The World in Black and White

Photos from the past were black and white or sepia. That is why old pictures look so old and people look so different. I wonder if children, seeing them, think to themselves, the world, people and animals used to be black and white and shades of gray? 

Young children often take things literally. When my brother was 4 or 5 his friend saw a book with a illustration of a chicken, The chicken had four feet. He told my brother, “Old fashioned chickens have four feet.” My brother laughed and teased him, and said that it wasn’t true. The boy was adamant. He was sure that it must be true because he saw it in a book.

When I was a child I might have wondered about the world of my parents being black and white.

I saw drawings from the 1800s in the Brooklyn Museum. The paper was yellowed. The drawing looked old and faded. I thought about it what it looked like when it was new on white paper. 

Renaissance paintings are very dark. As paintings age the paint cracks and gets darker. Bright colors fade. Colors change. 

We see things as they look to us now. We think in color. I believe we dream in color, but I’m not sure. 

But what would it be like to see only in black and white and grayscale? Plain? Boring? Unadorned? Simple? Stark? Grim? Bleak?  Possibly it would appear striking, shadowy, ethereal, graphic or deep.

There is a timelessness to black and white. With black and white you have tones of grey. There is texture and a softness. It forces you to use your imagination transporting you to another era.

Recently I’ve started teaching a photography class on zoom. The students, including myself use a smartphone camera and one uses a digital camera. In the old days of film cameras, we would have used black and white film. I know that many photographers still prefer a film camera and shooting in black and white. 

After watching videos on black and white shooting tips and looking at the work of photographers, Annie Leibowitz, Diane Arbus and Ansel Adams, I instructed them to set their camera settings to shoot in black and white. It’s not enough to take black and white photos. I want them to think in black and white.

Since I also teach watercolor and drawing, we did paintings and drawings in black and white as well.  It’s not enough to take black and white photos. Of course, we are deluding ourselves. The world never really was black and white. 

Perhaps there are other species that can only see in black and white, but humans see in color. Do we always dream in color? I’m not sure. I do remember seeing my mothers face in a dream and her eyes were very blue.

It is interesting to change our perception, to look at life a little differently, to escape to an earlier time or travel timeless in the universe. Things change all the time, but sometimes we get stuck in one way of thinking. It’s good to see another perspective.

*I have a limited number of prints of the Flatiron Building. If interested, please email me at linda.s.berkowitz@gmail.com.

Feeling Understood

Water Over Rocks, 2017 acrylic on stretched canvas box, 12x12x3inches For sale, ask about it linda.s.berkowitz@gmail.com

In attempting to convey our thoughts and feelings we choose words with care, and sometimes with difficulty in an attempt to be understood. It can be frustrating and lonely when we don’t feel understood, because It isolates us from others.

We chose friends who understand us, who get us. Yet sometimes, even our closest friends will totally miss what we are saying. I often feel that my cat, understands me the best.

As artists, we seek to be understood in our unique vision. Sometimes I am asked to explain my art. Most of it is quite literal, so I feel it does not require an explanation. I used to think that if I have to explain it is not a good piece. Now I realize, not everyone will get me.

Once, I had a painting of rocks covered with moss in an exhibit. During the opening, I saw a couple looking at my painting and I inched closer to hear what they were saying. One of them said, “What is that? The other said, “It looks like a large piece of broccoli.” 
I laughed.

Usually I prefer not to explain what the painting means or why I made it. In truth, I don’t always know.  I am happy to talk about how I made the painting or the materials used. The process is sometimes quite interesting. I live for the process, the act of creating in itself. 

The meaning I leave up to the viewer. What does it mean to you? What do you see in it?

The Lonely Egg Planets

A little late, but, Happy New Year.

I just want to thank my collectors, students and friends for being supportive and for coming to see my art at Gowanus Open Studios, The Fence,The Other Art Fair and “Wholeness”, the 17th annual small works show at 440 Gallery.  It’s been a rough year for us all. It helps to have a great community of artists, friends and family.

I wanted to tell you about a small but on-going project. This is my Egg Planet series of small paintings. Originally a project I started with my students  pre-pandemic, after purchasing a package of rough handmade Indian watercolor paper. It was an experiment in trying different watercolor techniques on rough paper, within a circular shape.

The world being as it is, in peril, and the new interest in going to space, I began daydreaming of other planets, birth and rebirth, hence the egg. I imagine these beautiful little worlds as an escape from the problems of our own troubled planet, beautifully imperfect as life is.

Because the shape is pleasing to me, and I like daydreaming I continue creating these little egg planets, a wish, a hope for a less troubled, more beautiful world. 

Over the last few years my collection of these small planets grew, although I have sold some of them and given others as gifts. 

Eggs are fairly perfect in shape, but maybe not as perfect, not as symmetrical as a circle.  When I submitted an egg to the “Wholeness” small works exhibit at 440 Gallery, which ended January 9,  it seemed a perfect fit. What could be more whole than an egg? I will leave you with some images of my egg planets and a hope for a beautiful future, a healed world, a new beginning. 

The Egg Planet paintings are available for sale on my website at https://lindaberkowitz.squarespace.com/store/egg-planet

What (the) Fung is an NFT?

I've heard that some relatively unknown artists and teens made a huge amount of  money from selling them. The artist Swoon has minted a collection of her art. Damian Hurst has a collection for sale along with the physical artwork. So does JR. Today I read that a music company has been sending NFT's of the Claire De Lune by Debussy, and other music into space. Maybe this will be a way for us to connect to our fellow beings on faraway planets. Art and music is a universal language.

Last week, thanks to Brainard Carey, and David Hauser from BeyondMars I learned how to mint an NFT. You can see my surreal watercolor of a Fish, hanging keys and a lemon, one of my favorite watercolors https://beyondmars.art/linda_berkowitz_art . It is inexpensive to buy my NFT, but someday soon when i'm a more well known artist, it may be worth a lot of money.

Since my introduction to NFT's, I have been obsessed, thinking and reading about them, sometimes all night on my iphone. I worried about it's impact on the environment, but was reassured that the new technology that I would use for mine by BeyondMars.com being free is also environmentally safe.

So what is it? After all this research I'm still trying to understand.  I'm told It is a non fungible token, a unique digital item that cannot be reproduced. It is part of a blockchain. The information(digital art, video or music) is stored in groups or blocks linked through a complicated digital chain of information. Collectors purchase this digital piece of art or music. 

Think about this. At a time in the future when there are colonies on Mars or other planets, large collections of art, video and music will be sent digitally through space. 

While living on Mars in my spacepod, I buy an original digital image by Beeple. In my fantasy life I have a lot of money😊. How will I view it? I probably will have the newest Apple device or computer. My first was, I might be able to view it in 3D like a hologram floating in space. This would be wrong.  You cannot alter a non-fungible token. Altering it would make it fungible. 

The original, original art on paper or canvas is still there. The artist can still sell it or keep it. There are other digital copies as well, but they are not the minted original stored on the blockchain. 

Perhaps someday the physical original will be gone and aliens will find this digital file with my artwork. At this time still-art, like my watercolor will seem very out-dated. Maybe the beings that see it, however they view it, will enjoy looking at art from an earlier, more innocent time and place. Maybe they will try to explain my art. They will think the fish being a large upright object is probably what humans looked like in the year 2021. I'm not sure what they will make of the keys and the lemon. I hope they have a sense of humor.

Imagine a World Devoid of Art

Yayoi Kusama

The world would be a desolate place, no painting or poetry, films or music.

My paintings surround me. I worry about what will happen to them when I die. I have an image of myself buried beneath my paintings, wrapped In them like a cocoon or mummy.  They shield me. I hide behind them. I filter the world through them. When I die, maybe I will be buried with my paintings like the Pharaohs in Ancient Egypt or maybe they will be put out in the trash.

I do worry about this. 

History is told by artists. Artists give a visual description of how life was in the past. They use materials from their time in history. Artists predict the future. In the time they are alive, oten, their message is not understood, but many get “discovered” after they die. Sometimes they invent the future. They have a vision of something before it comes to be.

Creativity is the life-force. Art is more a calling than a job. I think of it like this. I eat, sleep, breathe and create. It is my work but not my job. Someday I may retire from teaching, but I when I stop creating, I think I will die.

I’ve learned much from teaching art to older adults. One thing I learned is that everyone is creative.  Sometimes it is dormant for many years, but can be awakened. My students came from all walks of life, and from different cultures. Most are retired, some live on Social Security. Many never even were interested or thought of doing art, but now they are becoming artists. They see things differently now. Creativity is awakened. They are inspired.

I teach a class called “At the Museum” where we see films about different contemporary artists and have virtual museum trips.  I’ve learned that many artists live a very long life and they create right up until the end.  Many of them don’t become recognized until they are old or after. Kusama is in her 90’s, Jasper Johns also.  Grandma Moses started painting very late in life. Creativity is not agist. 

I’ve been told my paintings are “nice” or “beautiful”. Sometimes people ask me to “draw them a picture”, or “do a pretty painting” to match their couch. Art making is not a hobby and it’s not always pretty.

I pour my soul into creating paintings.  I’m not trying to be dramatic. I hope my friends and family will keep them and put them on their walls and look at them. I poured my life into them. They are sacred objects.

I Saw a Boy Talking to a Tree

I saw a boy talking to a tree. He looked to be about six or seven years old. He looked very serious as if they were having a conversation. I heard him say, “Why do you grow away?”  

Then he stood there with his head tilted, slightly sideways presumably waiting for an answer.
This got me thinking. What did he mean? Was he asking the tree why it grows up, away from him, or the ground? Was the question about why children grow up and away from their parents? Why do we grow away from each other?

Does this boy understand what is happening in the world? Does he know about global warming, fires, earthquakes, floods? Is he asking why the trees are going away?

It made me very sad and I have nothing more to say about this. I’ll have to think about it.

This is a drawing of my son I did in 2002, when he was 9 years old.  He was deep in thought. I wonder what he was thinking about.

Plein Air Painting

I’ve been painting outdoors all my life, but I don’t consider myself a“plein air painter.” 

My friend Joy Wright is a plein air painter. She paints in oils, hiking into the woods carrying a heavy backpack, an easel, paints and brushes. She carries tools to adjust her easel  and has paint on her clothes. Recently she bought and put together a bike with a basket, so she could ride to places that wouldn’t accommodate a car.  Plein air painters go to “paint-outs” where there are often contests and monetary prizes.  Joy often wins first or second place.

I paint in watercolor working in a paper size I can easily carry. I paint in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden or Prospect Park, near my apartment. Sometimes I visit Joy, in the Poconos. We drive and hike to waterfalls, climb down a hill, under a bridge and walk along the Delaware River, trying not to get mosquito bites or ticks to find a good spot to paint. 

Once we painted along the railroad tracks on the side of a mount  ain. Joy assured me that the train never comes. This time it did and we had to scramble to get up, collect our paints and get off the tracks before the train reached us. It was scary!

 I like being in nature. It is always changing. The light changes and the shadow get longer, the sun comes out and goes away. I like the weather, the sun warming my body, the wind, the shadows and light. The mosquitos I could do without.

Main Street, Portland

This past weekend I visited Joy while she was getting ready for Plein Air 2021 at the Antoine Dutot  Museum which she is in every year.  She had 3 paintings started. Artists have 2 weeks to paint en plein air ad then there is an exhibition, opening party and silent auction. She asked if I wanted to do some paintings to put in it and I jumped at the chance. I had 3 days over Labor Day Weekend before I had to go home to Brooklyn to work. 

We spent the weekend painting in the Delaware Water Gap. I did watercolors. Joy painted in oils.  The first day her granddaughter, who is 7, painted with us. I put her in my painting and she was very happy. The second day it rained for most of the day. By 4:30 it stopped raining but everything was wet. We drove to Portland, a town along the Delaware River, We set up on the bridge that goes over the river. The ground was wet and it was foggy.  The fog concealed part of the mountains. I did 2 watercolors from the bridge.  

Friday night, Sept 17th, is the opening at the Dutot Museum and beginning of the silent auction.

Delaware River from the Bridge

Antoine Dutot Museum & Gallery
Presents its

Sixth Annual En Plein Air

Fine Art Show & Silent Auction
Scenes of Delaware Water Gap Painted by Local Artists

Exhibition and Silent Auction Friday, September 17th to Sunday October 3rd, 2021

Plein Air Opening Reception

FRIDAY AT 7 PM EDT – 9 PM EDT

Free · Antoine Dutot Museum and Gallery, The Museum of Delaware Water Gap, PA

Why Cats Are Important in Art and Life

Cats create a mystique for an artist. They are by nature curious creatures and so are artists.They are illusive and mysterious. They are nonconformists and they are very vain. Although we humans call them our pets, I believe we are really theirs.

It’s a known fact that cats reduce stress and anxiety. A cats purr has healing powers. I live with two cats, so I know what I’m talking about. They keep me company when I’m painting, sometimes dipping a tail in the paint water or a paw in the paint. When I finish a watercolor or drawing and lay it down, they thoughtfully sit on top of it so that it won’t get away. With a cat, I don’t even need a clock. I can easily get lost in a painting or drawing and skip a meal, but they meow loudly reminding me that mealtime is coming. If I continue to paint during mealtime, and fail to notice their unblinking stares, they are happy to knock something over to get my attention.

But seriously, through the pandemic they have been my constant companions. They sleep next to me while I work, coming by to be loved and petted.  A cat purring creates such a feeling of peace and well being in me. I honestly don’t know how I lived for so many years without them. They are also great models, beautiful to paint. 

I have one cat, Newton, and then there’s Milo. Milo is technically my roommates cat, but he is confused. We rescued him from the back of our building, cold and hungry. Now he is fat and happy. 

Hey, Dogs are important too!

By this time you must think that I forgot all about dogs. I love dogs also. Dogs always like to please you and make you happy. If you smile at them they wag their tails. Some even smile back. Dogs are wonderful models and very expressive.  Did you ever see a dog smile?

I paint commissioned portraits of dogs, cats and other animals. Most are in watercolor, 9” x 12” unframed ($150 plus shipping).  If you would like to commission me to paint your cat, dog, rabbit, bird, or turtle, email me at linda.s.berkowitz@gmail.com for price and details. 

If you want to see more of my pet portraits, scroll through the website to the “Pet Portrait” section.

Your cat or dog might thank you. This is one dog who was so excited to get her portrait.

The State of the World and the Phoenix

Why create art? The state of the world is encroaching on me and my happiness. I know how selfish this is to think, let alone say out loud. 

 It’s too much to comprehend. Earth is dying. People in Afghanistan and Syria are living through atrocities every day. Wildfires are raging in California and Greece. The forests, animals and trees, whole species gone.

Think of the children growing up in this uncertain world. I am thinking of this, and I am part of this, and as a human, part of the cause. 

With all this going on why should I paint? Why write about it? Why teach about it? Because, it soothes me to create, and I think it helps. I think it helps others too.

With so much pain and destruction, creating is all we can do. We need to keep creating new ideas, new worlds. 

The Phoenix is a legendary bird in Greek and other mythologies, associated with the sun. It is beautiful with red and orange feathers. When it dies it bursts into flame. It is a symbol of transformation and rebirth.

Out of the ashes the Phoenix was reborn.

Alice Neel, Andy Warhol and the Blue Line

Why can’t I stop looking at Alice Neel’s paintings? 

To say that they make me uncomfortable is an understatement.  I think it’s the awkwardness of her figures that makes me cringe. Fingers of the hands are sometimes at strange or impossible angles, the eyes uneven. Maybe it’s seeing children and baby with their legs apart, a boy baby foreshortened so his penis looks larger. I think it’s all of this, but this is also what makes them so vulnerable and so human. And then there is the use of paint, so masterfully done. I can feel her pushing the paint around with smooth brushstrokes like icing, so delicious. Then I look at the outlines, the blue lines around the hand.

I feel a little disappointed because I only got to see the show at the Metropolitan Museum once before it ended. I took some snapshots of her work to study them some more. 

Here are a few of my favorite images from the Alice Neel exhibit @metmuseum.  These images are sections of the paintings. I love Andy's face in the first one. The painting was done after he had been shot. You can see his stitches and a corset in the full painting, but what I love is the calm peaceful expression on his face, not at all awkward. 

The second section of a painting is a hand with blue outline. The painting was of 2 men, entitled “Men from Rutgers” I  love the way she used blue to outline and emphasize the hand. Why does this work so well? The blue lines against the warm skin tones make the skin feel alive.  

She is not the first artist to do this. Van Gogh and Gauguin also used line in this way. ”Cloisonnism” separates the colors as in stained glass. But Alice Neels’ use of line is different. She uses color. The colored line does not just separate but contrasts and changes the colors next to the line. 

As an artist myself, I am always learning from other artists.  There is so much to learn from Alice Neel.

Does anyone else have such a strong reaction to her work?  Let me know in the comments.

Andy Warhol, 1980 Section

At the Studio

By working from home during the pandemic I was able to save a little money. It was probably enough for a vacation or a few months of a studio space plus materials. I had been thinking of this for a while. I wanted to have a studio space where I could make larger paintings. 

I’ve been painting and drawing all my life. I always worked on a small scale, so I felt that I could work anywhere. I take photos of nature, paint from life, do plein-air watercolor, oil pastel and portraits of people and animals. For the last 18 or so months I worked from a small table in my bedroom. This is my home studio. It has everything I need; a window which bathes the room in sunlight, a fire escape to sit on, trees, birds and squirrels, my paints and paper, a bed, coffee and 2 cats.  

My roommate works in the other room. We take breaks, going for walks in the neighborhood, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, or sitting at a cafe drinking coffee.  All through the pandemic I taught art on Zoom. I still do, although now I’m teaching in-person classes as well. 

I taught from my small home studio in my bedroom. It was very informal. We talked about the world, the virus and we painted and created. They say I kept them going during the pandemic. I think they kept me going. The room quickly filled up with paintings, collages, drawings and art supplies, as if I didn’t have enough already. I imagined being swallowed up by my artwork. 

So, enough of the digression, after looking at different spaces I decided on the open studio at Trestle Art Space in Gowanus. I liked the big windows and the light.

The first day I went, bringing a 12” x 14” canvas from home and some acrylics and brushes, and having no idea what I would do. This is what happened. 

Next, was going to start a large painting. “Of what?” You may ask. I didn’t know. I went to Dick Blick to buy a large canvas but it was a small triangle shaped canvas that caught my eye. I started thinking about what I would paint on a triangle. I thought a flower. How could I fit a flower onto a triangle? Of course, I bought the triangle instead of the large canvas. I bought a circle as well. 

This is how I started, not yet sure what was going on top. I liked the underpainting and almost left them like this, but then I didn’t.

This is my first painting on a triangle shaped canvas. It’s 12” x 12” x 12”. It was a fun challenge trying to make the flower, work on a triangle shape. It is a fancy tulip. My reference was a photo  I took at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

Next I tried the circle. I looked through my flower photos. I had taken a picture of an odd looking flower, probably a type of daisy, but having it directly in the center of the circle seemed boring to me. I put it a little off center. This is a 12” circle.

The next time I went to Artists and Craftsmen, they didn’t have triangle canvas so I bought a triangle painting panel made of wood. I painted another tulip, this time from the top view.  In this one the acrylic paint was drying too fast and didn’t have as much time to blend it.  I should have realized that keeping the fan on in the studio was making it dry faster. It is also possible that paint dries faster on wood. This is 14” x 14” x 14” I photographed it on my chair in the studio

When I’m working at the studio I paint for 3-4 hours at a time. I work quickly and fitfully. When I’m finished I’m exhausted and hungry and I go for a slice of pizza in Industry City and sometimes home for a nap.

The next time I thought of painting it was too late in the evening to go to Blick or Artists and Craftsmen, but Michaels was still open for another half hour.  As you can see, I’m not much for planning ahead.

This time what caught my eye was a round slice of a tree with bark attached. I love bark! This called for a different type of flower. I tried a yellow tiger lily. Why? I don’t know. My painting technique is slightly different and rougher in this. I used some gold and copper paint as well.

The tree bark, although interesting was more about the frame than the subject. I might go back to that at a later time. 

Next another experiment with color. I don’t use red very often.  I went back to using a rectangle canvas for the poppy because I wanted to try the round flower cut of at one edge of the frame. The brushstrokes around the flower are looser and more expressionistic. I do like that. Again, the paint was drying too fast, even using retarder.

Afterwards I went for a larger round canvas and an oval at Artists and Craftsmen which seemed perfect for painting water lilies and lotus.  Waterlilies and lotus are some of my favorite things to photograph and paint in watercolor. This is the first time I painted them in acrylic.

I started with a few coats of Golden bright white gesso and then an underpainting of a mauve-purple. Then I sketched out my designs with the brush.

In the course of painting, I learned a few things and tried some new materials that I like including Golden bright white gesso and gloss painting medium, I prefer painting on canvas to wood. 

The oval one is still a work in progress. Here is the round one. You can see the purple underpainting in the corner of the first photo. The second one is the finished painting.  So far it is my favorite.

All of this work is for sale. If you are interested in buying a painting, you can email me for the prices at linda.s.berkowitz@gmail.com

Thank you for reading!

Visit the Studio with Linda Berkowitz

Written by John Sillings
Jun 18th, 2020 • 7 minute read

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There’s a cozy, comforting organic feel to the work of painter Linda Berkowitz. The watercolor faces of her paintings are rosy, paired with fruit so bright and ripe we swear we can smell it through the paper. We long to hold the delicate pastel shells of her stunningly quirky “egg planet” portraits. So, it’s no surprise that her studio and work space are just as inviting and warm.

Join us as Linda walks us through her studio as painter and teacher.

What materials do you use? And why?

I like watercolor a lot. I like the way it moves, the fluid quality, and the fact that you can’t always control it. With watercolor, you can paint fast, finishing a painting in a short period of time. After using watercolor for a while I often paint in acrylic or water soluble oils, because I crave the feeling of thicker and more opaque paint. I use oil pastel, pencil, and ink as well. Experimenting and trying new materials keeps my work fresh and continues to challenge and inspire me.

What is your artwork about? What does it speak to?

My artwork is about the way I observe things, mostly nature. I want to show others what I observe and how I feel about what I see. For instance, when I look at a branch of a tree, I see not only the tree, but the shadow it makes on the ground and the color of the shadow. I see how the pattern of leaves growing from it and pay attention to how they attach to the branch. I see the color of the light hitting the branch and leaves as well as the color of the shadows cast from these forms. The way the leaves flutter when the wind blows.

Sometimes my observations are about the way I feel. This is evidenced in my self-portrait painting. I observe a facial feature and how it reflects my mood and what I want to convey about myself. This is expressed with color, light and shadow and with the wolf mask I am wearing. This coronavirus pandemic shook me. I felt the need to be strong and empowered in order to face something terrifying and new –– the wolf mask allowed me to feel that strength. When I’m painting or drawing I become one with my subject, a part of nature, or even the object I am observing.

I want to show others what I observe and how I feel about what I see.

What is your typical routine when you get to the studio? Walk us through a typical studio day.

I paint or create art every day, but not at the same time each day. I work from my home studio so I make coffee, open the curtains and window next to my drawing table and let my cat out on the fire escape. The birds are chirping and the light is coming in. I take everything off of my table that I’m not using. Sometimes I set up objects to then paint in watercolor. Lately I’ve been drawing in oil pastel. I like the creaminess of Senilier oil pastels. Sometimes the park or the botanic garden becomes my studio. I will go there often and sketch or do watercolors on site.

Do you balance another job in addition to being an artist?

I teach art at a senior center in Queens. I feel that teaching is part of being an artist for me. I’m not sure where one thing ends and the other begins. Teaching enables me to try out ideas and see things from the perspective of others. I share my work with them and sometimes paint alongside them. Having to come up with new ideas for class projects inspires me to create. Hearing my students ideas and perceptions and stories, which are different from my own opens me up to new creative experiences.

I recently started teaching these classes via Zoom. One of the classes is called "At the Museum" where we take virtual museum and gallery visits, watch short videos about artists and their practice, and look at lots of artwork images together. The class culminates in a project assignment where the students create a work of art inspired by an artist or a specific work of art they encountered during the class. I also just started to teach a really fun watercolor class via Skillshare called "How to Paint a Cat in Watercolor".

Do you work at a particular size or scale? Why?

Mostly I work small. Many of my watercolors are 9”x12” unframed. I’ll often go larger with my acrylic and oil paintings; sometimes up to 20”x24”.

I often do a series of paintings, keeping them all the same size. I did a series of paintings of what I’ve called “Egg Planets”. I was thinking about the earth and global warming and the need to find other planets to explore. I did a project with my students where we talked about life on earth and the possibility of life on other planets. I asked them to paint and draw planets, real and imaginary. When I teach, I always do a version of the project or painting as an example for my class. We started by painting small, 3” x 5” cards on watercolor paper of these planets. The paper is a textured handmade Indian watercolor paper. I liked the bumpy texture of the paper and the small size which was closer to the size of an egg. You could hold them in the palm of your hand. The shape of the card which was longer on one side made me want to paint longer egg shaped forms –– egg planets!

SOLD

I enjoyed the egg shape because of what an egg can symbolize. To me it represents life and birth. I have completed about 10 of these 3”x5” paintings and I continue to paint more. Each one is created with a combination of watercolor, graphite, ink, acrylic and metallic paint. One sold at Ground Floor Gallery and another at 440 Gallery in Brooklyn.

A few years ago, I was asked to participate in a pop-up show –– a food exhibit called “Tastemakers” at Court Tree Gallery. I decided on painting a series of root vegetables inspired by produce at the farmers market at Grand Army Plaza. Root vegetables interest me because of their inherent connection with the earth, roots, and sustainability. They are acrylic paintings at 16” x 20”. One of carrots, the second of beets and the third of white turnips.

What are you currently working on? Share with us what is exciting to you about this most recent work

I’ve been doing some watercolors, using some of my favorite objects from my home. Some of which were given to me by friends. I mix these with fruits and things I have around the house to create unique still-lifes. I think that it helps to look at what you have in a new way. It’s exciting to work with the color and shape of these objects we mindlessly interact with on a daily basis. I’m also doing some portraits. My most recent painting is a portrait of myself with a wolf mask. It is painted on glass using acrylics and oil pastels. I was thinking of how we have to be strong and that we are vulnerable against the coronavirus. I like to see myself as a warrior and a survivor.

I think that it helps to look at what you have in a new way.

Which artists most inspire you and your work?

John Singer Sargent has always been one of my favorites. I am always blown away by the spontaneity of his watercolors. I have also always loved the work of Paul Klee. Lately I’ve been looking at and being inspired by the work of Lee Krasner. She was an amazing painter. Swoon and her work is a constant source of inspiration. Patti Smith inspires me as a writer and singer while Murakami inspires my imagination.

Do you have any current or upcoming exhibits? Please share!

While in quarantine, a few weeks ago, I had a painting in “The Weekly Curation: WFH” by Mel Reese for Art in Res. I also have a portrait drawing in “Artwork From Quarantine” on @ArtsGowanus’ instagram page.

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We hope you’ve enjoyed this special peek into Linda's creative environment! Even in a virtual age, we encourage all budding collectors to take the time to connect with the artists you love directly.

We want to remind you of our awesome artist messaging feature directly on the Art in Res site––reach out now and foster that creative energy! Have more questions for Linda on her art and practice? Follow up with her directly via our messenger. We know she’ll be thrilled to answer any questions you might have. Ask about a specific painting or about her specific process in general––either approach works!

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