From September 18, 2011–January 9, 2012, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City (MOMA) will present a major exhibition that will cover the full career of Willem de Kooning, an artist thought by many to be one of the greatest and most productive artists of the 20th century. The exhibition with its more than 200 works will take over the entire sixth floor of the museum.

This is the current exhibition at The Drawing Center, 35 Wooster Street, New York, New York. If there were a book titled The Best Small Museums and Places to See Art in New York, The Drawing Center would certainly be in the book (www.drawingcenter.org).

It has been a long winter. Hoping that a painting of flowers would make spring come sooner, I started a bouquet of parrot tulips in oil.

I am very, very, very thankful that I never felt like this when working on a portrait. And I certainly hope that no one who has sat with me for a portrait can identify with this "model" with the hood and the gun.

It is free and, on Broadway between 155th and 156th Streets in Manhattan, is very easy to get to via the #1 subway line. Information about hours, programs, and events can be found at www.hispanicsociety.org or call 212-926-2234.

Much too young and much too sadly, Edward died last spring. He had been my friend for many, many years. He repeatedly gave me the gift of his teaching about painting. In amazing conversations, typically over wonderful food that he had prepared, with great seriousness but also much smiling and laughing, Eddie talked about painting. He covered it all: Painting’s history, possibilities, challenges, joy, struggle, hope, heights, and absolute necessity.

For me, this photograph offers a delightful way to make the point that the painter always has plenty of company at the easel. A painter may be physically alone in the studio, but many other painters are right there with her, in spirit, as she works.