I am overjoyed that the summer is fast-approaching.  I am preparing my painting gear and the kayaks for some amazing excursions around the Narragansett Bay and coastal New England.  Follow me on this blog or Instagram to see my travels and plein air paintings. 

View from the cottage

Acadia National Park

I finally had the opportunity to visit Acadia National Park.  It was an amazing experience.  I had high expectations and was blown away by the beauty.  It is breathtaking and awe-inspiring… really there are no words.  The cliffs are high and dangerous and the waves are powerful.  I felt as if I had a glimpse of heaven.

In the studio working on my second piece from the trip

Sense of Wonderment 18 x 24 Oil

Discovering truth by building on previous discoveries..

I continually look to the great master painters of the past for inspiration and guidance.  Some of my favorite landscape painters are George Inness, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Charles-Francois Daubigny and Henri Rousseau.

One biographer said of Corot's depiction of nature is that what the master sought to render was "not so much Nature herself as the love he bore her".  That is incredibly beautiful and romantic.  I will work the rest of my life to render my intense affection, connection and gratitude for Nature.

I love Inness' credo which was "The true purpose of the painter is simply to reproduce in other minds the impression which a scene has made upon him.  A work of art is not to instruct, not to edify, but to awaken emotion.  Its real greatness consists in the quality and the force of this emotion".

I believe the great difficulty of the artist is making a painting look very real without losing the initial emotional response to his subject.  The artists that I feel I have the greatest connection with have this in common.

Harriman State Park

Here's the underpainting for the piece I am currently working on.  I'm working from several sketches I did onsite and some photographs.

"..omit the superfluous, grasp the essentials and arrange them into a more powerful and significant whole".   ~Carlson

Quote

"Most of us have two lives.  The life we live and the unlived life within us.  Between the two stands resistance."  ~Steven Pressfield, author of The War of Art

Freeport, ME

I took a trip to Maine in September and found the most exquisite coastline.  There is so much beauty in its rocky forest-lined shores .   Here's one from Freeport, ME.

NEW STUDIO

I'm thrilled to announce that my new studio is now open!  

http://www.studiomArtSchool.com

Wet Paint

I love the feeling I get when I start a new painting...  it's something between total euphoria and unadulterated fear.

Work in Progress

New Work

There is so much beauty in the mundane.  This is the border of a pasture in Pennsylvania where I walk frequently.  I never really take particular notice of this spot.. it's simply the edge of the pasture on the way home.  On this September day I found such beauty in this lovely tree with the cumulus clouds hovering beyond.  This is the awe-inspiring vision that I seek in my pursuit of a subject or composition.

American Women Artists

I am so excited and honored that my painting, Peaceful Reflections, was accepted into American Women Artist's Online Juried Competition!  

(I'll post a better photo)

Rick Piloco Class - Grand Central Academy of Art

Here's a picture of Rick's first demo of 2013.

This is another painting Rick did of the same model.  Photo courtesy of Dean Adams.

A Meaningful Quote

The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life.
 ~ William Faulkner

Ilya Yefimovich Garshin

Ilya Repin is one of my favorite artists.  His emotionally charged paintings are above all, honest.  In my opinion, this is a quality that make the most outstanding artists and truly fascinating works of art.  Below is a painting of Vsevolod Mikhailovich Garshin, a man that was plagued with the suicide of his father and brother and who struggled with mental illness himself.  Vsevolod succumbed to the darkness at the age of thirty-three and committed suicide.

Repin was an incredibly talented artist who captured the sorrow in the eyes of this lost soul and remained faithful and honest to the emotion behind the facade.  Honesty is what I will strive for in my work for the rest of my life.  I am fortunate enough to live forty minutes from The Met where this beloved painting resides..  I visit it often.

Art Walk -- Bristol

Please join me at Bristol Art Gallery on July 26th.  Bristol and Warren, Rhode Island are having a gallery walk in which fourteen galleries are participating.  To see a preview of the works that I will have on display please visit Bristol Art Gallery or my website.  Hope to see you there!!

The Ridgewood Art Institute's Annual Sponsors Show

The Ridgewood Art Institute is a not-for-profit community art association in Ridgewood, New Jersey.  Their annual fundraiser, The Sponsors Show is an event that raises money for the school.  Sponsors donate $275 and are eligible to choose a painting that has been donated to the school.  The painting I donated this year is below.  There are many beautiful paintings to choose from.  Please take a moment to follow the link above to learn more about the event.

A Passion for Art History

I am fascinated by art history.  I find it incredibly interesting to study artists of the past and the historical context in which they lived and worked. Who influenced them?  What was happening in the world at the time? What were their limitations? 

Something in me came to life when I read the poem below for the first time .  It sparked a curiosity that still drives me today in my unrelenting pursuit to learn about the artists that came before us.  I’d like to share it with you in the hopes that it will inspire you and initiate, or reinstitute, the appreciation of human creativity. 

A Worker Reads History by Bertolt Brecht

Who built the seven gates of Thebes?

The books are filled with names of kings.

Was it the kings who hauled the craggy blocks of stone?

And Babylon, so many times destroyed.

Who built the city up each time?  In which of Lima's houses,

That city glittering with gold, lived those people who built it?

In the evening when the Chinese wall was finished

Where did the masons go?  Imperial Rome

Is full of arcs of triumph.  Byzantium lives in song.

Were all her dwellings palaces?  And even in Atlantis of the legend

The night the seas rushed in,

The drowning men still bellowed for their slaves.

Young Alexander conquered India.

He alone?

Caesar beat the Gauls.

Was there not even a cook in his army?

Phillip of Spain wept as his fleet

was sunk and destroyed.  Were there no other tears?

Frederick the Greek triumphed in the Seven Years War.

Who triumphed with him?

Each page a victory

At whose expense the victory ball?

Every ten years a great man,

Who paid the piper?

So many particulars.

So many questions. 

Lineage

Lineage is defined as a group of individuals tracing descent from a common ancestor.  As an artist, I am of the lineage of Frank Vincent Dumond.  Dumond was my mentor’s teacher’s teacher.  In other words, I am a student of John Phillip Osborne whose teachers included Arthur Maynard, a student of Frank Vincent Dumond. 

Frank Vincent Dumond taught at the Art Students League in NYC for nearly 60 years from 1892 until his death in 1951.  He was academically trained in Paris at the Academie Julian studying with such artists as Gustave Boulanger and Jules-Joseph Lefebvre.  Dumond had a positive influence on countless students. Not only was he an outstanding teacher who is described as charismatic, patient and humorous  he also developed a palette that has left a legacy to future generations of painters.

The prismatic palette is a premixed palette that enables students to begin to understand value and color relationships, which is a keystone to understanding how to paint the prismatic flow and progression of light.  There are a myriad of light effects in nature caused by the weather, the time of day, the time of year and the changing atmosphere.  The goal of the painter is to render these changes convincingly.  This palette is invaluable to the beginner as it demonstrates this progression.  I will continue to discuss this palette over the course of this blog.

I have a deep respect for teachers/mentors that pass down their knowledge.  Dumond is quoted as saying in the publication The Harmony of Nature:  The Art and Life of Frank Vincent Dumond, “We are all in a strange forest, and because I have been here longer, I am to guide you part of the way..   I will tell you what I think is ahead..  from there it is yours to go on”.

Frank Vincent Dumond (1865-1951)
Top of the Hill

The gift is your desire

Many artists say that they have been drawing and creating art since they were very young.  The belief is that they were born with this innate ability.  They were born with this special talent.   I have always wanted to be an artist.  I  wondered why I wasn't born with "the gift".  Richard Schmid writes in his book, "Talent...  don't worry about whether or not you have it.  Just assume that you do and forget about it".    For many years I did not pursue my dream of becoming an artist because of this misconception.  For those of you that say "I wish I was an artist" I believe that is your gift.  Your desire to make art - the gift is your desire.

Welcome!

I am starting this blog as a means to communicate my thoughts on painting and my life as an artist.  My hope is to inspire other artists and share my insights on what I've learned so far on my artistic journey.  Below is a quote that applies to all people but has special meaning to the aspiring artist:

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.  Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."  ~Mark Twain