“… figurative art may track, to some extent, increasing cognitive ability in the human species …. Evolutionary selection on drawing ability may have been an important precursor to writing, which transformed humans’ capacity to store information externally, and promoted the capacity to build a civilization.”

Read more about the study conducted by researchers at Kings College and University College, London, showing a direct relationship between children’s abilities to draw the human figure at age 4 and their intelligence at age 14 at Hyperallergic. This is a quote from the paper just published in the journal Psychological Science.

And if you don’t subscribe to Hyperallergic, check it out!

My Sister’s Wedding

A challenging picture, with yellow lamplight from the left and cool overheads from the right, shining on the shimmering muted gold of the taffeta maid of honor dress that Lauren wore. I often recalled Darren Kingsley’s sage observation that reclining poses are hard for the model to maintain, and consequently for the painter to paint. Pillows shift, the figure sinks, the head drifts….well, we don’t expect our models to be machines. In fact, we celebrate their human qualities, such as the sadness of watching a beloved elder sister marry a guy who is wrong for her in so many ways.

The magnificent model Ubu painted at Studio Incamminati in a summer workshop some five years ago. I love to see the strong colors that Studio Incamminati helped me to push.

Drill & repeat…till?
Oil on linen
24 x 36″

Completed just in time for the start of school, and during a time when so many places in our world have been erupting into open strife. This painting recalls the drills we practiced during the Cold War, an era that mystified and frightened me. How had grown ups allowed the creation of weapons that could truly destroy us all?  And how could they keep from using them?  Now, older and wiser, I am also sadder to think how frightening the world might look to school age children. 

Yesterday I posted a study of a woman well engaged in protecting some of the most vulnerable in our world. She has worked in animal rescue across the globe and is fiercely adamant that we should each take responsibility for our health and the health of those around us. In the aftermath of Robin William’s suicide, it gives me pause to consider how deeply in need of kindness every living creature is.
P. S. Her husband works in refugee protection for the UN and is today concerned with the welfare of 50,000 people on a mountain top in Iraq, among other emergencies. Grant us peace.

“Oh Low Country” oil on panel

“Other Mothers’ Children” oil on panel

“Apperception” oil on panel

“While Madame’s Away” oil on panel

“Little Eva Leaves” oil on panel

“Her Right to Work” oil on panel

The Topsy Turvey doll dates back well into the nineteenth century, when little girls could play imaginatively with two characters in one doll. I found this one in the gift shop of a restored plantation in coastal Louisiana. The two figures represent my ideas about the way episodes in life shape our understanding of each other.

“Before Flight”

oil on linen on panel

I painted fashion designer Kristin Costa as her career gets ready to take off. Intensity of purpose and devotion to craft are traits of hers that I admire. She wears a bird mask from her collection based around fairy tales, and a dress designed to represent a B-52 from her collection entitled “Maintain Radio Silence.” She has packed her bag and is ready to go, with a little bird as her familiar in her right hand.