Still Life | Mysite

16 X 16 oil on panel
Exhibited at Customs House Museum Paintings and Ponderings solo show
Available through Lovetts Gallery Tulsa, OK
https://lovettsgallery.com

Bad things DO happen so you might as well try to laugh when they do. This painting was done after a long-time friend shocked me and really let me down. I felt she "threw me under the bus" Only figuratively, fortunately. But it hurt. I felt like I was Mr. Bill.

I have an old wooden ruler that says "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." I often think what a utopia we would live in if everyone really practiced this. Whenever I feel someone has "done me wrong" my first thoughts are "man I hope there is some Karma out there." Then my second thought is if there is such a thing as Karma then what did I do to have this mess heaped on me? But I fully realize I am not always blameless and have created some bad Karma in my life. And feeling sorry for one's self and trying to get even aren't really very healthy or productive.

Anyway, back to this painting. I always loved the Saturday Night Live skits with Mr. Bill. I would guess that most of us have felt like life was using us as Mr. Bill sometimes when our feelings are hurt or situations are out of our control. That's life and if we can find humor in it, humor heals the soul.

I idealize the paintings of the late artist Charles Bell. I would have loved to have met him. First of all I would have a million of the technical "how did you do this, what's your favorite brush" kinds of questions but also he just had to have been a fun person to be around. His paintings are filled with humor and happy colors. My husband and I got to see several of his paintings in person in New York. You can't help but feel joy in your heart and pure amazement when you see what he has put on canvas.

I think Charles Bell would like the "Oh No!" painting. I hope everyone who sees it enjoys the humor and has warm memories of the times they watched the old "Mr. Bill" skits on SNL.

Diane

Thread Bare

20 X 16 oil on panel
Selected by Oil Painters of America to be in the 2016 Eastern Regional show at Eisele Gallery in Cincinnati, OH
Available through Diane
ncpdiane@aol.com

Have you ever had a piece of clothing that you loved so much that you wore it until it was absolutely thread bare? Or maybe it was a favorite couch that made you feel so comfortable you used it until the threads on the corners were all that was holding in the stuffing. I think something that has become thread bare is a true sign of love.

My Grandmother made all of my clothes as I was growing up. Sometimes I was embarrassed that I didn’t have any "store bought" clothes. But I loved all the wonderful dresses, skirts, blouses and pants she made for me. When they did get thread bare, parts of them would end up in my quilts. I love looking at my quilts and seeing my mothers old dress, my father’s pajamas and my old blouse. I have one quilt that is just my old wool skirts.

My Grandmother, Nanny, was always busy. She told me she didn't understand people who got bored. She loved to sew, garden and cook. And she did every task with love in her heart. I have so many of her creations. One old quilt is so completely thread bare, but I can’t part with it. It has bits of all my family’s clothes that I can remember them wearing till they were ready to be used in another way. If you could love someone until they were thread bare. I would love Nanny until she was but a small scrap of material. I have her photo behind my desk and never get tired of looking at her smiling face.

This painting "Thread Bare" not only reminds me of Nanny and all the spools of thread she went through in her sewing, but speaks to me of loving someone or something as long as you can hold on to it. Thread bare is just another way of saying cherished.

My Mother and Grandmother not only never wasted a scrap of material but they also had a great sense of humor. After my Mother upholstered a love seat, Nanny took the scraps and made me a pant suit. (Matching jackets and bell bottoms were the thing in the 70’s). There is a photo somewhere of me in my pant suit sitting on the loveseat. It reminds me of "Where’s Waldo". It was my living room camo.

My wishes for you are many "Thread Bare" things and people to cherish.

Diane

Clyde's Ride

20 X 30 oil on panel
First Prize Winner of the 2014 Artist's Magazine Competition
Selected for the International Guild of Realism exhibit at Tempe Center of the Arts
NFS - Artist's personal collection

This painting was done while looking at a photo I took on vacation in Florida. The old blue truck was just like the one my father, James Clyde Goodman used to drive. Daddy was a man of few words and many grins. The thing I used to see him grin the most over was his black lab Clyde. Clyde, (named after my Dad) was by his side every minute of every day.

Clyde adopted my dad on a visit to the Farmer's Co-Op in Columbia, TN. After Daddy finished shopping, he came out to find a black lab in the bed of his truck. He asked the Co-op employees about the dog and discovered the dog was homeless. Well, that was the start of Clyde's riding in the old blue truck. Clyde went for a ride pretty much every day. If the weather was bad he rode in the cab of the truck but he preferred the back bed of the truck. Clyde was pretty well behaved but just couldn't turn down a good chew. There was the time Daddy had a new pump in the back of the truck and got home to find all the rubber parts completely gone with only the metal left. There is also the time Clyde went to the Co-op with Daddy and jumped out and went inside the Co-Op picked out a dog chew rawhide. He then walked back and jumped back in the truck. On Clyde's way out of the Co-op Daddy said he heard the clerk say "Charge that to Mr. Goodman."

Daddy would tell Clyde stories with a big grin on his face and the story would always start out. "Let me tell you what that crazy scannel did today." I used to think "scannel" was a word. I realize now that is just country talk for scoundrel. Today I have my dogs Eli and Peyton who get to go for a ride nearly every day. Eli is mostly my dog and Peyton my husband's dog. Eli is pretty good. But let me tell you what that crazy scannel did today. I'll just say I need to buy a new door for the house.

You really can't put a price on great memories. And I can attest to the wonderful company a dog can give to you. Whether or not you have a dog and a truck to ride in, my wish for you is something that makes you grin at all the little mishaps in life and look at the bigger picture of who you get to hang around with and travel with to see the sights. Cheers to you and your adventures.

Diane

Intertwined

8 X 8 oil on panel
SOLD
Selected for "Best in America" exhibition, Addison Gallery in Orleans, MA, sponsored by the National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society

So many things in my life seem to be intertwined. Many of my friendships have been with people I have worked with in my music career as well as my newer friends in my art career. I want to tell you about a good friend Alice Pavone Paviglianiti. Alice has as much personality as she has letters in her name. I met Alice when I did a tour playing flute and piccolo with the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players. Boy did I luck out when I got her as my roommate for the duration of the tour. Alice is very outgoing and was a great counterpoint to my shyness. Alice lived in Florida and got on the tour bus there. I drove to Knoxville to hop on the tour bus and Alice was there to greet me. At our first hotel stop we got beer and watched the Olympics. That was when the whole Tonya Harding debacle happened. We had a blast. Not to long after that I got a call to play flute for Pavarotti in Florida for a television show. Most of the musicians were from Nashville but they pulled in some strings from Florida. There again was Alice. After that by some miracle her boyfriend and soon to be husband got his medical residency in Nashville. So Alice moved to Nashville and worked with me in my chamber music group The Nashville Chamber Players. We had so much fun together. We had several Lucy and Ethel moments off and on work. When I visited her family in Florida I met her father and brother who are artists. This was one of my first meetings with an actual working artist. It made a huge impression upon me. I wanted to just stare and take in everything I could about all the paintings in their home. There are so many things that made me gravitate to art but meeting Alice is certainly one of those things.

I sometimes feel like there are miracles going on day after day that intertwine our lives of today with our lives in the future. Only in looking back can we see some of random things that seem to build our destiny.

Alice has 4 children and lives in Pittsburg now. I got to see her a few years ago after not seeing her in ages. We picked up just like it had been one day since we saw each other. Thanks Alice for your wonderful friendship.

I am very thankful for the many things that have led me to my art, my music, and especially all the wonderful people in my life. My wish for everyone is to have many chance occurrences that enrich their lives that intertwine with the happiness of their future.

-Diane

Break Out!

20 X 16 oil on panel
SOLD
Awarded the Outstanding Still Life award by Women Painters of the Southeast in 2016

This painting is a smaller version of "The Great Escape" that I did earlier this year. It has a slightly different vantage point and cropping. While painting it CNN was running non-stop coverage of an elaborate prison break out in upstate New York. I started to title this "Break Out, Call CNN!" CNN was definitely in a rut in my opinion. While I paint I often listen to TV. The amount of coverage of the one topic of this breakout was incredible. Then to top it off there was another elaborate breakout following this one of a drug kingpin that was again covered constantly. I felt like they needed to break out of the break out rut.

We all get into ruts. I am planning my own break out for August. I am hoping to take a trip with my husband, work on getting our kitchen organized and remodeled, exercise more regularly and try to reschedule all the appointments I canceled during my rut of work, work, work. The icing on the cake will be lunch and fun time with friends and my husband Frierson. Whoo hoo I am going to kick up my heels and not have so many daily goals for a short time. Or is that a goal in itself? Anyway, a little “break out” here and there is good for everyone. And CNN you can take this as a helpful hint if you want.

I wish for all of you seeing this painting to find some ruts you may need to break out from for yourself. Go ahead, you deserve it – BREAK OUT!

Breaking out soon,
Diane