Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Alabama

Very important vote in Alabama today.

This is the way the vote went down for the President.  It is interesting to see that the Democratic votes are almost all outside the big cities but clustered together.  I will be riding those rides to see if I can tell how that happened.  Let's see how today's vote compares.
 https://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/president/alabama/

www.nancyherman.com

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Mobile, Alabama #1

Well, the dust has settled on my new life and it is time to get back to work.  After going through all my art work and thinking about what is and is not of value to me into the future I have decided to work on some more pure color pieces in oil and try my hand at water colors again.  Both require drying time so I can alternate between the two.  More about that as I complete some pieces.

In the meantime I have been wondering quite a bit since the election about my country.  I have only visited a couple of states and since I really don't like to travel am unlikely to visit many more. I do like to travel around on Google maps, however, and I am curious.  What can be learned from simply traveling the roads?  I have decided to find out by visiting each state, in alphabetical order and spending a month there, all from the comfort of my sitting room in front of my MAC.  I plan to paint one piece for each state.

Yesterday I began with the roads leading out of Mobile, Alabama.  I found a road called Cottage Hill Road which sounded as if it would lead to something picturesque.  I spent at least 45 minutes on this road and those which followed.  Most of what I saw were shopping malls with CVS, WAWA, WELLS FARGO, TACO BELL , etc.  The housing was one story ranches surrounded by big lawns or developments with names like Quail Crossing.  There was no poverty or great wealth in evidence.  Nothing seemed older than 50 years at the most.  I saw one white person and one brown person and two horses.



Here is the only garden found although in the upscale homes there were definitely signs of lawn maintenance.


                                          

                                            This was the only sign of life and age.




This is how the trip felt to me.


In the Presidential election Mobile voted 55.62% for Trump and 42.01% for Clinton.












Friday, November 10, 2017

SHOP

Looking for the perfect inexpensive but fabulous gift for a child or teenager?  Check out my new SHOP for the holidays. You may find the perfect gift for a teacher, fellow worker or next door neighbor as well.

SHOP

Monday, November 6, 2017

LEAVES

Leaves
Every October it becomes important, no, necessary
to see the leaves turning, to be surrounded
by leaves turning; it’s not just the symbolism,
to confront in the death of the year your death,
one blazing farewell appearance, though the irony 
isn’t lost on you that nature is most seductive
when it’s about to die, flaunting the dazzle of its 
incipient exit, an ending that at least so far 
the effects of human progress (pollution, acid rain)
have not yet frightened you enough to make you believe
is real; that is, you know this ending is a deception
because of course nature is always renewing itself—
the trees don’t die, they just pretend,
go out in style, and return in style: a new style.



LEAVES
Nancy Herman
8" x 6"
oil on canvas board

$125.00

Sunday, November 5, 2017

TABLE FOR ONE


My painting TABLE FOR ONE is used for an article by SaraKay Smullens about, appropriately enough, eating alone.


https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/59fe5a78e4b0d467d4c225b2

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Empty Street in Autumn


 This is my street, Latches Lane, where very often there are no cars.  How lucky I am to live here.


EMPTY STREET IN AUTUMN
Nancy Herman
6" x 8"
oil on canvas board


for sale on Dailypaintworks auction.


Monday, October 30, 2017

Merion Road and Sycamore St.

The colors of autumn have finally arrived in all their glory.  Even though the wind is trying its best to dislodge them today, they are still holding on to be sure they make a glorious send off of the year.  Here at Merion Road and Sycamore there is always a fine display.



MERION AND SYCAMORE
6' x 8"
oil on canvas board
Nancy Herman

auction at Dailypaintworks




Tuesday, October 10, 2017

REACHING


I love the way trees reach for the sky.  Their roots search for water and nutrients and the tips of their branches move eagerly towards the light as they search for their most majestic height.  The natural world tells us everything we need to know about living.



REACHING
Nancy Herman
12" x 9"
Oil on Stretched Canvas

This painting is being auctioned off on DailyPaintworks.  Click here to bid.



Thursday, October 5, 2017

ART CRITICISM

While cleaning out my entire house (4 floors, including basement).  I found a lot of old art and old writing and have decided to write the story of my life with pictures as I produced them for my grandchildren and great grandchildren.  This is a sample that I have changed a bit for the blog.  Unfortunately I don't have the picture described but I do have a small water color that probably came from that time.



ART CRITICISM


FRUIT AND BOTTLE
water color and pencil
Nancy Henrich


When I was around 6 or 7 I took a painting class at the local library.  It was taught by an enthusiastic young man who took a special interest in my "work".  I think I was pretty good at watercolors and able to get the way things looked, sort of, with not too much messiness. This has to be unusual for a child that age.  He insisted I have a "one girl show" at the library to celebrate my “genius” as the local newspaper put it. In that show there was a landscape with only the head of a horse in the middle.  My enthusiastic teacher, who was probably just a young art student, said this was part of my talent. Meaning that I was free to put just the head of the horse in the picture because I knew that was all that was necessary to indicate “horseness”.  I thought that I had only included the head because I had no idea  how to draw the rest of the body.  I didn’t tell him that.  I liked his idea better.I think this small incident pretty much defines for me everything there is to know about what other people think an artist is about and how that influences what artists say to other people about what they do.
But, suppose he was right.   It certainly is true that children, if they have not been overly praised or scolded about their art are freer to do what they want to than they will be as they learn more about what "art" is.  It is also true that the head of a horse does indicate "horsiness" and I felt free to put it in the painting without the body, even though I would have included the body if I knew how to draw it. When an artist in full control of the power of expression chooses to leave something key out of their work to create a certain feeling, that is art.  When someone simply doesn't know how to draw and so only includes what they can do comfortably...not so sure.  A lot of outsider art has this feel to it and often it is very moving.  If this concept is to hold water then art education is a big mistake and everything that is taught except how to wield a brush or sharpen a pencil leads to the burying of "talent".  
What do you think?

Thursday, September 28, 2017

ODE TO AUTUMN

The trees are just beginning to turn but here is what we can look forward to.  Plenty of color in store for the months ahead.  This is a juicy painting that I really like but cannot find a spot for in my new digs.



ODE TO AUTUMN
Nancy Herman
oil on stretched canvas
10.75" x 13.75"



inset ODE TO AUTUMN

If you are interested in this one it is $250.00.  

Go to this link:
http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/nancy-herman/ode-to-autumn/625929

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Barnes in Winter

If you are wondering where I have been for the past month (and I hope you are).  I have been down with a bout of pneumonia.  That expression is perfect for the experience.  I definitely was way down in spirits and it was a bout.  First I would win a round and then the old pneumonia would come back and knock me down again.  After more than a month of this I finally felt like myself yesterday and today so I guess I am the winner.  Won't know for sure until a chest X-ray on October 4th.

Meanwhile I have had a lot of time to think about what I would do when I felt like doing anything again and I have planed a whole new body of work.  Of course planning and actually doing are  two very different matters.  But as soon as I can make some space in my studio I will begin.  In the meantime I am clearing out older work to make room for the new.  I found this painting of the old Barnes foundation and a perfect frame for it while sorting through everything to build new shelves.  It can sit on a table as it has a flap on the back or of course hang on the wall.


SNOWY OLD BARNES
Nancy Herman
5" x 7"
oil on canvas board


SOLD
Buy now
$100.00
PayPal buttons are not working so let me know if you want this painting.

Monday, August 28, 2017

Light Through the Trees

Hi,
Back from a sojourn in Brooklyn where my 5 year old granddaughter took my hand and led me to the playground ten or more blocks away down busy streets, telling me when it was safe to cross the street.  AND I got to hold my great granddaughter, Simone, for the first time.  It was a thrill a minute!!!

Anyway back to reality and the ongoing sale of my paintings which feel like my children sometimes but definitely don't hold a candle to the real thing.

Here is the latest $50.00 special.  I love the way the branches seem to come together as if meeting for a confab while all the leaves catch the light.


LIGHT THROUGH THE LEAVES
Nancy Herman
8" x 10"
oil on stretched canvas

$50.00



Thursday, August 17, 2017

BEFORE THE SNOW

More of my freshly painted old canvases this week.  This painting feels to me as if it is mid Autumn but there is a heaviness in the air and it smells like snow is coming.


SNOW IS COMING
Nancy Herman
Oil on stretched canvas
12" x 12"

$50.00




Thursday, August 10, 2017

FOGGY EARLY FALL

This painting feels to me like one of those days in early fall when the weather is still warm but the fog rolls in and there is a hint of smoke in the air.  Maybe it's back to school with your new plaid skirt on or out in the garden raking the first leaves, but whatever, everything feels right with the world. 


FOGGY EARLY FALL
Nancy Herman
12" x 12"
oil on stretched canvas

$50.00




Wednesday, August 9, 2017

THREE POPPIES


Every spring I wait with bated breath for the appearance of my Poppies. 
 (By the way this is the only way we use the word bate these days.  It comes from "abate" to hold back.  Since I am a terrible speller I looked up the spelling to be sure and found this funny little poem that uses the incorrect spelling of the word to good "effect"...and why is it not "affect"?  Well I think because in this case it is a noun.)

Geoffrey Taylor
Cruel, Clever Cat, 1933
Sally, having swallowed cheese
Directs down holes the scented breeze
Enticing thus with baited breath
Nice mice to an untimely death.
So much for the grammar discussion.  Here is one of my favorite Poppy paintings.  I recently found a painting done by my grandmother of Poppies so I suppose you could say Poppy painting runs in the family.



THREE POPPIES
Nancy Herman
12" x 16"
oil on stretched canvas


close up
THREE POPPIES
SOLD


$75.00







Tuesday, August 8, 2017

RED MAPLES AND FOR GET ME NOTS

For Get Me Nots make sure you don't forget them by appearing every spring whether summoned or not.  I love their cheery blueness and welcome them even though they are never exactly where they were intended.  They have a way of their own which makes them truly unforgettable.  

The paintings I am posting lately began years ago and have been updated recently, probably yesterday or the day before.  I am having fun digging in to the old paint to bring it new life.



RED MAPLES AND FOR GET ME NOTS
Nancy Herman
12" x 12"
oil on stretched canvas

$50.00







Monday, August 7, 2017

Korean Lilacs and Katsura

Here are a couple of immigrants who have settled in to a glorious existence in my garden.  They get along very well in this country and certainly reward all efforts on their behalf with show after show of exuberant beauty.





KOREAN LILACS AND JAPANESE KATSURA TREE
Nancy Herman
12" x 12"
oil on stretched canvas



inset Lilacs
SOLD

$50.00


Friday, August 4, 2017

Two Katsuras

Today's bargain is an oil sketch done outside of my two Katsura trees.  These are Japanese trees that span a huge portion of my backyard.  They are  male and  female and they make plenty of seedlings that I nurture.  I am happy to share these little trees with anyone with a large nice wet place to plant them.  I believe the parents are around 150 years old.



TWO KATSURAS
11" x 13"
Nancy Herman
oil on stretched canvas




SOLD





Thursday, August 3, 2017

FORSYTHIA AT SAINT JOE'S

One of the things I look forward to in the early spring is the lively dancing Forsythia pushing itself joyfully around corners and through dense brush.  One place where there is no contest for its spirited display is this huge hedge bordering a dorm at Saint Joseph's University campus which is on my dog walking route. Here it gets a beautiful dark green background of towering pine trees.





FORSYTHIA AT ST. JOE'S
Nancy Herman
12" x 12"
oil on stretched canvas




inset FORSYTHIA AT ST. JOE'S

$50.00






Wednesday, August 2, 2017

ROSES AND CLEMATIS

A little earlier in the season these beauties were gracing my garden.  Another bargain for those who love summer and all its delights.  As you can see by the inset there is a lot of juicy paint and carving out in this one.





ROSES AND CLEMATIS
Nancy Herman
12" x 12"
oil on stretched canvas



inset ROSES AND CLEMATIS

$50.00





Tuesday, August 1, 2017

FESTIVE GARDEN


FESTIVE GARDEN
12' x 12"
oil on stretched canvas

After many months of silence I am back with a lot of bargains.  I have been cleaning out my house in order to make room for my daughter and son in law who are moving in. 45 or so years of collecting and making art willy nilly left me with stuff everywhere that has needed to be sorted through and disposed of.  I have saved some paintings but must make room for new art so I will be offering some goodies at bargain prices for the next couple of weeks.

Here is one that I have always enjoyed.

SOLD
$50.00
http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/nancy-herman/festive-garden/614940

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

IN PRAISE OF WEEDS

Spring is finally here and things are beginning to burst forth in all their glory.  Some of the first beauties to arrive are the weeds.  The weeds that like the conditions in the lawn and can get out there and bloom and go to seed before the first mow have a permanent place in my lawn and my heart.  Here are just a few.  Weeds are, after all, the easiest plants to grow.  Whatever green is left over after they bloom is a pleasant variation in the lawn.



Marsh Marigold


Veronica


Violets

Sunday, April 2, 2017

newsletter with pictures hopefully

Let's try this again for some reason the pictures did come through.

Here is a copy of my monthly newsletter if you want to be on my list please let me know.  I visit an art exhibit and report on what I find there.

On the very last day of March a couple of good friends rousted me out of my winter torpor to see the show at the Brandywine Museum, From Homer to Hopper: Experiment and Ingenuity in American Art. 

It was pouring rain so the trip was a bit hazardous but the company was enthusiastic and we made it there in one piece. After the splashing dash to the Museum door it was good to be inside with nothing but art to fill our senses for a few hours.

The Brandywine is a beautiful small museum rising majestically from the Brandywine River.
It is made of a rich combination of stone, brick, old sturdy wood, and glass.  The walking paths are made of lovely cobble stones with some simple geometric designs inserted here and there.  Plenty to appreciate.  I look forward to coming back on a beautiful day to walk around and enjoy the surroundings and the sculptures nestled on the banks of the river.





The Museum was built in 1971. The basic structure was the old Hoffman’s grist mill and the restoration is lovely.  The combination of old and new is very well handled in the architecture of the inside as well as the outside of the building.  There is a fine respect for materials, with huge old beams made of wood holding up the spaces in one part of the galleries and large swaths of glass looking out over the river in other parts.   The history of the Brandywine Conservancy is very interesting 
http://www.brandywine.org/brandywine/about/our-history.  This group of forward looking responsible citizens really have made a fine contribution to the area by placing 62,000 acres under conservation easements!

The Museum is dedicated to the work of the Wyeths.  A more thorough look at that collection will have to wait for another day.  We did enjoy a walk through some of the collection and were once again thrilled by the skill of the N.C. Wyeth’s illustrations.  I will return some day to tour his home and Andrew Wyeth’s farm.

The show we came to see from the Philips collection was very inspiring.  It is a small show which suits me fine as I much prefer lingering over my favorite paintings and not worrying that I am missing something.  I had not seen many of the paintings before in reproduction which was a thrill.  It is so exciting to see a work of one of your favorite artists for the first time in person. 

The first painting in the show is a dark beauty by Albert Pinkham Ryder, The Moonlit Cove which was actually in the Armory Show.  I’m never sure whether the cracks in old paintings add or subtract from their beauty.  Certainly they were not intended by the artist and because of them we will never know exactly what texture was intended.  I do think in this case the crackles add to the mystery of this painting as they say something about age and enduring feeling.



Albert Pinkham Ryder
The Cove

The next painting that caught my eye was this interesting piece by Augustus Vincent Tack, who I must admit I never heard of before.  It is the texture here that drew me in again.  The paint seems to be brushed over underpainting in some places and thick in others but the overall affect of the textures and the color is somehow mesmerizing.  Apparently Tack had some spiritualist leanings so perhaps that’s what comes through.



Ausgustus Vincent Tack
CANYON



Close up of CANYON

This Marsden Hartley, one of my favorite artists, was new to me.  It is so interesting the way the mind and heart of an artist shows in every work and, like composers, it is often possible from just a few notes or a few brushstrokes to tell who the artist is. Hartley’s luscious paint and simple shapes could belong to no one else.


WILD ROSES
Marsden Hartley

This next painting, RED SUN, by Arthur Dove is luminous when seen in person.  It is reproduced very large on a wall as one enters the exhibit and in that version it has absolutely no life at all.  
This may have to do with the quality of the reproduction or the fact that paintings were created to be a certain size and when that is changed they loose their reason for being.




RED SUN
Arthur Dove

Horace Pippin’s, DOMINO PLAYERS hit the spot- pun intended.  I love the play of black and white throughout the painting with just a splash of red here and there.  It looks like Horace had a lot of fun with this one.  I wonder if he is the young boy staring out at us.




THE DOMINO PLAYERS
Horace Pippin


THE DOMINO PLAYERS
inset

This painting by Hopper was also reproduced large on the wall outside the show and again suffered from being stretched. Like so many of Hopper’s paintings a solitary figure contemplates something and we are moved.  Why is he sitting alone on Sunday and why does the painting stir so many lonely personal moments?  There is also a Hopper painting of a bridge underpass in the show that I will leave you to discover for yourself.  I had never seen it before and found it haunting.


SUNDAY
Edward Hopper

The month of March found me continuing to try to diminish my footprint by getting rid of things I no longer need or want.  I like hats.  I don’t always wear them but I like to imagine wearing them various places.  I have too many and some are very large.  Obviously they must go, so I decided to see if someone else would like to imagine themselves wearing my hats and put them on eBay.  So I took several selfies of myself in the hats.  Every time I looked at these pictures I broke out laughing.  So I decided to ham it up, add some make up to the selfies in photoshop, and make a video set to music.   When I found this piece sung by Peggy Lee I knew I was on to the essence of my hat shedding experience.  I hope you get a kick out of it too.

I am working on adding shops to my website so check it out.  You never know what will be up there as I am adding everyday.

Thanks for tuning in.
See you next month or actually this month.
Best,
Nancy