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.”

 

 

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