Myrna Leigh Cohn

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson I sit in my studio-office looking out at the almost denuded trees. The sun is shining …not the bright golden light of summer, but the subtle light of late October. We turn back the clocks [...]

These are the questions that I have been pondering while painting over the past three weeks as I also  participate in a 21-day Meditation Challenge offered by the Chopra Center. Sounds a bit sophomoric but, in fact, it was perfect timing for me to go within and process my answers with fresh eyes and an [...]

My paintings are contemporary reflections of an evolving journey through what was once a typical life – an equal mix of beauty, joy and love, challenged by frustration, fear and loss. I came late to my passion. I am, for the most part, self-taught, but the few people with whom I have studied have given [...]

For the past few weeks, I have been thinking about depression – mine, to be exact. I sense a heaviness in my chest and in my legs. The thought of reaching out is instantly rejected. An overwhelming sense of sadness seems to permeate my mind and my heart. So much has been happening in the [...]

It’s been a bit too long since my last post.  How do I know? I know because now I have so many stories to tell, I don’t know which to choose.  In fact, my mind is swirling around in so many directions, I’m feeling dizzy. In addition, from a practical standpoint, if I don’t write [...]

The scourge of the writer…  it’s time to begin the story, but where? When? Who? How? For the visual artist, it’s “the blank white canvas,” stark, flat and looking very much like the white snow-filled scene outside my studio window on this January day. I may or may not know what my next subject will be, [...]

Yesterday,  a frigid Sunday in December,  I decided it was time for me to resume painting. It’s  been several weeks since I put palette knife to canvas;  so,  I had to go through the  process of setting up my space, beginning with covering the floor with a green oil cloth. Next, I laid out my tubes [...]

Well, Christmas and New Year’s Day have passed and I haven’t resumed my writing or painting but, I have spent many hours thinking and planning the changes I want to make in my life and career …of course, all grist for the mill. We used to call this mental masturbation and I think that is [...]

It’s not that I heard a little voice in my head saying, “Myrna, knock it off for a while.” “No, I have been taking refuge in my left-brain self.” I have been avoiding writing, painting, dancing, singing……

I’ve been working on a painting which I have carried in my mind for many moons.  It’s a view of the marsh at high-tide at Kiawah, S.C.  I’ve painted the marshes before, mostly in an abstracted landscape form; but this time, I wanted to try realism, to a point. I decided to use a 24″x48″ [...]