Archive for the ‘painting’ Category

Are you in the mood?

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010


photography by Les Dozsa (click on his name to see more of his great photos)

How do you get yourself into the mood to paint, or cook, or write, or whatever your craft is?
I’d like to tell you about how my day at the Renton Art and Antique fair went.
I was one of about 70 artists and crafts-persons invited to sit outside of downtown businesses all day last Saturday in Renton, Washington to display my wares. If I was lucky, someone would buy something. (and I was lucky, I sold two original paintings) But honestly I was not in the mood. It’s true. I was bone tired from lack of sleep, and it was cold out. Really, it was, we’ve had a very cold summer. I was wearing a hat and a scarf and a jacket, we were on the shady side of the street. But It is rare for me to find opportunities to “meet the public” so I did my best to play the part of a gracious artist. I had my tables set up next to Seana, one of my artist friends. Seana is wonderful; she engages everyone easily, and not only sells herself and gets commissions, but she also sells me. Effortlessly. And I knew for a fact that Seana didn’t feel so hot either.

I did not feel like painting, but I know that if I always waited for inspiration, I would probably not be at that fair. An artist doesn’t just exist, an artist creates. And the act of creation requires energy and commitment. Right about that time, as I was wrestling with myself, a little boy walked up to me. I am not sure how old he was, but I saw no parents nearby, so I assume he was at least 11 years old.
He looked at my stuff and looked me in the eye and said:
“I am an artist. Can you tell me if you draw an outline before you paint, or do you just apply paint to blank paper?”
I was delighted and astonished. Someone wanted to talk to me about painting! And that someone happened to be a cute little kid. We talked for a while, he wanted to know how long I had been painting; I told him 4 years. His eyes got big, but I added;
“But I have been drawing all my life.”
and his response: “Me too!” I told him good luck and keep drawing. There he was, not yet an adult, but confident, open, engaging. What is an artist? That boy is certainly one. And so am I. I started to paint.

Is there anything that helps you get started? Tell me, I love to hear from you.

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Posted in biographical, painting | 2 Comments »

Cornish, Maine – plein aire

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010


My husband and I went to Maine last week to attend the Boothby family’s 100th reunion. We stayed in Cornish, Maine, a tiny township in what they call southern Maine. The reunion was in the next town over, called Limington.
To keep the character of Cornish Township authentic, they have some zoning laws that prevent new-style buildings
from being built in the center of town. The center of town was only about 3 blocks long so there was a lot of room to build anything else out further down the road, including hardware stores and a restaurant called “Phat Boys”. (and yes, they were!)

We were particularly impressed with this antique store, the loving detail that showed in the way it was constructed, finished and then cared for. We bought a Pennsylvania Barn Star there, you can just barely see them on each side of the entrance of the building.

We stayed at a place called the Cornish Inn. It’s the building on the right with the red roof. In the center house, I saw a tiny elderly lady come out and check her mail. I loved her pink door which nicely offset the copper (green) roof and white house. I did not finish this little painting because it began to rain. A “rare” Summer Northeaster blew in, and eventually it poured.
As for the Boothbys, one of the first houses built in the are belonged to a Boothby but it burned down many years ago. The street is still named Boothby road.
Painting “Plein Aire” means I was outside with my little pad sketching and painting.

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Posted in acquarello, art, historic, landscapes, painting, travel journal | 2 Comments »

The Lady in Green

Friday, August 13th, 2010


She’s back, yes, I had to paint the lady in green again. Why? I am not sure I can answer that. Why is one woman at a party sad and conflicted? Was someone cruel to her? Was she threatened? Will she be in trouble when she gets home? What is clouding the brow of this lovely young face? Did she ever tell anyone? The mystery of this woman’s face really haunts me. Somehow, I feel like I am getting closer to expressing her pain and sharing it with you. This time I gave her hair a more modern appearance. I hope no one minds.

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Posted in acquarello, art, painting, portrait, watercolors, watercolours | 8 Comments »

The Cookie Lady

Friday, July 30th, 2010

With so much going wrong these days in the world, the state, the city, a small thing going right is our local Georgetown Farmer’s Market. It is in its infancy, its very first season, and lots of new merchants and farmers are setting up their stalls and trying their luck at open market each Saturday from 10 until 3. I have been delighted with some of the new vendors, we had Indian food featuring fresh Naan, Argentinian Empanadas, Vegan chocolate cake, a northern Italian selling pasta made from chestnuts, a southern Italian selling eggplant casserole, and lots of organic farms selling gorgeous fruits and vegetables. Some of them seem to have already given up on our small market, I haven’t seen them come back after the first few Saturdays. So it seems I have a huge emotional investment in this market succeeding. This past Saturday, there was a cookie seller. And the woman who ran the booth called herself “The Cookie Lady.” There she was, the kind of woman who clearly could do anything if she wanted, surrounded by all kinds of wonderful concoctions – her creations. We asked for samples. Each tidbit we sampled we ended up buying a batch. Her stuff was good. She was sassy and confident. We’ll be back! (I hope she comes back too) This is a watercolor on 9 x12″ arches paper and it is for sale. Photo reference by Donald Boothby.

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Posted in acquarello, art, painting, portrait, watercolors, watercolours | 14 Comments »

By the big barn

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010


From the number of dilapidated huge barns that we see on our bike rides, western Washington state used to be a big dairy producer. Every one of these barns shows pride, industry and independence to me. Some of them are unique.
This is another painting based on my husband’s collection of photographs. We rode by this barn on our tandem and had to stop to gaze at it. I confess that it is actually more decrepit in person than it appears here.

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Posted in acquarello, art, historic, landscapes, painting, watercolors, watercolours | 7 Comments »

Meet one of my neighbors

Monday, July 19th, 2010


I live in South East Seattle, and we are understandably very proud of the goodness in our neighborhood.
I’ve recently gone on a couple of neighborhood tours, and discovered that right down the street from my house a little shop where they do alterations and clothing repairs called New Holly Gift Shop & Alterations. I’d been past it hundreds of times but never looked inside. Well, the shop was on the tour, and they interviewed the seamstress, whose name is Phuong. She came out, all smiles, I was certain that she’d be shy, but she was not. When asked why she liked her job; her quick response was “I like my job because I get great satisfaction out of seeing how pleased people are when they see my work.” We’ve been back to that store twice now, she does great work!

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Posted in painting, portrait, watercolors, watercolours | 10 Comments »

Giuseppina – incredible lady

Friday, July 16th, 2010


When my grandmother, Lucy Melino Fressola died, she left each of her descendants; children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren some money. With part of mine, I took my entire family to Italy; my husband, my two young adult sons, and I. We decided that it was about time to go visit my grandmother’s home town, Sant’Agata di Puglia, one of many picturesque hilltop towns in Southern Italy.

There was one little lady who still lived there that remembered my grandmother, her name was Giuseppina. She was short and spry with twinkly eyes. She welcomed us to her town with smiles and told us how she was the oldest of 8 children and how they had absolutely nothing. She was not able to go to school because she had to work instead and never learned to read. She eventually married my grandmother’s cousin, Saverio Fabbiano. They bought a house with the sweat off their backs and raised their children in this pristine little village. She radiated joy as she reminisced my grandmother’s last visit. It seems that the day my grandmother arrived, Giuseppina’s daughter had a baby. I later met that baby, a woman close to my age.

There was nowhere to park our car near her home or near our hotel, so this 80 something year old woman led us around on foot, we had to work to keep up with her. Every one of us has a story about our time in Sant’Agata di Puglia, but each of us remembers this smiling old woman who shared her town with us.

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Posted in Italia, acquarello, landscapes, painting, portrait, watercolors, watercolours | 5 Comments »

It’s all about Nick

Monday, July 6th, 2009

Cobra - Nick

Nick


I work for a large aerospace corporation. Every year they recruit promising bright engineers from all over the world. I have watched them come and go for 30 years now. It’s always interesting to see which ones will leave after a year of Seattle’s traffic, housing prices, and weather; and which ones turn into permanent Seattle residents. Nick gave some warning signs early on when he complained about the weather; still I hoped he’d stick around, he has a lot to offer, he’s bright, and did not have the typical engineer personality. Unfortunately, Nick and his lovely wife did decide to leave; their family ties were too strong, they went back home to a place called Yadkinville, if you can believe it. He was gracious enough to allow me to paint his portrait. The background is part of the skyline view from Alki Beach, where they made their home in Seattle.

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Posted in painting, portrait | 1 Comment »

He sure can play that guitar

Thursday, April 17th, 2008

I was entranced by 1935 photo of a young man playing his guitar. I thought it would be fun to paint him. I tried it once and was very unhappy with how it came out. So I waited until after I attended a wonderful watercolor workshop by Ted Nuttall and tried again. This time, it came out the way I like. He’s playing a G chord. In my life music has always been a big element. This painting is an attempt to express those feelings.

The second of this series, I called the Red Hots, I wish I knew their real name. It’s from a 1938 photo taken by Russell Lee for the Farm Administration. Apparently, the photo was taken in the town where Tabasco hot sauce was made

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Posted in guitar, painting, watercolors, watercolours | 2 Comments »