october: the end

I finally woke up to a frost on the ground this morning. It has been such an impossibly temperate fall I was actually a bit surprised how chilly I was walking the dogs.  But it is time.  The garden beds are just about laid to rest.  We are diligently managing our leaves-not. Our chickens are molting as fast as the trees.  The sun is noticeably lower in the sky and spends less time shining.  The late afternoon is when I catch it streaming into my studio now. 

I spent this week getting a little crafty (thank you mod-podge) for the hundreds and hundreds (we once counted over a thousand) of children who descend upon our street for trick or treating each year.  It is a safe few blocks of houses where the police barricade the traffic so folks can enjoy a sort of sugar fueled mardi-gras in October.  I never really liked Halloween, but this day becomes something of a community event which I feel lucky to be able to take part in.  Its why we live in a small town, know our neighbors and spread good cheer (and candy) throughout the land!

BOO

making art is not limited to paint and canvas

A lovely glimpse into a curated life via Lari Washburn.  

Visit The Sullivans here.

Happy Monday to All!

bigger is bigger

Today I am listening to BIG ideas streaming here

 and still working on this big, 50x60, painting...

and its still a little hard to be indoors because every day here is just perfect fall Maine weather.

la vie en bleu

Today I listened to French music all afternoon in the studio and worked on this.

enjoy your weekend!

fabulous women

On this rainy Friday morning, I made an extra cup of coffee and watched this.  As I near 50 (gasp) this year, the video did nothing but make me smile and happily look toward my next half century.  I hope you can set aside some time this weekend and be inspired!

field trip: CMCA/artist crush

Its been a while since I've been a tourist in my own town, but there is no shortage of beautiful art to see right in my own neighborhood.  Yesterday I made it over to the CMCA in Rockport to see the Hawk and Handsaw exhibit.  My favorite by far were the three oil paintings by Meg Chase, my latest artist crush.

I just can't stop looking at them, they are both landscape and completely abstract.  Often imagery from her family's farm fill the canvas- rows of diagonally planted fields tumble back through space.  While other images of riotous flower arrangements press up close to the viewer. The spare paint application does nothing but illuminate the intriguing color combinations and shifts on the picture plane.  See more of her work here, my snapshots do not do her work justice.

ps. Hawk and Handsaw is a journal of creative sustainability published out of Unity College, and the exhibit is co-curated by Ben Potter, professor of Art, and CMCA director Suzette McAvoy.

I'm falling for a landscape

As the leaves begin to fall and the branches of the trees are revealed to me, I'm feeling a little smitten this morning with Allison Gildersleeve's large scale paintings.  I love seeing the underlying structure of the painting peek through lush passages of foliage, much like I observe the skeletons of bark while out walking in the woods.  Coupled with a heady palette of riotous color, these intoxicating paintings absolutely sing out loud.

Allison Gildersleeve, The Day Needs Fixing, 2012, Oil and alkyd on canvas, 54″ × 60″.

I couldn't find many available images to share with you here, but please visit her web site to see more of her beautiful work!  And check out a studio visit video with her here.

fall beauty

together or apart?

Sometimes when I've been working for a while on a piece or pieces I like to take a photo of my progress to check in.  Am I done?  Is this any good?  Should I keep going?  More blue? green? violet? Its hard to say until I've looked for a while, and sometimes the distance of looking at the piece through the lens of a camera helps to answer those questions.  But for now...

each canvas 30x30" oil