Artists' Gathering

          I am excited to be meeting with my colleagues at Maple & Main Gallery of Fine Art tonight for an evening of socializing.  Up until now, we have all been working very hard to make the gallery the success it is.  We have had little enough time to BE with each other and learn more about each other.  It's a potluck supper, so I'm looking forward to some yummy treats.  I'm taking Swedish meatballs and a winter squash bisque.  On a cold night like tonight, I thought those might be warming.

          Anyway, I'll be telling my artist friends about the paintings that I have in the current show. I've already shown you "The Guardian," a 16 x 20" oil of this ancient tree in Old Lyme. Many artists seem to hesitate to paint too much green, but I love it; it was my dad's favorite color, so perhaps that's one reason I enjoy using it.

          Also in this show is "Lupine, Sunset Hill," another 16 x 20" oil on canvas, which I began in June and finished after we returned home.  Sunset Hill, New Hampshire, has an annual Lupine Festival, and I can understand why:  the fields and roadsides are covered with these incredibly beautiful flowers.  They remind me of Barbara Cooney's children's book about Miss Rumphius, who--in the manner of Johnny Appleseed--is said to have planted lupine seeds all up and down the coast of Maine.  Maybe these in New Hampshire are relatives of those in the Granite State's neighbor to the east.

          It wouldn't be a holiday show for me, if I didn't have a  "Pointsettia" painting to show.  As anyone who knows me will tell you, I LOVE FLOWERS--all kinds from tiny bluets in the spring to huge red (or white, or pink, or....) pointsettia blossoms in December.  This is a 4 x 6" oil on canvas.

          Which brings me to the fourth painting I have in the show:  our "Christmas Tree" from last year.  I had so much fun painting it in the semi-darkness of our living room, lit just by the bulbs on the tree.   The finished piece is a 16 x 12" oil on canvas.  It is a tree much like those of my childhood, except the lights are the new energy-saving tiny ones, not the big glass bulbs that my mom and dad used.  Like the trees of my past, all the colors of the rainbow are represented.  No white lights for me.  White lights are classy, but colored lights on Christmas trees bring happy memories flooding back.  (Remember the lights that bubbled?  We never had them, but I always thought THEY were the cat's meow!)  
          Well, we put the Christmas tree up yesterday and strung the lights.  Only a few ornaments are on it so far.  Time to add a few before I head out to the festivities at the gallery.  Merry Christmas, everyone. 

Belated Thanksgiving Wishes to ALL!

This has been such an amazing Thanksgiving weekend for me.

To begin with, our Thanksgiving dinner was incredible because our son and daughter-in-law knocked themselves out to provide a delicious feast. I am so thankful for both of them and the joy they have brought into our lives. Here are  pictures I took of Jeff and Jennifer with "Tom," who happened to be four-legged this year thanks to the ingenious and very thoughtful donation of two extra legs by Jen's dad!



Messerschmidt's Pond III, oil,  10" x 20"

 In addition to being grateful for a relaxing Thanksgiving Day with family and friends, I am also very thankful this weekend for the success I've been fortunate enough to enjoy through the sale of two pieces of my art.

On Wednesday, I learned that my painting "Messerschmidt's Pond III" will be purchased on Monday when the new owners return from the Cape to claim it. It is always such a joy to me when someone loves one of my paintings the way I love the LOCATION in which I was painting.


Doreen's Garden, oil, 6" x 12"



Then today, I was delighted to learn that my most recent painting, "Doreen's Garden," will be purchased by the owner of the garden herself!   A photo Doreen had taken last summer of the phlox in her garden was so beautiful that I wanted to try to capture it in oils.  Doreen and her husband both think that  I have, which makes me VERY pleased.

I'm no Peter Poskas, but I do love Connecticut farms!

I am so grateful to Jay Babina of the Madison Art Society for introducing me to Peter Poskas yesterday.  Six of Mr. Poskas's landscape paintings are available for sale at the Cooley Gallery in Old Lyme, Connecticut, for $25,000 each--and I can see why.  They evoke the spirit of  typical Connecticut farms, which unfortunately seem to be growing fewer each year.  Here is the link that Jay sent me.  If you to visit this website, I suspect you'll be as overwhelmed as I with the incredible beauty of these landscapes: 

http://www.cooleygallery.com/american-paintings-new-acq.htm

I was so excited to see these paintings that I took Jay's suggestion to look up Peter Poskas's book, The Illuminated Landscape.  I found it on line at Amazon.com last evening and just got an email from them saying that it's been shipped already! I  can't wait till my copy arrives.  I know I'll be in for a treat!  

A few weeks ago I spent two days painting at Tiffany Farm in Old Lyme.  This is the result.

If you are interested in this 10" x 20" oil on stretched canvas, please contact me.

I'd like to go back to Tiffany's and repaint this scene after I have a chance to read Mr. Poskas's Illuminated Landscape.

YOU ARE INVITED to the Opening of Maple & Main Gallery of Fine Art. . . .

. . . .next Friday, the 17th of September,  at 5:00 o'clock in Chester, Connecticut. 

In celebration of "Come Home To Chester" weekend, we will open our doors to the public for the first time!   More than thirty artists have gathered together to create both a showplace of their works as well as a studio in which to share their knowledge and expertise.

....It's only one week from today!  So, I hope you've put the date on your calendar. 

Come tour the new gallery, enjoy

the art, meet the artists, share some delectables, and visit the

                                                            studio and classroom space. 

                                                            Some of my latest work will be on

                                                            display.  See you then.

Please visit http://www.mapleandmaingallery.com/.