Hi Deb.  Thanks for the nice comments about my painting.  The one you refer to is a portrait of my mom and her friend having lunch one chilly day on the beach in Alabama.  She will be 82 tomorrow!  She is full of life and so when I captured the two of them on the beach, I had to paint it.  Are you in Minnesota?  Burr! It's incredibly cold here today as well.  A good day to work in the studio and catch up on email.   I enjoyed looking at your portraits as well.  I love watercolor tool.  I haven't gotten back to it yet....still exploring oil pastel and really loving it.  Thanks for the note.  This does appear to be a great site.   Hope to chat with you again soon.

Carol

Deb, 

The logo banner was done with Photoshop using my images.  Someone did it for me and I don't really remember what he did.    Libby (FLartist)

Hi Deb,

My work is all acrylic.  I had years of training in oils at The Art Students League in NYC, along with my husband, John. At that time (1974-1978)  we painted the figure and all our work was representational.  I have been obsessed with the reds, orange and blues for the past 3 years. I tell my students about using color and how personal it is.  The biggest shock to them is how it is really all unconscious.  You may put out a color on your palette, but end up covering it because your soul/unconscious wasn't happy with it.  Half the time the color is very spontaneous, and you always end up using the same type of design or color.  It only changes when you change or something makes that happen.  All the internal and external elements in your life have to work together.  Years ago I used a lot of black.  People who saw the work didn't think it matched my outgoing personality, but little did they know how depressed I was at the time in my life.  I had 8 years of working part-time and going back to school and then realized John and I would end up with not security, so I returned to a day job and teaching.

diane leon (costablanca) my other paintings and essays are on manhattanarts.com click for Diane Leon and John Ferdico and the story about how we met and balancing your life in the creative life section of the reading. 

Hi,

Who are your models?  The young girl looks like you.  Beautiful work. I also love the way you handled the dog.

diane (costablanca) 

Greetings fellow Moody Blues/Kung Fu lover!   

Thanks for the visit and compliments!  I grew up with Moody Blues music because my dad loves them and was always playing their stuff, but I only just found out about Kung Fu in the 90's; And, I absolutely love that show!

Stay cool,

-Jendria