Paintings from the Cape

I’m having a hard time prioritizing my time to include posting images here.

 I’ve got to let go of trying to organize or present things in any particularly thought-out way.

Here are a couple plein air paintings from last month.

The first one was a very sunny, blustery day at Pamet Harbor in Truro, Massachusetts.


The second one, was a very hot late summer day at Castle Hill center for the Arts also in Truro.

Honestly, it was a rough few days of painting.

Painting outdoors feels like something I need to push myself to do periodically, but it totally stresses me out!

I can’t lose myself in the process the way I can in the studio.

These are both 12x12, oil on panel.

River Eddy
2015
oil on panel
16x20


Yesterday I picked up a “new” camera at a yard sale and finally got back to shooting my work.

This is a piece I started in July when I was at Bennington College taking a MASS Art workshop taught by Honour Mack from MECA.

The course was called Painting from Perception into Imagination.

I will post some of the more perception (observation is really what she meant) based pieces soon.

Gallery A3 Show

Crystal Imperfection
2015
oil, graphite on panel
12x9

It has been a while since I’ve put any work in a show, but this piece will be at Gallery A3 in Amherst, Massachusetts as part of their annual juried show.

John R. Stomberg, Director of Mount Holyoke College Art Museum served as juror and curator for this show

Show runs July 2nd through August 1st.
Opening:  Thursday July 2nd 5-8 p.m.
Artists’ Reception:  Saturday, July 11th 4-7 p.m.
Curator’s talk:  Thursday, July 16 7:30 p.m.

Gallery A3 is a cooperative gallery, located at 28 Amity St. in Downtown Amherst.

Next month the gallery I belong to, The Oxbow Gallery of Northampton and Gallery A3  are putting on joint exhibitions at both locations, so I will be involved in that too.

The Intersection of Art and Buddhism

Singing Bowls
2015
20x16
oil on panel

















Singing bowls are used in meditation, yoga and healing.  Technically they are a kind of bell which stands rather than hangs.  They can be struck with a wooden mallet or, to produce their unique singing sound, the rim is rubbed to create vibration (like running your finger around a crystal goblet).

This painting is more about the vibration than the form of the bowls.

If you are interested in the intersection of art and Buddhism, check out the exhibit opening this Sunday, May 3rd 2-5 p.m. at The Boundless Way Zen Temple, 1030 Pleasant St., Worcester, MA.
Buddhas Over Worcester (BOW, get it?) is an outdoor sculpture event where people have been invited to create a piece about what it means to be awake in this world.
The show is in the Temple gardens and will be open daily during daylight hours until July 11, 2015.

Yes, I have a piece in the show.

R&F Paints' Pigment Sticks

Not yet titled
2015
24x18
oil and graphite on panel















This is one of the pieces I made at R&F Paints at a recent workshop.

 It is  a metamorphosis of a painting I started last summer in a workshop with Tim Hawksworth.  I say metamorphosis because like an insect, it bares little resemblance to its previous (larval?) state, but I know what's in there and that it lead me to this place.

When listing materials, I do not differentiate between tube oils and oil sticks.
I frequently used them together.

I exclusively use R&F Pigment sticks (their name for their oil sticks).
Now that I have witnessed how they are made by hand by artists who are passionate about them, I will never again begrudge the price sticker.

Seriously, there is one guy standing over one machine hand grinding each batch.

While we were there in March the paint mixers were developing new colors and our class got to test them out!  Yippee!

R&F offers many workshops and all the paint you want to use is included in the tuition.  Can I say "yippee" again ?

It was a great experience to work in this environment of abundance and generosity.

R&F makes artists the center of their mission.  The studio space is comfortable, well-lit, with good ventilation.  They have a gallery on premise, and I think everyone who works there is an artist as well.

By now it is obvious that I am a fan!  I recommend trying the sticks, visiting the factory in Kingston, or taking a workshop.

Next Stop: Monson

In One, Out the Other
2014
9x12
oil on panel



This is one of the two paintings of mine that have been selected for inclusion in "the 21st Dimension",
the annual, juried show at the Monson Arts Council.

Opening reception is next Saturday, March 29, 2014 1-4 p.m. at The House of Art in downtown, Monson, MA

The Things That Keep us Together, diptych
2014
18x12
oil stick on panels



This is from that workshop at R&F Paints that I keep going on about.
Not sure what I think of it.

Feels very busy to me, but I have not been able to find anything I want to edit from it.

I have finally gotten back into shooting my work, so I'll get some more up here soon.

I have some abstracted figure studies from a recent session in Worcester and some interesting mono prints from a delightful Sunday with Dean Nimmer.

Forces at Play
2013
20x16
oil on panel






Everytime I work on a panel I realize how much I prefer them to canvas,

 but to paint panels the size I prefer (larger than this) they are going to get both expensive and heavy!

The solid support does work better from me, though, given how I like to work the surface.

I used a new (to me) medium with this piece:
a gel medium which keeps the body of the oils nice and thick, but has great translucency and is glossier than the cold wax.

Sans Figure

In Your Absence
2013
10x13
oil with cold wax








There was a model seated here at one point.....

Farmland Vignettes
2012
14x11
oil on panel










This landscape was originally painted last spring on a trip to Maine.

This winter, I became disenchanted with it, and was going to sand it and paint over the whole thing, but then I hesitated.

There are a few passages I do enjoy, so I just painted out what didn't thrill me.

Not sure about the values, though.  I think maybe the "redacted" areas should be darker.

Beach House
2012
14x11
oil with cold wax















Sometimes, many times, my painting process feels random, but truth is life and current events seep in and guide my blind hand.
Without knowing it, this painting turned out to be about the many homes lost along the East coast during hurricane Sandy and the countless storms that have swept away homes and lives along the fluid margins of our island home.