A Last Look

As the year ends, I look back and feel so grateful for such an amazing year. Life IS beautiful. I keep my sense of humor with this post, seeing myself loosen up after copying Diebenkorns self- portrait, then doing another of myself. Blessings to all, thank you for your visits and comments this year!

Sold from Holiday Show at The Portsmouth Arts Guild

Got a call this afternoon from The Portsmouth Arts Guild, no need to come and pick up your paintings when the show ends. They both sold!!! The best news was that they were purchased by someone who already has a painting of mine. Thank you! Really a Christmas present for me.

2nd Angel

Continuing with the angel series, this time the angel holds a lute, an old stringed instrument related to the guitar.The lute has a body shaped like half of a pear and has between 6 to 13 strings along a fretted neck. Oil on canvas, 5x7.

Open Figure

This was the last day of the open figure studio at the Portsmouth Arts Guild. I wiped the drawing off 3 times before I settled into this rendition. Was totally challenged by this pose. Humbled,really. That's how it is sometimes. Stay persistent as the way to improve.

1st Angel Facing South

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Feeling grateful for my family and their support with my art, whether I'm off to the studio or have pen to pad writing, they are the best! I'm interested in how this one angel appears so different each time I paint her... will change up background color for next time.

1st Angel Looking West

My 2nd attempt at this angel, and I saw the light on the porcelain completely differently today! I have her standing in a box with a sheet of cream paper behind her, purple underfoot, spotlight pointing up. What do you think of angel as subject matter? Relevant, cliche?? Can we look at her without conjuring up some stories from our past? This is all intriguing stuff to me. 5x7 oil painting

1st Angel

Have these porcelain angels that my mum used to arrange on a circular mirrored centerpiece that she placed evergreens around. Have wanted to paint them for awhile, and brought one to the studio this week. Decided to use a 5x7 canvas, will turn the angel to study her from different angles. Here's my first attempt. Cast painting, drapery, figure, all in one.

Mary

Open figure, decided to try a portrait. So much, trying to simplify. This never gets old! I'm lost in process.

Wanderer Lane

Biking one morning in Hilton Head, I brought my sketchbook along and stopped as I passed these small streets, all ending at the ocean. No outlet. No parking. I stood and quickly got my impressions, later making gouache studies. Here's the first one.

Figure Value Study

It was raining and I wanted to keep it simple, so I went to our open figure group at the Portsmouth Arts Guild with just 2 tubes of acrylic-black and white. It was still a challenge, but a good one.Next time will bring an assortment of supports, as my square board didn't fit the reclining figure.

Don't Take Yourself So Damn Seriously

The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get. Whoever said that knows how I feel. Soooo, one post at a time I'll try to catch up. Brought my journal to Hilton Head, this is me on Halloween morning. My friends say, why do you see yourself in such an unflattering way? I have no answer. It's just what I see at that moment in time.Gouache and comics.

Sunflowers 2

This little 6x6 painting can stand on its own or to the right of yesterdays post for a full bouquet!

Sunflower 1

Painting for the Itty Bitty Picture Show, which is scheduled to open the end of November, at the DeBlois Gallery in Newport. Happy to be invited to exhibit this year, wanted to keep things loose and natural, as I think of these flowers! Size is 6x6.

Outside Cardine's

On any summer night outside Cardine's field in Newport, you will see the ubiquitous Del's lemonade stand, as much an icon to summer in Rhode Island as baseball is.

Week 2

Open figure studio at the Portsmouth Arts Guild. Really enjoyed the challenge of the figure today.Constant measuring,scraping and changing to get things right and now I see issues with his left arm! Well, there's always next time. This is more an exercise in seeing than coming up with a finished painting.I'm enjoying that point of view-less stressful!

Owen Building

Loved painting this morning in Providence-the juxtaposition of the 1866 Owen Building and the modern parking garage caught my eye. Great day for plein air!

Week 1

Started a 6 week session at the Portsmouth Arts Guild with the figure. Three hours flew by, didn't bring my camera for later reference; this one will have to stand on its own. Used an 11x14 canvas which gave me a bit more room for the whole composition, including that red step stool, which I love!

up close

Our figure in the landscape group met  and for some reason I decided to just focus on the face......now, I considered NOT posting this one, maybe waiting til my work reached some level I could be proud of, rather than this utterly searching portrayal of the lovely model, which doesn't do her a bit of justice. But I decided if I really want to share this path I'm on, I want to be honest and share the struggle as well. So that's how it may be for a while, paintings that aren't so"pretty", although "pretty" has never been my goal. Truth is my goal and sharing whats going on with me and my growth as an artist.

Take 2

Had so much trouble with this pose, had to wipe it off and start over-halfway through! Did 2 small paintings, 6x6, in the 3 hour plein air session with the model. Plan on doing it again this week, viewing it as a STUDY only, by no means anywhere near a finished painting. Steve Sheehan ( who used to teach at the Lyme Academy) said that you could learn more by starting many paintings. So consider this a start!

Figure in the Landscape

We went across the street from the art museum to Touro Park, the model in the sun, we're in the shade. By 4pm, when we ended, the shade was everywhere, and it felt like September in New England. I did 2 studies, this is the better of the 2. Will post the other tomorrow. In any event, have decided that my next focus will be on the figure....from LIFE! Got out all my reference books, really thinking about what Anthony Ryder calls "the envelope", a group of up to 6 lines that encompass the figure into one big mass. That's the starting point, not any of the details inside.

3rd Beach

Painted with a plein air group taught by David Barnes, always wonderful to have figure AND landscape. A beautiful afternoon at the beach. My struggle was about getting too picky at the end, decided that for the next session I will do two paintings and just try to capture the essence of the figure and the September light on that figure.

Collins Park

Have wanted to paint this scene for some time, these elegant Japanese Black Pines next to 1st Beach. I had quite a struggle with the shape of the tree, having to squint down until all I could see WAS the shape. It was such a beautiful grey morning and I felt so blessed to be happily painting in my own little world! I posted it on Facebook earlier this week and SOLD it!

The Anchorage

Bristol Narrows: The red house at the bottom of the hill just before you turn left to drive onto the strip of beach. A lovely place, fishermen, people kayaking. Some in our group had to regroup when the tide came in! Ah, the pleasures of plein air painting. A perfect morning.

Beehive Revisited

I've been thinking alot about why I wasn't happy with my last post of the darling Beehive Cafe in Bristol. It's because the painting is too sweet, too typical. There, I've said it. What drew me to the scene in the first place was the space around the lone customer on the upper deck, under the orange windsail. So I got out my paints today and believe I was able to capture that original feeling, as I painted, not in Bristol at the scene, but on my deck in Portsmouth, with warm breezes blowing, and the Sakonnet shimmering a rich blue under a late afternoon September sky.

Beehive Cafe

Painted this with my plein air group last week. Something about it isn't sitting quite right with me, but I can't put my finger on it. A sweet man in the house next to where we had set up came out with Sprite for us! One of the super hot mornings we had.How thoughtful!

Value Study

I did this 5x5 with acrylic paint while I was gallery sitting on Friday. I wanted to keep it within a very limited number of values. I think it works in conveying the original feeling of the scene. It answers the question: What do I want this painting to be about? I am planning to do a larger painting from this at some point.

On Process

I went into the studio and before turning on the lights noticed the quiet beauty of the light falling onto the old rocker and table next to it. A very foggy morning. Shot a few pictures, then did a painting as I saw it, both of which are posted here.Something didn't strike me as right, so I took another tact with my painting, which you will see in my next post.I thought that sharing the process from the 1st observation of a scene to how it becomes realized as a final painting would show the many steps that occur in the creative process, which is, so often, a struggle!

untitled from Lyme Academy

I'm posting this painting that was done in a class taught by Nancy Gladwell at the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts a few years back. We tore sheets of paper in various ways then tacked them up on the wall to paint. Trying to find the nuances of shadow, the planes of the paper through value and hue. I was all set to paint over it, but it was saved by my studio mate Judy Chaves. "NO! Save it, it's beautiful." So save it I did. Will post various student work as I can across it and think I might have something interesting to share about this path I'm on.

At The Dock

A very foggy morning teaches the sublime qualities of grey! When the sun came through, I had to work at NOT upping the color ante too much. Happy enough with the results done with our Bristol painting group with Kathy Weber.

Wet Paint 2010

Painted this morning with Judy Chaves and Kathy Morton out at Fort Adams on Ocean Drive in Newport. This building called the Mule Barn (need to look up its history) now houses a snack bar, showers for sailors.The Australian sailing team for Invictus was there preparing the boat for tomorrows races. We were there painting for Wet Paint, the annual summer fun fundraiser for the Newport Art Museum. What a glorious morning we had!!After we turned in our paintings we went on the South Coast Studio Tours. All day, all art!!!Come tomorrow to the auction at the Museum. Silent auction from 12-3, live auction from 4-5.

Looking East

The view from my backyard looking across the Sakonnet towards Tiverton.Painted under the shade of two old Japanese Cherry trees. Not knowing tree species very well, imagine my delight the 1st spring in this house, when they bloomed!!This painting is 12x12 panel.

The Mule Barn

Painting early at Fort Adams at this structure that currently houses a seasonal snack bar and is known as the mule barn. Started in fog, not unusual for a Newport morning, then the sun burst through! Beautiful. This painting is can be seen, and bid on, at Wet Paint at the Newport Art Museum. Silent Auction Sunday from 12-3, live auction from 4-5!!

On Mill

Under a tree in Touro Park in Newport, I'm returning to a place that I've painted before. So often I hear about becoming very familiar with a subject,so often I see the masters and their repetition of subject matter. Think Monet with his water lilies or Hopper with his storefronts.After all, each day we see the world through new eyes if we are open.

On Hope

A beautiful morning in Bristol. Made a sketch first, which I seldom do but need to get in the habit of. If nothing else, it will help my compositions. Which will be huge!I like how this turned out.

Winter White

Wanted to share that this oil painting 18x24 got accepted into the 54th Regional Show at The Mystic Arts Center. The reception is this Thursday the 12th from 5:30 to 7, and the show will run until September 25th. I am really excited as this is a national show and I feel so proud to have my work exhibited at such a wonderful venue. Check it out!! Mystic Pizza is just down the street when you've worked up an appetite looking at art!

Another Day

Early morning (6AM) down at the fishing fleet hoping to get a painting done before the fleet leaves the dock. As it was, 2 of the boats did leave, but I had made a good enough start. How much there is to gain by returning to the same site on several occasions! How much there is to learn!

Hope and Bradford

Let me list the challenges I had with this painting: Pick a complicated scene, shops in a building on a hill with a vast foreground in dappled shade. This painting had me to my knees in the humbling kind of way I don't really feel good about.Well, not happy or confident anyway. Will attempt it again on another sunny morning, and just zero in on what drew me to the scene in the first place, the sun on the side of the building, the doorway with its flag. Another beautiful Bristol scene, home of the first 4th of July parade! Great feedback from Kathy Weber as usual.

Play

Into the studio early today for scheduled time, but what to do? I painted the edges of 4 paintings on Monday and they aren't dry yet, so I can't put the one that's nearly finished up on an easel for a couple more days. So what to do? I puttered around, looked at a book on Fairfield Porter, one of my all time fave painters, stared out the window. The studio is above a daycare, and the playground was empty. Something about those shapes, the shadows, looking down on it all....Isn't it true that what you need is always there for you?

Fishing Fleet II

Another early Sunday morning down on the docks, this small painting is 6x6. May put this image on a large canvas during the winter, to bring back the smell of the brine and the memory of the morning.

Hope and Constitution

Our group met this morning under grey skies along Hope Street in Bristol. The pink of Dawn's top, the umbrella in the garden, and the pink of the bushes all caught my attention, brightening the scene.

Fishing Fleet 1

Painted this early on the 4th of July, suspecting that the boats wouldn't be going out. Nothing like beginning a painting and have your subject start their engines and take off!I am fascinated by shape and color and the challenges they provide. So much information to disseminate.

Hope and Church

Painted this morning with our plein air group from the Portsmouth Arts Guild with Kathy Weber in downtown Bristol. What a wonderful instructor with a keen eye! It was only sunny for moments-tried to capture that fleeting light.

Ready To Order

This 30x30 painting was just accepted into the Open Juried Art Annual at South County Art Association! The juror was Alison Owen and the show will run until July 31. The gallery is open Wed- Sunday from 1-5. This painting is among the group that will be at the Portsmouth Arts Guild later this summer.

Value Study

Today was the 1st session Plein Air with Kathy Weber. When she said we'd be doing a value study using only black and white I thought, ho hum. Well,was I challenged! I used Gamblin Chromatic Black and Zinc White. We then mixed 3 values between the black and white and off we went. I was attracted to the view between 2 houses across from Independence Park in Bristol.Learned alot by doing this "simplified" painting.

unfinished

This is a section from a larger painting, not the finished version.Still trying to feel out how much can be left unsaid.Interesting discussion with another artist tonight at the Art League of Rhode Island's annual meeting about using altered perspectives and what we see when we do this. I notice that although many of my subjects are in groups, there is an isolation about them that I am drawn to.

Riverwalk

This painting of the San Antonio downtown area called Riverwalk will be on the postcard for the 5 Member Show that I will be featured in this August at the Portsmouth Arts Guild.

Mill Street Morning

Finally got organized to paint plein air today! All my painting paraphenalia loaded in the car. What a beatiful morning in Newport. Ended up here, on Mill Street, looking at 2 new shops The Newport Tower Museum and The Mill Street Garden Shop. Good luck to both of these new businesses!This building housed the Red Cross offices for many years. Me, I'm just happy to be outside and painting. Lots of friendly visitors to our town stopping by for a look and a chat.