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    

$220 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, knob called Bar Head, 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 - SOLD

 

Eggplant Party

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

$100 unframed (no frame needed) ~ SOLD~ Somebody Liked This!

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 - SOLD

Doughnut, Doughnut ~ SOLD!  (Somebody liked this!)

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    

$200 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 - SOLD

Two Lights in February

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

$100 unframed ~ SOLD ~ Somebody Liked This!

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.

Bradley Lake, Andover - SOLD

Bradley Lake, Andover ~SOLD (somebody liked this!)

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

$100 unframed (no frame necessary)

My family lived in Andover, New Hampshire for 19 years, and Andover was where I lived when I was a little girl.  There are several beautiful lakes and ponds in the area, and the lovely and secluded Bradley Lake is one of them.  Literally tucked up against Kearsarge State Forest at the foot of the mountain, Bradley Lake, vaguely shaped like a figure eight, is a quiet spot for kayakers and swimmers.  This view, looking northwest from the tiny little public put-in and grassy knoll (with requisite milkweed), sports the reflection of the surrounding hills at all hours of the day in the changing light.  

The Road to Stowe in the Rain - SOLD

 The Road to Stowe in the Rain ~SOLD (somebody liked this!)

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

$100 unframed (no frame necessary)

A moment in time captured on Route 100 from Morrisville to Stowe, Vermont.  It was a rainy Wednesday morning during our vacation and the sky was turbulent and moody and the fog and storm clouds roiling over the picturesque Green Mountains begged to be sketched in paint.  This little painting, done in a loose, unfussy manner was exactly what it seemed to me would be evocative of the green and gray beauty of a rainy summer morning along the farms and fields of Vermont.

Aquamarine

 

Aquamarine

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

$100 unframed (no frame necessary)

A fresh wave painting before summer ends, in sun-kissed shades of aquas and greens, captured on another recent trip to the Maine coast. These waves were lighting up Wells Beach during morning walk when the sun was mid-sky and out to sea. When the light is coming through the back of the wave crest, the color gets greener than the rest of the water, and the cool jewel tones in this piece makes the feel full of summer and light and warmth. 

 

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Split

Split

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

$100 unframed (no frame necessary)

Another small still life of a gorgeous avocado, sliced in half.  The underpainting is violet and you can see it give some life to the creamy surface the avocado sits on, and of course in the shadow areas. The purply color makes the yellow and green in the ripe flesh more... delicious. This was a fun study, and another piece I painted as a participant in Instagram's weekly #foodpaintchallenge. Photo reference courtesy of @dennispfeil.art .

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Toward Mount Mansfield (From the Lamoille) - SOLD

Toward Mount Mansfield (From the Lamoille) ~SOLD (somebody liked this!)

6 in. x 8 in., acrylic on canvas    

$130 (unframed)

This is genuine Vermont vacation art!  Painted from our time at a cabin near the Lamoille River in northern Vermont, there's a lot packed into this little six by eight.  The peak in the distance is the "chin" of Mount Mansfield, the highest peak in the state, and perfectly framed looking downriver.  The water was low and I could almost walk out to the center of the riverbed on the pebbly rocks to take some good reference shots.  We had cloudy, turbulent skies most of the time we were there, but the mist filtering over the Green Mountains is a different kind of beautiful, and adds to the feeling of delicious remoteness that far north.  

Juicy

 

Juicy

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

$100 unframed (no frame necessary)

The luminous, juicy flesh of the cut orange wedges with the light coming at them from different angles was so much fun to paint, and an interesting exercise.  The cut side of the far slice is facing the light so I could drop in all those petite, glistening, reflective dots on the wet fruit segments, which was enjoyable once the base colors were dry.  But the near slice was perpendicular to the light source, so no dots of light (except on the peel); instead, the delicious way the light glows through the thinnest part of the translucent orange flesh like a stained glass window was utterly satisfying to paint.  Yet another #foodpaintchallenge painting that allowed me to use my favorite complement pair of blue and orange.  Photo reference courtesy of @dennispfeil.art .

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Blueberries by the Handful - SOLD

Blueberries by the Handful ~SOLD (Somebody liked this!)

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

$100 unframed (no frame necessary)

I grew up with about ten high-bush blueberry bushes growing down by our little brook, and the yield they gave us every summer were quarts and quarts of gorgeous, dark blue berries that my mother would use for things like Blueberry Tea Cake or put away for holiday pies.  This little piece is another #foodpaintchallenge painting done and was enjoyable simply because I adore blueberries more than any other.  Photo reference courtesy of @dennispfeil.art .

Sweet Cherries - SOLD

Sweet Cherries

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

$100 unframed ~ SOLD ~ Somebody Liked This!

I painted these cherries as part of a weekly Instagram art challenge called the #foodpaintchallenge where a reference photo of some kind of edible item is posted and anyone anywhere may participate by painting or drawing the subject, posting it, and tagging the challenge. I love dark, sweet cherries, so naturally I wanted to participate.  This was a fun opportunity to use multiple thin glazes of pthalo blue, alizarin crimson and cadmium red to build the jewel-toned luminosity of the cherries.  I hope you like them!  Photo reference courtesy of @dennispfeil.art .

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Tangerines on Blue - SOLD

Tangerines on Blue  ~SOLD (somebody liked this!)

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

$100 unframed (no frame necessary)

This is a low-key little painting done in a classical style.  Blue and orange are my favorite complement pair, and this still life shows off the beautiful contrast of these colors in a way that I find so pleasing.  The muted blue of the understated surface and the way the tangerine skins glow reddish-orange where their round surface turns away from the light glistening off their pebbly tops was so much fun to paint.  I learned so much about creating convincing citrus in working through this piece.  I'll have to paint this subject again soon so that I don't forget how!  Photo reference courtesy of @nica.cn.art (via Unsplash).

August in Grafton

August in Grafton

12 in. x 16 in., acrylic on canvas    

$250 framed

My ancestors, the Morrill family, came from England in 1632 and set up their new home in Salisbury, Massachusetts.  By the latter half of the 1700s, one of them, Capt. Jabez Morrill, ventured north to Weare, NH, and his boy John came further north still, and built a homestead along the Springfield/Grafton NH line.  Four generations later, John's great-great grandson, my father, was born in Grafton.  The woods that connect Prescott Hill to Fowler Town and down to North Wilmot are all old family ghostland, with only Uncle Alfred's house still standing, stately and beautiful, up the hill from Robinson Corner.  There is an antique beauty up here, and the weight of perhaps being the last one to know and appreciate all this feels both sad and important.  This field off Route 4, riddled with goldenrod in August, looks south toward Ragged Mountain. I feel organically connected to this place, so much so that I felt the need to physically get down into the piece; I set aside my brushes, and painted the open, sweeping sky with my latex-gloved fingers.

 

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Fire in the Sky

Fire in the Sky 

10 in. x 10 in., acrylic on canvas    

$140 unframed

A stylized view of another unique sunset over the salt marshes of Wells Reserve along the southern Maine coast.  The skies are different every single night in Wells, and just when I think I've painted myself out on this subject, here comes another visual feast; trust me when I say there is no lack of inspiration there.  This piece was painted in several little 45-minute increments over the course of a few lunch breaks at work with my portable paintbox I fashioned into a pochade so that I could work on my art while stuck at work.  I brought it back to the studio when the painting got to the "home stretch" stage for final details and neatening up, and I really like the deep reds against the blues of the twilight sky. 

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Six Seabirds

 

Six Seabirds

24 in. x 12 in., 

Acrylic on canvas    

$300 unframed

A few weeks ago I sat watching the tide recede from Crescent Beach in Wells, Maine, with sketchbook and camera in my lap.  The wind was a bit stiff, the sky was all roily and the retreating tide undressed this hulking monolith on which the birds loitered and chatted, all in a row.  

This was a fun low-light painting to build from moody colors in the atmosphere, down to the glossy beach, the surf-drenched rocks, and of course, the gaggle of wet cormorants atop their salty outpost.  This is a tall painting, one foot wide by two feet tall, bigger than this blog format makes it appear.

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Pemigewasset Flow (The Basin)

Pemigewasset Flow (The Basin)

9 in. x 12 in., acrylic on canvas    

$230 framed

The Basin is an impressive, naturally-occurring hole in solid, granite rock, spanning 20 feet across, at the southern end of Cannon Mountain within Franconia Notch State Park in Lincoln, New Hampshire.  The cascading Pemigewasset River tumbles down the foothills and into The Basin like a huge, roiling cauldron, continually pounding its concave surface smooth.  I've tried here to capture the noise and vigor of one of the waterfalls on the Pemi galloping down alongside one of the trails in the cool of the day.

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