Generic News

World Wide Paintout

2011-09-10T19:34:00.003-04:00

This is the weekend that plein air painters all over the world paint "together." Because of the time zones, it's like a wave of painting going on for several days. Some of the New Hampshire Plein Air painters met yesterday at Twin Bridge Park in Merrimack. Baboosic Brook runs near the park; right now, it's blasting through, as the remnants of storms are still pouring tons of water all over New England. I set up right near the first bridge, looking up the brook. The water was golden-brown, probably from the tannin in leaves that soaked in the brook upstream. It's 9 x 12, oil on panel; I still have a way to go on this one. (That's Clinton painting on the other side of the brook.)

Relief in Relief

2011-07-31T19:50:00.005-04:00

I had started this woodcut before my brother died; working on it afterward helped a lot. I was doing something creative, but, as I had already started it, the work was mostly craft. This woodcut, titled New Dawn, is one of 60 by different artists that have been created as a fundraiser for the victims of the Japan tsunami. Barbara Mason, of the Baren Forum (http://www.barenforum.org/), an on-line, relief-technique print forum, started the ball rolling. The prints will be sold both in portfolios and singly. There will be several exhibitions of the prints, the first at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon August 4-18. You can see the other prints here: http://www.barenforum.org/japan/index.html. The title of the exhibition is Relief in Relief, which applied to my making the print as well as to the focus on Japan.

I took some photos of the work in progress; I'll post them later. The size of the image is 8.5" x 6" and is printed in 5 colors on Rives lightweight paper.

Another Goodbye

2011-07-15T10:43:00.002-04:00

This morning, my dear brother Jack died. We fought a lot as kids (he was a tease; I was crabby), but became the best of friends in our teenage years. He was a fabulous cook, a cabinetmaker, an organ builder and art lover, but most of all he was a great family man. Anne, his wife of 46 years and their three kids were the center of his life. I loved him and will miss him like crazy. Here's a picture of Jack as a kid in Alaska; he had just picked a bunch of weeds for our Mom.

Goodbye Patches

2011-03-08T15:10:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, Patches, our elderly, wonderful, good-tempered doggie died. He was a handsome dalmation-collie cross who had just turned 17. Though the last couple of years were somewhat difficult, Patches had a good life. He liked to work, supervising everything from bringing in wood for the woodstove to keeping the deer, woodchucks and bears at bay while I worked in the garden. He imagined that his favorite dinner would be squirrel, if only he could have caught one. The kids liked to get him to shake "hands," then toss and catch a biscuit that was put on his nose. Besides all this, he was a really good, cooperative model. Tomorrow I'll post some artwork that I've done using his image. Meanwhile, here are some photos of him. Goodbye and thank you, Patches; you were a great friend.

Garden Time!

2011-03-02T16:38:00.003-05:00

Well, time to think about the garden, anyway. I've been scanning seed catalogs to see what would be fun to plant this year (not yet, though; it's snowing at the moment!). Recently, I came across this little (6" x 8") oil painting of a cabbage I did a couple of years ago and hung it in the kitchen to remind me of the summer garden. I'll post some more old photos next time.

Some History

2011-01-30T16:17:00.006-05:00

My turn has come to look through the family photos. It's been fun reliving some old times and since some of the pics are (distantly) art-related, I thought I'd post some here over the next few weeks. This photo was taken from the porch at my godfather's place in Rockport, Massachusetts. We stayed there off and on when I was a kid, sleeping on the floor in the tiny apartment. You can see the iconic Motif #1 in the background. The building we stayed in is still there; you can see it in the photo (on the right ((not the far right)), with the outside stairs) that I took last year when Steve and I went to Rockport for Paul Goodnow's opening at the Rockport Art Association. Motif #1 is still there, too, sort of. The original was destroyed in a storm years back; the town then built a replica. It's way too straight, of course. Maybe it will gain some charm over time. Speaking of charm, that serious-looking kid in the last photo is me, in my "arty" skirt, standing on the porch with the sun in my eyes. I was eight. The lady is my mom and the kid is my baby brother Billy.

About Time

2011-01-29T10:34:00.004-05:00

It's been awhile, plus those hornworms are pretty ugly, so here goes with something I hope is better. I have a few things in McGowan Fine Art's Love, Lust & Desire show; here are two of them. Backside Bouquet is a small (8" x 8") oil on panel of a flower arrangement that was on the table at a friend's wedding. I had painted the same flowers from the front with a lighter background earlier, thus the odd title. The other painting is a close-up watercolor (about 10" x 7") of an amaryllis I have that has bloomed about 12 years in a row. Right now, it's in sleep mode. One of my prints is in this year's Prints of the Year show. Info on both shows is at right. One of my New Year resolutions is to -um- blog more often. In a couple of days, I'm off for a few days of painting the snow in Vermont. I'll post again when I get back. Really!

Yuck or Yum?

2010-08-15T15:16:00.006-04:00

A couple of days ago, I picked our first tomato. Today I went up to water the plants and saw an interesting pattern of darks spots on the ground. Then I noticed that several of the tomato plants were half-eaten. The only culprit that would do such a thing is a tomato hornworm. I found one, then a bunch and yanked them off (they hold on tightly!). I dumped some on a red napkin for contrast and photographed them for your viewing pleasure. One is trying to escape to the upper right; he (she?) didn't make it. That spiny thingy is on the back end. And that other thing that looks like a tiny green hand grenade is caterpillar poop. Just in case you were wondering. The other pics can be used for ID purposes in case you have a problem in your garden. They're about four inches long! Clearly, mostly yuck. The yum factor? A wild food fan once told me that he liked to dip the worms (caterpillars of a sphinx moth, really) in batter and fry them up. Yum!

Fells Paintout

2010-08-12T05:04:00.005-04:00

A couple of weekends ago, I spent two days painting at The Fells in Newbury, NH (http://www.thefells.org/) with a group of plein air painters. We were described on the website as "renowned," but it was a relaxed, fun group. The estate belonged to John Hay, who started his public life as Abraham Lincoln's personal secretary. The house and almost 1,000 acres of beautiful gardens, fields and woods on the shore of Lake Sunapee served as his summer place.

The weekend started out sunny but quickly clouded up. I started painting the end of the house when the sun was making lovely dappled shadows, but they faded fast. My second painting on Saturday was done under a threat of rain; I called it "Clouding Up." Both of these are 9" x 12" oil on gessobord. Sunday was a bust. I had decided to tackle a larger 12" x 16" painting and was painting away when someone yelled that the rain was coming. The clouds were black! I folded up my big easel as quickly as I could and just made it onto the porch before the rain came down. It was light rain, but just enough to keep most of the expected crowds away from the wet paint sale in the afternoon. So, my paintings came home with me. Still, it was a good experience. The hosts supplied the artists with snacks and water both days and we felt very welcome. I got reacquainted with some people I hadn't seen for awhile and met some new folks, too.

Shaker Village

2010-07-04T16:06:00.004-04:00

Here's a work-in-progress that I started a couple of days ago at Canterbury Shaker Village. It's a view up past the Sisters' house, where there were some wonderful old-fashioned pink roses by the doorway. The painting progressed further, but i forgot to take another photo before I packed up. I still have some adjusting to do along the rooflines, so that they're not "kissing" in the middle. This is the painting at about the halfway point. It was a beautiful day with perfect weather and no bugs!

Holiday Painting

2010-05-31T20:24:00.005-04:00

Today was perfect weather for painting! My friend Judy and I went to Bristol, a great little town with lots of character. When we arrived, the townsfolk were in the middle of their Memorial Day celebrations: music, marching, gun salutes, a zillion flags. Within 15 minutes, the center had cleared out and we had the town center almost to ourselves. We found a spot to paint under the trees behind the diner, next to the Newfound River. Ideal, really: shady, cool, food and restroom nearby...... I painted the red building, which is the oldest in town, looking across the river. It was a grist mill in 1767, but is now a cafe, plus a music and poetry venue. I haven't looked at their website yet, but if you want to, it's at: www.TheMillFudgeFactory.com. The photo above is my setup about halfway through the painting. I'll post it when it's done. Oil on gessobord, 9 x 12.

Exhibit Extension

2010-05-26T17:18:00.004-04:00

Kaza has decided to extend my show there for another two weeks, so if you missed it, now's your chance! The opening really was a lot of fun, with lots of people, good food and wine and the models posing in the windows. They tried to ignore the passers-by, including a couple of pizza-delivery boys who seemed pretty interested in what was going on. Here are a couple of pics that show the window with Tori, both an inside and an outside view.

Spring Exhibition

2010-05-08T20:56:00.002-04:00

This is the painting pictured on the card for the solo show at Kaza, up until May 27, 2010 (acrylic on panel, 12" x 12"). The details for the show are posted on the right. I haven't seen the backgrounds that I painted for the windows installed yet. One is of the Eiffel Tower, the other the Moulin Rouge. Those, along with the live models in the windows, should make for an interesting reception (come on Thursday!) and be a lot of fun. I'll try to remember to take photos and post them here after the 13th.

April Snow

2010-04-29T17:48:00.005-04:00

Littleton NH had nearly a foot of snow yesterday, so I decided to head up that way to see if I could find some to paint. When I left home, it was 50 degrees and sunny. By the time I got to Franconia Notch, it was 35 and snowing! I ended up at "The Rocks," a Christmas tree farm owned by the Society for the Protection of NH Forests in Bethlehem, NH. Even though I've been a member of the SPNHF for years, I'd never been there. What a place! There were a million things to paint, but I finally settled on a view of the front of the stone house. My choice was due partly to parking availability. I can take the heat, I even like the cold (!), but no one can paint plein air in wind as blustery as it was today. So I painted in the car. My painting isn't finished, and it ended up way too warm, probably because of the reddish underpainting, but I'll show it to you anyway. It's still in the pochade box, sitting on the car. I'll post the finished version at some point. I'm also posting a photo of the part of the building I'm calling the garage, just to show the snow that was falling as I was walking around looking for subject matter. What a great day!

Oldies

2010-04-20T12:32:00.006-04:00

I was gathering some artwork together for an upcoming show* and came across some drawings that I'd done years ago in Brighton, England. Here are a couple, slightly off-kilter in spots. The beach, which appeared often in paintings a century or two ago, was too stony to walk or sit on (what happened to all that sand?), so I opted for the town's cozy buildings as subject matter. These are pencil drawings, each about 5" x 7" or so.

*The show, Ebony and Ivory, will be shown at KAZA in Concord, NH next month. I'll post more about it later.

Beauport Easel

2010-03-18T17:03:00.004-04:00

On this gorgeous warm day I tried out my new Beauport easel, a version of which I saw in action at Snowcamp. At $250, I had put it on my "someday" list, but then noticed it on sale at Jerry's (www.jerrysartarama.com) for $99 and change. That seemed about the best deal I'd ever get. After getting a replacement for a warped part, some help from a friend (thanks, Hannah!) and some adjustments, it's good to go. The paintbox in the photo was my mother's; it holds everything else I need except paper towels.

For the trial run, I figured the back yard would be handy in case I needed anything I hadn't thought of (I didn't). So that scratchy mess on the easel is the back of our house. I meant it to be just a little slapdash, but I'm kind of liking it. If I finish it I'll post it here.

The easel is great; a huge gust of wind came by that would have knocked over my box-and-tripod arrangement; this baby just hung on without a rattle. It will take huge canvases or panels, too. That's a 12" x 16" and it seems small. According to Jerry's website, it's on sale until the end of April (I have no connection to them except as an occasional customer).

Blog Change and Mouse

2010-03-13T15:46:00.004-05:00

Because recently I've been receiving bunches of spamish posts that I've had to delete, I've added the (rather annoying) code-word filter to the blog. From now on, anyone who wants me to gamble or to buy certain medicinal products from China will have to at least be a real person who can read and type. This means that the rest of you will have to put in the code word you're given when you want to post a comment. At least, sometimes, they're pretty funny.

As a little consolation, here's a woodcut I did for an exchange awhile back: "Sin Nombre," a four-color woodcut, 4" x 4" on Japanese mulberry paper. Sin Nombre is the Spanish word for the hantavirus, a fairly rare but deadly disease contained in some mouse droppings. My interpretation of the virus is in the background of the harmless-looking mousie. It doesn't show well on the monitor, but in the original print the background ink is gold.

More Snow

2010-02-10T14:26:00.003-05:00

Since it's snowing here in New Hampshire, I thought it would be a good time to post "Snowscape" (4.75" x 8.25", oil-based inks on Japanese Mulberry paper), a woodcut I did for a print exchange. The theme was typography. I had a giant wooden dollar-sign block that I got at a letterpress fair last summer (see the previous steam roller printing post) and used that as a jumping-off place for a design. I wanted to use the block just as an abstract design element, with no reference to money, the economy, etc. It looks quite plain, but I used 3 Shina plywood blocks, plus the $, and five colors to make the print. There's a version of it hanging in the "Prints of the Year" show at the Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord NH until April 2, 2010.

Exciting Sighting

2010-02-05T13:25:00.003-05:00

Today I was just sitting down to eat lunch and saw a movement outside, dark against the snow. A second look: it was a fisher (a.k.a. fisher cat), coming down from up near the garden! I grabbed the camera (handily on the table, as I'd just come back from a morning painting trip) and Steve opened the door. Out of the four photos, this is the only one that really shows the fisher. I saw one up north about 10 years ago and thought it was once-in-a-lifetime. Woo hoo!

Snowcamp photos

2010-02-04T13:17:00.005-05:00

Here are some pics from Snowcamp, just to give you an idea of what it was like for us, painting in the beyond-freezing cold. There's one of Stape giving a demo, with Mt Lafayette resting in the crook of his arm. Another shows my setup, a Judson's box, with the mountain painting on it. There's a group of us watching Stape, so bundled we could hardly move, me in green fiddling with my camera. I took the aerial view of the other folks watching the demo from my third-floor window, the half-day I was laid low from eating some allergen or other. The last pic is of Renee Lammers, who took the photo with me in it. She has lots more on her blog at http://reneelammers.com/blog if you'd like to check it out.

Snowcamp

2010-02-02T15:37:00.004-05:00

Well, I'm back. And one or more of my previous posts has (have) disappeared; I have no idea why. But, the exciting news is that I've just returned from a three-day outdoor painting workshop with Stapleton Kearns and eight other painters in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire. It was an adventure, to be sure! We stayed at the friendly Sunset Hill House, where the heat went off the first night and the water pipes froze. Why? Because the next morning, when we all went out to paint, it was 10 below zero! Fahrenheit. At least the sun was shining. No one died or got frostbite and everyone managed to paint until about 4:00 p.m.

The views were spectacular: Mounts Washington and Lafayette, with other presidents and Cannon also nearby. We could see the snow guns working on Cannon for the skiers from our back yard. I did three paintings over the long weekend, one of Lafayette (the second one above; 11 X 14, oil on panel), which may or may not be salvageable, another of the inn's "annex" building, where we almost had to move in the middle of the night (a decent start, I think; 12 x 16 oil on panel), plus a "wiper," that will never see the light of day, never mind be on this blog.

It was a great experience; I now feel able to paint in just about any weather; I met a bunch of really nice people and got a jolt of confidence.

An in-depth version of our experience can be seen on our instructor Stape's blog: http://www.stapletonkearns.blogspot.com/. Be sure to let him know if you think he looks good in the orange hat.

Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion

2009-08-06T19:49:00.005-04:00

McGowan Fine Art is hosting a paintout this coming weekend at the Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion Historic Site in Portsmouth, NH (more info at www.nhstateparks.org/state-parks/alphabetical-order/wentworth-coolidge-mansion/). Steve and I went there today so I could "case" the place and give some of the NH Plein Air Painters (www.nhpleinair.com/) who'll be painting there a sneak peek. It's a very odd-looking building, right on the water, surrounded by rather sad dried-up gardens. The strange configuration is apparently because Governor Wentworth had all of the smaller buildings on the property brought together and assembled into one big one. We didn't take the tour, so I can't tell you about the inside, but the building and its surroundings are wonderful. The yellow building is the W-C mansion; the white one is Creek Farm, right next door and the last pic is of the island right across from the mansion, with a few sea kayakers posing/paddling by.

Come and watch the artists (I'll be there!) paint on Saturday, August 8, from 10 to 4 and on Sunday the 9th from 11 to 3. Right after that, on Sunday, there's a wet paint sale from 3 until 5 at the Coolidge Center for the Arts, on the grounds near the Mansion.

Garden Sheds

2009-07-29T16:34:00.003-04:00

In spite of all the rain, I've been out to paint a few times. Here's a little study I did of the garden sheds at Canterbury Shaker Village on one of our recent sunny days. I'll use it as reference for a larger painting later. It's 6" x 8" in oils on RayMar linen panel.

Steamroller Printing

2009-06-25T15:05:00.005-04:00

Last Sunday, Steve and I went to the Printing Arts Fair in North Andover, Massachusetts. Even though the weather was pretty bad, it was still fun, as most of the action was indoors. The steamroller folks set up a tent outside and made prints in spite of the rain. I'll squeeze as many of the photos as I can here to show you of one of the linocuts that were printed that day.

Another wildlife incident

2009-05-19T19:31:00.003-04:00

I may have to turn this into a nature blog. Today, I watched a ruby-throated hummingbird slam into a window and crash to the ground. The little bird, a female, lay still in the grass, with her eyes closed. One of her wings looked bent and twisted and her tailfeathers were splayed out. I picked her up carefully and folded her wing in to her body. I could feel her heart beating, about a zillion times a minute. She blinked her eyes but didn't struggle at all. After a few minutes, she lifted her head up; I opened my hand and she buzzed off, seemingly as good as new. What a gift!

Thanks to "Miss Mouse" for the photo.

Face to face

2009-05-01T20:36:00.004-04:00

I'm posting this woodcut (done a couple of years ago) as an illustration of an exciting incident I had last night. Just after dark, I stepped outside the back door. I was a couple of feet away from the corner of the house and saw an animal just coming around from the other side. I kind of gasped and the animal huffed and turned around. I ran in the house and turned on the floodlight out front, thinking I'd seen a big dog or something. There was a full-grown black bear, just crossing over the driveway! My knees knocked for awhile. I've seen quite a few bears over the years, but never as close as 2-3 feet. Whew!

Ms Liberty

2009-02-18T16:10:00.003-05:00

This woodcut of a nude has nothing to do with the show, "Love, Lust & Desire," that I mentioned in an earlier post. I did it for an exchange, the theme of which was "Nudes."

The show opening was great fun! The McGowan gallery was jammed with people the entire time. Two of the four paintings I have in the show have sold. They happened to be the ones I posted here. Many other paintings went off to happy buyers, too. Who says we're in a recession? (OK, they were all small, 8.5" x 11" or less, and pretty low-priced, under $300. But still.)

Illawarra Plum

2009-01-24T12:11:00.003-05:00

This is a reduction woodcut that I did for a print exchange. It's oil-based ink on mulberry, 8" x 6" and has colored pencil added for the plums. I'm not completely happy with the green; in retrospect I would have made it lighter. The plant is native to Australia; I used Internet references and made up my version of it.

Add-on

2009-01-09T21:56:00.003-05:00

I lost the other image yesterday and blogger wouldn't let me add it, so here's another try.

Valentines

2009-01-08T14:20:00.005-05:00

OK, I know it's been forever since I've posted. My only excuses are: holidays, laziness and ....um, that's about it. I was asked to submit some small work for a show at the McGowan Gallery (www.mcgowanfineart.com) in Concord called, "Love, Lust & Desire." Attached are two of the paintings I'm sending, "Conversation" and "Lonely Radish." Bet you were wondering how the radish would fit into a show with that title, huh? Well, it IS a French breakfast radish.....

Conversation is acrylic on gessobord, 6" x 6" and the radish is acrylic on gessoed paper, 10" x 7".

Change

2008-11-05T08:08:00.003-05:00

Recently, there's been a lot of talk about change. Most of it is directed toward the future; I've been thinking about the past. Heading to my Cambridge home one night back in the 60s, I faced a line of police in battle gear: helmets, shields, tear gas and guns. They were lined up across Mass Ave to prevent a mob of rioters from going toward Boston. It was at the height of the race riots all over the country. People were killed, buildings burned and stores looted. Last night, a black man became president-elect. This country has come a long way.

Summer's over

2008-10-29T15:39:00.005-04:00

So where have I been? Vacationing in Maine, harvesting garlic, cleaning up the studio, taking a workshop, planting garlic, getting ready for winter.....

Not a lot of painting. I'm switching to painting mainly in acrylic and have had to adjust everything I thought I knew about what to paint ON, what to paint WITH, and just HOW to paint.

Meanwhile, here's a summer painting of a peony to try to get my mind off the fact that it's snowing here. It's acrylic on gessobord, 6" x 6".

Paintout

2008-08-05T17:22:00.005-04:00

Over the weekend, I took part in New Hampshire Plein Air's paintout and wet paint sale at Canterbury Shaker Village. I've painted there many times, with and without the group, but this time my painting was too horrible to contemplate, so I'm posting one I did on my last trip there instead. Still trying for the abstract.....

"Barn Door" It's little, 8" x 6", oil on Raymar panel.

Some Color

2008-08-02T22:08:00.003-04:00

A friend came to dinner a couple of weeks ago and brought some flowers from her garden. I painted them and their canning-jar vase in acrylic on an 8" x 6" RayMar canvas panel. Fun. Thanks, Judy.

Another View

2008-08-01T20:20:00.003-04:00

This is the same woodcut, printed with the same ink, as the previous post, but done on thin Chine colle paper, then glued to heavier Rives BFK. It looked to me as if Steve was paddling into the sunset. I like trying out different ways of using a block, which is partly why most of my editions are "open."

Steady Drift 2

2008-07-29T10:23:00.001-04:00

For some reason, the system wouldn't let me attach the image to the first post, so here it is!

Steady Drift

2008-07-29T10:04:00.004-04:00

This is my latest woodcut print, done for another exchange. The theme this time was "Journey." My reference was a photo I took of my husband Steve on his first kayaking trip. He's wearing an enormous life jacket because he sinks like a stone when he tries to swim. This was a point where he had stopped paddling for a moment and was just enjoying the solitude and beauty of Hoit Road Marsh. However, he was still moving, as the ripples signify. I like the idea of a journey continuing, even if we stop our frantic paddling now and then. I started this image as a reduction print, but due to life getting in the way, ran out of time, so did it in one color instead, using a new block. At some point, I'll continue the reduction print and see what happens.

Cecilia

2008-07-26T12:13:00.005-04:00

Here's my latest woodcut, "Cecilia, Lily of Heaven." It was created for an exchange with the theme of "Canterbury Tales." I picked the second nun's tale, in which an angel gives a crown of lilies to Cecilia and a crown of roses to her mate, Valerian. Cecilia dies a horrible, bloody death in the end, but I decided to go for the less gory part of the story. Tori, my 14-year-old granddaughter, posed for me, wearing a crown I made using fake lilies. Instead of clearing away all the background, I left much of the wood in the area of the hair so that it would print as hairy texture. The image is 8" x 6", printed with oil-based inks on Rives lightweight paper. This version of Rives is easier to print on by hand (which is what I'm doing until I get the press) than the BFK version.

Fix

2008-07-05T10:26:00.003-04:00

Here's the "fix" to yesterday's failed acrylic landscape. I'm posting it to show the method rather than the success (it's still not OK as a painting!). First, I scanned the 6" x 6" painting into Photoshop and printed it out actual size onto heavy paper. Then I painted on clear Colourfix Primer, which has a fine grittiness to it. Once that dried (I left it overnight), I put a couple of layers of pastel over it, turning the ugly brown shed into a tree and adding a shadow in the front where there really should have been one. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm fairly sure that the Colourfix could be painted right over the original acrylic. Pastel over that would probably have even more texture to it. This method could also be used over watercolors (esp failed ones), drawings, pen and ink, etc., just about anything that would take the acrylic based Colourfix.

Plein Airless

2008-07-04T19:26:00.004-04:00

Working in acrylics outdoors proved to be almost impossible. The paint dried way too quickly, even though I was working pretty fast. I did 5 little studies, from 6" x 6" to 6" x 8", in as many hours. As you can see by the above example, I didn't get further than an underpainting. The very next day, I learned that there's a new product on the market as of July 1, Golden Open Acrylics, that promises to remain wet for hours or even days. I'd really like something in-between, paint that would remain open for a couple of hours. It could be worked into wet-in-wet for awhile, then allowed to dry and worked over. I now have some gel retarder that I'll try with the regular acrylics before investing in a whole new gamut of paint colors. A couple of days after the painting trip to Shaker Village, I scanned that little underpainting into the computer and did a kind of fun experiment that I'll post tomorrow.

Still Life

2008-06-23T20:16:00.003-04:00

This is another little still life, 5" x 5," painted in acrylic on gessoboard. I'm having fun with some of the old objects I've collected, plus some new ones that have crept in recently. In a couple of days, I'll be trying out the acrylics "en plein air," at Shaker Village in Canterbury. I'll post whatever I end up with, as long as they're not "wipers."

Zucchini

2008-06-22T19:31:00.005-04:00

Back to printmaking- Here's a woodcut done for a food alphabet exchange: it's 6" x 8", water-based inks on Rives lightweight paper. For the background, I transferred my drawing onto an uncut block, then applied plain water to the areas I wanted lighter. I rolled it with light green ink, then added a bit of yellow ink to the flower. After printing about 30 of the background, I printed the "key block" in dark green on top. I tried to make it not-too-obvious, so that you'd have to look an extra second to see the little zucchini. This was a fun exchange!

....and another

2008-06-18T06:58:00.005-04:00

This is another still life from the workshop: "Green Jar with Rose," approx 9" x 6," acrylic on gessoed paper. You can see the gray undertone in places, but I decided to leave it rather than getting picky. I was still having fun.

Departure

2008-06-17T07:42:00.005-04:00

Earlier this month, I took part in a still life workshop taught by Ellen Rolli at the Concord (MA) Art Association. My aim was to loosen up my painting, have fun and learn how not to agonize over every detail. What I didn't know right off is that, while the workshop was posted as being for both oils and acrylic, Ellen teaches only in acrylic. I'd never used acrylic for "fine" art before. Yikes! Though I could have used oils, I decided to jump in over my head and go for the acrylics. I felt like a new person! For starters, I re-learned how to hold a brush (not like a pencil). The paint (mostly Golden) was wonderful: juicy, fast-drying, intense color. In the one-day workshop, I did eight small paintings, about half of which I'll save from demolition. My days of painting tight, overly obsessive, niggly paintings are over. I still like other artists' realism; I just don't want to do it myself. I'll save my urge for detail for woodcuts, where it's needed. At least for now.
The painting above is "Flower in Bottle on Blue," approx 9" x 6," acrylic on gessoed paper.

Plein Air - Tavern

2008-05-01T21:19:00.003-04:00

For four days of last week, I painted with 10 other New Hampshire Plein Air artists in a Michael Chesley Johnson workshop. I learned a LOT and had a great time! This is one little (6" x 8") oil, still somewhat unfinished, of the old tavern in the village of Dunbarton. The methods we were using don't work as well on canvas as on a gessoed panel, so the weave is too prominent in some areas. I'll post more from the workshop as they are dry enough to scan, and there'll be more whenever the weather is good this spring and summer.

Goodbye

2008-04-06T17:38:00.003-04:00

I've been away from art for a couple of months, getting better after a medical issue. It's been a rough winter in many ways, not the least of which was the loss of a dear, long-time friend, Ed. His funeral yesterday was a combination of horrific sadness and, amazingly and oddly, fun. Ed, a costume designer by trade and inclination (he designed for the Boston Ballet for many years), enjoyed dressing as Father Christmas each holiday season. He wanted to make his exit from this world in his Father Christmas outfit, and so he did, crown, fur, bells and all! His coffin was decorated with golden icons and holly and evergreen branches. The final, and most telling thing about what a wonderful person Ed was is in the music that rang him out of the church at the end of the ceremony: "Joy to the World." Ed brought a lot of joy into people's lives, as Father Christmas and as himself. He brought much joy to my life and I will miss him dearly.

Calling Glooscap

2008-02-06T22:04:00.001-05:00

Here's another almost-illustration print, done for an exchange. The theme was "Mythology," so I chose a Native American story about Glooscap (creator-being) giving the loons their voice. It's titled "Calling Glooscap" and is a woodcut, 4" x 6" oil-based inks on Rives lightweight. It started out as a black and white image, but I added the blue sky, then it looked funny without color in the water, so I cut another block.

Fairy Tale

2008-02-01T14:11:00.000-05:00

Recently, I completed a print for an exchange, the subject of which was to be a fairy tale. I picked "The Boy Who Drew Cats," that I'll post below. The print is a woodcut, 8" x 10", printed on Rives lightweight paper. The other pic is my printing setup- you can just make out a squidge of the brown-black ink on the right.
THE BOY WHO DREW CATS a Japanese fairy tale
A farmer and his wife had many children. Their youngest son was small and weak, so they took him to the temple to become a priest. He learned quickly, but drew cats everywhere. The old priest finally said he could not be a priest, though he might be an artist, and sent him away with the advice to avoid large places at night, and keep to small ones. He decided to go to a big temple nearby and ask them to take him on.
The temple was deserted because a goblin had driven the priests away. Warriors who fought against the goblin were never seen again. A light burned at the temple at night, so when the boy arrived, he went in. He saw some big white screens and painted cats on them. Then he went to sleep, but, since the temple was large, he remembered the old priest's advice and found a little cabinet to sleep in. During the night, he heard sounds of fighting. In the morning, the goblin-rat was dead in the middle of the temple, and all the cats he had painted had mouths wet and red from the blood.

Plein Air???

2008-01-30T17:14:00.000-05:00

One day last week was really sunny, but also cold, so I painted from inside the studio looking out. This little (8" x 6") oil painting "Snowy Sunset," probably doesn't fit into the plein air "rules," but to me it's really no different than painting from inside the car or from on the porch. This is the second-floor view in the same direction as the last little painting. I did three of these studies that day; fun.

"Fried Chicken"

2008-01-05T13:23:00.000-05:00

This is one version of my slightly sick pollution joke for the New Year. Though it's a two-block woodcut, I'm calling it a monoprint because I've printed it in several different colors and on different papers, including one on an icky yellowish-green color that I just delivered for the "Prints of the Year: What's New in New Hampshire Printmaking" show (reception Feb 8 in Concord). Have a happy and less-polluted new year!

Garden Path

2007-12-28T16:48:00.000-05:00

I know; it's been forever since I've posted anything. What have I been doing? Shoveling snow, chatting with the phone company about our dead phone, shoveling snow, yelling at the phone company, shoveling snow....... etc., etc. Plus, of course, the holidays. So, for a bit of relief (or is it relief from the relief?), I'm posting this little 8" x 6" oil on canvas panel that I painted last fall in the back yard. I left out a lot of trees, as I just wanted to concentrate on all the colors.
The critter show came down yesterday. It was a moderate success; the few people that saw it (it snowed on reception night) loved it and we made a couple of sales.

Kitty Puss

2007-12-11T16:16:00.000-05:00

Here's another critter, in the same general vein as the Patches print. This one's a bit bigger, at 6" x 8" and was also done with four colors on three woodblocks. My reference was a photo on the Wet Canvas site (thanks!).
P.S. I fixed the blog so that now anyone can leave a comment!

Let Him Lie

2007-12-08T13:49:00.000-05:00

Well, last night was the reception for the critter show, "Great & Small; Works on Paper." Not a lot of people showed up, maybe due to the snow, but the ones that did were enthusiastic about the prints (THANK YOU!!!). This dog print is a multi-block woodcut of Patches, our ancient dog, who really does sleep a lot. He's a great model, almost like a still life.....

Emergency Print

2007-11-26T17:04:00.000-05:00

So, late on Friday I discovered that I should have mailed a bunch of prints for an exchange several weeks ago. I got out my flower photos from last summer, did a drawing, cut a woodblock and printed more than a dozen "Magnolia"s. I mailed them out today, not knowing whether or not they'd be rejected, as I couldn't get the coordinator on the phone. One thing in my favor (but not anyone else's!) is that many others also have not yet sent their prints, according to the website. Whew! For those interested in details, the image is about 3 3/4" x 3 1/2", printed in olive green oil-based ink on Rives lightweight paper.

Tarantula

2007-11-21T21:37:00.000-05:00

This is another woodcut that's in the print show that's now hanging. A friend took a photo of this spider in the Nevada desert and let me use it as a reference (thanks, Bruce!) The image is 6" x 8", printed on banana paper, though, strictly speaking, this isn't the kind of tarantula that Harry Belafonte would have found in his bananas. It's kinda creepy, but it was fun to do, especially the watercolor on the spider's body.

Black Cat

2007-11-09T18:29:00.000-05:00

Here's another print that will be in the upcoming "critter" show. I did a woodcut of the country store down the road, but especially liked a part of it that included the picnic table. I cut another block of just that part, but added a cat in the shadows. This watercolor-with-woodcut stuff is really fun!
P.S. Even though this print looks bigger than the butterfly, it's only 6" x 4"; the butterfly print is 11" x 6".

Another Critter: "Queen"

2007-11-07T19:39:00.000-05:00

This is a woodcut, printed with a press on Rives BFK, to which I've added watercolor. The image is from a photo I took late last summer at Shaker Village in Canterbury, NH. The gardens were in beautiful full bloom and butterflies were everywhere. After a little research, I discovered that the difference between a male and female Monarch is shown by the male's scent gland on each of his hind wings. This butterfly didn't have them, so she's the queen. Both the black and white and color versions will be in the critter show, which opens on November 19.

Fall

2007-10-24T09:22:00.001-04:00

It's about time I posted something new. I've been goofing off, painting and enjoying the fabulous fall colors. Here's a sample.

Printmaking Experiment

2007-10-04T14:39:00.000-04:00

Last week, I took a workshop in solarplate etching at Two Rivers Printmaking Studio. This is a method of etching using polymer plates that uses no acid or other chemicals to etch the plate. In preparing for the workshop, I did a drawing I hated, so, in desperation, I picked some leaves from the yard, scanned them into Photoshop and "messed around" with them until I got an image that looked OK. After a couple of tries, I ended up with this print that started with a few dandelion leaves. I printed the whole plate with yellow ochre first, then printed just the leaf area again with black. The registration, amazingly, worked perfectly; I just plonked the plate down over the printed yellow image by eye. The image is a bit odd, I'll admit, but I loved the dark, velvety black contrasted with the almost-shiny yellow. I'll be doing more experimenting with solarplate over the winter. Right now, I have to think about printing and framing for the critter show.

...and now for something completely different...

2007-09-21T18:53:00.000-04:00

This photo is one of many I took on a trip to New Mexico a few years back, before I went digital. You'll no doubt recognize it as the back of the church at Ranchos de Taos, as it's been painted by many artists, including Georgia O'Keeffe (and me, too). The dirt pile is there because the church community was getting ready to put on -by hand, literally- the annual coat of adobe. I liked this view because the church is usually surrounded by vehicles; they were cleared out for the work.

Critters Coming

2007-09-17T21:27:00.000-04:00

My friend Judy and I are getting ready to do a show of works on paper in November. She'll have mostly etchings; I'll have mostly woodcuts. All the art will be of, about, or even by (!!) animals of various sorts. It's been fun getting ready for this! I'll give you a sneak peek of a little print I did last year for an exchange with other printmakers, called "Mouse" (original title, huh?). The background is part of an unfinished watercolor. Both the outline and the texture of the mouse were done with linoleum cuts. I burnished the filler just with my fingers to get that texture, which came from the rough paper. The outline was done with my ancient wooden tool I call a spoonula because it's halfway between a spoon and a spatula. I can press much harder with it, so the outline is flatter black. It's only the beginning....

A Dose of Reality

2007-09-11T10:14:00.000-04:00

Most of the time, I'm trying to get more simplified and abstract in my painting and printmaking, but sometimes it's fun to simply paint what's there. Plus, it's easier, not so much thinking and agonizing about what to leave out. This little (about 5" x 8") watercolor was one of those times. It was painted from a photo I took near Salmon River in Nova Scotia. It made a pretty good greeting card; printed on to rough paper, it looked close to a "real" watercolor.

Early Morning, Cowdrey's Country Store

2007-09-09T17:32:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I was out painting with about 15 other New Hampshire painters as part of the International Plein Air Painters annual "paintout." I'll post my one painting as soon as it's either dry enough to scan or the weather cooperates for a photo op. We've had a lot of much-needed rain in the last 24 hours. In the meantime, here's the woodcut print in the title. It's 6" x 8," oil-based inks on mulberry paper, and was done as part of an exchange with other printmakers. The theme was "hometown structure," but I stretched the idea a bit, as the store is just across the town line. I used my artistic license to move Mount Kearsarge a little to the right so that it could be seen beyond the buildings. To get the reference photo, I went down the road one day at 4:30 a.m. in order to capture the shadows as the sun rose. Yaaaawn.....

Sunflower

2007-09-04T20:08:00.000-04:00

This is that little sunflower that disappeared yesterday! It's oil on Raymar canvas panel, 8" x 6", painted at Canterbury Shaker Village. Our NH Plein Air group painted at the village many times last year and had a very successful show there at the end of the summer.

A Little One

2007-09-03T08:42:00.000-04:00

Here's a little oil-on-panel painting, 8" x 6", painted from life. I got the pepper from the fridge. (Yes, I edited this post; I'll put the other painting up tomorrow in a new post.)

Sailors' Delight

2007-09-01T13:32:00.001-04:00

This is the last of the three woodcuts that were in the Land on Paper show. This one was actually done first, then it inspired the Fair Warning print. Just in case you've never heard it, the old-time sailors' weather report is this little rhyme: "Red sky in the morning is a sailor's fair warning; red sky at night is a sailor's delight."

Reduction Print

2007-08-28T13:07:00.000-04:00

Here's "Storm," another of the prints in the Land on Paper show, also a reduction woodcut. This one's bigger, 6" x 8". There are five layers of oil-based ink, starting with the lightest yellow and finishing with the darkest gray. One thing I didn't anticipate was the way the previous layers sometimes showed through, but I ended up liking it.

New news

2007-08-25T15:15:00.000-04:00

This little print, "Starry Night," about 2.5" x 2.5," is in a show at Two Rivers Printmaking Studio in White River Junction, VT, called "Land on Paper." It's a reduction woodcut, which means that part of the image is cut away after each color is printed, leaving almost nothing on the block at the end. Fun and a bit dangerous! The edition of a reduction woodcut is always limited; this one has ten, two of which have sold. Two other prints are in this show; I'll post them soon. Almost forgot to tell you: the "stars" were made by pushing a Philips-head screwdriver into the wood to different depths.

First News

2007-08-23T13:33:00.000-04:00

Hi, family, friends and generic bloggers! I've been writing the Generic News off and on for years and have decided that a blog is the best way to do this, now that it's the 21st century (OK, I'm 7 years behind!). I'll be posting a bit of news that's mostly related to art, plus some pics of paintings and prints. Enjoy!
"Fair Warning," woodcut with rainbow roll.