Two Roses

Two Roses / Oil on black canvas / 8x24 / $300 plus shipping

sold

HAPPY 2021, FRIENDS! Isn't it great that 2020 is over? No matter what the new year brings, it is a new year, and I meet it with new hope and energy and an outlook of gratitude.

A couple of collectors who have become friends sent me a Christmas card with a letter containing a list of thoughts they'd happened upon in 2020. These include: 

• We really like each other, and enjoyed more time together. 
• Americans are heroic.
• Even though we love our work, retirement looks pretty good after our dry run. 

And about 15 more, all thoughtful and insightful. 

Their list made me think of my own list, and I will share some of my thoughts from 2020. 

• Dogs really are great company. 
• It's good to have some chocolate every day, and it need not disrupt a diet. 
• I guess I will never be a truly neat housekeeper, since I have all the time in the world and still don't vacuum enough. 
• Good coffee is worth whatever it takes.
• Grocery stores are really sort of amazing! 
• (This next one is borrowed, completely, from my friends): Social distancing from some neighbors is a good thing. 
• Eating healthier really does make me feel better.
• I truly only use three of my pans and two of my baking sheets, and I get very tired of washing them. 
• I need lots and lots of time alone, interspersed with short, deep doses of friends.
• Television is miles better than it used to be. 
• Turquoise is an amazing color!
• It is OK to go to bed at a ridiculously early time, and wake up at a ridiculously early time. 
• Without Peter, I am lonely, but my friends and my family do great and generous things to sustain my mind, body and heart. 
• Hard work is a wonderful distraction.
• I am very, very lucky. 

What would you put on your list? Please add your thoughts in the comments below (you have to go to the blog to do that), or email me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com

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Coda

The Work of Christmas

When the song of the angels is stilled,

When the star in the sky is gone,

When the kings and the princes are home,

When the shepherds are back with their flock,

The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,

To heal the broken,

To feed the hungry,

To release the prisoner,

To rebuild the nations,

To bring peace among brothers,

To make music in the heart.

- Harold Thurman

 

 

Dancing Sunshine

Dancing Sunshine

Oil on blackened canvas, 36x48

THERE'S A THING that has happened to me now many times in my lengthening painting life. I get an idea of a painting I want to make - maybe even just a whisper of an idea - a ghost, a sliver of a thought. I know I want to make the piece, but I either can't see it, or just don't yet have the skills to paint it.  Blue Canada, the painting to the left here, was one of those. I knew it would be an amazing painting, but when I saw the scene, on a trip to the Atlantic Provinces with my friend, the terrific artist Heather MacLeod, I knew I wasn't ready to paint it. Today, it doesn't look particularly difficult or intimidating, but really, it was and is. There's almost nothing in it, and yet, it's a pretty cool painting. 

The sunflower piece above, Dancing Sunshine, is one I've had in my head for years - really, ever since I started making sunflower paintings.  But I hadn't been able to see it clearly enough to understand what was compelling me, what I wanted to do. 

From the photo, it doesn't look like anything special, I am afraid. This is one of the ones you really need to see in person. What attracts me, and makes me so happy, is the differences in thick and thin paint, the places where the nub of the canvas makes its way to the surface, or isn't covered at all. I love the looseness of the sunflowers and the feeling of their petals and colors and vibrance bursting onto the canvas. 

In my mind are several paintings that are calling to me, that I don't yet know how to paint, or have the skills to paint. I will just let them sit there until they force their way to the front and let me know it's time. 

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Three Smalls

Shore Spring,

Oil on canvas, 6x12

Iris House

Oil on board, 6x6, not including frame

Three Ps

Oil on board, 6x6, not including frame

THESE THREE are headed for "Earthly Delights," my upcoming solo show at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens, in Norfolk, VA. The show will open July 1 and run until the end of August. If you're in the area, I hope you'll stop in. The gardens are amazing - and it's been a long time since I've had a solo show. This is a real honor for me, and I'm excited about it! 

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Dog of the Day

It's Koko! And she is happy on the couch, for sure. Paintings in the background are by Cynthia Rosen Malter (left) and Bethany Simpson. 

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A Final Thought

"Art is man's nature; nature is God's art."

- Philip James Bailey

Iris Garden, Wachapreague

Iris Garden, Wachapreague

Oil on black canvas, 10x10, $125

sold

As Hurricane Irma heads across the ocean toward Florida, Hurricane Carrie is getting ready for a show in Durham, NC, and a painting trip to New England!

I had a lovely time at CenterFest last year, in Durham, NC, and had good sales, too, and of course, I'm hoping for a repeat. This year, my friend, the amazing jeweler Cynthia Battista (check out her work here) will also be at the show, and that's great. It's always fun to have friends at a show.

CenterFest is Sept. 16-17, in downtown Durham. There will be about 150 artists, and music, activities and food. The festival is gated, and while entry is fee, the Durham Arts Council, which sponsors the show, hopes for a $5 donation at the gates. It's the group's main fund-raiser, and from what I see and read, it's an active, vital group, important in the artistic and spiritual landscape of Durham. For more information, please click here.

My final show of the summer is the Neptune Festival, on the Boardwalk at Virginia Beach, Sept. 29-Oct. 1.

After that, I head north, on the Farms and Foliage painting trip. I hope you'll consider sponsoring me! It's fun! For $125, you get a regular travel blog from me, and a painting, and my undying gratitude - and maybe some other fun stuff from the road. You can read about it and sign up to sponsor me by visiting the Farms and Foliage page on my website, Jacobson Arts. 

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Dog of the Day

Met this cutie at the vet a while back. Adorable! 

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A Final Thought

"I dream my painting and then I paint my dream." 

- Vincent VanGogh

You Know You Will

You Know You Will

Oil on black canvas, 30x30

Please click here to email me for price and availability

It's hard to tell, from this photograph, how bright and full of life and sunshine this painting is. This one is another of those big steps for me, a leap that brings all that I've been doing into a new light, a new place. There's a new feeling in this one, and it is something about freedom, and bliss and the simple cheerfulness of a sunny hillside on a summer afternoon.

I've worked and worked on this photograph, hoping to make it reflect the painting more truly, but this is the best I can do. In the piece, bright green dominates, and the orangey pinks of the spiky flowers hum and resonate over the green, above the blue and purple, all under a clear, sunny sky.

Unless it sells beforehand, I'll have this piece at my next show, which is CenterFest, in Durham, NC, Sept. 16-17. Click here for more info!  And if you'd like to see this piece before I leave for Durham, please drop me a line, and come visit me in Wachapreague.

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Here's a Pair that Beats a Full House

Hahahaha, it's my brother Rand (right) and his childhood-into-adulthood friend Jon, on a recent trip to Cape Cod. 

I can explain the T-shirts - the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts chose one of my paintings for their T-shirt design this year, and I gave a couple to Rand. 

I can't explain the shorts. 

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Dog of the Day

This is the dog of a friend I met on Facebook, and then later met in real life, near the Suwannee River, east of Jacksonville, Florida. It was such fun to meet her in real life! 

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A Final Thought

"I don't want life to imitate art. I want life to be art."

- Carrie Fisher

If Wishes Were

If Wishes Were

Oil on black canvas, 40x40

Please click here to contact me for price and availability 

This year, this solstice, I am feeling the full, sweet breadth of summer. The days stretch out, thick with heat and humidity, a mist of it in the distance, softening the edges of the future, the edges of the past.

This solstice, I feel the sweet breath of summer, close on my neck, brushing my hair, pushing hot against my arms and feet and broad, working shoulders. I stand out in the daylight, under brilliant sunshine, in this June that feels like July, and the heat pushes into my bones, and draws the sweat and salt from me as it pulls the paintings from my heart and from my soul.

This solstice, this spring, this summer, has been about flowers, the warm deep earth, the grass growing like thoughts in a sleepless night. These days of heat and light have brought a bounty of beauty to me, and I've seen this world in ways I never had, in the slimmer, slighter, paler weeks of winter.

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Dog of the Day

This shy guy didn't mind the art show, but felt safer hiding behind his human.

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A Final Thought

"If it weren't for greed, intolerance, hate, passion and murder, 

you would have no works of art, no great buildings, no medical science, no Mozart, 

no Van Gogh, no Muppets and no Louis Armstrong." 

- Jasper Fforde 

Cosmos

This painting - Cosmos, 12x36 - was one of a bunch  of paintings that sold at the Art in the Park show in Richmond, VA, over the weekend.

It's been a while since I've had a really great show, and part of me had forgotten what incredible fun it is to see person after person come in to the booth, be caught up by my paintings and fall in love. It's thrilling.

I'm still getting comfortable with selling. It is still hard for me to say, in essence, "Aren't I wonderful? You should buy my art!" I wasn't raised that way. Wasn't raised to talk about myself in general, and more specifically, not to brag about myself.

At times, I do it all wrong, and, more times than I can count, I've recoiled in internal horror at my blunders. And as many as I've made, I'm certain there are that many more - at least - waiting for me.

But when I get it together, I have learned to simply treat people the way I would like to be treated. In other words, don't really sell them anything. Let them fall in love and get out of the way.

If they want to hear a story - and many do - I tell them the story of the painting, or the story of my becoming a painter, whatever seems to be calling to them.

I don't talk much about price, unless they are having trouble deciding on one painting or another. At that point, I usually offer a bundled price. It's a good deal for me, and a good deal for them, and frankly, my paintings do well together. They like having their friends around. And sometimes, this is a great option for the buyer, who simply wasn't thinking about that option.

I never want to talk someone into buying a painting. Never want to "sell" a painting. I want people to want to have my art in their lives. That's the perfect thing. And that is when selling is a thrill, as it was this weekend.

For all of you who think you'd never be able to do this because you're so uncomfortable selling, you could. It is a process, and you will find your own way. I am learning, every show, every situation. It's a delight to be able to say that, at least this weekend, it was fun!

My booth in Richmond

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Stuff I've Seen

Hahaha!!! These are gas tanks in the town of Sonoita, Arizona

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Dog of the Day

This is my childhood friend, Susie Gorra, with her adorable dog, on the beach 

where I spent my summers growing up, in New London, CT.

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A Final Thought

"No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit." 

- Ansel Adams

Say a Little Prayer

Say a Little Prayer

Oil on canvas, 36x48

Please click here to email me for price and availability

When I started painting this large floral, I wanted to paint a chaos of color and shape, a song of blossoms and springtime, a poem of shade and bright sun - and I think I got there. I love the little stream winding through the foreground, and the small surprise of the three daisies in the middle of the garden. What do you think? 

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I AM GRATEFUL for all the big things, my husband, my family, my faith, my success. And I am grateful for small things, too. The smell of lilacs, the tenderness of a sleepy little dog, the delight of a beautiful iris garden in a neighbor's yard. I hope you are feeling lucky and grateful today. 

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Dog of the Day

 It's Doc, suspicious, thoughtful, scheming, shy, devilish. One of my favorite dogs, ever! 

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A Final Thought

"The beautiful is always bizarre." 

- Charles Beaudelaire

April Dogwood

April Dogwood

Oil on canvas, 15x60

Please click here to email me for price and availability

Often, I already have the idea by the time I choose the canvas, but sometimes, the shape of the canvas leads me to the idea for the painting. 

That was the case with "April Dogwood." I've had this canvas for a while, and have been saving it for something special.                                                                                           Recently, I moved it from the shed where I store many of my blank canvases to the studio, where I paint. I sold a nice cowscape at a recent show, and thought that perhaps a good longhorn would suggest itself.                                                                                           I was taking a break, gazing out the door of the studio when I noticed branches of our pink azalea reaching out past the corner of the house. I knew instantly that that was what I needed to paint on this 15x60-inch canvas. 

It's an unusual painting for me. It is delicate, and subtle, though I will say that, up close, it has lots of colors and lots of texture. I love the rhythm of the branches, the three-dimensionality of the dogwood flowers, the feeling of spring it gives me. 

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Thank you! 

FOR EVERYONE WHO participated in my April sale, everyone who took a look, thought about buying a painting, sent their friends to the sale, or bought a painting, thank you! It was a grand success. Seven paintings from the sale sold, and one buyer bought another painting from the website. I found plenty of ways to improve the process, and have some great ideas for the next sale. If you have ideas, please feel free to email them to me - carrieBjacobson@gmail.com. 

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Dog of the Day

(See above! It's Koko!)

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A Final Thought

"The painter has the universe in his mind and hands." 

- Leonardo DaVinci

Lupine Garden, finished and in progress

Lupine Garden

Oil on canvas, 30x30

At Center Framing & Art, 968 Farmington Ave., West Hartford Center, CT

I posted some in-progress photos of a painting recently, and people were interested, so here's a series of photographs of a lupine painting in progress. 

I start with a minimal design, showing where I'm planning the large blocks of color. 

I paint in the darkest part of the piece. Sometimes, at this point, I put in the entire background. 

The initial flowers go in. These are destined for the final painting,

 but at this point, are also place-holders.

More flowers - and very cool shadows from the window to my left. 

Now I fill in the upper background. 

Continuing with the upper background, and starting to fill in the brighter foreground. 

Now that the background is mostly done, I can start filling out the flowers. 

And here's the finished piece. 

Above and below, some details.  

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Gentle Reminder

The April Sale has been a grand success. Seven paintings have sold so far, but there are still some lovely pieces available, at very good prices. Please click or below here to reach the page. If you want to buy a painting but pay by check, drop me an email at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com. The sale is on through Monday at 6 p.m. 

Sale page - http://www.jacobson-arts.com/april-sale

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Dog of the Day

It's Kisses! She was rescued by someone who had the courage to steal her from a home where she was abused and neglected. Then that person gave her to my friend Susan, whose own dog had died. Kisses has some understandable trust issues with humans, but is a great girl. 

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A Final Thought

"Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant; there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing - and keeping the unknown always beyond you." 

- Georgia O'Keeffe

Rising

Rising

Oil on black canvas

Triptych, 12x36x3

Please click here to email me for price and availability

A couple weeks ago, a friend sent me a photo of baptisia, a perennial that I'm going to buy and put in the garden. But until that happens, (and after, too) I'm satisfying myself by making paintings of baptisia, or at least my version of the plant. 

I love the colors in this painting, and the way lights deepen to bright darks. I love the graceful sway of these flowers, and in this case, the way they run from one canvas to the next. 

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Stuff I've Seen

A few years ago, Heather MacLeod and I went on a painting trip to Atlantic Canada (check blog posts from June 9, 2010, "On Our Way,"  to July 7, 2010, "Northeast Margaree"). During that trip, we became great friends, and I began to realize how incredibly creative Heather is. 

This morning, she sent me photos of arrangements she made with pansies, eggs and carrots, on the occasion of this Easter. Aren't they lovely and amazing? 

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Dog of the Day

Dog and guy, same sunglasses!

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A Final Thought

"A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, 

those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened." 

- Albert Camus