Pears, Pears, Pears........

An explanation of  why my avatar is a group of pears. 

I worked with clay, made  jewelry, created quilts and other needlework, before  I was inspired by a package from my mother. She sent me nine tubes of watercolor paints and a note, ' Give it a try.' 

I bought watercolor paper, a few brushes and a number of books and began to paint.  A pear seemed like a good subject - its form is recognizable even if not expertly rendered.  An apple might be mistaken for a tomato or pepper but pears are pears.  One pear led to another.  I enjoyed the challenge of painting a pear that transitioned from red to green with pink, orange and yellow in between.

Big, small, lumpy, round, elongated, red, green, maroon, without noticing, for nearly a year I painted only pears.

Now I paint with both oil and watercolor and create all sorts of paintings, but if I'm stuck, stumped by a blank piece of paper or an empty canvas, often a pear or group of pears appear.

This is the painting for the first in my series of fruit note cards.

 To purchase note cards  ***click here***

Trying a New Medium

Yesterday, I spent the day experimenting with oil pastels that I bought recently to fill the time on a long train trip home from Washington, DC to Vermont. Unlike soft pastels, there is no need use a fixative so I was able to work without filling the air with nasty chemicals.

Back in my studio, I pulled them out again.  I began drawing on paper, tried a canvas board, a small stretched canvas and then a piece of pine.  The surface of the pine board was most pleasing.  I created an under painting with shades of red, orange, and yellow before creating the landscape.  With the drawing finished, I used brushes and Qtips to apply both linseed oil and walnut oil in order to further blend the colors. The oils give the finished piece the look of an oil paintings.

Inspired by the vibrant colors, I ordered a proper set of artist quality oil pastels.      To be continued!

To Market, To Market

Creating a painting is only one part of being an artist.  Getting painting out into the world is another.. With that in mind I have decided to submit three  paintings for consideration to Studio Place Arts in Barre, Vermont for their upcoming 12 x 12 (inches) show that will run from June 16 through July 25.

These flowers were painted at the Vermont Studio Center during my January residency. 

The Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont is a place like no other,  an artists' colony where visual artist and writers  work, recharge their creative battery, and live in community. 

While there,  I began to work with soft pastels, created small sculptures with found material, (including the beetle I posted earlier, worked on a series of oil paintings, including this one, painted with a very dark pallet, ate incredible meals, had wonderful conversations with many residents and returned home energized, inspired and rested. 

 

Completed Poster

With an image chosen, the landscape inspired by a valley in France, I turned to my computer and Photoshop to create the logo.

I began by cropping  and adding the dark border.  I tried a number of filters and settled on the Artistic filter surprisingly called --- Poster!

Then I spot edited the image, removing excessive dark spots and lightening the sky.

I used the font called Matisse because it conveyed the spirit of the event and worked well with image.

My husband, Charles, suggested that the house in the foreground should 'go away' and the field behind the text be lightened.  With that accomplished through the magic of cloning and selective color replacement, I added a credit line and declared the logo finished, at least until it is reviewed by the Bookstock planning committee.

Start a Poster

I am designing the logo for Bookstock: The Green Mountain Festival of Words.  A collaboration of the Norman Williams Library, The Historical Society, Pentangle, The North Universalist Chapel Society, The Thompson Center, and other community organizations in Woodstock, Vermont. There will be upwards of fifteen literary events, in a number of venues in the village of Woodstock, during the first weekend in August. 

My process began with a search for images of books, mountains and valleys.  I looked at clip art and played with text.  Unsatisfied by what I found, I turned to digital images of my oil paintings and was inspired by the  landscape of a valley in France posted above. Now its time to turn to my computer and Photoshop.  

I'll post the final image, at least final for the moment, when I'm satisfied. 

Spring Renovation

We have a classic revival porch on the west side of our house but it is close to the road and shaded by the hillside, we have a terrace that faces the pond and view of the hills but ants litter the stones with sand and crawl on my toes,  I thought we needed a new porch.  After much discussion, I convinced my husband and then I changed my mind.  

Small is better, we don't need to add another square foot of space to our house, let's make what we have serve our needs. We began in what had been a laundry room and half bath. It has been transformed into a powder room with a separate laundry closet.  Often the most important part of a renovation project is subtraction rather than addition;  we removed ceramic tile, cement board, linoleum, and tar paper and uncovered a hardwood floor. We replaced a brown, faux marble, scallop shell sink, with a simple, white porcelain, pedestal sink.  This small chair found in Singapore has become a shelf and towel bar in the redone powder room.

Orange Beetle

I spent the month of January at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont recharging my creative battery and spending time with a diverse group of visual artists and writers.

One morning, on the way to my studio, I found molded paper packing material.  Inspired by its shape, I used soft pastels to created this beetle.