EXHIIBITION SEASON

By DUSTAN KNIGHT TARBELL

The summer of 2023 breezes in and like many of my cohorts, I am scrambling to make the most of the busy season. All winter and spring we prepare for the summer exhibition season.

Living on the New England seacoast we look forward to tourists and seasonal residents returning with fresh vigor and an eagerness to see what we have been working on during the cold months.

It’s sort of like working the lunch crowd in a Wall Street restaurant – the better prepared you are the more successful you will be.

I want to write about a particular part of the exhibition season that doesn’t get talked about a lot. A professional dancer friend, who is an exciting creative watercolorist, calls it ‘the third act’.

When you take a long overdue look at exhibiting you can easily break the process into three parts.

The first is preparation.

For a working artist that means securing an exhibition opportunity, confirm a timetable and support network, determine a theme and produce the best artwork possible that fits within the theme and is likely to be positively received by the audience that regular attends the exhibition venue you have chosen.

As the day of installation approaches, a long ‘to do’ list includes PR photos, inventory and label lists, invitations, double checking that the work is ready for display, and delivering the work on deadline and/or installing it yourself.

The second act.

Is the actual show and the opening reception.

The third act,

Is perhaps the most important, and YES you are tired and are experiencing a confusing sense of happiness, sadness, frustration and elation. But in fact – this is the time to rev up and make the most of all the time and energy you put into Act 1 and Act 2.

Usually the show is up for just a month. That’s a short time to celebrate it daily on your social media, send out personal invitations to meet your favorite collectors at the show for a personal viewing experience. Get your artist friends to come by so they can see what you are doing and keep you in mind for group shows, and document the show itself.

This last suggestion is often overlooked in the excitement. But believe me, when the show end and the dust settles - its super important to have some photo documentation of your pieces on the wall, in the space, with their show labels along with whatever artistic statement or text you have generated for the show. Keep the leftover postcards and inventory lists to hand out as the year progresses.

Just a hint – most sales happen during the Third Act. Most future opportunities are offered during the Third Act, and more new and re-affirmed art relationships occur during the Third Act.

Exhibiting your artwork is a wonderful, often nerve wracking, part of being a serious artist. It’s always a ‘work in progress’. Saving a little bit of energy for your Third Act could make the experience more

Successful.

Dustan is trying to follow her own advice with a group show at the York Public Library, ME a solo show of 15 pieces at Ceres Bakery in Portsmouth, NH and an Artist Showcase at the Barn Gallery in Oguquit, ME – all in June …she’s gonna need a vacation.

LUSCIOUS COLD WAX!

By Ann Saunderson 

I frequently work with cold wax on wood panels. 

Cold wax is a 'medium' much like acrylic gel medium ... but different.

Cold wax is luscious, it's sensuous, like butter.

Built up in layers it creates a wonderful textured surface that offers lots of opportunities for 'art play'.

I usually begin by having what is called a 'slop board' beside my palette. 

At the end of the day, I scoop up any leftover cold wax mixed 50% with oil paint and slap it down on the board. I don't plan. I don't compose. I just spread it on

the board.

The wax not only thickens the paint is also reduces the drying time.

Each succeeding layer dries faster! 

At some point, maybe several layers in, I begin to see something, a shape, a texture, some colors that I find intriguing, and I slow down and start playing around with what the piece might become.

You can build up layers, but you can also scrape back to lower layers,

or while the mixture is still gooey, you can press in some textures, such as with bubble wrap, or

screening or even the sole of your shoe!

I usually have 5 or 6 pieces going at one time. They are all in different stages

so I can add layers to some and be carving into others.

I don't use brushes.

The paint is too thick.

So I use palette knives, silicone bread dough scrapers, putty knives, whatever is handy.

Clay carving tools and matt knives work to carve into the surface for the 'archeological dig' part of the process.

At some point it begins to come together. Like magic something appears!

Working abstractly with cold wax is glorious!

Working realistically with cold wax is ... frustrating.

View more of my work on Instagram at: ann.saunderson

or on my website at: annsaundersonart.com

A NEW/OLD TECHNIQUE

By JANICE WITTMER

 Over the last year or so a seed was planted in my mind after attending one of Dustan Knight Tarbell’s workshops in Ogunquit, Maine.

We went out to the rocks and the sea to make quick impressions with paint. Then we headed back to our “clubhouse” where she guided us to tear up our paintings, rearrange them into a new composition, and fix them with glue onto a backing.

COLLAGE (kuh-lahzh)

Noun

A technique of creating art by assembling/gluing different pieces and creating a new “whole”.

After experimenting with monoprinting, and ending up with numerous samples of textures and patterns, I decided to, yes, tear them up!!

As I moved the torn pieces around, eventually I saw something that connected and seemed to feedback to my brain and inspire me to continue.

Then I entered a "zone" using a diffferent part of my brain, where I wasn't really "thinking". 

The process was very stimulating and liberating. 

I experiemented with paint and ink, making various brushstrokes,

then used my paper cutter to make consistent squares and strips to work with.

Changing the background from white to black sometimes increases the impact of the collage.

Sometimes the tabletop with all my random paper scraps inspires a new composition.

So many possibilities!...Maybe add some color?!

A LONG-AWAITED VACATION

By MARY RUEDIG

I always take a sketchbook with me on vacations. I take a lot of pictures and then sketch when I am back in my room. It helps me to re-think the day.

Making art relaxes me after an exciting day.

It helps me remember not just the sites, but also the feelings of the day.

I try to capture the excitement of seeing extraordinary things, and  

this vacation was extra special for us.

 We had originally planned on going in November of 2020. As we all know, our trip was canceled, and we were able to FINALLY go this past November.

These pages are from my sketchbook of that trip to Rwanda.

We drove three hours through the countryside, seeing many people walking with bundles on their heads, or strapped to their bicycles.

There are very few automobiles, and all farming is done by hand.

The second drawing is of the mountain gorillas. 

We spent an hour watching a gorilla family, the male, or silverback, lazily sat and watched us watch him, while the young ran around on the ground and through the trees, often bumping against our legs.

In Tanzania we saw Cape Buffalo,

 giraffes,

 baboons

and lions.

In this sketch, I tried to show the wildebeest migration.

We saw thousands of these walking, eating, braying and romping on their way to their breeding grounds.

Zebras and elephants

were everywhere, and completely unfazed by our presence.

It was a real thrill to spy a jaguar lounging on a tree branch. She dragged her prey up into a tree, ate her fill and then rested while we snapped pictures and marveled at her beauty.

We stayed in a lovely lodge, and we were warned to lock our door because the monkeys could open unlocked doors and ransack the room.

 

 

2023 ROARS INTO BEING AND AS WE DISENTANGLE OURSEVES FROM COVID, AND SURVEY THE DAMAGE DONE ,  AND THE TIME LOST, IT IS A GOOD TIME TO DO ART.

 

Dusty’s Blog Musings

By DUSTAN KNIGHT TARBELL

My studio is humming and lots of paintings are out - spreading their joy – not necessarily in commercial galleries but in alternative more personal spaces – libraries, hospitals, cafes and hotel lobbies.

I have been thinking about this audience – regular folks – not necessarily interested in the art scene, appreciating nostalgic happy images and colors that elicit soothing or joyful emotions.

Recently many art galleries and museums have been exhibiting artwork concerned with political/social issues. These are not intended to sooth but to disturb and reflect the moral corruption of the common consciousness and the establishment especially the narrow slice of society that usually buys art.

This role of Art as a ‘moral conscience’ is not new.

The distinction between the art scene (ie buying society) and the population (not concerned with the art scene) has been troubling forever.

I guess an artist just has to figure out what interests them the most.

We spend a lot of time immersed in the creative vocation, and maybe the choices of intention are part of the great things about the art scene.

I don’t think an artist has to be just one concern either like everyone, our ideas and fascinations are always evolving. Maybe something crosses our attention and the moral corruption of hopelessness strikes us and we respond in the studio. -  Think of Picasso’s usual biographical iconography exploding into Guernica. –

I think that for me, I have reacted in developing an almost meditative practice, doing everyday pretty inconsequential activities with a much presence and gratitude as I can manage. I am not a brave, social leader, just a working artist, and the way the low light hits the tops of the winter treeline, turning them into shimmery pinks and gold outlines, transfixes me and inspires my art.

Maybe it is that awareness and presence in my paintings that attracts the regular folks. I know I feel better when the paintings are being made and also when they are finished and leave the studio.

 

 TIS THE SEASON

By DUSTAN KNIGHT TARBELL

In this month of flurries, open studios and holiday sales, I pause and consider the joys and ‘not so joys’ of the season. My new studio space (in an artist building) has a December Holiday open studio sale.

 This is a new experience for me and I would like to share my ideas about it. I have these few minutes because I have been burning the midnight oil in my studio, for the last two months,

building up the specific sort of inventory I will need for the event.

In my experience this is not the time of year for big price items – most of the holiday fair goers are looking for multiple gifts for family and friends and have a budget they are adhering to – so in November I like to create a limited body of smaller, less expensive, light-hearted art works.

Last year I created a series of Birch trees on smaller, less expensive, canvas. I had a great time trying versions of a single theme in various colors and compositions. 

This year, encouraged by a studio friend, who is a fabulous animal photographer, I am having fun painting 4” x 4” pet images in bright happy colors.

(This IS about as far as I can go. I have artist friends who are better merchandizers, and they are readying notecards and calendars of their images.)

I am a tiny bit cranky about converting my studio to an exhibition/sale space for three days – but I actually vacuum and toss the empty paint cans out. When the open studio is over, I burst into the cleaned space like a storm…

Managing my expectations, disciplining myself to an extensive series of smaller, funner, artworks and appreciating the opportunity to make new connections are the joys of the season for me. Holding back from my usual daily art practice is the not so joy – but that may not be a bad thing either.

STUDIO 320, Button Factory Studio, Open Studio and Holiday Sale – Dec. 3, 4 5, 2022 855 Islington Street, Portsmouth, NH 03854

PAINTINGS OF THE SEA

By SUSAN LEVENSON

       

 As someone who has spent their entire life living by the sea, there are many reasons to love its calming openness and how it connects with you. It gives the feeling of harmony, motivation and insight. It captures your imagination.

         In my childhood, and as a young adult, the ocean was ever present outside our cottage nestled by the sand dunes. It was my life.

          Summers were spent swimming, riding the rush of the waves on the beach, catching plentiful Pollack and Flounder off the bridge and watching the seals in front of our house. We became experts as to which clam, fish or bird was which.

 We rode our bikes everywhere. We explored the ins and outs of the marine life in the tidal pools in the rocky coast. This life has provided a sense of nostalgia, belonging and home to this day. And it has connected me to people I have loved.

   

          One day I discovered the local art gallery gave art lessons for kids.

          The art instructor would load us budding artists in his car and off we would go to pristine sites along the rocks and water, farms, and vistas. But mostly we painted the magnificent sea and the shoreline rocks.

          Working in oil paint, as a youngster, I learned how to use materials and mix a palette that has been etched in my memory to this day.  

I loved to listen to the roar and crash of the breakers against the rocks and then ebb away as I worked. I loved the music when the wave rolled over glistening stones and churned the sand in a back rush of water. To this day, the music and rhythms are in my head as I am painting the ocean again.

        

  After a lifetime I can, indeed, attribute my three careers in the arts to my many years by the sea.

          When I retired after a 38-year hiatus, I started to paint the sea in watercolor. These paintings showcase my work.

          It is true to quote Jacques Cousteau: “The sea, it holds one in a net of wonder forever.”