Looks like Spring is here, seasons are changing. I have a couple winter views that I’m still tinkering with, but they’ll have to be finished in the studio- we won’t be seeing any more snow this year (though this is New England- I probably shouldn’t say that).
Storm, Lincoln 20×28″
Winter Sunset 18×28″
View from the Mill 28×36
I have a couple workshops coming up in the next months-
MIAMI-
From April 27th to May 1st I’ll be teaching a landscape workshop at Romero Hidalgo Art Studios in Miami. This will be a very comprehensive workshop, with both morning and evening sessions. We’ll be focusing on trying to nail down specific effects, and luminosity in our paintings.
After my last Florida painting trip, I’m very much looking forward to getting down there to teach- the colors in the early morning and late in the day are fantastic, and it’s still cool enough there that you can spend the whole day outside painting. I’ll also be giving an introductory slide lecture on some of my favorite landscape painters and the history of landscape painting at the studios on Friday the 26th from 6:30-8:00 PM.
For more information on the Miami course feel free to contact me at my email or Patricia Del Salto at pdelsalto@myartventures.com. Here’s a link to the Romero Hidalgo Art Studios and My Art Venture’s Facebook.
BOSTON-
At the Academy of Realist Art in Boston on the 29th and 30th of June I’ll be teaching a very intensive course on traditional artist materials. This will be an all-day course, and everyone who comes will be leaving with hand made materials that they made themselves.
This workshop will comprise of both extensive lecturing and hands-on practice. Each student will be worked with individually, and will create their own hand-ground paint, gesso panels and linen canvases – processes that they will easily be able to replicate in their own studios.
I’ve found this new ‘workshop’ format better for materials than lectures alone- no matter how many notes you take or books you read on the craft side of painting there’s a practical aspect to getting yourself into the process and asking questions as you go along- Interspersing lectures with practical experience seems to me to be the most efficient way to internalize information.
For more information on that workshop click here or contact ara_boston@academyofrealistart.com
Taking a break from all the snow painting, Ben Fenske and I took a trip down to Wellington Florida to do some work for Laura Grenning- she has a booth set up at the Winter Equestrian Festival this year.
Gulf Stream Beach
Wellington Sunset
After the Boston winter I was doubly impressed with the bright color of Florida- Spring Greens, colorful skies and clouds, and the tropical trees and wildlife provided a much needed break from the sandy slush and dirty snowbanks of New England February.
Nocturne, Wellington
I remembered about halfway through painting that the canals are filled with alligators, it was pitch black, I was wearing a flashlight on my head, standing on the bank of a canal.
Evening Clouds
Unfortunately in our haste packing and photographing the last image came out a bit blurry, I’m sure I’ll get a better image at some point.
We were able to spend some time painting with a friend at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, it’s almost like a european villa on the coast in Florida.
Morning at the Mar-a-Lago Club
Wellington is the winter equestrian capitol of the world, we were able to do a bit of sketching from horses, watched quite a bit of show jumping, polo (both low and high goal) and were even able to take a quick polo lesson. Here’s a couple of the horse sketches:
Uncle Joe & Stillwater
Horse Sketch
Looking forward to next year as well..- that said, I have snow paintings to finish.
Melting Snow, Belmont 12×16
Here’s a few recent snow paintings- I have a few others in the studio that I’m finishing up, and I’ll update this post when they’re done.
BU Bridge, February 22×28
Drumlin Farm 16×20
Fresh off the easel-
KW Composition 23×30″
This still life was done on commission, composed of the eclectic objects the clients had collected over the years. The quilt, from Bali, family heirlooms, and the gong once used to call meetings in an office setting- a variety of textures, colors and cultures. Once installed, some of the objects in the still life will be displayed nearby the painting.
Now sorting out framing, and waiting to give the painting a light varnish.
Here’s a link to a recent feature on me in the local paper, the Waltham News Tribune. You never know what will come out of an interview, but I thought this was very nicely written. Here’s a blog post about the arts in Waltham, with some discussion spurred on by the article.
*edit 2/2/13 The article was also picked up by the Brookline Tab, my hometown’s newspaper.
Here’s an image of the paper
In exhibition news, I have a painting on exhibit in CT at the New Britain Museum of American Art. ”A Joint Venture: The Collection of Thomas and Kathryn Cox” will be on view from the 25th of January til June 2nd. You can read a bit about the show here.
Also, I’ll have a few paintings on exhibit with Sloane Merrill Gallery on Beacon Hill in Boston. Their “By Land or Sea” exhibition opens Feb. 22nd
Now that Boston’s enjoyed its first real snowfall of the season, I thought I would mention- Winter is my favorite time of year to paint outside- if you’re dressed well and prepared, that is.
Not only for the snow and bare trees, but with the sun lower in the sky we get some of our most beautiful skies, the morning and evening clouds have been stunning the past couple of weeks.
I’ll be running two classes, two consecutive weekends, the 26th and 27th of January, and the 2nd and 3rd of February. I have a few different spots a little west of the city that should offer calm, diverse views, though we’ll nail down the spot a little closer to the course as we get a better idea of how much snow we’ll have. They’ll be morning courses, 8:00-12:00 or so.
The class will be for all levels, whether working your kit for painting outdoors or more experienced painters who would like to develop a painting over the course of four sessions.
The cost will be $100 per weekend.
*edit Jan 6
A couple people have mentioned that 4 hours is of course longer than they’d like to spend outside. I normally paint for 1-2 hours per session on a painting. Thought with those times I would leave it open, I don’t plan on holding anyone in the cold longer than needed!
A still life from 2006
I haven’t done much still life work over the past few years, though before starting to paint outdoors I used to paint a good deal of still life. As I’m starting to set up a large still life for a commission, I’ve been looking back on some of my earlier work, and thought it would be interesting to post a few of them for comparison’s sake.
Another still life from 2008
A large still life from 2007
It’s certainly interesting to notice how your work changes over time, and the different directions things take. Painting outdoors has affected my approach indoors a great deal, and changed my palette in a pretty major way.
*edit 10/20 Here’s a few more I found.
Study in Warm Light
Composition in White
Wine & Grapes
A small still life from early 2007
Looking East, Waltham 32×40
Longfellow Bridge, 14×20
Friendship Harbor, Evening 16×22
Great Meadows, Fall 8×10
A few upcoming exhibitions-
-Opening November 15th, the painting above “Looking East, Waltham” will be on exhibition at CONVERGE in NYC at 25CPW. Converge is curated by Allison Malafronte and looks to be a show that will spark some interesting dialogue. Read more about it here.
-I’ll again participate in The Cooley Gallery‘s annual holiday show in Old Lyme. . Cooley Gallery shows a really well curated mix of turn of the last century academic and American Impressionist work. They also had one of Dewing’s silverpoints on view the last time I was there. One of the paintings I’ll be participating with is “Great Meadows”, above. ”All Paintings Great and Small” opens November 15th.
-Opening November 9th I have two paintings on display at the South Shore Art Center in Cohasset. My Portraits of Guido and Pablo (in the portraits tab, above) will be part of an exhibition called “Regarding the 3rd Dimension”. Cohasset’s a beautiful town on the south shore, painted a sketch there last week when I was dropping off my paintings.
•edit 10/21/12
Here’s a short video that the good folks at Artists on Art Magazine did of the opening of the Converge exhibition last Thursday.
Back in June I was lucky enough to catch the Americans in Florence exhibit at the Palazzo Strozzi. The Strozzi has put on a number of interesting exhibitions in the past few years, still tied to Florence’s history, but with a bit of their own perspective.
This year marks 500 years since the death of Amerigo Vespucci, so it follows that they wanted to honor the connection between Italy and America… and in the Strozzi’s way of doing things, to put forth that not only have Americans been influenced by Italy, but Italy influenced by Americans.
The folks at the Strozzi were kind enough to give us a tour and made a short video about our visit:
As you can tell from Tony’s reaction it was a very strong show- I didn’t have time to grab a catalogue, but very much worth seeing, a nice mix of American Impressionism and Macchiaoli painters.
