Christmas 2020

 I worked up this composite picture of Sally and my grandchildren.  I used older paintings and photographs to get the six kids into a fantasy scene with a Santa modeled on the old Coca-Cola Santa.

Merry Christmas.

AJA Stables

 In September The Sussex County Art Society tried to take advantage of some late summer weather to do a plein air event at Joan Wittrien's stables, near the fair grounds.  Because of Covid we have not been able to meet indoors.  My first effort was of the main barn.  The earthy tones, I think, help capture the feel of a working stable.

The second painting is of the practice rings where some horses were lazing around.

Thank you, Joan.

LBI Plein Air

 I was accepted to participate in the Long Beach Island Foundation annual show.  I travelled to the island and stayed at the north end, near the lighthouse because the motel rates were less expensive.  But I travelled the island and did three sketches around the Beach Haven area.  When I was at the docks on the bay side in Barnegat I got a surprise--so many flies hanging around the fishing boats. Tough going!

Four paintings were allowed so I had to choose.  The first one I did in Beach Haven early in the morning so there were few people on the beach.

This one was also in Beach Haven, down by the water.  I've seen a flag attached to this pier support for many years and don't know if they get changed as the waves batter them.  I entered this as one of my four and it received an honorable mention.  "Proudly she waves."

The next few were done around Surf City where my family vacationed for many years.  The first I call low tide, the time when the ocean is calm and little ones can play in the gentle surf.

This next one I call vigilant.

In the evening as the light was fading fishermen come out as the families go back home to eat and rest.  I caught these two guys  in the Beach Haven area.  I had to work fast but that gives the image some vitality.

In the morning after getting coffee and a bagel I wandered over to the fishing boats in the Barnegat bay area, where I encountered the flies.  Again I had to work fast.

 

Sussex County Art Society Virtual Show

 The SCAS had a virtual art show in June.  I spent much of the spring looking for vistas and images in the time of quarantine.  Here are some of them.  The first two are experiments following Lynn Ferris' use of repeated shapes.  I have three cows, three horses.

I also did some scenes around and vistas from my backyard. Two are late winter scenes and one is a image from last spring, "Gardner's rest."  How different the  seasons' colors are.!

Pine Shores workshop

 In March at the start of the pandemic when we weren't notified of the dangers, although many people were cancelling cruises and other vacation plans, we felt safe to attend a workshop at the shore.  The Pine Shores Art Assn offered a workshop with Mick McAndrews a local artist from nearby Pennsylvania.  He is an enthusiastic instructor and urged us all to work fast.

  The first of my works I liked better than the second.  It is a marsh scene from south Jersey, featuring egrets.  The colors provide a moody feel.

The second, done with a flat brush that I am not used to, but worth the learning experience, is of some roosters against a barn background.

Sussex County Doings

 Before Covid shut us down I was able to offer a free watercolor workshop during January on four Mondays at the Sussex County Art Society meeting  place in the Hampton Township Community Center.  We had at least eighteen people attend and it was a lot of fun.  My approach was to use watercolor paintings by various artists that each highlighted a different and particular technique and some elements of composition.  My first lesson was on a flat wash, noting that many artists work almost exclusively with flat surfaces.  I used a Jersey artist who worked in oils, Will Barnett, and used an old painting of mine that could be presented as a flat wash image.

The second lesson was a graded wash and I used a Jeanne Dobie Florida scene. This image is my rendering.  Learning from copying master painters!!.

We then moved on to more complex use of the flat wash, the blended and graded flat wash, mixing colors, here pink, orange and green in a Costal Village painting by Joyce Hicks, again my rendering as part of the demo.  

On the fourth, final and  most challenging day we attempted (I am tempted to say attacked, because the painting requires quick and forceful brushwork) some dry brush and wet in wet techniques.  We used the haunting image, "The Marsh Mill," by Edward Seago as our learning platform.  Again the image is my less haunting rendering from the class demo.

Lastly for this post I include a paint illustration for a fund raiser book for the Richard's building at the fair grounds, put out by Art in Sussex County.  Sue Struble assigned me to illustrate the rooster logo attending the demolition derby.  The book came out in late May with great illustrations by many Sussex County artists.

Winter Workshop

 Spending a few weeks during the winter in Florida allows me to take advantage of one of the many workshops offered during January, February and March.  In 2020 I took a workshop with Lynn Ferris in New Smyrna Beach at their wonderful arts center.  Lynn often emphasizes the repetition of shapes as can be seen in my coffee cups.

The second example is a young girl, rather grumpy, surrounded by balloon shapes.

But Lynn also had us experiment with bright colors as seen in this Florida beach house scene.

 

Christmas 2019

 Unusual for me to create a vertical Christmas Card, but this image just looked better in a vertical format, which was called for by the tree.