Garden To Be

On the corner of my deck sit a few pots of pansies and some annuals and French tarragon; a restrained selection, for me, in anticipation of a few small construction projects here this summer. We are having a formerly used small greenhouse attached to our house, the deck enlarged and the front stone walk and steps rebuilt. This 12 x 16 pastel is my first plein air painting of 2012. Well, at least I didn't wait until May...quite. I painted this yesterday afternoon. Happy planting!

Paper Zoo at MFA Boston

                                 photo by Michael Poster of Michael Poster and Rodrica Tilley under the Sargent murals in the rotunda

My husband and I drove into Boston yesterday to spend a day at the Museum of Fine Arts. We had a few specific special exhibitions we wanted to visit: Paper Zoo, The Allure of Japan, Manet in Black, Beauty as Duty and Passion and Precision in the Age of Revolution. 
They were all good, but Paper Zoo was my favorite; 6 centuries of photographs, prints and drawings on paper of some members of the animal kingdom. I saw L'escargot by Toulouse Lautrec, Toad by Picasso, Spider by Louise Bourgeois. A sleeping puppy by Rembrandt was about as cute as this show got. Woodcuts, lithographs, etchings. It's there until August. Go. You won't be sorry.

Last Dance Amaryllis

I have an old collection of large flowered amaryllis. This is Royal Velvet. It just gets bigger and bigger with more and more blooms and some offsets each year. Before the holidays I re-pot each one (but I'm thinking this is unnecessary), bring it from the basement or greenhouse bench, water once and wait for the heat to warm it up. I bring two up at a time and in two weeks, another two. That way I will have blooms for a couple of months at a particularly dreary time of year here in the north woods. When signs of growth appear, I water and wait with anticipation each year. I cut off spent stalks as they occur, begin fertilizing, continue watering. When the weather is settled I move them outside in a semi-shaded location and water until September. Then I withhold all water, turning the pot on it's side, let the foliage die and move to cool storage before freezing until early December.

This subject of this 20 x 16 pastel is one of my beauties sitting on my dining room table. I was looking for subtle colors in all but the bloom and I like the texture that Sabretooth pastel paper imparts. I will be framing this under museum glass. If you are interested in seeing it, let me know. Thanks for looking.

New drawing tools!

I wasted all that warm plein air weather by gardening...hey, I planted 34 clumps of daylilies!...so far. The work  I have to do here in my brand new (not bare exactly) garden is limitless, so I am determined to get out there painting next decent day.

What I have been doing is drawing, drawing, drawing. I completed another 12 hour Life Drawing Marathon on March 10...luckily the River Gallery School of Art only offers the marathon twice a year...giving some of us time to recover before the next one. Four different models for a three hour shift each: four 30-second poses, one 5-minute, one 10-minute, a couple of 20-minutes and one or two longer poses. You get focused, you get energized, you get tired, you get giddy, but it is a real stretch of your abilities and the smart artists focus on one medium. I tried everything from pastel to pencil to ink. I was afraid I would get bored...and then the woman next to me insisted I use two sheets of her lovely brown heavyweight newsprint with charcoal. Perfect. I had a great time and have something to look forward to in October.

In the weekly Tuesday afternoon Life Drawing Class, my teacher, Jason Alden, is making sure I don't skate through his class. He is so young (but wise) and usually points out to me just the right direction I should be going and the really difficult thing I might be trying to do to grow as an artist. Could I ask for more?

                            “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear”

 

Also, I'm part of a cafe sketching group on Thursdays and a bi-weekly critique/support group led by the school's creative director, Lydia Thompson. And the rest of the time I am drawing plants, pets, whatever. Life is good.

Oh, yes, new tools: I just discovered Derwent Water Soluble Sketching Pencils. What fun. I've been using them for drawing from the model and sketching in a Moleskine Watercolor Journal. I really like the look and the way of working...black, white and many values of grey/silver. Fun.

Purple House

This 16 x 16 pastel of my house in Vermont is now on exhibit at the Butternut Gallery & Second Story Books in Montrose PA (570-278-4011) along with it's partner Yellow House.  I framed them with Tru-Vue (Museum) glass to diminish reflections as well as preserve the bright colors over time. The glass is AR (anti-reflective) and UV (keeps ultraviolet light from bleaching pigments). Pastels and most works on paper need to be protected by glass. Looking through Tru-Vue makes the glass almost invisible. I know that sounds weird, but you can definitely appreciate the difference between Tru-Vue and regular or so-called non-reflective "frosted" glass. Stop in and take a look. Tell Tom & Betty I sent you. They are each priced to sell at $550 framed.

Yellow House

'About time a pastel painting showed up here, huh? This is one of a pair of paintings done on 16" squares of Richeson board. They are both based on observed house scenes in my immediate Vermont neighborhood. I used the actual places as merely a jumping off place, making the transition from actual to "my version" via a series of pencil sketches. 

SOLD 

As always, thanks for looking and taking the time to comment.

Studio Lookin' Good

I think my new studio in Brattleboro will always look this organized. There is no room to have anything out of place. Chaos can come to this little room in about 5 minutes. So far, so good.

Those of you who saw it "before" can appreciate these "after" photos. Notice the cheery new rug!

But the best thing of all is the paper flat file (under table on right side of lower photo). After spending way too much time and energy chasing down used flat files all over the northeast I had one custom made by Greg Goodman Cabinetmaker here in Brattleboro. He made a utilitarian and mighty fine looking piece that works like a charm. I should say it is the second best thing.

The best is my husband who is not in the photo but several of my older pieces of studio furniture which were made by him are. He had the brilliant idea to ask Greg to make the file. I couldn't have done it without Michael. Thanks, honey. (But he didn't pick out the rug!)

Now I can get down to work which as you can see I am doing.