INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

Today is International Women's Day and this year marks its 100th anniversary.  I am participating in a show in Canada of art work by and about women from around the world at Ayrspace.  I contributed a 24" x 24" version of my work SHE WHO WATCHES. (Click on the title to see the work after you read about it) I thought it would be appropriate for an American contribution to be at least tangentially from American indians.  There is also a group of 100 artists exhibiting on the International Women's Day sight. 

LAST SNOW

My neighbor's garage is such a simple old structure that it calls out to be painted and I have painted it many times.  This time I have opted for a very clean controlled vision.  Here are some of the other paintings done on the spot. I was surprised to note that these very same shadows were the subject of a painting done many years ago.
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SECRET GARDEN #2

SECRET GARDEN #1

EARLY SPRING

ROOF SHADOWS

FIRST SIGN OF SPRING 2011

In Merion Park these beauties are lighting up the banks of the stream allready.  Here is a link to last year's version of the same subject. (scroll down to March 17th)  You'll note quite a difference in style between the two paintings.  I "stumbled" upon this link to Japanese posters in the 20's and 30's and tried to keep that elegant line in mind while painting this one.  Check out STUMBLE if you like to surf the net but don't want to waste too much time.  They select things that you might like based on some computer digging that is probably better not thought about.  Every once in a while I get an email from them that is packed with items I really like, so they do a good job.

BRYN MAWR FILM INSTITUTE

Just in time for the oscars I am proud to present the Bryn Mawr Film Institute.  Saved by the prodigious energies of Juliet Goodfriend, who has lived up to her name by being a good friend to all in the area by creating this wonderful cultural gathering place.  Read all about it in Wikipedia and by all means attend their Oscar party if you are in the area.
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FRIENDS MEETING STABLES IN WINTER

These stables, that have probably been around for 400 years or more, lend their stately presence to Merion.  Read some of the interesting history of the Friends Meeting House and its stables here. I painted another part of these stables last April but could not resist this view because of the lovely long horizontal of unbroken snow on the roof of this simple elegant structure.

FIVE OCLOCK SHADOW #2

This is the same light seen in the last painting looking in the oposite direction away from the source of light.   We think of shadows as being cast by people or objects, but there is no word, that I am aware of, for images cast by the sun like this one. Of course there are always both elements in play, but sometimes one is stronger than the other and the sun really creates an image for a moment or two that is quite striking.   I love the diference here between the color of the light from the east window on the right and the light from the west coming through the arched window on the stairs.

FIVE OCLOCK SHADOW

As I am following the sun around my house, I came upon this composition.  The sun was shining through the window on the landing through the bannisters on the second floor.  I had not seen it before or since so I guess it is a rare find.  The sun at just a particular spot - my stonehenge.  Not sure why the blue is where it is, but who am I to question the mysteries of light.

ROMANIA

This month's Virtual Paint Out visited Romania.  This is a country with an amazing history of being conquered, reconquered and divided and redivided.  Especially amazing when you wander the roads today.  What exactly were these folks conquering? It looks like there is nothing there accept a few humble one and a half story abodes and a lot of very treacherous looking mountains, where even Google maps refuse to go.  Tried finding Dracula's relatives in Transylvania but alas there were none in sight.  Couldn't even find a wandering gypsy.  These houses with their aging patina were the most exciting things I could find.  I added the grey skies as I felt if I lived in Romania I would always feel a little grey.

AS TIME GOES BY

Here is a belated Valentine for all of you who have ever been in love.  It is an oportunity to step into the past in a profound way.  Watching and listening to it made me so grateful to artists of all sorts who bring us this kind of magic.  It all started with Herman Hupfeld who wrote AS TIME GOES BY.  Then there is the genious of Frank Sinatra whose voice because of all its resonance over time touches so many emotional buttons.  Ingrid Bergman is  limpidly beautiful in every scene and Humphry Bogart - well he's Humphry Bogart - the hard as nails, smoking machine who could turn up his mouth at the corners and light up your heart.  Hollywood at its best....and now of all things - Youtube, an ever evolving art work that never stops giving.

TULIPS IN FEBRUARY

I love the pristine beauty of tulips.  Here I am following the light around my house again (My winter substitute for gardening).  This is just before sunset, which, I'm happy to say, is getting later and later. Here is a link to the tulips in my garden last spring.

To buy this painting go to DAILY PAINTWORKS and bid on it to benefit the people of Japan.

Brahm's Waltz

While waiting for paintings to dry, I finished my latest translation of music to color.  Brahms' Waltz in A minor.  Each note is chosen from a set of tuned colors. C is Red  and the colors are tuned having a full spectrum of colors in each octave. In this set all colors are moving from dark to light through the whole range. The notes are then animated in Flash, one at a time. Each note is faded to black as it disappears in time.
When you get to my page in youtube, click on Brahm's Waltz to check it out.

JAPANESE CHERRY TREES IN WINTER

These 100 year old Japanese Cherries can be found in one of the most tranquil places in the Merion area, the graveyard of the Merion Friends Meeting House.  I missed painting these old beauties when they flowered but hope to catch them this year.  If you want to cummune with the imagined spirit of the long dead, this is the place to go.  Click on this link to read about the interesting history of these trees.  Here also is a link to other paintings of this site.  Friends Meeting building and Stables.

from THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG

Waiting for my latest painting to dry - lots of white - takes time - if YOU have time read this wonderful description of the mystery and glory of great art by Muriel Barbery from the Elegance of the Hedgehog.  She is referring to the painting that is linked to the title of the book. (the colors are way off here)

"The enigma is constantly renewed: great works are the visual forms which attain in us the certainty of timeless consonance.  The confirmation that certain forms, in the particular aspect that their creators have given them, return again and again throughout the history of art and, in the filigree of individual genius, constitute nonetheless facets of a universal genius, is something deeply unsettling.  What congruence links a Claesz, a Raphael, a Rubens and a Hopper?  Despite the diversity of subject matter, supports and techniques, despite the insignificance and ephemeral nature of lives always doomed to belong to one era and one culture alone, and despite the singular nature of a gaze that can only ever see what its constitution will allow and that is tainted by the poverty of its individuality, the genius of great artists penetrates to the heart of the mystery and exhumes , under various guises, the same sublime form that we seek in all artistic production.  What congruence links a Claesz, a Raphael, a Rubens and a Hopper?  We need not search, our eye locates the form that will elicit a feeling of consonance, the one particular thing in which everyone can find the very essence of beauty, without variations or reservations, context or effort.  In the still life with a lemon, for example, this essence cannot merely be reduced to the master of execution; it clearly does inspire a feeling of consonance, a feeling that this is exactly the way it ought to have been arranged.  This in turn allows us to feel the power of objects and of the way they interact, to hold in our gaze the way they work together and the magnetic fields that attract and repel them, the ineffable ties that bind them and engender a force, a secret and inexplicable wave born of both the tension and the balance of the configuration- this is what inspires the feeling of consonance.  The disposition of the objects and the dishes achieves the universal in the singular: the timeless nature of the consonant form.

"  

WINTER SUNRISE

This morning the sun rise really intensified the blues of the snow.  Winter is so full of a variety of blues it is a joy really, if only it weren't also cold.  Here is something from the BLUE MAN GROUP to chase those winter blues away.

DOGS AND SNOW

Dogs seem to think that snow is nature's invitation to a boisterous romp.

UNDER COVER

The delicate branches of our split leaf maple are weighed down by snow (along with everything else, including our spirit).  I hope their brittle branches can make it.

BOSTON

  I have been wandering around Boston off and on all month, unable to decide which site to paint for the Virtual Paintout.  Finally, exhausted, I decided on O'Reily's Restaurant and Pub just so I could sit down, relax and have a Martini.

MONET

I am working on three paintings at the same time and none are finished, but here is a very interesting Monet, looking out into the snow at his wife.  Be sure to read about the painting.  One wonders if he intentionally painted his wife this way or the painting just happened to express his feelings so perfectly.

NIGHT IN THE HALL

The night throws a coat of mystery over everyday experience, turning what is usually a clock and a staircase into something from an Agatha Christie mystery.
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NEW WEB SITE FEATURE

I just created slideshows of all my blog paintings up til now.  It is almost a year since I began so time to take a look back.  Check it out if you have the patience and point out any problems please.

WINTER SUNSET #2

This painting from 1995 caught the sun right as it set at the end of my street.  I painted this on the spot - in a hurry.

Winter Sunset

Every year around Christmas the sun sets at the very bottom of my street.  It is a little past that point by now and I missed the moment this year, but the color is still really good with the very blue snow.

PAINTER'S HALLWAY

The light spilling over the canvasses almost makes this messy hallway okay.  At least that's what I tell myself.

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BLUE AND RED

Snow is blowing around our very old bird feeder but inside it is warm and cozy on this very blue day.  Margaret Whiting died yesterday and here she is singing with Johnny Mercer, her mentor and friend. BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE.

BATHROOM REDS

A little touch of spring in the bathroom.
This painting was done on very flat and slippery board so it had to be painted twice and stippled.  I like the way the stippling unites the edges but I am going back to canvas board in the next painting, still using the stippling.

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CYCLAMEN AND SNOW

This is a painting I did a while back.  The curtains and table cloth have long ago fallen apart and been thrown away, but it could be today as far as my interests are concerned.  I am in the middle of a painting looking out the same window through red leaves to the snow beyond.  I am endlessly fascinated by the same things it seems.  I have no idea (again) where this painting is.  I may have sold it or it has migrated to one of my children's walls, but if you are interested in purchasing it, I will see if I can find it.  I think it is about 24" x 36".

NIGHT SNOW

Out my kitchen window the snow makes lacy patterns in the night.

I am experimenting with different surfaces to paint on.
SNOW BLANKET and this piece were painted on a gesso board which has absolutely no tooth - that is, it is slippery.  I had to paint both pieces twice because the paint slid around in a most unpleasant way the first time.  I tried that because before that BROWN AND KETCHUP and COME ON IN were painted on stretched canvas with a broad weave and the weave soaked up the paint and was almost as prominent as the paint itself,  making too much of a play for attention.

MORNING AFTER SNOW

I want to talk a bit about process while paintings are drying, as I am experimenting with diferent surfaces at the moment.  More about that in later posts.
Most of the paintings I have posted on this blog have been created in my studio from photographs that I have taken and manipulated in photoshop to add, subtract, change the position of things or alter some colors.
This is an older painting that I created outside.
I spent many years painting outside and found that I could stand to be out in some pretty bad weather for a short period of time.  It was very invigorating and filled me with joy.  I may give it a try again, but the whole process of setting up, dealing with the wind or the sun or simply the quickly changing shadows is really daunting.
I just noticed the Barnes Foundation can be glimpsed behind the trees here.  Little did I know when I painted this how much it would occupy my time and energy in the future.
If you are interested in purchasing this painting, email me and I will try to find it.

SNOW BLANKET

  These pines almost seem to grab their blanket of snow.  Peeking under their branches it turns out there is still quite a lot of color after the snow, even before the sun comes out.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

MERRY CHRISTMAS

IRELAND

This painting was created for the VIRTUAL PAINTOUT.  I spent several pleasant hours cruising the back roads looking for just the right spot to set up my easel.  I could almost smell the grass in this spot in County Claire.