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Can a highly realistic artist do artwork differently?  I tried abstract art through several workshops and classes, but alas, that is not me.  Except for parts of paintings that may have abstract elements, I always revert to realism.  My current experimental goal was to be looser in painting and also to try the “flat color, and line” approach of beautiful Japanese style paintings. 

Huihan Liu’s workshop in Sarasota, Fl in 2019 challenged me to have looser paint strokes. Usually my paintings are very detailed.   We spent a week at Cortez Fishing Village, sketching, doing paint studies and photographing.  "Morning Catch" was done during the second week of the workshop utilizing our studies and photographs.  Huihan’s hand was in parts of this painting so I can’t claim it to be totally mine.   However, "Bringing in the Big Fish" was done at home after the workshop utilizing several photograph references from the first week at Cortez Fishing Village, and using what I learned.

   "Bringing in the Big Fish"

"Morning Catch"

The Art Gallery at Oak Hammock was scheduled to have a “Roaring Twenties” exhibit this Spring.   The challenge was to develop an artwork that depicted the 1920-29 period.  In preparation for this I recruited an Oak Hammock resident, who has been active with the League of Women Voters for many years, to be the model for the painting.  She loaned me a DVD that included actual photographs from that period when women were marching for the Women’s Right to Vote.  These gave me ideas for some of the other figures.  The League of Women Voters was established shortly after passage of the Constitutional Amendment.  My inspiration for the pose is Delacroix’s “La Liberte” painting.   Unfortunately, the COVID-19 virus required our community to go into lockdown, making it necessary for the “Roaring Twenties” to be postponed.

  "Birth of the League of Women Voters"  "La Liberte" by Delacroix

More recently I’ve been experimenting with the Japanese style of painting.  My husband and I visited Japan last spring during their peak cherry blossom season with an “Essence of Japan” tour through Tauck. I was inspired by the many beautiful Japanese artworks then.  Utilizing several photograph references from our trip, I painted the following two artworks.  My challenge was to keep them “simple.”

       "Essence of Japan"       "Playing the Koto During Tokyo Sunset"

Overall, I think my experimentation was successful in helping me to change some of my painting approaches.