PAINTING THE LIGHT

Whimsical Fishies

2010-07-17T03:59:00.000-07:00

Whimsical Fishies
24x36, acrylics on canvas
AVAILABLE

This is an older painting that I did years ago. I've started to run out of space to store/hang my work, and as I create new paintings, some of the older ones have to go. I've decided to offer this for sale on Etsy and see what happens. It's huge--24 x 36--and certainly not what I'd call a "serious" painting (if such a thing exists). I painted it for fun, and because I love bright colors. Unfortunately, my camera does not seem to be able to capture certain shades, and the background color is a little off in this photo. The background is really beautiful, with streaks of blue and turquoise, a tad bit less green than in the photo. It has to be seen to be really appreciated.

I haven't done much painting lately, been too busy with other things, but hope to get back to it soon. Stay tuned!

Not Dead Yet

2010-07-06T08:37:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd write a blog post to notify my legions of fans (that was sarcasm, in case you've lived in a cave for the last ninety years and didn't recognize it) that I'm truly not dead. Haven't had much time for painting lately, but I've been collecting lots of photos to inspire me! I took this one yesterday. I believe this is chickory. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong. They grow in wild profusion on just about every empty gravel lot in this city, and I've been madly in love with them for years. You can't imagine how excited I was when we moved to this house four years ago and I discovered there were a couple plants growing wild in my yard. So far this year, there are only a couple of blossoms...nothing like this patch on the corner of Bridge and State Streets. But a very pretty blue nevertheless.

I hope to be posting new work soon, so stay tuned!

Afternoon Delight

2010-06-15T14:00:00.001-07:00

Afternoon Delight
11x14, acrylics on canvas
AVAILABLE

My latest. I passed this red house on a back road somewhere in Central Maine one afternoon last summer. I loved the clean lines and the contrast of the red paint against the green foliage. Hope you enjoy!

Commissioned House Portrait

2010-06-14T17:57:00.000-07:00

Commissioned House Portrait
11x14, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

This was done for my sister-in-law, as a Father's Day gift for her dad. Painted from an old black-and-white photo, this is his childhood home.

Triage

2010-06-10T17:04:00.000-07:00

Triage
6x12, acrylics on canvas
AVAILABLE

My latest effort. I've been a little obsessed lately with pink skies and telephone poles. This is just a little guy, 6x12 inches, loosely based on a photo I took near my home.

Paean

2010-06-05T03:44:00.001-07:00

Paean
10x20, acrylics on gallery wrap canvas
AVAILABLE

My latest. More of my obsession with sunsets. In this painting, the house is real; the setting is imaginary. For years, I've driven past this farm on the Maine Turnpike and have wanted to paint it. Getting a decent photo is a real challenge as I whiz past at highway speed. I love all those lovely geometric shapes, all those angles and the pattern of light and shadow that falls on them at certain times of day. In the real world, the background is a wall of trees. But because I wanted to accentuate the colors of the sunset sky, I decided this would be a winter scene with just a few trees scattered here and there. I think the effect works. The colors of the photo aren't exactly right. I cannot seem to capture the softness of the pinks with my digital camera. They come out looking slightly harsh and orangey, no matter how much editing I do. In real life, they're a much sweeter hue. Unfortunately, technology has its limitations.

Branches

2010-06-03T13:01:00.000-07:00

Branches

12x16, acrylics on gallery wrap canvas
SOLD

This is loosely based on a photo I took outside my back door a couple of winters ago, just as the sun was setting and the sky was transformed into something magical.

Wires

2010-06-03T09:12:00.001-07:00

Wires
8x8, acrylics on gallery wrap canvas
AVAILABLE

Here's the latest in the series I'm calling pinkies because of the pink sunset sky. Enjoy!

Goodnight, Moon

2010-06-02T14:23:00.001-07:00

Goodnight, Moon
8x8, acrylics on gallery wrap canvas
AVAILABLE

Another dusk/sunset painting. This is a teeny-weeny 8x8. These are so much fun to paint, and I just love blending the colors in the sky!

Stonington 1

2010-06-02T03:18:00.000-07:00

Stonington 1
20x20, acrylics on canvas

The latest painting, based on a photo I took in Stonington last weekend. What a gorgeous place!

Sonata

2010-05-31T14:49:00.000-07:00

Sonata
11x14, acrylics on canvas
AVAILABLE

These dusk paintings seem to be my newest obsession. Wonder how long it will last?

Sky Blue Pink

2010-05-29T04:02:00.001-07:00

Sky Blue Pink
20x10, acrylics on gallery wrap canvas
AVAILABLE

Something different.

I've been in the mood lately to experiment, and have been playing with color. Hence, the last couple of paintings. This one is prettier in real life. I don't know what I'm doing wrong with my photos, but sometimes they just don't do justice to a finished painting. Need to work on that. Meantime, I may do some more of these blended-sky works, just for the sheer fun of it. What do you think of the vertical orientation? Comments welcome.

New Etsy Shop - HeartShots

2010-05-26T11:33:00.001-07:00

"Crossing Over"
Digital Photo
AVAILABLE

Last summer, I set up a new Etsy shop just for my digital photography. Then I ran out of both steam and time, and I let it the empty shop sit, gathering dust, for nearly a year. I'm happy to announce that I've finally started moving my digital photos over from my Cityscapes shop to the new shop, HeartShots. I did this for a couple of reasons: first, I think it gets too messy and confusing when everything is jumbled together in one shop. Second, the digital photos tend to be overlooked when they're surrounded by so many paintings. So HeartShots was born to showcase my digital photos, while my paintings will still remain at CityscapesByBreton. I hope this will make it easier for online customers to find what they're looking for!

Cloudscape #1

2010-05-25T16:06:00.001-07:00

Cloudscape #1
11x14, acrylics on canvas
AVAILABLE

Something a little different. I'm in an experimental mood right now, and I've been itching to paint clouds. There's just something about them. Enjoy!

Leaving Campus

2010-05-19T14:28:00.001-07:00

Leaving Campus
10x10, acrylics on gallery wrap canvas
AVAILABLE

Today's painting. This is loosely based on a photo I took while leaving campus one afternoon this past winter. The sunrises and sunsets at UMA are vivid and amazing. I never tire of them.

Houses of Aroostook #3

2010-05-14T03:17:00.001-07:00

Houses of Aroostook, #3
12x12, acrylics on gallery wrap canvas
AVAILABLE

Whew! Finally got through the semester, finished both my courses, and got my daughter moved into her new place. Now I can get back to my painting and writing. The last few months have been a rocky ride, and I really need the de-stressing that painting gives me. This is the first time I've touched my paints and brushes since early March, but I suspect this summer will see quite a few new Breton paintings. Stay tuned!

Houses of Aroostook, #2

2010-03-02T11:55:00.001-08:00

Houses of Aroostook, #2

11x14, acrylics on canvas
AVAILABLE

The second in my planned series of houses I discovered while visiting Maine's Aroostook County this past Labor Day weekend. I photographed this old farm as it basked in the morning sun on the road that leads to Allagash. Wish I had more time to paint. Other obligations have slowed my painting to a trickle in the recent past. It was so nice to pull out my paints and play with them this weekend!

Bridge and Summer Streets, Winter

2010-01-31T15:52:00.001-08:00

Bridge and Summer Streets, Winter
11x14, acrylics on canvas
AVAILABLE

The first painting I've finished in a while. This is a corner of Augusta's West side historic district that I can't seem to stop painting, although previous versions were from a different angle, and in my past paintings, the yellow house was white. It got a new paint job this past summer.

September Sunrise

2009-12-12T11:34:00.000-08:00

September Sunrise
11x14, acrylics on canvas
AVAILABLE

This is the first painting I've done in a while. Hopefully, it won't be the last!

Houses of Aroostook, #1

2009-10-25T03:07:00.000-07:00

Houses of Aroostook, #1
11x14, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

I took many, many photos during our trip to Aroostook County on Labor Day weekend, and this is the first painting of a series that I call "Houses of Aroostook." This house sits against a backdrop of trees on the road that runs from Fort Kent to Allagash in extreme northern Maine. I loved its clean lines, and the way the sun was hitting it. I took photos from both directions, so be prepared to see another painting of this house at some point.

Phippsburg Congregational Church

2009-10-19T15:05:00.001-07:00

Phippsburg Congregational Church
11x14, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

Here is one of the commissions I painted this summer. I finally dare to show it, as it was a wedding gift for a couple who were married in this church in September. The Phippsburg Congregational Church, situated on a hill overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, has a long and illustrious history. The linden tree in front of it is very old, and apparently quite famous. The painting was commissioned by a friend of the bride. I'm sure the wedding must have been beautiful, and I wish the newlyweds a long and happy life together!

Pittsburg, NH

2009-10-03T07:59:00.000-07:00

Pittsburg, NH
16x20, acrylics on canvas
AVAILABLE

Just finished this one, from a photo I took on a trip to New Hampshire a couple of weeks ago. It was a beautiful day, and the foliage was starting to turn. I love fall, but I haven't painted many fall scenes. It's a little intimidating, trying to capture all those amazing colors.

The Forgotten One

2009-09-22T12:42:00.001-07:00

The Forgotten One
16x20, acrylics on canvas
AVAILABLE

This abandoned Sunoco station sits on a corner lot at a busy intersection in Lewiston. It's been empty for many years. I'm surprised that nobody has opened a new business there. The other three corners hold a convenience store and two drugstores, and all seem to be doing well.

Except for the two florals in July, this is the only painting I've done since May that wasn't a commission. There were several house portraits, a church portrait, and a landscape for a co-worker who's retiring. I finally sat down today and painted this. I feel as though I've been away for years! I spent most of the summer out on the roads with my camera, so I probably have enough raw material to keep me painting for the next twenty years. I can't say that I'm looking forward to winter, but I can say that I'll spend a good portion of it painting.

Truly Not Dead

2009-08-09T08:23:00.001-07:00

Commissioned House Portrait
16x20, acrylics on canvas

I'm truly not dead. This summer has been a whirlwind, for various reasons, and I've had little time or energy for painting. Since I got back from SOWA in May, I've only done a handful of paintings, and three of them were commissions. Just finished this one, which I have to say was a challenge. All those windows! And don't even get me started on trying to make the different shades of blue work together. But I believe the end result was worth all the angst. I really like this one, and I hope my customer will like it as well. Can I now get back to painting something for me? Time will tell. I still have one more commission to do, for a co-worker who's retiring, but I've been out for the past several days (now that summer has FINALLY gotten here and it's stopped raining...blech!) with my camera, so I should have some good new material to work with.

Day Lilies

2009-07-05T12:44:00.001-07:00

Day Lilies
12x12, acrylics on gallery wrap canvas

Another floral painting. Having great fun with color. And today, FINALLY, the sun has come back out full-force. It's about time, as I can't take much more of the gray gloom. Again, I painted this mostly with my fingers, although I did use a brush in a few places. Hope people are enjoying these colorful and fun paintings!

Still Alive

2009-07-04T06:33:00.001-07:00

Poppies
12x12, acrylics on gallery wrap canvas
Not For Sale

I've been sitting here in rainy Maine for the last, oh, four to six weeks, looking out the window at mostly gray, gloomy, drizzly skies. Every so often, we get a beautiful, sunny day, just to tease us. Then it goes back to ugly, monochromatic gray. I've desperately needed color, and it seems the only way I can get it these days is to paint it myself. But my landscapes don't generally have enough color to bring me out of a deep, gray funk, so this morning I decided to do something different: poppies. I painted this almost entirely with my fingers...only used a brush for the original background color (pale turquoise) and for the stems. There's just something so fulfilling about digging in and actually using my fingers in that paint while I create! The sun may not be shining outside my window, but indoors, things are getting h0t. Hope you enjoy!

Not Dead Yet

2009-06-24T05:36:00.000-07:00

Mountain Highway
2005, acrylics on canvas
18x24

Still no new paintings to post, but I thought I'd post a couple of oldies instead, just so you folks wouldn't think I was dead. I call this one Mountain Highway, and I painted it on a summer evening in 2005, by the light of a jerry-rigged lamp at the kitchen table in our camper while camping in Belfast, Maine. The scene was based on a photo I took on Route 26 between Errol, NH and Newry, ME. I believe the mountain is called Old Speck. If you're ever up that way, you should take a drive from Newry to Errol and then circle around to Gorham, NH. It's beautiful, wild country, abundant with wildlife (i.e., deer, moose, etc.).

Sisters
ca. 2000, acrylics on canvas
16x20

This is another of my early paintings, I call it Sisters, and it's a painting I did nearly ten years ago of our old neighborhood. Our house, in which we lived for sixteen years, is the one at the right. The lines are a little wonky, and the photo doesn't do it justice, as the colors are quite striking, with the sunlight running in bright yellow bands down the hilly front lawns.

Foggy Evening, Old Orchard Beach
2007, acrylics on canvas
12x24

This was an experiment, as I was trying to paint the OOB pier on a foggy night. I didn't like the way it came out, lived with it for a short time, and then painted over it.

Whew. In case you couldn't tell, I've been in a major painting slump. It hasn't helped that it's rained for nearly three weeks now, with only an occasional sunny day interspersed with all the doom and gloom. It's raining again today, and the forecast calls for rain, rain, and more rain, although we may see some sun in between raindrops during the next couple of days. One can only hope. I can take a day or two of rain, but when it rains like this, for weeks, it really gets me down, and I find myself unable to do anything but sit around and feel sorry for myself. Which is very unhealthy!

So this morning, I went downstairs, turned on the lights, and allowed myself to play with paint, which always restores my spirit. I really got into it, shoving my fingers into the gooey stuff and swiping it all over the canvas. I just love the way it feels on my hands. This painting is a commission, and a gift, so I can't say anything more about it publicly. But I'm excited to be painting ANYTHING at this point, and I have my sticky, paint-laden fingers crossed that it will please the giftee (Is that a real word?).

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Some Photos From Boston

2009-06-08T07:09:00.000-07:00

Just a few photos from yesterday's trip to Boston. The Beacon Hill Art Walk was fabulous, but we walked our legs off. Up and down, zigging and zagging all over the Hill, over crooked and buckling brick sidewalks. The artwork was beautiful, amazing, invigorating, inspiring, so much to see! So many different styles! I discovered a few artists I really liked, and scooped up their business cards, but since I got home at 10:45 last night and had to work this morning, I haven't had time to look any of them over yet. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and the sunlight and shadows all over the Hill were spectacular. Got a chance to chat again with Sean Flood, who I blogged about after the SOWA Art Walk, and to enjoy his wonderful paintings again. We also got the chance to walk all over the city, which I always enjoy doing, but the walking is tough on this out-of-shape old lady!

We also stopped by The Trident Booksellers & Cafe on Newbury Street, near Mass Ave, where JJ Long has a solo exhibit hanging right now. I think his exhibit will only be up for another week, so if you're in the Boston area, now is the time to stop in and check out JJ's work. I love realism, and JJ's brand of realism just sings!

I didn't get to take as many photos of the city as I'd hoped, and I was carrying my hubby's small camera instead of my new one (which is pretty bulky for carrying around all day), but I'm hoping I got two or three photos that would make good paintings. I've only done one painting since I got back from SOWA three weeks ago, and I'm starting to itch to pick up a brush. So stay tuned; new paintings will be posted within the week.

Happy Monday, everyone!

Beacon Hill Art Walk

2009-06-04T04:18:00.000-07:00

Copley Square, Boston
December, 2006

This Sunday, my sister-in-law and I are headed to Boston on the Amtrak Downeaster to visit the Beacon Hill Art Walk. This art exhibit I'll be seeing as a visitor, and not as a participant. It will be different from any kind of art exhibit I've ever visited; artists and musicians will be set up in the private back gardens and yards of Beacon Hill homes. These are places the public doesn't usually get to see, so it will be a real treat, not just looking at the art, but getting glimpses into the private homes and lives of Beacon Hill residents.

The weather report is promising, and although I sometimes have trouble climbing (and this is, of course, Beacon Hill), I plan to pace myself so that I can see all the art I'm hoping to see. There will be many artists there whose work I've never seen, as well as some whose work I admire: Sean Flood, who I mentioned in an earlier post, will be exhibiting there, and so will Jen Matson, a Boston photographer whose work I've been admiring for several years now. The day promises to be tiring, but fun.

It's been a while since I went down on the train, and now that they've finally put BENCHES in North Station (what a novel idea, to provide seating for the hundreds of people waiting to board the trains...), I'm looking forward to it. It does make for a long day, though. The train arrives back in Portland a little after nine p.m. on Sunday night, and I still have a 60-mile drive to get home from there. Plus, I have to work Monday morning. But I'm sure the trip will be worth any fatigue I'll experience.

The city of Boston energizes me in a way nothing else does. And I plan to bring my camera, so that I can take some cityscape photos which I hope will turn into future paintings!

Just Had to Do It

2009-05-27T17:55:00.001-07:00

Nightfall
9x12, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

I couldn't resist. I just had to commit this one to canvas. Yes, the color is exaggerated a tad, but that's pretty standard for me. No houses in this one; just the road, the trees, and that amazing sunset.

Update

2009-05-27T04:58:00.000-07:00

Night Approaches
Digital Photo, taken with a Canon Powershot SX10
AVAILABLE

No new paintings this week. Between the long holiday weekend and other matters, things have been so hectic that I haven't had time to pick up a paintbrush. But I thought I'd share a photo I took on Saturday evening as the sun was setting. I may paint this someday. I love the bands of color in the sky.

After a few days of recuperation from the Art Walk, on Memorial Day I drove to Ellsworth, near Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park, and dropped off a few paintings and some prints at a little place called The Rock and Art Shop. It's on Route 1A a few miles out of Ellsworth toward Bangor. If you happen to be traveling Down East, I'd recommend you stop in. It's small place, but it's packed with a ton of amazing stuff! Among other things, there are visual arts, gems and rocks and semi-precious stones, jewelry, awesome metal sculptures of dinosaurs (I took one in trade for a painting at the end of last season), equally awesome metal sculptures of adorable bugs (yes, I did use the words "adorable" and "bugs" in the same sentence...if you don't believe me, drive down there yourself and check it out!). Annette and her family will be showing and selling my paintings there all season, and I have my fingers crossed that we'll do well. In the meantime, since I just depleted the supply in my Etsy shop, looks like I'd better get back to the easel!

I foresee a busy summer ahead. I've added all the regional art shows to my datebook, and I'm going to try to visit as many of them as I can. I love looking at art almost as much as I love creating it, and here in Northern New England, summer brings a wide variety of sidewalk art shows and festivals and fairs. Then, of course, there are the galleries. Oh, the galleries! While I was in Ellsworth on Monday, I drove over to Acadia so I could go up to the summit of Mount Cadillac and get some photos. I swung through Bar Harbor in search of an ATM, and while I was there, I must have counted six or seven galleries. And those are just the ones I saw as I breezed through town. Looking deep into my crystal ball, I foresee a day very soon when I'll be driving down and spending a day in Bar Harbor, checking out the galleries and the awesome specialty shops. Maybe I'll have lunch at some cute little restaurant with a view of the water.

And maybe return with some inspiration for my artwork.

I'm also planning (weather permitting) to check out the Beacon Hill Art Walk in Boston on June 7. From what I understand, it's a sort of art/music/secret garden tour, where the artists are actually set up in the private back gardens of Beacon Hill residents (which of course are not generally open to the public). So not only will visitors get a chance to look at some beautiful art and listen to local musicians, but they'll also be afforded a special glimpse into the private lives of the residents of Beacon Hill. It sounds wonderful...except for the climbing. I don't do well with hills. But I plan to pace myself, and only visit as much of the exhibit as I can easily manage. While I'm in Boston, I also plan to check out the Trident Booksellers and Cafe on Newbury Street, where J.J. Long is having an exhibit. I wasn't able to get there while Jen and I were in Boston last week for the Art Walk; there just wasn't enough time. But I really want to see J.J.'s work again, especially since he wasn't able to make SOWA this year. He's a very talented artist from the Boston area, and I always look forward to seeing his new work in person.

So as you can see, I've been busy, and it looks as though that will continue for the next little while. Stay tuned for new paintings...hopefully by the end of this week! And happy summer, everyone. After a long, cold, and snowy winter, I am PSYCHED!!!!

SOWA Art Walk/Boston Photos

2009-05-19T02:48:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful time at the Art Walk! Met a lot of nice people, saw a ton of amazing art, and I discovered a couple of artists, both new to me, whose work just blew me away. Check out SEAN FLOOD. There's a link to his website at right under artists I admire. Wow! This guy is about two years older than my daughter, and his paintings are amazing. The photos on his website, while great, just don't do them justice. These are big paintings, and you need to see them in person. I wish I had a tenth of his talent!

I also really liked the work of JAMES MUSTIN (also a link at right). His paintings speak to me. They're very urban, very understated. Sort of industrial looking. Water towers. Utility poles. Sharp-edged buildings. Simple backgrounds. Wow. Love his stuff!!

We saw lots and lots of dogs (on Saturday, it seemed as though every other person there had brought their dog!), and on Sunday afternoon, I sold six paintings. Woo-hoo! We will definitely do this again next year. The only thing I'd do differently is that next time, I'm staying in the city. The back-and-forth was too tiring. Even though the hotel we stayed at was only about ten miles out, it felt more like a hundred.

Now, for the fun part: the photos!

Friday afternoon. Headed back to Portland after setting up. The Tobin Bridge, perennially under construction.

Heading in on Saturday morning.

I take photos of blue doorways...

...while Jen takes photos of red chimneys!

Outside 560 Harrison Avenue on Saturday morning. We were waiting for them to unlock the doors so we could get in. I believe the booths in the parking lot are vendors who set up there every weekend during the summer. There was a hot dog and french fry stand that did a whopping business. They ran out of french fries around 4:00 on Saturday afternoon and had to replenish their supply for Sunday.

Our setup, left wall. The venue was a former office building, so most of us had our own little rooms. We quickly discovered the pros and cons of that kind of setup. At least I was able to hang all the paintings I brought. This photo's a little blurry. Please excuse!

Right wall.

Original Saturday setup.

Jen had two photo posters on the front wall by the table, her laptop running a photo slide show, and her prints on the table. Her large framed posters were on the wall beside the door. People would come in to look at my paintings, then turn around to leave and see Jen's posters, and dismiss them without bothering to look. They seemed like an afterthought, and the people who like to look at photography instead of paintings weren't coming in because the posters weren't visible from outside the door.

So on Sunday morning, I decided to do a little rearranging.
This is Jen standing in front of the table Sunday morning.

We moved Jen's big framed posters to the front wall to the right of my paintings, moved her sign over there, too, to identify her and separate her stuff from mine, moved a few paintings to the outside wall where Jen's posters had been, and put her laptop on a small TV table in the corner, by itself, where it didn't get lost among all the other stuff on the table. This display drew in more people who were interested in photography than we'd seen on Saturday. Jen got a lot of positive comments, people really liked her work, and she made a sale that I'm not sure would have happened if we hadn't changed things around so people could actually see her work.

And a fun time was had by all.

Headed home! Sunday night sunset, taken from a gas station on Route 1 in Peabody. Jen took this out the window while we were fueling up for the trip home.

It was a great experience, but I have to say I'm glad to be home!

Off to Boston for the SOWA Art Walk

2009-05-15T01:34:00.000-07:00

Jen and I are headed off this morning to my favorite place -- Boston -- for the SOWA Art Walk. We'll set up today, spend a few hours in the city, then drive back to Portland to spend tonight at Jen's place. Tomorrow morning we'll head back down for the weekend. If anybody reading this is in the area this weekend, I urge you to stop by SOWA. Free parking, free admission, and so much art you can't possibly see it all in one day. For more information, here's the link to the SOWA website.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Oh, and Deb...in answer to your recent question: INTP.

:)

Liquid Gold

2009-05-11T02:58:00.001-07:00

Liquid Gold
5x7, gouache on watercolor paper
NOT FOR SALE

Thought I'd try something different, so I picked up a gouache student starter set yesterday with one of those wonderful A.C. Moore 40% off coupons. This is my first work in gouache. It's an interesting medium, very much like watercolor, but with more vivid colors and better tinting strength. I like its fluidity! I'll probably continue working with it, and eventually will replace those student paints with artist-quality ones. If I can get this good a result with student paints, I can't wait to see what I can do with professional quality gouache.

This little painting will be going with me to SOWA this weekend. Only four days left! By this time on Friday, I'll be on my way to Boston for the weekend. Still have some last-minute stuff to do, but the biggest part of the preparation is winding down. I can't wait for the weekend!

Love That Dirty Water

2009-05-07T03:35:00.000-07:00

Love that Dirty Water
6x12, acrylics on canvas
AVAILABLE

Another Boston skyline. Again, the colors are a little off. The buildings are actually a slightly softer shade. This is a teeny-tiny one, just 6x12 inches. I'm having great fun experimenting with color.

Emerald City

2009-05-06T14:47:00.000-07:00

Emerald City
12x24, acrylics on gallery wrap canvas
AVAILABLE

No matter how hard I try, I can't make my camera capture accurate colors for this one. The buildings are actually a soft teal; the sky, and the water, pale purple and pink. The painting is much nicer in real life. This is Boston's Back Bay skyline, based on a five-year-old photo. This means that there have undoubtedly been changes since then, as Boston's skyline is an ever-evolving work in progress. In between preparing for next weekend's Art Walk (also an ever-evolving work in progress), I've been painting when I could, deviating from my usual style, experimenting with something a little different. Stepping outside my comfort zone. I have a thing for skylines, possibly born of living my entire life in a place without a skyline (unless you count treetops...or Key Bank downtown, which I believe has seven floors). Boston's skyline in particular excites me, because it happens to be my favorite place on this earth (Since I haven't done any interplanetary travel, I can't vouch for the entire galaxy, but on Planet Earth, it's definitely my favorite place). I wanted to do something soft and moody, a little wispy and vague, with very little detail, and I believe I accomplished my goal. This will be going with me to Boston next weekend for the Art Walk if it doesn't sell first. Time is getting short, but most of my prep work is done. Aside from cleaning out the car trunk, which still has my beach chairs and umbrellas from the summer before last, I pretty much have everything done. Anything I paint between now and then will go with me, but the rest of them are wrapped and boxed and ready to roll. Sure hope I sell something...nail-biting time, as hubby is starting to make noises about all the money I've spent to get ready and will be spending while I'm there. It would be nice to make back something, if only to prove a point to him! To be fair, he's been very supportive of my fledgling art business.

ADDENDUM: Maybe I spoke a little too soon. I carted this one upstairs last night and showed it to hubby (aka Mr. Supportive). He looked at it, nodded his head, and said, "So that's the one you're working on?" When I confirmed that it was the one I'd spent several hours working on, he looked at it again and asked, "Is it done?"

Sigh.

Gardiner, Late Afternoon

2009-05-03T16:40:00.001-07:00

Gardiner, Late Afternoon
8x10, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

A cluster of buildings in downtown Gardiner lit by the lowering sun on a warm May afternoon. I love the warm glow of the brick.

Munjoy Afternoon, or, The Painting That Almost Wasn't

2009-04-28T03:34:00.000-07:00

Munjoy Afternoon
16x20, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

This is also known as The Painting That Almost Wasn't. You can't see it in the photo, but directly behind the attic window in the house at the right front, there's a tear in the canvas, caused on Sunday morning by my incessant clumsiness. I was carrying masonite painting panels and the top one slid off and its sharp corner sliced right through the upright canvas on the easel, causing a puncture wound I feared was fatal. I had spent many hours already on this painting, and it was only about a third done. For a day, I wrestled with a dilemma: toss the painting (and lose all those hours I'd worked), or mend it and keep going. I opted to keep going. I put masking tape on the back, smoothed out the front, added another coat of blue paint, and then decided to camouflage the whole thing by adding another window on top of it. Good old Payne's Gray will cover a multitude of sins. The painting was saved. If I do end up taking it to the Art Walk in Boston, I'll offer it at a discount because of the injury. If it doesn't sell, I'll keep it and hang it in my house, as it's one that I really like.

Life. It's what happens while you're making other plans.

April Afternoon in Mexico

2009-04-20T16:02:00.001-07:00

April Afternoon in Mexico
16x20, acrylics on canvas
AVAILABLE

Mid-April in the tiny town of Mexico, Maine. We have a very international flavor here in Maine. Just up the road from Mexico lies Peru. A little farther south are Norway, Oxford, and Paris. If you drive through Augusta headed east, you'll probably pass through China. The Scandinavian countries are represented by Denmark and Sweden. And we can't forget Poland and Naples. There's a famous signpost in Western Maine that points to all these towns. You've probably seen it on a postcard a time or two.

All of which has nothing whatsoever to do with this post, so let's get down to business. This house, sitting alongside Route 17 in Mexico, caught my attention as I was driving past last week. I liked the way the strong afternoon sunlight hit it, liked the dormer across the front (side? back?) and the way the house sits a tad below street level.

Beaver Pond in April

2009-04-19T05:57:00.000-07:00

Beaver Pond in April
8x10, acrylics on canvas
AVAILABLE

In the wilderness of Western Maine, Route 17 runs from Rangeley to Rumford, crossing the Appalachian Trail at the route's apex. Not far from that spot, this small body of water, known as Beaver Pond, lies in the shadow of distant blue mountains, waiting for spring to arrive. In mid-April, ice still covers its entire length, but the bluish color of that ice tells the true story, that spring is just around the corner.

April Afternoon, Route 17

2009-04-16T16:43:00.001-07:00

April Afternoon, Route 17
11x14, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

This farmhouse sits in the middle of a huge field on Route 17, the scenic route that runs between Rangeley and Rumford, Maine. I caught it at the time of day when the lowering afternoon sun cast velvet shadows that enhanced its beauty.

Hill Houses

2009-04-14T02:53:00.001-07:00

Hill Houses
11x14, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

My latest effort. This one took a few hours; lots of detail, and after my last fatal attempt at a painting that couldn't be resuscitated, I wanted this one to be something I really liked. These houses sit on the backside of Sand Hill, where the morning sun hits them early in the day and causes all kinds of wonderful light and shadow patterns.

Moonset

2009-04-10T02:55:00.000-07:00

Moon Setting Over Al's House

No new paintings to post this morning, but I thought I'd share these images I caught this morning as the moon was setting. I got a whole series; these are two of the better ones. It's difficult to get photos in dark light without blurring, even with a tripod. Just pressing the shutter release causes movement.

I did get up at 4 and start a new painting this morning, but so far, I'm not impressed with it. Most of them go through an ugly stage, but this one seems uglier than most. I may end up surprising myself; often, a painting so ugly I want to toss it without finishing turns out perfectly acceptable. Others start out ugly and stay that way. I've had a few failed paintings. I just consider it a learning experience.

Tarnished Queen

2009-04-09T03:08:00.001-07:00

Tarnished Queen
8x10, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

This old trailer sits on Route 3 between Augusta and Belfast. I've been driving past it for years, and it holds tremendous appeal for me; it reminds me of the old trailers I remember from my childhood. I've always had a special fondness for these old relics, possibly because I spent so many years of my life living in trailers. None of them were as old as this one, though!

A1 Diner - Digital Photo

2009-04-08T05:59:00.001-07:00

A1 Diner
8x10 or 5x7, Digital photo
AVAILABLE

No new paintings this week; work has been hectic and I'm going home at night too exhausted to do anything. Plus, I spent a big chunk of the weekend working on taxes. Ugh. Saturday is looking like one more tax day. Hope to finish them then. Maybe after that, I can get back to painting. She said hopefully.

Meanwhile, here's a digitally-manipulated photo I took recently with my new Canon camera. In my spare time (what's that?) I'm having great fun taking photos and playing around with imaging software. Since I'm now officially Poor White Trash and can't afford Photoshop, I'm using a combination of two free programs: Picasa and Gimp. Picasa is pretty basic, but Gimp, I'm told, can do pretty much anything Photoshop can do. Or it would, if I only knew how to use it! Baby steps. That's what I have to practice. I've also been matting prints for next month's Artwalk in Boston, but I'd like to get a few more paintings done to take with me. I'm also starting to list photo prints, like the above one, in my Etsy shop. Too much to do, too little time, even less energy.

All I can say is, I hope summer arrives soon. Life should be a little easier then.

Yellow House, March

2009-03-30T02:24:00.001-07:00

Yellow House, March
11x14, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

I was hoping for a nice weekend so I could go out with my Canon SX-10 and get some nice shots. Alas, the weatherman lied. Saturday, which should have been sunny and in the high fifties, was cold and raw and gloomy. Sunday was even worse. I went out anyway, cruising the back roads in search of something to paint. I'm not even sure where this house was; somewhere on Route 105 or 220 between Camden and Washington. In other words, out in the the boonies. It's beautiful country, lots of old farmhouses and fields. In better weather, I'm going back. I got almost no shots coming back from Camden because it was raining, and it's nearly impossible to shoot through the windshield with the wipers on. In Appleton, I saw a big flock of turkeys, and stopped to take a few shots, but they came out blurry because of the rain and the wipers. They used to be nearly extinct here in Maine, but in the last twenty years, the wild turkey population in Maine has skyrocketed. Now they're everywhere. I've even seen them in my driveway, and I live almost across the street from Barnes & Noble. On the other hand, we also have woodchucks, foxes, deer, and a wide assortment of birds, so I guess the turkeys were inevitable.

Hard Drive Update

2009-03-18T04:20:00.001-07:00

There's good news and good news. The good news is that my awesome former son-in-law, Rob, has managed to save my 40,000 photos and god-knows-how-many mp3 files. The other good news is that I bought a 500 gig hard drive for $99 at Best Buy, and Rob is going to install it and get the computer back up and running. Do I need to mention that he's my hero?

Now that I've spent all my spare time dealing with computer issues, looks like I should probably get back to painting....

New Mills Winter

2009-03-13T13:21:00.001-07:00

New Mills Winter
11x14, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

This is a scene straight out of my childhood. The building on the right, currently an apartment building, used to be New Mills School, where I attended first and second grades many, many years ago. The blank front used to have two doors, as every proper schoolhouse used to have. Behind those doors, permeated by the smell of wet wool on winter mornings, were two cloakrooms that opened to the downstairs classrooms. Times change, and most of the older schools like this one have been closed down. At least the building is being utilized instead of dying of neglect. I liked this school.

Lost My Hard Drive

2009-03-12T07:14:00.001-07:00

This has not been a good week for me. In addition to being on crazy deadlines at the day job, my cell phone died on Friday and I had to replace it on Saturday. Then, last night when I got home from work, my computer was flashing a message saying:

HARD DISK FAILURE IMMINENT! YOU SHOULD BACK UP YOUR FILES AND TAKE YOUR COMPUTER TO THE REPAIR SHOP FOR A NEW HARD DRIVE.

OMG.

I know zilch about these things, but I tried to follow directions and back it up to the backup drive, but of course that would only hold about a tenth of what's on my hard drive. I then tried "restore." The computer rebooted and my desktop was still there, but since I didn't dare to play around with it, I shut it down and called my daughter, who suggested I run to Best Buy and pick up an external hard drive and try to save my photos and music to it before the computer died completely. So I ran to Best Buy and bought the external drive (my credit cards are taking a real beating this week). But I shouldn't have shut down the computer, because it wouldn't boot back up. I could get to the DOS menu with the screaming message about the IMMINENT FAILURE. But Windows would not come up. It would just sit there loading, and loading, and loading, but never getting anywhere. So I now have the external drive and my photo printer attached to my laptop (thank God I still have that!) and my poor desktop unit is waiting until I can afford to take it to the shop where, hopefully, they can salvage my 40,000 photos and nearly 1,000 mp3 music files.

I am quite impressed by my own ability not to panic. Many of the photos I took on my long drives, photos I eventually might have used for paintings. Not a big deal; I can always take more long drives with my camera. There's no shortage of available material for paintings. It's the personal stuff I'm concerned with: photos of the grandchildren on holidays, photos of camping trips, four or five years of digital photos we've taken. And of course, there's my entire iTunes library which represents not only the music I love, but hundreds of dollars I invested, paying for those songs.

Sigh.

Looks like I've learned a hard lesson: always back up everything one way or another.

February Dawn

2009-03-10T18:00:00.001-07:00

February Dawn

11x14, acrylics on canvas
AVAILABLE

Early morning on I-295. The mood is blue, but tiny threads of pink are woven into the sky. Just finished this one tonight. I wanted to do something a little bit different, and I've been eyeing the original photo since I took it back in early February.

UPDATE - Red House, Chapel Street

2009-03-09T09:46:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: Last night (3/8/09) there was a bad fire at the white house in the center of this painting. It spread to the red house and there was some damage there, as well. Fortunately, everybody escaped safely, but there's no word yet on the fate of the houses. I drove by on my lunch hour today, and the white house looked really bad. Probably a total loss. The red one appeared to only have external damage. How sad!

Winter, Linden Street

2009-03-08T17:45:00.000-07:00

Winter, Linden Street
8x10, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

Today's painting. Looking across Bangor Street, near the Tim Horton's parking lot, this is actually the back side of these houses. The blue one has always fascinated me.

Winter Afternoon, Bridge Street

2009-03-06T13:18:00.001-08:00

Winter Afternoon, Bridge Street
12x12, acrylics on canvas
NOT FOR SALE

Finished!

Painting in Progress

2009-03-06T03:45:00.001-08:00

WORK IN PROGRESS
Working Title: Winter, Bridge Street
12x12, acrylics on canvas

This is what's on my easel right now. Bridge Street on a winter afternoon, looking toward the intersection with busy State Street. This street marks the border of Augusta's historic district, not far from where I used to live. Years ago, when my son was in junior high school, one of his friends lived in the house with the sunporch. It was light green then, but it was painted white a few years ago.

I was up until 11:00 last night, working on this. Urgh. Now I have to work all day, then drive sixty miles each way to have dinner with my daughter. By the time I get home, I'll be half-dead. Thank God tomorrow is Saturday. Of course, I'll be up at the crack of dawn anyway, because I'll want to get back to this painting.

It's coming along nicely. I still need to add the trees and the power lines, and do a little bit of detail work here and there. But I can already tell that this is going to be one of my favorites. It's just flooded with light!

Washday

2009-03-02T17:15:00.001-08:00

Washday
8x10, acrylics on canvas
NOT FOR SALE

Here's the new one. I had a snow day today, but kept busy with other things and didn't get around to painting until late afternoon. This is a house in Livermore that I snapped a photo of a couple of years ago. Finally got around to painting it.

I also have news today. I have opened a second Etsy shop called CityscapesbyBreton. I wanted a shop that not only had my name in it, but that was more descriptive of what I actually do. I've moved most of my original paintings over to the new shop. I intend to keep ViridianArt open, but will sell mostly prints there. I just felt that it was time for a change. It will be interesting to see how it works out.

Three Houses, Winter

2009-02-28T18:28:00.001-08:00

Three Houses, Winter

8x10, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

Here's the latest. I had trouble photographing the sides of the white houses because the small amount of yellow kept coming out mustardy. Finally had to add another layer of yellowish-white, and then I was able to photograph them properly. My camera is very picky about certain colors, especially yellow. Sometimes, even if there are several layers of another color over the yellow, what the camera picks up is that yellow underpainting. It's very strange.

Canton Morning

2009-02-28T13:36:00.001-08:00

Canton Morning
9x12, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

I've painted this farm before, because I can't seem to resist it, sitting against a sturdy row of trees at the end of a long field near the highway in tiny little Canton, Maine. No matter what time of day I drive by, the sun is always hitting the house and barn at an angle that makes for fascinating geometric shadow shapes.

Morning Light, UMA

2009-02-28T09:00:00.001-08:00

Morning Light, UMA
16x20, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

This is a painting I did a couple of years ago and I decided it needed revamping. The sky was a wishy-washy shade of blue, so I repainted it with brighter, more vivid colors. I think it greatly improved the painting.

Munjoy Morning

2009-02-26T19:22:00.001-08:00

Munjoy Morning
9x12, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

The latest. A typical scene on Portland's Munjoy Hill, as the morning sun rising out of Casco Bay just begins to illuminate the housetops.

Homage

2009-02-25T03:27:00.000-08:00

Homage
11x14, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

I stayed up way too late last night finishing this one, and today I'm paying the price. This is a story from my past; when I was five years old, I lived in the little red house. My mother's dear friend, Mrs. Dorr, lived in the white one. It was an odd friendship; they were dear friends for many, many years, yet they never called each other by their first names; they always referred to each other as Mrs. Dorr and Mrs. Runnells. They would sit together at the kitchen table on hot summer days, drinking tall glasses of unsweetened iced tea and smoking cigarettes. Mrs. Dorr smoked Salems, filtered; my mom smoked unfiltered Pall Malls. Both women are long gone now, but I like to think of this painting as homage to a couple of pretty amazing ladies!

January Sunrise

2009-02-23T09:11:00.001-08:00

January Sunrise
8x24, acrylics on canvas
AVAILABLE

Another new one, this painted from a photo I took earlier this winter as the sun rose over the UMA parking lot. I'm tired of winter, tired of snow (we got more than a foot last night), but I have to admit that winter scenes have a certain charm that's missing from summer paintings.

Winter Dusk

2009-02-23T06:16:00.001-08:00

Winter Dusk
11x14, acrylics on canvas
AVAILABLE

My latest. Snow day today! So I came downstairs early and painted this before breakfast. I caught this big old farmhouse on Route 3 somewhere between Augusta and Belfast just as the last light of day was tinting the windows.

Back Bay Sunset

2009-02-19T17:20:00.000-08:00

Back Bay Sunset

16x20, acrylics on canvas
AVAILABLE

A sunset view of Boston's Back Bay from the Route 1 exit ramp that winds in a terrifying circle between I-93 and the Tobin Bridge. Note that the old John Hancock building is reflected in the mirrored side of the Hancock Tower.

Road to UMA

2009-02-18T15:22:00.001-08:00

Road to UMA
11x14, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

My latest. I'm getting tired of painting snow scenes, tired of the cold wind and the sloppy roads. I'm ready for summer, and this is my ode to summers past. I painted this in a slightly different style than my usual, with the light and shadow flowing in a loose and more watery manner. I wish my digital camera did a better job of displaying color properly; in real life, the bright and dark contrasts in this painting are so intense they just pop. It jumps off the wall at you from all the way across the room and beckons you to come closer.

Munjoy Shadows

2009-02-16T10:29:00.001-08:00

Munjoy Shadows
9x12, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

I took a trip to Portland yesterday, and spent some time exploring Munjoy Hill. I love the neighborhood, with its old houses crowded so close together. It was mid-morning, and the sunlight was peeking in around all the wonderful geometric shapes. It made for interesting photos and, I believe, an interesting painting.

Downtown With School Bus

2009-02-14T12:14:00.000-08:00

Downtown With School Bus
9x12, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

Here's how I spent Valentine's Day. I took this photo more than a year ago, and I've been wanting to paint it forever. I decided today was the day. This is early morning light in downtown Augusta at the intersection of Water, Bridge, and Cony Streets. We have such a beautiful downtown area, with all those nineteenth-century brick buildings, that it's a real shame that so much business has moved away from downtown and out to the malls. When I was a kid, downtown Augusta was thriving.

SOWA Art Walk

2009-02-12T10:19:00.001-08:00

I just got some good news. My daughter and I are both participating in the SOWA Art Walk in Boston on May 16 and 17 (she's a photographer). It will be our first art show, and they told us we could share space, so we'll be able to keep each other company and provide each other with moral support. We first heard about the show last year from an online artist friend, J.J. Long, who lives in the Boston area and is an amazing painter. If you get a chance, you should check out his work! Jen and I drove down last year to see J.J. and check out all the amazing art. The Art Walk is held in Boston's South End. SOWA stands for South of Washington Street, a growing arts district where a number of old mill buildings (and a few new buildings) have been converted to artist studios. The artists open their studios to the public, and other artists from all around New England are given space in the public area to display and sell their work. There are of course, visual arts (paintings, photos, etc.), as well as glass art, jewelry, textiles, ceramics, leather work, and pretty much any kind of art you can imagine. The only downside I can see to participating is that we won't get to spend hours going through all those studios, looking at the art! But I'm really excited about it.

This will involve spending two nights in Boston. I went online to look for hotel reservations and discovered that the average prices for that weekend were in the $350-400-a-night range. Even for Boston, that's ridiculously high. Then I realized it was because this must be college graduation weekend, when a deluge of parents and friends flood the city to attend all those commencements (the greater Boston area has a trillion colleges and universities). So the hotels jack up the prices because they know they can get it. What a racket! Even the dumpy place we stayed a couple of years ago (for $99, I might add) when we went to see Bon Jovi (the bathroom didn't have a real door, and the headboard was falling off the wall) is asking $255 a night for that particular weekend! So I booked us a room at a Hampton Inn north of the city for $129 a night. Quite a difference! I had hoped to be in the city, but I suppose we don't have to spend time at the hotel except when we're sleeping. And it's a decent place for the price; we stayed there last summer for another Bon Jovi concert, and the hotel had a gym and an indoor pool and wifi and a buffet breakfast, all of them free. Now I have three months to paint like crazy so I'll actually have something to take with me. And I'm hoping to sell enough paintings between now and May to cover the cost of the hotel, as my credit card balance is already higher than I'd like.

Can't wait for May!

Here's a link to the Art Walk site: http://www.sowaartwalk.com/

Chinatown Shadows

2009-02-08T05:10:00.000-08:00

Chinatown Shadows
8x10, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

Another new 8x10. I really like doing these smaller paintings because I can finish them in a single session, and they're small enough to fit on my scanner, so the images are much more accurate than the ones I get with my digital camera. I saw this scene in Boston's Chinatown last Sunday when Jen and I were down there for Chinese New Year. I loved the way the afternoon sun on the yellow building made it pop against all those shadows.

Maine Farmhouse in Winter

2009-02-07T13:23:00.000-08:00

Maine Farmhouse in Winter

8x10, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

Here's the latest, a small landscape painting of a Maine farmhouse in winter. I don't remember the exact location, but the photo was taken on a trip to Bangor about a month ago. I think I like painting these little guys!

No New Paintings Today

2009-02-05T09:40:00.001-08:00

No new paintings today, but I thought I'd put up a new picture of David, which as usual I stole from his mom's MySpace page. He's getting so big! Standing up in his playpen, crawling all over the house, sitting up, and getting into everything in sight. He's even starting to eat some regular people food along with his baby food. They grow so fast, I wish I could have more time with him.

I think I'm going to take Debra's advice (I suspect Debra is the only person who reads this blog, but I'm going to pretend that there are more of you out there) and start doing smaller paintings. See how they sell. If I want to stay in business, I need to be flexible, so I'm willing to try something new and see how it flies. Time to make a visit to the art store!

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

2009-02-03T05:26:00.000-08:00

It's been a rough start to the year. I lost my sister two weeks ago, unexpectedly, although she was nearly twenty years older than me and in poor health, so it wasn't a total shock. But losing someone is never easy, even when it's not totally unexpected. We hadn't spent as much time together in the last couple of years as we used to. I've been so busy, and she had mobility problems, so getting together took more effort and planning than it used to. But when we did get together, we always had so much fun, taking long drives (especially to the ocean) and eating out. She was one of a kind, and my life won't be the same without her. I miss you, Sis!

On the painting front, I'm starting to feel a little bit discouraged. Sales are moving slowly. As in, pretty much not moving at all. I have a number of paintings listed at Etsy, and I've had exactly one sale there (Hi, Deb!) in the last sixty days. I've been listing new items and re-listing old ones, but no bites. I hadn't listed at eBay since before Christmas, but I moved four items over there from Etsy a few days ago. All four auctions ended this morning, with several watchers but no sales. I'm spending more money in eBay fees than I'm making. So this morning, I cancelled my eBay store. I still plan to sell there, but I can't justify paying the monthly fee for a store when I'm not bringing in any money from it. The listing fees are bad enough with no sales, but adding the store fee on top of those makes no sense. No matter how you look at it, that's a loss. I know it's this lousy economy. So I decided to slash prices in my Etsy store, and now most everything there is listed at half of what I was trying to sell it for before. We'll see if that makes a difference.

I'm so torn. I can undervalue my work, sell it so low I'm pretty much giving it away, and I'll have sales. Not a lot of sales, but I'll have sales. But if I list it for anywhere near what I believe it's worth, the sales just aren't there. I don't want to give away my work. On the other hand, if I want to keep on painting, with the cost of supplies and the lack of space for hanging them in my house, I have to sell. So I guess for the time being, until the economy improves, my philosophy will be that selling anything, even at a low price, is better than selling nothing. At least my work will be seen, and I'll continue to build a following.

She said hopefully.

The good news is that I did sell a painting this week to a local chiropractor and his wife, and they plan to hang it in his downtown office, plus they want me to do a commission of downtown for them, also for the office. So I'm not at a standstill, just a slowdown. This past Sunday, my daughter Jennifer and I went to Boston for Chinese New Year. I took hundreds of photos, and I'm hoping I may get a painting or two out of them. It was a nice break from the usual humdrum winter routine, and both of us needed the lift. We don't get as many days together as we'd like, because we're both working full-time and we live sixty miles apart in snowy Maine. But we try to always make it to Boston for the Chinese New Year celebration. It's the highlight of my year, with the dancing dragons, the bright colors, the firecrackers, and all the commotion!

Gables

2009-01-27T14:47:00.001-08:00

Gables
12x12, acrylics on canvas
NOT FOR SALE
(this one has been claimed by my hubby)

My latest. This is a house I drove by this summer in Mount Vernon, Maine. Couldn't resist. It spoke to me. Enjoy!

I Saw the Light

2009-01-25T15:35:00.000-08:00

I Saw the Light
16x20, acrylics on canvas
AVAILABLE

I decided I kind of like the song titles as titles for paintings, so I continued the theme with this one. I've been staring at this house, and another house beside it that I plan to paint soon, for months. They sit near my favorite Chinese restaurant, and every time I go there, I sit in my car in the parking lot and admire the way the light falls across the houses. I've taken several photos, and finally decided to go for it. In real life, there are many trees behind both these houses, but I decided to leave the sky clear because there's a lot going on, and I felt the trees would disrupt the balance. I didn't want to make the painting too busy.

I'm pleased with this one. All in all, not bad for a day's work.

Happy Together

2009-01-24T05:35:00.001-08:00

Happy Together
11x14, acrylics on canvas
AVAILABLE

I have mixed feelings about this one. It didn't come out quite the way I had hoped. I'm discovering I have real trouble with reds. It took many, many layers of color before I managed to achieve the warm red glow I wanted on the front of the house. And then, I still couldn't quite capture it with the camera. In real life, the house front is a little bit softer, a little bit warmer, red than it looks in the photo. Still, I think I managed to capture the feel I was going for: two houses that sit side by side, solid buddies through thick and thin. I kept thinking "me and you" and then the lyrics from the old Turtles song popped into my head and I realized I had to title this one "Happy Together".

Red Sky at Night

2009-01-19T06:43:00.001-08:00

Red Sky at Night
12x12, acrylics on canvas
AVAILABLE

This is the first painting I've done since I caught the Bug From Hell back around New Year's. I've been coughing for three weeks now, and it's getting old. But it seems to be lessening, a little at a time, so maybe there's hope that I'll get over it before May.

This painting is all about the color. Can you tell I have a thing for painting pink skies?

Enjoy!

New Year's Day

2009-01-01T14:21:00.001-08:00

New Year's Day
16x20, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

Happy New Year! 2009 dawned sunny and cold here at Casa Viridian, with wind chills this morning nearing twenty below. But it was a beautiful, blue-skied day, the prettiest day this week, so I celebrated the new year by taking a drive with my camera. This is my first painting of 2009, titled, appropriately enough, NEW YEAR'S DAY. Hope you like it!

Dewey Ave

2008-12-30T15:06:00.001-08:00

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

2008-12-30T06:08:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-28T02:51:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-12-26T09:21:00.001-08:00

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

2008-12-26T09:06:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-22T13:37:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-16T04:28:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-04T06:13:00.000-08:00

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

2008-10-21T04:55:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-02T18:20:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-25T06:57:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-21T05:01:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-15T15:17:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-14T07:35:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-11T17:09:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-08T02:52:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-07T17:04:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-05T02:50:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-03T04:43:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-02T09:25:00.002-07:00

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

2008-08-28T19:05:00.001-07:00

Closson Street Morning
12x16, acrylics on canvas
SOLD

Here's the new kid on the block.

Noon, Green and Cushman Streets

2008-08-26T07:44:00.001-07:00

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

2008-08-25T02:38:00.001-07:00

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

2008-08-20T12:41:00.001-07:00

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.