The very generous and hospitable North Shore Arts Association invited the artists from the South Shore of Boston to visit them this week. Thirty-two of us rented a bus and took a road trip up to Gloucester to paint on Rocky Neck. We had a wonderful time. The event was well-organized, the bus ride was great fun, and we painted between rain showers and downpours; then met back at NSAA for a reception and a chance to view everyone's work.
I'll post my oil painting later, but had a chance to do some sketching back on the NSAA grounds. Here's the beautiful Association galleries with our bus out front. What a great day.
July 11th update: Nice to see my image on the NSAA blog today.
Thanks for looking.
I have spent a lot more time driving around Boston this year, and am frequently in traffic, but usually don't mind for a while, as the shapes are so interesting. Here's a street... somewhere in the financial district, with the usual hubbub of double parked cars and pedestrians and horns honking.. I try to get into town when I have no deadline, nor urgency; makes all the difference. Turns out I have a few photographs of this same intersection from different times of year... must be a very congested traffic light. Lots of time for observation.
Thanks for looking!
Last night we had our monthly Girls Just Wanna Paint meeting to discuss our marsh-themed paintings. Our meeting was at one of the member's new homes. As she gave us a tour, I saw this painting of mine on her bedroom wall. I haven't seen it in over a decade, and it was a nice treat to remember the day and circumstances of its painting. We have spent time on Monhegan Island, ME each summer for the last dozen years. I painted "Monhegan Museum, Before Hours" on our first visit there, which was magical. I painted morning, noon, and evening every day, exploring the island, returning to our rented house for food, or a break, then heading out again. The house we rent has a bookshelf on which my paintings and my artist friends' paintings would accumulate as they dried over the week. I paint a lot each time I visit, but have never been as prolific as on that first week.
On this day, one of my first there, I hiked up to the lighthouse hill, tucked in by the art museum entrance and began painting the interesting roof lines, and light and shadow pattern. I was all alone on the hill, lit by the sea and sun. I remember thinking, "Wow, Monhegan is pretty remote and isolated, it's so uninhabited up here... ". Turns out the museum opens at 11AM, and the hill was deserted because nothing was open. In fact, it got quite busy just before 11 as the light was shifting. You know when you are painting and so focused that something happening in your surroundings may not sink in right away? That was me... "eventually realizing there were people, why the shift, what's different, oh, I'm blocking the door to something that must open now, oh, it's the art museum, what time is it anyway?"
So, I have visited Lighthouse Hill since, a number of times earlier in the morning to take advantage of the quiet and solitude, and the beautiful white buildings backlit by the rising morning sun.
Seeing my painting in my friend's house brought all those memories flooding back. I love Monhegan now as I loved it when I first set foot there, thanks for reminiscing with me.
I love the hustle and bustle of the streets of Provincetown, crowded and friendly and relaxed and visually fascinating. Here's a line drawing from a photo I took there a few years ago. Interesting intersections and roof lines and movement and great energy...
I love drawing in pen, requires a level of thinking that I like.. you can see that on this drawing, I planned to be shorter, but didn't plan my space appropriately... live and learn.
Thanks for looking.
On our recent wedding anniversary, our daughter presented me with a big bouquet of lovely roses. They are opening beautifully, with just the right amount of regal asymmetrical balance and elegance. What a nice surprise, and a nice direction for our young adult to take!
Here's a sketch of them in the kitchen window. The roses are in a crystal lemonade pitcher that was one of my parents' wedding gifts... full circle.
Thanks for looking, as always.
I love your comments.
Memorial Day weekend means North River Arts Festival in Marshfield, MA. It is a wonderful weekend, filled with music, painting, photography, and jubilance. Tonight we finished another Festival, the 39th. I love every minute, and usually spend both days on the street listening to the great music, while painting and talking to visitors. I love the children who come by to look at my painting. I often ask for their input and suggestions. Here's my paintingfrom the Festival, still in progress. You can seen that I switched the light on in front of the buildings, and a few other places, the difference between morning and afternoon. What a great couple of days.
Thank you to all who stopped by to say hello, it was nice to chat with you. Happy Memorial Day.
I had a lovely Mother's Day weekend earlier this month. I was in Boston's Public Garden in the morning, watching families walking about in various sized groups, pausing for photo ops with the swan boats as backdrop. When I sat on a bench to draw and paint, I was struck by the swan boats under the Garden's bridge, docked and waiting for riders. Between me and the boats was a natural alcove created by overhanging willows, and adjoining maples. I saw a repeated theme of hearts.. the sweeping necks of the swans framed by the bridge, the merging trees in the foreground, the weeping willow's graceful branches, and even the little reluctant squirrel in the lower right foreground. It was a morning filled with love, right down to the late-morning duck parade led by the Harvard jazz band which meandered through the garden to its destination near the bronze McCloskey Duck sculpture. Why does the parade mean love? Because I LOVE parades. I do. Have since I was a little girl.
Here's a link to Robert Preston in "The Music Man" because... I LOVE parades.
As always, thank you for looking. I love your comments.
