David Park

Head of a Man, 1960

Portrait, 1930's

Two Girls on the Beach, 1934

A Crowd of Seven, 1960

Standing Nudes, 1960

Untitled (Seated Female), 1950's

Lydia Drinking Coffee, 1960

An artist that I was unfamiliar with until this morning, David Park. I love his broad - yet to the point - strokes of pure color. And that top portrait is spectacular. He did this portrait when he was in pain and dying from cancer. I guess if anything would give a clarity of vision, that would do it.

September, I'll Remember...

one lucky lupine, upper left.

...the incredibly lush and colorful flowers collected from the Little Cranberry Island gardens the morning of Kaitlyn & Cory's wedding day. (When I spent time on Monhegan, I got to know the Island Gardener. She claims that the flowers on an island have a different intensity than mainland flowers, and that it has to do with the special richness of island soil and air which is caused by being surrounded by the sea. I believe it! ) And here's a bit of magic - the women who gathered the blooms found one lone lupine! You can see it in the fourth pic. This is highly unusual - lupines have all gone by by early July. We saw it as a lucky sign, and it was put into the bouquet for the bride & groom's table!

All these gorgeous photos were taken by Connecticut artist and architect, my cousin, Del Simmons.

A Horse, and Henry with Pigeons

I took a wet stroll uptown yesterday to see the new work that's up in Whitney Artworks' Walker Terrace Window. Portland graffiti artist, painter, and my studio neighbor, Tim Clorius, has spray painted an image of what looks to be a Clydesdale, or some sort of big, strong work horse, on a flat, vividly verdant field. Tim's technique is very exacting - I don't know how he makes these images with cans of spray paint. Impressive! Standing there looking at this painting of (an almost) life sized horse with traffic whizzing by made me think that it wasn't so long ago that old Henry here, was sitting writing at his desk in his home just a few blocks back on Congress Steet, and the cobblestones of Portland were alive with the sound of horses clippity clopping (and the smell of horses' droppings...).

Now it's mostly the pigeons who do the dropping...

Port City Life Ad

Taking out an ad in Port City Life in their upcoming October issue in the hopes that it will yield some portrait commissions! My new website will be up and running October 1st as well. Exciting!
The whole business part of being an artist is tough, though, don't you think?

Island Community

View from Little Cranberry.

The rehearsal dinner at The Neighborhood House.

A whole buncha heart rocks.

Cranberry Cove Ferry.

Island flowers being arranged for the tables.

Every last one!

Kaitlyn's bouquet, made of island dahlias.

Ann & Chick Carroll of Topsham officiated.

Marian Baker & Ian Anderson, ceramic artists and professors at MECA. Marian owns Islesford Pottery where Kaitlyn works in the summer.

The cake adorned with island cranberries.

The cake plates.

The groom with a broom after the farewell brunch!

My daughter Kaitlyn's wedding was a beautiful community collaboration. I can only give you a smattering of an idea about how the island community and family and friends pitched in to make her wedding the sweet old timey event that it was. Here are just a few of the ways:

• Many islanders rented out their summer homes for the weekend guests at greatly reduced prices.
  
• The Neighborhood House opened its doors to all who were on the island for the weekend and lent their space for the rehearsal dinner, and the farewell brunch, two delicious buffets that were lovingly prepared for us by my son-in-law Cory's mother and aunts.
  
• The Cranberry Cove Ferry reduced its fares for wedding guests.
  
• The island let us use The Town Field for the wedding, free of charge.
  
• Several women on the island rose early on the morning of the wedding and grabbed drywall buckets to gather flowers from gardens all over Little Cranberry to make the bride's bouquet, the corsages, and to fill all the vases for the tables.
  
• The Islesford Dock Restaurant loaned dishes and silverware for the rehearsal dinner, the wedding, and the farewell brunch.

• Several men on the island washed dishes, set up tables, fetched coolers, greeted people at the dock and shepherded them to their lodgings, etc.
  
• Aunts, cousins and siblings helped to fold napkins and arrange flowers.

• Family and friends helped to decorate the cake plates that were given out as favors.

• The cake was made by one island woman as her gift to Kaitlyn & Cory, and she decorated it with cranberries from the island.

• All the bread was baked by another island woman as a gift to K & C.
  
• Another island woman taught Cory how to waltz so that he could dance with his bride at the wedding.
  
• The couple who officiated at the wedding gave their services as a gift to Cory & Kaitlyn.
  
• Another couple made goodie bags for the ferry ride to give to the guests who came over for the day, and the gentleman of this couple played his accordion for folks as they came off the dock!
  

Ok, ok, I'll stop. I think I've made my point about the strength of the community on Little Cranberry Island.

But Kaitlyn and I have had many conversations about how tight the community is on an island and how difficult that can be to recreate here on the mainland. I felt the same tight community when I spent time on Monhegan. It is a rare and wonderful thing.

Sister Day

For the last 6 years my three sisters Deborah, Susan, Amy, and I have been gathering in the summer in RI for our annual "Sister Day" to coincide with Sue's yearly trek back east from CA. We exchange gifts, eat good food, and generally make a nice day of it. We always invite our mother, Edna, and this year we were joined by my colorful grandniece, Patience Rose. Debby gave everyone the matching bracelets shown here, which she purchased in a new shop in Westerly, RI, that is owned by the wife of one of our nephews.

(I will have to get the name of her shop!)

My heart can hardly hold everything that has occured this past week. It is going to take some time to process. Let's just say that I feel very blessed to have such a loving family.

I am glad to be back in Maine, though, and will be cleaning and organizing my studio this upcoming week, getting ready for some new art ventures!

Island Wedding

Coming up for air after a very busy and wondrous week on Little Cranberry Island preparing for and participating in our daughter Kaitlyn's wedding. One of my tasks was to gather beautiful rocks to decorate the tables and I spent two glorious afternoons doing just that! Heaven.

Here are just a few pics from the wedding day plus a video clip of the talented young fiddler rehearsing. Tomorrow I'm heading to RI for several days. Hope that you are all well and enjoying the beginning of autumn! More soon...

Black Frame Art Sale

One last note!! The Black Frame Art Sale opens tonight! If you are in town,

drop in from 5-9pm

for some excellent art and some equally excellent eats!

2008 Black Frame Art Sale

Merrill Auditorium Rehearsal Hall, 20 Myrtle St., Portland, Maine

Friday, September 12th 5 - 9 p.m.

Saturday, September 13th 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

The 2008 Black Frame Art Sale will feature 57 Maine artists, with 244 works to choose from, each priced at $200. Each piece in the show measures 10" by 10" and is framed in an identical black frame. All art work in the show was selected for inclusion by a curatorial committee. Visitors to the sale may also enter a drawing to win an original 5'x7' "Scotia" rug designed by Angela Adams!
Hosted by the Bayside Neighborhood Association, the show’s proceeds benefit children’s art programs and other Bayside community activities.

Woman with Wounded Man, I, 2008

linoleum block print with mixed media, 10" x 10"

SOLD.

Heading Downeast

I'm sailing out to Little Cranberry Island this weekend to help prepare for my daughter Kaitlyn's wedding on the 20th, then I'll be in Rhode Island for several days visiting family! See you back here in a couple of weeks!!

Romance of Autumn

There is a definite nip in the air here in Maine this morning. Soon the leaves will be changing. Today is 9/11, and I wanted to post a peaceful, positive image. This is a favorite of mine.

Romance of Autumn, 1916
George Wesley Bellows

The Odd Odd Nerdrum

As they say he-ah in Maine, de-ah,

Now ain't that odd...

Ayuh. I'd say so...

Brenda from Artslice mentioned in a comment on my last post that Ellen Lesperance and Jeanine Olson's performance photograph's made her think of Odd Nerdrum's paintings.

What do you think?