Down East

A couple of weeks ago my friend and I headed "down east" North Carolina to collect photographic reference for paintings. Much of our time was spent in Beaufort and on Harker's Island, specifically at Core Sound Seafood, a family business that supplies fresh local seafood.

Fishing boats at marina on Harker's Island

What's so interesting about this place? It is beautiful, but what's more important are the people. They are so friendly and open, and they treat you like they've known you forever – just good people!  Many of them make their living from the sea, just as their families have for generations, working at fishing, clamming, shrimping, selling seafood, building boats and all things related.

Willis Boat Builders on Island Road make custom
hand built wooden boats the old fashioned way.

I had already been to this area in April to paint, but this time I was specifically interested in taking photos of these people. I wanted to capture their hard-working spirit, close ties to one another and love for Down East North Carolina.

Shrimper prepares to go out on his boat. He explained that the net catches the shrimp, but
a turtle excluder device allows turtles and other sea creatures to escape the net.

At Core Sound Seafood, they were shedding crabs. This is the process that takes place when it's time for the crabs to shed their shells. The crabs back out of their shells on their own, but the people have to keep a close eye on them 24 hours a days to make sure all goes well. The crabs have to be put on ice before the new shell begins to form so they can be sold as soft shell crabs.

Crabs who are done shedding their shells are vulnerable to attack so are
contained in this ring to keep them safe from the other crabs.

Now I know a little about soft shell crabs. I always wondered how they got those things! I also have a lot of great photos to work from. Back at the studio, I made some large drawings from the photos and hope to take some or all of them to the next stage as an oil or pastel painting.

Drawing of one of the family members at work. In addition to the task of bustering crabs,
she is the brains behind their innovative seafood marketing.
Go online at coresoundseafood.com to learn about their products.

Drawing of crabs being cleaned

Drawing of crab shedding. Notice the crab at the bottom right – he is in the process of shedding his shell.

Three generations of family members at Core Sound Seafood: Dad is
heading shrimp while Grandma takes care of the next generation.

Plein Air Marathon

These past 5 days have been a painting marathon for artists participating in Germanton Gallery's Annual "Painting North Carolina" paint out.

I spent Friday through Monday in the Beaufort, NC, area painting and got very lucky with the weather. Friday when I arrived it was perfect and stayed that way through Saturday. Here are some of the pieces I did during the two sunny days I had.

Up On Stilts

Don's Green Boat

 The boats in this yard was being stored or repaired. This green boat was just taking a rest in the yard for awhile.  A couple I met have been working on and living in their boat for 2+ years. They began in Maine and then had sailed to the Bahamas. They came to Beaufort and their boat was in need of a lot of repair so there they sit until it's finished!  They told us that the owner of the green boat was an 80-something guy named Don and that he, along with some help, had built this boat. Pretty amazing people.

Marshallberg Cottage

Marshallberg Harbor  12x12 Oil

Marshallberg is an old harbor and town with a lot of history. I met a fisherman who sails a 90 foot boat catching fish and shrimp for a living. He told me that this big orange boat in the harbor had been a sister ship to the Presidential yacht. It has been sitting there for twenty years; two different men invested $1,000,000 each to restore it but neither succeeded. His best guest was that it would eventually be scrapped.

Germanton Art Gallery will host the opening of the show this Friday 5:00 - 8:00 pm. It is open to the public so hope to see you there. Saturday there will be artists painting around the outdoor area of the gallery from 10-4:00 as well.

What can you paint in twenty minutes?

I decided to do small oil paintings instead of drawing this past week at our drawing circle. I took some water soluble oils, my small Open M pochade box, which I can hold on my lap, along with some 5x7 and 6x8 panels.
At our circle, we take turns posing. We have 4 poses that last 20 minutes each, with a break after the first 15 to give the model a chance to say "enough". This worked out just right for me - I concentrated on the face for those 15 minutes and then used the last 5 to put in as much of the hair, bkgd etc as I could.

Here are my results. I loved the freedom of doing this quickly and moving on to the next one, eliminating my usual urge to "fix" things - which often results in ruining them.

Some folks in the drawing circle were curious about the water soluble oils and panels I was using so here is some info.  The best brand I've tried is Duo, made by Holbein.   I rarely thin them, they work pretty well straight out of the tube but, if you do want to thin them, use the water based linseed oil Duo offers. Use water only for clean-up.

The panels are called Multi Media Art Boards. They are thin, rigid and very lightweight. Suitable for all media, they even sell some with a sanded finish for pastels. I was not thrilled with the pastel ones because I prefer more tooth on my pastel paper, but the regular ones worked really well with the water soluble oils. For more info go to  www.multimediaartboard.com

Friday morning I am off to the NC coast to paint for the annual Painting North Carolina plein air event hosted by Germanton Gallery in Germanton, NC. The opening reception will be held Friday, August 11 from 5-8 pm. For details go to germantongallery.com

There's Nothing Quite Like Art Friends

I love having artists as friends. For one thing we always have something to talk about and, for another, we understand each other pretty well. We are all addicted to art! This year I have already enjoyed two fun events with my art friends.

I am member of the Piedmont Outdoor Painting Society which is officially 11 years old, but I was painting with these guys before they gave their group a name. To prepare for this exhibit, we worked in our studios last year to paint larger paintings from some of our plein air work. On January 23 we attended the artists' reception for our show, From the Outside In.

We met for dinner beforehand and had a lot of good conversation and laughs.

POPS members Judy Meyler and Arlene Daniel

POPS members Kathy Phillips, Judy McGinn, Addren Doss

Me and Marsha Thrift, POPS members

This past weekend Hampton House Art and Framing held an opening reception for their annual Small Art Big Heart miniature exhibit, in conjunction with Dining with Friends. Both of these benefit Aids Care Services of Winston-Salem.

The art was great and included some 3-D items as well as paintings and drawings.

My painting on the left alongside a piece by my painting buddy, Arlene Daniel.

Lots of work on this wall was done by friends that I paint with.

 

 

Fun 3-D Dolls - sorry I don't know this artist but I love the work!

Both of these shows will be on display for a while longer.
For details on Small Art Big Heart visit Hampton House Art and Framing on Facebook.
For detail on From the Outside In visit the Alamance Arts Council website.

Focus for 2014

Sometimes we get so involved in doing what we do, that we forget to stop and asses what is really going on. This morning I awoke with the idea that I should spend some time reflecting on what happened this past year and what that means for my art during 2014.

I made some notes about what I want to focus on this year and what I would like to change. Then I reviewed which of my paintings sold well this past year. I was pleased to see that many of the ones I sold, where the ones I enjoyed painting the most!

Plein Air Landscape with Architecture

There was a clear truth - I paint a lot better from life than I do from a photo. My plein air landscapes sold, the studio ones did not. The studio paintings that sold were still life, painted from life not a photo. My best studio work done from photos is figurative because I really love to paint people in everyday situations and you just can't get them to stand still in the situation long enough to do much more that a quick sketch.

Still Life painted from Hydrangeas picked in my garden

Pastel done from photo

What does that mean for 2014?  I plan to make these choices based on what I now know:

• Paint outdoors as much as I can.
• Reread  Hawthorne on Painting by Mrs. Charles W. Hawthorne (Compiler).
• Focus on still life and figurative pieces in the studio.
• Stop over-working a painting when I lose focus by setting time limits and taking breaks. 
• Paint less and thinking more - step back and assessing often. 
•  

 Wish me luck and I wish you luck with your plans for 2014!!
 

Small Work to Big Painting

While some artists who paint outdoors consider their plein air pieces to be finished works of art, many others use these studies only as inspiration for larger pieces.

In the past I have rarely used a plein air study to create a larger painting but, because I am a member of a plein air group that is planning an exhibit of larger paintings done from small studies, I have been challenged to explore this further.

I chose a small painting, The Dairy, to begin with. I was fairly pleased with this painting, but I knew there were things I could improve upon.

Black and White Sketch

I did several black and white sketches to see if I wanted to make changes to the composition. I decided to move the buildings to the left a little and to increase the slope of the distant mountain to make it more interesting. I also lowered the trees behind the buildings, showing more of the mountain and allowing the tree on the right to appear larger and more dynamic.

Plein Air study with grid applied

Wrapping the plein air study with cellophane allowed me to draw a grid over it for easier transferring of the image to a larger canvas. Notice that the center point is to the right of the center. This is due to my decision to move the buildings a little to the left on the canvas. Before beginning to paint, I drew a corresponding grid onto the larger canvas with pencil. Using the grid as a visual guide, I lightly sketched the large shapes of the composition onto the canvas with vine charcoal.

18x24 painting blocked in

Using thin paint, I did a block-in of darks and lights using local color.  In the image above, I have also begun to add thicker paint to the dark and medium dark areas of the building on the left.

18x24 painting with more detail added.

My next step was to continue painting the darks and medium darks, adding the fence and other smaller shapes.  This is still a work in progress; the light values will be addressed next and then I will add smaller details in some key areas.

Three Chances to Support Local Art

This is a busy time of year for everyone – and it's the same for we artists. Local artists and craftsmen are busy preparing for events to entertain you and to offer unique gift choices. Art is a great way to support local artists and your local arts organizations. Here are three good choices: 

Art in the Village
Art in the Village is Associated Artists of Winston-Salem's all-member exhibit and fine art sale. It will be held at at 113 Reynolda Village in Winston-Salem, NC (in the former Casanova’s location or the historical “corn crib” near the Village Tavern).

Opening Reception will be held during Reynolda Village’s “Holiday Stroll” on Saturday, November 23, 2013 from 5-8 PM.  Show will be on display from Saturday, November 16 - Monday, December 23, 2013.

This painting, Belcastel, will be on display at the show in Reynolda Village.

 

Deck the Halls

Deck the Halls is the Sawtooth School for Visual Arts' largest fundraising event and generates proceeds that help support their organization's operations and arts-based programming. Beautifully displayed in their gallery and gift shop setting, Deck the Halls features a unique variety of work from Sawtooth faculty, students and regional artists. Deck the Halls will be open to the public from December 6 - December 21, 2013 with the Preview Night celebration to be held Thursday, December 5th.

I will be selling some of my pottery and clay ornaments.

 

Germanton Gallery's 21st Annual Miniature Art Show

This is one of the finest art shows in the area and beyond. The list of nationally known artists is impressive and the work is outstanding! All paintings will be 9" x 12" or smaller.

Opening reception will be held Friday, December 6 from 5 - 8 PM. During the reception, Germanton Winery will be offering wine tastings. Local wine is another great gift choice that supports local business!

The gallery will also be open Saturday, December 7 from 10 AM - 4 PM and Sunday, December 8 from 1 PM - 4 PM. Many artists will be on site over the weekend. The show will hang through January 1, 2014.

Gallery located on Germanton Road, 9 miles north of Winston-Salem, NC.

Green Tea will be one of my paintings at the Germanton Show.