Ansel Adams and Me...

After looking at some great Ansel Adams photographs on our southwestern adventure, I played around with a couple of photos of old wood in the desert...

 

...the bright blue sky below looked great in black and white...

...and that dead wood below took on new writhing meaning in black and white...

 It amazes me what my little iphone camera can do....

Icy Puddle and...

There are such beautiful sights while I walk, even during mud season.  Like this puddle next to the sidewalk.  Some of the ice has frozen and broken, some of it remains solid and the colors are both soft and sharp...

"Icy Puddle"

photograph

The pattern of ice on the grass of the golf course creates simple abstract paintings...

"Winter Golf Course"

photograph

And the broken fence next to Middle Bridge speaks volumes to me about age, tenacity and the beauty of the worn...

"Broken Fence"

photograph

Driving Around

These days of spring meltdown are full of hopeful sights and scenes.  Driving to and from Windsor yesterday I came upon a couple of wonderful shots.  A melting brook....

...and a huge barn...

Right next to this barn was another with a sign on it reading "farm fresh eggs and hay".  I wondered if both the eggs and the hay are farm fresh?
I think both of these visuals will be inspiration for paintings in the near future....

Key West Two

It was eight below zero this morning as I got my coffee in the kitchen. We now have clear, blue skies and lovely, bright sunshine but the actual temperature at one pm is still only one little degree!
So it's a treat to remember our days in Key West with beautiful, warm breezes and abundant, healthy plants.
Here is a collage of photos of palm trees and such I put together this morning....

Key West Abundance

collage - 4" x 7 1/4"

Key West One

We had a great visit with our friends in Key West and while there I took the following photos through the glass table on their balcony....

Each photograph is a lovely small abstract painting and to my mind, there is no point in painting them when they stand alone so beautifully just as themselves....

Daily Painter Week Ten

A busy, busy week!  First up is the painting I did in my plein aire workshop in Pomfret.  I worked with a new palette and mixed all my greens which was quite a challenge.  And who knew you could make a great cerulean blue with white, a little bit of thalo blue and cadmium lemon yellow?

"Felicity Farm"

9" x 12" - oil on canvas

Last week, Sandy and I went to Cider Hill Gardens in Windsor to paint.  I haven't finished my painting yet but here are some photos of the amazing perennials there....

"Day Lilies"

"Astilbe"

"Little Roses"

"Little Hosta"

"Huge Hosta"

Finally, below, is the colorful hanging basket on our deck.  It needs lots of water and dead-heading but it's worth it for all this abundant color....

Daily Painter Week Five

I'm a bit late with my blog for this week--we just got home from traveling to Virginia, visiting with friends, and I didn't have access to my computer until now.

Below is a drawing I did at Mink Brook Nature Preserve.

"Birdhouse in the Woods"

6" x 9" - soft pencil

Route 14 north of Bethel is a great place to find old farms and weathered outbuildings like the one below.  I definitely will be going back there!

"Old Farm, Route 14"

6" x 8" - soft pencil on gessoed paper

Here are a few close up photos of barns, silos and outbuildings that I took that same day.

I thought I might use these photos for paintings or drawing but when I looked at them I decided they needed to stand alone as photos.  

Caution: Artists at Work

Yesterday's email from Adrian read: "Studio Fever- TONIGHT AT 6:30!  Pick up a fork then pick up a brush.  Bring along a friend, a dish, a drink and maybe a medium of your choice...  Spend some time decorating the walls of the gallery for Studio Fever - time to get OUT of the studio!  See you at 6:30 at ArtisTree Gallery....
After a yummy smorgasbord of goodies, artists chose a section of wall, covered with either paper for drawing or canvas for painting, and this is what it looked like as they worked....

Artists have time to work on their pieces before the Closing Reception on March 14th from 5 to 7 pm.  And it's a good thing there is more time to work.  Below is the paper section I chose.  

And this is as far as I got since the gesso I painted on the paper never dried enough for me to draw on last night.  But I'll be back at work soon....

The Flurry Part Three

By Saturday night,  the Green was resplendent with work and had become a mecca for tourists and townsfolk alike.  A fire burned in the fire pit and folks strolled by after dinner.  The snow sculptures were lit and the sculptors were still working.

Here's Brooke's "Imagine Magic"....

Tony and Dj fashioned "The Great Escape"....

On Sunday, first prize would go to Katie's sculpture, "The Walrus"....

Fiona, Gavin and Hali's sculpture, "Athena", a giant owl, would take second place and win the popular vote....

Third place would go to the Green Mountain Boys and their abstract sculpture entitled, "Everything is (K)not Impossible"....

All in all, the 2014 Flurry was a great success.  On Tuesday morning as new snow fell on Woodstock, people were still stopping by to see the sculptures.  It was an exciting, fun, five days of work and play.

The Flurry Part Two

On Saturday, sculptors worked hard for many hours creating their masterpieces....

Our grand daughters, Addison and Avery decided to take a break and make snow angels....

Hard to know who had the most fun!

The Flurry

It's a gray morning with another 3" of snow forecast for today.  Yesterday's 20" have turned Woodstock into a winter wonderland.  And how appropriate because this weekend is The Flurry, Woodstock's snow sculpture festival.

 Wednesday, before the storm, this is what the Green held--stompers packing snow into forms….

And, by the end of the day, this is what the stompers had created….

Eight huge blocks of snow for sculptors to use in creating their works of art!  Work went on all day yesterday and into the night and today the snow sculptors will be back at it after breakfast….

"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.