Newburyport Art Association, Fall Juried Show

Part II of the Fall Show at Nbpt is for categories other than oil, so I entered a couple of things I had that fit their categories.  Both entries were juried in I'm happy to say. 

Mary	Pyche	Right Foot Forward	Mixed Media
Mary	Pyche	Life Has Its Moments	Photography

The mixed media painting is primarily pink and aqua with gold highlights, 24x36" canvas, floating frame.
The picture in the photography category was taken during the Christmas holidays of a shop window at St. Armonds Circle in Sarasota, Florida with many reflections and the overlapping design is colorful and festive.

 

2011 Fall Members Juried Show II

Show Dates, October 21-November 12, 2011

Reception, Free and Open to the Public

Saturday, October 22, 7-9pm

We hope to see you at the reception, 

Saturday, October 22, 7-9pm

I'm away this weekend on an art trip with Lynn Murray, so I won't be able to attend the reception.

Fantastic Podcast of Rockwell's Art

Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.This is the address for a truly beautiful and entertaining podcast with fascinating visual and audio references. It was part of the Smithsonian Exhibition on Norman Rockwell.
  It's long but very inspiring.

Thanks to friends

My sister, Pat Slattery, Mary and Jeff Lock, and Roberta and Ed Breen were with me last evening at the Open House at Tootsies' in Wakefield.  Thank you, guys, for joining me and having the experience of sampling dozens of mini-cupcakes!!! along with some coffee and getting our pictures taken by people from the Chamber and the local newspaper.

Wakefield (MA) Paint Out--Fun and Successful

 
I certainly had a lucky day as I won the drawing of an opportunity to exhibit at the Wakefield Performing Arts Center!  What an honor to be able to do that!  

With perfect weather and about 30 artists participating, everyone had a wonderful day!  Above is the scene when everyone showed their work from noon to one.  I sold a painting that I had painted earlier in the week, and I bought Carol Potvin's painting.   It was a fun day, talking with many people who came by to watch me paint.  It was one of those great days to remember.


More events to come--tomorrow (Wednesday) is the Open House at Tootsie's where 5 of my paintings are on display, and Thursday is another event at Restaurant Molise.

Today at Wakefield's Paint Out

Warm, sunny, gentle breeze, lots of very nice people milling around--a great day to be out painting and I had a very good day talking with lots of nice people.  I painted a lake scene with the foreground of Eric John Goodridge's memorial bench.  Terri (his mother) told me it was a gorgeous view and a very special place and she was right.  The Farmers' Market was a bustling scene and about 30 artists participated in the Paint Out.  I sold a painting of the park and I also bought one: Carol Potvin's view of the bandbox.  There was a reception following at a boutique in town.  Thanks to Pam Perras, I had the opportunity to get to know Wakefield a little better and will try to attend again next year.

A reminder that two business are showing my work until October 17th, Tootsie's Coffee and Ice Cream Shop and Parker Florist.  Come to Tootsie's on Wednesday the 12th at 5 p.m. for Open House.

Postponed last week--so Wakefield is this Saturday

The Wakefield MA Paint Out will be held this weekend because a water main broke last week and the event had to be moved to the rain date.  The merchants of Wakefield are working with some of the artists to show their work and have an ART WALK from the 1st to the 17th.   The Paint Out is from 9 to noon, the display and sale from noon until 1 and then a reception as mentioned below.

ON SATURDAY at 1:30 AFTER THE PAINT OUT—

J'Adore, an upscale consignment boutique, at 13 Princess Street, is hosting a Paint Out reception. It should be a lot of fun. I hope all of you can attend. J'Adore is displaying watercolors by Phyllis Kaplan.

There are great opportunities for artists to get to know one another and to (hopefully!) meet art appreciators of Wakefield—at Ristorante Molise, Oct 13 ($8 and cash bar), and Greenwood Wine & Spirits, Oct 19 (free).  Tootsie's Coffee Corner is having an Open House displaying the work of Mary Pyche, on October 12 at 5 p.m.  If you come, I'll treat you to coffee or ice cream!

See you at the Paint Out on Saturday. The weather will be beautiful!

Wakefield Paint Out

Saturday, thanks to the efforts of Pam Parras, I'll be participating in the Wakefield (MA) Paint Out from 9 a.m. to noon.  At noon all the artists' paintings will be on display.  Try to come to watch artists in action or view the display afterwards from noon until 1 p.m.  This year, local businesses will be offering to display the work of some of the artists at their locations.

Way over the top--Tuscany Trip!

I can't begin to explain how wonderful my 2-week trip to Tuscan was.  OMG-sunny every day, gorgeous country, I took about 2,000 photos so as soon as I download them and maybe organize them somewhat, I'll post a few.  I thought that last year's trip was the ultimate, yet, this one might have been even better!  I salute Margaret Egli-Thomson who organized this trip and is also an excellent artist. 

Tuscany, here we come!

Two weeks of touring and painting in Tuscany for me and my friend, Carol Pike-Webb starting Thursday, Sept. 1st!  This tour, organized by a neo-impressionist Margaret Egli-Thomson, will be 5 or 6 days of painting the beautiful landscapes around San Gimigniano (Siena) Italy, and another 6 days of touring the neighboring cities including Florence.  The Agriturismo (hotel) where we will stay is www.podereilpino.it.
I somehow managed to pack extremely light so I hope I have enough clothes and paint.  Well, the upside is that I have room for my laptop (Big Bertha).

Camden, Maine

I had a week of painting in Maine and rented a house with two friends, Lynn Murray and Karen Berger.  You can't go to Maine for a week without having some rain, so we had the first few days to travel around looking at museums and galleries.  I visited Portland Art Museum on my up and had the luck to get there just as a seminar was starting about artists who populated the area called Sequinland: Maine Moderns, Art in Sequinland, 1900-1940, which was given by Libby Bischof, a docent who made it a very interesting visit.  The John Marin show, Modernism at Midcentury, was very extensive and very well presented.  Karen and I took in the Farnsworth and the video presentation about Andrew Wyeth.  It was produced and directed by the family and was a joy to see.  There was good footage of their home movies and plenty of information given by Andrew who was narrating the video.  I am a big fan of NC Wyeth.  Of course, it's always a special event to visit the Dowling Walsh Gallery across the street from the Farnsworth and this time was no exception.  Large paintings by Alexandra Tyng were featured and her paintings are breathtaking.  Another gallery stop was the Haynes in Thomaston and the paintings of Peter Poskas and Burt Silverman.  Lynn and I toured the area and saw the belted Galloways (cows) and many beautiful vistas.  Karen and I drove all the way to Arcadia, it's what you do on rainy days when you can't paint outdoors.  There were a couple of galleries in Camden that provided some excitement and motivation as well--Bayview Gallery and Camden Falls Gallery of Camden, Maine. 
We did paint for a few days, nothing like Maine for painting rocks!  As usual, I took hundreds of photos.

Ivan Kamalic, 67, artist

It was only a year ago, several of us spent a few days at Star Island painting en plein air.  Ivan passed away June 6th of complications of lung cancer.  I enjoyed getting to know him.  He was a very hard worker and hiked all over the place looking for inspiration then he worked for hours in that spot.  A true professional, he enjoyed chatting with passers-bye, and told me about Jewel extra long brushes, which I subsequently purchased and agree with him that they have a nice "snap" at the end of the stroke. At Star Island everyone eats in a communal fashion and we all shared stories, it was a very nice time.  What a nice guy, he was happy and seemed very healthy as well.  I'm so sorry that he left us so young.

David's rainy day workshop

I had a wonderful time despite the fact that it rained most of the time.  The first morning we went out to Bass Rocks Point and what a great spot for rocks!  A person could paint there exclusively and never be uninspired by rocks.  The second day we painted in the mist at the Greenbelt in Essex in the morning.  Unfortunately, we had to retreat to the Rockport Art Association studios when it was raining.  David kept us on our toes with exercises and helpful comments and critiques and stories of artists and art in general.  The three days went by rather quickly somehow even with the rain.  I came home with more tools to use in my arsenal of painting ammunition--just in time for the 4th of July!  Let's hope I can get a big bang out of some of it.

David P. Curtis Workshop, June 22-24

I'll be painting rocks with David over the next three days in the Rockport, MA area.  "Rocks are Hard" is the name of the course.  The forecast is for rain.  Let's hope they are wrong.  Today I'm cleaning brushes that I received from my friend, Judy Rehill, from Florida.  A dear friend, Frank Miles, died last week, and some of these brushes were Frank's.  I hope his brushes bring me luck.

Colin Page Workshop - June 11-12

The first thing that Colin said was about how we had to work outside of our comfort zone, and it might not feel very good.  Well, I was happy to hear that since I felt to "down" after the previous workshop with Frank.  Colin had taken a workshop and had that experience afterwards, so now I didn't feel bad anymore.  He did a great presentation about values and massing and did a quick demo, then we all tried that lesson.  Then after lunch the rain came and it rained for the duration of the workshop.  We moved in doors and it might have even been better to learn the lessons that Colin taught which were many.  He had us doing lots of 1/2 hour studies and, for me, it was a lot less stressful and less tiring and it kept my mind alert as well.  I highly recommend his workshops.

Class at River Arts,  Damariscotta, Me.

Typical scene that Colin likes to paint.

Frank Gardner Workshop, June 6-8

Thanks to Suzanne Hoffman who found this cottage in Wellfleet, we had accommodations which had a beautiful view of the water and a great area to walk around in my spare time.
On Sunday night we met at Paul Schulenberg's studio, Frank's friend, and had snacks and saw some great work of Paul's.

For the first two mornings Frank did a demo of things we were to concentrate on. 

We painted two paintings per day for the three days I was there.  It was very hot and sunny.  The scenery was beautiful.  Jerome Greene, Frank's assistant, did a wonderful painting of me on Wednesday afternoon in a public garden in PTown.  My email has been down and I've been trying to contact him since.  I was pretty disappointed in my work during the workshop and wasn't anxious to go to Maine on Friday to take another one with Colin Page.  What happens is that it takes a while to sift through the ideas and techniques of the teacher and make them your own.

Upcoming Adventures

I've been cleaning up my studio and sorting things out getting ready for the workshop season it seems.  First on my list is one down the cape, Wellfleet area, Cape Cod, with Frank Gardner, who initially excited me with his mudhead series but is not strictly an impressionist or colorist, anyway, it will be fun to work with him and be at the tip of the cape.  Second is immediately following Frank's, and is up in Damariscotta, ME with Colin Page.  I love Colin's light effect and palette.  Third, is David Curtis, a traditional New England, Rockport/Gloucester artist.  I agree with him that "rocks are hard"--it's a workshop on painting rocks.  To round out my summer excursions, a couple of painter friends and I will rent a house in Rockland, ME and paint for a week.  The Italy trip in September will round out my painting adventures for this year.  I'm going to Tuscany for 2 weeks with Margaret Elgi-Thomson and her group.  I traveled with her last year and it was a 6-Star experience! on a scale of 5.  I'll be posting painting pictures soon, I hope.  I've been gardening a lot lately, tis the season.

Sunset Mountain Road

Sunset Mountain Road $50

This 6"x6" original oil painting of a German mountain road at sunset (or is that the giant cookie monster?) was painted as an entry into Carol Maine's Challenge on Daily Paintworks.  I wanted to experiment with an analogous color scheme because I used a triadic color scheme on my previous landscape.  It's an interesting way to portray the colors and values with a limited palette.  I think it was successful, do you?

Alpine Road

Alpine Road 6"x8" $50 Original Oil

Daily Paintworks Challenge  This is the painting for Daily Paintworks German Landscape Challenge.  I used high intensity colors and both brush and knife and used the triadic color scheme of orange, green and purple.  This small painting is packed with details and available through my blog with Paypal if you are interested--just send me an email.  Let me know your comments.

Love You Rose

Sorry, I can't fix it yet.

This painting was created for the Daily Paintworks challenges.  It was submitted to the Help Japan Challenge which will run for a week starting today and ending Monday, April 11th.  It is also listed under the 'A Valentine's Day Rose Challenge' and will remain there after April 11th.  For me the challenge was to try to stay somewhat loose and still have a realistic image of the rose on the very dark background.  I don't use black but like a crisp colorful dark made with dark transparent colors. 
Until I can download a photo to this blog (blogger is acting up today) you can see it on the challenge page referred to above.  It is 6"x8" original oil on canvas mounted on gatorboard.

The Help Japan Challenge site is easy to navigate and I do take Paypal by my email address.  I hope you like my work and if you would like to receive updates in your email inbox, there is a simple to use box here in the upper right corner of my blog.  I always want to hear from you with any questions or comments.  Thank you for viewing.

Help Japan

New England Marsh Impression
12"x12"
Daily Paintworks Challenge-Help Japan

This is my entry into the Help Japan Auction on Daily Paintworks.  There are hundreds of artworks available,  and it's a wonderful opportunity to help Japan and get an original fine art painting in the process.  All proceeds will be donated by the artists whose work you can see on this web site.  It is an auction but the rules are very fair so people can't outbid you at the last minute.

Visit the Whistler House Museum of Art

Yesterday, Lynn Murray and I visited the Whistler in Lowell.  We were both surprised at how much better it was than we imagined.  We were fortunate to have Michael Lally, the executive director, act as our docent--it made our visit 10 times better. This happened because it was transition day, the previous docent was leaving and a new one was starting.  The house itself is a very important historic property, with a newly installed garden and park thanks to the Demoulas family, and Whistler's father was a truly amazing man, worthy of a book of his own.
We went to the Worthen Tavern afterwards, open since the 1800s, and had an excellent hamburger with a visit from the cook.
Lynn and I planned a list of museums to visit over the upcoming months.  I had been thinking about attending the Rockport Art Association's reception tonight, and Lynn sealed the deal when she said that David Curtis would be doing a demo relative to his upcoming workshop at Rockport where the old fashioned method of copying masters' work at a museum will be the theme and he will do a demo.  At this time of year Rockport brings out it's masterpieces so the class will be able to copy works hanging in the gallery.  What a great opportunity, I'm sorry I can't make it.

Entry for the one stroke challenge

3 Bowls Full

5.5"x4.5" original oil on masonite $50

I painted and entered a painting today for the Daily Paintworks Challenge, this time for the One Stroke Challenge.  I set up three colorful bowls, orange, lime green and purple on lime green fabric.  I kept the brush strokes to a minimum and was happy with the result.  I used a polka dot fabric but left the white dots out.  It would have been too busy.  I'm going to try to use more and thicker paint and have visible brush strokes like Carol's  Carol Marine. 

You can see this challenge here:  One Color Per Stroke Challenge along with a sample of Carol's technique.
I also signed up for PayPal so you can email me for purchasing information.

Color of White, Paintworks Challenge

6"x8" original oil on canvas 

White cup on floral gackground

6"x6" original oil on canvas

White cup on floral background

This challenge to paint something white on a colored background using only primary and secondary colors was lots of fun to paint.  First I did the larger one making the bright colors of the background the primary idea, then I wanted to make the cup the primary target and also paint a smaller painting.  Which one do you like? 

10-Minute Challenge - Apples

I love these challenges, and this is my first time participating in the DailyPaintworks challenges.  It was done in two days, 4 one day and 4 the next.  Each square is 3"x3".  It was a challenge to keep the paint clean so I had to change brushes a lot--no time to clean in-between.  What a challenge it was not to fiddle or go back and smooth something out.  I went out afterwards and bought spray paint because I wanted to do an endless supply of apples of all colors on different grounds.  Then, the other challenges started to spike my imagination.  I went out and purchased lots of cloth to use in my still life setups.  Now I need to plan my day to be sure to paint in the mornings before other things require my attention.  I didn't do this challenge to sell it so much as to go through the process.  I used to do 30-minute paintings each day as a warm-up exercise.  I would be interested in any comments, please.  I hope that the photo at least came out OK.

Colin Page Art Weekend, Camden, Maine

I traveled to hear Colin Page do an art talk at the Public Library in Camden on Saturday.  It was a very well attended event and his talk gave me a couple of insights into my work that I'm going to try which require a more limited palette and smaller range of values.  I found a very nice hotel for only $55 with a high view to the sea and a "must try" eatery in Rockland http://www.homekitchencafe.com.  Most places are closed for the season or gone as far as art and galleries are concerned.  I enjoyed the paintings at the James Fitzgerald show at the Farnsworth and bought a biography of W.C.Wyeth (one of my favorite artists/illustrators) in the gift shop.  I discovered a new (to me) part of Rockport and the marvelous CMCA (Contemporary Art Museum).  Unfortunately it was closed for renovations but I'll definately see it in June when I return to take a workshop with Colin.  I walked all over Rockland Sunday morning and took pictures until my card was full.

Honorable Mention at Rockport Art Association

My photograph won honorable mention in the current Contributors Show at Rockport Art Association.  It looks like an abstract artpiece.  In music it would be called a medley; this is a photo medley of memories.  You can see inside the store, the things in the store window, little lights, the reflections of cars, buildings, palm trees, balloons, and people.  Lots of colors and a nice composition with good balance probably holds some appeal along with the title, "Life Has It's Moments".  I hope you like it--let me know.  The show runs until March 20th.  Go to http://www.rockportartassn.org/ for hours.

I'm back..........

My adventures (not painting) in Europe can be read on this blog:  http://www.george-go80.blogspot.com/.
I spent January in Florida and attended many terrific art events.  Everything in Florida was perfect except for totaling our car and thankfully I didn't get hurt.  I visited with friends, walked many miles on beaches, stayed at a great place and met many new friends.
It was very nice to escape the Northeast winter for the month, but it's still snowing--6 more inches today!  Anyway, this week I've been re-reading the book, "Oil Painting Techniques and Materials" by Harold Speed, and I'm possibly enjoying it more this time than last time. 
I'm inspired anew by Carol Marine's new challenge 
http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Challenges (somewhat like the one Karen Juric did) and should be posting some paintings there (and here) soon.

Dropped off the planet?

No, not yet anyway--I'll be very busy until February with traveling and enjoying the Naples, FL art scene. 

OMG--Amazing trip to Italy

I've been home a week and still can't settle down from the most amazing trip ever!  I took 1527 photos and painted 6 paintings, toured 3 major cities, 2 castles, 1 lunch at the count's country house, 1 winery tour and lunch with the owner, visited a famous artist at his studio and he took us for drinks and snacks at his local bar at 11 in the morning, visited a cashmere factory and a cheese factory, farewell dinner where a famous soprano sang to us, ate tons of gourmet food (all fresh-no additives) drank bottles of wine (no sulfates) and only gained 6 lbs, made 25 new friends, walked many wonderful miles including my daily morning walks through a quaint hill town nearby.  We toured where tourists usually don't go and we had an interpreter with us most of the time.

I only just now looked at my photos, so many people, windows, arches, ancient buildings, hill towns, rows of wine vines and hillsides, people on scooters and bikes. 

I painted on 11x14 linen canvas that I taped to a balsam board and rolled up in a tube to bring them home.  I brought 24 lbs in art supplies (including the pack) and had no problems with baggage.  The heaviest things are the pochade box and tripod, and tubes of paint, but it all adds up.

Italy - Here I come!

I'll be on my first European painting trip, leaving Sept. 16th.!

I'm up to my eyebrows getting ready--trying to stay within the weight limit for baggage is very tricky.  I've had lots of help from online friends and now all I have to do is get there and PAINT.  We are a group of about 25, including the instructor, Peggy Egli of Florida.  There will be tours and cooking demonstrations and gormet food in this 450 yr renovated farm house. 

I hope I'll have lots of good stories to tell when I return AND lots of paintings.

Isle of Shoals - Star Island Retreat - Cape Ann Artists

Eight of us spent three days on Star Island painting and having a good time.  The summer's heat continued as the hurricane was approaching.  The storm fizzled but we witnessed some boarding-up of the windows and some evacuation of the people on island.  We suffered through the "rules" and each had one (1) hot shower!  It's a beautiful place and very primitive and restful.  Star Island, Isle of Shoals

Don Mosher, Alan Wallack, Ivan Kamalic, Bonnie Sylvester, Jude Abbe, Karen Berger, Lynn Murray and I completed a number of paintings, slept well, got a lot of sun, and ate together at the old hotel.  We shared ideas and I had a wonderful time.  I learned about extra-long handled (although not as long as the European version) plein-air brushes from Ivan and have ordered some to try out on my next painting adventure.

I took close to 300 photos and some of them are gorgeous!  I'll have many that should motivate me to paint a few more studies and sketches and hopefully come up with a few good paintings--maybe even a series.  I prefer painting scenes with less blue so perhaps water scenes are not my thing.

What's new?

I've been gearing up to paint a lot for the next few months.  I set up my studio with better still life lighting and stand.  Also I set up a station for photographing work to post as jpgs.  It was probably in the 90s up there while I was doing it.  I painted this setup for an Italian Festival that I decided not to enter after all.

I've also painted at Thacher Island and almost finished the two keeper's houses.  I was trying for something (Jeff) Weaver-ish and still have some work to do.  The work of Jeff Weaver

And I have a lot of work in progress, things to frame and submit to shows, etc. so I'm happy to be busy painting again.

Rotenberg Birthday 105 yrs old

American Impressionist Harold Rotenberg

Last night at Rockport Art Association I attended a truly history-making event--the birthday party for Harold Rotenberg.  It's hard to imagine what a wonderfully charmed life he led from the industrial age through the technological age, and through many variations of painting styles, he choose Impressionist Painting as his calling.  His family and the Rockport Art Association held a marvelous event, crammed with well-wishers, tons of his paintings are on display, and he was there in all his glory.  He signed my book; he is still full of energy and no one would guess his age, he looks 25 yrs younger.

The Huangs meet Richard Schmid and Nancy Guzik

The Huangs meet Richard and Nancy

I read today about Qiang knocking on the door of the master, Richard Schmid.  I am so excited for him and can't wait to see how his art is influenced by this new association.  The Huangs are such wonderful and kind people, and their son, Jonathan is a great kid who is touring colleges while they are here in the Northeast.

Qiang Huang workshop

I worked on two paintings during the wonderful workshop with Qiang Huang (Chong Wong).  They were really practice sketches of his method.  The first day I didn't quite get it, but I think that I did better on this one done the second and third day.  I started to show signs of promise as far as working with his method is concerned.

Day Three - Qiang Huang

The schedule for the third day was a smaller (a daily painting sized) painting demo--this time the subject was glass objects.  After the demo we all returned to our easels to either work further on the practice painting of the previous day's setup or work on a smaller sketch to practice the glass idea.  As I woke up in the morning feeling more clear-headed about this technique, I worked on the previous painting and felt quite a bit better with those results. 
After lunch I participated in a business of marketing workshop that was very well presented and explained and Q&A on that subject ensued.  I learned a lot even though I already have a good foundation in that regard.  I would very highly recommend Qiang's workshop to anyone.
During the painting of the demo, there was a little worm in the orange that was a hit with the crowd as he kept sticking his head up like a periscope and looking around.  It was noticeable as he was in the spotlight and silhouetted against the dark background!
At the end I purchased the demo of the flower painting and will post it here when I unpack the camera.  It will be a constant reminder of my wonderful workshop with Qiang and his instruction.  I say instruction because there are many demos where the painter doesn't explain much; with Qiang this is not the case.  He is patient and as generous as possible with his knowledge and technique, and I understood and will incorporate many of his methods.  Many of which I have heard before, but it just didn't stick in my head until now!

Day Two - Qiang Huang

Following another excellent Powerpoint instructional presentation, Chong (pronounciation for Qiang) demonstrated painting flowers.  It was mesmerizing to watch his decision-making process and careful placement of strokes of color that were only placed after mixing the perfect clean color with the correct size brush.  After lunch everyone's set-up included flowers to practice his method.  Since I haven't painted still-life for a while, it was probably easier for me to experiment with his style, but I felt that I failed in the end.  I noticed that most people, although they probably tried, didn't paint anything like the careful stroke put-it-down-and-leave-it-alone method either.