Working On Memorabilia

"Jumble Of Friends"     Casein       9 x 12"    ©2012

Our home is filled with old memorabilia.... with memories of my childhood, growing up in Italy where I collected nic-nacs on any road trip we went on., and memories from before Italy, when we lived in New Hampshire and I played with doll houses and made fairy houses in the woods surrounding our farm in the granite state's forests. Over the years some of these figures and toys have gone missing, been broken, or traded for something better. But until today some of my "old friends" have remained intact and still provide me with joy. And I have been feeling a need to immortalize these friends...and so I have done two still lifes.....two casein paintings , maybe to "play again" with these old friends....?

'Jumble Of Friends'", above, depicts a bowl that now sits in my studio with some of my old figures,and after seeing it, day after day, the idea to paint it seemed appropriate. I do have other figurines that need to be highlighted in a second painting...that will come. But after doing the friends in a bowl, I decided to paint an antique watercolor paint set that I was given to me years ago by my granddaughter. Jackie saw it at a shop and thought I needed it! I love looking at it and wondering who the child was, who owned this set...?? And did they grow up to be an artist?  So this has become my second still-life painting....."The Artist's Tools" .

"The Artist's Tools"  Casein on paper   9 x 12"   ©2012

 

 

So there will be more still-life paintings in the works.....and maybe others can relate

 to my fascination with things old and memories immortalized.

 

Summer Is Done [Almost] And So Are Three Paintings

"Self-Portrait 2012"     Casein on board      6 x 6"        ©2012

The past 2 weeks we have had company ...family has come.... and gone.... and the end of summer is marching by fast paced and on time !! I have picked almost all the veggies from our garden.I have bagged and frozen bags of tomatoes and am eating my fill of sweet tasting juicy fresh tomatoes.How I miss them when winter settles in and we are forced to eat tomatoes from the supermarket that taste so bland compared to our summer's bounty.
In between the farm's daily chores and gardening ...and company....I have done 3 small paintings.......and here they are.

"A Jumble Of Friends"      Casein on paper       9 x 9"       ©2012

 

"Polo Red"   Casein on board    6 x 6"   © 2012

 

I am so looking forward to a productive creative winter cloistered in my cozy studio ....

and singing my art's song!! 

 

OIl Painting of Acadia, Done

"Starting The Drive At Acadia"    Oil on copper panel    12 x 12"    Sold

I don't know where the days have gone! I just realized I haven't blogged in 2 weeks!! I have been busy though......I finished the painted I had started at Equidae Gallery for my demonstration on oil painting on copper...and it has been sold.  And I did a self- portrait study in casein on board. Every so often I do a self-portrait as a sort of landmark of the passing of time and maybe of my growth as an artist. .

I am having trouble downloaded images to my blog....I don't know what THAT is about. So let it suffice for now, I am alive, and kicking.....but frustrated with Blogger problems..... and so I am headed outside to "play" in my gardens and maybe paint a bit!!!!. I will deal with my blog posts later!! 

Saratoga and More More More

I let the demo audience try their hand at oil painting on copper!!

It has been a while since my last post.We have gone to Saratoga  Springs and back....Had a wonderful vacation of sorts. [I think they call it  a bus-man's holiday??} I did a painting demonstration at The Equidae Gallery that represents me in Saratoga Springs in the summer and then in Vermont the rest of the year. I talked about how I got started in oil on copper paintings, [Thanks to artist Renee Lammers !! ] and why I work in that medium on copper and not so much in oil on canvas. I painted in the demo too, starting a new work depicting a four-in-hand in Acadia's Wildwood Stables. The Friday night Champagne Reception was packed and I was pleased to be greeted by the proverbially "red dot" that every artist hopes for when we arrived at the opening!! A good start of the race season!!

Les and I had time to explore the parks and gardens of Saratoga, visit the track, enjoy the carousel in the park and the artists' retreat and wonderful gardens of Yaddo, with its lovely statuary and fountains,rose gardens and woodland walks. We also managed to have some wonderful tasty meals at Saratoga's awesome restaurants. One could say we ate our way through the city!! Indian,Thai,Italian....and of course Mrs. London's pastries extraordinaire! We met friends there and when I wasn't working we just had a great time!!

Visited Spa Gallery with friend Juliet Harrison & we called artist friend Kimberley Santini

 to congratulate her on her work hanging there!!

Saratoga Springs Park

In the gardens of Yaddo

One evening I even sat on the Saratoga Lake-side and plein air painted the wonderful brilliant sunsets our B&B afforded us each night. But Saratoga was hot...and felt much hotter than Maine's hot weather feels. We were happy to be on our way back home, and travelled back taking the "high road" through Vermont and New Hampshire, where we enjoyed the beautiful landscapes of each New England state.

"Saratoga Lake Sunset"   Oil on copper    6 x 6"  plein air

So we are home. Nell is happy to have us home. ...and I am back working in my cool basement studio with Nell by my side....Life goes on.......and wonderfully it seems!!

New Oil Paintings And Distractions Galore

"In The Summer Light"          Oil on gallery wrapped canvas       10 x 10"

The summer days are flying by too fast it seems. I am getting ready to head down to Saratoga Springs, N.Y. again for the reception at Equidae Gallery, and for me that always seems to be the end of my summer "busy busy" time. My boxes have already arrived there with my paintings and I will  also taking two larger heavy oils on copper works with me...They will be there for the Equidae Gallery's champagne reception on the evening of August 3rd. In the morning of the 3rd, I will again be doing a painting demonstration and talk. The talk this year will be about my painting in casein versus painting in oil, and why I like painting in oil on copper panels. I hope to see new faces there, and I will be letting folks try oil painting on copper and casein painting on paper!! It should be fun!

Last week I did an oil on canvas of my horse in the summer hot sun....and our fields that are no longer green. I love the contrast of the hot yellow sun as it hits my black horse and the cool blue greens against the dark shadow of the forest background. "In The Summer Light" is on gallery wrapped canvas, sized at 10 x 10".
I also did a small landscape of a favourite scene viewed from Acadia's carriage roads. We love driving on the back of Little Long Pond and the dark forest roads that offer shade on a summer's drive.One of the stops we so enjoy  looks back down on Little Long Pond's boat house and the ocean beyond.The Rockefeller family has gifted us, the American people, with such a beautiful gift of  roads to drive or ride our horses on and to recapture the atmosphere of a slower and more gentle time. We should cherish this.

So I painted this Acadia scene.....  this small gem of an oil painting in oil on copper,

 "The Boat House From Above"

"The Boat House From Above"         Oil on copper        6 x 8"

So now I need to get back to planning my gallery talk,make notes...and pack up some paintings for a new Gallery I have been invited join [More on that later]. The garden needs  tending.....and all the daily chores on the farm call. I guess I need to get crackin'......Until next time!!

Busy With Boxes - The Other Part Of Being An Artist

Some of  My Asian Lilies

I HAVE been busy....did a bit of painting since my last blog post....AND did take some time off to play teamster for a day in Acadia. Les and I went driving with good friends, on the carriage roads of Acadia National Park. Tom and Irene have a lovely huge pair of Clydes....the Budweiser type of horses.....so, as we were going out driving with them Les also drove a pair of  Clydes.  Both of us ,with our Clyde pair, leisurely drove the scenic carriage roads to my favourite spot...the Rockefeller's Little Long Pond route to the Pond House. Ah , the memories of years gone by! Seems like yesterday that we drove those roads with our Cobs.....but the sweet Clyde boys we were driving now were well behaved and gave us a lovely day in the park.

After we got home, I did a small oil on copper of one of the scenes I have wanted to paint for a long time...No time like the present! This is the view from the causeway, at the bottom of Little Long Pond, looking up the water towards the Pond House.....the mountains in the back round out a wonderful summer scene. This is the view as seen from the seat of a carriage....a bit higher than how one might see it from the ground. I think this is the BEST way to see the carriage roads. They appear differently when seen from the back of a horse or from the lofty carriage seat. This is the way they are meant to be seen.!! Try it!! 

"Looking Towards The Pond House"   Oil on copper     6 x 8"

But now I need to get back to the work at hand in my studio.....packing all my art that goes to Equidae Gallery in Saratoga Springs,NY. The show opens next week.....and I will post more about that in a few days.....right now, I am busy with boxes and bubble wrap....and paintings strewn all over the studio!! See....artists don't just create....they ship too!!

Pond Lilies and Horses - New Paintings

"In Our Pond"      Oil on Copper        6 x 6"

June has come and gone. The farm gardens are resplendent with color and heady with fragrance. I love it. I want to stay sequestered in the comfort of our cottage and wrapped in the atmosphere of my surroundings. But it seems lately that every summer I am called away to do painting demonstrations and attend show receptions...all away from home. I am busy now getting things done for Saratoga Spring's Equidae Gallery show that opens the end of this month. But I have been able to get a few new paintings done...One ...the small 6 x 6" oil on copper, "In Our Pond",  pictured above. An afternoon was spent painting our pond lilies,,,,,sweet summer grass  perfume filled the air and  bugs buzzed by....a lovely humid summer day past before the thunderstorms came through

Back in the coolness of my basement studio I did a 6 x 8" oil painting of a Saratoga Race Track scene...And "Saratoga Sea Hero"  and the pond lily painting "In Our Pond" are both now on my website.

Today I work in my studio, after a brief reprieve. The farrier came to trim the horses.

The skies darkened and a bit of thunder rumbled,....but no storm.

Now it is back to framing......And before I know it, the day will be here for shipping paintings. Back to work.

"Saratoga Sea Hero"   OIl on copper    6 x 8"