Vermont Artists Week Again

In Johnson, I started several pieces that I didn't have time to complete.  Yesterday, I finisheded this drawing of Red Mill, where offices, the gallery and the dining hall for Vermont Studio Center are housed.  The Gihon River flows past the building, tumbling over rocks and making lovely white water.  During my stay in Johnson, the days were either dark and stormy or, toward the end of the week, warm and sunny.  My drawing hopefully captures a little of both....

"Red Mill"

10 1/2" x 13 1/2" - soft pencil on gessoed paper

I'm still working on three paintings started during Vermont Artists Week and will post again as I complete them....

Vermont Artists Week

One of the great pleasures of being here at the Studio Center is that every morning there is figure drawing from nine to noon.  I stopped by again this morning and had the blissful experience of doing what I did years ago in art school....

The model is an accomplished painter in her own right and understands how to relax into a pose beautifully.
After seven o'clock meditation in the beautiful meditation hall and a breakfast of oatmeal with maple syrup and raisins, it doesn't get better than drawing for awhile with Bernardo Rubaja playing on my iPod.  Now, back to work in the studio....

Vermont Artists Week and "Brookmelt"

I'm in the midst of packing and getting ready to go up to Johnson to the Vermont Studio Center for Vermont Artists Week on Monday.  What to take, what to take?  I have drawing, watercolor and oil painting supplies, my iPhone, my iPod, some ear phones, a laptop computer, some books, some knitting and my pillow.  So far.  Fortunately they have an art supply store if I forget anything....

Here is my painting based on the photo of the melting brook I took last week.  I'm enjoying watercolors so much!

"Brookmelt"

9" x 12" - watercolor

Artists Week is going to be an interesting experience.  In addition to my room, three meals a day, my studio, a meditation space, yoga classes and life drawing, I look forward to meeting a variety of Vermont artists.  

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....

Tulips

It snowed again last night--maybe another five or six inches.  It won't last long because temperatures are forecast to go up into the 60's over the next week.  But the psychological impact of more white ands gray is real.  And the best way to combat it is with some COLOR!

"Tulips"

watercolor - 7" x 11"

So, here's my antidote--a bouquet of colorful flowers exploding on to the paper, giving us hope for warmth and sunshine coming soon....

MUD(season) at Artistree

Today is the last day to drop off work for the local MUD(season) show at Artistree.  We've hardly gotten to the beginning of mud season this year with the cold and snow lasting so long.
In addition to "Early Spring, Cloudland Road", I am exhibiting the watercolor below.  In the beginning, the painting was oriented vertically.  But as I worked on it I thought that cropping a bit off the bottom would improve the composition so that's what I did....

stage one

"Barnard Brook Meltdown"

transparent watercolor and gouache - 7" x 7"

Here is the finished painting with some added color to suggest the coming of spring--and not a moment too soon!
Friday night from 5:30 to 7 pm is the opening of this year's exhibit in the new gallery at 2095 Pomfret Road in South Pomfret.  Please come and enjoy!

Early Spring, Cloudland Road

Winter wants to hold on to the cold but the sun is getting stronger day by day and the snow is diminishing.
I've been working on a watercolor painting of a huge tree on Cloudland Road in Pomfret.  The painting came together in stages which I photographed along the way.

In the first stage I am beginning by painting the lightest colors and then check to see how dark I need to go with the tree.

As I build in the darker shades of the tree trunk and branches, these begin to set off the snow on the branches and ground.

"Early Spring, Cloudland Road"

watercolor - 10" x 12"

The finished painting includes the shadows on the snow and the brush along the horizon.  The foreground snow is not pristine but we've gotten used to this leftover mixture of snow and dirt by the sides of our roads and driveways.  Mud season is here!