DECEMBER 25

Wishing you a magical day on this Christmas!

PLAY DATE

Rocks Pine and the Sea II
o/c
10 x 10

I picked up my two paintings today at the Concord Art Association Holiday show.  While they hugged the wall for the duration of the exhibit I am already planning their next outing. 



Tidal Pools
o/c
10 x 10



SOLSTICE

HAPPY SOLSTICE!

RED

My Thanksgiving Amaryllis (a gift!) keeps on blooming.  The perfect hot color for a grey December day in New England.

ART SALE

Only Trust Your Heart
watercolor
36 x 28

The Museum School art sale was a success for me.  My painting Only Trust Your Heart did sell.  That was exciting news as it is one of my favorites.  The best part of the sale was having the buyer contact me wanting to know of the inspiration for the work along with the title.  We had a very rewarding email exchange on this painting.  That interaction is why I paint.  

IN PRAISE OF OTHER ARTISTS

My friend Michael Seif  has been very generous with keeping me supplied with images of my work seen elsewhere.  In turn I want to let friends know about his stunning show currently on view titled The Fluid Figure Photographs by Michael Seif at the Griffin Museum of Photography's Atelier Gallery at the Stoneham Theatre in Stoneham, MA. 

To see his work one is overwhelmed with the strong desire to own one of his photographs.  Recently Artscope  (Sept/Oct 2011) reviewed his work at Copley's Society of Art show "Then & Now: The Enduring Allure of Light in Photography”



Seif’s underwater portrait of two bodies coming together is overwhelmingly sensual; an image of graceful movement where the human figure is presented in a fantasy world as an unidentified watery organism. Changing the perspective as he composes his photographs, Seif is able to hold the light present at that moment to reveal the specifics of a quickly altering event.

The reception is this Thursday, December 15th, from 6 - 7:30 pm.  Michael will give an artist talk about his 8-year project that has resulted in the photographs in this show.  If you can't make the reception, but I strongly urge you do as Michael gives a wonderful inspiring talk, know there is time to see this exhibit as the show runs through to January 15.

The Griffin Museum's Atelier Gallery at the Stoneham Theatre is open Tuesdays through Saturdays, 1-6 p.m., and one hour before each theater performance.  The gallery can be accessed through the Stoneham Theatre's lobby at 395 Main Street in Stoneham, MA.

MADE THE WALL

 My friend & talented photographer Michael Seif sent me this photo from the SMFA Art Sale now going on.  That is my work West Side hanging on the wall during last night's reception.  This was fun news to receive this morning as I was unable to attend the reception.  The sale goes on until Sunday and is open daily 10 AM untill 8 PM.  Hope to see you there.



watercolor
28 x 36



Special thanks to Michael Seif for documenting with his ipod my participation in this sale!

WAITING NO LONGER

WAITING
watercolor
24 x 24

Yesterday I delivered this painting to its new home.  This part of the job is a big treat for me - to meet the buyer and see the house that welcome one's work. Waiting is a watercolor mounted on canvas with cold wax medium applied to the painting acting as a clear protective shield.  By not framing with glass or Plexiglass the colors can reflect their true character. This work was exhibited this past summer at the Rocky Neck Gallery in Gloucester, MA.  I had many interested parties but only if I was willing to negotiate the price.  That I was not willing to do.  I knew someday the right buyer would come along.  Thank you for coming along so soon. 

WINTERLUDE

This is my booth at the Winterlude 2011 show in Peterborough, NH this past weekend.  We had a wonderful response from our families, friends, fans and new aquaintances throughout the two days.  My Slip paintings  were very well received as well as the new Black Chemise series introduced here.  I am honored to have paintings sold at this event.  The big treat is meeting the actual buyers who want to take my work home, along with sharing stories about our moms.    



Black Chemise # 4
acrylic/handmade paper
mounted on canvas
sold



Black Chemise # 7
acrylic/handmade paper
mounted on canvas
sold

Black Chemise # 10
acrylic/handmade paper
mounted on canvas
sold



Shift # 1
watercolor
8 x 10
sold



Many thanks to all who attended this event and for your generous support.

SMFA ART SALE

Only Trust Your Heart
watercolor
36 x 28

The Museum School Art sale starts this Thursday, Dec 8th, at 10 AM.  I submitted two framed paintings (this one pictured) and West Side another watercolor 28 x 36 along with five shrinkwraps.  I am very excited to have my work there and help support a worthy cause - scholarship.  The sale runs through Sunday, Dec 11th and  is open daily 10 AM to 8 PM.  The location is 230 The Fenway, Boston, MA right next to the Museum of Fine Arts.  There is both street and lot parking available.  For more information go to www.smfa.edu/artsale.

SMFA ART SALE

photo by Michael Seif

Yesterday was drop off day for the Museum School Art Sale.  The times to bring the artwork were from 2 -7 pm.  I arrived at 2:05 and the place was already buzzing.  I ran in to friend and photographer Michael Seif.  Michael took my picture while I was waiting in line.  I also saw artist Ruth Mordecai and finally met Selma Bromberg, artist, printmaker and teacher.  (That is her in front of me.)  For many years I have wanted to take one of her printmaking classes at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education.  Now may be the time.

The SMFA staff,  extremely friendly and helpful, made it very easy to drop off the work.  Thank you all!
The event starts next week - Thursday, Dec 8th, through Sunday, Dec 11th.  The sale is open daily 10 am - 8 pm.  This is well worth a visit as artwork from established artists as well as emerging artists is there ready to enter a new art collection.  And proceeds from the sale go to a worthy cause - scholarships for art students.

WINTERLUDE 2011

WINTERLUDE 2011

I will be joining four other New Hampshire artist this coming weekend for a two day art exhibit/sale in Peterborough, New Hampshire.  This event takes place at the Peterborough Historical Society on 19 Grove Street on Friday,  Dec 2nd,  from 3-8 pm and Saturday, Dec 3rd from 10 am - 5 pm. 

For some reason I cannot upload images of the paintings by these artists (no matter how small I make them) so please visit their website.

The other artist particpating are:  Frankie Brackley Tolman, Deborah Lloyd Kaufman, Elaine Cummings and Rosemary Conroy.

Frankie is a Signature Member of the New England Watercolor Society and the RI Watercolor Society.  She is represented by Art3 Gallery, Mill Brook Gallery, and the Sharon Arts Juried Members’ Gallery.  Frankie teaches a very popular watercolor class at Sharon Art Center.

Elaine A Cummings from Peterborough, NH returns this year.  Elaine and I were fellow students in one of Frankie's watercolor classes at the Sharon Art Center.  Elaine works in watermedia and colorfully captures a joyful reaction to her surroundings.  She attended RISD and has worked as an illustrator and art teacher. 

Deborah Lloyd Kaufman works in acrylic in a  abstract expressionist style. Her vibrant paintings evolve through the process of layering to build rich complex areas of color. She has degrees from the University of Minnesota, Antioch-New England and studied at RISD.   She has taught art to children and college r many years, Deborah has taught at Keene State College and Antioch-New England. 

New this year to the show is Rosemary Conroy.  Rosemary colorful and contemporary acrylic paintings explore the beauty of the wild and mild creatures that share this planet with us.  Largely self-taught, she believes that passion for one's subject is vital.  And that passion has invited a strong following.  Rosemary is also a faculty member at Sharon Art Center. 

I feel honored to be in such company!  Last year proved to be a festive event.  We received such a warm welcome from an art loving audience.  If you are in the area do stop by. Friday night we will have a reception with treats and Cape Breton fiddle tunes provided by Harvey Tolman. 

SPEAKING OF ART

ARTSPEAK

If Art would only talk it would, at last,
reveal
itself for what it is, what we all burn to
know.
As for our certainties, it would fetch a
dry yawn
then take a minute to sweep them
under the rug:
certainties time-honored as
meaningless as dust
under the rug. High time, my dears, to
listen up.
Finally Art would talk, fill the sky like
a mouth,
clear its convulsive throat while
flashes and crashes
erupted as it spoke — a star-shot
avalanche of
visions in uproar, drowned by the
breathy din
of soundbites as we strain to hear its
august words:
“a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w
 x y z.”



COMING TO THAT: POEMS BY DOROTHEA TANNING (Graywolf Press, $15) is a second poetry collection by a painter and sculptor who celebrated her 100th birthday last year. Ms. Tanning was married to the artist Max Ernst and is often taken for a Surrealist, though she went her own way with art that’s dreamlike but also firmly reality-based, socio-politically attuned and bittersweet.

 - Roberta Smith

 

 

From the New York Times article Holiday Gift Guide For Art Lovers, Volumes meant to Awe and Inspire.  November 25, 2011



SPICE & GOOD CHEER

Wishing you a delicious holiday

Happy Thanksgiving!

BLACK DRESS

Recently my husband and I tried a red wine called Little Black Dress.  The title intriqued me as did the label with no sign of a dress - just the hanger.  I have also been interested in the Spanish holiday Dia de Muertos or Day of the Dead.  There is this belief in many cultures and religions where once a year communication exists between the living and the dead.  As I have been exploring this concept along with the Catholic holiday, All Souls' Day,  I have been working on a series of  black slips that seem to morph into dresses as a continuation of my slip series. These small works are on (roughly) 10 x 10 inch square sheets of handmade paper that I get from Taos.  It is luscious paper to work with.  And the series continues to explore presence and absence.

HOLIDAY SHOW

Rocks, Pine & The Sea II
o/c
12 x 12

 Today I will be dropping off two paintings for the Concord Art Association annual holiday show of small works. This show will be held December 1st - 22nd.

Concord Art is one of my favorite art organizations so I try to support them as they do a tremondous job supporting artists. They offer many lectures, programs and workshops of interest for all artists and the community. The community offers their generous support by purchasing the art display at the many exhibits Concord Art organizes.



Tidal Pool
o/c
12 x 12


These two paintings I did this past July in Stonington, Maine.  It was a very unseasonably hot week so painting by the water was refreshing.  A nice thought - summer heat on a frosty morning in November.

LUDDITE DAY

Somedays I feel like a luddite!  I spent most of the afternoon submitting work to the SMFA upcoming sale.  The luddite problems are the results of my computer experiencing several sluggish issues with browsers and not being able to resolve those.  Plus the requirements of the submission process is a tad involved.  Though it pays to read the directions thoroughly.




West Side
watermedia



Circling
watermedia



Red Shears
watermedia


The good news is I finished, but also I had fun selecting the work.  Two years ago I was fortunate to sell some paintings so this year I am able to submit two framed works and six shrinkwraps.   This is a worthwhile event as the sales are split with the school aiding the scholarship funds.  The sale draws quite a crowd of art buyers/collectors and fans.  Inspite of the long submission process I am happy to have another fine venue to show my work.          

NEW STUDIO

Our new studio in Arlington!  I am sharing this space with my friend and artist Wendy Young.  We have 400 square feet!  More details to follow as we settle in to this delightful space. 

MY FIRST COVER

Today in the mail this book arrived: Shadow and Light - A Literary Anthology on Memory, a publication of the Monadnock Writers' Group.  This is my very first cover art for a book!

The opportunity to be featured all happened by lucky chance.  Not only serendipitous luck but this is quite poignant that my artwork would grace a publication dealing with the theme of memory.  This subject is very close to my heart.

This anthology is the sixth publication of the Monadnock Writers' Group and features twelve prose pieces, sixty five poems and several photographs from five other artists. This bounty of writing and art was culled from over 900 submissions all dealing with memory.

I must quote a passage from the book's introduction by Senior Editor Ann Robinson:  If it is true that many first literary efforts are autobiographical—and certainly much of contemporary work is based on self-exploration, requiring the writer to plumb his or her own experience—then we must assume that we have to go back before we can move forward. The challenge lies in retaining the pieces of our past that have shaped and moved us as writers and can inspire our readers, illuminating a pathway from shadow into light.

Whether working as a writer or visual artist this passage resonates with me. 

If you are interested copies can be purchase for $15.00 by visiting their website: http://www.monadnockwriters.org/. 

I owe a special thank you to Tina Rapp and serendipitous moments!

LOOKING AROUND

I have had the opportunity to spend some time in Gloucester this month.  Thinking about a new series I want to work on...the land & seascapes surrounding me can only inspire.   I have been exploring the marshes, dunes and beaches.  Whether through film or sketch or just walking - right now it is about collecting. 

A SIGN

words to live by!

MAINE PAINTINGS

Rocks, Pine & the Sea I
oil/canvas
10 x 10

This past July I was fortunate to spend a week painting in one of my favorite Maine places - Stonington.  Here are some of the results from that week.  The last painting Hideaway recently sold. 

Rocks, Pine & the Fog
oil/canvas
10 x 10

Rocks, Pine & the Sea II
oil/canvas
10 x 10



Tidal Pools
oil/canvas
10 x 10



Hideaway
oil/canvas
10 x 10



LABOR DAY

Happy Labor Day! 

WATER AS MAGIC

We have been soaked with the power of water in a liquid form as Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene passes through New England now.  This past Thursday not being an enticing beach day we searched out other venues for water.  And we were richly rewarded with this new exhibit at the Peabody Essex  Museum in Salem, MA where water in it many states is eloquently portrayed.   

The show is Ripple Effect, now on view until April 30th 2012, in PEM's interactive Art & Nature Center.  This exhibit: "highlights water as a medium for artistic expression and hands-on exploration. Visitors encounter water in its different states - solid, liquid and gas - as they investigate artworks inspired by rivers, geysers, snowflakes, fog and more. Water's allure to contemporary artists as a creative medium is compelling, especially in relation to the unique, life-giving properties of this substance we so often take for granted."

Artists, local and around the globe, explore the many states of water.  My favorite is this pictured above - water in a gas state.  It is mesmerizing to watch.  Other exhibits in the same vein also showed the power and magic of water.  Of special note is The Unseen Sea by Simon Christen - a must see video that showcases the majestic beauty of the everflowing natural world. 

BARELY

Barely
watercolor
30 x 22

This painting titled Barely was recently selected for the Rhode Island Watercolor Society 18th Annual National Show.  This is part of my slip series I have been working on since January.  Barely was painted while in Taos, NM at the end of April.  Truly, an inspiring place to be.  My goal in Taos was to take the acrylic on canvas slip paintings I had been working on and continue the series on full sheets of 300 lb paper in watercolors. There are many more paintings in this series.  I am happy to have a cohesive body of work.  For the last year I have not entered many juried show due to other demands, now with paintings at hand it is a plus to have one's work resonate with others. 

MY SHOW IS UP

Slip # 1

My new show Slipping the Knot opens today at Rocky Neck Gallery.  This will be up until Tuesday, August 16th, and is part of the new Summer Artist Series inaugurated this year.  The gallery has featured 4 exhibits so far, showcasing new artists and media to the gallery. My show is the fifth event with four more exciting exhibits to follow.  For this exhibit I have 7 paintings (18 x 18 - acrylic on canvas), 4 acrylic on handmade paper on canvas and one large watercolor 36 x 28. 

I started this series in January with the intention of using fabric and doing mixed media.  But my intention was changed when the painting above emerged into a silhouette of a slip.  This image directed me to another path - it has been a wild ride and fascinating series to work on. 



Chemise # 7

acrylic on handmade paper

about 9 x 9



 These small works are on handmade fine 100% luscious cotton rag paper I bought last year while in Taos.  This is gorgeous paper to work with and can be ordered on line at:  Taos Paper Works    I had this for a whole year before I was brave enough to work on it.  Maybe this paper was just waiting for the slip series.  



Red Slip # 3
watercolor  36 x 28



I hung the show last night. It was a gorgeous cool night to be on the neck.  Lots of people were out enjoying summer.  

Here is my slip show - quite intimate.  I took this image with my little digital camera ( no flash), as you can see it was dark and late.  Better images to come!

The gallery is hosting a reception is this Saturday, August 6th, from 5 - 8pm with food & spirits along with an artist talk scheduled for 7 pm.  I am pulling this together now - wish me luck! 

Come join me and see not only my show but the diverse and original works by the talented artists of the gallery.   

Rocky Neck Gallery  is open 7 days a week.  Vist our blog at http://rockyneckgallery.blogspot.com/ for hours and location.  Hope to see you Saturday night!

MAINE INSPIRATION

Maine always inspires me.  And of course Maine is the place to be during last week's heat wave.  What places inspire you?