Maine Land & Light-Seven Painters - Boyd Place, Bangor, Maine

I am please to be part of a group show at the lovely gallery space at Boyd Place in Bangor, Maine, now through January 2011. Other artists exhibiting include  Ragna Bruno, Jill Hoy, Paul Thibodeau, Judith Leighton, and Tim and Thea Flanagan 

The work is quite diverse and makes for a stimulating exhibit.  There will be an opening reception on Sunday, November 14 from 3-5 pm.  Boyd Place is located at Boyd and York Streets in Bangor, near St. John's Catholic Church.

Gathering Textures for Monoprints

Autumn in Maine is all about color and texture. As I work on putting my gardens to bed, I'm gathering leaves, dried blossoms, stems to store away and use as textures in my monotype prints this winter. I use a gelatin plate which is very receptive to the finest of textures which transfer easily to the paper with simple pressure of hand rubbing. So, I don't need the use of a press.  I will make the gelatin plates the day before and spend the entire day, sometimes two days, printing with abandon and without intention. Then the next few days are spent assessing what prints work best. The most pleasing are almost always result of happy accidents.  Those that don't work as stand alone pieces, I will cut up and use in collage.  The first piece below is an example of one of those wonderful happy accidents.  The second one is a collage made from combining elements of several different prints.

Emily Mason, Abstract Expressionist and Colorist Extraordinaire!

I just read an Art in America review of Emily Mason's recent show at LewAllen Galleries in Santa Fe. One of my very favorite colorists and abstract painters, Mason is not as well known as some of her more famous contemporaries such as Joan Mitchell and Helen Frankenthaler. I've never figured out why that is. Her work is so exciting and bold, and as she approaches 80 years old, it's great to see new works as vibrant and luscious as ever.  To read the review, follow this link:

http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/reviews/emily-mason/

Photo: Emily Mason: Everything Unknown, 2003, oil on canvas, 40 by 38 inches; at LewAllen.

Fall studio clean-out sale

About a month ago I had house guests that had never visited before and they were eager to go up to my studio and look around.  It's a mess. I had a lot of things on easel, but they took to poking through piles of work that had been set aside, most of them had never been shown for one reason or another. They kept coming up with pieces I had forgotten about that they really liked, and they even went home with a few. It gave me the idea that I should do an inventory of these works and have a studio clean-out sale this fall. So, that is what I'm doing. Images are being posted  as I get the chance to photograph them. There will be an open studio in November, I will sell them directly from the website gallery, and I will also welcome appointments to look at a specific work.  Everything from oils to charcoal sketches.

The Power of Now

A couple days ago I posted about fear of art... that feeling of negativity, a resistance, a tentative approach to the work. A teacher told me that it's visible in one's brush strokes. One needs to "get out of one's head" and into the Now to release that tension and resistance. Quiet the negative thoughts in one's head that zap the confidence. Be present. Mindful. Zen.

I have recently returned to The Power of Now.  I think it is one of the best books for learning the art of being present and sustaining the practice in everyday life.  Tolle articulates, with clarity and insight, the process and why it is important to achieving true inner happiness. Definitely an ongoing process, this work, but it gets easier with practice! I highly recommend this book to left-brains and right-brains alike.

Leaving the camera at home

This summer I decided to leave my camera behind while on painting excursions, leaving only sketching as an option for recording the experiences. I did this for a week on Monhegan Island, a week in Stonington, Maine, and several day trips. Some sketches were more detailed, but here's an example of thumbnails I did on location in Stonington. Doing sketches really makes one look carefully at the landscape. While only recording the essentials, and doing some serious simplifying, one can set up the structure of a painting, while totally absorb the experience of the place.... color, atmosphere, light, temperature. The painting above the thumbnails was done later, in the studio, directly from the sketch on the right.

Art and Fear

"Truth and reality in art do not arise until you no longer understand what you are doing and are capable of, but nevertheless sense a power that grows in proportion to your resistence."

I love this quote by Henri Matisse. The resistance or the fear seems to almost always be there no matter how much I paint. My best work always happens when, for some strange reason, on a given day, I go forth with abandon—fearless and clueless.

This painting is from one of those glorious days.  From the Salt Pond. Pastel.  5.5 X 5.5"

Getting back to it.

Yike, it's hard to believe it's been since June since I've posted. This fabulously beautiful summer went by so fast and now I've got a fire in the fireplace tonight. I spent one wonderful week on Monhegan with painter friends, then another great week in Stonington, for Stonington Painter's Workshop. Both weeks were heavenly and painterly. Much of the remaining summer painting time was spent fulfilling orders for little 6 X 6 paintings which have become very popular for wedding gifts and experimenting with new techniques and approaches that I learned at the Painting Workshop. I will do upcoming posts about that and Monhegan.  For now here are a couple of the 6 x6" works that were commissioned for young Mainers leaving home...special places for them to remember.