Chief Joseph

Chief Joseph

Oil on black canvas, 18x18 

Please email me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com for price and availability

THIS IS AN interesting time of the year for me, and probably for many painters. I have one, maybe two shows, coming up, but that's it until 2019. 

So far, I've only been rejected by shows I've applied for next year. That's daunting - but par for the course. A number of top shows, ones that I haven't cracked - YET - make their decisions late in the year. 

I am working hard on 101 Dogs project paintings, and am pleased to say that I can see the end of the project. 

But that's it. This is the one time in the year when I can experiment, try stuff that might or might not work, and paint without the pressure of immediate deadlines. It's also the one time in the year when I can kick back a little and maybe not work every single day. And I've been enjoying both paths. 

The Chief Joseph paintings are part of the experimental phase. So far, no one likes them except me, and Eastern Shore artist Bethany Simpson. Everyone else's responses run from "meh," to "Ick." But I love them, and am going to try one more before I move on. 

What do you think? 

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Cool New Stuff! 

YES! THE 2019 WACHAPREAGUE calendar is ready, with 12 paintings by me. (You can see them all on the "available" page of the Jacobson Arts website.)

The calendars are $20 each, including shipping - or you can get them at Seaside Art & Antiques, Main Street, Wachapreague; or The Book Bin, in the Rose's shopping plaza, in Onley, VA. 

I will be at the Historic Onancock School on the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., as part of the Eastern Shore Artisans Guild Holiday Tour - and I will have calendars and, I hope, books, with me. 

The books are $25 each. They are softcover books, 8 inches by 8 inches, and contain more than 40 of my 2018 paintings - from the Eastern Shore, Newfoundland and Utah. 

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Dog of the Day

I want to go where they're going! 

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A Final Thought

"Art is our memory of love. The most an artist can do through their work is say, 'Let me show you what I have seen, what I have loved, and perhaps you will see it and love it, too.'"

- Annie Bevan

Peter!

Peter

Oil on panel / 6x8

Remember me? There's been a long, long, LONG hiatus in The Accidental Artist blog, and I do apologize - and hope you all are glad to see this post in your inboxes. 

I finished up my show season in late September, and in October, headed to New England on the Farms & Foliage Painting Trip. You can see the paintings I made by clicking here, and see photos and read stories from the trip on the Farms & Foliage Painting Trip blog, which you can reach by clicking here. 

It was a joyous, color-filled three weeks in New England. I think I landed there in one of the best foliage seasons ever. The leaves glowed as if they were lighted from within.  I had spectacular weather, stayed with great friends and loving family members, and look back on it as one of my best sponsored painting trips. 

Now, I'm busily working on commissions, on the 101 Dogs project - I'm getting near the end! - and I'm applying to shows and planning trips for 2018. Also, I'm taking it a little easy, for just a few weeks. 

One of my projects for the winter is a series of portraits, and maybe portraits with a mixed-media edge. I'm pretty excited about this! My experience tells me these will be hard to sell, if they sell at all, but there's something in my heart that seems to be requiring me to paint them, and so I will, and find out whatever it is that I'm supposed to find out. 

It's good to be back! 

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Coming Up

The Eastern Shore Artisans Guild will hold its 15th annual Artisans Guild Studio Tour  on Thanksgiving weekend. This is a grand event, really fun, which takes you all over the Shore to the studios of painters, sculptors, potters, glass-makers and more. 

I'm not in it this year - but I'll be out there, making my way around, visiting studios and buying holiday presents. 

The tour is free, and it's wonderful! If you live on the Eastern Shore, you must go. And if you're thinking of visiting the Shore - especially to see some art - the Tour is a must! 

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Dog of the Day

It's three of ours! From left, Doc, Lulu and Koko. 

Want your pet to be the Dog of the Day? Send a photo to me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com

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A Final Thought

"A blank canvas... has unlimited possibilities." 

- Stephanie Perkins

Storm Rolling In

Storm Rolling In

Oil on canvas

sold

I had the good fortune, while I was in Tubac, to be out and painting on a day when a big rainstorm rolled in over the mountains. 

I like the big warm clouds at the top of this painting, and the way they've blown in, and I like the strip of light that's made its way through those clouds. The afternoon felt like this - a little chaotic, a little dangerous, but soft, also, and rich with the promise of bright sun and fresh, clean air. 

I'm on my way to South Carolina for a show this weekend, and a show in Chattanooga the following weekend. It's a beautiful time to be in the south - spring has already showed up here! Fruit trees are well into the first phases of blooming, and the air is warm already. 

It feels a little soon to be on the road again - I could have used another week at home, it's been so great to be there. But I'm excited about two new shows, and about my new paintings, too. 

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IF YOU'RE ON the Eastern Shore on Sunday, please stop in at the Island House for lunch or dinner and the Artisan Trail fund-raiser. 

A portion of the Island House receipts from the day will go to help build the Eastern Shore Artisan Trail. A silent auction takes place from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. There's a social hour from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., and then a live auction starting at 8 p.m. All sorts of artists and artisans have donated pieces for the auction. I've donated a pet portrait, so if you've been longing for one, here's a good chance! For a little more info on the day's events, click here. Wish I could be there! 

And for more about the Artisan Trail program, click here. It sounds pretty cool! 

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Dog of the Day

Here's my friend Catherine Leonci with some of her dogs and some of her daughter-in-laws dogs. 

What an excellent mother-in-law! Looks like a fun time.

Fernando - and the Eastern Shore Artisans Trail

Fernando

Oil on canvas, 12x12

commission

If you're in Wachapreague on Saturday, April 5, please come to the Island House for a day of fun and fund-raising to help establish the Eastern Shore Artisan Trail.

The Island House will donate a portion of the day's receipts to the effort, and artists and artisans in town - myself included - are donating work for an auction and silent auction.

The silent auction runs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; the live auction takes place at 8 p.m., after a social hour that starts at 7 p.m.

Artists and artisans from Wachapreague and beyond have donated work for the event, which is part of the effort to make the Eastern Shore part of the Artisan Trail Network.

The network is part of the Artisans Center of Virginia, which was incorporated in 2000, as a way to serve the state's artisan community by providing funding and economic opportunities to the states craftspeople and artisans. You can read more about the program here.

So while the Artisans Center doesn't really include artists (though I think it should), an Artisans Trail along the Eastern Shore is bound to benefit those of us who make art, as opposed to craft, just by drawing attention to the bounty of creativity and talent that's here on the Eastern Shore.

I am donating a pet portrait to the effort, so if you've been thinking that you might like a portrait of your pet, here's a way to get one, and help a good cause, as well! These paintings sell for $350; bidding will start, I believe, at $200, so you might even have a chance to get one below cost.

Here's a poster of the event:

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I WON'T BE able to be at the Artisan Trail event, because I will be in historic Pendleton, South Carolina for the Spring Jubilee, my first show of the season here in the east. That show takes place April 5-6.

I'll be staying down in South Carolina for the week after the show, as the following weekend finds me in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the 4 Bridges Art Festival, April 11-13.

My show schedule to date is up on the blog now, with my booth numbers if I know them. I'm planning on fewer shows this summer than last, though at this point, the schedule looks pretty full.

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Peter and I took a drive to Exmore and Willis Wharf on Saturday, just to get out - I realized that, apart from one trip to CVS, I haven't left the house since I got back from Arizona! I asked him to stop so I could to take a photo of the scene below, and when I got out of the car, these geese started honking and honking, creating a ruckus like I've never heard. And they are as silly-looking in life as in this photo.

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Dog of the Day

It's Smokey, a little blurry, but happy and full of life as ever.