Making It Work

"Alongside the Columbia" - Oil - 11" x 14"

"Come spend your life with me. The best is yet to be." 

"My husband and I have been married for 49 years. He is all science and exercise and I am all art and exercise avoidance. Yet, mostly to his credit, it works.

As part of our travels, and thanks to a roomy van, he often takes his bicycle and I have all the painting equipment I want. Whether we join other cyclists or artists, both of us are happy. I drop him off at the beginning of the ride and meet him 4 or more hours later with a wet painting in my storage box and a big smile on my face.

Artists take heart. You can make it work!" --- SFG

"Edge of the Storm" - Oil - Pre-2006

"I recently re-organized the photos of my work on my computer. Many go back to before 1998 when I had my first digital camera.

Gradually, while doing this, I realized that, with a few exceptions, all that work – the immense time, effort, and material it consumed – was merely preparation for the work I am doing now. Sure, I will still produce work what will be clunkers to me, but I am much more often satisfied with my current work.

The reasons are somewhat nebulous. The brush strokes may be more confident. The paint may be thicker. The subjects may be more interesting. The composition may be better balanced. Or, in the end, they just may be better executed and look like a mature artist did it.

Doubt assaults all artists from time to time, but we celebrate when we find reason to go on. So we push on. We do it all because it feeds our spirits in a way the viewer can never imagine." --- SFG

"Fire on the Prairie"   2015