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.

Watercolor Demo

This is the 10" x 10" watercolor demo I started on October 12th on the patio while some of you watched. It took another few hours to get this far. It's close to finished, but I'm leaving for my 7 state southern loop tomorrow. So, it will settle until I return and see what needs to be changed.

Look to the right>>>>>>>>>>>>>and up; the email subscription box has returned. My daughter of pearled earth found it! Now you can subscribe and not miss a post. Thanks to all of you who comment regularly. I love it.

A thank you & a (mild) scolding

photo by Rodrica Tilley

Thank you to the hordes of happy art lovers who turned out for the Artists' Open House Weekend...I was too busy selling & wrapping originals & prints to actually take any photos of you all enjoying the fabulous autumn weather in my garden. It was a wonderful ending to my 14 years on this county-wide studio tour. I'm moving to Vermont in 2011 as most of you know. I so enjoyed seeing friends, fans & familiar faces.

The garden received many compliments. People were surprised that it was colourful! To my way of thinking a fall garden can be a little too subdued without DAHLIAS! Yes, they are a fair amount of work...you must dig, wash, label & store them after the frost...sort of like potatoes; you need a cool, frost-free storage spot...like the basement. But, that done you can forget about them until mid- to late April. Then drop the tubers in pots of gro-mix in the greenhouse or sunporch or living room window. When they sprout, water them and plant them out with 4' stakes in mid to late May. So those of you who go to the trouble of growing tomatoes & marigolds, may want to steal a corner for some real fall color. And in a lucky year that may begin in July and last until October. Your house will be full of bouquets.

Swan Island Dahlias is my favorite source...and their catalogue is great reading. I don't go for the dinner plate dahlias, but you may. Dahlias are a great investment...buy them once...plant & give away forever.

Four Nocturnes

SOLD
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.