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.”

 

 

ISOLATION AND PRODUCTIVITY

By Ann Saunderson

Covid has made me very productive.

I have used my isolation well, to express 

FRUSTRATION

ANGER

SORROW

FEAR

And sometimes

JOY!!!

I have been included in a number of juried exhibitions, even won an award, and have several more coming up this summer.

I have also done several demos on the AVA Gallery’s Outreach series.

For friends and family and for Dusty, all of whom keep me plugging along, and daily I am thankful for having so much art in my life.

 

Taking breaks but always inspired!

By Annie Lynch

So, sometimes we take breaks from the creative process. Usually there are reasons why but it just happens.

I haven’t painted for a while but I am constantly thinking about ideas for future work.

I had the opportunity of taking two great trips recently.

One to Cumberland Island off the coast of Georgia, and then a two-week trip to Croatia.

Cumberland Island is still beautifully wild with live Oaks dripping with moss. The shadows and light coming through the trees would be challenging but fun to paint.

Croatia has given me endless images to draw from, the cerulean blue green waters, the mountains coming down from the sea, fields of wildflowers, live groves and vineyards and ancient ruins at twilight. I look forward to painting from these memories.

In between these trips I went to Delaware to see my mom. I often like to visit the Brandywine River Museum to look at the Wyeth paintings.

Helga Series

I especially like Andrew’s watercolor and Jamie’s oils. It makes me think how a painting is constructed.

From My Travel Journal

From My Travel Journal

So, if we are taking some breaks from creating, hopefully we are still learning, absorbing observing, appreciating and thinking about what we might do next!

Jamie Wyeth

Jamie Wyeth

If we are taking some breaks from creating, hopefully we are still learning, absorbing observing, appreciating and thinking about what we might do next!

Now I can’t wait to get back in the studio.

SPRING THAW

Paintings in Watercolor, Gouache and Pastel

By JANICE WITTMER

Stillness

Emerging

Melting

Growth

Life

 

 WORKSHOP CHALLENGE

By Terry Heinzmann

In September of last year, the Merrimack River Painters struck out for Ogunquit, Maine, to paint by the sea. We had perfect weather for the three-day workshop and made the most of being outside.

Dustan, our intrepid and very creative coach, set the parameters of the workshop. They were: paint what you feel when you look at the ocean. Don’t paint what you see, paint what you feel. Paint the emotions you have as you watch the waves. Paint how you feel as you look at the sea. Paint the colors and shapes of your feelings. And do it quickly, spontaneously. Don’t think, just paint.

We, all of us, were completely challenged by this assignment, but we charged ahead and did our best. It was hard, to say the least. So used to painting what we see in the scene before us, painting some abstract notion, feeling, emotion, was really hard.

And if that wasn’t challenging enough, when we left the seaside and returned to the comfortable and charming home, belonging to one in our group, Dustan’s instructions were to rip up the paintings we had just done and assemble the pieces into a new painting. Yikes!

Well it took a bit of time to get into the rhythm of this project, but we dug in and went beyond the thinking realm and into some other place. Working this way was very freeing, exciting and challenging, all at the same time.

The pieces scattered throughout, represent my best efforts during this workshop. None of them have titles (what would I say?!)

I hope you enjoy them. Thanks for checking them out!