I have had a show of fourteen pieces of artwork at the Dorset Tea Cafe in Wellesley, MA, that has been up since the beginning of June, and will run through sometime around August 8th. It’s a wonderful little tea and coffee shop run by two sisters who used to live in Dorset, England. They have exquisite loose leaf teas and a variety of food accompaniments. It’s a relaxing and beautiful place to go for a break. They have also devoted themselves to exhibiting local art talent, and it has been nice to be included in their schedule. Below are two photographs I took of the show this week – the first photo is of the front of the shop, where most of the work is hung. The second photo is the back part of the shop, where four larger pieces are hung.
I am almost finished with a new piece of a pear on a tabletop in front of a window. I purposefully left the background out of focus, to contrast with the detail of the pear. It’s very small (4 x 6 inches), done on green pastelboard, and using new colored pencils for me: DerWent Inktense and DerWent Coloursoft Pencils. I used the Inktense for background color, washing them with color to get a relatively quick lay down of initial color. Those are bright colors. They don’t look like it when dry, but add water and lookout! They bloom. Then I used Coloursofts for the drawing. It was interesting for me to experiment with new materials and pencils.
We returned yesterday from a glorious week of sun and warmth in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. This was the first time we’ve vacationed in the month of July in a long time, and I don’t know if that’s what made the different, or if we were just incredibly lucky with the weather. The photo below was taken on a day trip to Monhegan Island, populated by an artist’s community in the summer. It is such a quaint and stunningly beautiful place. I wish I could go there to work for two weeks (or more!).
We also went to the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, Maine, which features works by the three generations of Wyeth artists: NC Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth and Jamie Wyeth. In addition they have a wonderful collection of American Folk Art, and some contemporary exhibits: Alex Katz and Friends, and an entire room devoted to works by Louise Nevelson. (All were born in Maine.) I had been very intrigued by Andrew Wyeth’s work at one point in college so it was interesting to see actual pieces again. But what impressed me the most were the paintings by NC Wyeth that he did in addition to his works as an illustrator: large scale landscape paintings done in oil of his home in Maine, lobster fishermen, the coast; all with a wonderful vivid use of color. He even experimented with some concepts from the Italian and Russian Futurist movements of his day. www.farnsworthmuseum.org
I have had several pieces juried into national shows recently. Currently I have artwork accepted into:
- Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts 97th Annual Juried Exhibition in Mystic, CT, “Bird’s Nest”
- “Out of The Blue” at the Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro, MA, “Last Year’s Remnants”
- Colored Pencil Society of America’s 16th Annual International Exhibition, Seattle, WA, “Still-life with Broken Wings”
Last night was the opening reception for the Attleboro Arts Museum’s 85th Anniversary celebration show “Out of the Blue”. The museum requested artwork that incorporated the color blue for consideration in this national juried show, as the museum’s logo is a vivid teal blue. Over 800 entries from across the country were submitted, from which juror selected about 120 pieces. It was a fun and vibrant show with a wide range of artistic styles, mediums, sizes, and shades of blue. At right is a photograph of me taken by my piece “Last Year’s Remnants” (at top, over feather piece) at the opening last night.
I finished this drawing a couple of days ago and am finally getting around to posting an update. It has a nice depth to it which I like. I also love the Caribbean blue water color.
Now I am playing around with some new materials – an Ampersand drawing board with a green-toned background, and Coloursoft pencils. I did a wash with DerWent Inktense pencils first, and am doing the major part of the drawing with the Coloursoft pencils. I’m finding them very dry, it’s almost like drawing with a pastel. They create a bit of dust and don’t lend themselves to the type of detail I often prefer to achieve, but it’s a fun experiment. I’m doing a small piece (5 x 7 inches) of a pear in front of a window. I will try to post a photo when I can get one that’s color correct. Right now it’s just looking too bright and acidy. More soon!
Happy July 4th! I have spent several hours working today, and am almost finished with this drawing. I will probably take it with me down to Rhode Island tomorrow so I can work on it and hopefully finish it. We’re just going away for an overnight, and I really want to be able to start something new next Monday. Next Friday my younger son comes home from camp and I can see much of my free time drifting away on the summer wind.
