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!

***

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! 

***

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

Kim's Farm

Kim's Farm

Oil on canvas, 40x40

Commission

A long and wonderful project has come to a happy end, and I'd like to share the story with you. 

At the start of the fall, I got an email from a woman I'd met at a show in Omaha. She wanted a painting of the Nebraska farm where she grew up. She wanted a big painting, with heavy texture, of the farm and a cow or two. 

Unlike many artists, I love doing commissions. Ones that are projects, like this one, are especially fun and intriguing to me. Maybe this comes from working in newsrooms for so long and seeing how the energy and ideas expand and improve when others are involved. Kim sent me a bunch of photos of the farm, but for some reason, I couldn't put the photos together in my mind into a cohesive whole. The poor woman explained it to me, walked me around the property virtually, and answered my questions again and again, and still I couldn't see it. 

So I decided to actually go and see it. I knew I could pass relatively near the farm on my Big Skies Painting trip. Kim gave me directions, and on my way back, I stopped in and saw the farm. 

It still was not without its issues! First, I drove right by it and got more than a little lost. I called Kim, and she suggested that I facetime her - and she was able to look through my phone at the landscape around me, and direct me to the right place. 

I walked around, took a bunch of photos, and, when I got home, made a sketch of the farm. Kim had a couple ideas, I had a few more, and I made a small painting. It was at this point that we both realized that I was situating the farmhouse incorrectly. I had my norths and wests mixed up. It took a while of patient Kim's coaxing and explaining before the whole thing fell into place in my head - and then I was able to paint. 

I had some ideas while I was painting, and Kim had some ideas, and we communicated back and forth, and in the end, this is the painting I made - and the painting she loves. 

***

2 pancakes

2 eggs

2 bacon

The most incomprehensible sign ever! And it's been up for years. Hahahaha!!! 

***

Dog of the Day

Toby (the dog) and Ira (the human). I met them in a hotel somewhere this summer - Indiana, maybe? Ira rescued Toby after the dog escaped from a fire, and was abandoned by his humans. Toby is old now, partly deaf and partly blind, and much loved.

***

A Final Thought

"Life is short, art long, opportunity fleeting, experience treacherous, judgment difficult." 

- Hippocrates

Nebraska Farm

Nebraska Farm

Oil on black canvas, 10x10, from a photograph by Jeff Swanson

sold

Well,  I've had two loser shows in a row, in Pittsburgh, PA, and Lorton, VA. At least in Lorton, I made expenses, didn't lose money on the show, and got to spend time with one of my lovely collectors, who bought Nebraska Farm, and is also a sponsor of the Big Skies Painting Trip.                                                                                                                               I have a show this weekend in Durham, NC, and while part of me is - as ever - hopeful, part of me is feeling beaten and downtrodden, a little bit sure this show will also be a bomb. I am focusing on hope, though, and on remembering that people like my paintings, and people buy my paintings, and two weak shows in a row is an anomaly. Coach Joe would tell me to look at the year as a whole, and not to focus on one or two (or three) shows, and as a whole, it's been a good show season. Even so, I feel more than a little dread about this weekend. 

But I will square my shoulders and raise my chin and head into this show with faith and hope intact. 

***

RECENTLY, A PAINTING of mine was included in a nice online group exhibit, all about nature. It's on a cool and very helpful business -of-art website, Artsy Shark. You can check out the exhibit by clicking here. 

***

Dog of the Day

Doc and Lulu were neutered on Tuesday.  Much to my surprise, Doc - solemn, serious, sensitive - took his operation in stride. If he weren't wearing a collar, you'd never know anything had happened to him. But Lulu, who is full of light and love and sunshine, is miserably unhappy. She hates the cone, can't figure out how to do anything while wearing it, she's itchy and unhappy and flinging her body around in her little crate. I feel terrible for her. 

***

A Final Thought

"If we, citizens, do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and we end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams." 

- Yann Martel, "Life of Pi"

Farm Sunset

Farm Sunset

Oil on black canvas, 20x20

Please click here to email me for price and shipping/delivery info - or come 

to the Wickford, RI, Art Festival this weekend and see this piece in person! 

It's rare for me to have several weeks off in the summer, but circumstances conspired to make that happen, and it was so very good. I had a chance to unwind, to heal a little from Smokey's passing, to visit with family and friends, and to paint, for myself and the shows, and to finish some commissions, too. 

I'm happy with the paintings I made during this stretch, including this one of the sun just setting near a farm in Iowa. I painted this from a photograph I took at that moment when the sun just edges over the horizon, a white-hot ball inside a red-orange halo, hard to look at and impossible to ignore. I like the way the sun warms the front wall of the barn, and catches on the tips of the pieces of tall grass. It was a lovely rural scene, just outside of Adair, Iowa. 

***

THE WICKFORD ART Festival takes place this weekend in Wickford, RI. The show is Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. respectively. It's free and takes place on the streets of downtown Wickford, a picturesque New England village just south of Providence. For more info, click here. 

If you go to the show, please stop and say hello. My booth is No. 82, on Elam Street, the first fair street you encounter, if you drive in from the south. 

***

Dog of the Day 

It's Toby! He's all dressed up for the Fourth of July, and is looking dashing, indeed! 

If you'd like your pet to be the Dog of the Day, please send a jpg to me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com

***

A Final Thought

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."

- Pablo Picasso

Seven-Barn Farm

Seven-Barn Farm

Oil on black canvas, 10x10, $125 

Years ago, when I started making the 10x10 paintings, they were what sold first, when I went to shows. At the better shows, I could always count on five or six of them selling - these paintings are original oils, and less expensive then what many artists charge for prints. But starting last year, people stopped buying the 10x10s. Happily for me, they started buying bigger paintings. 

But the not-buying of 10x10s has continued, and has sort of mystified me. Of course, as the paintings stopped selling, I more or less stopped painting them, which has meant that most of my available 10x10s are of the southwest. And not everybody wants paintings of the southwest, especially if they live on the East Coast. 

So I've started a new series of 10x10s, with farms and mountains and salt marshes and who knows what else. I am curious to see if they begin to sell again. I'll let you know. 

***

MY FIRST CHANCE to test my theory on the ground, so to speak (as opposed to on the internet) will be July 9-10, in Wickford, RI, at the Wickford Art Festival. This is a fine-art-only show that takes place on the streets of Wickford, a quaint New England seacoast village. I'll be in Booth 82, on Elam Street. Hope to see you there! 

***

IF YOU'RE TRAVELING anywhere this summer, be prepared to be delayed by road construction. I went to Cincinnati and Omaha and back, and encountered construction - mostly bridge repair - on every road I traveled. Interstate 80 was the worst, with construction pretty much everywhere. 

I have to say that I got a good look at some of the bridges being worked on, and they were scary. This one, which I believe is in West Virginia, is nowhere near the worst. One bridge being worked on in Ohio was literally crumbling as I drove across it. 

All those news stories about the state of our infrastructure? They're right, and not exaggerating. 

***

Dog of the Day

AT THE PARADISE CITY Art Festival, I was part of a surprise involving this painting. Great fun! And here is Boy himself, looking at the painting. I think it's a scream that the dog in the painting is bigger than the dog in real life.  

***

A Final Thought

"If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, will answer you: 

I am here to live out loud." 

- Emile Zola

Homesick Blues

 Homesick Blues

Oil on black canvas, 15x60

Please click here to email me on price and shipping/delivery

When I drove through Tennessee on my way home from Arizona, I was struck by the beauty of the state. I was in eastern Tennessee when I saw this trio of buildings near the highway. Even though I was aching to be home, I doubled back and got off and found this farm, which I photographed from about 50 angles. 

In addition to the buildings and how they sit on the land and pick up the light, I really like the misty quality of this painting, the way the sky and mountains meld here and there. I also like the little bits of spring pink and green in the trees behind the buildings. The shape of the canvas is fun, too. Usually I paint longhorns on this shape and size, but I think it works for this landscape, too. 

***

Dog of the Day

Seems to be a springtime of puppies! Meet Henry, whom my friends Cynthia and Kevin found at a shelter in Tucson. He's part German shepherd, part airedale. Isn't he adorable? 

***

A Final Thought

"The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity." 

- Alberto Giacometti

Ohio Farm Revisited

Ohio Farm Revisited
Oil on canvas, 12x24, $300

Or click here to send me an email!

My very first painting trip, in 2009, took me to Wisdom, Montana, the second-most beautiful place on Earth (the Eastern Shore earns the top spot). On the way out and back, I stopped in Ohio to paint. 

I was captivated by the land and the light near Sandusky, is in northwestern Ohio, on the shore of Lake Erie. There was a golden quality to that light, a warmth that seemed somehow contrary to what seemed like a thinness to the air. That shiny, golden light brightened the fields and the wide, flat plains of Ohio. It lighted the barns and the neat, orderly homes. The sunsets burnished and blazed on the fields of hay and wheat and alfalfa, which went on in rows forever.   

The quality of that light - brand-new to me - is  something I've come to know, here on the Eastern Shore. Its thinness comes from clarity and cleanness of the air. Its round, golden brightness comes in part from the extra bounce of light off the water. Here's it's the Atlantic, on one side, and the Chesapeake Bay on the other. There, it was Lake Erie. 

I made and sold a lot of paintings from that trip, but a few are still with me. This is one of them - or it was. Even then, I was experimenting with leaving parts of the canvas blank, and leaving pieces of the painting more or less unfinished, the structure and the drawing visible. 

And while I like that effect (the original painting is the smaller one, just above), I think that this painting is better finished, with the canvas filled up. What do you think? 

***

MY BROTHER RECENTLY directed me to the blog written by friends of his, David and Kim Stringer. Click here to reach their Memory Stringer blog, which is filled with wonderful, amazing photos; David has his own blog of humor, which you can reach by clicking here.

I have a terrible memory, and so I like to get blogs delivered to my inbox. If I don't, I forget that they exist. It's awful, I know, but it is what it is. I noticed that, at the time, David and Kim didn't have a "subscribe" box, and so I wrote and suggested they add one. 

In conversations about how to do it, the question of comments came up, and it occurred to me that perhaps not all of you know how to post comments. So here's a tutorial. 

Scroll to the bottom of the blog post, and look for a link saying "X comments." In the photo above, it's "0 comments." To post a comment, click on that link. 

A new screen will open, containing a box in which you can make your comment, and a little doodad thing to prove to Blogger that you're not a robot. You put your comment in the box, obey the I'm-not-a-robot instruction, click "post comment," and there you go. 

If you'd like to read my brother's blog - his name is Rand Cooper, and he writes for Commonweal Magazine - click here, and then search for Rand. His posts cover a wide range of topics, from politics to politeness to movies and more. 

***

Dog of the Day

Koko and Abby, the best of friends, are also maniacs and morons. The maniac quality, you can infer tell from the wreckage that surrounds them in our living room, in this photo. 

The moron quality you can infer from the fact that this morning, they ate a lightbulb. Or at least chewed it up. It was not a new-style bulb, thank heavens. And I don't know how much they actually ate, if any at all. I do know they broke it into little pieces and scattered it throughout the house. 

The vet said we should feed them right away, and that they probably would be fine. I have my fingers crossed, and would welcome any good thoughts or prayers any of you can send our way. 

***

A Final Thought

"A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art."

- Paul Cezanne

Tom's Barns - and a Wild Day on the Coast

Tom's Barns

Oil on canvas, 30x30

Please click here to email me for price and availability. 

I've been delighted by the skies I've made lately. I like the colors and combinations I'm discovering, and by the way the sky and the land complete and reflect each other. I like the arrangement of barns in this painting, too. 

If you'd like to see this, and my other new paintings, I'll be at the Paradise City Arts Festival next weekend in Northampton, MA. This is a marvelous show, with fine art and beautiful fine craft - ceramics, furniture, clothing and fabric, glass, clocks and lots of jewelry. It takes place in the Three County Fairgrounds, just off I-91. 

In addition to the artists and artisans, there's good food available for lunch or snacks. You can find out more about the show, get directions, and find a coupon for a discount on the gate fee by clicking here. 

I'll be in Booth 409, in the Morgan Barn (the small barn). Please come by and say hello! 

***

 As many of you know, we live in Wachapreague, a tiny town on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The Atlantic is just down the street. A salt marsh and barrier islands mitigate the power of the ocean, but the storm this week brought major flooding to the Shore and to Wachapreague. In all these photos, water is covering roads.

 ***

Dog of the Day

Saw this husky at a show in Richmond this spring.  Want your pet to be the Dog of the Day? Send a jpg to me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com

***

A Final Thought

"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see." 

- Henry David Thoreau

Farm on the Ridge

Farm on the Ridge

Oil on black canvas, 24x24

Please click here to email me for price and shipping information

A couple years ago, I was in a plein-air paintout in upstate New York. On the drive there, I realized I was getting really, really sick. I stopped at the home of a friend (a scheduled stop), and got enough medicine and care to get me on my feet for the rest of the drive. 

Feeling somewhat better, I stopped to paint a farm on a ridge. Halfway through the painting, I realized all was not well, still. I ended up leaving of the event early, and skipping a show the following weekend. 

When I looked at the painting I'd made, I did think that maybe I should get sick more often. One of my collectors bought that painting, but I decided to paint is again, as part of the Red Barn series. 

I love the colors in this one, the light and dark reds, the high blue sky and the autumn-gold fields. I love the deep shadows in the front, and the collected buildings, huddled together on the ridge. 

And I love feeling healthy and well! 

***

Dog of the Day

It's Jada, who lives with Elissa and her family in Stonington, CT. 

They adopted Jada, and I've always been so glad that they did. 

She loves them - and it is mutual - but like so many rescues, she's not an easy dog.

***

A final thought

"To succeed in life, you need two things:
ignorance and confidence." 

- Mark Twain

Down the Fence Line - and Still Point Gallery

Down the Fence Line

Oil on canvas, 18x18

So far, my recent question about flower paintings vs. other categories of paintings I make has elicited interesting and varied responses.  Some people like flower paintings best, others like landscapes, others like my animal paintings. No votes yet for cowboy paintings! 

I'm in the midst of this farm series - the Red Barn series - and I really like it. I've always loved farms, and at one point, thought I might like to be a farmer. Then I realized how much work it is! 

***

A FRIEND AND FOLLOWER of this blog told me about Still Point Art Gallery's regular online shows. Today, one of my paintings - "I Do" - is on the home page! All of you artists, sculptors and photographers in there might consider entering these shows. It's $25 for three images, and I believe it's fairly competitive. 

The work is shown on the website and in a lovely magazine that you can see online, or order on paper. Still Point publishes a variety of books, in addition to having the online gallery. Click here to reach the gallery's homepage. 

***

Dog of the Day

Saw this dog outside the Island House restaurant, 

while Jojo and I were walking. He makes me think of Sam. 

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

***

A final thought

"There was such a glory over everything. 

The sun came up like gold through the trees, 

and I felt like I was in heaven."

- Harriet Tubman

Pulaski Farm - and the Joys of Being Home

Pulaski Farm

Oil on canvas, 20x20

I'm home, and I'm so glad to be home! 

The Origins Painting Trip was wonderful. I made paintings that I really like, I spent great time with my dad and stepmother, and with friends in and around Tubac. And I learned a lot, painting on the Navajo reservation where I was born. It was enlightening to be on the reservation for an extended period, and it was a little depressing, as well. 

The show in Memphis had its moments, but only one sale, so that was a bit of a bleak ending to the trip. But I got home safe and sound, and am overjoyed to be with Peter again, and with the dogs, and to be sleeping in my own bed and painting in my little studio. 

The spring and summer show schedule is starting to get fleshed out, and I'm happy to have a few weeks to paint and build up some inventory before it all starts. 

***

Here are a few of the paintings from my trip! 

Rocks, Fort Defiance, 10x10

Off Navajo Road, 20x20

Light and Shadow, 10x10

***

Dog of the Day

It's Jojo, the dog of my heart. Was she ever happy to see me when I got home! And it was mutual. 

Frederick Farm Revisited - Just in Time for the Frederick Arts Festival!

Frederick Farm

Oil on canvas, 30x36

The Paradise City show gave us New England at its gnarliest: raining, frigid, with gusting wind - but people came out to the show anyway, had springtime fun in wintertime weather, looked, oohed and aahed - and bought art. I wore pretty much all the clothes I'd brought, and then I bought a hat, and happily wore a scarf that a friend and collector lent me.

Friends and family visited, too, surprising and delighting me, and making the show feel like a homecoming. What a treat!

In terms of sales, the show was a little slow for me until the end, when the Oklahoma Cowscape sold. In past years, I have been juried into the spring and fall shows there in Northampton. This year, I am thinking of doing a different show Columbus Day weekend, one that is less expensive and closer to home.

I am studying, learning, asking questions, trying new things, and this is one idea that has struck me - that maybe, a spring show and fall show in the same place, year after year, is too much. Bud, the mobile maker, told me he is heading to the Midwest for shows this summer. People have told him they have as many mobiles as they are going to buy. So I will find out from him if this idea of changing venues works.

Meantime, I am in a brand-new-to-me show this weekend, in Frederick, MD. Artists I've spoken to who have been in this show say it's a lovely event, and fun! I am going to be in Booth 78, and from what I can tell from the map, I am right in front of Ben and Jerry's.

Click here for more info on the show - and if you are in the area, please stop by and say hello!

***

Here's me in my new hat:

***

And here is the Dog of the Day! 

It's Xena, who lives with my friends Tiffany and Bruce Williams, and their son Devin. 

Xena is a dear girl, patient and kind - and she puts up with a lot, especially with the homeless pets the Williams family fosters. 

Want your dog to be Dog of the Day? Send me a photo! 

Outside Dunn, NC

Outside Dunn, NC

Oil on canvas, 10x10

Tubac trip painting No. 2

I spent the night Saturday in a hotel in Plymouth, NC.

When I got up this morning, I decided to head back to the coast (I got a little lost yesterday) and look for stuff to paint.

I found Belhaven on the map, and it sounded pretty and looked like it had possibilities, so I decided to go. It was about 30 miles from Plymouth, and I could go one of two ways. I set out to discover which would be the prettiest.

Let it just suffice to say that I asked two women, both in their 40s, both natives of Plymouth, and neither one - neither one! - had ever been to Belhaven, or on either of the roads to there.

Wow.

***

Belhaven, when I got there, was pretty - and also deserted. Seems like lots of everything is closed in North Carolina on a Sunday. 

So I left Belhaven and in a while, stopped in Wilson, NC, to get gas. I'd seen a sign for a barbecue restaurant, and asked the woman behind the counter for directions.  

I followed her route, but I nearly drove past the restaurant. There were so many vehicles in the lot, I thought it was a car dealership! Then I saw the policeman directing traffic.

Guess the little towns are empty because everyone's in Wilson, eating barbecue.

p.s., it was delicious!  

 

***

Maryland Farm

 Maryland Farm

Oil on canvas, 20x20

Please contact me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com for price and delivery options

When I applied for the show here in Annapolis, I thought we'd be living here already! Instead, I drove down from Connecticut yesterday, and found myself marveling - again - at how beautiful it is on the Eastern Shore. 

It's full summer here. Wheat - that's what's in the field above, the farmer told me - is growing and thick, and in some places, harvested already! The sky has that high summer blue, with puffy summer clouds, and life feels carefree. 

I set up my tent today, before I went out and painted. The man beside me, who makes stained glass, told me that he used to be an architect. He doesn't make anywhere near as much money now, but his art fills his life with joy, and that more than makes up for it. 

Think of me on Saturday and Sunday, and send good selling and buying vibes my way. And of course, if you're in Annapolis, please come to the U.S. Naval Academy Stadium and say hello!

Here's my painting in the scene.