"Home Grown" Exhibition

I'm happy to be participating in Skyline Farm and Carriage Museum's Annual Fall Art Show that is coming up right away. The 2010 show is titled, "Home Grown" and features painters, photographers, sculptors and craftspeople from the great state of Maine. As an added bonus Skyline Farm is collaborating with Chef Jeff Landry of the 'Farmer’s Table' restaurant in Portland. He is generously giving his time and talent to present a fabulous Harvest Dinner in the Skyline Farm Museum Exhibition Hall. Jeff will be preparing a feast of foods harvested within 25 miles of the farm. Jeff Landry arrived on the Portland dining scene when he opened the popular restaurant ‘Cinque Terre’ where he served as Executive Chef. He has also served as Executive Chef at ‘Eve’s at the Garden’ at the Portland Harbor Hotel and had a long relationship with the Harraseeket Inn in Freeport. Jeff is dedicated to serving local, organically-produced meals at the 'Farmer's Table' and in 2006, he was awarded Maine’s "Chef of the Year" by the Maine Restaurant Association. He's been actively involved in fund raisers for “Share the Strength”, a nonprofit organization which strives to end childhood hunger. As you can tell from this brief bio, Jeff is a very generous and talented person who believes in giving back to the community. The menu looks scrumptious and will feature mead, beer, wine, artisan cheeses, organic meat, poultry and fresh vegetables made or grown in Maine.
Some of the victual providers will be on hand to talk about their locally made products.

The Fine Art & Crafts Show will be on view the evening of the dinner on September 25, but the artist opening reception is October 2 from 5-7. Throughout the show, which ends on Dec. 4, many weekends will feature artisan demonstrations, a class or two, and guest musicians!

Stop in to meet the artists and see what Maine has to offer. There will be a silent auction of donated items to bid on as well...just in time for your holiday entertaining or gift giving. For more info http://www.skylinefarm.org/

"The Green Monster" is one of several paintings I'll be putting in the show. 20 x 20 pastel on prepared archival foam core. I hope to see you there!

The gift of sight

This is for my artist friend Gerry Merriman. Gerry and I met while I was managing a small shop in Kennebunk one summer several years ago. Her sister Jane worked in the office of a survey company in the same building and she stopped in one day to tell me that her sister was an artist and made 'flower paintings'. Jane said her sister Gerry was a very prolific painter...with flowers, that is, and that she had hundreds of images of portraits, figures, landscapes, still lifes, ........all comprised of flower petals, leaves, stems, buds etc. She wondered if I would take some for the shop.
Jane mentioned that Gerry had diabetes since she was 12 and because of that had related health issues but continued to paint and create regardless. Needless to say I wanted to meet her and see her work.
Gerry came in the next day and we hit it off immediately! Gerry is vivacious, funny and passionate about her work. Her astonishing portfolio literally consists of book after book of her flower paintings...hundreds of beautiful works. The originals are small...done on 5 x 7 card stock. When finished they are photoed and printed on archival papers. Most images are enlarged to 8 x 10..some are much larger. I own about 10 from notecard size to poster. The images become even more powerful the bigger they are.
Gerry was on the verge of loosing her sight because of diabetes but she received a series of new laser treatments that prevented that from happening. Her short compelling testimony is on the link provided here..and also some of her work. http://wods.radio.com/2010/06/14/mass-eye-ear-patient-testimonials-gerry/
I am so grateful for the special care she's received and look forward to seeing many new 'flower paintings'.

Brick Store Museum

Today was a glorious day here in southern Maine weather wise. No way was I staying inside to do chores or anything else! My husband had a real estate closing(Yay Steve!) in Kennebunk so I decided to tag along for the ride. Kennebunk's Main St. is still a charming little village area dotted with locally owned shops and businesses, so while Steve took care of business I took a walk. After browsing through a lovely beautique filled with stunning garden and home accessories(I wanted one of everything) I headed up to The Brick Store Museum a few blocks away. The Pastel Painters of Maine 11th International Juried Show will be exhibited there from May 22-June 13 and I wanted to check out the gallery space. I introduced myself to two staff members who just happened to be clearing out for the PPoM exhibition. They were excited about the show coming into the museum which is turning over three rooms for the 60 pastel paintings from all over the US. I'm thrilled to be included in this year's show too!

I wandered through some of the permanent collection and then headed outside to enjoy the garden behind the museum. Spurred on and inspired by a group of plein air painters on my Facebook page (you know who you are)I decided to bring my sketchbook with me just in case...
Steve's meeting would end soon so I drew quickly. The private garden is tucked behind the three connected museum buildings offering visitors a place of rest and contemplation away from busy Main St. I sketched these original old windows and shutters because I liked the shapes and cast shadows.

I'll post one more announcement about the show just before it opens with a reception May 22 4-6 p.m at the museum.

For more info about PPoM and the show http://www.pastelpaintersofmaine.com/

Denzel

This is one of my first pastel portraits and was done in 1997....13 years ago. Denzel was a Hanovarian- Thoroughbred cross owned by a woman whom I worked for and I did this in exchange for some riding lessons. I think I got the better deal in the arrangement. Denzel's owner Carol, is a superb horsewoman and a very good teacher. I made some breakthroughs while riding for her that I will always remember. Carol specializes in Dressage and still runs her training and breeding facility in a neighboring town. It was inspiring to watch her ride(awesome in fact) and I stopped many times while doing barn chores to catch her during schooling sessions. She had a retired thoroughbred named Gulliver who had competed at Grand Prix level(Olympic) in Germany. "Gully" as he was known, was aged and arthritic but he really loved his job and would perform upper level movements, at the ripe old age of 27, for Carol, that astonished everyone. Carol used Gully as a schooling horse and I can tell you he scared the pants off me a few times during my lessons...he was a master.

It's always interesting to go back and look over past work to see if there is progress in my painting. Just like riding, there are breakthroughs, plateaus and "Gullys".

Red Sky at Night

Casco Bay and Portland Harbor in particular are beautiful in all seasons but summer to me is best for sunsets. Sometimes the cloud formations and brilliant orange tinged skies of sundown provide great opportunities for painting inspiration.

This pastel painting was done a number of years ago as a commision for a client who spent many summers on Peaks Island which sits just a short distance from Portland's shore. The client's mother owned a small cottage just up the hill from the ferry landing wharf. He recalled many great memories of spectacular evening scenes just like this and wanted to preserve it in a painting. The view here is from the island facing west to Portland Harbor.

Fly Away

A few years ago a Robin built a nest on a second story windowsill of the gallery I manage. Incredibly the nest was positioned right up against the glass. My crew and I were astonished that a bird would pick such an exposed spot to rear her young. Four beautiful blue eggs were laid and were on view for everyone who came into the gallery. Fearing that the nest would be abandoned I covered the glass with cardboard and left it there for a month. To our great disappointment the window covering wasn't enough to prevent that from happening.. and the baby Robins that we so anticipated were not to be. Through the summer we watched helplessly as the eggs disappeared one by one, but the sturdy little nest stayed perched on the ledge right through a very snowy Maine winter and then into spring, when a Robin, maybe the same one?... returned and lined it neatly with a round piece of plastic. All the edges were tucked sweetly into the bottom of the nest in preparation for the next set of blue eggs, but there were only three this time around. History has a way of repeating itself....

This pastel painting is 17.5 x 19.5 and for sale. Please inquire.

The Green Monster

This may seem strange but ever since we bought this funny little green toy for our dog Koda I've wanted to include it in painting. It was her favorite as a pup but we took it away because it started to fall apart. I saved it just for this..The weird shape and eyes really get me.

Koda has since moved on to more exciting oral fixation playthings such as Steve's leather mocassins, my shoes and art magazines. If we leave her home alone she'll gather them all up and pile them on her bed until we return. We also have a huge green tennis ball collection for her scattered throughout the house. Koda can bounce and catch a ball multiple times and will do it in front of us to signal "Playtime! Come on you two..liven up!"

Koda makes a great subject and she has very expressive eyes. Sometimes when she narrows them they look very exotic...almost sexy.

This is another pastel painting at 20 x 20 and was photoed with a flash so it appears pixallized and too red. Pastels are difficult to photo because some pigments reflect the light...like little mirrors.

All my work is for sale..except maybe this one.