Paintings in the Poconos

Twenty two of my garden pastel paintings are on exhibit for two months in Snydersville, PA. The gallery is Wing and a Prayer Chapel  (120 Rimrock Drive). This one is called Tulips! Finally: my delight is evident to see bright colors where there had been only ice and winter debris for months and months and months. This scene brightened my mood and I hope it does yours, too. Good medicine.

My first cousin, Lizzie Tilley, formerly of Kitschen Sink in Ithaca, is the new owner of Silvery Moon Guesthouse. Her creative endeavors have transformed this historic property at the corner of US 209 and Rimrock Drive in Snydersville. You will love it! Besides the Chapel/Gallery and the main guesthouse there is an authentic old schoolhouse in the shade of huge walnut trees just crammed with art supplies where Lizzie teaches group painting classes. Brides, take notice; she does weddings and tea parties ( her vintage china). This place is new now, but check it out. It won't remain a hidden treasure for long.

My paintings will be on view through June and July. The open hours for the gallery are all Sundays 1-4pm as well as during the Monroe County Historical Association Garden Tour on Saturday June 4. You can call Lizzie for details on the art gallery, art classes or to book a guestroom. 607.644.0596 

Two Exhibits Opening

Two of my pastel paintings have been juried in to each show:

Eastern Horizon and North End Market are hanging in the Vermont Pastel Society annual juried show at Arabella Gallery in Windsor VT.

Exhuberant Garden (above) and Vermont Garden Triptych (below) are in Manchester,VT. at Southern Vermont Art Center National Open 2014.

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Details are in sidebar under Exhibits and Events...or contact me.

Hope you can catch one of them. I will attend both openings and would love to see someone there I know.

Please look at Rodrica Tilley Gallery of available Paintings

The North Wing Opens

Adjoining space has been added to my studio - almost doubling the area! Now I can store my paintings and actually display some. This is very exciting news for me and I look forward to an Open Studio Event in the future...in the meantime you are cordially invited to visit.(by appointment 'cause I'm not here all the time..but close-by, usually) Loads of free parking ;-) and new paintings.

 














The front door of the (3 acres under roof) building at 22 Browne Court that houses my studio and many other diverse businesses. Oh, there's my assistant (husband) now, moving yet another painting.









Please look at Rodrica Tilley Gallery of available Paintings

A New Hampshire Barn...and...

One of the few plein air paintings I've done since my Mojave trip in the spring. One of my fellow life drawing classmates invited artists to his wonderful historic property; full of gardens, architecture and a view of Mt. Monadnock. Hope he asks us back again because all I got done was one corner of his barn...Ken's Barn 12 x 12 pastel...available for purchase.

Speaking of which...the other new thing is a blog of all my paintings for sale currently. Some have been in storage too long. Some have been greatly reduced. Some not much. This will change as new ones are posted.

So, besides, drive paintings here and there, weed the garden and buy more plants that's about my summer so far. There has been much contemplation in the garden, too. What about you?

"The feeling of being present is most alive in this painting.  I can feel the scene and almost smell it."

 One of the eloquent readers of this blog sent that comment to my email regarding this painting. Thank you, thank you. I love hearing from you all.
       

Three Lady Emma Hamilton Roses

An 8 x 10 inch painting of three of my roses...blooming now. This pastel painting and several others are taking a road trip down to Butternut Gallery in Montrose, PA. They are big, medium and small garden paintings...all reasonably priced. Hope you will stop in to see them during summer /fall. Call for hours: 570-278-4711.

I like roses with scent. Do you? Why bother with unscented ones? Yes, yes, they may stand up to the rain ...not turn all brown like some of my old-fashioned Albas. And, yes, they may bloom all summer. Who cares if they don't have a sweet perfume? Many of the best things in life are fleeting...home-made cupcakes, good-behaviour from dogs and heirloom roses.When the roses are taking a break and some of their foliage is shabby, look elsewhere (breaking waves, lilies, a good novel).

BTW, Lady Emma Hamilton is one of the hardier David Austin roses. It is not floppy, it re-blooms, it has dark foliage and few thorns and a color that belongs here in the Green Mtns. What's not to love?  I would describe the fragrance as "tea". David Austin says, "the flowers have a strong, delicious, fruity fragrance with hints of pear, grape and citrus fruits" . 

Always interested in your news.

You are probably wondering who was Lady Emma Hamilton.

Mojave Desert

Irrigated roses, Sunday morning, Under the Eaves Inn at Zion in Springdale, Utah

I've been painting from Death Valley to Zion NP and you can see the latest 3 states (numbers 45, 46 and 47) in the Fifty State Plein Air Painting Project. I was in time for spring...not a banner year for desert wildflowers due to lack of snow and rain, but there were still plenty of blooms in ditches and pockets all over the Mojave Desert. I saw wildlife; mule deer, black-tailed jackrabbit, western cottontail, roadrunner, kit fox, birds that I cannot identify, and a western coach whip snake, commonly called Red Racer....none of which are in the photos below...just their habitat.

Desert Springs Botanical Garden, Las Vegas, NV
IMHP, the best thing in Las Vegas...and the home of above mentioned forty inch long pretty snake.

Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge - alkali water, home of the amargosa pupfish, Nevada and a totally delightful surprise for me. Uniquely beautiful place.

My Death Valley set-up with partially completed painting

Self portrait in Golden Canyon, Death Valley NP, California

Kolob Canyon, Zion NP, Utah

The Mojave Desert is the smallest and driest North American Desert. Covering just 22,000 miles, it is located in California, Southwestern Utah, Southern Nevada and Western Arizona. Both Death Valley and Charleston Peak are located in the Mojave Desert, giving it a range in altitude from 282 feet below sea level to 11,918 feet above sea level.

Let me know what you are up to. I welcome questions and comments...this trip filled some of my life dreams; Death Valley, Zion and Cirque du Soleil!

Aegis Art Works Exhibit

I've been invited to show my pastel paintings during the Cotton Mill Open Studio and Holiday Sale. My work will be on the 3rd floor filling the exhibition space at Aegis Art Works. Come up and have a look...there is room for all of you! Suite A354, 74 Cotton Mill Hill,  Brattleboro, VT.
Friday, Nov. 30, 10-7
Saturday, Dec. 1, 10-6
Sunday, Dec. 2, 10-5

Check out Michael Poster's Photographs on the second floor in his huge brand new studio(!), as well as two dozen other artists and fine crafts workers all over the building; blown glass, woodworking, furniture, ceramics, circus, dance, music, film, garden sculpture, jewelry, books, bodywork, jams, candles - shopping, performances, demonstrations, food, fun....plenty of parking.

Aegis Art Works handles fine art - crating, installation, transport, exhibition and storage.

Can't go wrong with Gallery Wright

The first Vermont showing of my paintings is at Gallery Wright in Wilmington VT; Nine pastel paintings from the Fifty States Plein Air Painting Project as well as one of my large flower garden pastels, June Bloomers. Those of you who have been following the Fifty States blog know there is a story behind many of the "on location" pastel paintings. Some of the tales are about miss-adventures on the road, some are about history or geography or quirky anecdotes. It has been an interesting project involving a car full of art supplies, many miles of open road and a "mature" artist.

Phyllis' Garden

On July 10th my friend invited a few plein air painters to her new home. It is an airy Pennsylvania hill-top site wedged between two defunct dairy farms. Being a sucker for garden views, I chose this veggie garden as seen from one of several elevated porches and balconies. I was attracted to the linear elements and the protective presence of the large maple tree. In my crazy season of packing and moving I forgot to post this. Now it is a nice reminder of a midsummer's afternoon painting with friends....and another of the Transitions series.

Ragged Ends

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A February evening in my neighborhood looks peaceful and quiet. I am certainly taking advantage of this exceptionally snowy winter in both Pennsylvania & Vermont. Often I don't get more than one or two snow scenes done per winter because I have a habit of trying to avoid February and March by traveling to warmer climes. This is another 12 x 16 from the Transitions series.

Birds in the Bush

This is a familiar view to me and to many of you as well; out the east window of my studio in Pennsylvania. The slate-colored juncos are the early risers here. They spend winter nights in the protection of dense shrubbery so at first light they are up and looking to see what I've sprinkled on the snow for them to eat.

Mondays & Tuesdays are my Cornell Lab of Ornithology Project Feederwatch days, so no matter what I'm doing in the studio I have one eye on the birds. These are the birds I've seen Monday & Tuesday so far;
mourning dove, cardinal, blue jay, tree sparrow, common redpoll, house finch, goldfinch, tufted titmouse, white breasted nuthatch, black capped chickadee, goldfinch,red-bellied, downy and hairy woodpeckers, crow, starling and the dark-eyed (formerly slate-colored) junco. These are the regular customers in winter. If I am in Vermont on Mondays and Tuesdays I count there and I get pretty much the same birds with the red-breasted nuthatch, brown creeper and pileated woodpecker being more frequently seen than here at my particular PA location. I have not seen the Carolina wren this year and I would like to. Nor have I seen an owl or a hawk on count days, but I have seen evidence in the snow of their presence.

Juncos at Sunrise 12 x 16

Easel Mania

I admit to having a deep and enduring interest in easels. This new David Sorg Easel is my largest (and heaviest!) so far. I've just started using it today to work on a snow scene and so far I like it very much. It is counterbalanced so that the painting can be raised or lowered effortlessly. It is on wheels (2 of which lock) so it can easily be moved around. And the paint tray and brush shelf are generous enough to stop dropped pastel sticks from going all the way to the floor and shattering. I can see that this easel will be even more useful when I am working on large scale paintings. It is a little congested in this area of my studio, but this is a temporary location. If my Vermont studio is even half as spacious as I imagine it will be, there will be plenty of room for the Sorg and all it's smaller companions.

How many easels can you find in this partial view of my studio? There are more in the closet including the folding one my grandparents gave me for my 11th birthday. It is too flimsy for working, but perfect for dragging out to a demo to display small finished work on...and 54 years later it is a symbol of my grandparents' interest in and love for me.

One can never have too many easels.

Return to Autumn

Some of you may recognize this to be the plein air painting demo I started in the garden on October 12, 2010 during the Artists' Open House Weekend. The time was right today to finally finish it...something about January makes me want to clean up leftover business. I'm glad I had this one hanging around.

Transitions

For the last few months my husband and I have been traveling back and forth between southern Vermont and our home of 35 years in Pennsylvania. We bought a house with 5 acres on Black Mountain near Brattleboro and are preparing to move there full time this summer. The frequent 5 hour trips back and forth, although providing a great chance for landscape viewing, often leave me feeling disoriented.

I think I'm going to go with the flow and make some paintings of two similar landscapes that may blend together in unknown ways. I'll be working on 12 x 16 boards with a plein air easel in VT and a new studio easel here in PA. The location of these pieces will be nebulous; somewhere between southern VT and northeastern PA; someplace between plein air & studio work. But the size and subject and medium will give me a sorely needed continuity right now. I may not know what clothes are in which closet in which state, but I'll be able to find my winter north woods color palette.

This is the first of the transitional pictures, as well as being the first painting of the year for me.

Transition #1 12 x 16 pastel

American Eyes

American Eyes: Art from the Collection of Gil and Deborah Williams is at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University in Ithaca NY until January 9, 2011. Don't miss it.

My husband and I just spent a wonderful afternoon in the museum today. This is a small selection from a vast personal collection of a lifetime. The Williams are astute collectors and my husband and I just kept going from piece to piece exclaiming to each other "wow, look at this color woodblock", "did you see that watercolor?" "I've never seen such a beautiful gouache painting!" Others were looking with equal enthusiasm. This 20th century exhibit, curated by Nancy Green, is primarily works on paper; interesting examples of etchings, drawings, lithographs and most every kind of print and painting, including one of my plein air pastels: Agricultural History.(above)

I was awed to be represented in an exhibit that contains Thomas Moran, Thomas Hart Benton, Frederick Church, Charles Burchfield, Fairfield Porter and many other notable American artists. What thrilled me most was to be hanging in the same room with a stunning Marguerite Zorach silkscreen!!! She is one of my favorites! For many years I have had the nasty habit of tallying ratios of male to female artists represented on museum walls. This show passed with flying colors. The women artists don't necessarily have the most recognizable names but their work is top notch and I hope every one of you can get to Ithaca for this show. (It's free and there are several other exhibits there that we liked, too.)

No photography allowed or you'd be seeing a photo of me next to my painting rubbing shoulders with Charles Burchfield's Sunflowers, grinning from ear to ear.

Four Nocturnes

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These are the four nocturnes that I mentioned in the previous post...well, actually they might more accurately be termed "almost-nocturnes". They are all on the edge of day...but leading towards night: two moons, two suns. They are hanging at my studio ready to greet visitors to the 14th Annual Artists Open House Weekend...October 9, 10 & 11. Hope to see you there.

Forget-me-not on Berry Street

There is legislation being introduced in Pennsylvania by Rep. James Casario that will, if passed, limit the length of time and conditions under which Pennsylvania dogs can be tethered out. You can find out why I think this is a good thing here. And it's not just dogs who are endangered by this neglectful practice.

Not all dogs are as lucky as this one who gets to lie in a field of flowers with shade & water and then go inside with her family.

This 18 x 18 pastel painting will be shown later in the summer at The Butternut Gallery in Montrose, PA

Bella's Garden

OK, I said I was going to paint every day in August, which is not the same thing as creating a new painting every day. There are intrepid painters who have been making "a Painting a Day" for years now. I intend to paint on all days in this month and today I've started a new studio pastel of a delightful garden near Brackney, PA. It's wild and it's bold and it's strong. And it has a blue reflecting ball...something I never felt the desire to have in my own garden...but it is perfect in Bella's. I'm not even going to change the color.

I've been thinking about this painting for about a week. Today I worked out the overall structure in my sketchbook. No need for detail now.

When I felt comfortable with the shapes & patterns, I started working with black & blue Nupastels on my 20 x 24 piece of rose gray Colourfix paper. This painting will be framed with a mat so the paper is actually 6'' larger than that to allow a full border under the mat.

Next, I chose 2 warm and 2 cool medium value colors (orange, blue) and proceeded to energetically develop my abstract "underpainting". There will be quite a bit of chaotic color coming next so I want to have a painting underneath that holds it all together. Hope I've done that.

I am excited about this painting, and I want to keep right on going, but today is my birthday (Barack Obama's, too) and I'm going to a French Restaurant for dinner. So...more tomorrow.

(Still having trouble making my images mind! They 'sit' and 'lie down' wherever they want. Yikes, they are in the reverse order of what I thought I had done. If you know how to control where and in what order images appear, please comment and tell me.)

30 Years of Open Studios

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Friday night my Annual Summer Art Exhibit opens here in Montrose, PA with a reception for the artists: Zoë Poster - small clay work, Michael Poster & Melissa Whalen Haertsch - book art...and my recent paintings, of course. It continues every day from 10-6 through July 5th. Directions can be found here.

In celebration of thirty years of home-grown local art there will be many deals; 30% off all framed prints on the wall, including the two new ones; Fig Street Garden and From the Bridge. When certain designated paintings are sold, I will donate 30% of the selling price to one of 5 local charities - Humane Society, Red Cross, Food Bank, Hospital or Library building funds.

Wait, there are more reasons to come... look at some of the paintings from The 50 State Painting Project, set up your easel or sketching chair in the garden any day June 29 through July 5. Bring your friends and family to look at some art or make some art of your own.

Thank you for making 30 years of art a reason to celebrate.

Season's Greetings

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The studio is shrouded in clean new snow...about a foot now, but we keep having thaws and freezes. Just want to thank everyone who has visited the studio or one of my exhibits this year. Your interest in my work is one of the reasons I keep painting.

It seems for the past month I've been mostly moving paintings around to and from various exhibits, but I look forward to some serious studio time in January...I have ideas collected in my brain.

My exhibit in Ithaca at Kitschen Sink (two posts below) is on until just after the New Year and the exhibit at NOW (one post below) will hang through January. And I'll be here not far from the woodstove at my Montrose Studio.

This pastel painting, Watrous Corners Barns is available for $475, framed to 20 x 26 in a rustic gold wood frame. You can see it in the window of NOW Hair Studio at 132 Adams Avenue Scranton.