In the Station, Father and Daughter

IN THE STATION

(Father and Daughter)

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

More painting from the train windows.  What is going on here?  Is it a father and daughter?  She looks like she might be guilty about something, head down in a gesture of humility.  What did she do?  He looks straight ahead, unforgiving.   Or is she just examining her new boots?

$150.00

TRUCK DESCENDING

TRUCK DESCENDING

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

Trucks all over the country are bringing us fresh produce and other goods so that we can step into the markets and buy pretty much whatever we want, from clementines in January to caviar from Russia.  Not too many of us are going into the root cellar for our shriveled beets stored from the summer or eating our own canned tomatoes.  We should have the skills that would allow us to survive if the trucks could not bring our food. I wonder if school would feel more relevant to kids if these skills were taught there.

$150.00

HOUSES BY THE TRACKS

HOUSES BY THE TRACKS

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

What is it like to sit on these porches and watch the trains go by?

$150.00

Graffiti and Snow

Graffiti and Snow

Nancy Herman

6' x 8"

oil on canvas board

This building resonates with color. The graffiti seems to be blending with the snow.  Or is the snow creating its own lively statement?

According to Wikipedia, "Both "graffiti" and its occasional singular form "graffito" are from the Italian word graffiato("scratched"). "Graffiti" is applied in art history to works of art produced by scratching a design into a surface. A related term is "sgraffito",^[4] which involves scratching through one layer of pigment to reveal another beneath it. In ancient times graffiti were carved on walls with a sharp object, although sometimes chalk or coal were used. The word originates from Greek γράφειν — graphein — meaning "to write."

$150.00

Taking the Train

GRAFFITI AND OLD FACTORY

Nancy Herman

9" x 12"

oil on canvas board

For the next few days I will be posting paintings done from photos taken from the window of the train from Philadelphia to New York.  For some reason the old factories covered in graffiti, houses by the train tracks, and yards full of old cars fascinate me when I travel by train.  There is something lonely, sad and at the same time reaffirming about what exists by the tracks.  Life goes on in the graffiti and the small often colorful homes.  Things start to blend together as the weather wears away the buildings and even the layers of graffiti become a part of nature's design.  The colorful marks are the flowering of the exuberant youth making themselves known to the world as it goes by in the comfort of the train.

$250.00

Good Samaritans

Yesterday my faith in human kindness was restored.  I foolishly pulled into a spot covered in slush in the middle of a parking area next to Radio Shack.  There was a car in front of me and in order to get out of the spot I had to back up over a lot of mush past two other spots.  Of course I got stuck.  First I put a beach blanket and my scarf - not my best one - under the wheels and tried rocking the car back and forth - no way was I going anywhere!  What to do?

 

I started looking for able bodied boys to ask for a push.  I spied two young men and hailed them, trying to look helpless, which was not difficult, no acting required.  They were reluctant but willing enough.  It was extremely slushy and there was no way to push the car except to get your feet really wet.  They pushed, I tried to gun the car but it simply would not move.  I thanked them and they left as they had to catch the train.  By this time the snow was coming down pretty heavily.  I got out of the car so I could be sure no one parked in back of me because it was pretty obvious the guy in front of me was not going anywhere and there was a pile of snow about three feet high on either side of the parking spaces.  

Someone did pull in back of me and I asked him not to park there as I would then be trapped for sure.  He said he would only be a minute and would help me get out when he returned.  That sounded good to me, as I had no idea what to do next.  I did not even have my phone.

He did return in a few minutes and asked if he could try my car.  He introduced himself as Jamie.  He tried and was unable to move it either.  At this point I spied 5 young men and hailed them across the street with cries of help.  As I get older I find I am much more able to ask for help.  I think when I was younger I would have simply dissolved into tears.   They came over and suggested the largest of them could certainly move the car.  He was a handsome, Lil Abner type, willing and strong.  He and my steadfast helper Jamie tried pushing with me at the wheel - still no dice.  Jamie got behind the wheel and all the boys pushed.  They managed to move the care backward but it still got stuck before it was out.  Lil Abner found a shovel somewhere and one of the other boys canvassed the area trying to find the owner of the car in front of me.  Digging and general good natured trying continued for about 45 minutes.  Two women stopped to ask if they could help.  One offered to sit on the trunk to make it heavier.  Nothing budged.  Jamie used his phone to call Triple A, and while he was talking two men came over to the car.  One had a cigarette dangling from his lips, the other jumped in the car and said,  "I will get you out of here".  I thought it was somewhat ludicrous to think that a guy could move the car while smoking when several young men could not, but was not in a position to complain.  The guy with the cigarette started pushing the car.  The guy in the car managed to move the car backwards and forwards very fast as it had not moved before.  Jamie started pushing with the cigarette guy and low and behold the car moved out of the slush and onto the street with hoots of joy from all.  In all 10 people stopped in the middle of a snow storm to help a perfect stranger.  Now that’s heart warming.

Fire Escape Shadow

FIRE ESCAPE SHADOW

Nancy Herman

9" x 12"

oil on canvas board

I have not been painting as much as usual as I have been working on the documentary for my film making class.  More about that when it is finished. 

Meanwhile, I have been longing to go outside and paint.  Of course the weather is not too hot for that at the moment, although there is a guy in Colorado who is painting in sometimes sub zero weather, four paintings a day....and they are good!  His name is Marc Hanson and here is a link to his blog, Painting My Way Through Life.

There are two key elements about painting outside that are different for me.  One is of course the weather, the constant changing light, the wind, the sun, the bugs, the whole iffiness of the physical conditions.  The other is that when I paint indoors I like to carefully plan what I am choosing to paint and make a careful drawing of it before I begin.   I think this goes back to my earliest childhood experiences of happily filling in the lines of my coloring books with crayolas.

Outside there simply is not time for any of that.  One simply cannot draw everything. It must be a great grab of information, hastily applied.  It is actually a young person's sport but unfortuneately it requires the skill of many years to perfect.  I am neither young nor have I spent the last few years perfecting that skill, although I did paint outdoors for many years,  I never gave myself over to it.  Am I ready to do that now?  Not sure.  This painting was a small start in that direction.  I did not paint outside but I also did not prepare a drawing first, just put the photo on my ipad and painted from that.  I will try that for a while before heading for the great outdoors.  Maybe the snow will melt and the temperatures will improve while I prepare.

Art Room

I have been in Brooklyn visiting children and grandchildren. I came home to find this very nice post about my work in one of my favorite blogs, Taryn Day's The Art Room.
Check it out.
THE ART ROOM