Mixed Media Class

I've been teaching a couple of classes at ArtisTree in Woodstock this term.  In mixed media class we played around with templates and quotations, creating designs similar to the two examples I put together below, creating a "path" for the words.  The first is a quote from Alexander Calder....

"I Paint with Shapes"

9" x 12" - mixed media

The second example utilizes the same materials:  soft pencil on gessoed paper using shape templates and  masking tape and a variety of shading and line to create good contrast between dark and light.... 

"Art Consists in Drawing the Line Somewhere"

8 1/2" x 11" - mixed media

It's fun playing with new and familiar materials, using them in different ways....

A Summer Day

I just spent the afternoon working on finishing a plein aire painting from last summer, using the reference photo I took back then.  The great benefit to this is that, despite the fact that the field outside my studio window is white with snow,  I feel like I was out in that summer field for a couple of hours.  A kind of mini vacation on a January day in Vermont....

"Twin Trees"

9" x 12" - oil on canvas panel

I have two other unfinished plein aire landscapes and this was such a fun afternoon I predict they will be completed soon!

"Images of Irene"

This Friday, the exhibit "Images of Irene" will open at ArtisTree Community Arts Center and Gallery in Woodstock, VT on route 12 just north of downtown.  I hope if you are in the area on January 6th between 6 and 8 pm, you'll plan to attend the Opening!

This exhibit reflects the work of six community members, myself included, who participated in a photography class lead by Carla Kimball entitled "Telling Our Stories Through New Eyes".  Over the course of seven sessions at ArtisTree, students wove together photography, poetry and stories to chronicle each individual’s experience of Tropical Storm Irene. The exhibit presents both their visual and poetic narratives of the storm.  Through images and poems, the galleries will reflect the personal and universal expressions of Irene and its effect on ourselves, our communities and our land as well as examples derived from the new way of seeing the world through class exercises.


Photographs will be for sale by donation and proceeds will be donated to the Sustainable Woodstock Flood Relief Fund. The exhibition will be available for viewing Tuesday through Saturday, January 7-21st from 11am-2pm or by appointment. For more information about Sustainable Woodstock’s Flood Relief Fund visit www.sustainablewoodstock.org.

I hope that if you can't make it to the Opening on the 6th, you'll be able to visit the exhibit during Gallery hours through January 21st.