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

 

 

Flowers, flowers, flowers - and a Mexican Koko!

 Brown-eyed Susans

Oil on black canvas, 14x14

Please click here to email me for price and availability

AFTER A WEAK show in Tubac and a round of self-doubt and self-examination, I dove back in and started painting again, and it felt great.

I have a solo show in July and August at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens, in Norfolk, VA, and I need 30-40 paintings for it. So I decided to paint florals, and just let the paint flow and take me where it takes me.

You people - the community that has grown up around my paintings - you people are so very sweet and so very supportive, it takes my breath away sometimes.

I write about the bad times as well as the good to share the experience, with you who love and admire and buy my art, and with other artists, especially younger ones, who might think that they are the only ones who doubt, who question, who wonder about their work and their direction. I've been making and selling art for a little while now - and that is not false modesty, but the truth: In terms of people making their living at art, I'm still a neophyte.

But I'm successful, and people buy and collect and love my paintings - and still, I question my direction, my purpose, my way. I wish artists with vast experience would share more about their doubts and missteps. I'd love to hear their questions and their answers.

Thank you, all of you who wrote and sent me your love and support. I truly appreciate it, and it always, always helps me gather my courage.

And that is what I'm doing. I'm experimenting, I'm painting with faith and verve, I am going to go where the path leads me, and I'm not painting scared. And guess what? It feels great.

Inset - Peonies, 6x6

Above - Peonies and Tiger Lilies, 12x36

Below, Bouquet on White, 16x16

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Hola! 

DAD AND PAULA and I went to Nogales, Mexico, last week, so Paula could have some dentistry work done. They, and all their friends - and a number of other people I know - cross the border from Nogales, Arizona, to Nogales, Sonora, regularly for dentistry. The dentists are first-class, and the work is miles cheaper and way quicker. It's often more economical to fly to Tucson, get a hotel, drive to Nogales and have your dental work done, than to go to your own dentist down the street. To the right is the dentist in his waiting room. Below, Nogales, Sonora. 

Above, the border going into Mexico by car. Below, Paula walking toward the border you cross on foot. Dad and Paula park in Nogales, Arizona, and then walk across the border. Apparently, the line for cars to cross back into the US can be very long. 

Above, a Mexican Chinese restaurant. Below, a Mexican Koko! 

Look through the fence at the border return, above, and you can see the metal fence, now lined with razor wire, separating Nogales, Sonora, from Nogales, Arizona. Below, the line to get back into the US. It looked pretty long, but took us only about 25 minutes. 

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Perro de la Dia

IT'S THE MEXICAN Koko, above! For those of you who might not be able to conjure up an image of the Virginian Koko, I have included a photo of her, below. Amazing likeness, si? 

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A Final Thought

"Art has many avenues; love is carried through many vessels. Your oceans are your colours, your ship is your brush and your treasures are in your heart." 

- Moncy Barbour

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

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