Finally! I’ve got two offerings for grown-ups who want to add a bit of creativity to their lives. Monday morning Studio will be for folks who just want to get right down to painting. Less teaching in this format, and more of an artistic give and take. The Wednesday evening classes are for anybody who wants to try painting for the first time, or remind themselves of some of the basics.
Supportive and creative environment. Check out class listings on my classes blog site:
Art for Your Home and A Home for Your Art was the tag-line last night.
Prudential Prime Realty in Belmont Threw us a really terrific opening! Many many thanks to Sister-in-law Extraordinaire, Donata Barber (who is also a wonderful broker if you are looking for a home in Belmont and the surrounding area).
We sold quite a few pieces, saw some friends (met some new ones), and had an all-around great time. I only thought to pull out the camera before we got started and then again at the end when most folks had left. The work will be up for the next several months, so please do stop in. I can’t say enough great things about Howie and Carol Sager who own the office and were completely behind this brilliant event. Also Nancy Rufo (another relative and great Prudential Prime Sales Associate), and Carolyn Rufo were both instrumental in getting the space set up.
John and I have been looking for new and creative ways to show and sell our paintings. We’ve been looking to connect with interior designers and other folks on the home-furnishings end of things. This was one of the best ideas yet.
And one last time - Donata - you are amazing!!!
Icy Pond
It is my great privilege to be included in a show at Mass General Hospital Cancer Center. The Illuminations Program was created to provide an uplifting environment to people undergoing cancer treatment, as well as to their families. I have eleven pieces in the collection along with several other artists. I can’t think of a better use for art.
I’ve dedicated my participation in this group show to Kathy Duncan Wands, to my mom who is a two-time cancer survivor, and to all my friends and family whose lives have been touched by cancer.
The opening is on Tuesday October 12, from 5:00 - 8:00. Please plan to come! I’ll send out the parking details a bit closer to the event. In the meantime I hope to see you in Belmont tomorrow night!
John and I are showing some of our work this Friday night in Belmont. Wine and cheese will be served. Please join us!
Bone Tree Reaching
Just dropped this baby (along with several others) off at Summer House Furnishings in Rye, New Hampshire. What a wonderful store! They have a beautiful color sense and a real eye for interiors. (Plus no sales tax!) If you hit the link above and look at the image you can see a bit of the store. In that same photo are a couple of paintings by Peter Batchelder. I really enjoyed seeing his work in Provincetown with my buddy Dan earlier this summer. Also they have some Ellen Granter paintings. Her landscapes are just delicious. Lovely folks own and run the store as well. Do stop in!
The above painting is 36” x 36”. Contact Summer House Furnishings to purchase!
Adult Painting Classes →
I’m offering an evening adult painting class in my home studio. I’m still working out the details. If I have enough people, I may add another class.
Also, I’ve loved the suggestions for Parent-Teen art classes. I haven’t worked out the details, but stay tuned.
Cottage On Winslow Landing 2, Brewster, MA
It’s just nestled in there isn’t it? The house beside this one was taken down to be rebuilt. That is what allowed such a great view of this house and the tree sheltered path to the beach. We looked at this view everyday.
10” x 20” oil on canvas, please inquire for prices
Lingering Onward Dreamily
When we go to the Cape, John and I give each other several hours a day to paint. I was really glad to have my painting time in the morning again this year. I had wanted to get images of trees with back-lighting and lots of shadows in the foreground. Getting up before six to catch the low sun and long shadows was perfect - if exhausting. This one will definitely inform my dream tree series, especially in the loose and abstract approach to the shadows.
The title comes from a Lewis Carroll poem, so nostalgic and sweet.
A Boat beneath a Sunny Sky
A BOAT beneath a sunny sky, Lingering onward dreamily In an evening of July —
Children three that nestle near, Eager eye and willing ear, Pleased a simple tale to hear —
Long has paled that sunny sky: Echoes fade and memories die: Autumn frosts have slain July.
Still she haunts me, phantomwise, Alice moving under skies Never seen by waking eyes.
Children yet, the tale to hear, Eager eye and willing ear, Lovingly shall nestle near.
In a Wonderland they lie, Dreaming as the days go by, Dreaming as the summers die:
Ever drifting down the stream — Lingering in the golden gleam — Life, what is it but a dream?
9” x 12”, oil on canvas, please inquire for prices
I think that center-right tree is getting close to something I’ve been aiming for. In my more abstract tree paintings, often there is no foliage. This tree has a healthy crown and I could see translating that sort of shape into my more imagined-tree paintings. The palette was a fun departure too.
10” x 20” oil on canvas, please inquire for prices
As You Strode Deeper and Deeper Into the World
Along with the roots, branches and shadows, I’m enjoying the connections created by the powerlines. The trees in the distance are something I’ve been thinking about since my ice-sliding image from High Rock Woods.
16” x 20”, oil on canvas, please inquire for prices
Cape Cod Sketchbook 2
I often use these studies to get a really obvious palette out of my system, or to test an alternate one. The first two helped me get past the blue sky and green trees so I could tweak the color in the way I wanted. The third image with the orange sky is a test of an alternate palette.
Cottage on Winslow Landing, Brewster MA
It’s on the same little road where we stay, quite close to the beach. I LOVE all the windows and dormers, and the sheltering trees. You’ll recognize this house in several of the upcoming posts.
9”x12”, oil on board, please inquire for prices
Cape Cod Sketchbook 1
Here are several images from my Cape Cod sketchbook. I went with the intention of filling my mind with the shapes of the lowly scrub pine. Those weather beaten trees are a real icon of the Cape for me, more even perhaps than the shore views. I want to bring these newly observed trees into my dream tree paintings.
Art Review →
<http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20100819-ENTERTAIN-8190321>
Click the above link to see a review of the show in Maine. We’re just back from vacation with a new raft of paintings. I’ll begin blogging them just as soon as the laundry is done!
Pics From the Opening Last Night
Okay, they’re just from John’s phone, but they’ll have to do.
Thank you Ali! What a terrific evening. All the work has wonderful evocative connections, and it is hung so beautifully. Last time I blogged about the show I only included Frank Poor’s web link. I didn’t have Susan Savory’s web info at the time, but now I do! Ali was kind enough to take me, John and Susan out to dinner after the opening. It was so great to sit down over a bottle of wine and chat with two such talented and interesting women. Okay, enough said, you must take a look at Susan’s collages and check out her photography-poetry project "Spiritbox".
Lastly, I also LOVED Suzie Dittenber’s paintings. Stairs to the deck, domestic interiors, I can’t do it justice. She’s at Drift and at Paradise Gallery. I feel all charged up by the delicious art and wonderful company.
Now… off to vacation!
Youth Painting Classes →
I am offering acrylic painting classes to kids ages 7 - 14 this fall. Check out my classes blog for more information.
Balancing In The Earth
36” x 36” oil and mixed media on canvas.
I just finished this one as part of a series of 3 large square canvases. They aren’t really a series but I’ve been working on all three at the same time, so they’ve been talking to each other as I work. One is a neighborhood image, one is a larger tree image, and then there’s this one which is flatter and more about color. I’ll finish the other two and post soon.
“Commodo cursus magna, vel scelerisque nisl consectetur et. Donec id elit non mi porta gravida at eget metus.”
All These Little Houses
There I was dropping off some paintings to the Drift Contemporary Art Gallery in Kittery, Maine. The lovely proprietoress Ali Goodwin had a delightful surprise for me. When we finished unloading the car she asked me to follow her down a path behind the gallery. There she showed me this little area that is turning into a tree-house village. I’m in love with this place. Can’t wait to use the photos as reference for more paintings.
Constellation Tree
I was gathering some work and piling it into the car this morning while the kids were eating the now-famous spaghetti omelet. Lucy took a look at this painting and said, “That is one of my favorites mom, I like the ones with the stars.”
"I like them too" I said. "This one looks like the way I feel when I’m painting. The ideas are buzzing around my head and the desire to paint them is coming up my body into my hands and my brain." I hadn’t thought of it till I said it. But that about describes the feeling.
To see this painting, and other work like it, come to the opening for the show “Where We Live” in Kittery Thursday August 5, from 5 - 8.