The Maine Attraction Art Exhibition was a Great Success!

I want to thank Claudia Post, Jan Blencowe, and Lou Zucci for inviting me to be a part of their Maine adventure this past July.  The opportunity itself was a wonderful experience for me--the chance to paint along side two professional artists.  I was pushed to keep up with them. 

Kris and Guy Occhino from Attleboro, Massachusetts, enjoyed talking with Lou about his work.  Note "Mr. Lobster" peeking over Guy's shoulder

I also want to thank everyone who visited The Maine Attraction Art Exhibition.  You made the show complete.  Seeing your reactions to our work, overhearing your comments, visiting with you--this was the highlight for me.

My collectors know how much I appreciate their support.  Thank you, everyone.

"Great plein air paintings may include sunlight...

...but are made in the shade," says Robert Genn in his newsletter this morning.   These are my sentiments exactly!  When I am  painting outdoors, I always seek shade.

Jan Blencowe, painting on location in Maine.

However, making paintings in the shade is  not always possible, so some of us use umbrellas of one type or another to shade our palettes and canvases.  

Claudia Post has a bird's eye view!

Or we find creative ways to stay out of the sun. 

At the same location, here's Claudia, painting comfortably in her slippers in the shade.  Did you notice the ice pack wrapped around her left ankle?  At the beginning of our Maine painting expedition, she thought she'd sprained both her ankles when she fell from a ledge.  She hadn't; she'd only sprained one.  The left one she broke! This she learned after returning home.  Her ankle's been in a cast ever since!

Broken bones don't stop this determined lady!

Whatever works is good! It's getting the job done that makes an artist happy.  

I'm so excited about the art exhibition the three of us are planning with photographer Lou Zucchi.  I invite you to mark your calendar now for October 17-21 when The Maine Attraction will be showing at the Essex Art Association. 

Upper Messerschmidt's Pond in Winter, a pastel





Upper Messerschmidt's Pond in Winter by Joan Cole
Pastel 9 x 12" $400

I am so excited by my work in pastels. Masterpastellist Claudia Post is sharing so much of her vast knowledge in our Gallery class.  (You may remember that still life of the apple, pear, and lemon?  I'm still working on that and others.)  Landscapes are in my blood; this one brought me great joy and satisfaction.

There is so much to learn about pastels.  Who would have guessed that it is advisable to sharpen one's pastels to get a finer line or point?  (I must say, it is NOT my favorite part of painting with pastels.)  Claudia can sharpen a NuPastel with a single-edge razor blade lickety split!  It takes me SOOOOOOOOOOO much longer, and sometimes I break the stick in the process. 

It is possible to use turpentine to affix initial layers of pastel to the paper.  I used that method with this piece and found it gave me a more painterly feel--more like the feeling of plein air painting in oils.  Anyway, then I was able to build over that layer with additional layers of color.

This afternoon, I picked up the painting from the framer, drove to Maple & Main Gallery of Fine Art, and Claudia hung "Upper Messerschmidt's in Winter" in the classroom on our lower level.  Teacher and student were both tickled.

When you are in the area of Chester, Connecticut, stop by Maple & Main and check out "Upper Messerschmidt's."  It's in VERY good company--among more than 100 diverse works of art by thirty artists from across the fine state of Connecticut.

  

Day 1--Pastel Class

Initial drawing

          This is the initial drawing that I laid in at my first pastel class yesterday at Maple & Main Gallery in Chester.  Master pastellist Claudia Post is an excellent teacher!  As I mentioned in a previous post, I have painted in pastels before.  At last, however, I'm learning the proper way to paint with them.  Yesterday, I learned to use NuPastels (a hard, pressed form of pastel) to lay in the drawing.  Unlike oil paints, which have the name of each color on the label of each tube, NuPastels have numbers pressed into the sticks, indicating each color.  I  began with a fairly light reddish brown like burnt sienna. Oh yes, I also learned how to sharpen NuPastels, so that I have a fine point with which to draw.  (A boring, but necessary, task!) 

          After getting a preliminary sketch down, I refined my drawing with a darker brown.  Then, I continued refining with the darkest green and darkest red.  After that, I began adding local color.  Today, I'm looking forward to seeing what difference moving to my softer Rembrandt pastels will make.  I am so excited!

          Stay tuned!

Happy New Year's Day!

Well, it's here at last!  2011!   I ended 2010 with a paint brush in my hand, and today I started the new year by painting from morning until late afternoon.  My goals for 2011 are to produce more work and, in the process,  to grow as an artist.   

I want to become a more prolific and proficient plein air painter.  My pastel classes, which begin on Tuesday, will be one way of doing just that.  I know that masterpastellist Claudia Post will significantly influence my drawing abilities as well as my use of color.

The palette I was working with yesterday was totally different from today's.  Yesterday, working primarily in greens, I was putting finishing touches on a second lupine painting from a photograph my husband had taken in Searsport, Maine, a few years ago.  Today, when I began, the weather was sunny with the temperature on our deck in the fifties.  The first painting is in high key winter colors:  whites, greys, blues, browns, pinks.  The palette darkened on the second painting as the sun, now shrouded in clouds, dropped further to the west.  I hope to finish both paintings tomorrow, though the forecasters are predicting rain. 

This is approximately the view that I was painting today.  "Waiting for Spring" was completed in February of 2009.  I'll be eager to see the difference between the two new paintings and this one.


Waiting for Spring, oil, 12" x 12"

I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year's Eve and a relaxing, peace-filled New Year's Day.  May the year ahead bring us all a wee bit closer to our dreams.