Monhegan Sketchbook June 29

Yesterday, I sat with my good friend, Liz,  on Fish Beach, Monhegan.  We waited for our lunch, sat on the rocks, chatted and drew in our sketchbooks.  Sitting surrounded by salt air, sea, and sounds is heaven to me.  Some children played on the nearby rocks  and shared something from a plastic bag with the gulls.  When the gulls see a freebie being handed out, they just keep on coming.  There may be 2,000 breadcrumbs, or 2.  They just keep coming, ever hopeful.  And, they dissipate just as quickly.  I love the gulls swarming in the air, silhouetted against the backdrop of buildings and rocks.  I love the quick dissipation as well. (else we're back with Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren clacking around Bodega Bay 

in her heels and mint green Chanel suit). 



I'm going to try to post every day while we are here.  As always, love your comments.  Off to the Lighthouse Museum.

Side by Side Over the Years

My brother Kevin is (was) is three years younger than I am. When my parents moved from New York to Massachusetts, I had three brothers.  (The fourth came along a few years later.)  I have marveled at many aspects of my parents' lives over the years.  The fact that they moved into a big Victorian house my mother had not even seen, when we were ages three, two, one and three months old... astounding.  The house had beautiful end-to-end living rooms, each with a marble fireplace, one a little more ornate than the other. 

It was also astounding that my Mom found the time to paint portraits of us, from life.  Lots of portraits.  These pastel portraits of me at about 8 years old, and Kevin at about 5 years old, hung over the less formal living room's fireplace for years and years.  Mom picked up these vintage gold leaf frames at her favorite framer somewhere in Back Bay when I was a little girl. I think the building is long gone, having succumbed to the Copley development years ago.  I remember her framer's  giant jumbled space of antique sculptures and frames and mirrors.  It was the kind of organized chaos I have grown to love.  

Kevin died eighteen years ago, of an undiagnosed enlarged heart.  He was only 36 years old, when his heart just clicked off in his sleep.  Today is his 54th birthday. 

After Mom passed away, my living brothers and I spent a long time cleaning out her home.  We took turns choosing her artwork, a lengthy process.  She was prolific!  I used my very first pick to dig Kevin's portrait out from under the attic eaves where it had been carefully wrapped and tucked away.  He was perpetual motion as a little boy.  I love every pastel mark Mom used in his portrait. Each is confident, urgent, accurate, as if she knew each stroke might be the last before he bolted from view.  The likeness is spot on.  And, Kevin and I are side by side again here in my home.  

Nana and me with Kevin, a few days old

Sketchbook - Sunday Morning watercolor and ink 6 x 9

I arrived at church a little early last week, dropping my daughter off for choir practice.  Rather than heading home for an extra cup of coffee and some quiet, I took advantage of having the sketch book in the car, where I'm trying to keep it all the time, just in case.  This sweet brick building is next door to our church, used to be the Christian Science church, but is now under renovation as condos.  The nice thing is, the building is keeping its exterior, which has always fit the neighborhood.  The sun bounces off its roof in the morning.  Quiet time in the car with sketchbook!!!

Thanks for looking.

Graduation Cap - Mixed Media

 Our daughter graduated from high school this weekend.  It has been a challenging few weeks, trying to finish up everything with my 7th, 8th, and 9th grade students as year end approaches.  Simultaneously planning a graduation party, organizing college orientation dates, and finishing up a graduate class didn't leave much time for thinking about the huge transition our family is hurtling towards, and absolutely no time for art.
Knowing that many of the students decorate their caps, I asked if I could decorate Katie's.  She loved the idea, so I took a map of Boston and its south shore where we live.  I attached it to the cap, and drew a cropped version of our school's logo, painting the negative space in a variety of blues, a la school colors.  I added some glitter and sequins, and she was good to go! 
As always, making art is a meditation, clears the head, and cues endorphins... just what I needed in this crazy, joyful, exciting week.

"Street Party" 14 x 12 oil

Every Memorial Day weekend for the past 15 years, I have spent my Saturday and Sunday painting on the street at the North River Arts Festival in Marshfield Hills, MA.  I love painting amid the crowd, talking with the myriad visitors.  When the weather cooperates, as it did this weekend, the Festival draws thousands of people to this small, antique New England village.  Fantastic music, juried art show, juried photography show, children's activities and artists painting on the street. I love painting the architecture of the village, and the party on the street.  It is a joy to talk with people, whether they stop by my easel each year, or they are new to the Festival. 

This year, I had a couple of ten-year old girls who were fascinated with my painting.  We talked about what I was doing, and why I used a yellow ground under the painting.  They visited my easel several times on Saturday, and a couple of times on Sunday to talk about my painting.  Each time they stopped by, we talked about my progress, and I asked their thoughts on changes I was making. It was lots of fun.  Their confidence built and they gave me great advice, taking some ownership of the painting. This morning, I showed them that I was putting light back on the front of the large building, to lessen the impact of the dominant white triangle, and we discussed making the ice cream truck a little more prominent.
It was a great weekend overall.  I love to talk about what I'm doing, and to answer questions.  Chatting with my new friends, Emma and Megan, made my weekend.  We had so much fun!

Thanks for looking, and as always, I enjoy your comments.

"Day Off" 6 x 8 oil

These lovely boats, one small and simple, the other large and more sophisticated were at rest in this secluded Maine cove.  Maybe their sailors are waiting for the weekend.  I like their juxtaposition and relative scale. Thanks for looking. 

Painting You Painting Me - watercolor 9 x 12

A few weeks ago, one of the art teachers at school sent out an e-mail asking for any interest in tempera paint pans that her kindergarteners couldn't use anymore because the white was gone.  Woot!  I was thrilled to have them for the art class I teach a couple of times each week.  We don't need white, and are using the paints as transparent watercolor.  In fact, the lids of the paint pans are great mixing trays.  My students are always dismayed when I tell them they can't use black.  "What will we do?" We had a great conversation about the color wheel, and whether you want to make a blue black, yellow black, etc.  We're getting there, and I'm always interested to see what they see.  

"Painting You Painting Me" is a little study I did across the table from one of my girls as she concentrated on the objects in front of her.  Fun!