Wednesday, May 26, 2010

NRAS Arts Festival This Weekend!

FYI! The North River Arts Society kicks off the annual arts festival this Friday night with a fun cocktail reception. (Click on Special Events)  Then all weekend there is music, lots of art, crafts, fun things for kids. A lot of members have painted mailboxes that will be for sale. I will be in the "Calendar" tent Saturday morning from 10:00 - NOON with my friend Franny Andahazy, as well as other artists whose work has been chosen for the 2011 NRAS calendar. Stop by and say hello! Those calendars make great gifts!  
"Group Hug"
9 x 12 

My painting for September 2011! 
This is the closest to being a "calendar girl" as I think I'll ever get. 



Tuesday, May 25, 2010

A Real Stand Out

Everyone who drives by this house overlooking the beach on Jerusalem Road in Cohasset can't help but notice it. It takes a lot of moxie to build a contemporary home in New England! They tend to stand out.

I painted this today from the, above mentioned, beach for my Challenge entry. It was our first real summer-like day so Nantasket Beach was not an option. That would have been nuts! We ended up at what I call "Rocky Beach" where we could park and be left alone. I spent 45 minutes on an uninspired seascape, wiped it off, then turned my easel around and did this. I'd love to meet the people that live in this house.     

Sunday, May 23, 2010

To The Beach We Go

I took this image last summer and finally just got around to painting it. I'm warming up for our Girls Just Wanna Paint challenge this month - we have to do a plein air painting AT THE BEACH. I have trouble doing figures from life (they just don't stay in one place!) so mine will most likely be a landscape or will include buildings. Long stretches of sand and ocean don't really make exciting compositions to me. I'm feeling a trip to Nantasket Beach coming on. 


Boogie Boys
6 x 6 

Friday, May 21, 2010

Kelly Day

Today was "Kelly Day" I guess. I painted over at World's End in Hingham with two wonderful artist friends, Kelley MacDonald and Jen Kelly. Then tonight there is an opening reception at Oceanside 17 Gallery in Hull honoring my good friend Brooks Kelly's 75 birthday!

My two "Kelly Green" paintings below

 

I guess we should have had lunch at Kelly's Roast Beef. 
(That was Jen's line.) 



Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Garden Help

One of my friends brought her nieces to a Garden Club meeting recently. We were potting up plants for a Plant Sale, so she gave the girls buckets and shovels and some dirt to play with. It was so fun to watch them imitate everything we were doing. You've gotta love little girls.

 "Garden Help"
10 x 10 

Monday, May 17, 2010

Finally There

I've always said that sitting on the beach is my favorite sport. It usually takes a lot of work to get there but that moment, when you finally get settled in your chair and can "just do nothing", is sublime. In a few weeks we will all be getting lots of those moments, I hope!

"Finally There"
8 x 10 

Friday, May 14, 2010

Fun with Flowers

There is a small library in the center of my town that hosts a "Books and Bloom" event every May. Around 30 very clever and talented people chose a book and interpret it with flowers. This year, two of my Garden Club friends and I chose "The Help" by Katherine Stockett. We arranged mostly soft pink and white southern flowers surrounded by Magnolia leaves (representing the "Southern Belles" who hired the "Help") in small white training potty with a lid that I found on line. The toilet sits on a polished silver tray with the polish and the rag, on top of an apron, on top of a damask linen tablecloth.

 The event is tonight and the arrangements will be on display from 10 - 2 tomorrow. 
Check it out! 
I've got to get dressed! 

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Lucky Kid

I have wanted to paint this ever since I drove by it last year. I think every kid needs a tree house or a "fort" of some kind and this one is so cool. You can tell someone put a lot of thought and care into building it. This is one lucky kid.

"Come on Up"
10 x 12 



Monday, May 10, 2010

Well Hello Poppies!

The first spring we moved into our house, I was continually surprised by what was happening in the garden. The first time I saw one of these huge bright orange poppies in full bloom, it blew me away! I had never seen anything like it. The way all that color and fun literally POPS out of those funky little pods just cracks me up. The petals remind me of crinkled crepe paper. These popped yesterday. Just another one of the many wonderful gifts I got on Mother's Day!

Happy Mom's Day 
8 x 8 

Friday, May 7, 2010

A Really Good Book

I'm one of those readers who can't put down a good book. Last week an artist friend came by to drop off a book for me that she thought I'd enjoy. The title is: Pocketful of Names, by Joe Coomer. She told me it was about a woman artist who lives on an island in Maine with a dog. Well, that alone made me want to dive right in. I'm highly recommending it, even though I'm, only half way through it. I'm hooked!




Wednesday, May 5, 2010

High drama on Rt. 3A

Last night on my way home from the NRAS drop off around 7:30, the light was incredible! We had had some thunderstorms late in the day and just as the sun was setting- WHAMO! The clouds dispersed and the sky lit up like a bomb had gone off!


If you painted this the way it actually looked, no one would believe it. I'm pretty sure there was a rainbow out there somewhere as well. And that's always a good sign. 

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Finally Found Some Frames

I've been using distressed painted wood frames for years. Recently, I have been thinking about a more modern and clean look. I've worked with a great guy all these years who is a "deconstructionist". He takes apart old buildings all over the country and salvages the wood from interiors and exteriors of barns, school houses, taverns, cottages - you name it. A lot of  emails and photos later...this is what we came up with. I varnished the first one, and lightly sanded and stained the second one.  




      



My dearest and insightful artist friend Joan Brancale saw them and said they reminded her of a 40's beach cottage. 
That is exactly the look I was after. So yipee! 

Monday, May 3, 2010

Paint Like Yourself

I had lunch last week with a wonderful artist friend, Page Railsback. She told me that when her students say they want to paint like someone else, she tells them they can only paint like themselves. I thought about that all weekend. It's true. As important as it is to learn from others, it is far more liberating and fulfilling to just be yourself and paint the way you feel like painting at that moment.

Happy Hour #2
8 x 8