"Water"

12"X12" Crow Island Preserve

"Water" was the Painting Challenge this month for Girls Just Wanna Paint and I painted this scene.

One of the fun parts about exploring and painting in Maine is you head down a road where you have never been and are rewarded with exciting new painting scenes. Although most Maine natives and local artists are, I am sure, very aware of this scene, my friends and I had never been down the road which leads to this area even though it is not too far from the seaside farm where we stay. The particular day we ventured there was a quickly changing scene due to the winds and ever changing clouds that day. The sun kept playing hide and seek behind the clouds. At one point the water just in front of this preserve had this different greenish turquoise cast. It definitely intrigued me. This may have to be explored in more depth in a large painting and possibly in oil. 

I know next year I will venture back to this spot as there is much to paint. 

(Also, I think I have to rephotograph the final painting as I am not quite happy with this photo of the work. I don't think it is picking up some of the colors and values in my painting. Some paintings are more of a challenge to photograph than others. So check back for a better image...)

If you see any painting on my blog or website you are interested in purchasing, feel free to contact me. 

Joined GJWP

Flowering Tree 9"X12", Oil
Contact me via my website if interested in purchasing

I have just joined the Girls Just Wanna Paint Challenge Blog. I am thrilled and honored to be included in such a great group of talented painters. To top it off, they are all just wonderful and fun women, too. Every month we are given a "challenge" of an object or idea to incorporate into a painting.

This month was "Trees", so I have now also become a Dendrologist. I actually do enjoy studying trees. Each individual tree and each species is so unique and complex, especially to paint! How often do we artists end up with broccoli like trees? Arg.

They are also our guardians, giving us shade and shelter, wood to build our homes, furniture and tools and often food for our tables, but for the most part we ignore them. So on Arbor Day, April 24th, 2015, I am marking my calendar to plant a tree to show my gratitude for this gift on our earth.

Busy times

It’s hard to believe that it is already July 16th. I don’t know where the month has gone. I’m sure everyone is feeling the same way. But, I have been so pleased with the run of wonderful weather we have had! Great for the beach, sailing, swimming and fishing.

                                         Available at Kendall Gallery- Fishing, End of Day
And speaking of fishing, I am excited to announce that I am one of the artists featured in an article titled Sand, Surf, Sea and Sky in this months Pastel Journal magazine. It’s a bi-monthly magazine so will be on stands through September.  Here is a video on the magazine and this month's selections.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9HOq5G1o9A

buy

Along with getting lots of plein air painting in recently, I have been involved in different art shows here and there. I will be posting updates on my blog in the next coming weeks.  

This painting will be at the South Shore Science Center Juried Show-Through The Garden Gate. A study of a house and garden in Maine. I may want to paint this one in a larger format in oil. The "meet the artists" reception is July 23rd. Lots of wonderful artists involved. The show runs through August 24th. Details here: South Shore Science Center

Field In Yellow

4"X4"

Had a fantastic time on our annual Maine painting trip. A few artist friends and I spend the week down east. The weather was absolutely picture perfect.  We had limited connection on our devices since we were not near a cell tower and the place we stay has no internet. And I find it very enjoyable that way. Funny part is I came home and we lost our power at home for half the day yesterday. Then when the power came back the surge knocked out our phones, internet and TV. Couldn't get if fixed until today. Luckily no damage to anything, though. Of course I had planned the whole day to catch up on emails and such. Maybe I shouldn't have come home?

Every year I have been meaning to paint this gorgeous field that is covered with yellow flowers and I finally did a little painting of it. It was fun painting on such a tiny support. Forces you not to get detailed and to stay loose. Believe it or not, I had never worked on Ampersands smooth board and it is a really neat surface. A little slicker surface than what I normally paint on, but enjoyable once I got used to that and used it to my advantage.

Coffee And Cranberries 8X8 oil

I am part of a small works invitational show at the South Street Gallery tonight. This is the piece I included. I have done drawings of this old antique coffee grinder, but not any paintings. So I decided for fun to set it up in a still life and paint it for the show. It was fun trying to get the different textures of each element interpreted onto canvas. I loved how the light was reflecting the cranberries onto the table. (Translates better in the original than this jpg., I'll try and post a better image later.) And of course it is always interesting trying to capture a flower and leaves before they wilt too much.
Here are the details on the opening and show: South Street Gallery

Also, Expressions is having a Holiday Open house on Sunday Dec. 15, 10am-5pm with 15% off for that day only. Lots of my paintings and offerings, along with some other very talented artists and artisans, at a nice discount that day only. I will have my new 2014 calendars at the shop, too.

Hope everyone is having an exciting Holiday Season. I am so behind as always...yikes. Tis the season.

Solo Show- "Near and Far"

I will be having a solo show at the Dolphin Hingham Gallery at Hingham Library. It features local scenes and also works from some of my travels.

The opening is Nov 4th, 5:30-7:30 and the show is up from Nov 2nd-Jan2nd.
http://www.northriverarts.org/gallery_dolphin.html

This is from a weeklong painting trip to Maine this summer with some painting friends. For the last couple of years I have been fortunate to have the time to be a part of this great group of painter friends. I already cannot wait until we go again next year. It is invigorating, productive, refreshing and just total fun when we are painting and when we aren't. I'll post some of my "Maine" paintings soon. Hope to see you at the opening!

(Thanks to Kelley MacDonald for the photographic images.)

Expressions Featured on Chronicle

Some of you may know that I am one of the artisans in a shop, Expressions located in Scituate Harbor. I am excited to report that Chronicle WCVB Channel 5 

featured our shop in part of their show last night. 

It is a shop I am very proud to be a part of since my co-artisans at the shop are all so gifted and talented and just wonderful people, too.

You can still see this feature for a short time from this link:

Expressions on Chronicle

A few of my pieces appear on the walls including this one above.

Thanks to Chronicle for the feature and for all the quality work you produce!

Stop in the shop sometime and you may catch me working there.

Sky Blue Pink-5"X7"

Available at Framers Edge

I just love clouds. And the beach...What can I say? I could probably be happy painting them everyday. And now that the weather is FINALLY hot...woohoo.

This past weekend I was wearing gloves out plein air painting. And I am not talking about those blue plastic gloves that protect your hands from oil paints, pastels or medium. I am talking about winter gloves. And I had on 3 layers of tops- Shirt, sweater and jacket. And to be totally honest, wished I had worn my long underwear. Yes, IN MAY! Memorial Day Weekend. Gotta love New England weather. Yesterday I think it reached mid 80's and today is supposed to get close to 90. And I am lovin' it. No complaints here.

Spring Stirrings-

Opening reception tonight of The Spring Stirrings Invitational at the Vine Gallery at the South Shore Science Center. “Spring Stirrings” is an art exhibit featuring the work of 17 South Shore artists working primarily in oil. Spring is a time of transition, hope and new life. These themes are explored and captured in landscape, still life and seascapes scenes by this group of artists. Come join the participating artists Susan Ahearn,Christina Eckerson, Joanne Chittick, Cheryl Curran, Erin Donnellan, Margaret Farrell Bruno, Linda Friend, Laura Harvey, Lynne McCauley, Margaret McWethy, Ann Musto, Joy O’Keefe, Linda Osborne, Jody Regan, Sheelah Sinnott, Julie Uhler, Amber Waterhouse at the opening reception on Thursday April 4 from 6:00 to 8:00 for light refreshments and all the light and color that the season of Spring brings. Yea Spring!

Peep Peep

I came home from a meeting on that one warm rainy night a few weeks back and when I pulled into my driveway I noticed something all over both garage doors. Little brownish splotches. So I drove into the garage, but stepped back into the driveway to investigate and my garage doors were covered with peepers! Of course to my dismay a ton of them had hopped into the garage in my short walk from exiting the car to the driveway, so I spent 20 minutes shooing tiny toads out of my garage. Exhausting to say the least. And the little buggers are fast! (Why the effort, you wonder...well, I really didn't want to come down to my garage the next day to dried up peeper corpses, would you? Guh...)

This is the first time in the almost 30 years that we've lived here that has happened and so I read up on "peepers" on the computer when I got upstairs. Its seems they hibernate under the bark of trees during the winter. 

I'm guessing the massive pine that fell across our driveway from the major snow storm that took out trees at just about every property in town was the culprit. A friend cut out a section just big enough for us to fit our car through, but we have been on a waiting list to get the rest of the tree removed. So we are guessing the peepers all came out of hibernation from that downed tree that one warm night and proceeded to hop up the garage doors. Needless to say, the cold snap came back right after that one night and the peepers disappeared. 

Yesterday they were back!  Maybe spring has finally arrived! 

YEA!

Peep, peep! Happy Spring! 

(Image is from a fundraiser that I was part of years ago)