From time to time I’m going to post something besides paintings– a bit about living in Vermont.
A terrific writer, Catherine Tudish, lives in Strafford. Her new novel, “American Cream” has just been published by Scribner and I urge everyone to rush out and buy it. Ed and I had read an earlier version in manuscript but we were just as glued to the page the second time around. I don’t know when I’ve read a novel that made me care as much about the characters. The prose is beautiful and insightful, the story compelling. Trust me. Catherine’s collection of short stories, “Tenney’s Landing” is also a delight with some connections with characters and places between the two books.
As often as possible in the warmer months I go out to paint the landscape with a group of really good painters. It’s helpful to have their input and I’ve learned a lot from seeing their different approaches to a scene. They’re also fun to be with. We often paint at the home of one member’s daughter. She has a beautiful house and garden, with a pond and a large field. This is a more intimate little painting of a small barn and shed there. The clouds showed up just in time and I plunked them down without having to fiddle around very much. I’m always a bit conflicted when I go out, torn between trying to capture a sweeping vista or closing in on something smaller–reluctant to close off any option.
Summer Afternoon 9 x 12 oil on masonite, unframed $150 + S & H
Finally the beans are in full bloom! I’ve been waiting to paint them before they start ripening. Once in a while a picture just paints itself and this one did. For once the sun stayed out, the weather was pleasant and the colors just fell onto the board. The so-called wildflower garden in the lower left is now terribly unkempt, with some echinacea and goldenrod taking over, a few lupines blooming way past their season. The bean crop looks to be a good one this year (there’s another teepee of it close by). Last year I carefully started the beans indoors where they thrived. But a week after I planted them outside a mouse or a vole cut them down–first and only time that has happened. At first I couldn’t imagine what was going on but then I looked out to see the little critter in action.
Found a terrific quote from Thomas Traherne: “…you never enjoy the world aright, till you so love the beauty of enjoying it that you are coveteous and earnest to persuade others to enjoy it.”
Scarlet Runner Beans 14 x 11-1/2 oil on birch panel $200 + S & H
When we first moved here several people offered to share bee balm with me. I thought that was generous, and it was, but now that I’ve planted some I can see why it’s not hard to give away; it grows like a weed. I think it’s a funny flower–very frowsy, as if it just got out of bed. There are a lot more colors of it in the garden than I ever planted–a whole range of fuschias, pinks, lavenders and white. It’s well named. Bees– and butterflies– flock to it. As a flavoring for Earl Grey tea it’s useful as well as entertaining. I painted this on our screened porch in beautiful fall-like weather. The Royal Worcester mug was a gift years ago, alas now chipped from much use, but a nice complement to the bouquet.
More people have asked about prices so I’m going to start posting preview prices as I blog.
Bee Balm 14 x 11 oil on birch panel $200 + SH
Painting with a palette knife is not something I do very often and I’d forgotten what a pleasure it can be. The painting below was started by just smearing some paint left over from my palette onto a piece of masonite. Then I kept smearing until something grew out of it. I’m always pleased when a picture emerges from my imagination. I’ve spent so much time in the woods painting and also just sitting and staring that woodsy landscapes must be stored in my brain.
Textures 8 x 11 oil on masonite, unframed
A carpenter friend gave me a whole stack of beautiful birch panels, left over from a job. It has been hard for me to cover up the wood patterns with gesso so I decided to see if I could get a painting just using the grain. It was a lot of fun to make a landscape–clouds, hills and foreground–mostly from the pattern that was there. The wood accepted several layers of very thin stain so I was able to preserve the grain and accentuate it in places. (The light in the sky came from sanding out the color.) I don’t know whether I’ll try this again but it’s good to play around with something a bit different.
Stained Landscape 12 x 15 oil on birch panel
After a fabulous week in California I’m back in the woods. Right before I left I had nearly finished a painting of hollyhocks and was relieved to see that they were still blooming. Hollyhocks seem to me such an atmospheric flower, the essence of high summer, and very old-fashioned. They didn’t grow in Georgia where I grew up but a Yankee friend says she used to make dolls’ skirts out of the blooms. Painting them was tricky as they kept turning toward the sun during the morning and by late afternoon dropping some of their blossoms. So I painted as fast as I could and am pleased with the loose breezy look.
Hollyhocks 24 x 12 oil on birch panel
Although it never seems to rain here, it was hazy and overcast for the first part of the morning. As we drove toward the mountains we could hardly see them until we got close. I liked the hazy look of the background, though. Some of the trees in the foreground were extremely dark which made a nice contrast. As I was working on another pastel (not the one below) a teacher from the Art Center came by and when I told him I was fairly new to pastels he gave me wonderful free advice about safety and materials. He liked what I was working on and that of course pleased me. I’m eager to try some of the techniques he told me about. He recommended looking at the Degas pastels at the Norton Simon Museum so that’s what I did in the afternoon. They of course were wonderful–very subtle.
San Gabriel Morning 9 x 12 pastel on paper
