September shows...

Long time no post, I know, and I have no excuse, so won't give one. But I'm back with info on a couple of exhibits opening in September.

I was honored to be asked to show my National Park and Forest work in the wonderful new exhibit space in the historic Hale House in Matunuck (map).

The Hale House was the summer home of author and environmentalist Edward Everett Hale and his family of artists. EE Hale was one of the original surveyors of the White Mountains in New Hampshire and was instrumental in the passage of the Weeks Act), which enabled the creation of the White Mountain National Forest. (Which, coincidentally, just started their own AIR program)

Below is a photo of the gallery room. The other rooms in this large home high on a hill above Route 1 have been beautifully restored. The show pictured is Seeing the Sea, featuring the work of artists who have received URI's Visual Art Sea Grant. It's up till Aug. 20.

 

More details to come...

I've also been asked to participate in a group show,  Architectural Treasures of Providence at the URI Feinstein Gallery (where Shepard's used to be). I will be showing some of my church paintings and drawings. The show runs from September 3-28, with an opening reception on Gallery Night, September 20.

Filling free time

A.I.R. exhibit at Badlands NP Visitors Center. "The White Place", center

I picked up my truck last week after its rear fender surgery and it looks great. Body shops always do this psychological trick of shining the whole vehicle up real pretty. I imagine my truck was pretty nervous when they approached it with this strange substance called "wax", but I'm sure it soon relaxed and enjoyed the spa treatment. Now it's acting all frisky and a bit vain as it looks down it's hood at all the dusty cars on the road.

I also started my Physical Therapy to get me all shined up after my knee scope. So far so good. So mobility is slowly returning, not that I haven't enjoyed being housebound for a few weeks. And I've enjoyed reviving my biography reading habit, picking up two at the library today, Thomas Hart Benton and David Hockney. 

Sometimes I try to imagine that this is really my life, and I won't have to go back to my day job. It would, of course, be fantastic, but I would have to really adhere to a schedule. Too much time is lost in aimlessness. Despite that I haven't lost that feeling that I'm not getting enough done, or that there isn't enough time to do everything. For example, this blog, and my residency journals. And, of course, painting. 

The thing about painting is that it isn't something you can do and it's done. It demands time and more time as you dive deeper in. But that's ok, since for me it's the most important thing. I need to examine all the other things I think I NEED to do. Because even when I have All Day, they still don't all get done. The NY Times had a great column about "The Busy Trap" and I'm going to try to take it to heart. Not only can't I see the forest for the trees, I can't see the trees for the understory. So a little brush cleaning is in order. So I can load up those brushes in the studio.

Serpentine

Another Alaska study, this one from a view of Serpentine Glacier across the fiord from Toboggan Beach. Gouache, about 3"x6".

View Point

View Point, gouache on paper, 4"x6"

Painting at View Point

Sometimes this blog seems like a patchwork quilt, with lots of loose threads to tie up (ok, mixed metaphors, but knit together well, don't you think?). This is one of them, the finished version of a little study I started while perched on a rock at View Point, in Prince William Sound, Alaska.

Little dents and biodiversity

Nothing like another torn menicus to give you some time to catch up. This minor knee surgery could well become an annual event, since I had the exact same thing in my right knee at this time last year. But as luck would have it, I only have two knees, so that nips that tradition in the bud.

Coincidentally, my truck also went into the shop this week for a left knee problem, thanks to someone (and you know who you are)  pulling a nice parking lot hit and run on me. So I'm housebound on two levels, but it's a beautiful day, the windows and doors are open, and it sometimes seems I hardly ever get to be here, so Home, it's nice to meet you!

At any event, I'm on day two of post-op, sitting elevated leg on pillow, laptop on lap. Catching up, firstly, on planning the Bioblitz Art Exhibit.

That's right, another Bioblitz has come and gone, on beautiful farmland on the island of Jamestown. This year I partnered with Katy Dika from the RISD Nature Lab to head the Art Team. Next year, due to her planning, access to equipment, knowledge and enthusiasm making me look like a complete amateur in contrast, I happily entrust the future Bioblitz Art Team leadership to the competent hands of Katy and the RISD Nature Lab, which they have graciously accepted.

But I am still planning the art exhibit, which will be at the Warwick Museum of Art during the month of July and which will include work inspired by the bioblitz and work from artists who have been Artists in Residence in our National Parks and Forests. I'll have some work in the show, naturally, and will give a talk about the Artist in Residence Program on July 16.

I also have some shows upcoming...

 

September 2012 at the Hale House of my Artist-in-Residence work, including new paintings from The Chugach National Forest, Alaska, and the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert in Arizona.

A group show "The Architectural Treasures of Providence" September 4-28, at URI extension in downtown Providence. I'll be showing some church paintings.

And two shows in 2013, one in Newport at the Deblois Gallery, the other at Bert Gallery.

Until then, I'll take my ice pack and the book I'm reading, "The Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood", to the porch and enjoy my downtime!

Petrified pictures

Thought I'd post my finished studies (isn't that a contradiction?) of my Petrified Forest residency, to give you some pretty pictures to look at while I work on my next blog post.

From the Blue Mesa Trail o/c

Drainage o/c

Flattop

Below the PDI