Some Small Pieces

Clockwise, from top left, "Two Houses," "Tall House," "Maine Marsh."

All are minimally framed (see Tall House), all are $65, including shipping.

Please click here to email me for availability. 

In 2018, I'm going to have a selection of small pieces - oils and pastels - available at prices below $75. I'm working on creating them now, and I'm enjoying the challenge enormously. 

It's tougher for me to paint small than to paint large! But as I work on these, I'm learning. One problem I haven't solved yet is how to place these to dry, without taking up all the flat space in the studio! I can hang my wet paintings on canvas, but these can't hang until they are framed. Clearly, I need some shelf space in the studio. 

For more small pieces, please visit the Jacobson Arts website, and look under "available oils." 

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Workshop! 

I'm offering a palette-knife-painting workshop in Onancock, here on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, on Jan. 20, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. You'll learn to work with a heavy impasto, be bold and decisive in your painting, and have some fun with color, too. The cost of the workshop is $95; it's limited to 10 participants. To sign up, email me, or check out the Workshop page on the Jacobson Arts website; there's a PayPal button there. 

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Dog of the Day

It's Lulu, a/k/a Princess Yum-Yum, in a cool lid. It was on her about one second past this photo. While Lulu looks great in hats, she'd rather eat them than wear them. 

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A Final Thought

"Self-consciousness is the enemy of all art, be it acting, writing, painting, 

or living itself, which is the greatest art of all." 

- Ray Bradbury

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Happy New Year, everyone! Thanks for traveling this road with me.

Bobby, Ethel, Jackie-O

Bobby, Ethel and Jackie-O

Oil on black canvas, 36x48

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

They say that all art that you make informs all the other art that you make, and I think I'm seeing that in my painting right now - and I am liking it. 

I've been painting with pastels for the past few weeks (you can see my pastels on the pastels page of Jacobson Arts - click here!), and so when I stumbled into a sort of smoky, smeary approach to the background of these three cows, I saw an echo of the pastels I've been doing - and I pushed at it, working my way into new and, I think, exciting territory. 

Please let me know what you think! 

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Dog of the Day

I have breakfast on Thursdays at the Sage Diner with a wonderful group of women who live on the Shore. These dogs were in the back of a truck of someone - a hunter would be my guess - who was having breakfast in the restaurant. 

Just in passing, the Sage Diner has had a sign out since we've lived here - Two Eggs, Two Sausage, Two Pancakes. That's it. No price, nothing else. Makes me laugh every time. 

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A Final Thought

"I make art, sometimes I make true  art, and sometimes it fills the empty places in my life. Some of them. Not all."

- Neil Gaiman

Penelope the Goat

Penelope

Oil on canvas, 14x14, $245

Want Penelope? Click here to email me, and I'll ship her as soon as she's dry. 

Yesterday, my friend Susan and I went to my friend Sharon's house and we painted goats! Sharon and her husband have a small herd, which they keep mostly as pets. In the past, they sold them for meat, but I think that's mostly done now. Penelope and her pals have a great life in a pretty little field , and they have warm houses and lots of friends and seem extremely happy. And I think that if you're going to have goats, you want happy goats!

Here are some more photos:

Those are Sharon's legs, above, and that's Susan, below. 

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Shameless Self-Promotion 

Don't forget your Wachapreague 2018 calendar! Click here to go to the ordering page on the Jacobson Arts website. There's still plenty of time to get yours before Christmas, and at $22, they make great presents. They are also available in Wachapreague, at Seaside Art and Antiques, on Main Street. The shop is open Saturdays and Sundays, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. If I'm there when you come in, I'll autograph yours, if you like! 

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Dog of the Day

It's Puffy! Puffy falls raptly, passionately and totally in love with things and sometimes people, on a revolving basis. For a while, she was in love with a small wooden footstool we had, and could not be separated from it. Then, it was a piece of cardboard that had fallen to the floor. Then, it was me, and she was cloyingly clingy. Then it was a big cardboard box. Then a series of small cardboard boxes. Now, this letter box. And I do believe it's a federal offense for me to have this box at home - and probably a hanging offense for Puffy to be in love with it! 

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A Final Thought

"Here's to freedom, cheers to art.

Here's to having an excellent adventure

and may the stopping never start." 

- Jason Mraz

Peter!

Peter

Oil on panel / 6x8

Remember me? There's been a long, long, LONG hiatus in The Accidental Artist blog, and I do apologize - and hope you all are glad to see this post in your inboxes. 

I finished up my show season in late September, and in October, headed to New England on the Farms & Foliage Painting Trip. You can see the paintings I made by clicking here, and see photos and read stories from the trip on the Farms & Foliage Painting Trip blog, which you can reach by clicking here. 

It was a joyous, color-filled three weeks in New England. I think I landed there in one of the best foliage seasons ever. The leaves glowed as if they were lighted from within.  I had spectacular weather, stayed with great friends and loving family members, and look back on it as one of my best sponsored painting trips. 

Now, I'm busily working on commissions, on the 101 Dogs project - I'm getting near the end! - and I'm applying to shows and planning trips for 2018. Also, I'm taking it a little easy, for just a few weeks. 

One of my projects for the winter is a series of portraits, and maybe portraits with a mixed-media edge. I'm pretty excited about this! My experience tells me these will be hard to sell, if they sell at all, but there's something in my heart that seems to be requiring me to paint them, and so I will, and find out whatever it is that I'm supposed to find out. 

It's good to be back! 

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Coming Up

The Eastern Shore Artisans Guild will hold its 15th annual Artisans Guild Studio Tour  on Thanksgiving weekend. This is a grand event, really fun, which takes you all over the Shore to the studios of painters, sculptors, potters, glass-makers and more. 

I'm not in it this year - but I'll be out there, making my way around, visiting studios and buying holiday presents. 

The tour is free, and it's wonderful! If you live on the Eastern Shore, you must go. And if you're thinking of visiting the Shore - especially to see some art - the Tour is a must! 

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Dog of the Day

It's three of ours! From left, Doc, Lulu and Koko. 

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

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A Final Thought

"A blank canvas... has unlimited possibilities." 

- Stephanie Perkins

Always on My Mind

Always on My Mind

Oil on canvas, 20x20

Please click here to email me for price and availability

I had a charmed childhood, in all respects. I had great parents, who loved each other and made a happy, warm home for us. We had rules, we had freedoms, we had lessons, we had discoveries. I'm grateful for them every single day, and for my stepmother, too, who makes my dad happy in their lovely Arizona life.

Mom died 11 years ago, and I was thinking of her and celebrating her when I made this painting, on her birthday, Sept. 12. She'd have loved this field, which I believe is at Buttonwood Farm in Griswold, CT.  (My friend Margaret took this photo).

Buttonwood Farm is a great place to visit in the summer, and late July is the time to go. Sunflowers stretch on for acres and acres and acres. You can buy them in bunches - the money goes to the Make A Wish Foundation of CT - you can have sunflower ice cream, and mostly, you can gaze on fields of gold for as far as your eyes can see. There are also hayrides, a cow train and great ice cream. Check their website for info. And after the sunflowers have bloomed, the cows are let into the fields to munch to their hearts' content. I've never seen this, but have heard it's really fun.

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Yes or No?

The Neptune show is scheduled to take place Friday through Sunday, on the Boardwalk at Virginia Beach, with set-up Thursday afternoon. Hurricane Maria is scheduled to show up on Wednesday and blow through - though it could be Thursday, instead. If it looks clear and safe, I'll be on the Boardwalk in Booth 2610, between 26th and 27th streets. If it looks windy and dangerous, I'll be here in Wachapreague, painting in the studio. I'll put a posting on Facebook Thursday morning. Feel free to email me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com for my status! 

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Dog of the Day 

Met this cute Pekingese at the show in Durham, NC! 

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A Final Thought

"Dream delivers us to dream, and there is no end to illusion. Life is like a train of moods, 

like a string of beads, and, as we pass through them, they prove to be many-colored lenses which paint the world their own hue. "

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

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!

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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! 

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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