Happy Fourth of July!

"The Fourth of July, 1916"
Childe Hassam

CELEBRATING INDEPENDENCE DAY
AND THOSE WHO FOUNDED

OUR GREAT NATION!

Quoting John Adams: "I must study politics and war, that my sons may have the liberty to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, and naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain."

I am republishing this post from 2014, because it's just such a grand sentiment for the Fourth of July. Wishing you all a festive Independence Day!

A Bunch of Bull

Lithographs by Pablo Picasso

Faithful readers know that I am always striving for simplification in my paintings--elimination of unnecessary detail in order to portray the real gist of the subject. I also call it "leaving something to the imagination".  I have recently been studying a fine example of simplification from the great Pablo Picasso. He made a series of lithographs of bulls, starting 

Orchids--A New Series

"Jesse's Orchids"
20 x 20, Oil on Canvas
(c) Lesley Powell 2016
(SOLD)

It all began very innocently. An artist in my building, the very talented John Seibels Walker, gave me an orchid. He was leaving the country for a few months, and wanted to find a good home for this lovely plant. Well...

"First Orchid"
12 x 9, Oil on Linen
(c) Lesley Powell 2016
(Available)

I had never painted an orchid, but as this one sat in my studio, it drew me in. Immediately above you see my first painting. Can you tell that I was fascinated with the pot?? I learned that orchids can be a difficult subject. The base, or pot, is typically very small compared to