Snowcamp

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.)