Salt Marsh Morning

Salt Marsh Morning

Oil on black canvas, 10x10, $125

sold

This is the the first of the paintings destined for the 2018 Wachapreague calendar. I think it's fitting that it's our lovely salt marsh, on a clear, bright spring morning, before the world has woken up.

The marsh is what drew me first to Wachapreague. I arrived on an October afternoon, and the thick, golden light had illuminated the marsh, below a sky so clear, so tender blue, it made my heart ache.

Right now, the marsh is a brilliant, soft green, and the water shimmering turquoise. I will paint it soon, in its summer glory. Then will come the fall, when the grass turns deep gold, and the dark boggy earth seems to be at its richest. Winter and spring look much the same on the marsh, as everything sinks in and down in the thin gray light, and all that is living in the marsh rests and gathers energy for the growth and thrill that is the summer here on the Eastern Shore.

You'll be able to get calendars through me, and through Seaside Antiques, here in Wachapreague. I'll let you know when they're available (should be October).

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I'VE BEEN AWAY, at shows up and down the East Coast, and all the way out to Minneapolis and back. I had a great time, met lots of people, sold lots of paintings, and made some new friends. Here are some happy buyers from my trip!

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Dog of the Day

It's Doc, Lulu and Koko, piled up on top of you know who - me! This is after I got back from three-plus weeks on the road. It was the best dogpile I've ever been in! 

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A Final Thought

"Treat a work of art like a prince: Let it speak to you first." 

- Arthur Schopenhauer

Colors of Our Town - and Sam, Nearing the End

Colors of Our Town

Oil on canvas, 10x10

sold

OK, so after the thinking and the ranting and the sifting of ideas in my most recent post, here's one of the paintings I've come up with. 

It's our salt marsh, the one at the end of Bayview Avenue, our road.  I paint it often, and spend an inordinate amount of time looking at it and photographing it. It's beautiful. 

I am very much liking this painting, though it is a landscape. I really like the abstract quality I was able to achieve, while still maintaining the look and feel of the landscape I know so very well. I think this is different. I think this stands out. I don't think this is your run-of-the-mill landscape. I know I would go into a booth to see this one. 

What do you think? 

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Dog of the Day

This is Sam, our oldest dog. He is on his last legs these days. He can't get up by himself, though when he is up, he seems to enjoy stomping around. He's fairly incontinent, and he sleeps a lot, but he seems to be pretty happy most days. 

He can be maddeningly demanding and difficult, and I some days, I find myself yelling at him, out of sheer frustration. He's fairly blind and pretty deaf, but I still feel bad about getting mad at him, and I apologize and hug him, and then work not to yell when he turns over the water bowl for the fifth time today. 

Sam has never been the smartest of dogs, but he has always been the sweetest, and  makes me very sad to see him nearing the end. 

A Good Harvest - and a Good Couple of Shows

                                  

A Good Harvest

Oil on canvas, 20x20

Contact Lori at Center Framing and Art for price and pickup/delivery options

I never, ever paint still lifes... Until now! 

A friend posted this photo on Facebook, and for reasons I still can't quite explain, I fell in love with it. I started to paint a couple days before I was to leave for the Broad Ripple Art Festival in Indianapolis, and between packing for that show, and Paradise City, and the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center show, and to bring pieces to Center Framing and Art in West Hartford Center, I was hard-pressed to finish it. I was so excited about it that I kept slipping out to the studio whenever I had a spare moment. 

I finished it, finally, just last week, during an unplanned one-day stopover at home, in beautiful Wachapreague, between Broad Ripple and Paradise . 

The painting got lots of comments during the Paradise City show in Northampton, MA, this weekend, though it didn't quite sell. But no matter. It looks great in the window at Center Framing and Art! Check it out at 56 LaSalle Road in West Hartford Center, CT. 

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Happy Buyers

                                       

 

THE FABULOUS CITISCAPE painter Teresa Haag O'Neill (check out her website by clicking here,  and her Facebook page, by clicking here) turned me on to the idea of taking photos of buyers with their paintings. I love seeing their happy faces! They made a good show for me, and I am glad to have met them, and grateful for their purchases! 

I had a good show in Indianapolis, too! Here are buyers from that show, and a cool photo of the show grounds, early one morning. 

 

                                                                 

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Dog of the Day

Here's our daughter, Erika, grandson Ashton and new grandcat Potsie, the Dog of the Day. 

Nice calendar in the background, too! 

Groton Reservoir - and Let's See Your Tree!

Groton Reservoir

Oil on canvas, 30x40

sold

One of the great things about living in Ledyard, CT, was being near the Groton Reservoir. I painted it often, and in all seasons. Some of my very favorite paintings from the years we lived in Ledyard are of the reservoir - and this is one of them. 

It is one of the first large paintings I did with a palette knife, and while it had some of the feeling I was hoping to communicate, it was lacking something - a little life, a little breadth, a little color? So I went back in and worked on it again, and this time, whatever was missing is there.

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May We See Your Tree?  

In Saturday's entry, I posted a photo of our Christmas tree.  My friend Bonnie Brankey, a wonderful artist,  sent me this photo of her tree. Could we share our trees, or our Hanukkah bushes, or our holiday-decorated pink flamingos - or whatever you decorate? 

Please send a jpg to me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com, and I'll post them here on the blog on Christmas Day. 

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Dogs of the Day

 Gotta love 'em! Want your pet to be dog of the day? Send a jpg to me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com

We Need the Storm - and Withdrawing from Another Show

We Need the Storm

Oil on canvas, 10x10

sold

It's been raining and blowing for days here in Wachapreague. The tide's been high enough to wash marsh grass up onto the road. The wind has been strong enough to blow branches down all over town. 

I have not been strong enough to do anything, and have withdrawn from this weekend's show in Reston, VA. I feel terrible about this for all sorts of reasons, but it is the only thing to do, and it is done. 

I will ride out the storm, on this line between summer and autumn, and I will ride out this tenacious illness, and everything will be fine. I'm on the mend, for sure, and it is nothing serious - just overwhelming and dispiriting.  

Here's my painting in the landscape. I made this piece in August, but the sky looks much the same. I lifted the title from "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" an address by Frederick Douglass. Here's the context: 

For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. 

We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. 

The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; 

the propriety of the nation must be startled; 

the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; 

and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.

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Dog of the Day

I met this guy on the ferry from Orient Point to New London in July. 

He was with the cutest Yorkie I've ever seen. 

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

First Fall

First Fall

Oil on canvas, 10x10

sold

Early autumn has a dusty look this year. The colors are soft, underlined with gold and tan and brown. A certain tired dryness seems etched into the still-green leaves, and the field grass crackles and whispers in the wind.

Even though it is early, and autumn's clothes are thin, the colors pull me in, the swirl of change  and promise visible, tantalizing. It is coming, it is here in a whisper, with a hint of color, and fire, and drama - or, this early, a rich aging, a gentle turn, handsome, quiet, recognizable.

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I MADE THIS painting, "First Fall," when I stopped in Pound Ridge, NY, to check out the site of the show this weekend, the Pound Ridge Fine Arts Festival.

Pound Ridge is a lovely little village tucked into the mountains of eastern New York, Westchester County, near Katonah. If you're in the area, or looking for a scenic autumn drive, come to the show! It takes place Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Here's the pond I painted. I forgot to take a photo with my painting in it! 

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ALL DAY THURSDAY and half the day Friday, I'll be painting outdoors at Olana, the home of Frederic Church, in Hudson, NY. I've been juried into a plein-air paintout with a selection of marvelous painters, and I am excited! Painting will be followed by an auction Saturday at 5 p.m. at the estate. I won't be there, but you can be, to see the paintings and bid on them, too. 

Click here for more information. 

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Dog of the Day

It's Ruth Hamel's dog Patsy, in disguise as a pumpkin! 

Afternoon on the Marsh

Afternoon on the Marsh

Oil on canvas, 30x40

Please contact me for price and delivery/shipping information

I've been painting like crazy for the final few shows of the season, and for Center Framing & Art in West Hartford Center, CT, where five of my paintings have sold in the past few weeks. Five! Whew! 

This Saturday, I'll be painting with the fabulous Ronet Noe, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the store, 56 LaSalle Road, West Hartford Center, CT. Stop by and say hello if you're in the area. I'm bringing this painting and others to the gallery, so there will be lots to see. And if you haven't seen Ronet's stuff, you are in for a treat indeed. 

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THERE'S A BID on one of the paintings I'm offering at auction on Daily Paintworks! You can click on the icon just to the right to see my two pieces, or click here to bid on "This Bright Morning,"  and here to bid on "The Way of All Earth". 

Both auctions end Sept. 30 at 8 p.m. 

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I'VE ONLY RECENTLY begun to ride my bicycle around town, and ...  it's fun! It IS a little scary, or it was at first - I hadn't ridden a bike in 30 years or more, and I felt wobbly and ungainly and unbalanced. I guess I still feel all those things, but I am getting used to it. 

One of the great things about riding a bike is that you see stuff you wouldn't otherwise see. For instance, I think the Virginia Department of Transportation is about to dig up our little town. There are arrows and squiggles all over our few roads. 

There's a houseboat docked at one of the marinas, too. That's another thing I'd never have seen in the car. And the marsh sunsets have been amazing. Here's one: 

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Dog of the Day 

 This is Looie Looie, our very old Pekingese. I took this photo a while back. Looie is not doing well, and is not going to be with us for much longer. But while he's here, alive and kicking (and growling and nipping), he very much deserves to be the Dog of the Day.

Eastern Shore Farm - Plus Two Art Shows and a Video!

Eastern Shore Farm

Oil on canvas, 24x24

sold

Thank you for all the kind birthday wishes! It was great to hear from so many of you - and to have "Happy Birthday to You" sung to me so many times in one day. I wish I'd had the presence of mind to videotape all the serenades!

There are two things I'd like to add to my birthday post  - along with my younger-self knees, I wish I had my younger-self feet. In fact, I wish I had feet from some other person, in some other family, but that's another story.

And second, while I want less - what I do want, I want with more passion, more verve, more desire than I've ever known in my life. I want to paint - landscapes, animals, nature, flowers - and I want to succeed, and sell my paintings, and make my living - our living - doing it. And I want this more than I have ever wanted anything, except to have my mother back among the living.

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So, on my birthday, I drove way, way, WAY down the shore to paint a farm I've passed again and again, but never taken the time or used the gas to paint it. You can only see this place as you're driving north, and so I never even remember until I am on the way home, inevitably too tired, or traveling too late in the day to paint. 

The day was warm and sunny, and the sky blue with wispy clouds as I set up. By the time I was finishing, the wind was blowing, dark clouds had moved in, and the rye grass was bending in beautiful waves (check out the video below).

I love my painting from my birthday! And if you want to see it in real life, come to the Stockley Gardens Art Show this weekend in Norfolk, VA. There might be some rain - but not enough to stop an art show!

My painting in the landscape 

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AND IF YOU ARE on the Eastern Shore on Saturday, please stop in to Seaside Antiques, on Main Street, for an art and antiques show. My husband Peter will be there, with some of his photographs, some of my paintings, and some of his amazing flies and lures. 

There will also be art by the amazing Linda Cicoria, my friend Pat Hart, Ann Crain - and MORE! 

Beach Houses

Beach Houses, Fort Monroe, AL

Oil on canvas, 10x10

I lived in Boston for 10 years after finishing college there. While I was at Northeastern, I lived a half-mile from where the bombs went off. Later, I lived two blocks away. 

It's been ages since I've been back, but still, I remember. Pretty much exactly where one of the bombs exploded, there was a famous club whose name I can't recall, where I heard lots of music, and met and interviewed BB King and his band. 

I remember, in the giant snowstorm of 1978, walking down the middle of Commonwealth Ave., closed because of the snow. I remember how amazingly quiet it was, and how frightening to see the armed National Guard guys making sure no one broke into the closed and powerless stores. 

I remember countless Patriot Days in Boston, wild, rollicking times, when you went to Fenway, or you went to the Marathon, or you just joined the party, which started early and lasted all day. 

Business shut down, no one stayed inside, and the feeling of festival - mostly a Boston festival, maybe a Mass. festival - but something the rest of the country didn't even know about, that made it feel sort of secret, sort of in-crowd, sort of special. 

Even this, even this horrible, deadly, crowd-injuring insanity, even this will not bring the celebration, the tradition, the festival to an end. Nothing. Next year, watch - it will be bigger, more exuberant, more enthusiastic than ever. And even more special. 

Here's the photo I used as reference for the painting

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Scenes from the Shore

Yes, indeed, these are chickens, making it safely across the road in front of my car yesterday,

 just around the corner from our home. 

Spring is coming quickly to the Eastern Shore. I love this yellow stuff, even though I suspect

 it's what's making me sneeze. But it sure is pretty! 

Nice-looking cows, just outside of Wachapreague

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  And here are George and Zack, the Dogs of the Day! They live with my friends Cynthia Battista and Kevin Ireton, in a beautiful antique home in Connecticut. 

DON'T FORGET to send a photo of your dog, if you'd like him or her or them to be 

the Dog of the Day! Just email me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com  

Hillside Farm, Pulaski, VA

 Hillside Farm, Pulaski, VA

Oil on canvas, 10x10

Here are some thoughts I had on the trip, and some things I noticed that never made their way into my emails: 

IF YOU WANT A JOB, the South wants you.

Starting in Georgia, I began to see huge highway billboards announcing jobs available. I saw these through Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas and Louisiana. 

In general, I didn't recognize the companies, but they seemed to range from manufacturing to oil to high-tech, just judging from the names. Of course, the pay levels were not listed on the billboards. But there are jobs for people in cities in those states. 

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FROM NOVEMBER until just about 10 days ago, an arsonist here on the Eastern Shore burned more than 70 abandoned buildings. Night after night, the fire alarm would sound, and the little volunteer fire companies would go out and find an old, abandoned building ablaze. 

Police came here in droves, and tried everything they could think of to find the culprit, but the fires continued, night after night after night. 

Finally, a cop pretty much stumbled on them - a man and his girlfriend - and made the arrests. The couple confessed to setting most of the fires. The remainder were set, I am sure, by opportunistic homeowners. 

Maybe this is something that only someone who lives on the Eastern Shore would understand, but as I drove along through the South and toward the West, and saw abandoned building after abandoned building, I found myself thinking: "Gee, I bet the arsonist would like THAT building..."

It was only then that I realized that I'd been thinking those very same thoughts for months about abandoned buildings here. 

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AS I DROVE THROUGH LOUISIANA, and the outskirts of New Orleans, I saw a sign for the French Quarter, Le Vieux Carre. I've seen photos and movies of the French Quarter all my life, it seems. Heard people's stories, read travel articles and restaurant reviews, read novels set in and around New Orleans. 

My decision not to go into the city brought with it a certain feeling of finality. If I didn't go to New Orleans this trip, it seems unlikely that I will ever go to New Orleans. 

I remember leaving Key West during an unhappy art-fair trip to Florida in November and realizing that I would never go back there. I'd seen Key West, I'd stood on the edge of America, seen Mile Zero, seen the descendants of Hemingway's cats - and I would not be back. 

I'm 56. Not old, but not young, either. There are millions of places to see, and I am not done seeing them. 

Sometimes I think of life as a long, long hallway with many, many doors opening onto many, many choices and many, many experiences. I can't quite see the end of the hallway, but I am starting to know that it is there. 

While there are hundreds of doors ahead of me, some of the ones behind me have swung shut and are locked tight. 

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Scenes from the Road

This scene from Fort Monroe, AL, is going to make it into a painting soon. 

This Texas farm was abandoned, I think. I like the way the buildings sit on the land, and in the big Texas sunshine. 

These saguaro cacti were growing pretty high up, on the road to Sedona. 

THE DOG OF THE DAY is Gypsy, who lives with Heather MacLeod and her husband Joe Keller in snowy Brownfield, Maine!  Your dog can be the Dog of the Day, too! Send me a photo at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com