A Pause That Refreshes, Little Compton, 18x18, oil

Today 2 friends came to visit & paint, Paula Villanova and Jody Regan (both have links on my Daily Painting Blog).  We drove down the Main Road and spotted these cows & calves taking a dip in their little pond.  What fun it was to try and nail a composition while they were leaving and coming back, getting back into the water, leaving, etc.!  I remembered Peggi Kroll Roberts saying "Be a Designer!"  And Ken Auster saying "Be Inspired by Nature, but Not Held Hostage By It!".    We had a picnic lunch, but it was HOT HOT HOT in the sun.... and on the way home we had Dell's frozen Lemonade - perfect end to a perfect day!

Isolated Shower, 24x24, Acrylic

SOLD
This is a work up from the little Daily Painting I did of it last week. Easier and harder. Easier because the composition is all done for me, harder because it's boring to copy, and at least with the values, you have to. This was, I think, the most difficult painting I've ever photographed. Under ever light it appeared much darker than in real life. Then when I got it lightened, the colors were all washed out. Or too purple. Or Green. Grrrr.... This is a little vapid compared with the real thing.

Portsmouth Farm II, Oil 12x24

This is the second work up of a farm piece - love the light on the buildings.  I can't say I won't take the brush to this one again, but it's going to sit a bit then I'll look at it afresh. That is how I often handle the 'finished' painting.  I hang it up or display it in the studio so I can't help get a fresh look at it.  Usually after a couple of days, but it's sometimes as long as a couple of months when I look... stop dead in my tracks and say to myself "Of course!  That roofline is off!" or "Yes, the shadow side of that cheek needs to be much darker!!!"... Or even - "That's just right."  You never know...

WIP, Hull View 18x24 Acrylic

Did a little more work on it (see above) and thought I'd post the progress....

Friday Paula Villanova (check out her cool blog) and I visited the beautiful home of our friend Janet who lives in Hull, MA (right near Oceanside 17 Gallery, which you should DEFINITELY check out).  We painted from the small juliet balcony which had a panoramic view of the Bay in Hull.  She served a wonderful lunch (so why does painting make you so hungry?) So much to choose from to paint!  I chose this view down the hill looking out towards World's End in Hingham, a Land Trust Preseve which is open to the public with wonderful walking trails and views from Hull to Boston.  Painted there last Fall.  

Anyway, it was hot as blazes, and I had to leave before it was finished, but this is what I got so far.  I will work on the distance, and shore up the shadow areas, but I like the view!  Thanks, Janet!

The Barns in Portsmouth, RI, acrylic 14x18

We painted Plein Air at Judy Chaves' house yesterday in the late light.  We were waiting for the cows to come out, which they did, as we were packing up to go home & cook dinner :(   Apparently the cows (which are dairy cows, but I don't know that that matters) like the grass to nibble, but not these tuft-y weeds, so they grow, while the grass gets nibbled down.  Loved the light on the barn and out building.

Pembroke Arts Festival, August 1 and 2, 2008

Today I heard that I got 3 pieces into the Pembroke Arts Festival Juried Show.  I'm thrilled that "Atheena Ballerina" won an Honorable Mention Award!

Opening at the Ventress LIbrary 7/14

A young art lover....

Paula Villanova and Nina Villanova being so kind, after hanging the show, to come to the Opening, too....

Tim and I, trying to get a good photo of both of us...

Well, the 'Opening' finally happened.  Monday night, with a light turnout.  My family & friends were there, however, and I think the show looked good.  Here are a few photos.

New Stuff

A 'Toulouse Lautrec" inspired model...

A sunset on a "Hot Summer Night"...

And a Potato Field at "Wingover Farm" in Tiverton...

These paintings are what I've been doing on my 'week off' after my show got hung last week.  I swore I was going to give myself 2 weeks of 'no-painting', to lie fallow, so to speak, and rest from the (exciting) goings on of putting up a one-person show.  To repeat my Daily Blog - my show is at the Ventress Library, in Marshfield, MA through Mid August.  The show is sponsored by the North River Arts Association, and I am eternally grateful for this opportunity.  Photos from the Opening will be posted later this week.  The Opening is July 14, Monday, from 7 - 8:30.  No alcohol is served inside the Library, and there will be light refreshments inside.  But my car will be serving a Tailgate Party!  So to paraphrase Ernie Boc the car dealer ... "Come On Down!"

Off On Another Adventure

This week I visited Phyllis Adams in Truro at a wonderful 'cottage' just a few houses up from Edward Hopper's house on a huge bluff overlooking the Bay.

Here's a painting of the cottage we stayed at:

Denise Zompa and Trish Hurley were there for the whole week, too - so much fun! This was an amazing 60's 'cottage', a real party house with it's own place in the Art History of Cape Cod.  I think the room I had to myself could have slept 7, and all together I think the house could have comfortably fit 20 or so.  First night there a storm rolled over the bay (didn't touch us)  and we all painted it, here's mine:

and in the afternoon visited Provincetown, and gallery hopped, then painted at Days Cottages (see my Daily Blog for that painting).  This morning we had a terrific breakfast at the Wicked Oyster (see happy faces below), and I headed home, refreshed and renewed!

AWOL

OK, so I went to NYC last week, and while I didn't get to gallery hopping (do you really want to know the details of a day spent recovering a cell phone left in a cab?) I DID get to 'visit' the Statue of Liberty!  Back to painting now!

Portsmouth Art Guild Figure Show

SOLD

I have been 'quiet' for a while, and want to explain. Spring is the time when there are hosts of juried competitions, as well as some applications to juried art associations. I've been really busy submitting, and have been dealing with, well, the agony of defeat. ;) I know, everybody has their ups and downs, and truly, I'm one of those people who don't want to belong to any organization that would let me in! More on that later.
The Portsmouth Art Guild took two of my paintings, above, into their juried show. One, you'll probably see on my Daily Painting Blog, the Skaters, the other is, well, different for me. It came after a particularly stinging rejection of all my pieces into a show I really wanted to get into. It's called "The Rejected Artist" and I took inspiration from Courbet (yes, Courbet the realist) and his "Desperate Man" painting. I took my canvas and my acrylic palette into the bathroom and set up in front of the mirror, tried to strike a similar pose to 'Desperate Man', dried my tears (I'm an easy crier) and let it all hang out. DAMN it! I SHOULD have gotten in to that show! GRRRR..... I'll show them! AUUGGGHHHH!!" etc. Oh, yeah, the next week I got rejected from an art association for membership, so I have plenty of 'models' for my crazy artist paintings.... but truly, you win some and you lose some.... can't let the losing be the emphasis of your life, right?

Another Amazing Sunset, 11x14 oil

Here in my little piece of heaven, the sky is glorious almost every night.  Every day is different, and after a whole day of churning, heavy clouds the sunset arrived pure and cloudless.  At my side of the broken stone bridge (hence the 'Stonebridge Studio') a lone fisherman stood patiently waiting for a bluefish to grab his line.  Yellow, lavender, azure... ahhhh...  I tried to be loose, yet blocky, simplifying once again, to emphasize the purity of the design...

You know, I've been struggling with quite a few rejections in terms of my art this past month.  I have to say that initially I get miffed (OK, gut-wrenchingly so..) but now I think I'm just freer to try new things, and listen on the wind for my own voice, and maybe I'll get it right soon.  And there are just enough good things happening (like I got the piece called 'Everybody knows Everybody' below into the Cape Cod Art Association National Juried Show) to keep me going.  So I'll continue to prepare for my show in Marshfield (more on that later) at the end of June, and continue to try new ways of looking at color and design.  All in all I can not complain - life is good.

Dramatic Sky, Hingham Harbor, 12x12 Oil

So today looked like it might be a washout, but I was so very inspired by Rich Bowman's new work on his website, that I HAD to paint the dramatic skies today.  And since I had to drive up to Quincy to Tim's office anyway, I swung by Hingham because the Harbor is so pretty, and I thought the sky might be 'big' there.  And it was.  So I had to work quickly, but this is what I got in about 2 hours.  Tried doing mostly 2 directions (vert & horizontal) in my brushwork, and simplified, simplified, simplified....

Perfect Day..Sun, Sand & Sox on the Radio, 11x14 oil

I sketched this lounger last summer at the beach.  The game was on, his Dunkin Donuts iced coffee nearby... he got a little more sun than he probably should have.  I like the way everything was compartmentalized....

1st of the Irises, Acrylic, 16x20

Coffee in the garden led to a beautiful sight this morning - the first group of irises, bearded, I believe they are called, were all in bloom.  Before the sun even hit them I had my paints out, and Tim took this photo of me digging in to the painting  - don't you love the chain link fence?  It KIND of keeps the cats in (when we're there, anyway) and it gives us a sort of boundry because we are in a triangle of streets - all 3 side have people walking by, zooming by, and always interested in what we're doing in the yard!  

This painting was fast and loose, and I was channeling Ros Farbush.

Large Clamscape, 18x24 oil

Obsessive? Possibly. Dangerous?  Only if I forget the clams where I'm painting them and they die and start to smell... I didn't, though.  I'm loving the textures and surfaces, wet & dry on these babies.  Maybe I should have submitted clams and only clam paintings to the Art League of Rhode Island, who rejected my application for admission to their club today.   

Clam-o-licious, Oil, 22x28

At this size, maybe I've got clams 'out of my system' - ahem....  Seriously I did have such a blast painting these - I used, rose, sevres blue, indigo, cad yellow medium, cobalt, a hint of orange and alizarin - this is not your mothers' still life!

Everybody Knows Everybody, Oil, 20x24

This is a little beach community with those gorgeous summer homes with porches facing the ocean, and next week they'll all be moving in, cleaning up and 'Opening' the houses for the season.  I love the 'Hopper'-y feeling of this.

Tiverton Quohogger, 14x18 Oil

You know, I'm making up the size here.  I KNOW it's more than 12x16 but it COULD be 20x24 - it's at the studio, I'm home.  I painted this subject before, and think I did a better job this time...

Sun Hanging Low Over Dunes, 9x12 Acrylic

This is the new photo - a bit sharper.