Burros - and Thoughts about Landscapes

Burros

Oil on canvas, 20x20, sold

I loved this painting so much, when I made it for a friend in Tubac, that I painted it again. I love the colors on the burros' faces, and their expressions, and their big, silly ears. 

And I love that this painting is not a landscape. 

I've been having a rolling epiphany of sorts about shows, and booths, and buyers, and what sells and why - and more particularly, what paintings of mine sell, and why. 

At the show in Westport, CT, last weekend, I had a rare chance to walk around and look at pretty much the entire show, and I was struck hard by how repetitive it was. 

In booth after booth after booth, I saw landscape after landscape after mind-numbing landscape. Most were beautifully painted and beautifully presented. They showed gorgeous light, lovely pastoral views, with split-rail fences, spills of lavender or yellow or white flowers. Or they showed quiet beaches, with curling waves catching the light just so. There were rich sunsets, delicate dawns, pink and gold clouds - and after about the 10th booth, I just wanted to scream. 

Back in my booth, I looked critically at my paintings. One wall was a 40x60 sunflower piece, unlike anything else I'd seen at the show. One wall was cows and burros, and a dog painting, again unlike anything I'd seen. And then the other wall. It was thick with landscapes. 

Some were big, some were small, and I will say that my landscapes don't look like anyone else's, and I felt good about that. But still, there they were, green hills, rural houses, waves and beaches and sunsets and dawns. 

And what's been selling? Cows and cowboys and flowers. The paintings from the Southwest have all sold - in the East, they are different! -  and the $100 10x10 paintings always sell, no matter the content. 

So I am going to change my display a little. I am going to cut down on the number of  landscapes I display, and I'm going to stretch my painting to make them more interesting. I'm going to raise the number of cowscapes and florals I display. And I'm going to see what happens. 

I love painting landscapes and will never stop. I'm working on coming up with interesting ways to sell them here on the blog and elsewhere. Along those lines, I'm planning another painting trip, and already have THREE sponsors! 

But the show display will be different. 

At the bottom of it, what I love is to paint. I love putting paint on canvas, seeing the colors, seeing the depths, seeing the random things that happen. I love paint itself, and communicating, expressing myself through painting. Landscapes? People? Seascapes? Cowscapes? Burroscapes? It doesn't matter to me, as long as I am painting. 

I'd love to hear what you all think, not only about my ideas here, but also about what you like, what you see at shows, what draws you into one booth and makes you just walk past another. 

My booth at Westport

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Dog of the Day

Oh, my. Two feral kittens underneath the not-so-general store here in Wachapreague. I've read that one female cat and her offspring will generate from 100 to 400 animals within seven years. Sigh. They sure are cute, though.

Down on the Farm - and a Fly Genocide

Down on the Farm

Oil on canvas, 6x12

sold

I've been sleeping around a lot on this trip to Connecticut... First at our daughter's home, second at my sister's home, and third, at the home of Cynthia and Kevin. It's been fun, and I've seen a lot of Connecticut on the way. 

This small painting, which I love for its green and its quiet, I made somewhere near Storrs, on Spring Valley Farm,  a student farm owned by the University of Connecticut. I didn't see much farming happening, and I saw no farmers at all. 

But I did see a gigantic number of flies, which buzzed and droned and flew and crawled all over me, and all over the van, the entire time I painted. 

I just gritted my teeth and concentrated and applied myself to my painting and ignored the flies. If I'd started swatting them, I'd never have finished the painting. 

But afterwards, in the van, I was the architect of a fly massacre. I smacked flies, lunged at flies, hit flies, targeted flies, bashed and smashed and murdered flies, in cold blood. And still, three of them drove with me for the entire afternoon. 

Honestly, I admit, I did feel bad about killing the flies. They really weren't doing me any harm, and they are God's creatures, but I just couldn't stand them.  

Here's my painting in the landscape. 

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DON'T FORGET the Westport Fine Arts Fair, on Saturday and Sunday! It takes place in downtown Westport, at the edge of the parking lot behind the main shopping area, and it looks like an excellent show. I'll be in Booth 60, near the entrance to the "island." (You'll see!) For more info, click here. 

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Dog of the Day

It's Lori Rowe's cutie, Bella Tomato! Want your dog to be the Dog of the Day? 

Send a photo to me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com

July 7 - and Westport Fine Arts Festival

July 7

Oil on canvas, 10x10

About 200 people live in our little town, and most of them only live there part-time. 

There is a mayor and a council, and a nice woman, Lynn, who works about 20 hours a week in the town hall. Then there is the public works staff, which is JD and John. They fix stuff that breaks, paint stuff that needs it, mow the grass, trim around the signs, pick up the trash and generally keep the town looking spiffy.

On Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day and perhaps some other holidays that I can't remember right now, JD and John put up flags on the telephone poles on Main Street. I love the way the street looks with the flags flying and snapping in the breeze. It's festive, and fun, and reminds me to be glad that I am an American, and to be extra glad that we live where we live. 

I always hate to see the flags come down! I'd leave them up all year, if it were up to me. But they do come down, and perhaps that's part of what makes it feel so special and so festive when they are flying. 

I happened to be walking by while JD and John were taking the flags down, on the Monday after July 4. JD was driving, and John was doing the taking down. 

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THE WESTPORT FINE Arts Festival takes place this weekend in Westport, CT. The show runs from 10-6 on Saturday, and 10-5 on Sunday. I'll be in Booth 60, near the entrance to Gorham Island. Basically, the show will be set up along the river edge of the parking lot behind the main shopping area in downtown Westport. I hope to see you there! 

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I HAD GRAND success at the Wickford Fine Arts Festival this weekend. A bunch of paintings sold, including "Dreaming of Tuscany," the large vertical on the wall below, and "Summertime!" a big, big, BIG sunflower painting. 

I have to say that the people who buy and collect my paintings (as you can see from the photo below, Andy and Ann Affleck are pretty serious collectors) are just the best people in the world. It doesn't feel like I am just selling paintings to them, but that they are sharing their lives with me, and that my paintings are part of their lives. It is a joyful experience for me, and I am always, always grateful. 

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Dog of the Day

One of the great things about doing the Wickford show was staying with Erika. 

Potsie is not quite as excited about this as I am, I guess...

Madison II - and a Big Box of JoJo

Madison II

Oil on canvas, 20x20

Please contact me for price and delivery options

The Westport show was fun - but hot, hot, hot! I think people don't want to buy art when they are hot, hot, hot. I did OK at the show - and well, if you count selling "October Salt Marsh" to a sweet collector from North Carolina. 

There's little that's more exciting in this life than waking up to find that overnight, a painting has sold. Talk about starting the day on a positive note! 

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I WATCHED A WOMAN walking along on Saturday with a little white dog on a leash. The dog was having fun, sniffing and smelling and poking along. The woman wasn't paying much attention to the dog, but was walking slowly, letting the dog do her thing. 

I found myself thinking about dogs and how they trust us. They are at one end of the leash, and we are at the other, and between us is that dog's absolute and unshakeable trust. 

They trust that we will keep them safe. They trust that we will not bring them into harm's way. They trust that we will not take them out on a day that is too hot, pavement that is too scalding, events that are too crowded. Without questioning us, or who we are, or what we are thinking about, they put themselves in our hands and trust that we will treat them well and keep them safe. 

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Scenes from the show

This baby Scottie was 11 weeks old and maybe the cutest dog ever! 

There were lots of cool cars in the parking lot behind the show, 

but this genuine (not kit) Cobra was the best! 

My friends Marilyn and Gene Bove came all the way from the Mid-Hudson Valley of New York to visit me at the show. You can actually see Marilyn's pretty face in the photo below! 

This was the scene across the inlet

Here's my booth on the first day. The salt marsh painting on the back wall

 sold to a collector in North Carolina. Yay! 

This guy was part of the entertainment at the show. He would set up his little stand, and then strike artful poses. More than one adult and any number of kids thought he was a real statue! 

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Dog of the Day

Who doesn't need a big box of JoJo???