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It is an indisputable fact that there are few things cuter in this world than chubby baby feet.

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oil on canvas

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Dear Melissa,

Your romantic getaway to Paris sounds enchanting, and you look devastatingly adorable in your thrifty dress! My husband would totally be into wearing a small bathing suit. I look forward to the summer months even more now. :)

Spring in California is beautiful. We've had lots of rain, so the hills around our house are green - layers of green in all different shades. I am soaking it all in, and have been painting quite a bit. I'm trying to savor all of the green before it turns gold. That's beautiful too, but being a Virginia gal, there's something about that color that I just can't get enough of.

Love,

Lynne

(painting for sale in my shop)

PS: Macbeth! Finish reading it by Monday, we will discuss!

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(Natural Patchwork giveaway winner is...

VIOLET MUNDAY!

email me and I will ship it off to you!)

Dear Melissa,

I always, always struggle to come up with meaningful teacher presents for my kids' teachers. They work so darn hard and get paid so darn little that I feel like I really want to do something spectacular for them when their birthday or the holidays or the end of the year roll around. I don't know if this is that spectacular thing or not, but it's one of my efforts that has now become somewhat of a tradition for me: the book of portraits.

I always do it on the day I teach our little portrait lesson (the main thing we do is to diagram a face on the board so we can talk about human proportion. It is amazing how helpful it is for children to show them how eyes are actually in the middle of that face oval - and that ears are similarly half way down one's head.)

Then I make the teacher be our model. Can you tell that my daughter's teacher loves the Oakland A's? And wears TONS of eye make-up? (kidding about the last thing. this picture is my favorite of the bunch)

They always turn out great, I think. Isn't this one above so Modigliani? Very graceful. While the kids are drawing I creep around the room and ask them on the sly what they think is the most beautiful thing about the teacher. Then I write that thing under their drawing. It is so sweet, what they say. Second graders love, love, love their teachers.

Love,

Lynne

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"cheerful as a cricket"

Grandma Moses, painting

Dear Melissa,

In doing a little research for an art class this morning, I came upon the obituary of artist Grandma Moses from the New York Times on the day of her passing back in 1961, and was completely charmed. Go read it, it doesn't take long and it will make you feel happy. I especially loved this quote from an unnamed German fan:

"There emanates from her paintings a light-hearted optimism; the world she shows us is beautiful and it is good. You feel at home in all these pictures, and you know their meaning. The unrest and the neurotic insecurity of the present day make us inclined to enjoy the simple and affirmative outlook of Grandma Moses."

Doesn't that just make you, to quote the obituary writer, cheerful as a cricket yourself? I think Grandma Moses had it all figured out.

"I look back on my life like a good day's work, it was done and I feel satisfied with it. I was happy and contented, I knew nothing better and made the best out of what life offered. And life is what we make it, always has been, always will be."

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acrylic, 2010