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)

Cozy Destinations tonight!

Available at South Street Gallery

This past fall I painted at the "Farm Day" Event sponsored by the Mass Audubon and held at the Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary. It is a busy and fun event every year. Hay rides, music, animals, artisans, food...  (Lots of fun if you want to mark your calendar for next years fall Farm Day.)

Of course my first painting on location was a dud. Whenever I am in a large group setting with lots of hustle and bustle I seem to freeze up and not think and paint as well as normally. So I ended up wiping that one out and here is the 2nd. It is currently in a group show called Open Spaces being held at the South Street Gallery. The opening is tonight 6-9pm if you would like something warm to do on a cold winter night. And an added plus is a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Massachusetts Audubon society. (The show will be on display for the whole month of February, too.)

And another destination you could add since your already out and about would be Expressions for the monthly "First Friday" Event from 5-8pm. And an extra bonus at this destination is a free ticket for a chance to win this Valentines basket of goodies of some of the treasures made by 4 of the artisans from Expressions. Can't beat that. Maybe I will see you at one of these fun events. Stay warm!