Carole Sikes Artist / Writer in Austin, Texas

I don't like cold weather but I love what winter does to nature. The tracery of bare branches against a cloudless winter sky is stunning to me.This recently completed painting, that I'm calling NIGHT LIGHT, is a 30" x 30" oil painting on canvas. There are many beautiful native grasses that change color during the fall and winter. Where we live on Lake Travis there are varieties of Muhly and Little Bluestem in abundance. Also there are patches of Yellow Indiangrass, Love grass, Switchgrass and many others that I can't identify. This is the case with these yellow ochre grasses and bare stalks in this month's painting. Looking through the dark stems and heads in the foreground gives a sense of depth and breaks up the large blue background. The blue is an evening sky blue, and the grasses are spot lighted by a setting sun that accentuates the color. This painting is more freely painted than the series of Chautauqua Porches on which I'm still working.

No images of my paintings this month. In fact, not much evidence of may painting except three works in progress not yet ready to display. We'll see if they pass muster. BOOKS AND A MOVIE Here's an idea: A novel by STEVE MARTIN (for heaven's sake!) entitiled AN OBJECT OF BEAUTY. I haven't read it yet so you are on your own. However the review maikes me want to check it out and I'm not a Martin fan. "An attractive, ambitious young woman rises through artist and writer boyfriends, curators, FBI agents, international dealers and art collectors. The talk is contemporary art and ...money." The reveiwer (also a painter) goes on, "Steve gets the art world, human nature, body language, as well as the dark and funny twists of fate. He know his stuff and he nails it." This is my guess about what we can expect to take away. Much of the stuff that calls itself art IS, but much of it IS NOT. So enjoy what you like and ignore the rest. Collectiing contem