My studio on Lowell Open Studio day

It's been a while since I posted - I've been so busy with work and trying to get things set up to help out with publicity for Western Avenue Studios Artist Association (WASAA) that I haven't had any time to post. Creating a blog for WASAA is turning out to be a much bigger project than creating one just for me. Especially with no budget and my very limited HTML skills. I did get a volunteer designer to help create a banner and help with the overall colors, etc which will be a huge help.

Last weekend was Lowell Open Studios and it was great. Exhausting, but great. I had to move a lot of stuff out of my studio, and rearrange everything to make room for my paintings and those of a friend, Nadia Richman, so it was 2 days of work before I even opened the door. Nadia came up from Brighton to show some of her work. That's her on the left in front of her paintings. It was great to be able to spend so much time with Nadia - we've been friends for over 20 years, from our days as single bartenders in Boston, through marriage, career, motherhood, and both of our journeys into art. Nadia has always encouraged me to go back to art and I thank her for that. She's an amazing woman - the mother of 4 smart, talented, wonderful children and somehow managed to squeeze painting in while raising her kids and working.

Annie Cronin was there too handing out her gluten-free goodies (excellent chocolate chip cookies on Sat and unbelievably good focaccia on Sun). She is a gluten-free consultant who helps restaurants develop gluten-free menus and people who are newly diagnosed with celiac learn to shop and cook in a new way. She is my neighbor and close friend who feeds me her good food and listens to me and is always there for me. Annie was the sales woman, she literally coaxed people into the studio from the hall with "Hi, would you like a chocolate chip cookie?" and then proceeded to introduce Nadia and me and our paintings, while we sat there like lumps smiling a lot. It's hard to "sell" your own stuff.

The three of us had so much fun and I'm so glad they were there!

I didn't sell anything, a couple of people came by and asked about my painting of the glass salt shaker "Lonely Shaker" that they had seen on the LOS web site, but I gave that to my father. (no...oops...forgot...A prominent Florida collector bought it to add to his collection).

I got a call from a friend who had stopped by with her boyfriend and she said that he was interested in my wetlands painting "The Sentinel" but I haven't heard back so not sure if he is going to buy it.

Here's how the studio looked that day. I framed and hung some paintings, and others I put on table stands. Sunday night I put everything back together again and rearranged so that I can do the monthly first Saturday Open Studios without having to spend two days of preparation. Next one is actually tomorrow - so I have to go there tonight and re-hang my paintings and finish cleaning up. ugh. But hopefully after tonight I'll be set.

It's here - Lowell Open Studios Weekend

No paintings to post, although I did finish up a couple of paintings over the past week that I've been working on. I'll post them in the next day or two - you've seen them before, but they're closer to "finished".

Today is the day! I open my studio for the first time. I spent the last 2 days getting ready and I'm still not done. Yesterday I rearranged the studio to make room for my friend Nadia who will be selling some of her paintings. I framed a bunch of my paintings and hung most of them. Need to finish today.

I'm looking forward to this so much. My son is managing the elevator/parking lot/visitor counting crew so he'll be busy. Last year 2500 people came through the building.

I'll let you know how it goes - I am not expecting to sell anything but if I do it will be very exciting. I'll try not to be a complete goofball if I do and freak out the buyer.

Going back into an older painting again

I've been at the studio a lot the past couple of weeks getting ready for Open Studios next weekend. I have paintings I want to show, but it is kind of wierd looking at the earlier ones because I've progressed since then. So I went back into two more paintings this weekend.

This flower painting was originally done as a quick study in my MFA painting class. It was done in a couple of hours and it really was a great exercise. It was the first, and one of the few, large paintings that I've done - I think it is 24x40 or something. I had a lot of fun painting this because it was so big and my teacher kept urging us to be quick.

But there were things about it that really bugged me - especially the background.


So Saturday I just said "f@#$ it" (sorry Mum) and started changing things.I am having a blast - just painting away and using my imagination.



- I have 3 pictures - the original, yesterday's changes, and where it is today. I'm going to keep going. The background is interesting now, but not right. Also want to put the tall flowers back in, but I'm waiting until I settle on the background.



Here's where it is now:

Open Studios!!

I'm finally doing it - opening the door, showing my work and actually putting prices on my pieces. Two of my favorite people will be with me - Nadia Richman will be selling some of her paintings and Annie Cronin will be there handing out yummy gluten free treats.

Come to Lowell Open Studios!

I have about 12 people that read my blog :) but if you love art, and want to spend the day enjoying the creative world, you HAVE to come to Lowell on the 26th or 27th. There are over 100 artists open in my building alone, others in downtown Lowell, and lots of activities going on. Bring your friends, your kids, yourself and have a relaxing day immersed in art of all kinds.

Hard to believe that a year ago June I started painting and wouldn't even open my door on a normal day - and now I'm opening for open studios. I'm really excited about it - I don't really care if anyone buys anything, its more about the evolution of feeling confident enough to show my work.

Work in Progress 2

Stopped by the studio on my way home from work and did a little more work on this painting. Also started prepping a small canvas to paint something small for the Open Studio on 9/25 - 9/26. I'm going to try to paint at least 3 smaller paintings in time for that weekend.

I worked on the chairs and I'm getting closer, but spent the most time on the porch and the background. The black lines on the porch need to be toned down. So far so good with this painting.

Two new things I've discovered that I LOVE: Filbert brushes and Windsor Newton Naples Yellow. The brushes because they allow me to both push the paint around freely - they're sort of soft and flexible - but also create straight lines and details. Naples yellow because it is a really great, pale shade of yellow. Before this I had used Cadmium Yellow and Lemon Yellow - both great colors but they are very strong and bright. Naples is like a creamy, soft, mellow yellow (to quote Donovan).

Every day that I paint is like experiencing a little miracle.