Burst of Light

While walking to the studio yesterday 

the sun came out suddenly. 

I was floored by how colorful the early spring landscape

is when washed in that burst of light. 

"Burst of Light" 

12 x 9 

I was inspired by reading this interview in

Painting Perceptions 

with 

Martha Armstrong.

Her landscape paintings take my breath away! 

"Adam's tractor tracks"

“Seeing—and the painting that comes from seeing—

can only be one way at a particular moment. 

Some paintings are done in a day; some have pieces of many days. 

To get what you see, you cannot paint what you see. 

It’s a battle between what you see and what you know. 

You take what you need to make a painting. 

The landscape has everything and nothing to do with the painting.”

Martha Armstrong

Mass Art Auction

I am honored to be supporting the  

Annual Benefit Art Auction ay Mass Art 
Along with 300 other donated works,
this piece will be auctioned on April 9
with all proceeds benefitting scholarship
and academic program support
for Mass Art students. 

"End of Season"
24 x 24 
2015

There are some terrific pieces available and 
you can bid on line HERE until April 8! 

Family Dynamics

Family Dynamics 

18 x 36 oil on canvas 

I had fun re-arranging some of the characters for this,

giving them each a "role" in the scene. 

I used a number of images 

taken last summer from our deck.

NOTE: 

I'm the last one on the right- 

Grandma watching over the baby! 

Gallery Season

I've been working on some larger beach scenes 

for the upcoming gallery season.

I stocked up on reference images all last summer,

so it's fun revisiting those hot and sunny days

this time of year.    

"Four Fillies"

16 x 20 

NOTE: 

Definition: 

fil·ly

ˈfilē/

noun plural noun: fillies

1. a young female horse, especially one less than four years old.

   • dated: a lively girl or young woman.

Modernism at It's Best

I managed to get in to see the Lawren Harris show 

at the MFA this weekend and it was every bit as stunning as I'd hoped. 

The work has quite an impact when you see it all together! 

I especially enjoyed the adjacent show 

Lauren Harris: Modern Connections from the MFA

showing his work along with work from the MFA permanent collection

by American modernism painters,

including Arthur Dove, Georgia O'Keefe,

Rockwell Kent, Marsden Hartley.

It offers a wonderful,  comprehensive view of the

Modernism movement.

NOTE: 

This painting by Ralston Crawford 

caught my eye from across the room!

Lawren Harris

I am so excited that a show of 

work by Lawren Harris 

is opening at the Museum of Fine Arts 

on Saturday. 

Mountains in the Snow 

c.1929

Harris was a member of the Group of Seven,

a group of artists whose paintings, inspired by the Canadian landscape, 

initiated the first major Canadian national art movement

from 1920 - 1933.

In Oct 2014, I blogged about this fabulous book 

and refer to it often, 

especially for inspiration when painting landscapes. 

The color reproductions are stunning. 

"Silcox [is] a wonderfully lucid stylist . . . this definitive volume presents 400 supreme color reproductions . . . covering the entire spectrum of the proficient and prolific group's magnificent output . . . every painting is vibrantly, radiantly, and gloriously alive: a veritable hymn to life." 
-- Booklist

Shapes of Color

At the color workshop I took recently, 

we did an exercise using cut paper.

That gave me the idea for this challenge;
Break down a complex subject
 into just large shapes of color.

"Woods Waking Up"

(3) 12  x 12 oils on canvas 

I painted these over old paintings

 so the surface was really rough.

 That helped me loosen up and 

focus on the flat shapes of color. 

The whole thing was a surprise. 

I've been reading
Ken Kewley: Notes On Color 
and it has inspired me to think and see a little differently.
The discoveries are endless.

Winter Interior

Winter is a great time for painting interiors. 

I think we're all a little hungry for color,
and warmth,
right about now.

"Under the Stairs" 

8 x 8 on carton board 

For these more graphic pieces,

 I'm spending more time planning the design 

and getting an accurate drawing.

Then when I start painting, 

all I have to think about is 

mixing the right colors in the right value. 

Fun!    

Something New

I've been thinking about interiors lately

and the idea for this came to me 

 at a meeting in a friend's beautiful rustic antique home.  

8 x 8 study for

"First Meeting" 

oil on carton board

The predominately dark shapes, 

against a few light shapes,

is what appealed to me.