The Road Home

The Road Home

Oil on black canvas, 24x36

Please click here to email me for price and availability

In just a few minutes, I'll be getting in the car to head north for the Paradise City Arts Festival, this weekend in Northampton, MA. 

The show runs Saturday through Monday, and it's one of the high points of my show year. There's wonderful 2-D art, great jewelry, the most beautiful furniture ever, and very cool clothes, clocks, glass, sculpture and wood. Much of the work is very expensive - as long as we have dogs, we will never spring for furniture like what I see at the show - but it's inspiring to look at, and it's an exciting festival in which to participate. 

All that being said, this will be the first show I've done since Jojo and Zoe died, and my first foray into a sort of public space, where my own expectations are that I will engage and enthuse and transmit my excitement about my paintings. I believe I can do it, but it will be an internal stretch to bridge my sadness. I also believe that I need to do it, that it will help me get closer to the joy of living again. And I am truly excited about my paintings. 

Another wonderful thing is that my friend, the amazing jeweler Cynthia Battista, will be in the show, too. You can see her jewelry by clicking here.  We won't be set up very close to each other, but it's always good to do a show with a friend. 

I'll be in the Morgan Barn, Booth 409. Cynthia will be in the Arena building (the big building), near the Gazebo, at the far end. I think her booth number is 642. 

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Fatal Beauty

This stinkbug somehow got part of one of my paintings on him. I know it will kill him, 

and I do feel bad about that, but he's very beautiful, all in color. 

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Dog of the Day

 I ran into this woman and her four dogs in Mystic, during the show there. The dogs were all so different, and so funny, and they got along great together.

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A Final Thought

"The emotions are sometimes so string that I work without knowing it. 

The strokes come like speech." 

- Vincent Van Gogh

The Optimist's Declaration - and Paradise City!

The Optimist's Declaration

Oil on canvas, 40x40

Please contact me for price and shipping/delivery options

Sara Genn, daughter of the late Robert Genn, sends copies of "The Painter's Keys," a  newsletter that her father wrote while he was alive. (You can read all about the newsletter, and sign up to receive it by clicking here). 

I love getting this newsletter and usually learn something from it, or am inspired to think a new thought or look at life and painting in a new way. 

A recent newsletter focused on the value of titles. "The right title makes a difference as to how a work is seen and understood," Genn wrote. "Not only are titles a bridge to the viewer, they are also part of the art. I'm a believer in giving your titles some careful thought." 

I finished this painting, "The Optimist's Declaration," a month or so ago, and gave it that title in my inventory list. 

Today, when I went to put it on the blog, I couldn't remember where the name came from. Certainly, it was nothing I invented! I know it was a quote, but the only one I can find today came from Kierkegaard - and it feels unlikely that I was searching Kierkegaard! (the quote is below). 

So if any of you recognizes this quote from a more friendly source than Kierkegaard, please let me know. 

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SATURDAY THROUGH MONDAY, I'll be at the Paradise City Arts Festival in Northampton, MA. The show takes place at the Three County Fairgrounds, and includes really wonderful art and fine craft. You will see amazing furniture, sculpture, mobiles, glass, clothing, photography, painting and more. It's a fun, fun show! You can find out more about it, and get a discount off admission by clicking here to visit the Paradise City Arts website.

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A Final Thought 

"The joy of faith is different from mere happiness or sheer enjoyment. The movement of resignation distinguishes faith from both a naive optimism and a careless hedonism. In the face of the former, the difference is that the optimist's declaration (when facing adversity) that 'everything will be alright' is not based on trust but rather on a refusal to acknowledge the full extent of loss and human limitation. In the case of the latter, the difference is that the hedonist's immersion in finitudes is not based on deep attachment but rather on seeking pleasure."

- Soren Kierkegaard

Two Pairs - and that Paradise City Magic

Two Pairs

Oil on canvas, 36x60

Available at Center Framing and Art, West Hartford Center, CT

I think this painting is one of my best cowscapes ever. I love the expression I saw and caught on the cow right in the front. I like the barns a lot, and the trees along the ridgeline, too. The white-gray sky seems to work in this painting, and I like the rich, undulating field, too - in spite of last summer's dismay with such green blocks.

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THE FIRST BIG SHOW that accepted me was Paradise City, in Northampton, MA. (Here's my first booth) I'd gone to the show for years, and had applied thinking that I'd never, ever get in. The work in the Paradise City shows is about the best of any of the shows I've been in. I'd go, and ooh and ahh, and maybe sometimes buy something - and always, always, be motivated and inspired. 

When I got the notice that I had been accepted, I was just stunned. Honestly, I thought someone had made a mistake. I think that that acceptance is the single most confidence-building event in my painting life. 

When I left Patch.com, and journalism, to paint full-time, my first show was Paradise City. We were living in Connecticut, and I had packed the van and was ready to go when my brother called. The Hartford Courant's entertainment magazine had Paradise City on the cover, and the entire cover, the first day after I left the safe world of corporate employment, was a painting by me. 

Paradise City has continued to generate magic for me. I just returned from Pendleton, SC, where I had a good time and met fine people, but had very low sales. This is the third low-sale show in a row, and I was feeling deflated and confused. Then, Anne Pinkerton from Paradise City reached out and told me she was doing a piece on me for the show's online magazine.  It's a fine piece, and it really brings me and my art to life - and, in the moment, helps me feel that the low sales have nothing to do with me or my painting. Click here to read it! 

The Paradise City show is May 23-25, at the Three County Fairgrounds in Northampton, MA. I'll be in Booth No. 415, in the Morgan Barn. Click here for coupons for discounts on the entry fee. 

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Dog of the Day

Stormy, a very interesting woman, came into my booth in Pendleton, SC, on the second day of the show. She was clearly a free spirit, and entertained me with stories of her adventurous and eccentric life. She was wearing a great cross necklace, with a Russian Orthodox cross scratched into a block of metal. I really loved it, and traded her a small acrylic painting for it. She asked, then, if she could take a photo of me with Buster, her Boston terrier. I looked around for a dog.... She put her purse down on the ground, reached in and pulled out Buster! He is cast iron, and weighs a ton (she said 9 pounds but he felt heavier than that). She takes photos of him all over the place. So today, Buster is the Dog of the Day! 

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A final thought

"A strong positive mental attitude will create more miracles 

than any wonder drug."

- Patricia Neal

Poppies No. 1 - and Cynthia's Great Jewelry

Poppies No. 1

Oil on canvas, 16x16

At Center Framing and Art, West Hartford Center, CT

In a little while, I will head north for the Paradise City Arts Festival, at the Three-County Fairgrounds in Northampton, MA. This is one of my favorite shows of the whole year, in large part because I am always so awed by the art and incredible craft there.

There will be amazing furniture, luscious handmade clothing, fabulous jewelry, brilliant glassware, great paintings - and always new items that surprise and lure me. The facilities are fun, and set-up is relatively easy. The patrons are smart and well-educated, and often are in buying moods. And as an extra added bonus, there's good music and yummy food. And the festival is three days - Saturday, Sunday and Monday. 

If you want a fun outing, please consider seeing the show. There is an admission fee, but you can get discount coupons at the Paradise City Arts website. I'm in Booth 909, in the arena building. I will have my new floral paintings, and some other new, exciting paintings, too! 

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ONE OF THE BEST parts of making and selling art is meeting other artists. At one terrible, terrible show, I met Cynthia Battista and her husband Kevin Ireton, and we have become fast friends. Cynthia is an amazing jeweler, whose work has a rough, organic edge that really appeals to me. 

Kevin was the top editor at Fine Woodworking for a long time before he left to be a carpenter. You've seen his talents in that field - he was the one who built the inside of my van. 

And George and Zack, their dogs, have been Dog of the Day many times. 

Here is some of Cynthia's amazing jewelry. To see more, or buy any of her pieces, click here to go to her website.

Aren't these beautiful? 

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I'M GEARING UP for my next plein-air painting trip, in winter/spring of the coming year. I'll post details here on the blog first - and I'd love any ideas or input you all might have, about where to go, what to paint, etc. 

Calendars will be on their way soon to everyone who sponsored my California Calling Painting Extravaganza. Meantime, the book showing paintings and writing from that trip is beautiful, and on sale on Blurb. Click here to get a preview, and to find out about different options... 

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Dog of the Day

Abby is making herself at home here, and the other dogs, by and large, are accepting her. Abby and Jojo have become the best of friends, spending large parts of their days racing around the yard, chasing each other and barking, then flopping down in the grass, side by side. It's the youngest I've seen Joey in years. 

Oklahoma Cowscape and How to Help - and Paradise City!

Oklahoma Cowscape

sold

I had a few looong days driving back from Tubac (check out the Tubac and Back blog!). One of them started in New Mexico and ended in Shawnee, OK. I'd been driving for 14 hours, but I got off the road mostly because the sky was so scary-looking:

Above and below, the sky over Shawnee, OK

Shawnee was a one- and two-story town, with some interesting-looking shops and restaurants, some beautiful landscapes, and some of the friendliest people I met on the trip. Whenever I end up somewhere, I always think about what it would be like to live there, and I thought Shawnee would be a pretty good spot.

Except for the tornadoes.

I remember how horrible it felt when, while we were living near the Neversink River in New York, a flood destroyed a lifetime's worth of memories and a basement's worth of possessions. It mangled our land and left a crater in our driveway, making it impassable.

I remember the terror, then the utter, bone-deep dismay, the terrible sense of loss, and, finally, the overwhelming joy that Peter and all the animals and I made it through alive.

My heart goes out to those families in Oklahoma. I have just the barest idea of what they are feeling, but even from my relatively tiny experience, I can tell you it's awful.

Here are some ways you can help:

• THE SALVATION ARMY is organizing mobile kitchens capable of serving 2,500 people a day and sending them into the hardest-hit areas in central Oklahoma. You can make a donation here, or make a $10 donation using your phone by texting STORM to 80888.
• THE AMERICAN RED CROSS has set up shelters in communities across The Plains. You can donate to the Red Cross Disaster relief fund here, or make a $10 donation using your phone by texting REDCROSS to 90999.
• IF YOU'RE SEARCHING for a missing friend or relative or are within the disaster region and want to let folks know you're OK, visit the Red Cross Safe and Well site here.

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SATURDAY, SUNDAY AND MONDAY, I'll be at the Paradise City Art Fair in Northampton, MA! Click here to check the website for directions and discounts on tickets. 

I'll be in Booth 407, which is probably in the Morgan Barn. 

Paradise City is a fantastic display of beautiful, creative, gorgeous art and high-end craft. It's fun, there's excellent food, and easy parking. It's mostly inside, too, so rain, shine, snow - it doesn't matter. 

Please come! And find me and say hi.