Today's the Day! Maple & Main's Summer Show Opening is from 5-8 PM!

"Summer Memory," 14" x 18" acrylic, $600, copyright Joan Cole

Another of my newest paintings making its debut tonight is "Summer Memory."  If you live in the area or are vacationing nearby, I hope you'll make a trip to Chester to take in the beauty of over 200 new paintings and sculptures by more than 30 Connecticut artists.  The party starts at 5, but the show will be up until September, so if you already have another engagement tonight, I encourage you to put the Gallery on your list of "Must-Do's" this summer.


I began this painting in one of the workshops I took with Jan Blencowe at Maple & Main Gallery in late winter.  I worked on it off and on all spring.  This is how it looked when I first wrote about it in my post of  Sunday, February 27, 2011:  Jan Blencowe's Tonalist Workshop Was Eye-opening and Muscle-building!

"[A Vague] Summer Memory"or Unfinished acrylic painting #2 by Joan Cole

I also took "Summer Memory" to one of the artist critiques offered by the Gallery on the third Monday of each month and received much good advice.  I invite you to join us at the next artist critique on Monday, June 20, from 6-8 at the Gallery.  Jan Blencowe will be doing the critiquing that evening.  There's so much to learn by listening to comments on each piece.  Bring one or two of your paintings and the $5 fee.  I'd love to meet you there.

I am thoroughly enjoying attempting to elicit an emotional response from the viewer in the manner for which the Tonalists were known. Simplified shapes in nature, emphasis on value and atmosphere, softened edges, an appeal to the spirit and emotions of the viewer--these qualities fit right in with a goal I've had for years now:  "No Noodling!"  These  two words of wisdom were shared with me long ago by Pamela Simpson Lussier, a very fine artist and teacher.    I even have a post-it note in my studio to remind me.  Thank you, Pamela and Jan!

Speaking of Pamela Simpson Lussier, I extend an invitation to all of you to attend the upcoming fundraiser on Pam's behalf on Saturday, June 18, at the Scotland Fire Department.  

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.

"The Guardian" ...

... is one of the paintings that I have on display at Maple & Main Gallery of Fine Art in Chester. 

"The Guardian" is an original 16" x 20" oil painting.

          This is a plein air painting I began on a day in spring this past year.  That seems so long ago now, when the temperature here in Deep River is 18 degrees and ice is beginning to form on the lake.  All the wonderful greens that surrounded me then have been replaced by winter browns and greys. 

          I have worked on the painting randomly off and on since then.  Perhaps for some reason, I didn't want to let myself be done with "spring" and let it go.  No matter how long that tree has been there or how worn those rocks are that the brook flows over, "The Guardian" reminds me that the cycle of the seasons goes on whether I want it to or not.  However, just a glimpse of this view and I'm drawn back to that day when rain was in the air and life was beginning anew.   I look forward to the time when May apples--an indigenous wildflower--will again be in bloom, as they were then. 

          If you weren't able to make it to our opening party last Friday evening, I hope you'll stop in the gallery and enjoy all the beautiful work on display there.  If you do, when you see the original of this piece, remind yourself that we're one day closer to springtime!

     Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday 11 AM to 8 PM and Sundays from 11 to 5.