Diane Aeschliman Demonstration at Maple & Main

Diane Aeschliman gave a seemingly effortless demonstration of portrait painting last night at the Maple & Main Gallery of Fine Art in Chester, Connecticut.  Formerly a professor at Lyme Academy of Art in Old Lyme, Connecticut, Diane is one of the other artist-owners of our new gallery.  She showed how with only turpentine and burnt sienna to use "The Grisaille" approach.  This method of creating a tonal painting using one color is based on centuries of classical painting.  By working thin transparent paint over a white ground, the artist allows light to emanate through the layers, producing a painting that glows. 

In two and one half hours, Diane painted not just ONE portrait, but TWO!  Isihita Bandyo, another artist-owner of Maple & Main, was our first model.  I'm sure when Ishita got home last night, her husband was thrilled to see the incredibly beautiful portrait of his vivacious wife.  And I bet Ishita's daughter was excited this morning to wake up and see "Mommy" in a painting. 

Diane's second portrait was of Mike, the photographer who had come to take photos for the Valley Courier newspaper.  He was an excellent model.  Watching his face appear out of the whiteness of Diane's canvas was awe-inspiring.  His portrait reminded me of one that Ghirlandaio might have painted of Lorenzo de' Medici in the fifteenth century.  Exquisite!

No one who came to the Gallery last night was disappointed.  Diane's demo was awesome!  Thanks, Diane!

Tuesday evenings in January, I will be taking Diane's first set of classes at the Gallery:  Introduction to Figure and Head Drawing.  I can't think of a better way to start the New Year!

Ishita's Thoughts on Immortality and Happy Halloween! :-)

Immortality is not a topic I would have thought I'd be writing about on my blog today; however, Ishita Bandyo's blog post which I just read has got me thinking about it.  I was struck by what she said:

"But after thinking about it long and hard, it turned out that all I want to do with my art is to leave a part of myself in this world. Most of us just leave dust and ash but I want to leave a part of my soul in this world. I think immortality is not living forever physically, but leaving a part of our psyche. If another person feels connected to my art then I live through them. All who had left a mark on this world through their art are immortal." (see www.ishitabandyo.com.)

In trying to put into writing what MY art--and the process of creating it--means to me, I have struggled to express myself clearly. It DOES have something to do with IMMORTALITY, but in a different way than Ishita's, perhaps. I want people to look at my paintings and see what I see: the beauty that is all around me. Ultimately, I hope that people who enjoy my paintings will realize that beauty is all around THEM too and appreciate this gift we are all given.

Tonight's All Hallow's Eve--or Halloween, so Happy Halloween Everyone!   We've had a total of eight kids come Trick-or-Treating so far tonight. Guess it's getting too late for many more.

However, Friday night Maple & Main Gallery of Fine Art joined with other businesses in downtown Chester to host a parade of Trick-or-Treaters.  What fun!  Barbara Rossito took some GREAT photos of the good time which was had by all.

This witch was not one of them!  (I have difficulty believing that my own daughter can look this scary!)

Ishita, Barbara, and I are members of Maple and Main Gallery of Fine Art in Chester, Connecticut.  Please visit the gallery website to get a taste of our work: http://mapleandmaingallery.com.