Red Bird

Red Bird, oil on canvas, 18 x 18 inches, © 2011 Diane McGregor

Red Bird

Red bird came all winter
firing up the landscape
as nothing else could.

Of course I love the sparrows,
those dun-colored darlings,
so hungry and so many.

I am a God-fearing feeder of birds.
I know He has many children,
not all of them bold in spirit.

Still, for whatever reason --
perhaps because the winter is so long
and the sky so black-blue,

or perhaps because the heart narrows
as often as it opens --
I am grateful

that red bird comes all winter
firing up the landscape
as nothing else can do.


~ Mary Oliver ~

Lynette Haggard's Artist Interview Series

I was recently featured on Lynette Haggard's Art Blog. Please enjoy reading this interview with me about my work and inspiration. I talk a lot about what led me to becoming a painter, and share some of my working methods and some of the inner processes that motivate me toward creating my work.

Thank you so much, Lynette!

Winter Poems

Clockwise from upper left: Winter Poem I, Winter Poem II, Winter Poem III, Winter Poem IV

All oil on canvas, 12 x 12 inches, © 2011 Diane McGregor

Winter is returning to New Mexico. Very cold mornings, a little snow, the blacks, browns, and golds of the frozen plants and leaves. This quartet of paintings was composed as a poem to the winter season, the winter landscape.

Instead of the vertical orientation of the grid's rectangles, the new paintings I have been working on emphasize the horizontal -- in other words, the horizon line of the vast New Mexico landscape. The blues and whites echo the frozen earth and sky, with flecks of gold, black and brown reminding the viewer of the warmth that still lingers beneath the surface.

I will be shipping these paintings out soon for a group exhibition in December at Costello-Childs Contemporary in Scottsdale. The exhibition will feature smaller works by the gallery's artists. There will be an opening reception on Wednesday, December 7th, from 4 to 8pm.

Upcoming Chicago Exhibition

Terrain, oil on canvas, 32 x 32 inches, © 2011 Diane McGregor

My painting, Terrain, has been chosen for exhibition in "Bare Essentials: Minimalism in the 21st Century." The exhibition will be held at Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, opening November 4th and continuing through December 22nd. There will be an opening reception on November 4th from 6-9 pm. The curator is Ingrid Fassbender, of Fassbender Fine Art. Currently she is working on an additional "Minimal" exhibition which will include international artists.

From the exhibition brochure:

Minimalism is a specific movement identified with
the evolution of post-World War II art. The
movement pioneers – among them Frank Stella
and Carl Andre – felt that “art excludes the
unnecessary”. These artists – including others
such as Sol LeWitt, Dan Flavin, Agnes Martin and
others – were rooted in the reductive aesthetic
aspects of modernism. It was this reductive
element which these artists pursued in their
movement away from the prevalence of Abstract
Expressionism.

“Bare Essentials: Minimalism in the 21st Century”
is an exhibition that will explore how women artists
are influenced by these earlier ideologies, and how
they attempt to make them their own.

I am deeply honored to be included in this extraordinary exhibition!

Shimmering Air

Shimmering Air, oil on canvas, 18x18 inches, © 2011 Diane McGregor

The Hummingbird

It’s morning, and again I am that lucky person who is in it.
And again it is spring,
and there are the apple trees,
and the hummingbird in its branches.
On the green wheel of his wings
he hurries from blossom to blossom,
which is his work, that he might live.

He is a gatherer of the fine honey of promise,
and truly I go in envy
of the ruby fire at his throat,
and his accurate, quick tongue,
and his single-mindedness.

Meanwhile the knives of ambition are stirring
down there in the darkness behind my eyes,
and I should go inside now to my desk and my pages.
But still I stand under the trees, happy and desolate,
wanting for myself such a satisfying coat
and brilliant work.

- Mary Oliver -