"White Peonies" (oil on stretched canvas; 9" x 12")

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Peonies are not blooming yet, but one can always get ready for their heady perfume by painting them!

"Koi and Parrot" (acrylic on stretched linen; 22" x 28")

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To shake things up a bit, this spring I am taking an abstract painting class with Deanna Schwartzberg at the Art League School in Alexandria, VA. Creativity and play are the key to the class. I am having so much fun!

During the second class, I painted "Koi and Parrot". Koi and a parrot? Why not? Believe it or not, at the beginning I had a musical theme in mind with a drum, violin, and flutes! Somehow koi shapes began to emerge. Someone found the parrot during the critique session and it became my favorite part of the whole colorful painting. I love the stare of the parrot and the swimming movement of the koi!

"Venice Scuola Grande di San Marco" (oil on stretched canvas; 11" x 14") sold

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Venice is beautiful wherever you look. One of my favorite places in this serenely beautiful city is the Scuola Grande di San Marco. It originally was the home to one of the six major sodalities or Scuole Grandi of Venice. It faces the Campo San Giovanni e Paolo, one of the largest squares in the city. Of course, the square is always packed with people, whom I made disappear magically!

The edifice was built by the Confraternity of San Marco in 1260 to act as its seat. In 1485, however, it was destroyed by a large fire, and rebuilt in the following twenty years. The façade is a masterwork of delicately decorated niches and pilasters and white or polychrome marble statues. It is now a civic hospital.

"White Lilies in a White Vase" (oil on stretched canvas; 12" x 12")

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The white oriental lilies in a white porcelain vase with rose trim glow against the soft yellow and violet background. Can you smell their intoxicating perfume?

"Detail from Vermeer's Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window" (oil on linen; 12" x 12')

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The painting is the copy of a detail from "Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window" (c 1657–59) by Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer. The well-preserved painting is on display at the Gemäldegalerie in Dresden. For many years, the attribution of the painting was lost, with first Rembrandt and then Pieter de Hooch being credited for the work before it was properly identified in 1880. After World War II, the painting was briefly in possession of the Soviet Union.

A pretty intimidating painting to copy, don't you think? Look at the girl's ringlets, intricate dress, and her reflection on the window panes. I am learning much through these copying efforts.

"Spring Garden" (oil on stretched canvas; 12" x 16")

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Take a walk with me in the enchanted garden of white roses, May snowballs, and azaleas. The air is thick with the perfume of flowers. Time has stopped. Let's linger.