluminum print prefer the shade to the blazing sun. As a matter of fact, so do I.

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

April 16, 2026

Since the 1980s, I have been involved with computer graphics equipment. I sold the systems, demonstrated them, and founded a graphic design business using them, so I am extremely comfortable using technology in a variety of ways. With this painting, I’ve been using technology to test different treatments I want to try with oil paints on canvas before I squeeze paint out onto my glass palette. It is like sending a search party out on a trail or checking maps before committing to the entire journey. I try different color schemes and compositions. I believe that you have to use whatever tools make you the most creative. A computer, a stylus, and a drawing tablet work for me.

I’m still experimenting with color on canvas to see what makes my heart skip a beat.

Creating a painting for me isn’t a linear accomplishment. Beginning straight to the end. Instead, it is a series of potholes, detours, and do-overs. In Photoshop, I follow the day-to-day progress or lack of same from the photos I take every working day in the studio.

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

April 15, 2026

Another interesting day in the studio. Since the dahlia painting was still wet from yesterday, I took it off the easel and put back the magnolia that I last worked on in March. That was when I overpainted it with thick impasto to cover up the irregularity in the canvas weave that had become more prominent each time I painted. Now that it is fully dry, I need to bring back the original composition. Now, I’m also rethinking the color palette I want to work with on this piece. It was a very angry red in the corners, and I’ve toned that down, but I imagine I might even go with a completely different color scheme.

In the garden today on this nice warm spring day, I had 4 yards of mulch delivered. The driver reminded me that he’d delivered it last year, after I’d had the deer fence put in. When he arrived, he couldn’t fit the truck into the garden since the fencing company hadn’t specified the gates to be wide enough for a pickup truck. I told him that after his problem with the delivery last year, I had the fence company install a second gate so I could get the mulch delivered in the garden and not on the road as they had to last year. He did a great job and was able to place it exactly where I wanted it now that the double gates are wide enough for his truck. Two successes today, one in the studio and one in the garden.

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

April 14, 2026

Another beautiful and warm spring day that has me so happy after the long, icy winter we endured. Glad that is behind us for a while. Today I worked more on the background of the dahlia painting than the petals. I played with dioxazine purple and some Thalo green with white. Still not satisfied with the color palette colors but I’m enjoying the experimentation. I’m lowering the saturation in the most distant petals, so they’ll relate more with the atmosphere surrounding them and differentiate them from the closer petals.

In the garden, the Grape muscari are in bloom today. Every year when they bloom, they remind me of the digital imaging piece I made of them many moons ago. Prints of this artwork have been hanging in many homes over the years. As a matter of fact, they’re still for sale on my website under the link, Designer Prints.

Up close and personal, this early tiny spring flower as you’ve never seen it before, on a sharp black background.

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

April 13, 2026

In the studio, I was glazing Cadmium yellow light and Titanium White over the dahlia petals to lighten the center. Unfortunately, or fortunately, the paint was still slightly wet when I worked on it, so the damp Permanent Rose tainted the new layer. Now I have an entirely new color scheme than what I was aiming for, and I’m trying to decide whether I like this direction or not. I keep walking past it to see it from different angles. I try to surprise myself by purposely not glancing at it and finally swinging my head around to catch it in a glance. The next few days of painting will be interesting since it will help to define what the painting wants to become.

On another note, this forsythia at the front of my driveway is singing songs of happiness to me this week.

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

This Week in the Studio – April 6 – 12, 2026

Weekly Wrap-Up: This week in the studio began with a forced pause — four days under the weather meant trading the easel for the recliner. But rest has a way of feeding the creative mind, and scrolling through past art and garden photos brought both comfort and inspiration, including a rediscovered video from last year’s Women’s History Month. By week’s end, I was back in front of the dahlia painting, defining petals and leaning into the flower’s spiky, assertive character — a quality that felt exactly right to accentuate. Between studio sessions, the garden offered its own quiet rewards: the brash pink Rhododendron ‘Milestone’ cracking open for the season, lemon yellow Mahonia bealei in bloom, and a stunning Anemone mistral already making me think about the next painting. I also took a closer look at studio organization — the plastic storage bins that keep everything from framing hardware to watercolor supplies within easy reach, and the flowerpots filled with aquarium gravel that keep my brushes standing at attention, garden-style.

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

April 11, 2026

Back in the studio again after a week of feeling under the weather, and I went back to working on the dahlia painting. I’m still defining the various petals. I don’t usually choose to paint flowers with harsh spikes, but at the moment, this felt like a feature that was right to accentuate. In my garden, the brash pink Rhododendron ‘Milestone’ is partially open. I bought this from the American Rhododendron Society in 2001. And yes, I have a database for my plants, too, like I have a database for my art. Different programs though.

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

April 9, 2026

Studio Storage is complicated. Everything needs to be quickly accessible for different uses, and it has to be flexible. I have used these plastic storage bins for years. They come with wheels and some of them slide easily under my work tables. Each of them holds items that align with the table they’re under. The tall one is narrow enough to fit snuggly in between the doorway and the closet without me having to move anything. I bought them years ago at Target but I’m sure you can get them at many different locations that are convenient for you.

In this unit I store hammers, screwdrivers, rulers, various types of tape and glue, twine, rubber bands, compass devices and much more.

This unit is near where I do my drawings, watercolor and colored pencil work. It has all sorts of supplies to support the various mediums.

Under my mat cutting table, I keep all my framing materials. Drills and drill bits, D hooks & screws, wire, tape, a machine for inserting pins to hold prints & mats in place for mounting under glass.

Underneath my painting table is storage for different mediums for different types of paint. Regular oil paints and water-soluble oils. I have varnish materials too. In there are also paper palettes for the rare case when I’m not using my glass palette.

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

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