First Snow

 Woke up to our first proper snowstorm this morning. It wasn't very much snow but enough to frost this gnarly tree and bring out its undulating wavelike properties.

Black, white, and gray ink on toned paper

4" x 6"

Another monolith

Sketched over two 30 minute sessions at the UMass Sun Wheel, plus detail work from reference photo.

This was interesting because of the variation in how the different facets took the light, affecting both the overall values and the textures.

Little Tinker Hill

I've done this scene a couple times before. There's something adorable about its gently curved profile that keeps bringing me back. The late afternoon light in the fall is always spectacular.

Dead Bird

Poor thing crashed into a window at the bank entrance and lay there as customers came and went.

This is likely to be its only memorial.

I'm guessing it was a swamp sparrow,  although this one's colors are a bit darker than the illustration in my Roger Tory Peterson bird book.

Forest Path

I've sketched this little path heading into the woods several times in different seasons and times of day.

Election day significance? Well, we are heading into the unknown. But really I just happened to be in the neighborhood and revisited the spot.

Monolith

I was waiting for a friend at the UMass Sunwheel and sketched one of the monoliths used to track astronomical events.

These roughhewn granite stones are good sketching subjects for practicing measurement and proportion because their shapes are pretty arbitrary - no preconceived armature to fall back on. 

Three Dumpsters

Twice in as many days have I found myself in a parking lot with a little time on my hands. In both cases a cursory search revealed, in a remote corner, a dumpster or two, occupying that liminal space between the gritty asphalt and the rampant foliage asserting Nature's claim to our unproductive and neglected bits of turf. I tried to get a coherent image using only pen and ink on white paper, relying on texture and hatching to indicate a value scale.

The spooky house next to my dentist

Actually, it is perfectly respectable, home to doctors' offices, small businesses, and condos, but very striking in its Addams/Hopper/Bates-y way.

ink on toned paper

4" x 6"

Backyard Snow has now been accepted to the Workshop13 6th Annual Northeast Fine Arts Exhibition of Traditional Realism in Ware, MA.

It was on a waitlist - if other accepted entries couldn't make it for some reason, it would be selected. Now I can call off my Kind Hearts and Coronets operation.

Workshop13 Grand Hall
13 Church Street
Ware, MA 01082

Show Dates and Times:
September 28 to October 13, 2024
Fridays | 4 to 7 pm

Saturdays & Sundays | 1 to 4 pm

Opening Reception:
Saturday, September 28 | 1 to 4 pm
Awards, 3 pm

https://workshop13.org/calendar-event/northeast-fine-arts-exhibition-2/2024-09-28/

 Breakwater Afternoon will be part of the Workshop13 6th Annual Northeast Fine Arts Exhibition of Traditional Realism in Ware, MA.

Workshop13 Grand Hall
13 Church Street
Ware, MA 01082

Show Dates and Times:
September 28 to October 13, 2024
Fridays | 4 to 7 pm

Saturdays & Sundays | 1 to 4 pm

Opening Reception:
Saturday, September 28 | 1 to 4 pm
Awards, 3 pm

https://workshop13.org/calendar-event/northeast-fine-arts-exhibition-2/2024-09-28/

Rail Road Crossing

I had about 30 minutes during which I did a pencil sketch, then messed around with it at home. The X shaped sign reminded me of James Gurney's analysis of the Rembrandt windmill and putting light against dark, dark against light, light against light, and dark against dark; so I tried to get something like that going. I ended up getting more into the overall flow of light, with the RR signal acting as a kind of photonic antenna or Van de Graaff generator.

More on the James Gurney Windmill Principle:

https://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/04/windmill-principle.html

Breakwater, Morning; Breakwater, Afternoon

The same subject painted from opposite sides in the morning and afternoon. I just realized, it kind of reminds me of the Sphinx, who asked that riddle about who walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon and three in the evening. I'll have to go back and do an evening version.

My work on display at Burnett Gallery

Ego at Endo

Where I Stand

Three Women etching

I enjoyed seeing the show as a whole - interesting selection of artists, well curated and hung by @adeleggil et al. Worth a visit if you are nearby.

Burnett Gallery

The Jones Library

43 Amity Street

Amherst, MA 010023

Library Hours

Sun 1-5:15 (closed in Aug) Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat 9-5:15 Tues, Thurs 9-8:15

 

31st Regional Juried Piedmont Art Show.

These three pieces have been accepted into the 31st Regional Juried Piedmont Art Show.

 Sunscreen

Breakwater, Morning

Three Women etching

Piedmont Hall

604 Main Street

Somers, CT 06071

Hours (Thursday - Sunday):

Sept 19 - 21 12pm - 4pm

Sept 21 - 22 10am - 2pm

Sept 26 - 27 12pm - 4pm

Sept 28 - 29 10am - 2pm

OPENING RECEPTION September 15th 1-3pm

Awards at 1:30 pm

Pix at Vic's

 I got to visit with my brother-in-law in Pennsylvania recently, and reconnected with these three little watercolors I had given him over the years, all depicting scenes around his house and farm.

2024-2025 ARTISTS BURNETT GALLERY GROUP SHOW

I'm very happy and proud to be sharing the Burnett Gallery with these excellent artists!
Ego et Endo, Where I Stand, and brand new etching Three Women will be on display.

Image description:
Light blue flyer with thumbnail images of artwork in grid array.
Text:

2024-2025 ARTISTS
BURNETT GALLERY
GROUP SHOW
AUGUST - OCTOBER 2024

We’re excited to have a rotating selection of pieces from our 2024-2025 Virtual Show artists on display in our gallery this fall.
View our virtual show at JonesLibrary.org/BurnettGallery

NANCY CARROLL
ANN CLOUTIER
STEVE EAGLE
MICHAEL GILBERT
STEPHEN GINGOLD
TATIANA HARSHBARGER
MAUREEN MANNING
MATTHEW MATTINGLY
REBECCA REID
LEE SPROULL
ROBERTA WARSHAW

Burnett Gallery
The Jones Library
43 Amity Street
Amherst, MA 010023

Library Hours
Sun 1-5:15 (closed in Aug) Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat 9-5:15 Tues, Thurs 9-8:15

 

Paul Rahilly 1933 - 2024 RIP

Paul Rahilly, artist, teacher and good friend to many aspiring artists in the Boston area, died yesterday, July 15, 2024. He was one the few keeping the flame of figurative art alive during the late 20th century, and taught several generations of students the figure drawing and painting skills to build their own styles and approaches. I first encountered him at a life drawing class at Mass Art night school in the early 80's, and immediately realized that he was offering the knowledge and attitude to art that I had been seeking. It could be summarized as a method for identifying the intuitive, gestural sense of a pose and relating it to an armature, a "system of lines," that made it possible to record the essentials with verve and accuracy without wasting energy on aimless scribbling or getting bogged down in compulsive recording of detail. I went on to take his classes repeatedly, and with a few fellow recidivists established a painting group (the "Rahilloids") to continue to develop our skills with this knowledge. He became a good friend to all of us, and his influence is present with me to this day, as are the close friendships I found in his classes.

 Three Women

etching

8 5/8" x 10"

Loosely based on my painting of the same name.

I fixed a few things that bothered me, mostly places where the the lines were either etched too deep or had run together to create blotches. The grandmother's right eye is probably the most noticeable example.

The way I made the corrections is something I hit on myself. They were too deep to scrape and burnish in the traditional manner, so I carefully applied epoxy to the offending lines, let it harden, and then sanded it down and burnished the area. Seems to work pretty well. I don't know if other etchers do something like this.

"Backyard Snow" in situ at the Academic Artist Association 74th Annual Exhibition of Traditional Realism. There's a lot of great artwork on view by excellent artists with whom I am honored to be sharing a wall. Well worth a visit if you're in the area.

June 16 – July 14, 2024

Thursday - Sunday, 1 to 5 PM

Arts Center East

709 Hartford Turnpike, Vernon, CT ~ 860-871-8222

https://www.academicartistsassociation.org/

Horseshoe Crab

 On our last morning at the Cape I found this recently deceased horseshoe crab on the beach. It was studded with little white shells.

Pen, ink wash, white ink on toned paper

4" x 6"

Atlantic Spice Company Pallets

 Atlantic Spice Company Pallets

Pen, ink wash, and white pen on toned paper

4" x 6"

Long Point Lighthouse from Truro, MA

 Long Point Lighthouse from Truro, MA

Watercolor
4" x 6"

Truro Breakwater sketch

 First 2024 Cape sketch as well as first sketch in new Montanapolitancroptic sketchbook. I've done this breakwater many times before, but this time I was trying to work methodically with the reality of the constantly changing tide. The problem is that there is no stable baseline to use as a reference, and the overall visible size of the subject is changing, making it hard to judge proportions. I knew that the tide was going out, and that I had about an hour and a half before it reached low tide, so I made sure to use the parts that were visible and that would remain constant as my reference points, and gradually added to the drawing as more of the subject was revealed by the receding waters.

The gull showed about about halfway through, and I was of two minds whether to include it. Would it make the image too hokey? However, the way it stayed there posing for so long made me think it really wanted me to put it in the picture, so I did. I think it provides a nice accent.

Academic Artist Association 74th Annual Exhibition of Traditional Realism.

 "Backyard Snow" has been juried into the Academic Artist Association 74th Annual Exhibition of Traditional Realism. This exhibition always attracts top notch artists from New England and beyond, so it should be a great show.

June 16 – July 14, 2024
Thursday - Sunday, 1 to 5 PM

Arts Center East
709 Hartford Turnpike, Vernon, CT ~ 860-871-8222

Opening Reception Sunday, June 16, 2024, 1 to 4 PM
Awards announced at 3 PM

https://www.academicartistsassociation.org/

New MontanaPolitanCroptic sketchbook

Time to make a new MontanaPolitanCroptic sketchbook. It's been ten years since I designed and built the first of these.  Also,  some pix from the old one, selected with an eye to repeated places and subjects.

 Backyard Snow

Oil on linen panel

9.5" x 12"

I started this back in January, during the only decent snowstorm of the winter. There's also a shot of the first pass, showing how I was trying to get the movement and feeling of the snow down first, filling the details later but always referring back to the initial sketch; and my snow painting setup, Artistic In Tent.