Copying Art of Maine

....a study of an N.C. Wyeth Painting, "Black Spruce Ledge" (1941). You can probably tell mine from the original. My grandmother gave me a book called Paintings of Maine by Carl Little for my birthday last year and I've been gleaning inspiration from it. N.C. Wyeth was an illustrator and painter and father to the painter Andrew Wyeth. He lived in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania but spent summers in Port Clyde, Maine from where his painting inspiration came toward the end of his life. Wyeth's dilemma was that his success as an illustrator left little time to pursue his desire to paint landscapes and seascapes which captured the emotion and richness of nature he deeply admired. I chose to copy this painting because I was drawn to the composition and the strong contrasts of the shadows in the rocks and trees against the bright summer sky, also reflected on the water. The clouds looked like fun too. Even though the painting is not my own, it was a good exercise in color matching. See all the colors in those rocks? As you can see, my proportions and colors aren't accurate to the painting, but as it developed I became less concerned with making it look like the original and more enamored with the colors and contrasts, while maintaining a looseness which is not characteristic of N.C. Wyeth and more my own style. I'm trying to avoid realism. A lazy excuse or a reach towards more painterly art? Not sure yet, hopefully the latter. Now to get outside and find my own composition...

Amesbury Open Studio

April and I had a fun weekend at the studio, meeting art lovers, talking about art...and selling a few paintings! We were so pleased and thankful for our success, 10% of sales from the weekend were donated to the Red Cross for Hurricane Sandy disaster relief (the rest towards rent for this space...).

...in the process of hanging the exhibit in my studio space at Artist's Muse.

April sold 2 large paintings from her "Engine Room" series to the headmistress and founder of Sparhawk School (where we both teach). Louise was so thrilled by April's work and invited us over to her very colorful house. I captured her with my phone in a moment of pure excitement, with April's newly purchased painting hanging on her living room wall. Congratulations, April! See more of her work at her website.