It takes me about a year to decide whether a painting is finished, and to determine if it is something I want to exhibit. Now I am looking critically at my Christmas Pandemic Paintings from last year.

Last winter, a little before Christmas, with lockdown in full force, I decided to move my studio downstairs. I was having difficulty with the stairs and downstairs is warmer. Shutting off upstairs would save heat. My family helped roll up the rugs, move painting tables and easels, and we set up the studio in the kitchen and dining room. The Pandemic meant no visitors would come. I could let the house and studio turn into as big a mess as I wanted.

I tend to like accidental still lives, and one was already “setup” on the dining room table.

Eager to get to work, I stretched a group of large canvases.

I used the dining room table for a setup. I did not think about the chairs. At first, I just shoved them out of the way. My oldest son was leaving groceries on the porch. It was lonely, but I was getting a lot done.

I realized after working awhile, that all the chairs were empty, and I felt lonely because in a normal Holiday season, they would be full. I felt sad and I realized I was making a “pandemic” painting.

Later my son noticing the Clorox wipes in the painting, said, “we’ll always know when this was made.”

After he began to work from home, he thought it safe to come inside. One day he brought two pineapples. Another day, a poinsettia. Christmas music was playing. He looked at the largest painting and said, this is a pandemic painting, all the chairs are empty. "Yes," I said, "all the chairs are empty, and that will be our Christmas this year."

I added some of the utensils for making Christmas Cookies to  the table. My children's favorite Christmas cookies are Pineapple Diamonds.

Next came the pastry blender and the rolling pin. A rolling pin is taperred at the ends and devilish to foreshorten, but it, along with the pan and the tablecloth establish the ground plane.

Would you like to have a Christmas card with an image and the recipe? Use contact to message me, please..