Really, is there anything better than floating in a pool, looking up at the sky? I think not. If by chance you have a worry, I think this will help to relax and give you a new perspective. Try it!
Back to regular posting next week – Catch you back here tomorrow!
When life gets busy, confusing, happy, sad, or if ever you feel overwhelmed. Just remember this quote.
Back to regular posting next week – Catch you back here tomorrow!
Happy 4th of July, otherwise known as Independence Day!
Back to regular posting next week – Catch you back here tomorrow!
We’ve got quite a few hydrangeas and I swear they glow in certain light. It’s amazing. I love how this (very old) daylily popped up next to the hydrangea. The color combination (hard to tell here) was stunning!
Do you have hydrangeas? What color do you prefer? Do you add anything to your soil to try to get the color to change? Ours are this purply blue color and I love them!
Catch you back here tomorrow!
It’s so easy to eat fresh ingredients in the spring and summer. I love that! This was a quick dinner of grilled chicken cutlets, butter beans from Boone Hall Farms, radicchio salad (a favorite) and cucumbers in Greek yogurt with dill and cider vinegar. On the side is a beautiful (and tasty) bowl of sliced tomatoes.
Can it get any better?
Catch you back here tomorrow!
Colin Page. His paintings are recognizable from a distance. He really doesn’t even need a signature, you can look at it and say WOW! COLIN! There are so many fabulous paintings to chose from it boggles the mind. The Apple Tree is so wonderful, I love how the children are playing, the dramatic tree, fabulous sky, tree shadows, and the girl reaching for the cat. Stunning work. As always!
I love Colin’s tablescapes. I love every one of them. This one is so unexpected. I’ve seen other skull paintings of his and they were remarkable as well, but this skull on top of the table with flowers is stunning.
If you are in the Rockland, Maine area, do not miss his show at Dowling Walsh Gallery!
Opening Reception, First Friday, July 1, 2016 from 5-8pm (TONIGHT!)
Read more about Colin, and see more work from this show HERE.
Colin has a fabulous website as well, be sure to check it out – don’t miss his journal, it’s full of great information!
Are you an experienced artist looking to take a workshop? I see that Colin has a workshop coming up in September – it looks AMAZING! Check out the details HERE!
All images via DowlingWalsh.com, used with permission…
Catch you back here tomorrow!
Today’s featured artist is Kevin Beers. Many know Kevin as an artist that primarily paints Monhegan Island, Maine. Gorgeous paintings. Many of them are very large plein air (painted outdoors). Kevin and his wife Amy has recently moved to Maine, and Kevin has painted some wonderful spots around where he lives, so be sure to check out those paintings!
Dory in the Shadows has such an elegance to it, doesn’t it? The simple curves of the dory – the light on the grass – the light on the dormers – beautiful!
If you’re in the Boothbay Harbor area, be sure to check out Kevin’s show!
Here is the show information from Gleason Fine Art:
KEVIN BEERS: The View from Here
Paintings of Monhegan and the mainland by the popular landscape artist who made the move to become a full-time Mainer last year.
Reception: First Friday, July 1, 5 to 7 pm
For Kevin Beers’s 2016 summer show, his 15th solo show with the gallery, Kevin has not only given the gallery more than a dozen of the elegiac Monhegan Island landscapes and panoramas for which he is famous, but also a half-dozen dazzling paintings of Pemaquid in both full sunlight and at sunset, paintings of Thomaston’s “painted ladies” (fancy Victorian mansions), paintings of Hendricks Head and Kitten Island on Southport, and a pair of his majestic truck portraits.
Read a bit about Kevin, from Gleason Fine Art’s website – what a great bio!:
In the Fall of 2014, Kevin Beers did something he had long dreamed of doing—he packed up his Park Slope, Brooklyn, apartment and moved to Maine to become a full-time resident. Beers and his wife Amy rented the Rockland home of a Monhegan friend and spent the winter of 2014-2015 hunting for their dream house. They found it on a Thomaston side street—an antique white farmhouse with a barn big enough for two studios.
For his 2015 summer show, Beers has given the gallery not only his typical Monhegan Island panoramas and landscapes but also a half dozen sparkling winter paintings done on site in Rockland as well as several dazzling sunset views of Pemaquid. For Beers’ many fans of his truck and car paintings, this year’s show contains a special treat—“Stars and Stripes,” a majestic rendition of a familiar Rte. 90 sight, an old truck painted with red, white, and blue stars and stripes.
In mid-July, Beers heads out to his beloved Monhegan Island once again, but come fall, instead of facing the 7-hour drive back to Brooklyn, he will step off the ferry, drive less than half an hour, and be home—Maine at last!
All images via GleasonFineArt.com , used with permission…
Catch you back here tomorrow!
Jean-Pierre Jacquet. I know I’ve mentioned before… that I love darkness in paintings, especially near an area with light. It makes the painting more dramatic. I love these trees (and their shadows), they have such life, and you only see a small portion of them!
Interior paintings are so fabulous, yet you don’t see many of them. Is there anything better than a painting within a painting (or in this case, several paintings)!? Jean-Pierre is an interesting guy (from what I’ve read), with great paintings, be sure to check out his work!
Read a bit about Jean-Pierre, from his website:
I am a French-American painter. And an occasional film animator (some of my film animation work is viewable at http://www.jeanpierrejacquet.com). For many years, it was the other way around. I devote most of my painting activities to “plein air” painting, or, as the French say, “peinture sur le motif”, i.e on the spot painting.
I like to paint what I see, rather than what I know, and try to uncover the hidden designs in my subject matters, be it straight nature scenes or urban landscapes. I am partial to free and bold brushstrokes which help me keep a certain sketchiness to my paintings.
My influences are eclectic so I will spare you a useless enumeration.
Under the Awards & Distinctions portion of Jean-Pierre’s About the Artist page is this, a sense of humor, I love it!:
I am not dead yet but 2 of my films are part of 2 museums: Flagrant Délit is part of the MoMA in NYC, and Contrapunto is part of the Tanz Museum in Düsseldorf in Germany.
Continue reading HERE…
All images via JPJacquet.com, used with permission…
Catch you back here tomorrow!
Do you ever get in a rut? Eating the same lunches… do you need something different? I have an idea!
Tomatoes are so good right now, and my basil is thriving, so I thought, hmmmm, what to make for a quick lunch! I picked up some Ciabatta rolls at Trader Joe’s – popped them in the oven until they got nice and warm. Then I added sliced tomato (oh! ah!), sliced fresh mozzarella, leaves of basil, then I drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette, slapped on the top half of the roll and tada! Lunch is served!
What do you make when you get in a rut? Something different! Let me know!
Catch you back here tomorrow!
Aaron Cordell Johnson. Wow. His paintings are show stoppers. Just look at these clouds against that brilliant blue sky. Floating Giants is a great name for this painting. The landscape is the perfect setting beneath these majestic clouds, don’t you think?
When I ran across this painting I almost fell out of my chair! The sky is on fire, the horizon is dark, but shows distance. The reflections from the light are magnificent. Aaron nailed this sky. It is absolute perfection. You see wonderful paintings of skies quite a bit, but this has more detail and depth, the lighter yellow strokes, and then the thin strips of wispy cloud and the shadows on the clouds. WOW.
Read a bit about Aaron, from his website:
I am searching for the sensation of the subject.
I am interested in finding an authentic experience through the act of creation. My work involves physical interaction and passion for the subject. The paintings I create are the result of time, searching for just the right cloud formations, watching the colors, and experiencing what it means to be in an environment. Through these experiences I use color, brushstrokes, drawing and texture to express the lay of the land and its affect on me.
My studio works are based on paintings done en plein-air (works done on site). In my studio I work to keep the spontaneous feel of a plein-air painting, I do not simply enlarge the plein-air work but translate and evolve the idea of multiple experiences of being on site into a new studio piece.
Throughout history images of sacred figures have been placed within magnificent frames to create an icon, these icons are used to show the importance of an idea. In some of my work I craft frames to create a new kind of icon, an icon of the humble landscape.
As an avid outdoorsman and passionate painter I hope to use my work to heighten our awareness of the significance of our surroundings, such as the way a cloud floats across the sky, how a dead trees branches pierce the sky, or the brilliant complementary colors of fall. Each painting is the culmination of absorbing, listening, feeling and observing my surroundings.
All images via CordellArt.com, used with permission…
Catch you back here tomorrow!
This dog will chase the hose until it’s dead… and then it comes back to life. When we’re done for the day, we hose him off (yes, more water) and he heads in the house, eats and drifts off to sleep.
Guzzle, guzzle…
Catch you back here tomorrow!
Saw this on a walk in Michigan. This dandelion is truly the star of the show.
Stand tall, don’t YOU be afraid to be the star of the show – Remember, you feel happiness when the little things in life capture your attention and make you smile.
It’s the little things… they’re HUGE, don’t miss them!
Catch you back here tomorrow!
Over the next few weeks (until I run out of paintings), I am posting one of our paintings and then seeing who can GUESS THE ARTIST. I have retouched this photo on the bottom right corner to remove the artist’s signature.
Do you know the name of this artist?
Comment on my Facebook page or on this blog…
Catch you back here tomorrow!
Who would have thought there would be this much charm in a 280 square foot guest cottage? There is. Oodles of it! This plan is 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom and when you add the unconditioned space (porch and screened porch) that almost doubles the square footage. Outdoor living space is fabulous! This would make a sweet addition to your backyard for when you have a guest, just think of the possibilities! This plan would make an amazing art studio! You could paint inside OR outside while on the porch! Can you imagine?? This is the 101 Scout Path plan by Our Town Plans.
The layout is simple, a bedroom, bathroom and closet. There is a sink outside of the bathroom area, which is nice, especially if you’re using this as an art studio, plenty of room to wash your brushes! The closet area could hold your art supplies. There beautiful windows and oh… the porches! You’ve got to see photos of actual images of this plan that were built, each is unique, all are fabulous!
Catch you back here tomorrow!
Chad Smith. Wow. Fabulous paintings with magnificent light. His paintings go beyond the average good painting. They have substance and there is something about them that makes you stop and look… they keep you looking. As I write this it is sunny, hot and humid here in Charleston. So I am finding this snowscape especially appealing! How I would love to have a polar fleece on breathing cool air right now!
Look at the wonderful colors in the trunk of the tree, in the snow, the shed and the trees beyond. Chad’s paintings aren’t flat they come alive.
What stood out to me in this painting is the crispness – without being “tight” Chad creates a painting where the darks make the lights sing. For as loose as this painting is, look at that stop light. Perfection! The streetlight… stunning! Who would think such a scene could make such a dynamic painting. Be sure to check out Chad’s website – all of his paintings are jaw droppers!
Read a bit about Chad, from his website:
As an “on the spot” painter, I find great satisfaction in capturing the immediacy of the moment. I liken this to Jazz improvisation. The more practiced and skilled one is the more clarity and meaning one brings to the “performance”.
My process is simple, search a location set up my easel and paint. Working outdoors allows any number of variables from weather to interested onlookers. Sometimes it is a wonder I get any work done, which makes the successes that much sweeter.
I paint subjects that resonate both personally and visually. It is when the viewer gets a similar visceral response to the work I know I have touched on something important. More than anything else my work is autobiographical in nature and each piece is a summation of my experience as a human being and artist to that point. Read more about Chad HERE.
All images via ChadSmithPaintings.com, used with permission…
Catch you back here tomorrow!
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