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

LETTUCE

LETTUCE

Nancy Herman

8"x 6"

oil on canvas board

I would like to sing the praises of growing lettuce.  I have been having a big salad for lunch every day for 3 months from my small garden of lettuce.  I think this is "Red Gem" ( I threw away the seed packet), which is not only delicious but beautiful.  If you haven't tried growing these tasty treats, give it a whirl.   All lettuce is easy to grow - plant it in the shade in this weather.  It doesn't like the heat.  I still have some that is quite tasty however as it is shaded by some large squash plants.  Lettuce from the garden is much more tender than what comes from the super market.  The varieties needed to withstand packing and long sessions waiting for customers are not what you can plant in your home garden and the difference is delicious.

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 

HOLLYHOCK #1

HOLLYHOCK #1

Nancy Herman

8" x 6"

oil on canvas board

Hollyhocks or Alcea are very old plants.  The remains of them have been found in the Neanderthal caves of Shanidar in Iran.  This unusual one popped up in my wild flower garden.  Perhaps it is a lovely gift from some ancient corner of Asia.

$125.00

ROUNDUP

Some second thoughts about Roundup.  

FIRST RAYS

FIRST RAYS

Nancy Herman

8" x 6"

oil on canvas board

The first rays of the morning sun, no matter where they land, seem to say, "it's a new day and anything is possible".  When they hit a treasured part of the garden it is especially lovely and, because the flowers are so ephemeral, a little poignant at the same time.

$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.

Life's Weeds

Since I have been dealing with the weeds in my garden I have been thinking about the "weeds" that are an inexorable part of life.  I would define them as the forces that are always trying to take over our existence.  These are the forces we keep at bay but never really get rid of.  

I suppose the gradual deterioration of our body has to top the list ending as it must in death.  I think we have to fight the fear of death before we can actually take what steps are necessary to keep it at bay as long as possible.  We have to take the measure of it in some rational way and do battle. 

Our main tool is our will to act, which we have to carry around at the ready like the garden fork.  It is so easy to sink back in the chair and say, "I'll exercise tomorrow" or  "I'll get that checkup next year".   If we don't exercise regularly gravity will pull us down, our muscles will wither and we will be feeble before we have to be.  If we don't find out the cause of what is going wrong with our bodies we will give them over to whatever weed /disease is on the attack without finding the root of it and digging it out or using the bag of weed killers at our disposal to kill it or simply changing our planting patterns to optimize our survival.  We have to use the love we have for ourselves and others to cover us very much like the mulch we put on our gardens to keep in the moisture and keep out the weeds. 

So I guess I feel if we want as much order and beauty in our life as we can get, we must treat it as a garden, keeping our will at the ready to help us fight the natural disorder that is constantly pushing at the borders.

THE GREEN DRAGON JOUST

While waiting for paintings to dry, check out my post on the Ardmore/Merion/Wynnewood Patch to find how I came to blows with the Green Dragon or Pinellia weed.

Weeds

I have no paintings for a while as I have been busy weeding.  If you are interested in my experiences fighting Gout Weed.  Check out my blog on the Ardmore/Merion/ Wynnewood Patch.

FOLLY

Folly is a word we don't use much anymore except to describe these structures with no other purpose than to decorate the landscape or as in this case define the vista and make elegant shadows.   Perhaps it is because so much of what we do is 'foolish and lacking in good sense' that the word has lost its defining power.  This Folly at Chanticleer provides a welcome oasis of shade in the midst of the lovely gardens, so in the real sense of the word it is not "folly" at all.

See auction at DailyPaintworks for purchase

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

Poppies and Lettuce Garden

The delightful, delicate dance of Poppies through the saucy salad of lively lettuce is just one of the eye pleasers at Chanticleer.  (If you think I went overboard with the alliteration please appreciate that I did show some restraint by not making it "pretty" poppies).

Seriously all the many gardens at Chanticleer are filled with surprising color and unusual combinations of plants.  There is a living art work everywhere you look. 

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.

HOUSE IN THE FOG

This is the last painting from this particular fog series, though I'm sure I will find myself in a fog again.   Before the fog lifts and the sun comes out, here is the lovely little poem by Carl Sandburg.

                                                          

THE FOG

The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on.

SOLD

Formal Garden in the Fog

The formal garden is just beginning to come to its second flowering.  The tulips, daffodils and iris are over, or almost over.  You can just see a few in the middle distance.  The peonies are just starting to open up in the foreground.

Continuing the fog metaphor, Joseph Conrad said,  "It is not the clear-sighted who rule the world. Great achievements are accomplished in a blessed, warm fog." 

This is an interesting quote.  It is certainly true that the clear sighted are often not the ones in control of ruling the world, and it may also be true that some great decisions are made in a blessed warm fog, but when people who are not clear sighted rule, the fog of their decision making does not appear to be "blessed".  


The leaders of the Middle East for the past 20 or 30 years certainly have not been making decisions in a "blessed" warm fog.  Short sighted rulers seem to be governed by a hot fog of self serving megalomania. They remain in power because those governed are in the midst of a fog of fear and resignation.  The internet has proved, in this case, to be the sun that broke through that fog and gave courage to those oppressed.  Suddenly they saw the long view and the fog lifted.  What happens as a result of this sudden break with their past reality is bound to be very chaotic, as we don't adjust easily to such great rents in our sense of what is real.

PURPLE GARDEN IN THE FOG

All colors have their own place on the continuum from dark to light and purple is the most pure at the dark end of that continuum, making these Allium  glow in the dark.

Since I began painting this group of work centered around fog, I have been thinking of all the ways perception, influenced by one parameter only can be altered.  Fog is a good metaphor as it diminishes the distance you can see radically and yet keeps the immediate surroundings recognizable.  You see just beyond your own nose.  You don't get the big picture.  Those around you see the same things you do, so you agree about what reality is.

Our perceptions are always colored by one fog or another.  Some large examples are the fog of prejudice, ignorance, envy, greed or fear.  But we  all have our own set of convictions that keep us in a fog.  Whatever the fog  that puts a veil over our eyes, it keeps us from enjoying the long view, but may be very satisfying in its limited way.

SOLD

WILD FLOWERS IN THE FOG

Fog creates a uniform pattern over what we see.  It changes everything very slightly.  That allows us to perceive things as if they were new without causing too much anxiety.  We like things to be in there usual place but also like a fresh look at them.  Fog does just that.

Here are the ever perceptive Benjamin Franklin's thoughts about fog:

"Like a man traveling in foggy weather, those at some distance before him on the road he sees wrapped up in the fog, as well as those behind him, and also the people in the fields on each side, but near him all appears clear, though in truth he is as much in the fog as any of them."

Clematis and Fog

I love to go outside in the early morning to see what's perking in my garden.  It's cool and the birds are chattering away.   The other noises of the coming day have not begun.  This particular morning there was a deep fog that made everything seem a little myserious.
My first Clematis of the season struck me as it seemed to be nestled in the crotch of the dark Katsura tree behind.

FLOWERS and FRUIT

Cloudy with chance of rain again today.  I made a short video to remind myself of what all this rain produces.  The music is played by Tatyana Featherman from one of the ballet albums produced by White Feather Productions.  This is an enterprize of our local ballet school, the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet in Narberth. If this video does not work click HERE.

A MOMENT OF INSPIRATION

Yesterday at the Morris Arboretum, under the pergola in the rose garden,was the first time all week I felt happy painting.  What a lovely place!  It was not the perfect spot to see the grandeur of the formal rose garden, but I was out of the rain the whole time in a lovely atmosphere and I could appreciate the rain for the life giving force it is.
When I finished painting, as I made my way up the hill to the car with all my supplies, the sun came out and filled the whole beautiful garden.  Every rain drop was caught  in the leaves and lit like a gigantic array of jewels. The sky was filled with dark clouds, accentuating the sun light in the garden.  It was an awe inspiring moment that only lasted a short time before the rain began again, but it made the whole struggle to find some meaning in catching nature on canvas seem worth the effort.

PAINT OUT #2

I just realized I will not be able to scan in my paintings to show on the blog as they are framed and probably hanging already at the Wayne Art Center.   If you live in the area I hope you will go and check them out.  There is a gala opening - meaning you have to contribute a little pile of money - on Saturday night.  The show is open to the public from then on until June 24th.  There were many wonderful paintings being brought in last night.  It is amazing how much material people can get on to a canvas in a short time.  This show is definitely worth seeing.
There are still two days of painting to go.  Today promises to be raining again and we go to Philadelphia to paint.  I may end up on my daughter's porch in Mount Airy as it is covered and there is a toilet available.  These are not ideal reasons for choosing a painting site.
Some people work better when they are stressed.  I'm not one of them.  There is a feeling of 'carnival' about this paint out that is engaging but I don't think painting as a competitive sport is for me.  I am of an age when thinking about my subject matter and planning is as important as the act of painting itself.  Of course if the weather had been perfect I might have an entirely different opinion.  The exhilaration of being in controlled nature in fine weather can make up for a lot of hassle.
Tomorrow all the artists will be in downtown Wayne painting in the morning and it looks like the sun may be shining!

Paint Out

Well the Wayne Art Center Plein Air Festival is happening, rain not with standing.
I have completed two paintings but they are not dry enough to scan in yet.  Both were started outside and finished from the window of my car.  This is not exactly what any of us involved in this planned for I'm sure.  Painting from the car in the rain is not easy.  There simply is not enough room and you can 't see exactly what you started painting, plus you must turn on the car and use the wind shield wipers periodically so you can see anything.  This does not have the grand feeling the french words 'Plein air' imply, to say the least.
The whole exercise got me thinking about what the act of painting is really about.  Why bother to reproduce what is there when the camera does it in a snap.
In the life of every painting there is an internal dialogue that the painter goes through.  The answers to the questions I ask myself as I am painting are recorded on the canvas.  "How shall I best begin" is the first of course, and from then on until the last question, "Is this all I can do?", there are hundreds of others.  "Is that the right shade of green?". "How many shingles is enough to say shingle?" "Which sky, of the many floating by, will be the best for the composition?". "Why bother with the shingles at all?" Have I gotten the whole thing crooked?. Why didn't I paint the bush in back first? And always at some point.  "What am I doing here ?"
I also have an interior dialogue about the quality of the work at hand.  Usually it starts out enthusiastically. "Now this is going to be good.  Look at that beautiful sky next to those dark trees.  Really yummy".  And then about half way through, "I should have planned this better and gotten the whole painting drawn in loosely.  It looks like a child did this".   Then later, "This is it, I am absolutely stuck and cannot go on. Better eat lunch or walk around before I throw in the towel". Then, if I'm lucky by the time I am really painted out I can say, "Not too bad.  It has a certain something, and I certainly gave it my all."
The dialogue is all recorded on the painting for better or worse.  So the answer to the question, "why paint instead of taking a snap shot", is that the dialogue is usually a lot longer and there is a lot of messy paint involved.

MUD PIE

On Wednesday I went to beautiful Chanticleer to paint.  It was a  magnificent day and the gardens are as always simply exquisite.  I am trying to warm up for the Wayne Art Center Plein Air Festival which is next week.  I have never participated in a Plein Air Paint Out before.

When I applied to enter, I thought it would be a good way to force myself back into the wilds of painting outside. I had no idea I would be painting with 29 of the best plein air painters in the country ... or that I would have to bring my still wet canvas back to the art center framed, the same day I painted it, each day for five days.

So I had to figure out how best to frame a wet painting and try to get into some kind of shape to paint outside again after a year or so of contentedly painting in my studio with brief excursions outside to look for material.

My first outdoor painting was my last post, completed in my garden, a quiet place to be with not too much weather turbulence.  My experience at Chanticleer was quite the oposite.  I positioned myself in front of a very big scene with lots of people walking by talking to me or peering over my shoulder.  I had a very tiny canvas.  The sun was moving in and out of clouds constantly.  I ended up with something of a mud pie.  The interactions with people were all pleasant—especially the boys from Valley Forge Military academy who were polite as could be.  After I explained what I was aiming for in the painting, one of them said, "Good luck Ma'am".  Ah ... so sweet, he could probably see I needed some luck. 

Well here is the mud pie.  I have "photoshopped" the image to give some indication of what I was aiming for in the second image.  Still pretty bad.  I will try not to paint in such a busy spot and not tackle such a huge scene next time.

Looks like this is going to be quite a learning experience.

HEDGES

Back to Merion and my garden in its first flowering of this year, with Korean lilacs, Forget-me-nots, from New Zealand, and Spanish Bells.   It is an international dance to welcome spring.  The old privat hedges, probably originating in England or Ireland march along keeping order, with the Japanes Katsura as chaparone.  And then there are the gout weed (England) or pinellia (Asia) rudely cutting in.

Just like humans the plants are all jostling for a place in the sun.

This was my first painting of the year completed outside, as I have been working from sketches and photos in my studio.  It is an exhilerating struggle.  The light changes, the wind blows or the sun is too hot...and there is so much more to choose from visually.

ARGYLE AND ALBEMARLE ROADS

One of the prettiest streets in Brooklyn is Albemarle Road with a median planted with trees and seasonal flowers.  I am a fan of porches and this one beats all.  I believe this house is one of the ones described in this entry in Wikipedia.
Tomorrow back to Merion.
SOLD

EARLY MORNING LIGHT IN DITMAS PARK

Looking out my bedroom window on my Brooklyn holiday I caught this shaft of light that I could not resist.

Pardon me if I kvell.  My dear grandson Konrad wrote this wonderful poem, inspired by these two paintings.  A double whammy of happiness for me.

Shadows

Dance

Over the walls

Always moving

Not noticeably

But never stopping

Hugging all that pass

Receiving hugs back

Or rejected

They’re dogs

Not getting too far away

From their master

Pulling

And pulling

Taunting and teasing

Night falls

They fade away

Asleep.

Konrad Herman

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.

ACROSS THE STREET IN DITMAS PARK

I spent last week in Brooklyn with my two grandsons.  They live in Ditmas Park, a part of Flatbush where there are old Victorian houses like this one, which I painted from their porch.  It was a lovely time to visit as their spring is a little behind ours, so the tulips and flowering trees were in full bloom.  This neighborhood has wonderful old houses with big welcoming porches like this one.
SOLD

  

EARLY SPRING

I will be in Brooklyn this week so won't be posting any paintings.  I will leave you with this print of early spring colors.  It is a signed, limited edition digital print on archival paper with archival inks, 30" x 30".

SPRING 2011

It isn't officially spring for me until the weeping cheery is in full bloom and the wild veronica are carpeting the yard.  I think this is as close to paradise as it gets.

SOLD

LOOKING UP

The weeping cherry was not completely out on the day I painted this but it is in all its glory now.  It bloomed right on schedule for my mother's birthday April 15th.  This year I decided to look up into the tree and was richly rewarded as I never noticed how beautiful the buds are before.  Here is last year's painting.
SOLD