Mid-coast Maine Archives | Page 13 of 16

June 25, 2013

Painting on the St. George Peninsula

I had time to do a rock study today, at Marshall’s Point.

Painting on gorgeous Marshall’s Point. The beautiful weather held out until we were done painting; now a lovely thunderstorm is cooling everything down.

Had my trusty assistant demonstrate a grey scale drawing while I explained.

J’s painting from Marshall’s Point

C’s painting from Marshall’s Point

S’s painting from Marshall’s Point.

And if you haven’t signed up for my Rochester classes or Maine workshops, what on earth are you waiting for? August and September are sold out for my workshop at Lakewatch Manor in Rockland, ME… and the other sessions are selling fast. Join us in July and October, but please hurry! Check here for more information.

June 24, 2013

Our first day painting, part 2

Relaxing before dinner.

Lobster bisque, fresh rolls, grilled cauliflower. Whoo hoo!

Flourless chocolate torte. This is where I inadvertently blurted out “unbelievable!”

June 24, 2013

Our first day painting–at beautiful Owl’s Head Light House

Does it get any better than this?

Our first full day of painting, in a quiet cove near Owl’s Head, and it was hot—rather unusual for mid-coast Maine… but what beautiful clouds, and what beautiful light!

I heard “unbelievable” so many times I was laughing about it with my students—until I took a bite of the flourless chocolate and raspberry torte we had for dessert. “Unbelievable!” I exclaimed.

Windjammer coming around the Owl’s Head light.

Luncheon al fresco.

Do not fall off the cliff, I cautioned.

Two dedicated and serious painters.

Great job, C!

That’s the back of the late 19th century Owl’s Head Lighthouse behind us.

June 23, 2013

We’ve arrived in beautiful, historic Rockland!

Stopped for lobster rolls at Red’s Eats in Wiscasset, it being on the way and all…

Dinner and conversation at the Inn.

Dinner and conversation with our guests.

Salad, curried rice with peanut butter sauce, and chicken and shrimp kabobs for dinner at Lakewatch Manor. Yum!

And rhubarb pie for dessert. Oh, yeah!

June 21, 2013

Now, if I can just remember my paint

View from Owl’s Nest.

Anyone who thinks the life of an artist is all glamour ought to try doing the framing, wrapping and pricing before a show. It’s done, and my painting tools are packed, and I’m ready to leave for Maine in the morning.

Painting tools for three people, plus my teaching supplies (in the pink bag). My trusty Prius is going to be stuffed full.

I store my paint in my freezer. That occasionally results in my forgetting it. (I’m thinking of tying a bandanna to my backpack as a mental cue.) Usually, my forgetfulness results in nothing more annoying than an afternoon sketching rather than painting, but it would simply not do to take off to Maine for a week of teaching without paint.

So it’s off to Maine tomorrow, by easy stages. Sadly, that means I will be too late to attend Rockland’s Summer Solstice Street Fair, but if you get there before me, be sure to go.

And the paintings, wrapped and ready to move.

June 20, 2013

Surf’s up!

A Happy Harbor, oil on canvasboard, by little ol’ me.

In two days I’ll be on my way to Maine to teach the first of this summer’s workshops. Today’s task was to finalize selections for my season-long show at Lakewatch Manor.

Although I would dearly love to bring my painting of the HalveMaen Passing Hudson Highlands, the inn itself is more than 250 years old, and my sense is that smaller paintings will be in scale with its rooms.

Surf at Rockport, oil on canvasboard, by little ol’ me.

Often I go back several years and am shocked at how differently I respond to individual pieces. However, the small painting of surf at Rockport, above, was my favorite the instant it was finished. It has waited several years to be shown in its proper place, and I’m thrilled.

However, A Happy Harbor (at top) is a painting that snuck up on me and surprised me. I considered it incomplete when I did it, but I absolutely love its spontaneity now.

Surf at Port Clyde, oil on canvasboard, also by little ol’ me.

I painted the surf at Port Clyde, above, last November. It’s amazing to me how similar the two paintings are, painted many years apart.

Boatyard, oil on canvasboard, also by little ol’ me.

August and September are sold out for my workshop at Lakewatch Manor in Rockland, ME… and the other sessions are selling fast. The June session starts this weekend, but there are still day-student slots open. Join us in July or October, but please hurry! Check here for more information.

June 19, 2013

Teaching at Schoen Place on a Wednesday Evening

(An experiment in mobile blogging…)

It was a cool clear sparkling evening at Pittsford’s Schoen Place.

Discussion commences.

This is Stacey’s first time painting ever.

Brad VanAuken and Lyn Parsons

Lyn and Sophia,

Bikers

Lyn, Sophia and Brad hard at work.

August and September are sold out for my workshop at Lakewatch Manor in Rockland, ME… and the other sessions are selling fast. Join us in June, July and October, but please hurry! Check here for more information.

June 18, 2013

Must the visual arts be a pale imitation of pop culture?

A still life by Amy Digi, from her website, here.

While thinking of my many friends in the greater New York area who are accomplished painters—Brad Marshall, Amy Digi, Patti Mollica, Cindy Zaglin (to name just a very few)— I came across thisin the New York Times:

“For example, although I’ve lived in New York for close to five years, my only encounters with the work of Hanksy, a graffiti artist who largely makes his art in New York and whose signature pieces involve the clever mash-up of the actor Tom Hanks and the works of the British artist Banksy, have been through Tumblr and Instagram.

“‘MY popularity exists right now because of social media and the Internet,’ he said in a phone interview.

“Hanksy said that after he put up his first piece in New York, he snapped a photo and uploaded it to the Web. Not long after, he said, ‘Tom Hanks tweeted it and it snowballed and here I am, two and a half years later with three successful solo shows and a rabid following of fans online.’”

One of Hanksy’s ‘masterpieces,’ publicized in The Gothamist. In light of the content, is it OK to say it pisses me off?

A man who blatantly (and feebly) copies Banksy while trading off the name of a Hollywood actor gets three solo shows and an interview in the Old Grey Mare. Meanwhile, very fine painters labor in relative obscurity. I’m usually philosophical about this, but somehow this man’s sheer mediocrity annoys me.

Patti Mollica’s Into the Light, acrylic on canvas, from her website here.

“That’s not art; that’s a meme,” protested our own Sandy Quang (MA candidate in Art History).

The problem isn’t with the public, which devours anything that comes up in its search box. The problem lies with our so-called tastemakers, the gallery owners and columnists who perpetuate this mediocrity. Their training ought to give them the authority to make critical distinctions, but apparently they lust after notoriety as much as the Kardashians.

A Stream in the White Mountains, New Hampshire, by Brad Marshall, from his website, here.

My friend Jane recently sent me a link to this, which argues that art is not a meritocracy. That’s true, but does it have to be a pale imitation of pop culture instead?

June 17, 2013

This post is about food. And cooking. Seriously.

Dessert from my last painting workshop, in the Adirondacks. I have every reason to believe the meals at this workshop will be just as good!

Only six more days, and I’ll be in Maine teaching. I set out this morning to do my task-of-the-day, which was to determine which paintings go to Rockland with me and which ones get held in abeyance for Rye later this summer. Sadly—or not, depending on how you look at it—my painting storage is located next to my bedroom. It being the day after a busy weekend, I sat down on my bed for just a moment… and awoke, groggy, two hours later, having missed a hail-and-rain storm that had all Rochester chattering.

I’d also missed a phone call from Lakewatch Manor. I was half asleep when I returned it. It’s a pity, because they wanted to talk to me about food. They wanted my input, actually, which is silly—as if Degas had dialed me up and asked for advice on drawing dancers.

Those who know about my aversion to cooking will be surprised to learn that I’m terribly in tune with Lakewatch’s approach to the culinary arts. Their chefs believe in locally-sourced, organic, healthful produce, eggs and meats prepared with great care—and I believe in EATING exactly that. So it was a pity that I was only half awake for this conversation. I remember hearing phrases like “lobster bisque” and “rhubarb pie” and “hearty hors d’oeuvre,” all of which make me very happy to roll around in my memory.

The problem with mid-coast Maine, sadly, is that there are also too many great places to eat in addition to the Inn. Just a few: there’s S. Fernald’s Country Store in Damariscotta (which the Maine writer Van Reid introduced me to) with its fantastic deli. There’s Owl’s Head General Store, which was celebrating its Best Burger in Maine status when I was in Rockland last November. There are the Irish Egg Rolls at Billy’s Tavern, which I didn’t sample because I was busy having a fantastic burger there, too, but which I intend to sample next time around. They feature corned beef, sauerkraut and Swiss cheese fried into a wonton. There’s the Rockland Café, with its all-you-can-eat seafood.

Of course, there are a gazillion more upmarket restaurants, too, but I never go to these places, since I usually look like The Wreck of the Hesperus* after a long day in the sun painting.

At any rate, that’s why the Lakewatch Manor people allowed for an evening off to go prowling around Rockland. Not only are there the Farnsworth and a slew of other galleries in town, but there are countless opportunities to dine out.

I’m looking forward to it!

*Longfellow based that poem on the wreck of the Favorite, a ship from Wiscasset, which is just down the road a piece from Rockland.

Every day I do one task to prepare for my June workshop in Rockland, ME. Meanwhile, what are you doing to get ready for it? August and September are sold out for my workshop at Lakewatch Manor in Rockland, ME… and the other sessions are selling fast. Join us in June, July and October, but please hurry! Check here for more information.

June 16, 2013

No mandatory retirement or forced disability for painters

Rain, Steam, and Speed – The Great Western Railway, by Joseph Mallord William Turner, was completed in 1844, when the artist was 69 years old. Turner moved fully into the free, expressive, colorful treatment at an age when most modern Americans have retired.

Two lifelong friends have recently entered hospice—one with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease) and one with metastatic breast cancer. Despite my grief, I can’t help but smile each time I hear from them. In both cases, the closer they get to physical shipwreck, the more joyous they become.

Another friend mentioned a similar phenomenon in church this morning: for some believers, the older they get, the more their spiritual disabilities are stripped away and the more they are able to enter into their spiritual gifts.

Tate Britain’s upcoming show, Late Turner: Painting Set Free, on the last works of J.M.W. Turner, illustrates a similar phenomenon in the visual arts. Turner moved fully into his romantic, free, expressive, colorful best at a time when most modern people have retired.

Flowers in a Crystal Vase, by Édouard Manet, was painted in 1882, when he was bedbound with gangrene.

Édouard Manet died of gangrene at the age of 51, two years after completing his final tour de force, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère. In his last months he was bed-bound, so he painted still lives of the flowers in his sickroom. These intimate, small, perfectly observed paintings are among his finest works.

In 1941 Henri Matisse was diagnosed with duodenal cancer, which left him with a stoma and confined to a wheelchair. As he began to recover from treatment, his ex-wife and daughter were arrested by the Gestapo; Mme. Matisse remained in prison for six months, while Marguerite was tortured and sent to a concentration camp (from which she ultimately escaped). After this, Matisse entered what he called une seconde vie (a second life). For fourteen years, he worked in cutout paper. These works are among the most influential and frequently cited of Matisse’s entire career.

Polinesia, the Sky, by Henri Matisse, 1947

What is it about artistic maturity that—like spiritual maturity—often catches its practitioners at the end of their lives? For example why did Rembrandt become so deeply reflective in his old age (and why did he paint so many self-portraits at an age when most people have given them up)? Perhaps old age and illness result in freedom from the tyranny of personally-imposed goals. Despite the enfants terrible we tend to lionize in American culture, perhaps artistic genius is truly the province of the elderly.