![barbararaeschaefer_big barbararaeschaefer_big](http://blog.marklamster.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/barbararaeschaefer_big.jpg)
My cousin Barbara Schaefer is having a show of recent work at Shop Art, on Bergen Street in Brooklyn. (Convenient!) Barbara is walking sunshine, and her pictures — big tactile abstractions, with caligraphic skeins of paint — channel her personality. I've always thought there was something Rubensian about them in their energy and handling of the painted surface. Also, they make me smile.