OAK LEAF ON ROUGH CEMENT

Nancy Herman

6' x 8"

oil on canvas board

This is the time of year when nostalgia fills the air.  Memories of the past swirl around and drift to earth with the leaves.  The scent of pine needles brings echoes of camp fires and the light is so sharp and clear, the shadows so deep it has to be autumn in Pennsylvania.  

School is beginning again in my heart.  I surely will be wearing my plaid skirt and my new sweater to school with knee socks.  I might be skipping along the sidewalks of Glenside to Glenside Welldon or walking hurridly to avoid the visious dog in Oak Lane to Pennypacker.  Or am I waiting for the bus in Worcester or walking to Penn down Walnut Street?  It's all in the sights and smells of this glorious season when life seems to renew in the heart and the mind as it dies out in one last magnificent show of color in the surrounding world.

$125.00

DANCING SHADOW

DANCING SHADOW

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

This shadow of a railing seems full of dancing energy as it leaps down the stairs.  Shadows vary in color depending on the light, as you can see here, where the tops of the stairs have a bluish tint.

Every man casts a shadow; not his body only, but his imperfectly mingled spirit. This is his grief. Let him turn which way he will, it falls opposite to the sun; short at noon, long at eve. Did you never see it?
Henry David Thoreau 

$125.00

KEYHOLE

KEYHOLE

Nancy Herman

8" x 6"

oil on canvas board

I often think about what I will say about each painting when I am lying in bed in the morning waiting for my dog, Jake, to come in and nuzzle me up and let he and his buddy Bay out for their morning search for wild things.

This painting about a lock took me back to our earliest ancestors living in caves.  They surely chose a cave with a very narrow opening so it would be possible to role a stone over the entrance or have one or two people guarding the "door" at night.  What a confined, frightening, existence it must have been.  Quite a contrast to this small secure looking lock. 

Too often, the opportunity knocks, but by the time you push back the chain, push back the bolt, unhook the two locks and shut off the burglar alarm, it's too late. 

Rita Coolidge 

$125.00

NO PARKING

NO PARKING

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

If you thought yesterday's painting was created in the fog, you are right in a way.  I seem to have been in a fog when I posted it, as the version that appeared on the screen was enveloped in a haze and I didn't notice it until I had posted it.  This is the way the painting really looks.
It is worth noting that, had there been a fog, the outlines of the shadow would have been very blurred and probably nonexistent.  Without a strong light there are no shadows.

$125.00

NO PARKING

NO PARKING

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

This oak leaf, defying the "no parking" sign shadow, is showing its' color as it peeks into the light.

$125.00

GIN SHADOW

GIN SHADOW

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

Shadows are not usually colorful but this bottle of gin stands out as the sun reflects through the green glass.  It is as if even its' shadow offers entertainment.

$125.00

CROATIA

CROATIA

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

Off to Croatia with Virtual Paintout this month.  This is the way I like to travel, sitting at home in front of my computer, watching the world go by.  I wandered around in Croatia for a while and settled on this image which is the way I imagine I would feel if I lived there.

$125.00

CURTAIN SHADOW

CURTAIN SHADOW

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

The simple chair spindle takes on an elegant air when its shadow falls on the curtain.  Shadows take on a life of their own on curved surfaces.  There is often something exciting happening behind the main event.

$125.00

WATERMELONS

WATERMELONS

Nancy Herman

oil on canvas board

6" x 8"

I like the way this watermelon seems to be jumping out of the bucket ready to quench a thirsty passerby with its red juicy sweetness.

SOLD

TRACKS - Shoe

Nancy Herman

oil on stretched canvas

6' x 8"

How much more complicated the soles of our shoes are compared to the simple beauty of our feet.  Imagine an alien coming accross this track in the sand.  What sort of a creature would he conjure up?

$125.00

TRACKS - HUMAN

TRACKS - HUMAN

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on streteched canvas

Humans leave their tracks everywhere but here on the beach their footprints are simple.  It would be better for the earth as a whole if they had stayed that way.

$125.00

Tracks - Sea Gull

TRACKS- Sea Gull

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvs board

If you are feeling that your life has no signifigance, consider this:  everytime you do or say anything your actions create a ripple in the fabric of the Universe.  We leave our tracks.  

I am taking a little detour from my examination of shadows and looking at tracks in the sand.  I believe this one was made by a sea gull.  This looks black and white in reproduction but it is actually created with many shades of brown, grey and white.  Sand is actually quite colorfull close up.

$125.00

THE RED DOOR

THE RED DOOR

9" x 12"

oil on canvas board

Nancy Herman

The shadows create a lively pattern on this very red door in Brooklyn.

Who lives at 349 and why did they paint their door red?

FENCE AND SHADOW DANCE

FENCE AND SHADOW DANCE

Nancy Herman

9" x 12"

oil on canvas board

This fence, dancing in and out of the light, catches my eye as I sit in my daughter's Brooklyn backyard.  Architectural shadows pierce the picture plane in striking ways, darting here and there uniting shapes in ever changing patterns. 

Upstairs, Brooklyn

UPSTAIRS, BROOKLYN

Nancy Herman

9" x 12"

oil on canvas board

Two weeks ago Friday a new member of the Herman clan arrived.  I was in Brooklyn for a week to help out my daughter, and in the glow of the successful delivery and the new life, everything seemed especially compelling - even the fire escape.  My oldest grandson and his new bride live behind the window upstairs from the new arrival, making this an especially meaningful painting for me.  

SHADE

SHADE

Nancy Herman

9" x 12"

oil on canvas board

A window shade can keep the sun out or gently modulate the light.

Can we, in our way, be like a shade, shut out the energy of life around us or let it be filtered through our conciousness and gently fall around us with loving words and actions?

$250.00

This Friday and every Friday this month my video PULSE will be featured on the Crown Lights display as part of the Art in the Air project sponsored by Breadbaord on the PECO building.  Look up and check it out. Here is a link to the small version.  It is only 30 seconds.

SHADOW ON SHADOW

SHADOW ON SHADOW

Nancy Herman

oil on canvas board

9" x 12"

In Plato's analogy of the cave the prisoners only looked at the shadows of life and called what they saw "reality".  He wanted to show that the role of the philosopher was to turn and look at life in all its complexity and bring that back to the shadow gazers.  

Suppose instead  I were to look at only the shadows and bring that to those who are viewing life in all its complexity?  Is there something to be gained by only peering at the shadows?

Thoughts are the shadows of our feelings - always darker, emptier and simpler.
Friedrich Nietzsche

PEPPERS

PEPPERS

Nancy Herman

oil on canvas board

9" x 12"

The voluptuous pepper kisses the side of the aqua bucket while it rests patiently, along with its fellows, waiting for an eager customer or a painter's brush.  Up close and personal at the outdoor market.

$250.00

SQUASH

SQUASH

Nancy Herman

oil on canvas board

6" x 8"

The sunny squash nestles sexily into its oh so round green bucket as a basket recedes into the background.  A lot of visual excitement in this outdoor market.

SOLD

CITY CORNERS

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

Back from my vacation and all set for a new focus for my paintings.  I want to move into small spaces and try and capture their power.  Around the corner, across the street, up in the air and into the crevices there are expressions of life in small glimpses.  Here is my first stab at this idea.  I like the way things line up even though they are all separate buildings.

$125.00

BROOKLYN VICTORIAN #2

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

Although most Victorian homes were painted in earth tones, because of the era's interest in nature, there are a group of homes in San Francisco that are painted in shades of pink and purple.  They are called "Painted Ladies".  In parts of Brooklyn this tradition is exuberantly embraced as in this Ditmas Park beauty.

$125.00

Brooklyn Victorian

Brooklyn Victorian

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

This lovely old Victorian house is only one of the many in Ditmus Park which is part of Flatbush in Brooklyn.  The Ditmas Park Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.  I am collecting paintings of Brooklyn for a show I will be part of there in September.

I love round rooms.  How nice to be almost surrounded by windows!

$125.00

         COLEUS AND PETUNIAS

Nancy Herman

6" x 8

oil on canvas board

Ordinary plants that one sees everyday lining the streets of suburbia or gracing the corporate corridors take on a new vitality when they are unexpectedly paired.  These very prolific dark purple petunias together with sun loving coleus are really perking up my garden this year.

$125.00

CLEOME AND LARKSPUR

Nancy Herman

oil on canvas board

9" x 12"

Today's painting is the one that had me bogged down for so long.  All the intricacies of the Cleome taught me several lessons that I should have learned by this time.  One is not to tackle such a complicated subject in such a small space.  Two, use a separate brush for each color - I am naturally rather parsimonious but the various shades of pink and purple in these petals had me constantly washing my brush and interrupted the flow.   I am off to purchase many brushes of my preferred size.  Three, mix a new batch of colors every day.  The difference between paint that is freshly mixed and a pile that sits for even one day is the difference between happy sailing in a light breeze and sitting in a row boat without an oar.
I was dimly aware of all these things for some time, but it was only after suffering through this painting that simply would not move along that I vowed to act on this awareness.  Nice to know that I am not too old to learn something, even if I am a very slow learner.
I like one of the nicknames for this flower, Grandfather's whiskers.  It could as easily be called Grandmother's whiskers I might add.  The many, many seed pods carried on its long "hairs" makes it a constant uninvited guest in all parts of the garden.

$300.00

I have been bogged down in one painting for the past week.  Don't know why but I couldn't get my brush around it happily.  I finally finished it today and will post when it is dry.  Meanwhile here is some news about a show I am in at the Graver's Lane Gallery.  Hope you can make it.
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs003/1104954455098/archive/1110445809200.html 

Here is a link to REAL ART AT REAL PRICES a wonderful blog from
Sheila Vaughan a painter in England.  I have admired her art work for quite a while.  She keeps trying new things and always has something interesting to say about what she is doing.  As a result we have an internet friendship, though we have never met in person.  In her latest project she is painting a portrait of "60 Women Who Know Something About Me".  You can check out the whole project from the link.  I have sent you the one that I am pretty sure is me.  How grand to be included in such an interesting project by such an accomplished artist who is so many miles away. The internet brings people together because of real interests and enthusiasms in a way that has never been possible before.

NORTH PHILADELPHIA STATION

Nancy Herman

oil on canvas board

8" x 6"

From the Amtrac train window North Philadelphia Station looks as if it is closed for good and I have never been on a train to New York that stopped there.  Upon checking the Amtrak schedule I see you can board twice a day, but there is only one coach seat available for all the dates I checked and that is at 5:57 in the morning.  Coming from New York you can get off there 3 times a day but again only one seat available.  Seems Amtrak doesn't want to stop there.  Checking further I see on Wikipedia that there are around  389 people a year who use the station so I can see why they don't want to stop as a routine, but the schedule would seem to make that inevitable.
Just one of the mysteries of train travel I suppose.
When I was in my early teens I went to New York on the train several times and since we lived in the country my parents picked me up at North Philadelphia Station since it was the closest to our farm.  I remember it as being a very scary place, especially at night, as it was pretty run down, there was hardly anyone who got off the train even then, and it was very poorly lit.  It was refurbished in 1999 and looks like so many places that have been fixed in time, if not fixed for living... like a ghost.  It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

"This just in -  someone was shot near North Philly Station just after noon today.  Maybe it is just as well there is limited access to this spot."

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20120705_1_dead_in_shooting_near_North_Philly_train_station.html

$125.00

KITCHEN LIGHT

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

Every morning when I come into my kitchen I am greeted by the particular light pattern of the day.  I get a kick out of this display.  This particular day began with a very cheery arrangement of sun lighting up the cabinets and my sensibilities.

$125.00

Sold

MERION SPRING

Nancy Herman

6" x 8

oil on canvas board

This painting of a lovely property in Merion was created from a neighbor's photo in order to celebrate another neighbor who is moving.  I hope the new residents of this property care as much about gardening.  It is such a joy to see flowers blooming all summer long.  Without knowing who lives in the home where a beautiful garden is kept, you have a warm feeling about the inhabitants.  

SOLD

Riga, Latvia

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

This month the Virtual paintout went to Latvia.  I found this roof top in Riga that was appealing in all its redness.  I wanted to concentrate on the texture of the paint with an emphasis on using several colors in one area.  There were a lot of interesting town squares in Riga with little cafes in the center having outdoor seating.  I wonder how that is now days with all the smelly cars going by.  Our cars allow us to travel around anywhere we want to go with great speed and convenience and then ruin the places we want to visit.

$125.00

SOLD