New paintings, hot off the easel, and some thoughts on art and life ...

Two weeks ago I was in Scottsdale taking a workshop from Rose Frantzen.  What a generous, gifted and inspirational teacher she is!  If you don't know her work, click on through right now and see it here.  

Rose and her husband, the artist Charles Morris, live in Maquoketa. Iowa, where they have a gallery.  Rose spent over a year painting portraits of anyone in Maquoketa who wanted to be painted.  She documented the experience in a wonderful book called Portrait of Maquoketa; the paintings themselves were exhibited at the Smithsonian.  

Long before those portraits Frantzen was painting lush paintings that ranged from landscapes to figurative allegorical works.  What I love about so much of her work is the way it shows the beauty in ordinary lives. Many of her paintings show people against the backdrop of the changing seasons of rural Iowa.  I've never even been there but her paintings make me feel at home.  One of my favorities is "Mrs. Zimmerman."  Haven't we all known someone like this woman?  I think she looks comfortable in her life - I can imagine she's about to offer me some lemonade and ask me to sit on the porch and visit with her. 

Thanks again Rose - and thanks to the staff at the Scottsdale Artist's School for an inspiring week.