painting in dutch

beach in winter

2012-02-10T10:22:00.004-05:00

beach in winter / 5 x 5 / oil on wood

Several years ago I stumbled on a very talented (and I'm sure well known in that art scene) Cape Cod artist. Anne Packard has a gallery on the Cape in Provincetown. I first saw her work in Newport, RI, and was instantly spellbound. It was the first time I think I really paid attention to texture and color. I lingered in front of the massive Cape Light painting. The entire painting was practically simple blocks of color with only a thin strip of paint cutting through the horizon where the lighthouse was off in the distance. It was so simple, but it had a huge impact on me. I was really impressed by the interest she created in her work by the use of color and texture and light. I think her style influenced me for a long time afterward. Even to this day, if I see her work I stop in my tracks and I study the canvases closely.

This tiny piece of mine is reminiscent of Anne's much larger seascapes. I've done many beach scenes in the past and I'm always trying new things to lend depth and interest to a piece that is made up of mostly large areas of, well, nothing. I love a simple piece of art, one that is calming and uplifting. I think that texture has a lot to do with making such a simple piece stand on its own. There are so many ways to add texture. Simply leaving the brushstrokes unblended is first and foremost for me. I have slowly adopted the technique of laying down just the right color in just the right place, rather than pushing and blending paint all around on the surface. I'm always learning from others, so if you have any techniques you like to see in art please share!

i'm a good walker

2012-02-09T09:48:00.002-05:00

i'm a good walker / 8 x 8 / oil on wood

in the shop

I had fun with this one this morning. I jumped out of bed at 5:01 this morning, and whisked myself out into the studio. I had to wrap up for a few minutes in a wooly blanket and cover my head with a cowl turned snood, but it felt oh so good to be awake. When I got to the easel I was ready to see what would happen. Some days I don't know just what is going to happen with my paintings, and today was one of those days. I didn't wake up with a vivid inspiration about the theme or colors or even mood, but I knew I had to get to work. Often that is the best medicine for stalled creativity. Putting down the charcoal outlines and laying down the first tiny sweeps of thinned paint to define those outlines sent me boldly onward! Just feeling the brushes loading up with thick, buttery paint and then putting down the first swaths of color on my orangey primed panel made me breathe slower. I find that I travel to a new place while I'm painting. I don't realize where the time is going. Only when I hear a little whimper from the boys' room do I come back to my studio at 6:30 in the chilly morning air. Then it's back to reality and the sweet pudge of my baby. Sam slumbers on, while I play in the living room with Benny as the sun just begins to come up.

This morning it was very nice to travel to a dusty path winding through an emerald green Dutch field for a leisurely walk, all before breakfast.

plans and projects

2012-02-07T19:55:00.003-05:00

These sunny winter days are making for some very cheerful moments in our home. We've been busy with dance parties in the living room, paper-chain making, future sweater planning, and even a new sweater finished for the littlest man! I finished his little gnome sweater this afternoon, and he is mightly pleased with it, lucky for me. I didn't follow a pattern for this one, just a simple raglan sleeve cardigan from the bottom up. I followed some loose guidelines for constructing the hood from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac, the tomten jacket. It's my first hooded cardigan, and I'm really in love! This was done up super fast with Lion Brand Wool's Thick & Quick yarn. It's not 100% wool, which I think I've become a snob about, but I had it in my yarn stash and decided to use it up! This is a pretty bulky sweater, so it'll be mainly for our outside adventures. Next up, a similar one for Sam, with not so bulky 100% wool this time around. He is very excited. So am I. I'm thinking green and light brown...

We've also been taking advantage of the mild temperatures to spend some time out working on our current woodworking project. I'm building a small armoir...because I'm overly ambitious. I'll let you know how that works out for me. At least my awesome family is supportive, and I'm doing it at next to no cost. Thank you craigslist for all the free wood I've collected, from South Kingstown to Providence! And thank you ebay for letting me win a jigsaw and drill for next to nothing... As Sam would say these days, "now we're cooking with gas...."

grouping

2012-02-02T06:55:00.003-05:00

grouping / 3 x 7 / oil on panel

sold

As I sit up this morning, seeing the grey light begin to brighten through the window blinds, hearing some early birds singing good morning, I am thinking of Spring. I know, it's only February, but this is the month for me that marks the anticipation, the hope, of Spring. Sam turns four later this month, four! Always just after his birthday I begin to sense that Spring is on its way. For me Spring doesn't necessarily mean lovely weather. It's more a reassurance of hope, family, and life! I need the ever changing seasons. I don't know how I would find renewed energy if I didn't have the seasons to prod me along in life. With each new season I feel excited for what it will bring with it. I feel the need to get busy preparing for what is coming. We have been having an unseasonably warm winter so far, and perhaps that contributes to this whole feeling right now. We were in the garden yesterday, wearing only long sleeve shirts. Sam poked around in the dirt, inspected the wintering strawberry patch, and swung on the tire swing. I replaced the plant stand that fell over in our snow storm a couple of weeks ago, went through the wood pile to see what was salvagable for my latest building project (more on that later), and breathed in the cool air. It felt like a Spring day. So deceiving, yet so delicious!

I will certainly take more winter, please! We need it to gear us up for sunny days to come!

a long walk

2012-02-01T05:46:00.002-05:00

a long walk / 5 x 5 / oil on panel

in my shop

The luscious paint of this one makes me think of thick butter, or "buttah" as Sam puts it these days. I often use my fingers when I'm finishing a painting, to smooth certain areas, or to create texture or interest. It feels good to really be one with my art...

sail on

2012-01-30T09:56:00.000-05:00

sail on / 3 x 5 / oil on panel

in the shop

The sun has really come out today, which just makes me feel so cozy. We have a sunroom in our house, with wall to wall windows. It's not an insulated or heated room, but when the sun comes out it's the warmest room in the house, so we spend a lot of play/knitting time in there together. I'm looking forward to our post lunch playtime in there today. In the meantime, I thought I would get this little painting up in my shop and previewed here for all to see. When working with smaller paintings there is the risk of forgetting about one or two from time to time. This painting sort of got bumped to the bottom of the pile, so to speak, until I found it a couple of days ago and realized I never listed it! It is a gem, so I'm glad I found it. Enjoy, and happy Monday to you all!

underfoot at dawn

2012-01-27T08:51:00.002-05:00

The early morning routine is beginning to take its own pace now. It's really quite wonderful to ease into my day, take my time, and tinker away in my studio. I have it all to myself...usually. Sometimes there is a little welcome addition in the form of one child or another. Today I welcomed Sam first at about 5:40. He wanted to cuddle, which I successfully persuaded him to do back in bed with dad. Sam needs his sleep, so we have to at least try to get him to sleep until around 7:00. Then I came back out to my quiet morning. Then, about an hour later I welcomed Benjamin. I'm always surprised by the focus I'm still able to have when Ben is with me in the early morning. He is so calm and willing to mill around peacefully. There's no clamoring or tugging at my legs or whining. It's just hanging out together, which is pure delight.

It's been a productive week. I managed to finish up a few paintings, package a few more for shipping out, and even work a bit on the business end of things. Now, for the weekend. Plans include scoping out a used wood router, perfecting my dado making abilities, and driving my husband crazy with this new idea of pursuing a woodworking hobby. He didn't know it when he married me that I'd be so hobby-happy. It's lucky for me that he sticks around.

lately...

2012-01-26T05:53:00.003-05:00

Almost a month ago now our baby turned one! Every day is an adventure with him, and we are so blessed because of it. Needless to say, these boys keep me busy these days, and I love the time I'm given to spend with them. Painting has afforded me this amazing opportunity to be with them as they grow and learn and discover. I'm so glad that Peter and I made the decision long ago that I would be home with our children. I wouldn't have it any other way. So, here's to Benjamin's first year!

They are both wearing handknits made by their mama. That's the other thing that keeps me busy around here!

ablaze

2012-01-24T05:36:00.003-05:00

ablaze / 2 x 7 / oil on panel

sold

You know, I didn't go to art school, so I've not really been well versed in painting styles, techniques, surfaces, varnishes, etc... What I've come to see as my painting process is entirely made up, invented. Well, I've read a bunch and I am always asking questions that I need answers to, but for the most part I've learned by trial and error what works and what doesn't...for me anyway. For me, the successful piece doesn't depend as much on being fine as it does on being beautiful. This seems to be true for me no matter the medium. Take woodworking for example. I know, that's just what you thought I was going to say...

I've always been interested in building my own furniture, and I've attempted it a few times. Peter and I built a pantry shelf in one of our first apartments that was completely slanting to the right. Our oldest son's birthmom once saw the shelf and vowed she wouldn't tell her father about it, seeing as he is an expert craftsman. Thank you to her! Since then I've learned a thing or two about a carpenter's square. I've made a few things since then. I have an insatiable desire to build things with my own two hands, but have mostly felt I can't do much without the proper (power) tools. I mean, using a handsaw is really. exhausting. work. However, I recently stumbled on a fabulous blog that I could sit and read all day long. It speaks to this inner me that just wants to build stuff, beautiful stuff. Ariele of brooklyntowest makes beautiful things, beautiful stuff. Her simple and intuitive methods of assembly are inspiring to me. It makes me think I could do more with what I've got. Although, a nice circular saw wouldn't hurt...

Anyway, most times I feel like my art wants to go in that direction, the way I'd rather have worn wooden kitchen countertops over new granite. The way I'd rather pick up old furniture off the side of the road, fix it up, and enjoy it for years to come over a sleek streamlined new piece of furniture. I paint to convey the beauty I see, the beauty I want others to see, as well. I hope it comes through in my work.

changes around here

2012-01-21T12:00:00.002-05:00

I've had these paintings hanging in a gallery for the better part of 2011. There were four originally. Two sold, but these two were still up, so I decided it was time to pull them out. In my gallery experience thus far I've been a little unimpressed. It is no doubt my own fault. I haven't been the most vigilant starving artist in trying to peddle my paintings in brick and mortar establishments. I know that a majority of any gallery experience is going to depend on the relationship I foster with the owner(s). Since I don't feel that I have the time or really even the desire to keep up with multiple galleries, their request for new and rotating work, or the sticky pricing issue, I've decided to be very selective in the future about where I place my work. I want to feel like the gallery owner is genuinely excited about my work and not apt to relegate my paintings to the storage closet without letting me know. Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything....hmn...

At any rate, as I drove home from Providence, where I picked up my husband and my paintings yesterday evening, I was happy to see my pieces once again. It's a bit like seeing an old friend again, and I'm able to remember the brushstrokes and the time I worked on them. It's so interesting to see work from a year ago now, to see how my painting style and themes have changed, and also how some things have stayed the same. Now I'm making them available in my shop. I believe this will reach a wider audience, so I hope they won't sit there for the better part of 2012!

shop update

2012-01-20T07:05:00.002-05:00

I'm adding new paintings just about every day now in my shop. Please stop in to see what's new!

before the sun comes up

2012-01-19T05:42:00.002-05:00

Five a.m. does come pretty early, but it's been surprisingly easy for me to pluck myself out of bed this week. I've been waking up close to this time now for about a year, because of sweet little Benjamin, but this is the first time I'm attempting it voluntarily. Peter and I laugh because we never set our alarms anymore. We have two built in alarm clocks, Sam and Ben, and they never fail to wake us up each morning. However, if I'm going to select my own time to work then I have to do it this way, before the sun comes up. It's cold in our house at this morning hour, but worth it for the hour or two of time I've found in my day! I completed a painting yesterday and am about to go begin another right now.

Here's to resolutions!

matunuck beach

2012-01-17T09:31:00.002-05:00

matunuck beach / 7 x 7 / oil on panel

sold

Now that the holiday season is passed and we've officially settled back into real life (I know, it took me an especially long time this year), I have found time to get back to this space. This painting sold the same day I posted it, but I wanted to show it to you anyway.

With the new year I have been giving a lot of thought to the direction I want to go with my art. My productivity has slowed considerably over the last year. It's been a pretty good trade-off, spending more of my time with the boys and less of my time at the easel. However, I am determined to carve out more time for my art. I think the only real way to do that is to sacrifice a bit more sleep. I've always been a night owl, coming from a family of stay-up-laters. But with small children it seems to make so much more sense to go to bed earlier... No matter how much sense something makes, when the time comes to act it doesn't make it any easier to do! I still crave the relaxed free time of the evenings. But, in the handfull of times I've gotten out of bed before the house is awake I've accomplished so much more. Plus, when the little ones finally do rouse themselves it feels like it's on my own time and not on theirs, which is nice. It's less like an alarm clock and more like a pleasant greeting. So, does this mean I will be getting up earlier? Perhaps. I'm going to work on this. It just feels like the way to start my day off right. And, Peter would be so proud of me, which always makes me happy.

To start off the year with a renewed energy for my art, I will be entering three pieces into a show at a fabulous local gallery. I've shown there a couple of times before, and am excited to get back after being out of the art show scene for an entire year!

A couple of my artistic endeavors I'll be pursuing this year:

-Get up earlier to paint

-Seek out more exhibit opportunities

If more ideas come up I'll add them to the list. For now this is a doable (hopefully) list. I'll keep it simple to start off the year!

matunuck dunes

2011-12-16T10:51:00.003-05:00

matunuck dunes / 3 x 4 / oil on panel

sold

The judge that Peter is clerking for (his first job out of law school!!) has a soft spot for Matunuck, Rhode Island. Peter and his fellow co-clerk asked me to do a painting to give the judge as a gift for Christmas. Nice gift! I was happy to oblige. I have painted Matunuck before, so it's nice to revisit the theme. It's been a while since I've actually done any seaside paintings it seems (at least ones that actually include even a glimpse of the sea). While trying to decide just what to paint for the judge I did a couple of preliminary studies. This is the first I did, which actually turned into the larger finished piece later. I have another study that I'll post soon, a true seascape. Until then, enjoy this little picture of the dunes along Matunuck Beach...

middle of the path

2011-12-10T20:22:00.002-05:00

middle of the path / 4 x 4 / oil on panel

now available

Something is on the path in this painting, but I don't really have a clue what it is... I painted it in, and thought about painting it out since I had no real direction to go with it, or anything in particular in mind when I put the simple brushstroke down. But then, as I backed away a bit from the easel to have a broader look I decided that it just sat right with me to keep it there. So, there it is. Use your imagination?? I like it.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

into the wide world

2011-12-09T11:41:00.002-05:00

into the wide world / 4 x 4 / oil painting

now available

Here is another figurative piece, with another red hat. This painting is based on a photograph I took of my boy, Sam, last summer while we were out on the Cape. This one photograph captured the moment when he turned to look at us all marching up the dune following his lead. The expression on his face coupled with the view ahead just made me think of how he will oneday trek off on his own, for real. Thus, he will head into the wide world. I just want to enjoy these choice years when I get to be a part of his excursions out into the world, when I still get to hold his hand and cuddle with him each morning while he warms up to the day. He is a brave boy, and oneday he really will head off into the dunes. I hope I'm ready for it then, because I'm certainly not now.

sneeuw

2011-12-08T08:29:00.002-05:00

Or, a journey into the figurative art world...

sneeuw / 4 x 4 / oil painting

available now

This painting is the first figurative piece I've done in years. If you've followed my work for any length of time, you'll know that I am by nature a landscape painter, but if I'm honest I have to say that some of the work I am most drawn to is figurative. I love the stories that figurative art tells. I have never studied art in a formal setting, so I've always considered my efforts at figurative art completely amateur to say the least. My first subjects as a child were figurative. My mother allowed me to draw pictures in a journal that she saved for me. My first drawings when I was three were large lop-sided circles with four long squiggly lines coming out of them. the caption near the drawings read, "people walking on the head." Later, when my depth perception caught up I was drawing Victorian era ladies in poofy dresses. Then, in high school I often drew stylized ink renditions of men and women with outrageous hair and facial expressions. These were my choices then. It wasn't really until I started painting that I became drawn to landscapes. And that's how it's been for years.

I have, however, always wondered if I could/should try out figures in my work. My very first oil painting actually includes two figures. Very small wisps of paint indicating workers in a field of tulips. For one reason or another I've never had much confidence in my ability to paint people, but I've always wanted to be able to do it. With my new love of knitting...I decided I would try to combine some themes that might come together to create something sparse, magical, and simple. These small landscape format pieces were just the thing. I can combine simple figures that are mostly just blocks of color. they are figures wearing knitted things. Quaint, eh?

Enjoy!

from within

2011-12-07T11:38:00.002-05:00

from within / 4 x 4 / oil on panel

now available

These small round panels were a new thing for me, and I rather like how they turned out. It creates an even more object-like element to these small landscape paintings. I have three more completed...and hopefully I'll get those up in the next couple of days!

This is another of my old cottage window series paintings. I think it's one of my favorite series I've done so far. It's so simple, and so textured. I'm so attracted to textures, textiles. I think one of the elements of painting that first drew me in was the way the paint looks and seems to feel when you look at it up close. The way an artist can put down a streak of color in just the right spot, and how that streak is slightly raised up perhaps, casting a tiny shadow. Or how the canvas sometimes peeks through under a thinner wash in one area of a piece, and where other areas are covered by thicker brushstrokes. The texture of a finished painting is as vital to me as the image itself. I can think I like a painting from far away, but when the painting falls flat up close I'm always disappointed. No offense here to anyone who offers prints of their work, but this is one reason why I choose not to do that. The original piece is the only one that can offer the actual brushstrokes to see and feel. Perhaps a fine painting isn't meant to be handled or touched, but I'm the artist, so I'm aloud to touch my own work. And I do. And, when you buy art it's yours, you can touch it if you want. After all, it could burn up in a fire tomorrow, so why not get to know it now. It's like grass. If it's only meant to be admired from afar what good is it really? It's just aesthetics until you take your shoes off and walk on it. After that it's an experience.

light out there :: old cottage window series

2011-12-06T08:51:00.002-05:00

light out there / 4 x 4 / oil on wood

now available

Another in my old cottage window series, with the weathered, scuffed surface that is so strangely appealing. I think I like it because it feels as though it just belongs in a rustic setting.

I'm trying to get all of my finished pieces listed and posted here and in my shop in the next few days, so check back for new work soon. I'm rather liking my current method of selling, i.e.: completely relaxed and nonchalant. Don't get me wrong, I'm very interested in getting my work out there for you all to see, but it is nice to feel limited pressure to sell sell sell. I am enjoying creating pieces that I love and pieces I would keep forever if I had the room! I'm very glad to be able to offer them to you all, and hope some of you out there will be able to enjoy some of my original art. When it's all said and done, these pieces are just wood and paint, but they take on new meaning for me because of the process of creating them, not necessarily because of the end result. The end result is something I want to be content with, but it's the process of creating that imbues them with significance to me. I painted them. That makes them special to me. The best part is to see a part of myself, a part I like, in a tangible object...like a reflection. Maybe that's why I am so driven to create and make. For me it is sublime, and I hope that for you it isn't so bad either.... Enjoy.

impossible blue

2011-12-05T08:30:00.001-05:00

impossible blue / 7x 7 / oil on panel

now available

Many artists will tell you that the sky is so rarely blue, the way we often think of the sky. And, this is typically true. But, have you ever been to Holland? The skies in Holland are impossibly blue. This painting doesn't really have that blue sky, but in my mind's eye this painting does express the feeling of the dutch landscape with the straight rows of fields and trees, and with the skyline of the town off in the distance, and the vast sky above. With such a flat landscape, Holland really does leave have a way of making you feel like you can see forever.

bon iver - halocene

2011-12-03T11:21:00.002-05:00

There are just some sounds that make me close my eyes and try to think how I can live my life to the soundtrack of it. This is one of those sounds...

fields

2011-12-01T10:23:00.002-05:00

Or, I'm still actually working

fields / 4 x 4 / oil on panel

in shop now

I've been a bit absentee. Autumn is really setting in now, and I've been on a knitting rampage. Make no mistake, I'm addicted. At least I'll admit it. I've got something to show for it, which helps. I'm four and a half sweaters in to the season, a couple of cowls, several hats, and some sweet mittens. Next on my list, finish off the sweater on the needles and work on some Christmas thing-a-majigs for family and friends. In between my knitting sessions (haha!) I'm still at least thinking about painting. I've got some new ideas, and, surprise surprise, they might be uniting my passion for painting AND my new passion for knitting. Just hold on to your seats folks, things might get a little experimental around here.

All that said, I am realizing that some of my hobbies are better enjoyed without little ones tugging on my legs. Knitting is one of those that can be done surrounded by a gaggle of babes, but painting requires a bit more of my attention. So, painting has taken a slight back seat lately. I have been kicked today, however, by inspiration, and I have panels spread out all over my work desk beside my sketch book and charcoal pencils.

I'm back at it today, and it feels. so. good.

marshland

2011-10-26T12:30:00.002-04:00

marshland / 4 x 4 / oil on panel

view in shop

This one is inspired by the cove across from my house. It is really the source of seemingly endless inspiration, as this is the n'th painting I've done of the cove. This time of year it begins to turn all golden in the resigning autumn sun...

the farm

2011-10-25T12:31:00.001-04:00

the farm / 4 x 4 / oil on block

view in shop

Here's my next piece in this series.

sunset

2011-10-18T09:15:00.002-04:00

sunset / 4 x 4 / oil painting

see in shop

This one was painted from an impression I had while having a picnic with my family this past summer. We were sitting on the grassy hill near the Watch Hill Lighthouse in Westerly, RI when the sun began to set. The glare of light from the sun from across the ocean was almost blinding, but so beautiful. I decided it was a worthy subject to paint.