Dewey Ave

Dewey Ave

11x14, acrylics on canvas
AVAILABLE

Wow, two paintings in one day! I'd never manage that if I wasn't on vacation. I've been at this one since noon, working around phone calls from my kids. I was driving in Old Orchard Beach last spring and saw this very, very yellow house. The afternoon sun was making interesting shadows, so I snapped a photo. As usual, I simplified. I left out street signs and pretty much did my own thing with the buildings across the way. But I think I succeeded in capturing the flavor of the neighborhood.

Sunset Serenade

Sunset Serenade
11x14, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

Sunrises and sunsets on the UMA campus are amazing and awe-inspiring. This is a view of the winter sun setting directly behind the Michael Klahr Holocaust and Human Rights Center. Hope you enjoy!

State Street Shadows

State Street Shadows
11x14, acrylics on canvas
NOT FOR SALE

A scene I photographed one day last winter. The tree shadows on the sunny side of the blue house just blew me away. I'm discovering that Augusta (or Disgusta, as I've often fondly called it) is a treasure trove of inspiration, loaded with old houses that just scream New England. All these years, I had no idea I lived in the midst of riches!

Sunny Corner, Old Port
12x16, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

The last time I was in Portland, I drove around town and snapped a few photos. Saw this scene in the Old Port, and couldn't resist that wall of sunshine. This one took some time...I'd forgotten how long it takes to paint windows!

House Portraits

Commissioned House Portraits
Christmas, 2008
Acrylics on Canvas
11x14
SOLD

Here are the three house portrait commissions I painted this Christmas season. Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope the recipients of these gifts enjoyed them as much as I enjoyed painting them!

Bennett Street Houses

Bennett Street Houses
12x16, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

Finally, FINALLY, I'm done painting houses for other people. All the Christmas house portraits are shipped, and now I can get back to painting for myself. This is a little slice of the old neighborhood, at the corner where Prospect Street and Bennett Street come together. I adore these old city houses, and I never tire of painting the wide variety that I find all over the Central Maine area.

Work, Work, Work

My hand and arm are aching and my back is totally blown out. I just finished two more house portraits, both Christmas gifts which will go in the mail today. Can't post them until after the holidays, so I thought that today I'd post one of my early paintings, GREEN LINE, HUNTINGTON AVENUE. I think this was done about a year or so after I started painting, maybe 1994 or 1995. I based it on a photo I took of the subway train at a stop near the Museum of Fine Arts on Huntington Avenue in Boston. Although the "T" signpost is crooked and the perspective is a little wonky in the brick building on the left, it still remains one of my favorite paintings. I love Boston, love the green line trains, and this is one of the first paintings I did that actually had a human figure in it. I don't put a lot of people in my paintings, but this young woman just felt right to me.

I'm currently feeling as though I've run a marathon, painting two house portraits in two days, working around the day job (thank God one of those days was a Sunday!). After three house portraits in a row, I'm itching to get back to painting for me. Because I took so much time off to try to give my poor aching hand and arm a break (which, since I have rampant fibromyalgia, didn't really accomplish much except to drive me nutso because I wasn't painting), I haven't painted anything just for me since early October. Time to get back into the groove.

I had a disappointment this week. I had bid on one of Cooper Dragonette's paintings that I absolutely LOVED. For six days, I was the only bidder. I went to bed a couple hours before the auction ended, and woke up the next morning to discover that somebody else had outbid me. Waaaaa!! I just couldn't stay up any later; I'd been up at 4 a.m., had painted for most of the day, and I simply couldn't make it to ten pm. Oh, well, I'm sure he'll paint another one that catches my eye. I think his work is absolutely amazing! !

Still Alive

David and Samantha (mostly David)
watching TV. I stole this from my
daughter-in-law's MySpace page.

After a two-month hiatus from painting, primarily because I've been having wicked trouble with my left arm and shoulder (a direct result of raising my arm to paint), I finally finished a new painting yesterday. Alas, I can't post it here yet because it was a commissioned house portrait and is a Christmas present, and with my luck, the minute I posted it, somebody would call the homeowner and say, "I just saw a painting of your house online!" So I won't be posting it until after the New Year. Meanwhile, I'm going to try to get a few smaller works done to list on eBay and in my Etsy store. Sales have been very slow lately. Some of that I attribute to the economy. Some of it I believe is because I haven't been posting new work. People get tired of looking at the same old same old. I did sell one of my older paintings this week, though, titled WINTER SUNSET. There's a story behind it. I painted it in either late '98 or early '99. My mother was living in a nursing home at the time, and she asked me for a winter scene to hang on her wall. I gave her WINTER SUNSET, and it hung there for the last year of her life. After she died, I brought it back home and hung it in my house, where it's been ever since. But I've painted so many new works in the last year and a half that I ran out of wall space, so I decided to let the winter scene go. It was purchased by a lady who plans to give it to her sister for a Christmas present, and I hope its new owner will appreciate it as much as my mother and I did. Meanwhile, stay tuned. There WILL be new paintings posted soon. I'd much rather paint than go Christmas shopping....

WINTER SUNSET
ca. 1999
SOLD

Happy Occasions

No new paintings this week, but we did have a happy occasion on Sunday: my son, John (aka Jay) and his fiancee, Claudette, got married. They had a lovely outdoor ceremony in their backyard...a little nippy, but sunny and beautiful, with all the fall foliage around. The reception was held at the restaurant where they met, seven years ago, when they were both working there. The wedding was a lot of fun, and it was great to be able to welcome Claudette to the family. I've been calling her my daughter-in-law for years, but now it's official, and I couldn't be happier. Congratulations, my sweeties. Love you both!

White House with Forsythia

White House With Forsythia
11x14, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

The latest. A house I passed while on a day trip to the Boothbay/Southport area last spring. Nice sun and shadow, and a huge, blooming forsythia bush.

Commissioned House Portrait

Commissioned House Portrait
11x14, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

My latest house portrait, just finished this one and have another waiting in the wings. I thought this was such a lovely scene, the house nestled in amongst the trees, with a sloping green lawn in front, and a lake in the back. I really enjoyed painting this one!

Canton Farm

Canton Farm
11x14, acrylics on gallery wrap canvas
SOLD

Nestled along the banks of the Androscoggin River in tiny Canton, Maine, this spectacularly beautiful farm sits next to a line of trees behind acres of green fields. It's always lovely, but at certain times of day, when the sun hits it just right, the drama and beauty are heightened to an almost unbearable level. I've been driving past it for years, and finally, a few days ago, happened to be passing when the light was exactly where I wanted it. I snapped a few photos and started painting yesterday afternoon.

I painted this a little more loosely than my usual style. A little closer to what they term "painterly." I like the result. Hope you do, too!

Trinity

Trinity
12x24, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

My latest, just finished last night. Again with those houses in Lewiston, you're probably saying. Yes, it's true, I can't seem to stop painting them. The colors are different every time I paint them, but the timeless beauty and dignity remain intact.

This one sold the day after I finished it, just a few hours after I listed it on eBay, to a repeat customer. It always makes me feel good--and humble--when somebody likes my work well enough to come back and buy another piece. I can look at my own work and love it or hate it, but what I can't do is be objective. That's an impossibility. But when somebody else comes back and buys my work again and again, there's a kind of validation I can't get anywhere else. So to all my customers, especially those who've returned and bought from me a second (or third!) time, I say THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. I don't have to name names. You know who you are, and a couple of you have made my week.

Appleton Sunrise

Appleton Sunrise

11x14, acrylics on canvas
NOT FOR SALE

Same scene, different time of year. I kept thinking about what that tree would look like silhouetted against a blood-red sky. Here's the answer. The trees, the fields, the road, the telephone poles are real. The sunrise is from my imagination.

Sentinel

Sentinel
16x20, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

One rainy Saturday in early April, I took one of my infamous drives with camera in hand. In spite of the dismal day, I managed to get a few good shots that I later turned into paintings. As I was driving east on Route 105, coming into Appleton, I happened across this majestic and dignified old tree standing sentinel over a winter-yellowed grassy field. I was struck by its solidity and by its solitude, so I took a few photos of it. This painting came directly from one of those photos.

INTERESTING SIDE NOTE (well, it interests ME, anyway): One sunny day this summer, as I was out boonie-cruising once again with my camera, I turned onto Route 105 headed west, and saw the most amazing tree standing alone on the left side of the road. It wasn't until after I'd taken a photo of it that I realized it was the same tree, viewed from the opposite direction, and in its full summertime leafy glory. Who knows? Maybe one of these days, I'll resurrect that photo (It's somewhere in the more than 12,000 photos on my computer) and paint it in summer sunshine.

Belgrade Red

Belgrade Red
10x20, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

This is one of the paintings I did last winter, based on a photo I took in early fall. I've always loved the look of this cluster of houses, seen here from the rear, across the field from Route 27 in Belgrade, Maine. Love those white houses, and the bright red fire station in their midst is a wonderful contrast.

Commissioned House Portrait

Commissioned House Portrait
11x14, acrylics on canvas
NOT FOR SALE

My latest. I was so thrilled when I received this lady's photos, because her house is so beautiful!

Red House

Red House
24x30, acrylics on canvas
NOT FOR SALE

UPDATE: Okay, so I lied. I decided to go ahead and list this at Etsy for a rather large price, but one I would be willing to part with it for. I don't expect it to sell at that price, but if it did, I'd be okay with it. I think. In the meantime, it still has its place of honor on the wall above my staircase.

I think this is finally done. It's currently in what I call "wait-and-see" mode, which means I have to live with it for a while longer before I'll declare it officially and unequivocally completed.

In the earlier version, there was a dark blotch in the sky above the red house. In trying to fix it, I repainted the sky, and realized afterward that it was way, WAY too dark. So I had to wait for the paint to dry, and this morning I repainted it. This color is much closer to the original. But with all those layers of blue paint, it's going to take some time for the painting to fully dry.

I don't think I'm going to sell this one. Once I'm satisfied that it's really, truly done, I'm going to hang it either over my couch or on the dining room wall above the stairwell (we have an open, finished stairwell to the basement). Those are really the only places in my house where there's a wall space big enough to comfortably fit a painting this large.

I'm pleased with the result. I imagine I'll still do a little tweaking here and there, but nothing major. I still need to paint the bottom edge, which will have to wait until the sky is completely dry. Don't want to go messing up things I've already painted by turning it upside down and smudging wet paint. But for now, it's going back on the wall in my den, which doubles as a hanging space for all my finished paintings.

Red House 2

Still working on this one. Believe it or not, the changes since yesterday's post took several hours to accomplish. I'm getting there, but it's slow going, at least in part because the painting is so large and there's so much territory to cover. It was difficult to get the red shades that I wanted. I ended up wasting a fair amount of paint, making mixes that were useless. But I think I finally got it right. Then, there were all those windows. Not to mention the latticework under the front porch. I changed the color of the house directly to the right of the red one, mellowed the purple front into something warmer and not quite as dark. If you compare it with the far right house, you can see the difference. I wanted to vary them, and the purple wasn't working well with the reddish-brown shutters. This new color (purple mixed with turquoise) doesn't seem to clash with them as much. I've already decided, though, that if I don't like the end result, I'll paint the shutters a different color (probably black or dark gray). Granted, the entire painting is bright. But the colors work together, and I don't want it to be jarring. Those shutters could end up taking the final piece off balance. Will just have to wait and see.

I hate the color of the grass. Another mixing effort gone awry. Once everything else is in place, that will probably be the last thing I fix. I'm also a little bit confused about the two trees out front, which seem to merge together into one, almost covering the front steps. My photo isn't helping me at all; I may have to drive by the house to get a good look at where each tree's trunk actually is before I paint them.

I don't know if other artists paint this way, but my paintings seem to happen in a series of layers. One color on top of another color on top of another color, until I get the look I'm aiming for. If I don't like a color, I change it. Although I'm a follower of the school of realism, I don't let reality get in the way of improving a painting. If the real-life color clashes or otherwise causes a problem, I change it. If something gets in the way or overly complicates the composition, I get rid of it. I use whatever tools and techniques I have at my disposal to create the vision I see in my head. It's the final result that matters, and I do whatever it takes to get me there.

Sometimes I get frustrated. Frequently, I cuss myself out for my own stupidity. I'm infamous for painting an area, then immediately dragging my hand through the wet paint as I work on a different area. At times like this, the air around me can turn quite a lovely shade of blue. Fortunately, there's nobody around to hear except Max and Pumpkin, my lovebirds, who live in my studio/office and keep me company while I paint. Thus far, they haven't made any editorial comments on my work or my language. I've found that if I just put on a little music, they're happy. I love rock and roll, and so do they. Hubby loves Patsy Cline, and the birds are quite fond of her, as well. I guess they're just renaissance birds.

Red House - WIP

My latest Work-in-Progress. This is a big one, 24x30, and my arm and shoulder are aching from stretching up to paint. Started this yesterday, will probably finish it tonight. I haven't done one of the big canvases for a long time. There's a whole different dynamic at work.

Closson Street Morning

Closson Street Morning
12x16, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

Here's the new kid on the block.

Noon, Green and Cushman Streets

Noon, Green and Cushman Streets
12x16, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

A cluster of houses at the corner of Cushman and Green in Augusta. This is a view I see often as I circle the block, headed back to work, after lunching at my favorite Chinese restaurant. I like the way the midday sun falls over the houses, especially the one at the left. Just a simple small-town cityscape, but this is already one of my favorites.

As I look over the collection of paintings hanging on the wall in my den, one thing has become clear to me: it's pretty easy to spot a Laurie Breton original. I use the same basic colors in all of them: chromium oxide green, viridian, Payne's gray, lemon yellow, hansa yellow, and light blue violet. And of course, white. I add other colors as needed (cadmium scarlet, red oxide, naples yellow, for example), but for the most part, my customary palette consists of those half-dozen colors. This pulls together my body of work and gives them a consistency that I really like. Green is nearly always the primary color in my paintings; occasionally I'll do one that's mostly red, or mostly blue, but green is my favorite color, and anyone looking at my work will immediately recognize this. And I dare say that if you don't like green, you're probably not going to like my work!

The other thing that pulls my work together into a cohesive whole is houses. I love to paint houses (especially, although not exclusively, white houses). Most of my best work (actually most of my work) includes a house or three. For whatever reason, it's the light falling on houses that excites me, that makes me itch to pick up a brush and start painting. I drive around a lot, taking photos of houses in light and shadow. Cloudy days don't move me. I've done a handful of paintings of overcast days, but the drama and that elusive something that tugs at my insides and screams at me to paint isn't there unless the sun is shining. I haven't had the chance this summer to get as many painting photos as I'd like, because it's been a pretty lousy summer here in the Northeast. A lot of rain, a spell of brutally hot and humid weather, but not so many good days with bright sunshine and clear blue skies. At least, not when I was able to get out and take photos (i.e., weekends). I'm hoping that fall will be a little better for photo-taking, as I want to build up a body of work this winter in the hope that I might try exhibiting at one of the local sidewalk art shows next summer. Fingers crossed. It would be a huge step for me, as thus far, I've sold only online. I do have a few really good works sitting in a store/gallery about eighty miles northeast of where I live, but so far, nothing has sold. Getting into one of next year's sidewalk art shows would be a challenge and a new adventure. Stay tuned!

Pat's House at Sunset

Pat's House at Sunset
9x12, acrylics on canvas
AVAILABLE

One afternoon last winter, just as the sun was going down, I looked out the window and saw this scene of my neighbor's house. One corner of his house, with its snow-covered roof set against a huge evergreen, silhouetted against a salmon-pink sunset sky. The birds were roosting in a nearby tree, getting ready for the night ahead; a few hardy members of the flock still sat strung out like clothespins on the overhead wires.

Commissioned House Portrait

Commissioned House Portrait
11x14, acrylics on gallery wrap canvas
SOLD

My latest commissioned house portrait, this one a colorful little bungalow tucked snugly between its neighbors.

Gateway

Gateway
8x10, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

My latest. I can't seem to stop painting the entrance to UMA. I love the blue spruces, love the way the road curves between them, love the green grass of summer and the blue snow of winter. Hope you enjoy!

Les Grandes Dames

Les Grandes Dames
16x20, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

Here's the latest. These magnificent houses sit on lower Water Street in Randolph, the town where I grew up. I've always admired them, sitting so graciously behind velvety-green lawns. They're like grand old ladies come to afternoon tea. Thus, the title.

Morning on the Hill

Morning on the Hill
11x14, acrylics on canvas
AVAILABLE

This is a much smaller version of a painting I sold a month ago. It was always one of my favorites, and I hated to let it go. I never tire of painting these buildings, or the way the light from the rising sun pours over them.

Sunrise, Farmhouse

Sunrise, Farmhouse
11x14, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

This is one I painted a few months ago. Thought I'd posted it here, but couldn't find the posting. I sold it last night in a batch of three paintings bought by a lady from Milwaukee.

Late Morning, Revere

Late Morning, Revere
11x14, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

Yet another triple-decker apartment building, this one on a late July morning in Revere, Massachusetts. I was sitting at a red light and loved the way the morning light hit this house, so I made my daughter take a couple of photos. Here's the end result.

Cotton Candy World

Cotton Candy World
11x14, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

My latest. I wanted to do another fantasy/abstract/bright-colored painting. These are so different from the realism I paint every day, it's fun once in a while to let loose and do something totally off the wall. Enjoy!

Custom House Portrait

Commissioned House Portrait
16x20, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

My latest house portrait, this one for a family in Oregon. I get a real kick out of knowing my work is hanging in homes all over the U.S. and even abroad. Who'da thunk it?

Red Barn

Red Barn
18x24, acrylics on canvas
AVAILABLE

Another of my early paintings, loosely based on a farm I used to drive past somewhere between Augusta and Skowhegan. It was one of my first forays into light and shadow, and I've always loved the way the fence posts and their shadows came out.

Paul Camping

Paul Camping
11x14, acrylics on canvas, year unknown
NOT FOR SALE

Just thought I'd post this one for fun. It's one of my older paintings (hence, the childish foliage and water!), but it's a fun painting of my husband in a rare moment of vegging in a lawn chair with a bag of potato chips by his side. One of the few paintings I've ever done en plein air. As I recall, we headed out for this particular camping weekend on Friday the 13th of May in a snow squall, and nearly froze to death before the wind finally died down and it warmed up late on Saturday afternoon, which is when I caught Paul stretched out and snoozing. Ah, memories!

Memories

Memories

16x20, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

I painted this a few months ago and for some reason didn't like it, so I set it aside and didn't even look at it for a very long time. Recently, I pulled it out and defined the problem areas: the sky was too warm, the shadows weren't blue enough, and the grass was way, WAY too green. So I changed the colors and values without altering the composition of the painting. The improvement, to my eyes at least, was vast. Suddenly, I liked this painting I thought I hated. It's amazing what a few value and color changes can do to a piece.

So I took a couple of photos, posted it to Etsy, and last night it sold. This proves to me that no painting is hopeless. Even if you think it's finished, even if you think you don't really like it, sometimes you just need to let it simmer for a while before you go back and make the necessary changes so that suddenly that hated painting becomes a favorite.

Showdown at the OK Corral

Showdown at the OK Corral
9x12, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

At high noon on a hot summer day, with the sun baking overhead, these two crows are having a showdown. You can see them eyeing each other. You can feel the tension. Who will win the prize? And what, exactly, is the prize? Tasty roadkill? Only time will tell.

I think this is finished, except for varnishing and finishing the edges. Another in my crows series. I'll probably list this one on Etsy; birds seem to do well there.

Green House, Mid-Day

Green House, Mid-Day
16x20, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

I photographed this house one day around lunchtime, didn't like the original color (beige), so changed it to suit my tastes. I loved the way the light fell on this amazing Victorian, with all its bumps and bulges and differing shapes.

Little Pink Houses

Little Pink Houses
9x12, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

My latest, another little fun fantasy style painting. I've been experimenting with color, and I love those coral pinks and turquoises.

Crow-Versation

Crow-Versation
9x12, acrylics on canvas
NOT FOR SALE

Just for fun, I thought I'd paint some crows. They're such fascinating creatures, and we have hundreds of them all over campus, so I snuck up there while hubby was working on the 4th and took some photos. Crow-Versation was the result.

Bridge Street Afternoon

Bridge Street Afternoon

16x20, acrylics on canvas
NOT FOR SALE

Here's the latest. Two houses at the corner of Bridge and Summer Streets in Augusta on a sunny summer afternoon. Love that light and shadow!

Evening

Evening
9x12, acrylic on canvas
SOLD

My latest, another rooftop painting of a summer evening on Augusta's Sand Hill.

January Sunrise

January Sunrise
16x20, acrylic on canvas
SOLD

This is one I painted this past winter, and I set it aside for the longest time because for some reason, I didn't like it. I recently pulled it out and realized that the colors--especially that coral-orange sky--are lovely. I gave it a couple coats of varnish, and now the colors shine dramatically. I wish I could get a better photo, but the camera insists on turning the orange a slightly harsh hue. In real life, it's much better looking!

High Noon

High Noon

12x24, acrylic on canvas
NOT FOR SALE

Just finished this one, from a photo taken at midday on Lincoln Street in Lewiston. I've painted these houses before, but in winter, and from a different angle. I'm fascinated by the way they snuggle up close together, and I find the repetition of the roof lines visually appealing. I really enjoy doing these half-house paintings, and the narrow rectangular format is fun to work with. I did something a little bit different with this one. I wrapped the painting around three sides (left, right, and top), but painted the bottom edge the same blue I used for the shadows. It won't need to be framed, and as I'm all for saving money, I appreciate that. Framing is very expensive, and the wraparound paintings give me (or a potential buyer) the option of not having to go to the expense of framing it.

Moonlight Feels Right

Moonlight Feels Right

16x20, acrylic on gallery wrap canvas.
AVAILABLE

Here's my latest. The house is one I photographed on a recent road trip somewhere in the Bowdoin/Sabattus area. I wanted to do something different, and I love doing the coral-colored underpainting. It's been a while since I did one, and I decided to turn this one into a night painting, with clouds drifting across the face of the moon while warm light glows from every window of the old farmhouse. It's very different for me, more of an expressionistic style than my usual realism, but I like the result. The color really pops.

Commissioned House Portraits

Commissioned House Portrait

11x14, acrylic on gallery wrap canvas

SOLD

Commissioned House Portrait
11x14, acrylic on gallery wrap canvas
SOLD

Here are two of my recent commissioned house portraits. I love houses, and I really enjoy painting these!

Golden Hour, Augusta

Golden Hour, Augusta

12x16, acrylic on canvas
SOLD

The latest, another from the evening when I went out shooting the golden light of evening.

Rumford Blues Revisited

Rumford Blues
18x24, acrylic on canvas
SOLD

This is one I did in 2007 and was never satisfied with. The colors were off, the light source was confusing, and it just never worked for me. This morning, I finally pulled it out, stuck it on the easel, and went to work on it. I changed the light source, got rid of some of the darks and replaced them with off-whites, and basically reworked the entire color scheme of the houses. I think it's a much stronger painting now, and I finally don't hate it.