Before my first child was born, I painted still life and landscapes, in addition to learning to weave. When we lived on the east side of Cincinnati, I met a woman who taught an art class at a community center near our apartment. She would set up a busy still life with an ornate andiron or vase, artificial flowers, fabric draped behind this, and strings of beads or other artifacts. I think she had the class using oil paints.

Most of my oil paintings were a mess. I didn’t know how to keep them from becoming muddy. My best painting from that time is Baubles ‘n Beads. Today it hangs happily in my laundry room covering the fuse box. It is just the right size and I get to see it every day as I walk by.

 

 

When we outgrew the one-bedroom apartment, we moved across town to the west side. The neighborhood painting class was held in the basement of the library, a few blocks from where we lived on the second floor of a duplex.

 

In that class I used acrylic paint

and my paintings were brighter.

I set up my own still life

arrangements  using things like

lids to pans, shoes, and fabric

scraps from my sewing projects.

 

But most of my creative time was spent on weaving.