Always on My Mind

Always on My Mind

Oil on canvas, 20x20

Please click here to email me for price and availability

I had a charmed childhood, in all respects. I had great parents, who loved each other and made a happy, warm home for us. We had rules, we had freedoms, we had lessons, we had discoveries. I'm grateful for them every single day, and for my stepmother, too, who makes my dad happy in their lovely Arizona life.

Mom died 11 years ago, and I was thinking of her and celebrating her when I made this painting, on her birthday, Sept. 12. She'd have loved this field, which I believe is at Buttonwood Farm in Griswold, CT.  (My friend Margaret took this photo).

Buttonwood Farm is a great place to visit in the summer, and late July is the time to go. Sunflowers stretch on for acres and acres and acres. You can buy them in bunches - the money goes to the Make A Wish Foundation of CT - you can have sunflower ice cream, and mostly, you can gaze on fields of gold for as far as your eyes can see. There are also hayrides, a cow train and great ice cream. Check their website for info. And after the sunflowers have bloomed, the cows are let into the fields to munch to their hearts' content. I've never seen this, but have heard it's really fun.

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Yes or No?

The Neptune show is scheduled to take place Friday through Sunday, on the Boardwalk at Virginia Beach, with set-up Thursday afternoon. Hurricane Maria is scheduled to show up on Wednesday and blow through - though it could be Thursday, instead. If it looks clear and safe, I'll be on the Boardwalk in Booth 2610, between 26th and 27th streets. If it looks windy and dangerous, I'll be here in Wachapreague, painting in the studio. I'll put a posting on Facebook Thursday morning. Feel free to email me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com for my status! 

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Dog of the Day 

Met this cute Pekingese at the show in Durham, NC! 

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A Final Thought

"Dream delivers us to dream, and there is no end to illusion. Life is like a train of moods, 

like a string of beads, and, as we pass through them, they prove to be many-colored lenses which paint the world their own hue. "

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Iris Garden, Wachapreague

Iris Garden, Wachapreague

Oil on black canvas, 10x10, $125

sold

As Hurricane Irma heads across the ocean toward Florida, Hurricane Carrie is getting ready for a show in Durham, NC, and a painting trip to New England!

I had a lovely time at CenterFest last year, in Durham, NC, and had good sales, too, and of course, I'm hoping for a repeat. This year, my friend, the amazing jeweler Cynthia Battista (check out her work here) will also be at the show, and that's great. It's always fun to have friends at a show.

CenterFest is Sept. 16-17, in downtown Durham. There will be about 150 artists, and music, activities and food. The festival is gated, and while entry is fee, the Durham Arts Council, which sponsors the show, hopes for a $5 donation at the gates. It's the group's main fund-raiser, and from what I see and read, it's an active, vital group, important in the artistic and spiritual landscape of Durham. For more information, please click here.

My final show of the summer is the Neptune Festival, on the Boardwalk at Virginia Beach, Sept. 29-Oct. 1.

After that, I head north, on the Farms and Foliage painting trip. I hope you'll consider sponsoring me! It's fun! For $125, you get a regular travel blog from me, and a painting, and my undying gratitude - and maybe some other fun stuff from the road. You can read about it and sign up to sponsor me by visiting the Farms and Foliage page on my website, Jacobson Arts. 

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Dog of the Day

Met this cutie at the vet a while back. Adorable! 

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A Final Thought

"I dream my painting and then I paint my dream." 

- Vincent VanGogh

Pennsylvania Farm

Pennsylvania Farm

Oil on canvas, 18x18

sold

I was driving back from the show in State College, PA, this summer, and thinking about my fall painting trip, when I saw a beautiful farm like this one. In a flash, my plans expanded from painting New England autumn to painting New England (and more) autumn and New England (and more) farms.

That way, if a big storm rips the leaves from the trees early, or if autumn comes in September or November, I still will have plenty of subject matter. Farms are farms, beautiful in any kind of weather.

But what is this trip, you say? The Farms and Foliage Painting Trip is a sponsored plein-air journey that I'll be taking - ideally with you! - in October.

Here's how it works. You buy a painting in advance (they start at $125) - and you get to come along on the trip with me. I send you regular blog postings of my journey, with photos of the places I go, the people I meet and of course, a dog of the day. When I start painting - all on site, by the side of the road, painting what I find - I will include a photo of the painting, and the painting in the landscape. And I might send you some other goodies from the road, too!

When I get back, I'll put my paintings up on a web page, and you'll choose your paintings in the order in which you signed up.

For more about the project, and to sign up, visit the Farms and Foliage Trip page on the Jacobson Arts website. You can get there by clicking here!

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Dog of the Day

Well, Dog Person of the Day, really... That's my friend Carol Baney, on the red couch in our living room, covered with Koko, Doc and Lulu. Anyone who visits has to put up with our canine family, and I can tell you, it's a lot. But when they're not barking at Carol, they're delighted to have another lap to climb onto! 

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A Final Thought

"Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it." 

- Pope John Paul II