Summertime!

HERE'S A SWEET sunflower painting that's 10 inches by 30 inches. It's just the right size to hang in a little nook, or in that space between two closets or two windows. If you're interested, this painting is at Center Framing and Art, 963 Farmington Ave., West Hartford Center, CT.

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HAPPILY, A SUNFLOWER painting has been chosen to decorate the brand-new hospital that's being built in nearby Onley. My painting, which will be 36x36, will hang somewhere on the first floor, so that sounds like lots of people might see it. Very exciting!

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MY NEXT SHOW is next weekend (thank God I have no show during this hurricane-stuffed Labor Day weekend!). So, Sept. 10-11, I'll be at the Workhouse Arts Festival in Lorton, VA. It's only the second year of this show, but I heard that the first year was good, so I will give it a try. I'll be in Booth 72, and I'll post a photo when I get my tent set up. For more on the show, click here. 


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BELOW IS ANOTHER painting I should have posted ages ago. I made it in the spring, when the forsythia, dogwood and cherries were bursting forth with color and the exuberance of spring. Some of my favorite collectors bought this piece at the Paradise City show in the spring.

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Dog of the Day 

Met this beauty at the show in Wickford, RI, this summer. He has one blue eye and one brown! 

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A Final Thought

"Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them." 

- AA Milne (via Eeyore)

Thanks again to Lynn Hoins for sending this good quote! If you have a quote about art, flowers, cows, the Eastern Shore or anything pertinent, and you'd like to share it, please send it to me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com. Thanks! 

Fred and Ethel

Fred and Ethel

Oil on black canvas, 36x48

Please email me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com 

for price, availability and other details! 

FRED AND ETHEL, CHARMING though they might be, did not bring me good luck in Pittsburgh. Or maybe they did.

Set-up for the Shadyside show, on Walnut Street in Pittsburgh, is at 3:30 a.m. on Saturday. You're allowed to drive in to the very narrow street, unload your stuff, and then get out. You can start putting your tent up at 5 a.m., when everyone has driven in and unloaded. After the show, the process reverses. You take everything down and put it on the sidewalk, and when everyone is done, you can all drive in. 

Most artists had to park in the organizer's lot, which was several miles away, and then catch a shuttle bus back and forth from the show street to the lot. 

Because of all this, Alison Thomas and I did some different stuff. Alison is a photographer/digital artist and a friend - check her work out at Serenity Scenes - and she and I split a suite at a hotel close to the show, and also decided to rent tents. When you rent a tent, it comes with all the weights, and also is put up and taken down by the tent guys. Because we both had vans, only one of us could park in the lot by our hotel; Alison had to park in a downtown garage, as my van wouldn't fit. 

So... We got there at 3:30 a.m., unloaded, and reparked the vans. In time, the tent guys came along and put our tents up, and we were able to hang our work. Both show days were blazingly hot. I sold one painting, and that was it. But I loved the couple who bought my painting, and as friends have reminded me, it's better to sell one than to sell none. 

The show closed at 5 p.m. on Sunday. I took my paintings down, wrapped them up, went and got my van and was able to park in a small lot close to the show street. I made two trips to the van with my handtruck, and was closing the van doors when all hell began to break loose. 

Artists at shows are obsessive weather-watchers, and we all have scads of weather apps on our phones. None of them picked up the storm that blossomed over Pittsburgh. It had been a sunny, hot day, and then suddenly, we were in the middle of thunder, lightning, high wind, sheets of pelting rain and yes, hail. 

Alison had been unable to get her van out of the garage - the gate wouldn't take her credit card, and wouldn't take cash. While she was wrestling with that, I found a tarp and put it over her photographs, which were on her handtruck. I moved the rest of her work to a doorway, covered it with a sheet and piled up stuff in front of it. I didn't notice her wall panels, however, and they got soaked. A huge huff of wind blew some of the coverings off her work, and a few pieces were damaged. 

But that was nothing compared to elsewhere in the show. Artists who hadn't rented tents had hauled their work to the sidewalk and many had the tents partly disassembled.                                                                                                                   The weights were off, but the tents were still standing. People hadn't begun to load their vans because their vans were parked miles away. This photo, by artist Tom Wachs, gives you a sense of the wreckage.                                                                                              

Work was ruined. Tents were ruined. People were hit by art and tent legs. Everyone was soaked. I was wet through to my underwear. The next day, my shoes were still soaked. By the time the storm stopped, and we were able to get Alison's van in to load her stuff, it was 8:45. on the way home, we nearly drove into a mass of downed wires, which, for all I know, were live. 

It was a terrible show for me, that's for sure. But in the end, I guess I was one of the lucky ones. And I am thankful for that. Here's a short video of the hail. 

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Detail 

After my most recent posting, Morning's Glory, a friend suggested I post 

a detail shot of the texture of the piece. So here are a couple! 

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Dog of the Day 

It's Red, whose human is Christine Stark, our dog pusher. Yup, Christine has been responsible for us having Abby, Koko, Dr. Cooper and Lulu. I joke, but Christine is a force of nature, who has done tremendous work fostering and finding homes for dozens, if not hundreds, of dogs. A passel of puppies was responsible for Christine losing her rental home. The group she worked for must be missing her like blazes right about now. 

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A Final Thought

"We are saved only by love - love for each other and the love that 

we pour into the art we feel compelled to share." 

- Tennessee Williams

Thanks to Lynn Hoins for sending this quote to me! If you have a good art-related quote that you'd like me to include as A Final Thought, please send it to me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com

Morning's Glory

Morning's Glory

Oil on black canvas, 36x60

Please click here to email me for price and availability

Cheryl Wheeler, in "Summer's Almost Over," sings "Summer's almost over, and the weeds have won at last..." and I don't know about you, but that's where we are. The gardens are happy and the flowers are blooming, but the weeds are happier, and through all the heat of the past month, have triumphed. They haven't choked out the flowers yet, but it is only a matter of time. 

This painting seems to capture all the glory and thrill of summer, when the sun is clear and the air is warm and the afternoons seem that they will last forever.

You can see this one - and several other new pieces! - live and in person this weekend in Pittsburgh, PA, at the Shadyside Art Festival! It's the 20th anniversary of the festival, which is one of the top ones in the country. I don't know my booth number yet, but will post it here on the blog, and also at Jacobson Arts  as soon as I find out. 

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IN OCTOBER, I'm heading west, to paint in Montana, Wyoming and perhaps South Dakota. I can't wait! It's one of my favorite parts of the country, and because of my schedule, I haven't been able to visit in years - except in the dead of winter, which is not the best time... 

I still have sponsorships available for the Big Skies Painting Trip! For $125, you will get an original 10x10 plein-air oil painting, regular blog postings about the places I visit, the people I meet, the dogs I see... and some goodies from the road. You can sign up for bigger paintings, as well. Click here for more information, or check out the Big Skies Painting Trip on my website, Jacobson Arts.

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I THINK THIS this sign is pretty funny. I also think the sign just past the George Washington Bridge, "New England, Exit 4" is funny. It amuses me to think that one exit could take you to an entire, huge area. 

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Dog of the Day

The two with the white noses? They got into a bag of flour. Ah, puppies. 

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A Final Thought

"The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love color the most." 

- John Ruskin

This quote was sent to me by a faithful blog reader. Thank you, SaraBeth! If you have an art-related quote that you love, please send it to me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com. Thank you!

Summer Song

Summer Song

Oil on black canvas, 30x30

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

People have sometimes asked me to add detail shots of my paintings, so here are a few. It's interesting to me that when I do these detail photos, I see stuff that I didn't even know was there! Aren't they fun? 

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Big Sky Painting Trip

IN OCTOBER, I'm heading west to paint! I'm hoping to make it to Wisdom, Montana, where I took my first painting trip. The only painting I can find from that trip is below - and I am amazed at the difference between the way I painted then and the way I paint now. Still, I love this painting. The landscape near Wisdom (above) is spectacular - and I am not limiting myself to it. I plan to paint in Wyoming, too, and South Dakota, if all goes as planned. 

Soon, I'll start a page on my website, Jacobson Arts (jacobson-arts.com). I'll be making paintings for sponsors, and also for shows. I already have one sponsor! Prices will start at $125 and go to about $1000. If you know you want in, and you want to reserve an early choice, please feel free to email me now (carrieBjacobson@gmail.com). Sponsors will choose their paintings in the order they sign up. 

Here is just a mention of another trip, for your planning purposes. I hope to be traveling to Alaska in January to paint the Northern Lights. More about this soon! 

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Dog of the Day

Dog in the front basket, dog in the back basket! I saw this guy at the Omaha show this year, and remember him from last year. The dogs looked like they were having a blast. 

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A Final Thought

"One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, 

see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words." 

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Four in Hand

Four in Hand

Oil on black canvas, 40x40

Please click here to contact me for price and availability

I started this painting at home, and finished it in a parking lot in East Texas. Or maybe western Louisiana, I can't remember which. It was right near the border, though. 

When I was at home, the day before I'd planned on leaving, the realization that I needed a dog of my own hit me suddenly and hard. I'd been intrigued by little Koko (you can see photos of her here), but wanted to meet her before arriving at any decision. So I finished the flowers on this piece, put it in my handy-dandy drying/protection rack in my van, and set off, a day early. 

After meeting Koko and falling in love with her, I headed west, looking all the way for a quiet, safe place to set up and paint. Finally, somewhere near the border of Texas and Louisiana, I saw a new-looking but deserted little strip mall. I pulled in and set up my easel and began painting. Five minutes later, a giant pickup pulled in. It was the owner of the strip mall, wondering just what the heck I was doing. He peered around the side of the canvas, nodded a little nod and gave me permission. 

I finished the painting about five minutes before it started raining! And I love it, I have to say. 

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World Health Organization be damned!

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Dog of the Day 

I met this dog in Arlington, VA. She had belonged to the mother of the woman who had her. That woman said that when her mother died, the dog had gone gray overnight. 

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A Final Thought 

"I want to touch people with my art. I want them to say, 'He feels deeply, he feels tenderly.'" 

- Vincent Van Gogh

Big Sunflowers, Big Shows, Big Head

Big Sunflowers
Oil on canvas, 48x72
sold

 I had a couple really good shows in Connecticut this month - Mystic and SoNo - and returned home with NO big paintings at all.

That's right, all my big paintings sold in those two shows.

What a miracle! Really, truly, any time anyone buys a painting from me - or any living artist - it is truly special.

It's so much easier to buy prints or reproductions. So much cheaper to go to Marshall's and buy some painting made in China, and already framed, and all for $37.

When someone goes out of their way to go to a show, and then allows themselves to fall in love with a painting, and actually buy it - sometimes for big $$ - well, so much has to happen to make that work, it's really somewhat surprising that it ever happens.

When a series of those events takes place in the life of an artist, it's sheer joy and celebration! People bought big paintings, people bought small paintings, people bought merchandise I was trying out - and people came to just look and talk and have fun. And there's joy in that, too.

So I am home, and I am painting like mad for autumn shows and for galleries that need new stuff. It's great to be here, to spend time with my honey, in our hometown, and to have the luxury of weeks on end to create.

Thanks, all of you who came to the Mystic and SoNo shows. Whether you bought anything, or whether you just said hello and looked at the art, your presence helped make my shows successful.

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MY FRIEND CANDY asked me what my favorite meal is. I was staying with her and she was going to cook. Well, I have lots of favorite meals, but my favorite summertime meal is a tomato salad, corn on the cob and fish. Yum! Candy sliced and diced and cooked a delicious dinner. Doesn't this salad look scrumptious?  

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Dog of the Day

It's Big Head, the goofy, fun neighbor dog who loves pretty much everyone. 

He really does have a big head

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A Final Thought

"It is a widely accepted notion among painters that it does not matter what one paints 

as long as it is well painted. This is the essence of academicism. 

There is no such thing as good painting about nothing."

- Mark Rothko

Does the Night Forget?

I'm always happy, happy as can be, when a big sunflower painting sells.

I'm happy for the sale, and I am happy for the buyer, and most of all, I'm happy because I get to make another, and know it will have a home with me, at least until the next show.

This sunflower painting delighted me. I love that it is vertical, a change for me. I love that the background continues white with its hints of yellow and green and tan, nearly to the bottom, where it picks up earth tones. I've never had the courage to do this before, continue the white the entire way. I've never had the courage to add stems, either, and I think I like them, the stems and leaves.

So it was a welcome opportunity, painting this piece. I like the pink flowers in it, and the shading, and the many surprising colors hidden here and there. All these things bring the flowers to life for me - and, I hope, for you.

You can see this painting this weekend at the Wickford Art Show, in Wickford, RI. The show is on, 10-6 today and 10-5 on Sunday.  I'll be in Booth 79, on Elam Street (there's a map on the website). Hope to see you there!

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FOR THE PAST few years, my friend Candy and I have been trading photos of the sky, nearly every day. She can be in Connecticut when I'm in Texas, or Morocco when I'm in New Jersey, and we are - of course - under the same sky. Sharing the photos has become a touchstone for me.

Sometimes, though, the sky is just blah. Think solid blue, or solid gray. So we take photos of other things. Here's one I call "Odd Man Out."

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Dog of the Day

Cute! They were at the show in Richmond, back in May. 

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A Final Thought 

THE TITLE OF this painting comes from a Carl Sandburg poem, "Nights Nothings Again." The poem is long, so I won't copy it all over, but you can click here to read it.
Here are a few short verses:

Is there a tired head
the night has not fed and rested
and kept on its neck and shoulders?

Is there a wish
of man to woman
and woman to man
the night has not written
and signed its name under?

Does the night forget
as a woman forgets?
and remember
as a woman remembers?

Red Rocks, Joshua Tree Revisited - Part of a Joyful Project

Red Rocks, Joshua Tree

Oil on canvas, 40x60

Commission

At a show about a year back, I met a nice couple who loved my work. They were in the midst of renovating a house they'd just bought, and they thought they wanted one of my sunflower paintings in their kitchen. 

We made tentative plans for me to visit and see the kitchen, the house and the colors, but the wacky winter weather, and then my California trip, kept delaying our meeting. Eventually, I was in their area for a show, and I was able to visit, and we all agreed that one of my sunflower paintings would indeed look great in their kitchen. 

They came then to that show, and realized that they also liked the paintings from my California Calling Painting Extravaganza. The one they liked best was one of the ones from Joshua Tree, in California. 

So in the middle of the summer, I set about making paintings for their beautiful, friendly home. I delivered them on Saturday, and I must say, they look fabulous! 

A project like this is wonderful for me on so many levels. It's great to have the sales, for sure. But even more than that is the joy of having my paintings hang in the homes of people who love them enough to buy them, and let them into their daily lives. 

This happens with every sale, but most of the time, I don't get to see it. Most of the time, I only get half the experience. With commissions, I am more involved with the ongoing life of the painting, and with the very personal decisions of content, colors, sizes, even where and how high to hang the pieces. 

I was also honored that my paintings are the first pieces of art Pat and Bill have bought together, and the very first to be hung in their home. 

It's sort of a miracle life I'm living here, and an experience like this one crushes mountains of doubt. It reinforces my belief in the decisions Peter and I have made, and reassures me that I'm on the right path. 

Here's Pat in the living room with the Joshua Tree painting. 

Here's the sunflower painting in their kitchen. 

*** 

EARLIER IN THE YEAR, I wrote about the 2014 Paws for Charity Project, an art book and related items that raise money for an animal shelter in Nova Scotia. The project, in which I've participated for a few years now, is run by Sara Harley, who also created the book of my California Calling Painting Extravaganza. 

Sara has now made some related items for the Paws for Charity Project. For sale on Blurb are coffee table books, e-books, notebooks and 2015 weekly planners. Profits from sales of these items also go to the shelter in Nova Scotia. 

The photographs and paintings of animals in the Paws for Charity Project are just great. I know you'll enjoy them, and I hope you check them out. The items would make great Christmas presents, and all for a good cause.  

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I THOUGHT THIS this was funny, a lawn on a truck. I know it happens everywhere, 

but it just seemed so compact, and so perfect, I had to take a photo. 

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Dog of the Day

I MET THIS GIRL at the show in Williamsburg. You can just see the edge of the pink bow she had in her hair. She was a sweetie. 

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

Blue-Sky Sunflowers - and a Lovely Place to Stay

Blue-sky Sunflowers

Oil on canvas, 48x72

commission

One of my goals in all of this is to do fewer outdoor art shows, and earn the rest of our living from galleries and internet sales, painting trips, plein-air events and commissions. And paintings like this one are proof that that plan can become - and is becoming - a reality. 

I love love love this sunflower painting! It is intensely bright and sunny, and while I'd never have thought of doing the upper background blue, I really like the way it offsets the rich colors of the sunflowers. 

What you don't get from the photo is a sense of the depth of the bright colors, and an idea of the size of the painting - 4 feet by 6 feet. It's so heavy I have to take it off the easel in order to change the height of the easel. And the size is one of the things that makes it so intensely sunny and amazing. I am looking forward so very much to delivering it, and seeing it hang in the gorgeous kitchen where it will hang! 

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I MADE MY WAY to High Point, NC, on Wednesday, for the plein-air paintout that starts today. It was a beautiful drive, mostly west, through lovely, sunny farmland. High Point looks like an interesting city with some bright and well-polished spots, and some fairly large pockets of what look like economically depressed areas. 

The paintout starts today, with what's known as a "Quick Draw," a three-hour event on North Main Street, very close to the hotel. I imagine that part of the Quick Draw is to draw attention to the event, and I think that's very smart. 

The hotel where we are being put up is absolutely gorgeous. And the paintout is paying for our rooms, and for most of our meals. What a treat! 

Above, the front and back of the JH Adams Hotel, where we are staying. 

Here's my room! 

The back entry to the hotel. 

Here's the outdoor patio. 

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MY NEXT SHOW will be An Occasion for the Arts, in Williamsburg, VA, Oct. 4-5. It's my first time doing this show, and I'm excited about it! I'll be in Booth A-8 on Duke of Gloucester Street. If you're in the area, or planning to be in the area, please stop by and say hello, and see my new pieces! 

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Dog of the Day

Today's Dog of the Day is Samantha! She's the mother of Puffy, our other cat, and Kizzy, Puffy's late sister. Doesn't she look like Katharine Hepburn, the Dog of the Day from my most recent post? 

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

Huge Summer Garden & Tiny Animals!

Summer Garden 

Oil on canvas, 48x60

sold

Sometimes, I just have to laugh at myself, and yesterday was one of those times. 

I'd spent the previous three days painting this gigantic sunflower painting - four feet by five feet. Tons of color. Tubes and tubes and tubes of paint. Thousands and thousands and thousands of strokes. It's so big and so heavy, I had to ask Peter to help me lift it so I could raise the easel. 

I worked on it and worked on it and worked on it, and then, finally, it was done. Yay! 

I put it in the van to dry and went back to the studio. 

My next painting? Five inches square. 

Made me laugh. 

Cardinal

Oil on canvas, 5x5

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Cottontail

Oil on canvas, 4x5

THE IMPETUS FOR these small pieces is twofold. First, I want to see if it's worth my while to create a line of smaller, cheaper paintings. If it takes me three hours to make a 10x10, which I sell for $100, but it takes me two hours to make a 5x5, which I sell for $45, well, then it's not worth it. But if I can make the smaller paintings more quickly, and if they sell fast, then maybe it IS worth it. So I am experimenting. 

But before these paintings make it into my booth at this summer's outdoor art shows, they're headed for the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center in Mystic, CT. My friend and former boss, Elissa Bass, is working for the center, which is run by another friend, and former classmate, Maggie Jones. Elissa invited me to exhibit at the center for the month of June. So that's the first home for these small pieces. 

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THIS YEAR'S PAWS FOR CHARITY book is out, and it is just beautiful! 

This is a project I've had the honor of participating in for a few years now. Sara Harley chooses photographs and paintings from artists who apply. She puts together a beautiful book, and donates the proceeds to a shelter in Nova Scotia, where she lives. This year's recipient is SHAID, Shelter for Animals In Distress. 

You can see a preview of the book by clicking here. 

And if you want to buy a book or two, here's a discount! Put in this code - P4C2014 - when you are checking out, and you'll get 25 percent off. The discount is not good forever, so you should order now! 

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Dog of the Day

I met him at the Wachapreague Post Office yesterday, and he was happy and shiny and 

very friendly. I think his name is Zorro, but I could be wrong. 

Two Thousand Inches of Happy - and a Sad Farewell

Two Thousand Inches of Happy

Oil on canvas, 48x48

please contact me for price and delivery options

One of the reasons that I love to paint is that I love the way it makes me feel. I love where it takes my head, where it takes my heart. 

When I am painting, it seems that the world goes away. Well, that's not really right. My surroundings recede. My worries recede. Whatever is dark and sad in my life recedes, and I am left with what is joyful and full of promise. I am left with color, and with light, and with faith.

I paint - and especially with something like this piece, this big, bright, heavily textured sunflower piece - I find a rhythm that helps transport me, helps bring me to that transcendent place, that place where sorrow is something just out of the frame, just off of the horizon. 

We euthanized our 15-year-old Pekingese on Monday. He had had trouble walking for a couple of years, and his back legs pretty much gave out a couple months ago. This weekend, one of his front legs seemed to be on the way out. It was arthritis, the vet said, and Looie would not get better. He would not come out of it. 

Loo had a good long life. He was the top dog for a long time, and one of his major roles was to stop all playing, whenever possible. We called him the fun police. Kaja, the German shepherd/chow in the photo with Loo, is also dead. Kaja spent many joyful afternoons in Maine running into Looie at full tilt, knocking him ass over teakettle. He would roll and tumble, and then get up, barking, and chase Kaja until she'd do it again. 

I understand when people say they can't think of having another dog, because of the pain at the end of their too-short lives. I understand. But I wouldn't change a moment of this awful pain for a moment less of life with Looie or Kaja or any of the others. 

And so I painted, and painted, painted beautiful, bright, rhythmic sunflowers. I let myself get lost in the colors and the light and the promise, and the healing. 

***

Rocketman

IT'S NOT A GREAT photo, I know, but it was an exciting evening, earlier this week, when a rocket blasted off at night from Wallops Island, a few miles up the Shore. It was pretty cool to see it, arcing orange and fiery against the night sky, out over the Atlantic. 

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THIS IS WHAT the Eastern Shore looks like in November. It doesn't have the wall-to-wall brilliance of New England, but it is pretty and bright nonetheless. The white stuff in the photo above is cotton.