Last week I spent 3 full days in New York City. It was a real whirlwind with visits to the Guggenheim, MOMA, SoHo and Chelsea districts as the art high points. This was my fourth visit to New York, and the first time I really "got to know" the subway system. In the past I would take a cab anywhere that was too far to walk, but often the traffic movement slows down to a crawl. I love to walk around cities like New York, but some distances are just too far to walk and still have time to see it all. I found subway travel to be amazingly efficient and fast, once my friend Camille and I figured it out. Not really that hard to do. We bypassed all that traffic and congestion and voila, we arrived at our destinations in no time.

Heading to MOMA, just ahead on right

The Guggenheim had a Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit and it was a good one. I'm not a giant fan of architecture, but my father was an architect and he was a fan of Wright. One of his first home designs, right here in Nashville on Otter Creek Road, was a Frank Lloyd Wright inspired home through and through. The exhibit gave me a greater appreciation of Wright and also helped me understand why contemporary style homes have always been my favorite (and what my husband and I live in now). Our next stop was MOMA, and it was truly mind boggling with so many of the great contemporary masterpieces under one roof. I really couldn't take it all in there was so much to see. We got lucky and arrived at the museum just after "free Friday" started, around 5 p.m. After that we called it a day.

We couldn't do an art tour of New York and skip SoHo, but it has really changed from the fabled art community of yore. I was in SoHo back in 1996 and even then signs of change and gentrification were setting in with the influx of various national chains like Gap, Bed Bath and Beyond, etc. This visit was a shock as the majority of art galleries I remember had either closed or moved on. The rents just got too high for most artists and galleries. One that remains is OK Harris, perhaps my favorite gallery in New York. They carry a variety of creative, provocative and beautiful art. The realist and gritty New York city street scenes were truly evocative of late nights in the "dark" part of the city. Another artist did beautiful lake scenes with dying reeds and lily pads, and clouds reflecting in the water. One piece was very minimalist and inspired me with some new ideas. The most intriguing work was by a metal artist who bends wire to create shadows on walls that look like chairs, hands, faces, etc. The amazing part was that the shadows seemed to have absolutely nothing to do with the wire.

A tony neighborhood in Central Park West

Finally on Saturday we went to Chelsea and Central Park West. In Chelsea there is a pretty solid concentration of galleries. Many were "start up"type galleries featuring artists who had not yet emerged. Others were impressive, with highly skilled and accomplished artists, the most notable being Chuck Close. There was lots of realism represented at galleries and my theory is that realism tends to come back in vogue in times of economic downturn, when people appreciate skill over the shock value of "the art of the moment." My friend Camille found several galleries she wants to submit her art to. Me, not so much right now. Our last sojourn on Saturday was two shops just outside of Central Park West, Levain Bakery and Jacques Torres. These two are famous for their cookies, and the latter for his chocolate. I had to try cookies from both. Levain has a "web cam" and I was caught devouring one of their cookies (see photo below)! Both cookies are wonderful and very different. The Levain is giant! Its crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, full of chocolate chips and walnuts. I had mine hot out of the oven. I ate the entire cookie, although I was told they are too big to eat all at once. Not for me. My favorite, though, was Jacques Torres' chocolate chip cookie, which had lots and lots of dark chocolate throughout and a wonderful, buttery taste. I will be back next time I'm in New York!

Lisa devouring a cookie at Levain Bakery. (That's Maggie texting)

"Mixed Berries," 14" x 18"

I've just finished this small fruit piece; these stacked berry paintings are fun to do but really time consuming because of all the intricate detail. Maybe I should stick with apples and tomatoes. :-)

Currently I'm working on a large lotus painting, 36" x 48" with extreme backlighting and a black background. This gives it a very contemporary look. After that I'm on to a diptych inspired by my trip to "Lotus Lake" last summer. I will definitely return again this summer to the lake!

My friend Sue McGrew and I have a joint show scheduled for next February - April at the Marnie Sheridan Gallery here in town. Its at Harpeth Hall and is one of the more attractive places to show art in Nashville. Sue is an excellent landscape artist who is well known here in Nashville and she's also a nationally recognized physician specializing in autism. An impressive dual career! I think it will be a fun show and will give me a chance to try some out some new ideas, perhaps combining photography and painting.

I'll be in New York later this month -- of course I'll be checking out the galleries and museums but also indulging another passion of mine, chocolate chip cookies and desserts. New York has some of the best cookie bakers in the country and I'm looking forward to trying the legendary Levain Bakery chocolate chip cookie as well as Jaques Torres' Chocolate Mudslide Cookie. Which will be the best?

I have at last finished "River Birch V." This one is large, at 4' x 5.' It took longer to complete than anticipated, its quite intricate and detailed. I'm sure I'll paint more of this subject matter, perhaps next a triptych. In the mean time, I have another small painting of strawberries to complete along with a few experimental abstract pieces. Stay tuned for more art news coming soon.

River Birch V, 4' x 5'

Hello everyone, I've not posted here in a while, I've been traveling and taking a bit of a creative break. Lots of new ideas percolating and I'll be putting them to canvas in the coming months. Currently I'm working on a large, 4' x 5' River Birch painting. I really enjoy painting river birch, with all the peeling, curving bark. I also have an abstract piece coming up, a bit of an experiment. I don't have any new paintings to share at the moment, so here's a close up photo of a lotus flower from my shoot at Reelfoot Lake last summer.

I've been focusing on a commission recently of a subject matter different for me. The painting is of cotton, for a medical center in Arkansas. It was a fun and interesting challenge to create a striking visual and I actually love the contrast of white against a deep blue sky. I did this color combination in one of my lotus paintings, "White Lotus with Cobalt." Here I'm including that image along with the new cotton painting. This painting will be hung with a plaque that includes its name -- I decided on "Clouds of Cotton."

"Clouds of Cotton," 48" x 60," University of Arkansas Medical Center

"White Lotus with Cobalt," 20" x 24"

Right now I'm back to some experimentation. I recently did a shoot at Radnor Lake that included some abstract veiws of the lake. I plan on starting a painting that will perhaps be the most abstract looking piece I've done so far, abstract realism, as it is often called.

My Houston reception scheduled for Saturday September 13 was cancelled for obvious reasons. It was a disappointment, and I'm sad about the wide swath of destruction that Ike wrought in South Texas. It will take a while for the area to recover and I'm not sure yet whether the reception will be rescheduled. I'll probably know this week.

Right now I'm taking a creative break and experimenting. I have some ideas for combining painting and photography, but nothing concrete yet. Here are a few of the photos that have inspired me to experiment a little. These photos were taken in August at a place called Reelfoot Lake in West Tennessee. Areas of this lake are covered in lotus flowers from mid summer to early fall. It is truly a sight to see!

The evite for my exhibition at Harris Gallery is ready and I'm posting it here for those who may be interested in the show. I'll be at the gallery for the reception on September 13, 6 - 8 p.m.. Harris Gallery is located in the heart of Houston's museum district at 1100 Bissonnet. I hope to see you there!