"I met a man Bo Jangles and he'd dance for you...."

When my client brought me an old, out of focus photo for this little pastel commission, all I could think of was that line from the "Mr Bo Jangles" song that said something like "his dog up and died....after twenty years he still grieves..."

It simply goes to prove that there is no time limit on the loss of a beloved pet.

I am honored to have been the artist to bring this little guy back into focus for his owner!

LOL but now I cannot get that song out of my head!

The timeless appeal of babies

Molly giving hugs. Pastel: 10 x 12

In the long world of art there has never been a subject more appealing than babies unless it was mother and baby images (think Bible)
So when the opportunity comes to create a pastel portrait from an adorable photo, what artist can resist?


1 year old Baby Molly had just given her mother the "Barney hug" when her mom snapped this charming image with her cell phone (who would have thought) and I created a 10 x 12 pastel portrait of the image to capture that moment in a timeless manner!


Now who wouldn't love Barney as well?

Putting Art to use on a Quilt Trail

Steve and Theresa with the first Quilt Block east of the NC mountains

Art takes on many forms and our most recent project is celebrating the art and history of quilting. What better way to combine art  for the masses than by establishing a Quilt Trail. Popular in over 30 states and several Canadian Provinces they offer numerous entrepreneurial opportunities for artists and businesses! And in a country that has become way too dependent on government handouts, we're all about promoting self sufficiency. :-)
It's a huge amount of work but as we're proponents of  the "roll up your shirtsleeves and start" school of thinking, we simply.....started. :-) So here is the first Quilt block-a 4'x 4' block constructed of MDO sign board and framed in 2 x 4's by a volunteer and hand painted by Steve. A substantial of our research comes from the best (and we don't see a need to re-invent the wheel!) Barbara Webster-founder and director of the western NC Quilt Trail.

This pattern is called "Card Trick" and the building it is now attached to (the Franklin Country Arts Council building) was originally home to a group of bridge players! Plans are to have approximately 200 throughout the county.
A fun change from structured painting!

The beauty of GREY

Waiting for the Class

I love to create portraits for my clients and this gorgeous Grey is no exception!


I photographed him, per her request, at one of the shows and later created this 18 x 24 pastel based on a selection from the group.


You simply have to know horses to know what photos are the best to work from and which are not :-)


The tiny roan flecks are difficult to see in the image but are more obvious in the actual piece!

Grabbing inspiration from the mountains!

Watauga River near Boone NC

For landlubbers there is nothing more inspirational than mountains!

Coming from the northern reaches of the Appalachian, Berkshire and Catskill mountain ranges, I find a little of them all along the Blue Ridge mountains in NC. 

We explored the trails along the parkway, rode horses on top of a mountain with views to the heavens and tubed down the rocky river of the Watauga!

Standing on one of the many boulders strewn around the river!

The incredible views from the mountain top riding ring!

Life is good!

Now I am refreshed and ready to paint!

Saxapahaw Art Gallery

We drove the 60 miles to a very cute little mill village on the banks of the Haw River in NC last night to deliver some of Steve's paintings to the young co-op gallery expanding in the old former mill offices.
You cannot miss the ambiance and the unusual name of the town, Saxapahaw.

Steve's seascapes will be part of the "American Summer" art show.

Adding a mini-gallery in Wake Forest, NC

Wow, hard to believe that I was the first artist to set up a studio in downtown Wake Forest back in 1991! I was a single mom with 4 children, working as an artist but only able to afford a small rental to live in so I needed the studio space to work!

Later, after my artist husband, Steve Filarsky and I married, we built a huge studio next to our house, about 12 miles away. Since then we have had studios in the charming little town off and on but our travels kept us from being there as often as we liked. 
Add to that the obvious fact that we already HAD a great working studio where we could walk out the door in bathrobes and coffee in hand to go to work has some envious perks (our friends like to point out!) 

But it made sense to have gallery space as we partner with the Wake Forest Art and Frame for art classes! So now we have our art back in town on their walls as a sampling of what we create!. Go visit, enjoy the art, the amazing framing and gallery they have and stop in one of the little area shops for lunch!