Little paintings

Karin Jurick is a painter who does the most gorgeous small paintings. I read on her blog that she paints on panels that have been gessoed BLACK. I thought I'd give it a try. I bought some 6x8" canvases and gessoed them black. God, it was like I'd never painted before. The first few were tough, but I am pleased with these last three. The first one is of the saddling area at Saratoga racetrack. The last two are of Cocoa Beach in Florida.

West Hartford show

Thunderstorms. The bane of the outdoor shows. Not just rain, that annoying stuff that drives away customers and makes everything wet. We're talking about cloud-to-ground lightening, howling winds, lashing rain. After a humid morning and afternoon, thunderstorms struck the West Hartford show about 4:00. When you're in a tent with metal rods, the best thing to do is zipper up and head for the nearest shelter. I spent an hour in a minivan with my fellow artists, watching the tents and actually seeing some of them collapse.

When the lightening and rain abated, I made it back to my tent. The roof had collapsed in the corners, spraying every thing with water. It was my own dumb fault. I had brought my light and easy-to-put-up tent top instead of the heavy duty but rainproof one. The mattes on all the prints were ruined where the water had soaked in. However, oil paintings are virtually indestructible, and with the exception of one corner of a frame where the veneer lifted and one linen canvas that needs to be restretched, I was in pretty good shape. After borrowing towels and doing my best to dry off everything, I loaded all the paintings into my car.

I spent Saturday evening rematting all the framed prints (glamorous life being an artist, isn't it?) and headed back to the show Sunday morning and set everything back up. I then had the best show of my entire career!!! Almost double my previous high!

This was a painting that I had just finished, called Tobacco Barns. It was from a scene in nearby Simsbury, just after sunset. Since it was large (30x40") it drew quite a bit of attention. This was the first time I showed it and it sold on Sunday.

Seashells

This is another of my paintings just completed. It's my collection of seashells in a bowl, collected over the years. Some my hermit crabs have worn. Some I bought at Seashell City. Some just found on the beach as I was walking. All beautiful.

Battle of Three

In honor of the final leg of the Triple Crown, I'm posting my latest horse racing picture, named "Battle of Three." The reference photo was taken at Saratoga but I've taken some liberties with it.

Start your engines

Here it is, the show season just around the corner--less than two weeks, actually--and I'm cranking out the paintings. The trouble is that I've got a lot of them going at once. The good thing about that is you get several finished with days of each other and it gives you a good sense of accomplishment. Here's my latest--"Apples and Cherries."

The first show is West Hartford and the amazing thing about that show is the locals show up no matter what the weather. One year it poured and the grassy grounds were so saturated that people were getting their shoes sucked off as they walked by. The grounds people then put down planks of plywood so people could walk up and down the aisles.

Missing it when it's gone

While I was vacationing in sunny Florida, I was hit with a viral infection whose main symptom was laryngitis. I couldn't talk! I guess you never appreciate something until it's gone for a while. Just think of all the things you can't do if you don't have a voice--from returning phone calls to asking directions in a noisy casino. Luckily I was with family who could answer the phone and order for me in restaurants.

The creative muse is a fleeting thing. We artists sometimes suffer from artists' block. Right now I've got the ideas for 23 paintings lined up. I am grateful that I have the creative muse right now, because I will miss it when it's gone.

Fallow Fields

"Fallow Fields" is a painting that I recently completed and immediately entered it into the Granby Land Trust's Juried Art Show. It was my great pleasure to receive the Granby Community Fund Award, one of the top awards of the show, for it. It depicts part of the Granby Land Trust in North Granby. I am told that the tree is referred to locally as "Mary's Tree." In the distance one can see Mount Tom on the left and the last rays of the day catch the city of Springfield on the right.

Happy New Year

My New Years resolution: post pictures of my paintings in progress more frequently. It seems that is what people like to see and I've been very very lax about this. After the outdoor show season ended, I kind of dropped off the blog world--but now I'm back. I promise.

I will also try to set up a RSS feed for this blog. Happy New Year to all!