The Maine Attraction's opening night was a huge success!

We had a great turnout last evening for our opening of The Maine Attraction Exhibition at the Essex Art Association, 10 North Main Street in Essex.

The show continues through the weekend.  I hope you can come.  Tonight is our round table discussion from 7 to 9 PM about plein air painting.  Come learn all about the tricks we use when we paint on location.  You might like to try some of our tips when you paint outdoors. It's a very personal way to record your travels.

Look at all the great treats you missed last night.  We'll have some goodies for tonight too.  Come on out on this rainy day & bask in the wonder of our art.

Here's an idea of where we traveled in Maine.  It's just so awesome everywhere you look in Maine.  We love it!

Do you have beautiful art on your walls?  There's no time like the present to start collecting.  We do!

Four of My Prize-winning Paintings Are Featured in Today's VALLEY COURIER!

"The Quiet Place" (Messerschmidt's, Westbrook, CT) is a 10 x 20" acrylic on canvas by Joan Cole.

"Moraine" is a 24 x 12" acrylic on gallerywrap canvas

 

by Joan Cole.

The Quiet Place and Moraine were accepted into the Connecticut Women Artists Exhibit at the Slater Memorial Museum in Norwich during Sept.  The former is a scene familiar to many area residents:  the upper pond at Messerschmidt's on the Westbrook-Deep River line.   The latter may also be familiar to folks who enjoy swimming, fishing, or hiking at Chatfield Hollow State Park in Killingworth.

"Day's End" is a 24 x 12" acrylic on canvas by Joan Cole.

Day's End received an award from the Essex Art Association in their June exhibition Fluidity.

 

Crescent Lake Sunrise will be  on display in the New Britain Museum of American Art's 43rd Annual Juried Member's exhibit , Oct. 13- Oct. 28.

"Crescent Lake Sunrise" is an 8 x 16" acrylic on canvas by Joan Cole.

From October 18 - 21, my paintings of down east Maine, Acadia and the Schoodic Peninsula will be included in The Maine Attraction Art Exhibit   at the Essex Art Association Gallery, 10 North Main Street in Essex, CT, along with works by artists Jan Blencowe and Claudia Post and photographs by Lou Zucchi.   

I invite you to come for all of the activities that are planned.

"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. 

"Day's End" is an award winner!

"Day's End," 24 x 12" acrylic on canvas, copyright Joan Cole

I am pleased to announce that last evening at the Essex Art Association's opening, I was awarded a $200 prize for "Day's End."  I am really honored by this award, especially considering the fact that my painting was one of nearly 200 paintings in this exhibition.  To be chosen one of the fourteen artists who were recipients of various awards and prizes has been a very humbling experience for me.


The theme of "Fluidity" had been described in the show prospectus as "....flowing easily, changeable, airiness, facility, elasticity, suppleness.  Picture a flowing river: melting snow: moving clouds: windy sky: the moon in its phases: nature in all its forms, ever changing with the seasons."  The juror was Julia M. Pavone, co-founder and curator/director of Alexey von Schilippe Gallery of Art, UConn Avery Point Campus; Teacher; Painter.  Ms. Pavone's statement, printed in the show brochure, is "This was a tough job as there was good work to choose from; I loved the variation of styles and mediums on a wonderful theme.  Congratulations to all the artists."  Thank you, Ms. Pavone, for this honor.

Hello Again!

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

It has been so long since I've used my blog that I'm not sure I remember what to do. So much seems to have changed in two years (as one would expect, I suppose).

I have set my oils aside for Christmas and look forward to getting back to them. I only finished one painting in December, so I'm feeling less than productive.

One of my small watercolors, "Autumn Sky," was sold at the Essex Art Association's "Chili Cheap & Chilly" sale December 12th.

I'm pleased that one of my pointsettia portraits was selected for the current show at the Lyme Art Association, "Deck the Walls."

Well, Merry Christmas, Everyone, and Happy New Year also! ~Joan