Addendum

Sunrise, Sunset

Oil on canvas, 12x16

sold

As my friend Carrie Jacobson so intelligently asked me after my most recent post... which painting had I so serendipitously brought to Art on Groton Bank and sold? (Those Carrie Jacobsons are smart, aren't they?)

So here it is. From November 2009.

You know, I focused on that experience in my most recent blog post, but there was much more to the day. For starters, the fact that AOGB happened at all this year is somewhat of a miracle.

It was started in 2007 by Audrey Heard, a marvelous artist, and friends Lana Orphanides, Judith Winder and Millie Carlson. Audrey and crew ran the show through last year, when Audrey apparently decided that she wanted to devote her time to painting.

For a while, it looked like there would be no Art on Groton Bank. Then Chris Rose, curator of the Gallery at Lighthouse, stepped in, and the show went on.

The work this year was lovely. Friends came to see it, and friends came to be in it. Mary Stepanian of Groton showed beautiful, lively paintings and cards, and had a great time. Kelly Jarvis of Westerly brought her gorgeous jewelry, and had an excellent day. It was her first time at AOGB. It was also Ronet Noe's first time. She's a wonderful and incredibly creative painter who builds up 3-D stuff on her canvases and then paints them - I've never seen anything like it. She didn't sell anything, but she had a good time.

Friends came from work, from the neighborhood, and a woman who works at Jerry's Artarama in West Hartford even came by.

Art on Groton Bank always happens around the anniversary of my mother's death, and so there is always an undertone to the event for me. But I know how happy Mom would be with what I'm doing, and so there is great solace in that for me. And while my dad is in Arizona and couldn't be at the show, I feel lucky every day to still have one parent living and seeing my painting, and loving it.

Jacobson Arts world headquarters is in Gales Ferry, CT

A Charmed Day

 

My booth at Art on Groton Bank

I had a lovely and charmed day at Art on Groton Bank on Saturday. 

I had set up my booth (in the shade! Yay!) and was talking to someone when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a person who looked familiar, but out of place. As in, when worlds collide. 

Sure enough, it was Cindy, a woman who had been at the Wickford show a week earlier. She and I had had a lovely conversation about art, and life, and she and her husband, who was every bit as gentle and sweet as she was, bought a painting from me. 

They live up near Wickford. But on Saturday, they came down to Groton to see Art on Groton Bank, say hello, look at my work and buy more paintings! 

It is hard to express what this means to me. It brings tears to my eyes on this hot Monday morning, really. Any time that a collector comes into your life, it is a blessing and a gift. To have this kind couple go out of their way and seek me out to see more work and buy more paintings is one of the riches experiences you can have doing this, I think. 

But the story goes on! Eric had found a painting that he liked, and Cindy kept looking and looking, and finally asked me about a painting she'd seen on my website. I couldn't get it from her description - so I got out the computer and we looked through the website. Still couldn't find it. 

Eric suggested that she look on the site when she got home, and get in touch with me. While they were discussing it, I remembered that I'd brought a couple extra paintings (my little box of optimism), and I pulled one out to show them. 

This was a painting I'd made of the back yard, as the sun was setting on a gorgeous afternoon. It's always been one of my favorite paintings, and yet it hadn't sold and hadn't sold and hadn't sold. It's one of the touchstone paintings, where my style changed, and so I thought that perhaps I should keep it. So I had put it in a box in the garage and sort of lost it for a while. But for some reason, it showed up and I put it in my box and brought it to the Art on Groton Bank show. 

I pulled it out and said, well, "I have this other painting that I haven't hung," and Cindy turned around and her face lit up and she said: "That's the ONE!" 

Sure enough, it was the one she'd fallen for on the website. 

So this sweet couple bought two paintings from me on Saturday, and made my day on many levels. 

Art on Groton Bank was a lovely event this year, sunny and happy and with a good crowd and sales for many of us. Chris Rose of the Gallery at Lighthouse did an excellent job putting the show together, and I have high hopes that it will continue.

The world headquarters of Jacobson Arts is in Gales Ferry, CT.