All those delicious colors from Japan and Italy. Ducklings, lily pads, the first peach of summer and Van Dyke Brown.
June 25, 2025
Humboldt Park
Beauty and sound bath under this willow. Holy summer!
June 19, 2025
Humboldt Park
Painting outside was the break I needed to take. With the chaos it implies adapting to a new family member, sometimes we forget to make time to do what we love and what brings us joy. This painting session was a way of forcing myself to pause, observe, create and enjoy. Even while I was painting with my 3yo in arms, I was able to disconnect from parenting mode (at least for a couple of minutes) and connect with nature and art. Thank you, Leslie for this lovely time and for reminding me that I can make time to create and paint even with my kids. 🌸
June 1, 2025
Humboldt Park
January 8, 2025
Garfield Park Conservatory
January 31, 2025
Garfield Park Conservatory
If I had to sum up: I was a bit fearful of watercolor before this, but once I started painting it really just melts away and is so fun and surprising! The thing to be fearful of is painting in public haha!
March 23, 2025
Garfield Park Conservatory
This is my second time painting with you, the first being in Italy of course. Because it took what seemed like years of almost making the date – and it took going to Italy to achieve the date – today was almost like the Chicago date we should have always had. The biggest difference is our friendship has grown significantly and beautifully since our first painting date in Italy such that today felt natural in the way that painting and talking and painting and talking with a dear, longtime friend feels. Because that is what it was! I am grateful for you Leslie, as a friend and as an artist.
A note on painting: your grace of facility with color, stroke, and vision challenges me and motivates me in the best ways. I am always struck by your dedication in the pursuit and expansion of your vocabulary. As an artist, today I felt rusty but ready. And I’m not just talking about painting!
August 30, 2024
Humboldt Park
I can’t believe those marks came out of me. I feel like they were conjured. I had no idea that was a language I was allowed to speak with. And OMG, that light.
September 20, 2024
Miller Meadow
We both remarked that it was a perfect day in late August: hardly a breeze, sunny, and warm, but not too hot. While perched at the pond’s edge, we entertained so many visitors, including the curious and cute but mischievous little duckling that playfully poked at a friendly turtle both of whom were interested in what the humans were up to. A variety of other inquisitive creatures, including a large flock of Canadian geese, a great blue and green heron, an anhinga, and squirrels exchanged visits with us as well in intervals it seemed each time I lifted my head, which led us to recall books from our childhood of interspecies communication.
As we painted, I was often absorbed with Leslie’s extraordinary abstractions taking cues from some of her color arrangements. Looking down at the work I was in the process of realizing, I couldn’t help but remember one of my earliest oil paintings as an undergrad: washy, watered down, dripping, translucent, colors made visible by many marks of the brush. In some ways, it felt as if no time had passed since then. From the excitement of trying to capture the expression of fast-moving geese before they leaped out of the water and moved on with their day, to the slower observations of branches extending towards the sun, it felt like the kind of indulgence we could use more of amidst the pace of contemporary life.
Our conversation was far-ranging and the art-making brought so much of it to the forefront. From the excitement of upcoming exhibitions, and the adventures on recent trips, to memories of Leslie’s father developing photographs in his pajamas and her witnessing the magic of seeing images conjured seemingly out of nothingness from a young age. The experience has helped me to pause and reflect on how making brings to the surface what lies within us so well that the texture of our realities becomes a bit more visible.
August 23, 2024
North Pond, Lincoln Park
About 3 hours in Leslie called me a “Rainbow Doubter”. You can really get to a decent level of candor with someone you hardly know very quickly if you add painting and natural scenery.
Hoping we can go back to the Bong rec area on 4/20 and do this again.
July 28, 2024
Richard Bong State Recreation Area, WI
