YELLOW WALL

YELLOW WALL

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

This is the last painting from the Cynwyd Trail for now.  I know I will be returning to these close-ups of Manayunk from the trail sooner or later as I love the shapes created by the roof tops. While I am painting them I imagine living in these houses, which adds to the fun.  Everything looks so cheery on this sunny afternoon but what is it really like to live there?

$125.00

SOLD

UNDER THE BRIDGE

UNDER THE BRIDGE

Nancy Herman

8" x 6"

oil on canvas board

This week I am continue chronicling my stroll on the Cynwyd Heritage Trail.  I noticed while I was walking that, although I was going through areas that I probably knew well from the street, I was in a completely different world here on the trail with nothing to distract me from the lovely patterns the light made on the surroundings.  I believe from the map (click this link) that this is the Belmont Ave bridge, but as you can tell you certainly would never know it from this position.  How easily our perceptions can be changed if we are able to look at things from a different point of view.

LIGHT IN THE MORNING FOG

LIGHT IN THE MORNING FOG

Nancy Herman

8" x 6"

oil on canvas board

I love the early morning just as the world is waking up.  The night light is still on and the fog has not lifted on this balmy November day in Merion.

$125.00

LIFEGUARDS

LIFEGUARDS

Nancy Herman

8" x 6"

oil on canvas

Growing up going to the shore every summer I was a little in love with one life guard after another.  That athletic, tanned, manhood keeping everyone safe from the 'undertoad' got my rapt attention every time.  Finally, when I was 16, I was invited to the Life Guard's Ball by one of these God's of the beach.

I thought that experience, which was more of a wrestling match than a ball, had cured me of this fascination forever.  However, while thinking about this painting, I realized I actually married a swimmer who was at one time a Life Guard. 

$125.00

Butterfly Bush and Bee Balm

BUTTERFLY BUSH AND BEE BALM

Nancy Herman

12" x 9"

oil on canvas board

Summer is in its full glory in my garden at the moment.  Unfortunately it is so hot that it is hard to really enjoy it.  Luckily I can still paint in my air conditioned studio and enjoy the colors and textures at a remove from the actual garden, which is steaming and full of insects who are out for blood.

Nature is beautiful and treacherous.  The human race has gone overboard to surpress and control nature for our own pleasure and safety.  We do whatever we can to change things to suit ourselves without suffient reflection about what the chain reaction of these changes will mean to ourselves and other creatures in the long run.  As a result there is very often not a 'long run' for many species and it may be our own survival will go the way of so many other forms of life.

In the meantime we have art and music to feed our spirit when nature is too harsh and we want to sit back and pretend all is well.

$200.00

Framed or not

Unframed $200.00 Framed $250.00

Farm Borders

FARM BORDERS

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

While painting this I got to thinking about Robert Frost's poem MENDING WALL that contains the phrase, "good fences make good neighbors".  In the poem Frost is pondering whether that old proverb is indeed true and wondering what good it does to rebuild the stone wall between he and his neighbor every year.  

While searching for an attractive version of the poem on line, I found this article about how, in fact, good fences do actually make people more comfortable with their differences.  Very interesting.  

See Dailypaintworks auction

OLD BARN

OLD BARN

Nancy Herman

8" x 6"

oil on canvas board

This beautiful old barn was the last property I visited  in the PAINT IN THE GARDEN series sponsored by the Wayne art center.  It is very near the center of Wayne yet when you are there it feels as if you are in the deep country.

$125.00

There was a festive wedding in the family the week before last, so I was not in the studio. Thus no paintings this week.

But I have not been idle this week and will be posting paintings next week again. 

In the meantime here is something to take your mind off the heat.  In the middle of last winter I would never have thought I would look back on that cold with a certain bit of nostalgia but I was wrong.

Remember?

WINTER

HOLLYHOCKS #2

HOLLYHOCKS #2

Nancy Herman

8" x 6"

oil on canvas

These Hollyhocks look almost completely black until the sun comes around to the west and seeps through in the dappled shade.  Then they turn a rich shade of red wine.  The garden is an ever changing marvel of lighting effects for the patient eye.

$125.00 

LARKSPUR

You can't beat the beautiful Larkspur for color in June.  I have a bed of these lovely delicate flowers that reseed on their own, crowd out competitors and in general are a reliable joy.  If you live in the area and want seeds from them let me know.

ALLIUM AND SPIREA

This meadow at Chanticleer filled with Allium and this unusual yellow orange Spirea that positively glows, is an unusual combination of colors that really knocks my socks off.   It required a larger canvas than usual. This one is 9" x 12".

Where does the expression "knock your socks off" come from?  It originally meant to hit someone so hard that not only their shoes but their socks were knocked off.  Now of course it simply means to be suddenly amazed.
To quote the Word Detective where I found this info, " if it seems surprising that a very violent metaphor should end up as an expression of critical acclaim, keep in mind that the term "blown away," now routinely found in book and movie rave reviews, originally meant "to be killed by gunfire."

Framed or not

Unframed $200.00 Framed $250.00

Chanticleer Lettuce Garden #1

The next few days will be devoted to the beautiful gardens at Chanticleer.  Here is the area imediately behind the entrance where several varieties of lettuce create lovely patterns in May and June. Chanticleer has a tantalizing combination of textures and colors everywhere you wander.

OUT THE WINDOW IN DITMAS PARK

Everything in spring has a burst of energy.  Trees are blooming in the neighbor's backyard and even the little plant on the window sill is full of new growth.  Another painting from my trip to Brooklyn out the kitchen window.

SHADOW PLAY

I was drawn to the way the shadow of this tree, in this moment, knits everything together.  Shadows are to me a visual reminder of the way we are connected to everything, although those connections are always changing.

TULIP LEAVES

It isn't just the flowers that greet the new season with a sense of triumph.  All the new leaves are bursting with life.  These tulip leaves seem to be dancing in time to some universal rhythm.


SOLD

SNOWDROPS

These delicate little beauties are popping up all over.  There is an interesting entry in Wikipedia about them.  Here is part of it under ACTIVE SUBSTANCES.

It was suggested by Duvoisin in 1983 that the mysterious magical herb moly that appears in Homer's Odyssey is actually snowdrop. An active substance in snowdrop is called galantamine, which, as anticholinesterase, could have acted as an antidote to Circe's poisons.^[8] Galantamine (or galanthamine) can be helpful in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, though it is not a cure; the substance also occurs naturally in daffodils and other narcissi.

CAPE TOWN

This month I traveled to Cape Town, South Africa looking for a spot to paint for the VIRTUAL PAINT OUT.  These palm trees caught my eye as, along with the pastel architecture, they correspond to what I imagine it is like live in this balmy port. According to Wikipedia, the city has one of the highest levels of biodiversity in the world and is home to a total of 19 different vegatation types, of which several are completely endemic to the city and occur nowhere else in the world.