J.MCGRATH GALLERY

TODAY'S CLASS

2012-01-13T17:26:00.001-05:00

Had a wonderful day with four terrific gals. Good to have Joyce back but did not get a photo of the two pastels she is working on. Sonya is working on a delightful portrait of her deceased step-father peaking out of the house. She shared her experiences at an Albert Handell workshop and is busy with learning and doing art. Judy finished a lovely portrait of one of her sons who will

God's Provision!!

2011-12-17T18:38:00.000-05:00

Posted this painting so you can see that I am still working on it during this busy Christmas season. Just wiped out all those flowers so I can create an nice bouquet. Will I get it done next week??? Must share my excitement to what I see as my Father's clear answer to prayer. Every year our Chapel gets the names of 10 needy families at our local school and we give them a huge Thanksgiving

I'M PAINTING!!!

2011-12-13T06:48:00.000-05:00

Just want you to know that I am not goofing off with my painting. Feels so good to have an idea on canvas that has been in my head for over year. Took this photo of our daughter at her daughter's graduation celebration in her back yard. Years ago I saw a painting that was a portrait, still life and a landscape and that is in my mind as I work on this. I did not use the projector... just

NEW FAMILY PHOTO

2011-12-07T07:46:00.001-05:00

I neglected to post this year's family portrait at our Thanksgiving gathering. Tom was not with us so we put a photo of his head on a stick to make the family complete. We took the last family photo in August of last year when I was very tired all the time but had no idea that I had leukemia....This year we celebrate my healing plus so many other blessings. I don't have a painting to post

COLOR!

2011-12-05T15:39:00.001-05:00

Thank you so much for signing up for emails from this site. Nice to know someone is reading this besides just me!! Enjoyed getting a response from that chicken recipe... Share some of your favorites with me and I can pass them on. I am truly trying to paint almost every day. . . but when I get started I don't want to stop and then have to give a whole day to working around the house.... Had

LEUKEMIA!!!!

2011-12-05T11:03:00.001-05:00

Had to share this with all my praying friends - right away!!!! Just came back from my visit with my cancer doctor to get the result of my bone marrow biopsy. It was 90% infected last year. David and I just sat in silence as Dr. Rohatgi seemed to read and reread the report. Finally he said "I looks like it is all gone!"...then he said that his usuall procedure is to follow up with a few chemo

Chicken Pot Pie - delicious!!!

2011-12-04T06:31:00.001-05:00

Seems like I am always looking for a better Chicken Pie recipe. So tired of the cream of something soup and frozen mixed veggie recipes. When I roast a chicken or buy one roasted I always manage to stretch it out to a chicken soup and a pot pie for three meals. Last night I tried the attached recipe substituting frozen pie crust for the topping and it was soooo good that I just had to share it

Colour & Light

2011-12-03T20:08:00.001-05:00

No painting to show you as I promised but I did have a productive morning trying to get started. Ran to an art book I bought years ago because it was filled with colorful oil paintings that I only dreamed of painting. "Now is the time"! I thought. I dug through all my old oils to find the colors he used (he said it was Manet's palette) and I squeezed them out according to my color wheel. I had

2nd Painting This Week!!

2011-12-02T16:59:00.001-05:00

I can hardly believe that tomorrow I may finish my second painting this week! For years I have been taking photos of scenes that I see as possible paintings but never putting them onto a canvas. What has been making this happen this week? I think it is because I have decided not to just copy the scene I saw but to think about why I chose it and be free to make it say whatever I want it to say.

My morning painting spree!

2011-11-29T14:11:00.001-05:00

One of our daughter's early homes in GA was a precious, small white house in a cow pasture. I loved the openness and the quiet scenery from every window. A few years ago it was moved and that lovely spot is now a huge housing development. I did a small oil of the cow pasture that our daughter has in her new home but I have always wanted to paint the photo I took of this lonely looking home in

Studio update!

2011-10-30T08:14:00.002-04:00

The door to my small studio is now left open. It is no longer my messy art room but has become an inviting room in our home. All it took was a high narrow bureau that we found in the "As Is" room at Ikea where I now have a hiding place for all my art supplies. I keep wanting to thank so many of you for all your prayers through this amazing year with leukemia... but I keep waiting for the

October Class

2011-10-15T05:04:00.001-04:00

Life has been quiet since returning home from vacation. I have been feeling wonderful and am anxious to receive my last chemo next week and soon get a good report. Really appreciated our class yesterday with Terry, Margaret and Sonia. Terry completed a lovely portrait of her grandson in his Red Sox hat and Margaret enjoyed creating her small, delecate, ballet oil painting of her grandaughter

Enjoying Boston!

2011-09-19T12:28:00.000-04:00

Not a lot to report as we finish up our vacation. We are enjoying our time with our son and riding the subway cars. I had forgotten what real stairs look like and how difficult it can be to climb them...especially when trying to move with the crowds in and out of the subways! Guess I really move slowly and look old because strangers just look at me and point to the elevators!!! I keep

Float Framing

2011-09-12T18:52:00.004-04:00

At the many art galleries in Welfleet on Cape Cod we saw a lot of small and large oil painting in float frames. If you google those words you can find instruction for making these inexpensive frames. One I fround was wonderhowto.com/how-to build-simple-float-fram-for-your-painting-34450This does not show how to float the painting by leaving a small space between the art and the frame that

Qiang Huang's Art

2011-09-09T08:12:00.001-04:00

WOW...don't know about you but I love this still life by Qiang Huang!!!! So real and yet so fresh... so far from photography yet it communicates so much more about color, paint and the strokes of his brush...ART!!! Qiang could lock himself in to his old success but he is always growing and changing... Don't be afraid of change.... but work at it...to succeed it cannot be artificial...or by

My new hat!

2011-09-07T10:12:00.002-04:00

Here I am at my computer in our Dunkin office wearing my new Seafood Sam's hat. I love the colored, solid visor and wore it all day yesterday. A visor is really necessary when painting outdoors when sunglasses are impossible. It also says Cape Cod on the back and I expect it to draw some comments when I get back and start working on Sumter Landing outside of the Moffitt Headquarters. It will

Rain, Rain, Rain

2011-09-06T07:51:00.001-04:00

I love rainy days. As a child my mother shipped me off to keep my grandmother company in her summer cottage on the rocky north shore of Massachusetts. Almost every day was dismal and rainy so I learned to walk and swim in the rain - there was nothing else to do! Until I was in the 5th grade we lived in a small trailer in a trailer park and a thunder storm would hit furiously on our little home.

Art in the Park-Harwich Port, MA

2011-09-05T09:47:00.001-04:00

Just a quickie today...Busy here at our Dunkin office! Thought you might like to see the local arists at thier Art in the Park that they have every Saturday at a lovely little area on busy Rt. 28. They do pretty well selling work and have an active art group. We all need that encouragement from one another and I would have none of that in FL it was not for my classes. There are groups

Another Day on Cape Cod

2011-09-03T10:25:00.002-04:00

Here we are at our Harwich Port office! Our daily exercise is walking here and back. David works on sermons and I do this, email and other stuff!!! Have been so pleased that some students are sending me photos of art that they are working on. Keep them coming!!!! Joyce Scudder will yell at me for posting this portrait that she dropped off for me to critique but I am so pleased with her work

Whale Watching!!!

2011-09-02T09:59:00.000-04:00

Could not get internet yesterday so did not post. Our son, Tom, took us on a 3 hr Whale Watch that went around Provincetown at the end of the Cape...usually the ship is packed but we almost had it all to ourselves. I don't have a great zoom on my camera but did get some tail shots when they were diving deep and a few humpback whales when we were in shallow water and they were close and

The Light Shines Through!

2011-08-31T08:29:00.001-04:00

Don't you love that little mustard jar?!! Got each for $1 at two different thrift stores...almost perfect complimentary colors. We plan to hit a few more shops today...about 30 here on the cape. Can only buy little things because we are flying home. Joyce will come by today with her pastels and will leave them here with me along with her easel. Sense that my Father is pulling me into a deeper

Just had a lot of wind..no rain!

2011-08-30T19:10:00.002-04:00

I took this lower photo on our walk to Dunkin the morning or the storm and the second one the day after. Just hoping it didn't do this to all the gorgeous flower gardens on the Cape I planned to shoot. The girls are gone, the storm is over and the streets are not filled with all the tourists who will be back for the Labor Day week-end. Last night I attempted a 4"x 6" watercolor of the boat

Storm Almost Here!!!

2011-08-28T10:25:00.000-04:00

We have to be out of Dunkin by 11 A.M. so am trying to deal with internet stuff. No rain so far but lots of wind....Looking forward to a day of watercolor painting and reading... don't need a flashlight to read the ebooks I downloaded!!! Thought you might like to see a few of the photos I took that I will try to make into a small watercolor paintings while I am here... then I might turn some

Waiting for the hurricane!!!

2011-08-27T16:10:00.001-04:00

Bonnie and Carol escaped from Cape Cod early this morning...they hated to leave us here without a car but we can walk to whatever we need and will have a car on Monday. Now we are waiting to see which of us experiences most of the predicted weather. Bonnie's husband insisted she get off the island so we pray they have an easy drive. We are happy campers... Just got lobster rolls and a quart of

New portrait & update

2011-08-15T08:03:00.006-04:00

The dear lady who had me do her large "pinup" portrait called for me to do a small - (14" x 11") oil portrait of her deceased husband from a favorite black and white snapshot. We found her a lovely, simple, wide gold frame that looks perfect in the spot she has chosen to have it displayed. I have almost forgotten that I have leukemia. I plan to forget it entiirely on Friday when they remove