Summer's Rest Geraniums & New England Workshop & SHOW!!!

 

16"x8" oil on linen mounted on archival panel

For more information, or to purchase, click here. 

"The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses." - Hanna Rion 

"To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring." - George Santayana

I hope you're enjoying your summer, whether it's blazing hot, or perhaps you have milder temps like we've been having. Summer in New England has been really good to us this year. 

I have to admit, I hate to see summer go, as it's really such a delight here. But autumn brings it's own wonder.  September always has that great "sense of change".  Perhaps it's a holdover from my childhood school days, and the anticipation of looking forward to new classes, teachers, and opportunities.  So - here's the chance for you to enjoy the same!  I am especially excited to share the news of my solo show of Barn Island paintings.  All of these marsh and woodland paintings, most of them done on location, and several LARGE paintings done in the studio. The opening reception is Friday September 12th, please SAVE THE DATE!!  I've post more information about that on tomorrow's post. 

But some other exciting news is: I'm hosting a workshop in the beautiful town of Essex, CT on Saturday September 20th, from 9:00am until 4:30pm.  We'll meet at the lovely "Paintstix Studios" at the top of Main Street. It sits high up above the Main Street on the side of a hill, and has a great view all the way down to the CT River! The light in the room is lovely!  The focus of the day is on plein air painting, and how to make a more dynamic, exciting painting.  Immediately improve your art with this one rule of composition, AND understand the FOUR things that make a successful painting.  

We'll meet upstairs at Paintstix Studio for a bit of coffee and donuts and introductions at 9am, and get to work promptly at 9:30 on a demo, explaining these topics and techniques using transparent paint and opaques.  We'll be using brushes, palette knives and 'squeegees'.   

After breaking for an hour for lunch,   we'll re-group and paint during the afternoon, on location.  I've scouted out a place close to our 'home-base' (ie. close to rest-rooms, etc).  We'll keep the group small (6) so everyone will get a lot of one-on-one time. At 4:00pm, we'll start wrapping up with final questions & answers, clean-up at 4:30 so that we can close up shop at 5:00pm. I can address questions regarding technique, and selling online.

The fee for the day's workshop is $125.  To reserve your spot, you may pay here with Paypal, or contact me to pay with a check. 

I look forward to seeing you there and helping you on the next point in 'your painting journey'. 

      

Séduit par Géraniums

12"x12" oil on archival panel

For more information, or to purchase, click here. 

Is it the color? the artful arrangements of floral bliss? the ancient limestone buildings...where window placement seems random but is actually purposeful? the lyrical language? All of these make it so easy to fall in love with a place! 
The southwest region of France, in the Lot valley is just such a place. I'm hoping you'll join me next year, 2015. Lisa's Gryphon Art & Travel will be putting out next year's schedule soon!

Avoir un bon week-end! 

Geranium Glow, ACEO Floral Oil Original

3.5"x2.5" oil on fine canvas board

Bidding starts at just $1

As soon as the weather warms up in spring, I drag these big blue pots out of my garage and fill them with lovely geraniums! They do such a nice job of gracing the front of our home!

For those of you not familiar with the acronym ACEO, it stands for Art Cards Editions and Originals.  The miniature paintings are the size of a baseball trading card, 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches.  This category of art has become increasingly popular on eBay the last couple of years.  These can be displayed on their own, or with a tiny little easel (like the kind you can find in Michaels Arts & Crafts type stores) on a display shelf, or these beautiful gems can be elegantly matted and framed with perhaps a mat of 4 inches wide.  ACEOs also make wonderful gifts!  

Geranium Dance Floral ACEO Floral Oil Painting

3.5"x2.5" oil on fine canvas board

Bidding starts at just $1

  This pot of geraniums has been one of my favorites. I've been able to 'overwinter' it in my garage for a couple of winters now. As long as I can keep it from freezing, I know I'll have some great blooms next summer! It is one of the most forgiving, yet extremely cheery plants on my summer deck!

  

For those of you not familiar with the acronym ACEO, it stands for Art Cards Editions and Originals.  The miniature paintings are the size of a baseball trading card, 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches.  This category of art has become increasingly popular on eBay the last couple of years.  These can be displayed on their own, or with a tiny little easel (like the kind you can find in Michaels Arts & Crafts type stores) on a display shelf, or these beautiful gems can be elegantly matted and framed with perhaps a mat of 4 inches wide.  ACEOs also make wonderful gifts!

Geraniums and Cedars, Harkness Park

5"x7" oil on gessoed masonite artboard

"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops."- Henry Adams

Every little nook & cranny at Harkness Park, here in Connecticut has something interesting in it's many gardens, so it remains a pleasure for me to spend time there and paint, and hike, and photograph, and meander, and picnic...you get the idea. It's a wonderful place.

I began this painting as a little exercise to try out some new (old) paints. I was going through artist Tim Bell's website, and finding out what materials he uses. He keeps a very simple palette, which I tend to do, too. But he even specified his brand of paint, Maimeri Classico, and the colors he uses: Flake White, Cad. Yellow Deep, Cad. Red Deep, and French Ultramarine Blue. His point was to find the closest to the true primaries on the color wheel. I realized that I had several tubes of Maimeri Classico and Puro from when I used to be a part of an artists' co-op in Virginia Beach. A vendor had brought us many samples of his paint. I had tried it, & while I liked it, I was familiar with my old Winsor Newton colors. But today I decided to pull out my old colors (which were not these listed, but true primaries none-the less. My first dip into the blue and I realize it's pthalo blue, so intense, and I haven't touched a tube of that in years. But since this was a 'sampler' to try out my new (old) colors of Maimeri, I decided to just go with it. My focus lately has been a real effort to exaggerate the warms and cools within the painting...and even with these basic colors, you could truly get a lot of mileage out of these. I ordered some small tubes of Tim's preferred colors, to give that a trial run as well. So we'll see where this bit of experimentation leads to.

I'm also trying something new on the business end of things. I have joined up with Daily Paintworks, in order to sell my smaller works at auction. (Yes, those 6"x6" and 5"x7" sizes. The starting bid will be at 2009 prices - $100 for these sizes, unframed. You have a golden opportunity for finding your favorite little painting at a very affordable price. Click here to place your bid!

Good Morning Geranium Welcome - sold!

6"x6" oil on gessoed masonite archival artboard

"Under the snowdrifts the blossoms are sleeping,
Dreaming their dreams of sunshine and June."
- William Sharp

I've spent the last several days finishing up some accounting for 2010 & submitting my CT sales & use tax. So time has been filled with that annual chore. But I do have a few paintings to bring out of the 'archive' and am offering them at 2009 prices during the month of February. They are dry and ready to ship as soon as your Paypal payment clears! I also accept personal checks - it just takes a good bit longer for it to travel through the mail from your house to my bank.

******For these Valentine special offerings, I'll cover shipping via Priority Mail (for continental US) between now (Feb 1st) and Feb. 14th! Treat your sweet-heart to something wonderful, that lasts forever, isn't fattening, and is the perfect size! Forwarding this email to 'the likely suspects' might be helpful as a gift-giving guide! OR be good to yourself, a personal Valentine 'from you to you' might be just what you need.

My first Valentine offering for my subscribers this month is, "Good Morning Geranium Welcome" a 6"x6" oil on gessoed masonite archival artboard. Your Valentine price is $100 +zero for shipping (see above)! ...all in the name of love!

Now go on, work on that love life!

In other news.....between nearly frying my calculator and brain on 'the accounting stuff', I took a play-break on Friday afternoon and went cross-country skiing with a friend at a nearby state park. I had never tried this before, and I've got to admit, was a bit nervous. She is a "no-pressure" kind of person, which I'm so grateful for, since this ex-Floridian was probably the biggest snow-hater in the state of CT! Honestly, I felt like the Grinch, when he was finally redeemed! All that hatred for snow changed into laughter - I truly had a blast. I still don't like removing it from my driveway, as we no longer have places to stack this stuff! It's beyond nuisance. Get me out to the woods on skis, that's a much better past-time than shoveling that stuff!

Cottage Windowboxes

5"x7" oil on gessoed masonite

"Nothing determines your creative life more than doing it. This is so obvious and fundamental, yet how much energy is wasted on speculation, worry and doubt without the relief of action."
- Ian Roberts, from Creative Authenticity


I know there's a trend here. I've always painted what I love- whether places, people, or things. The gardens I'm most attracted to are little vignettes of cozy places, that feel like home....nothing too stuffy or formal, something you might see from the comfort of your lawn chair....or a sight that invites you in....

These window-boxes are from the shops where I have some of work, "Artisan Framing & Gallery" up in Marlborough, CT. It's such an inviting colonial style/farmhouse looking structure, with a nice front porch! Our plein-air exhibit is up through August, if you haven't had a chance to see it yet!

Well, as I mentioned in a recent post, I'm off to a workshop this coming week. Not sure if I'll have time to post or not. I'm going to study with Camille Przewodek! I've admired her work for so long and can't wait to learn some new color insights from her! I'm so looking forward to this! Hope hubby can fend for himself in the kitchen while I'm gone!