New Orleans Series
Just thinking of New Orleans makes me nostalgic for the city that has long captivated
my imagination and sensory perceptions. I have had many important life experiences
in this seductive place starting with my first vacation when I was a baby. Later, my family gravitated there from Tennessee every few years. During college, I visited the city many times with my roommate who was from Louisiana. During college, I married and went on my honeymoon there. On my honeymoon I conceived my daughter Lara there. She, in later life, lived and married there. My ex-husband died there. So, over the years, I have deeply embraced that city and all of its lures.
The city is so alluring with its French, African American, Creole, Cajun, and Spanish influences in a tropical setting. It is a city that has attracted artists and musicians since its inception. The architecture and food is known throughout the world.
That seductiveness inspired my paintings entitled Crescent City, Mardi Gras Time,
and The Second Line (referring to their special parades for noteworthy funerals and weddings).
The other paintings in this series were compelled by my personal sense of grief over catastrophic Category 5 Hurricane Katrina of 2005. I cried on and off for five days.
During this period, I painted what I was feeling, resulting in Animal Shelter, Superdome, and The Aftermath.