On Exhibit - Bowdoin College and Thornton Oaks

"Seawall Beach", oil on panel

"Blue Shirts", oil on panel

"Seawall Beach" is the postcard work for the upcoming show of my works at Bowdoin College,  Smith Union Lamarche Gallery.  The show will be up from November 1st to November 19th.  A reception will be held Friday November 2nd, from 5:00pm to 6:30pm.  LaMarche Gallery is an interesting space and I am looking forward to hanging my works there.  "Blue Shirts" was the postcard work for the Thornton Oaks show of my works that opened September 20th and will be taken down October 22nd.  The opening reception for that show required that the artist, me, give a talk about my work.  That was fairly nerve-wracking but the reception, food and conversation that followed were most enjoyable.  Thornton Oaks is a very gracious and capable host.  Thanks to all who attended and especially to Deanna Baxter and Marlise Swartz of Thornton Oaks who really made it work.

Joshua Chamberlain, Hostas, Lubec

"Joshua", oil on canvas

"Hosta Blooms", oil on canvas

"Pope's Folly", oil on panel

Alex and I returned to Brunswick Maine from a week at the Chautauqua Institution in upstate NY exhausted and energized.  With the Brunswick 10by10 and a couple of one person shows coming up (more on that in upcoming posts) along with a commission to finish, I got busy in the studio.  The commission was "Joshua" and it's now on the wall in the office of a true Joshua Chamberlain buff.  It was fun and challenging to execute what with the varying types of detail in the fore-, mid- and background from spring blossoms to chiseled stone to bike riders.  Other recent compositions on a smaller scale are "Hosta Blooms" (next to a bank in Brunswick Maine) and "Pope's Folly" (as viewed from the Lubec Maine waterfront).  As a footnote to the Chautauqua trip, Vanessa German's show at the Strohl Center, "American JuJu: Root and Power for a New Century" was exceptional.  Her figural assemblages were magical and mesmerizing.  

Lubec and Quoddy Head State Park

"Pope's Folly", ink on paper

"Quoddy Head Cliffs", 10" X 10",
oil on panel

Just before the first days of summer, Alex and I spent a week up in Lubec, on the border with Canada across from Campobello. We had not been previously north of Bar Harbor but were very taken with the beauty, peace and pace of this DownEast town.   We also visited Quoddy Head State Park a number of times, and that has spoiled us for all the parks down here on the Midcoast.  Quoddy Head is spectacular.  Click here for an album of photos from Lubec and Quoddy Head.  Lubec's restaurants were very capable.  The library was welcoming and had free wi-fi.  Also, the SummerKeys program, a summer music program with many visiting musicians provided a wonderful organ recital while we were there.  I painted and sketched ("North Lubec" and "Pope's Folly" being examples).  On my return I completed "Quoddy Head Cliffs" from my photos and sketches.  I think we'll be heading back to Lubec sooner rather than later.

Plein Air - Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

"Early Azaleas" in early progress

"Early Azaleas" nearly done

 Along with 100+ other artists, I took advantage of the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens week of open admission to artists for plein air painting on the Gardens grounds.  It was Memorial Day week and a few of the days were washed out but a few of the days were just fine for setting up and painting.  The problem was there was just so much to choose from.  I settled on a little tableau off the Steep Trail where early azaleas were in bloom.  Working in acrylic and fighting the mosquitoes, on day two I completed "Early Azaleas."  After the week of painting, over 70 artists submitted a work for the Gardens plein air show and the resulting show was wonderful, with a lot of good value art.  My "Early Azaleas" managed to sell (yay).  I forgot to take a picture of the final work (boo).  The Gardens are always a great visit.

Brunswick Art Walk 2012

Don's Piglets

All Species Parade

The 2nd Friday Art Walk season kicked off this past Friday in Brunswick with a flourish.  The All Species parade organized by Spindleworks got things rolling down Maine Street with a spirited marching band leading marchers sporting innovative and smile-provoking "species-wear."  (As an unintended tribute to the All Species parade, I just finished a new soft block print, Don's Piglets.)  The weather held up quite nicely and Art Walkers were rewarded with an expanded Art Walk including many pop-up artists showing a wide variety of art and wares.  In my new studio location in the Lincoln Building, there was a steady stream of Art Walkers enjoying the evening.  Outside my studio door, Paulus Fine Furniture set up a display of extraordinarily beautiful and artful chairs, tables and stands.  It was quite an entryway into my studio.  Finally, major props to my studio neighbor, Connie Lundquist, who worked purposefully with Five River Arts Alliance, area businesses and artists in setting up the Art Walk for this year.  A job extremely well done!!

New Work, New Digs

"Muscolo", oil on canvas

"Cushion Spurge", oil on linen

Here's the two latest completed pieces.  "Cushion Spurge" is a ground cover flowering plant in the poinsettia family that I found at the Boothbay Coastal Garden a couple years back.  What appealed to me for the painting were the shadows and shapes combined with all the variations found in the green, yellow, black palette.  On the other hand, "Muscolo" is comprised entirely of different sized and shaped triangles working to "approximate the curve" throughout the image, exploring the triangle's ability to intersect and interact.  Well, I moved uptown and got my own studio on Brunswick's Maine Street in the Lincoln Building, 2nd Floor, across the hall from Connie Lundquist's studio.  The space is roomier, the light (east north east) is great and the sound of traffic and street goings-on works for me.

The view from the Met Rooftop

After setting this one aside a couple of times, I finally completed the painting shown above - Met Roof Garden.  It was Fourth of July weekend two years ago, and the rooftop of the Metropolitan Art Museum offered a crystal clear view of NYC over Central Park tree tops.  It was also wicked hot and getting up there took some climbing as the elevator was reserved for special use.  The panorama was painted from a composite of 7 photos taken as I spun slowly left to right.  I think it will be a while before I try to paint so many building windows.  On another note, Alex and I attended a presentation by visiting artist, Nancy Blum, at Bowdoin today.  She was captivating and her work was just amazing.  She works very artfully in large scale drawings, sculpture and public art.  We are so glad we didn't miss her talk.

Creature Great and Small

"Selby Gardens Egret", Joe Godleski,
Oil

"Stranger", Joe Godleski,
Prismacolor and Graphite

My latest work is shown here.  The "Selby Gardens Egret" was done in water-miscible oil on canvas, 12 inch by 16 inch, and was based on an egret we saw at the Selby Gardens in Sarasota, FL.  The egret was doing a strange, undulating walk and did not seem at all put off by the humans strolling the garden grounds, which were quite beautiful.  I took several snaps and then sketched out the painting from the reference snaps.  I used a rich palette and was not bashful about applying the paint wet-on-wet.  The bug called "Stranger" was done in Prismacolor and graphite pencil on paper, 20 inch by 20 inch.  The bug was discovered last summer here in Maine sitting attached to the door of Alex's black car in the sun.  I took a couple of snaps and gridded out one of them.  Then using a limited set of Prismacolor and graphite pencils, I formed the image from multiple shape and size triangles to produce a crystalline effect.  Two creatures, two different locations, approaches and results.