"White House" tweaking the image

April's Girls Just Wanna Paint challenge was "white".  I submitted the painting "White House", (to the right) a charming bungalow in a Quincy neighborhood, which I painted from the car while the late afternoon life in the small neighborhood unfolded.  There were joggers, and children on bikes, and commuters walking the few blocks from the bus, and at least two pizza deliveries, and dog walkers, and after-work gardeners.  It was charming. However, the painting needed some tweaking once I got it home.

Shown to the left are the original and then the tweaked painting.  The original painting was too cool, and wasn't conveying the late afternoon light.  The tree was too heavy and its branches stopped arbitrarily along the roof edge, creating unintended geometry.   I spent 20 minutes making a few modifications, simplifying the tree, extending its branches beyond the roof, softening the tree shadow, and warming the sunlit pieces of the house including the brick foundation.  I added some blue to the roof above the porch and added a warm indication of a window or door under the porch, made a few of the houses edges more crisp, and squared off.  Finished.  It reads better, conveys more of a sense of time of day.  Thanks for looking.

"Cool Fair" working title 12 x 12 oil

Every Memorial Day weekend, our local art association, North River Arts Society, hosts its Art Festival - this year was the 37th annual.  I paint on the street for both days, chatting with visitors.  It's great fun.  

This year, Sunday afternoon, our neighbors stopped by my easel.  Their 9-year-old daughter stepped right up to my easel and asked me if I painted the people right in front of me.  Interesting question.  I asked her if she'd like to help me with my painting.  Her parents and brothers were behind her shaking their heads; I guess afraid she'd do

 something terrible and unfixable.  No problem.  She was brave and game and stepped right up.  

First I asked her to fix the balloons, making some color more intense.  Then I asked her to add a figure on the right side, any color but blue.  She chose purple, and dove right in.  (BTW, no surprise with the purple, as she was wearing purple sweatshirt and Converse).  

She was wonderful, great listener, even held her paint brush like a pro. We had such a nice time together, and she reminded me why I love teaching so much... with her little intrepid-on-tiptoes self.   She and I are going to name the painting together.  "Cool Fair" is a working title.  I played around with the painting a little bit after it came home, but everything that she

touched is just as she left it..    
What a great day.  


Ideas for a title?  

Thanks for looking.
 

"Mystic Crossing" 8" x 6" oil

A couple crossing the drawbridge in lovely Mystic Connecticut. I love the architecture, the bridge and the iconic red and white striped crossing gate on this spring day.  

See "Mystic Crossing" in the juried art & sculpture show at the North River Arts Festival in Marshfield Hills, MA this Memorial Day weekend.  I'll be painting out on the street with many other artists during the weekend of celebration... music, art, photography, artisans, and a giant book sale at the Clift Rodgers Free Library.  Hope to see you there.
Thanks for looking.

Mom, Maine and me - Pemaquid's rocks

Mom on Kresge Rocks 1995

 My Mom was a prolific, talented artist with a work ethic beyond compare. She was well-educated, graceful, funny, beautiful, industrious, retained information like no one  I have ever met.  Mom's passion for learning was evident her whole life.  She was wise.  Mom was my hero.   She passed away on an evening with a glorious sunset, (much like today's promises to be.)  

Mom and I both painted along Maine's coast, specifically on Pemaquid point at Kresge Rocks... decades apart.  I joined Mom in Maine for a late summer week every year, but I was a vacationing software engineer.  Life was busy, and I hadn't discovered the artist inside.  We'd read, and talk, and antique, and cook, and talk some more.  I would sit by her and read while she painted.  I cherish those memories.  When I did begin to paint, I assumed Mom and I would have years and years together to enjoy these magical places.  I was naive.  So... Mom and I have painted in the same places, but not together.  Her spirit surrounds me when I sit on the Maine rocks hearing the gulls, the waves and feeling the salt air.  Below are some watercolor sketches from Mom's sketch book.  She is standing on the same rocks above. And below is my painting from the same place a couple of years ago.  I love that she and I saw the same contours, the same rocks, the same striations.   I miss her every day but I feel connected across the years.

 Thanks for looking.

From Mom's sketch book - Kresge Rocks

Sun Kissed by Jody Regan - Kresge Rocks 2011

"White House" 6 x 6 oil

The theme for Girls Just Wanna Paint  in April was "white".  I debated setting up a white still life, painting boats, clouds, laundry....  or something or one named "White".  Each Tuesday I take my teen daughter to an evening college class, and spend my time in the nearby library grading my math students' tests and quizzes or lesson planning for the 3 hours.  This past week, I decided to paint.  As we drove to the college-class destination, I had her look up "white" in the vicinity of the college.  She found White Road, White Street, Grumpy White's Bar.. intriguing. I the end, I decided to do a little exploring after I dropped her off.  I found lovely neighborhoods I had never seen, and decided to plant myself next to an interesting intersection where this lovely bungalow sat across the street, caught in the late afternoon sun.  I painted from my car, amid the hubbub of the neighborhood, children on bikes, commuters walking home, joggers, walkers, mailboxes being opened, pizza delivery men coming and going... and I listened to NPR while I painted.  Great way to spend some time.  I love evenings in the spring.  Thanks for looking.

"Setting Out" oil 6 x 6

My latest in a series of working boat paintings. Sun, salt, sea.  I love the lines, angles, and power of these purposeful workhorses. Each of these boats is a minute dot on the ocean surface, and lobstering is a physical and dangerous occupation.  I have been closely cropping the boats to convey their mass, their strength, their volume.   These boats are beautiful. 

Spring is finally arriving here on the east coast and I am heading back to the water to paint.

As always, thanks for looking.

"Don't Walk" 6 x 6 oil Sun in the City

The March theme for my painting challenge group, Girls Just Wanna Paint, was "sunlight".  It has been dark, long winter here in New England.  We had our first blizzard in a few years.  Snow measured in feet rather than inches is doable.  After all, we live in Massachusetts.  However, this storm brought high winds that wreaked havoc on trees and power lines. We had a 4-day blackout (7 days for friends at the other end of town). We huddled around the wood stove, played games, read, listened to the oddly disquieting silence.  It was a winter for hunkering down, in a good way.  BUT, it was gray, and gray, and dark, and gray.  Ergo, the sunlight challenge.  I have a folder on my laptop named "Interesting".  (Really).  Sunlight was scarce this winter, so I poked through the Interesting folder and found some wonderful images of Newbury Street in Boston from a few years ago.  "Don't Walk" is my interpretation of one of them.  Newbury Street travels east/west and ends at Boston's Public Garden.  Later in the day, sun starts to recede behind the buildings, but still illuminates the Public Garden where the adjacent buildings are a block away, or a little lower.  I find my step quickening that time of day to catch the fleeting patch of sun.  Thanks for looking and please check out Girls Just Wanna Paint's take on "sunlight".