Petersham Cultural Council Show

These four paintings are on display and for sale at the Petersham Cultural Council's annual art show in Petersham, MA.  The show's opening is this Friday, October 26th from 7-9pm at the Town Hall.  The show runs through the weekend.

In other news . . . The Edward Hopper House Art Center's "Small Matters of Great Importance 2012" exhibit begins Saturday, October 27th and runs until December 23rd.  After a little bump in the road (a UPS substitute driver -- just my luck!)  my work arrived and is on display.  For those just new to my blog, the following three paintings are included in this show and I am very grateful and excited.

Thank you for visiting . . . have a great day!

Raspberries II

"Raspberries II" - wip
(detail)

"Raspberries II" - wip
6" x 6"

I had a very productive day today as I was able to make some headway on the raspberry painting.  I did some desk work in the morning, planning out a 5-week workshop I'm teaching here in my studio beginning in October.  I was tossing the idea around for a while, not sure if I could pull it off because I hadn't done any prep or advertising, but when I described my plan to a few friends they passed along my idea and now I have 3 people signed up!  Given I only have room for four max, I'm very excited!

In the afternoon I had a student, so I sat down to paint with her.  God bless my students!  They always seem to do more for me, than I could ever do for them.  Truth be told, I have been feeling kind of discouraged about some of my latest still lifes.  That's probably why I switched to those landscapes and haven't been working on some of my older paintings that need finishing; I haven't wanted to ruin them.  That's also why I kept starting these small paintings -- just trying to get the feeling again.  (oooh . . . that was one of my all time favorite Barry Manilow songs!)  Anyway . . . I was relaxed today . . . feeling all good and happy (my students always make me feel that way) . . . and I think I finally may have broken the jinx (for now - you artists know what I'm talking about).  :)  These photos aren't very good, but you get the picture.  Thanks for stopping by and have a good weekend.

Snack-time? . . . more like Nap-time!

"Snack-time"
8" x 10"
starting bid:  $50
Sold

(what this painting could look like framed)

Click here to bid


Oh my stars . . . this painting has gone through so many changes I can't even count!  That background was crazy.  First it was all blue . . . then one of my students suggested it needed another color, so I added red.  Yowzers!  It was like a Fourth of July firework exploded all over the page.  So then I washed the whole thing out with lots of water -- and color oozing and dripping all over the place.  Oh, wait before that, I decided to SAND the background.  Yes . . . you read that correctly -- I used a piece of fine grit sandpaper and sanded the background to age it a bit.  (Incidentally this painting is on Fabriano cold-pressed paper so I knew it could take the abuse.)  Then I put a burnt sienna wash over it . . . then I just went for it and that's when I added all the water and mushed everything around.  I did some more burnt sienna -- added faint colors to the pattern . . . touched up the milk and cookies a tad and called it a day!  Whew!  I need a nap.  :)

Ugh . . . The Negative Post . . .

"Cherry Tomatoes"
5" x 7"
starting bid:  $50
Sold

Click here to bid

This is probably the worst surface I've ever painted on . . . and as I struggled through I kept thinking "why am I torturing myself?  just stop!"  But I kept going because apparently I like pain and so here it is. (and now that it's posted, I think I need to punch up the dark value in a couple areas within the tomato grouping) Anyway, the surface was Crescent cold-pressed watercolor board.  It was the most unforgiving surface I've ever used. Perhaps you've used it and it worked for you . . . but for me, ugh!  As I've mentioned on this blog before, I like to pull color out as I go and the watercolor board didn't allow this at all. In fact even scrubbing was a nightmare. Then the color started to bleed in places.  Ugh!  Nightmare. Needless to say, I'm going back to my wonderful Fabriano soft-pressed. Why oh why did I even stray in the first place?   

And while I'm on this negativity kick . . . I just had TWO paintings rejected from the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts show. So now I have to schlep back down to Mystic CT to pick them up. Talk about a walk of shame! I've had to pick up one piece before, but not BOTH. (I'm a little bitter.)  :) Incidentally, I've posted the two rejected paintings (which I've posted before as I finished them) below.  I walked them in rather than applied online because I thought they were more dynamic in person -- especially the clementine -- it really loses a lot digitally.  Apparently though, the judges didn't feel the same. Aaaahhhh . . . you just never know. 

So that's my negative news.  I'm going to go eat breakfast . . . take a shower and get to work on some more paintings.  Sigh.  :)

"Delicious Light"
11" x 14"

"Oh My Darlin"
8" x 8"

Lemon Wedgies?!

"Lemon Wedges"
5" x 7"
$60 -- at the "Off-The-Wall" Fundraiser in Jaffrey, NH

I posted over at DPW that I wanted to name this "Lemon Wedgies" just to be silly, but thought that people would think I just couldn't spell.  I painted this for the DPW's "Yellow Challenge" and also as a donation to the Jaffrey Civic Center's "Off-The-Wall" Fundraiser to be held on Thursday, May 24th in the 2nd floor Cunningham Gallery at 5:30. If you are in the area and looking for original artwork and to support the arts, do stop by.  All artwork is 5" x 7" and priced at $60.  I've never been, but I've heard it's a great event.  

And now I must get to bed.  I went to a different class tonight at the gym:  "Guns, Guts & Glutes" and nearly killed myself with an 8 lb. medicine ball. At one point we had the ball placed between our legs while we were lying on our backs and we were supposed to be lowering our legs to almost touch the ground then back up and stretched to the sky, lifting our bums off the ground (for what seemed like 100 reps but was probably only 10).  I was really trying hard, but I just couldn't stop laughing at the thought of lifting what felt like an 8 lb. hemorrhoid wrapped around my legs.  Luckily the woman next to me was amused by my pathetic attempts as she was having her own set of problems (but with an excellent sense of humor).  Kudos to all the ladies (many of whom are older than me) in my classes who are AMAZING and to all of you out there that work out.  I'm actually having a blast and determined to get back into some kind of shape . . . other than a giant rectangle.  Hope you don't mind my little updates every once in awhile. It's really quite a comedic adventure.  Tuesday at Zumba I was totally busting out my moves when I realized that everyone was facing forward while I was still facing the back wall.  Good Lord!

Notecards!

Shown:  "Mom's Old Coffee Pot" and "Monday Morning"
Cards are blank inside and measure 4.25" x 5.5"

I've been selling notecards for a while during my open studio during the Fall and have decided to put a page up here on my blog where you can order cards at anytime.  The notecards are 4.25" x 5.5" (envelope included of course!) and are blank inside.  They come packaged in a plastic sleeve and are available as singles ($2) or in a package of three ($5) . . . you can even choose which 3 images you'd like to package together.  So check out the available images . . . and keep checking back every so often because I'll be adding new ones to the list.  I hope you find something you like.