Eastern Horizon

This is the view I see every morning. Different colors, temperatures, seasons, moods. I love the sunrise and feel bad if I sleep through it...rarely happens.

This particular pastel painting, done in the studio this month, will be on view at Gallery Wright in Wilmington, VT beginning in February.  On your way to or from Mt. Snow go take a look. Gallery Wright has moved to 103 West Main St,(Rt 9) Wilmington Vermont. 802-464-9922

Eastern Horizon image size is about 15 x 22, framed with a mat to about 22 x 29.

Editing

The new year seems to be a good time for sorting through a heavy pile of twelve months of figure drawings. My teacher has requested a drawing or two from each student to exhibit at the River Gallery during February. I picked out my favorites as I organized the pile and taped them up in my tiny studio. This is the almost final cut - an even dozen (charcoal and one abstract pastel).

Editing is a skill in itself, worthy of honing just like laying a graduated wash. I am working on this. Don't you wish more people practiced editing? Just think of viewing all the photos your sister took on her vacation. I'd rather see the 5 really good ones; the ones with the interesting story or the beautifully composed ones.

So many considerations...I think my teacher will like this one. Maybe this one is too explicit. Will anyone else appreciate this one? This is quite a good likeness of the model. Those are not real criteria, in this case. I need to decide which of my 12 "best" really please me; which one is the successful result of my goals for that particular drawing. I will ponder this until Tuesday when I will deliver my choice for the wall. By then I may be able to articulate my goals, which right now must have something to do with 'expressive' quality, 'interest in all areas of the picture', 'mystery.'....

First Friday in Brattleboro 5:30 til 8:30 and all the rest of the month at River Gallery School of Art...

Looking forward to 2013

"I want to think again of dangerous and noble things.
 I want to be light and frolicsome. I want to be improbable and beautiful and afraid of nothing as though I had wings."
                                                                    -- Mary Oliver 

 I intend to hold Mary Oliver's words in my mind as I paint and draw and live and breathe.

Please tell me of your plans and intentions. 

Above is my work in progress, pastel painting, Bench with Boxwoods, 24 x 30, inspired by my friend, Barbara's garden. SOLD

Happy Solstice and I got a gift!

My favorite holiday is here again...dark and gloomy, as usual. The sun, on it's rare and brief appearances here in Vermont,  has barely been able to peer over the distant tree tops during the last week. But what I like about winter solstice is that it is the turning point; ever so slowly the days will lengthen and light will strengthen.  May there be some bright cold sunny days right around the corner?

photograph by Michael Poster

Look who I found at Windham County Humane Society...what a lucky day for me! He's 16 pounds of cuddles. And he is obviously a painter's cat...look at the bold black brush stroke under his nose. He has not been named yet...any suggestions? He's a laid back guy, only slightly perturbed at a rambunctious cattle dog who is monitoring his very move.

In 2012 our two old cats, Harley (19) & Norton (13) left us six months apart. Many knew Harley who loved an Open Studio for all the attention she would garner from visitors. She never tired of guests. Norton was her exact opposite. At the first sign of a stranger at our door Norton would run and hide, a very private fellow.

Sketching Group

I have been an avid sketcher since high school. It is fun. It appeals to my industrious nature. I get better at it over time (unlike many other things which I seem to get worse at...like lifting heavy objects or walking fast or remembering proper nouns). Sketching seems to help put the world in order on a personal history kind of level.

Birds of a feather occasionally flock together and this often happens over coffee somewhere on Main Street in Brattleboro, Vermont. We talk. We check out each others new pens, pencils and sketchbooks. We stop talking and start scratching quietly on paper. We try not to be too obvious in scrutinizing  our hopefully unsuspecting fellow coffee drinkers while they eat their lunch or work on their laptops or commiserate over their parents or toddlers. We complain when our 'model' leaves the scene. Sometimes we decide still life is easier.  For a couple hours a week we enjoy the company of other sketchers.

For those artists who think it feels weird to draw in public, I say it is one of the nicer things people do in cafes. Most people are too busy text-ing to notice what or how well you draw. Why not join us? Or assemble a sketching group wherever you are.

 

Our coordinator and organizing guru wears two pairs of glasses - at once. She is an accomplished sketcher (and has X-ray vision).

These recent sketches were done in a watercolor moleskine landscape format  (5 x 8.5")with Prismacolor Premier fine line markers

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.

Butternut Gallery and Second Story Books

One of the best things about my hometown, Montrose, PA is the Butternut Gallery and Second Story Books. The proprietors, a husband and wife team, Betty Bryden and Tom Canouse, show a continually changing selection of fine art and craft. Their collection of lightly used books never ceases to amaze me; always something I'm interested in. This place is a treasure in the community. How lucky to have this enduring business and cultural addition right in the center of town. They regularly show the work of over twenty artists.

I  moved away from the hometown of my life. I now live in Vermont, but I return to the Butternut several times a year and I bring my new paintings there. Stop in during the holidays for some good cheer,  new art,  unique gifts and good reads...children's books, too. 570-278-4011