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...

Just Thinkin'

I've been focused on Koda as my subject for the past several studies and small paintings. Some of those will be used for larger paintings but I've come to a point where some ruminating has to take place before those happen. This last(for now anyway), painting of Koda, was finished late last night. I was inspired by a Wyeth watercolor of his dog Nell called "The Kass'. Wyeth's painting is very simple but so poignant..Nell is lying on the floor in front of an imposing Pennsylvania Dutch armoire called a Kass that was given to Wyeth as a gift from a grateful client. Sunlight pours in bathing Nell and just hitting the elegant carved details of the cabinet. My house is less grand but this scene of our great room was just right.
This is 11 x 14 casein on Jack Richeson pastel board.

The Little Chair

The subject of this pastel painting is an antique children's chair that's been in my family for several generations. Many toddlers have climbed onto this pint sized seat including my own grandchildren, but now it's kept in the studio because of it's deteriorating condition. The arched piece that makes up the back rest is one solid piece of wood that's been steamed and bent into that U shape.
This was done on Terra Cotta colored Colourfix paper...some of it shows through in places. I used a spot light hung low to get the long interesting shadows reminiscent of evening light.
If this chair could talk what stories it could tell.... it reminds me of my grandmother. Her parents(my great grand parents) came from Vienna, Austria, and were very poor. Their first five children died before they came to America where they settled in Philadelphia. They were very hard working but the times were formidable for immigrants and they were destitute. There were long periods when the only food they had to eat were potatoes and milk.
It was difficult for my grandmother to talk about her childhood but she felt it was important for us to know about the family's past and where we came from.
By the way...my grandmother was born right after her parents arrived in the US. and she was the first of five siblings who all survived. This was her chair...