In the fall of 2022 I participated in studio painting sessions at Woodmere Museum of Art. The class was called Exploring Abstraction and was led by Val Rossman. If any of this information sounds familiar it is because I have done previous sessions in the studio with this group. And that’s because I like being there!



You might remember that I said in my last post on these paintings that I thought there were a couple that were finished. I took them to class for another opinion. One was fine as it was. Done.
The other, just a little tweak… Val saw the same adjustments I had identified, so I took my brush in hand and, then as you know, sometimes things take an unexpected turn. By the end of the session, I had gone in a whole other direction. *
That was ok. I took the painting home and finished it.
Why did this happen? I have an idea.
In the studio we had been talking about memories of fall, and I mentioned one involving my grandmother and me as a very little girl. My grandmother’s yard had many trees, and our house, set in the middle of a former farm field, had none. In the fall, I felt it very keenly that we had no mounds of fallen leaves surrounding it as my grandparents’ house did.
My way to fix that was to take some home from their house and scatter them in our yard. My grandmother helped me gather up a bagful and I went home fully confident that I’d be covering the lawn with them. Imagine my shock (and I still remember this moment, how it felt) when I emptied out the bag and realized my offerings made not a dent in the empty space of our yard.
What kept me from being utterly downcast at this sight, and what I remember now, is how patiently my grandmother helped me, letting me know she appreciated my initiative and desire to solve a problem. Because of that I knew it was a good idea, I gave it a try, it was just a bigger job than I had thought!
So I think the painting became what it is because of this memory. It’s called “Gathering In, Letting Go”.
“Gathering In, Letting Go” acrylics and acrylic marker, 20″ x 16″, 11/22.
*the painting I started off with is the one in the middle.