Laid, Hatched, Grown, Flown (Quadriptych)

Laid, Hatched, Grown, Flown (Quadriptych)

24 in. x 27 in., 4 panels, acrylic on traditional-depth canvas    

$1200 unframed 

This is a quadriptych (two 12" x 16" panels and two 7" x 14" panels) that hand as an interlocking set of four pieces, telling the progressive narrative of the human feminine and specifically the maternal "nest" experience.  It was painted in response to a call for art for the NEST show at Twiggs Gallery in Boscawen, NH.  This theme intrigued me and immediately stimulated a creative flow of ideas in my mind.  See below for details on each panel.

Laid

12 in. x 16 in., Panel 1 of 4, acrylic on traditional-depth canvas

  

A trompe l'oeil of an incubating nest serves as the concept and the metaphor with its vaguely uterine form, the nail holding the suspending string is right where the navel would be.  When one is first told they are pregnant, there is an funny unreality to it.  One asks, "Is this real?" like they do when viewing a trompe l'oeil painting.  The wall is flesh-colored, and the concept of my own body being the nest is offered as the point of connection with the painting; for the rest of my life, anything outside of myself that I build for the ones I am growing within is an extension of the next inside my body.  I am the nest.  

Hatched

7 in. x 14 in., Panel 2 of 4, acrylic on traditional-depth canvas  

This is the raw and visceral portrait of surgical delivery, the narrative of breaking from inside to outside.  A necessary part of bringing forth life in the nest is brokenness as a result of growth.  The harsh reality of some ways that breaking is accomplished is displayed here, for all its uncomfortable awkwardness that not many see. Sacrifice for the sake of another deserves a moment's contemplation.

Grown

7 in. x 14 in., Panel 3 of 4, acrylic on traditional-depth canvas

The still life of real life, this is the concrete and incarnational; the one who came out is becoming, as illustrated by these mundane and common emblems of maturity.  There is feeling of being on the edge of maternal protectiveness and the tentative progression toward letting go, as symbolized by the youthful sneakers and the precious first car key; the little bird is becoming mobile and trying out his wings. I am both proud and terrified; I don't want him to fall too far, too hard.

Flown

12 in. x 16 in., Panel 4 of 4, acrylic on traditional-depth canvas 

The realized, the attained; the purpose of the nest is consummated and fulfilled.  Nests are made to be emptied, I remind myself; he has left me some loose change and dents in the carpet where his furniture was.  The interior has been vacated and the remaining empty space is a transcendent monument to both the achieved and the grieved, and full of pathos.  It has been a few years now since this moment, and the space is now art studio space... but I cried when I painted this.

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Rain Coming In - SOLD

Rain Coming In

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

$180 framed ~ SOLD!

A friend of mine is blessed to have this gorgeous meadow literally as her back yard.  Her ability to capture a moment like this, when the sun is beginning to set and the rain is moving in, is superior.  I hoped to capture the feeling of the long grass and the Queen Anne's Lace bobbing in the gust front winds and smell of the rain on the air as the clouds roll in over the crest of the hill at the top of the meadow.  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.  You can find Shyanna on Instagram also at @everylivingthingfarm  and follow them, too!

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Cicada Study

Cicada Study

5 in. x 7 in., acrylic on traditional-depth canvas    

$85 unframed (framing recommended)

This was a fun and interesting little study to paint.  Cicadas are magnificent little powerhouses of an insect.  Formidable but harmless, these are the creatures that create that familiar, sometimes deafening buzz during the hottest days of summer.  They have these little organs called timbels on each side of their abdomens and it's fascinating that something so tiny can make such an all-encompassing sound.  This iridescent bluish guy was clinging to the siding of my house by the back door on a hot July morning a couple of years ago.  I took a shot of him and decided to paint his portrait.

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Morning Glories

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

$100 (no frame needed)

It was summer and my neighbor a few houses down the street pulled over in her car as I was working outside in my flower beds.  Tragedy of tragedies, she had been weeding her extensive gardens and accidentally ripped out an unsuspecting Morning Glory vine.  She had plenty more, but hated to see this one unfortunate vine go to waste.  Could she interest me in said vine, since it would look so nice climbing up my lamp post?  When I heard that this particular Morning Glory had been part of a plant belonging to a past relative and that she'd kept it going all this time, well, of course I couldn't say no.  Off home she went, and shortly returned with the business end of the poor, withered thing wading in some water in a Solo cup.  I took it and unceremoniously stabbed it into the ground near the lamp post, and off my neighbor went, feeling better that she'd at least tried to atone for her involuntary Morning Glory slaughter.  I'm happy to say that it perked up, found the lamp post and the twine I'd offered it for grabbing, and by midsummer it had covered the entire post and trumpeted its presence with dozens of bright white blossoms.  And here they are, with golden heliopsis photobombing in the background.

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Dune Path, Plum Island - SOLD

Dune Path, Plum Island ~SOLD Somebody liked this!

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

$160 unframed

Painted from reference shots I took on our Newburyport, Massachusetts trip last summer.  We spend half a day on the beach down at the extreme southern point of Plum Island in the National Wildlife Refuge area.  The dunes rise high in some spots and the abundant salt-tolerant grasses line the area between the preserve and the shoreline.  It's so beautiful there.  In painting this piece, it was an interesting observation, when mixing colors, that the difference between hot sunshine and cool shade is often a lot more dramatic than we often think they are.  The dark violets of the shady side of the path up the dune are quite dark in comparison with the warm, bright sunlit sand right next to it, with very few gradual midtones.  Before laying down my first strokes, however, I warmed up the whole canvas with a thick coat of bright magenta pink, which you can see peeking through the areas where the heat of the sand and grasses meet the August sky.

 

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Indian Doll Pumpkin - SOLD

Indian Doll Pumpkin ~SOLD!  Somebody liked this!

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

$100 unframed (no frame necessary) 

A fellow gardener grew these great hybrid pumpkins with deep ribs, yellow flecks, and a pinkish-orange hue.  I saw these large, heavy pumpkins in her kitchen and got a few shots so I could paint them later.  Blending the pink and orange to get that unique hue just right was a ton of fun.

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Cold Day at Two Lights

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

$100 unframed (no frame necessary) 

If I were an old Maine ahtist, I'd prob'ly tell ya that it's no use in askin' 'bout the deep meanin' of this piece o' ahtwork.  Seems ta me that all you need ta know is right thayah in the title.  'Cause I was thayah.  An' let me tell ya... it was wintah.  An' it were damn cold.

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We Have Seen

We Have Seen

16 in. x 20 in., acrylic and metallic paint on traditional-depth canvas  

Prints of this piece are available at my online print shop:

https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/shawne/ 

$600 unframed 

This supernaturalist piece is based on the opening passage of the epistle of 1 John 1:1-3,* which uses the Greek word ἑωράκαμεν three times: we have seen.  Pronounced "heōrakamen," you can see this word in the Greek lettering in the painting.  I painted this piece on a black canvas, but the bronze and copper wash over the lettering creates a coppery shine that lights up the black.  I used a style reminiscent of iconography, with the aim of illuminating the the repeated insistence that John and the other disciples of Jesus had actually seen Jesus the Christ after His resurrection, had actually touched and handled Him and that the gospel they poured their lives out for wasn't second-hand information or hearsay or a metaphorical concept or an esoteric spiritual-sounding idea. The plain acrylic paints keep the outstretched arm of Christ organic and physical on the material plane, while the metallic paints pin the pierced flesh squarely within the human gaze that becomes the shining nimbus surrounding it.  I hope you like this sacred art piece.

*"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen (ἑωράκαμεν) with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-- the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, (ἑωράκαμεν) and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us-- that which we have seen (ἑωράκαμεν) and heard, we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His son Jesus Christ." -1 John 1-3

We Have Seen (detail)

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Light and Shade - SOLD

Light and Shade ~ SOLD!  (Somebody liked this!)

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

$220 unframed  

I painted this lively study using a reference photo from Instagram's #foodpaintchallenge as I have with several other still life pieces from time to time.  All the varied shades of color across the many cut surfaces of the oranges, lemons and limes and the interplay of bright sunbeams cutting across the plates and tabletop created an interesting and almost abstract pattern of light and shadows.  Thank you to @dennispfeil.art @alaiganuza and @carolmarine for the great reference!

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Seven Little Hotties

Seven Little Hotties

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

$180 unframed 

Home gardeners tend to find each other. Kitchen tables are hot spots for trade deals made over fresh-picked produce and Mason jars put up with the summer's harvest.  While stopping by a fellow gardener's house, I mentioned I was planning to make some green tomato salsa, and before I knew it, seven little home-grown jalapenos were set before me on the table.  Here they are.  A couple of things I loved about this painting this piece were the interesting, multi-layered shadows created by the kitchen lighting and the soft turquoise hidden in some of the highlights on the peppers. 

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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   

$180 unframed (framing not needed) 

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    

$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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