Girls Girls Girls

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our next granddaughter and we're just as excited about this little one as we were the first. We had three robust boys in our family..... so girly stuff was not in the picture for quite some time.(I was out numbered on all fronts believe me) It was a huge relief to me when more women finally came onto the scene. First came the three daughters in law and then granddaughters. At last I could commiserate with family members who understood and appreciated the female perspective! The men and boys remain forever perplexed by us...and we them.

Here are two paintings of granddaughters Sydney and Madeline..Kelsey's painting is a work in progress and will be posted when complete. She is tall and lovely and looking forward to being the big sister. She'll be taking riding lessons this summer...horses, horses, horses..
Sydney, with golden hair flowing and wearing her favorite sunglasses looks like a glamour queen in this painting. She's a beauty and so sweet to her little brother.

Madeline seems pensive and thoughtful as a three year old in the graphite drawing..She's now 8 and skis like a champion.

The boys deserve attention so paintings of them are on the way. These aren't for sale...just wanted to show off the girls....

Instead of April

This painting was posted a short time ago on the blogg called April Bouquet..not quite finished. Here it is all done. I changed the rose bud blossoms to a soft green which is closer to the actual hue..this also breaks up all of the oranges that were in the previous image. I added a lone purple blossom on the left for the same reason and to give it balance compositionally.

I have three new paintings for the UMVA show which is coming up in less than a month..Now to choose frames that will tie them all together..an interesting process in itself.

The Maine Discovery Museum in Bangor has asked me to participate again in their annual fall auction called, "Save Me a Seat". Last year the beautiful bench my son and I collaberated on got the top price in the auction. This year the subject is tables...Time to start thinking about the theme for that...I really enjoy this kind of challenge....and deadlines are a good thing for artists...

Heading Home-Pownal

I've passed this farm a million times since we moved to this area over 30 years ago. It's a local landmark known as the Knight Farm and is only a few miles from our house. Everday this property changes with the light and the seasons...stoic, vigilant, timeless..a welcoming facade that sits right next to the road as you come up over the hill then down to the center of town.

Sweeping meadows drop down behind it and the attached barn is still straight and impressive. Once a successful working farm the majority of the land was recently donated by the family to a Conservation Land Trust and is now preserved for the public to use for all kinds of recreation and also abuts a state park. The fields are cut and baled every year and small herds of deer often graze there at night. Late one rainy night a large buck ran out in front of my truck, then bounded across the road after just knicking my rear view mirror.

The setting sun hit the windows and car just right and luckily we had the camera with us..I had to paint it..the sky was a million colors..yellow, orange, all kinds of blue...with thin feathery clouds streaking across. A magical moment to me.

This is a study in casein...11 x 14 on prepared plywood.

Where There's Hope There's Art

The Union of Maine Visual Artists is Maine's largest single visual art organization in the state with over 350 members in three regional chapters. This year there's a big member show coming up at Freeport Square Gallery called, "Where There's Hope There's Art", which opens on May 19 and runs through Memorial Day weekend. So far there are 40 artists from all three chapters in the show.

As the show organizer I am very excited to bring you a few of the works that are in this tremendous exhibition. These talented artists prove beyond a doubt that the creative spirit is alive and well here in Maine. These artists have given permission to use their images for PR..so you get a sneak preview of coming attractions. The work you see here is by, Maria Castellano-Usery of Brunswick, Ken Sahr of Northeast Harbor, and Nicole Herz. There are photographers, sculptors and mixed media artists as well.

All art will be for sale and there's an artist reception(party ..and yes, you can come) on May 24 at the gallery between 4-6 p.m..

There will be another show update on this blog one more time before the show begins.

By the way...Board Members of this organization have spent the past several years producing seven documentaries called the Maine Masters Series which explore the lives and work of significant Maine artists such as Dahlov Ipcar(my favorite), Stephan Pace and Alan Magee to name a few. There are several more documentaries in production stages as well. The UMVA recently received a grant from the Maine Arts Commission to send DVDs of the documentaries to all 185 school systems in the state. The films have been shown nationwide on PBS too. To find out more about the UMVA go to

http://www.umvaonline.org/ and http://www.mainemasters.com/

April Bouquet

The weather and scenery haven't provided much in the way of inspiration lately. The landscape is gray and muddy, downright depressing if you ask me..so in lieu of that I decided to set up a colorful still life in my studio. A bouquet of yellow roses edged with red, together with pinkish purple chrysanthemums looked so lively and fresh..it was just the thing. The Chinese bowl lined with a lime green glaze adds an interesting jolt of color and the carved cat gives a little twist.

I prefer painting on hard panels as opposed to canvas and this is a 17 x 16 piece of prepared plywood. I covered it with Colourfix terra cotta primer too which adds so much depth and richness to the glazes. I'm still working with casein and acrylic..just love the earthy colors and wet, swishy medium..pastels will have to wait.

This isn't quite finished yet..but it's far enough along so that I can step back for a few days and get a fresh perspective on the final touches. I'll post this again when it's done.