Dusk on Franklin Street

Dusk on Franklin Street

8 in. x 10 in., acrylic on traditional-depth canvas    

$160 unframed 

This is my street. In the nineteen years I've lived in the Lakeport area of Laconia, I've gotten to know this sidewalk like the palm of my hand while on my regular warm-weather runs.  I know where all the dips and lumps and cracks are, where it's better for knees to leave the sidewalk and run on the road surface, and where I'll hear this or that dog bark as I go by.  Last August, on the way home from one of my usual loops, I snapped a pic just as the darkening sky signaled the flickering burst of light from the street lamp at Franklin's intersection with School Street.  This nocturne painting captures that thin sliver of the evening where everything starts to go blue-gray right before the darkness settles in.

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Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

8 in. x 8 in., acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas

$160 unframed (no frame needed) 

This piece is painted from a #foodpaintchallenge reference courtesy of @dennispfeil.art and @alaiganuza on Instagram. I worked on this through mid-November and finished it up over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.  The earthy buttercup squash, the papery translucence of the red onion and the bright orange of the heirloom pumpkin wedge against the quiet, dark background perfectly capture the homespun Thanksgiving mood of late autumn in a typical New England kitchen like mine.

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Turkish Delight (Guli's Pomegranates)

Turkish Delight (Guli's Pomegranates)

8 in. x 8 in., acrylic on cradled birch panel   

$160 unframed (framing optional) 

My friend Guli recently traveled to Turkey, a place she lived several years ago before she came to America to make a life for herself here. Her turkish baklava and breads are beyond compare, and she is one of the hardest workers I know and values her freedom here in the west more than most.  On her trip back to Turkey, she snapped photos of the native pomegranate trees there, hanging like blushing scarlet apples with their little crowns on their bottoms.  She says they grow everywhere, sweet and fragrant, and anyone can pick as much as they want because of the sheer abundance of them.  With her permission, I painted this piece from the pictures she took while she was there.  It's done on a cradled birch wood panel, which is firm but thirstier than canvas. The paint strokes are smoother and less textural on wood and the build up of paint is subtler.  The cradling gives the piece about a one-inch depth and it can be framed or hung as is.  The sides are painted red.

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Hackleboro Orchard Study, Canterbury

Hackleboro Orchard Study, Canterbury

6 in. x 8 in., acrylic canvas    

$130 framed

Every year our family goes to this wonderful little orchard in the woods of Canterbury, New Hampshire out on Hackleboro Road.  The apples are always abundant and the cider is delicious because they don't pasteurize it, so it keeps its bright, fruity flavor, and will get fizzy if left on its own for a while (nice!).  The wide, grassy rows and gravelly lane between the Cortlands invited this loose, washy, scrubby little study of a fall day at this earthy, blissfully uncommercialized New England farm.

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Plum Island Sunrise

  Plum Island Sunrise

8 in. x 8 in., acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas    

$150 unframed (no frame needed) 

Vacation for a few days in Newburyport, Massachusetts wasn't going to be complete without spending some serious summer hours on Plum Island.  This idyllic place is a barrier island facing the Atlantic, and separated from the towns of Newburyport, Newbury and Ipswich by acres of salt marsh and Plum Island Sound.  We arrived just after sunrise and drove the seven miles down through the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on a mostly gravel road while the morning light was still dim.  We counted seventeen (!) eastern cottontails darting in and out of the beach plums, saltwater roses and bayberry along the road and even saw two coyotes skulking along the road in front of our car, presumably looking for a bunny breakfast. This view is from Sandy Point Beach down at the rounded extreme southern tip of Plum Island, looking northeast around the scrub-covered, knobby cliff where the beach is littered with rocks and weathered fallen logs.  The sun here is scarcely a half hour into the August sky.

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Eggplant Party

 

Eggplant Party

6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas    

$100 unframed (no frame needed) 

If you work at a place where there's an employee kitchen or common area, you know full well that when summer garden season rolls around, all varieties of vegetable orphans are left out for anyone to take, oftentimes in the form of zucchini, summer squash, cucumbers, etc.  One day recently there were these five lovely mini eggplants laid out in their deep violet skins, ready for anyone to adopt for their dinner (thanks, Robin!).  Little did they know, they were destined to be the star models for some homespun artwork.  Enjoy!

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Evening Blue Near Wells Harbor

Evening Blue Near Wells Harbor 

6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas    

$100 unframed (no frame needed) 

There are lovely Maine salt marshes on the north side of Harbor Road going out to Wells Harbor. After sunset, they go a lovely blue as they flow in and out and between the bright green grasses on top of the muddy marshland.  This is a calm evening in late May and all the yellow of the afternoon sun has slipped below the treeline, leaving the cool colors of the tidal rhythm to reflect the skies of evening.

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Franconia Notch in the Fall - SOLD

          

Franconia Notch in the Fall ~SOLD Somebody liked this!

6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas    

$100 unframed (no frame necessary)

A quick little painting of New Hampshire's Franconia Notch on this little six by six square.  In late September and early October, the White Mountains light up with golds and reds and the drive through the Notch past Echo Lake is breathtaking.  When my sister-in-law was suffering from terminal cancer, one of the things she wanted to do was ride up through Franconia Notch in the fall one last time so she could drink in the majesty and beauty of her home.  Reference photo courtesy Henry Dixon.

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Mount Cardigan Over Canaan Village - SOLD

Mount Cardigan Over Canaan Village                

 6 in. x 8 in., acrylic on traditional-depth canvas    

$150 framed -SOLD (somebody liked this!)

Over Memorial Day, after putting flowers at the family cemetery in North Wilmot, NH, we took a ride up to Enfield for a bite to eat.  On the way back, I got a moody shot of Mount Cardigan right at the junction of US 4 and NH Rte 118 in humble Canaan Village.  This was a fun little piece, loose brushtrokes and cool colors over a hot red underpainting, which makes all the difference, heating up and vibrating in all the little spots where it peeks through.  Canaan was where my Grafton ancestors would go for provisions or social interaction when none of what they were needing or wanting could be found in town.  And of course, sparkling, bald-headed Cardigan, accessed by turning onto 118 to Orange, NH, is an unforgettable climb to a bare rock summit, a must-do for anyone who loves a good day hike.

Doritos

Doritos

9 in. x 12 in., acrylic and Doritos dust on canvas    

$160 unframed

I like nacho cheese Doritos.  A lot.  There was a meeting in my department at work.  A coworker brought a bag to the meeting.  He laid a paper towel in front of me and poured out a pile onto it.  I make a habit of painting at work during my lunch hour, and people have seen several of the food still life paintings I'm in the habit of working on, and someone at the table asked me if I was considering painting the pile of Doritos.  Well, as soon as they mentioned it, I thought, why not?  I've never painted Doritos before.  I took a couple of reference photos and got to work.  And yes, after being challenged by my coworker, there is fine, orange Doritos dust suspended in clear acrylic medium that I brushed into the shadows... truly mixed media!

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Doughnut, Doughnut

Doughnut, Doughnut

6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas    

$100 unframed (no frame necessary)

You know, these doughnuts seemed to paint themselves.  Sometimes a successful painting just doesn't hassle the artist, no areas require major reworking, everything you do just seems to work.  And how fitting that these doughnuts, soft and sweet and tender, were that kind of subject.  Forget life drawing.  I think doughnuts, raised, glazed, filled, old fashioned... could be a class of still life subject I could see myself coming back to again and again.  Shout out to @dennispfeil and @alaiganuza for this great prompt as part of their weekly #foodpaintchallenge on Instagram.

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Winter Along the Ammonoosuc

Winter Along the Ammonoosuc

8 in. x 10 in., acrylic on traditional-depth canvas    

$135 unframed 

When friends got away for a little ski trip up to the White Mountains here in New Hampshire, Izzy took a photo of Cristiane standing in her boots and winter woolies by the snow-covered shore of the Ammonoosuc River near Bretton Woods.  As soon as I saw the shot of the muted greens of the skinny spruce and fir trees receding into the distance on the other shore, I knew I wanted to paint it what I was seeing and asked for permission to paint from their picture. Photo reference courtesy of Cristiane Machado and Izzy Fernandez.

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Retro

Retro

8 in. x 10 in., acrylic on traditional-depth canvas    

$135 unframed 

Yep, it's a painting of a landline telephone! How I miss the old style rotary dial phones.  They were heavy, had a substantial feel, and a wonderfully material ring thanks to the set of brass bells inside.  This study was for an #objectpaintchallenge on Instagram, sponsored by @vivianschettiniart and @colorila.  It was an interesting change from my usual food still lifes and landscapes, and so much fun to use these bright, retro colors.  

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Pomegranate Study

Pomegranate Study

6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas    

$100 unframed (no frame necessary)

So much red!  The French-Canadian half of me revels in this, of course! This study was a challenging one, and another piece I painted as a participant in Instagram's weekly #foodpaintchallenge. Photo reference courtesy of @dennispfeil.art who faithfully puts out a fresh food photo reference (say that five times fast) every Friday.  Some interesting things about this study related to having a subject with both very light areas and very dark areas and how that affected my approach to the value of the background.  Do I keep going darker, or do I go light?  I went dark for drama's sake, hoping the saturated cadmium red could hold their own and keep lighting up the place even if I kept the setting dark.  I also had to tackle the errant pomegranate arils scattered in the foreground, all the way up to the front of the painting, pushing my main subject back into the distance a bit.  All in all, I am pleased with the result, but like a real pomegranate, this painting proved a bit challenging and curiously put together.  I hope you like it!

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October Sunrise - SOLD

October Sunrise  ~SOLD (somebody liked this!)

8 in. x 8 in., acrylic on canvas    

$125 unframed 

A friend snapped the photo reference for this painting last fall just as the sun was lighting up the morning sky over Ivy Road in Carthage, Missouri where she lives.  So in love was I with the orange silhouettes of the trees on fire with the rising sun and the cool mist in the shaded field that I asked permission to paint from her reference.  It looks very much like any back road in New England in the fall so it was easy for me to feel and smell this painting as it was coming together.  If you are in Missouri, please see my friend, Shyanna Hurley Busch at her small organic farm in Carthage, where you can get non-gmo pastured chicken and forest-raised organic pork.  Find Shyanna on Instagram: @everylivingthingfarm  and follow them, too!

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Two Lights in February

Two Lights in February

6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas    

$100 unframed (no frame necessary)

A windy stop at Two Lights (Dyer Point) in Cape Elizabeth, Maine is the subject of this small landscape.  It was late in the day and I stopped for a few interesting photos as the early February sun was setting downcoast to the west.  The sky was a chalky cold blue and the pink clouds seemed to set this bare, wind-sculpted shrub on fire among the golden yellow grasses, icy snow and great columns of metamorphic rock.  Getting back to the car, husband asked why the knees of my jeans were soaking wet, and the truth is that sometimes you have to suffer a little and kneel down in the snow on the coast of Maine to get that shot that's gonna become a painting!

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Blueberry Pie à la Mode

Blueberry Pie à la Mode

6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas    

$100 unframed (no frame necessary)

I really can't resist pie.  When Instagram's weekly #foodpaintchallenge featured a reference photo of a slice of blueberry pie topped with a scoop of melting French vanilla ice cream, I didn't think twice about tackling the challenge of seeing if I could render it convincingly.  This was more fun than should be legal, especially that scoop of ice cream on top. Photo reference courtesy of @dennispfeil.art, @aliaganuza and @noahverrier .

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Les Pamplemousses

Les Pamplemousses

6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas    

$100 unframed (no frame necessary)

Being half French, there are just some French words that are much more fun than their English counterpart, hence the name of this little piece.  I used quinacridone magenta extensively in this painting, both for the underpainting of the background and in the red mixture for the grapefruit flesh.  The magenta and red pigments to paint the fruit were so hot, I had to cool down the background with an icy lavender wash to provide some visual relief. I painted this from Instagram's weekly #foodpaintchallenge and I'd like to thank @dennispfeil and @alaiganuza for the great reference photo.

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A Lovely Bunch

A Lovely Bunch

6 in. x 6 in., acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas    

$100 unframed (no frame necessary)

I've got a lovely bunch of... well, it's obvious, isn't it?  The fact that they're broken makes them so much more interesting!  The colors hidden in the creamy white flesh of the coconut pieces were a joy to find and pull out, and the contrast of the chippy, hairy husk and shell made this an intensely interesting study. Yet another piece I painted from Instagram's weekly #foodpaintchallenge. Photo reference courtesy of @dennispfeil.art 

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Winnisquam Daybreak - SOLD

Winnisquam Daybreak ~SOLD (somebody liked this!)

8 in. x 10 in., acrylic on canvas    

$135 unframed 

A friend of mine wakes up to sunrise over Lake Winnisquam every morning.  Situated on busy Route 3 in Tilton, the sun is just at the perfect position in the fall and winter to give her a stunning morning view that's different every day.  I admit to going straight for color and dramatic movement from a picture she snapped of glowing clouds and daybreak warming up the horizon. Photo reference courtesy of Sherry Kimball.