Sarah Pollock Studio - This Week in the Pastel Artist's Studio

More New Works

2009-03-21T17:40:00.002-04:00

It's been a busy week here. I'm working on finishing up pieces for my exhibition beginning next month and I want to take a brief time out to share some more previews of the latest works: Two new cityscapes and one landscape. Enjoy!

Chicago Blues

Detail:Chicago Blues, 12x18 pastel on board

Springtime, Huntingdon County

Detail:Springtime, Huntingdon County, 16x24 pastel on board

London Rush

Detail:London Rush, 16x16 pastel on board

Where are the new works?

2009-03-12T11:49:00.003-04:00

The clock is ticking. My husband and I are attempting to go Internet-free this weekend, so I'm hustling to post this update before we yank the cord on our cable modem. Think of me as I go through withdrawal this weekend....In case you're curious, this came about because we were supposed to be on the beach in the Carolinas this week (it's Penn State's Spring Break week), but due to various maladies and cold, uncooperative weather, we decided to stay home and take it easy. But to ensure that we really are taking it easy and not working on the sly, we both agreed to go without web access.

We'll see how this goes.

Meanwhile, I'm busy finishing many new pieces for my upcoming exhibition at The Fine Arts People Gallery next month. I will not post any new works on the landscapes or cityscapes areas of this web site until April. But I will offer some sneak previews through this blog.

The first piece on preview today is "Notting Hill Blues," a cityscape inspired by my visit to London this past fall. This work continues my exploration of the relationship between casual passersby and the sterile gaze of storefront mannequins. The more I watch these interactions within cities, the more I am amazed by the poses and postures that "live" human beings take in front of these idealized mannequins. The image below is small detail from the overall piece:

Detail: Mannequin from the new cityscape, Notting Hill Blues.

The next piece on preview is "Winter Pines: Golden." This is also a continuation of a new series of works that I began earlier this winter, exploring the pattern of light and shadow within interior woodlands. Thus far, these ideas have been drawn from reference material gathered within central Pennsylvania's Black Moshannon State Park. However, as I continue this series you'll see works from other locations around our home. I'm finding this body of work to be a good challenge for me because they're so different from the broad, panoramic vistas that I tend to favor in my landscape work.

Detail: Tree trunks from the new landscape, Winter Pines: Golden

OK! That's it for now. I'll be back online early next week. At that time, I will post some more morsels for preview, so check back soon.

Have a great weekend!

Squaring Up

2009-03-04T09:08:00.003-05:00

This is shaping up to be another extremely busy year. Yesterday I received an invitation to a relatively new art show in Montauk, New York that is scheduled over Memorial Day weekend. This show location is a greater distance from our home than what I'm accustomed to traveling for a show, so I'm on the fence about whether to participate. My decision is going to require more deliberation.

And making decisions is not my forte these days. I've sort of been in a fog for the last month or so because both my husband and my dog have not been well. I'm pleased to report that our dog, who had been limping so badly that she was almost falling on her face when she walked, is now doing better thanks to laser treatments on her shoulder (yes, you read that correctly). And my husband? Well, he's still suffering with a double sinus infection. He's off to see a specialist tomorrow and we're hoping for a positive outcome.

Meanwhile, I'm working hard to complete brand new pieces for my upcoming solo exhibition at the Fine Arts People Gallery in Exton, Pennsylvania next month. My most recent cityscapes are in a square format, which is somewhat different for me because I often favor very vertical or very horizontal formats. But perhaps these squared up works are my response to the crazy world news out there. Sort of a "squaring up" and effort to recalibrate during these chaotic times.

I'd like to invite all of you who follow this blog to come out to the opening reception of my exhibition and meet me on Saturday, April 4 from 5pm to 7pm. You can access driving directions to the gallery from my web site by checking here. If you have any questions about the works that will be featured, please feel free to contact me.

And here are a couple of new, Chicago-inspired cityscapes that you will see in the exhibition. I have one more square-formatted cityscape in progress on my easel right now and there will be more in the future...

Twilight El, Chicago, 16x16 pastel on board

In Wicker Park, 16x16 pastel on board

Winter and the Genesis of a New Series

2009-02-23T12:26:00.003-05:00

Snow flakes are flying sideways on a howling wind outside my office window as I write. It's been an authentic winter here for the past couple of months and I've found it inspiring despite some distractions in recent weeks.

Winter Pines: Hush
12x18 pastel on board

Unfortunately, my husband, Tim, has been very sick for the past five weeks. He caught a whopper cold on a return trip from Chicago in early January. And after four different courses of antibiotics with two frightening and different allergic reactions, he's still not free of a lingering infection and pesky cough. Thus, I've been spending lots of quality time with our dog, Annie, since he has not been well enough to walk her during these cold days. To boot, Annie developed a mysterious limp about 10 days ago, which is also troubling to me since she is my little baby.

Nonetheless, a couple of weeks ago I got the heck out of Dodge and went up to Black Moshannon State Park to clear my head. This was before Annie developed her limp, so I took her along and the afternoon could not have been more magical. The sky was clear, the wind was calm, and there was at least a foot of pristine white snow throughout the woods. Annie and I hiked along the Moss-Hanne trail within the park and I was captivated by the long, blue shadow patterns of the pine trees on the snow.

I just love the whispering howl of wind through the pines. It soothes me. I took a calculated risk and let Annie off her leash (we adopted her when she was 18 months old and we can never quite trust her completely not to ditch us whenever we're outside). Since the snow was deep enough, I reasoned that if she wanted to make a break for a rodent, she'd be impeded by the snow. I could always make the diving grab, right? Anyways, she had a grand time tromping around and I hit upon an idea for a new series of studio works: "Winter Pines." The first piece is pictured above and the second one is already under way on my easel. As I indicated elsewhere on my web site in its description, if this first piece can help transport the viewer to the same beautiful place that I was, then my mission as an artist has been successful.

How I Work: Process, Part I

2009-01-25T19:59:00.004-05:00

Over the past several years, I've taught a couple of weekend pastel workshops as well as an annual, 6-week long class about color use and theory to local artists. Whether I'm teaching or exhibiting at an art show, I get a lot of questions about how I work. Both patrons and students are often curious about how one gets from the point of inspiration to the finished result of a framed pastel piece.

With this in mind, I'm going to begin a series of posts that will offer some insight into my creative process. Winter is a quieter time of year for me when I can quietly work in my studio as the snow drifts past my window, and this seems like a good time to respond to some of the most frequently asked questions that I've encountered to date.

This first post will offer a step-by-step peek behind the scenes of one of my most recent cityscapes, The Downtown Line.

Because of my background in music theory and performance, I tend to speak in "musical terms" when I describe my art making process. There are so many commonalities between the two disciplines that it just seems like a natural fit to me.

To start with, here was my source photo from this past summer in downtown Chicago. Just prior to beginning my career as an artist, I was -- believe it or not -- a web site programmer and designer. And before that, I worked for Walt Disney Feature Animation doing the color on their animated feature films. Both of those careers gave me a ton of computer skills and these skills have served me very well in my artistic endeavors. I use Adobe Photoshop software extensively in the planning and creation of my artwork. It's extremely useful for cropping, rotating, and salvaging less-than-ideal source material (for example, things that have been underexposed).

There was bad lens distortion in this photo because I had to take a wide angle to capture the scene, so my first instinct with this idea was to crop it because I was most interested in the channel of light and how it framed the individual boarding the bus. After I did that, I began a series of thumbnail sketches to get the picture into my mind. As the name implies, these "thumbnail" sketches are small and simple drawings to help block out the large components and shapes of the piece.

Some of my thumbnail sketches, done in charcoal, together with my initial "color chords" for this piece

It's so important to get the piece into your mind's eye. This is critical to the success of a piece....As I tell my students, if you can't visualize it ahead of time, then how do you expect to create it on your paper? After I'm comfortable with the thumbnails, I then create what I call a "color chord." This consists of the darkest, medium-dark, light-dark, and lightest colors within the piece. I choose a small quantity of pastels that will serve as the main values of the piece and I do my best to stick to just these few pastels to get as much of the piece done as possible. This simplicity in color and value gives works a cohesion that you cannot achieve if you fracture your work into a million little different shades and hues.

My handful of pastels. For simplicity and cohesion, I will ride these as far as I can into a piece before I introduce any new hues or shades. And, yes, that is a cookie sheet. As I work on various pieces, I keep my pastels on a cookie sheet.

The next step is to sketch in the rudimentary armature of the piece. This is not a detailed drawing. Instead, it's a vine charcoal rendering that captures the placement of the major components of the piece. I used to torture myself with grids and precision, but I did not like the resulting tightness in my artwork. It looked strained. Not good.

The initial charcoal drawing on my pastel board

Some artists trace their photos and some use projectors. I do neither. I take a lot of pride in the work that I do, from start to finish, and I never use such mechanical aides. Everything that I create is drawn freehand. To me, the skill of drawing is integral to making art. I find it difficult to respect the work of those who lean on projectors for lack of drafting skill. And the ability to draw well is especially relevant with pastels, which are simultaneously a drawing and a painting medium (A big reason why I enjoy working in the medium).

The first block-in of the main colors

After I'm satisfied with the feel and accuracy of my drawing, I start to block-in the main areas of the piece with my initial and limited selection of pastels.

The piece begins to take shape, with only a few areas of blank surface remaining

The photo above shows the piece at about 80% completion. Sometimes, the initial block-in of colors will go really fast. But the last details of the piece always progress more slowly. This is where I'll start to refine the colors and ensure that the transitions are smooth while sprinkling in highlights that help a nighttime scene such as this to read coherently.

Almost done...

Here, the piece is almost completed. You'll notice that I've signed my name even before it's truly done. I have a funny way of handling this. I'll sign a piece when I think it's "in hand," meaning that I don't think there's any conceivable way for me to mess it up and lose my grasp upon it. So I don't necessarily wait until the piece is complete before I'll sign it.

You can see The Downtown Line in its completed state within the Cityscapes area of my site. In my next post, I'll discuss the pastels that I use and offer a few snapshots of my studio space.

Winter, for Real

2009-01-16T21:30:00.004-05:00

Winter Solstice, 12 x 24 pastel on board. A new piece inspired by our current season.

I'm busy working on new pieces that I will gradually reveal through this web site over the coming weeks. My first exhibition of this year will be at the Mount Nittany Medical Center in mid-February. I've displayed works there over the past few years and it's been a great way for me to kick-start my motivation during these short days of winter.

Like much of the rest of the country, we're currently experiencing colder than usual weather here in central Pennsylvania. For the first time since I moved here four years ago, we've had a prolonged cold spell that has helped to retain a worthwhile amount of snow on the ground. This thrills me because the clarity of the atmosphere at this time of year is unmatched. All four seasons inspire me, but winter is more elusive than other seasons. When things come together on a cold, crisp day the results are often more stunning than what you can see during the more temperate times of year. It just takes patience to recognize the charm of winter.

Shown here is "Winter Solstice," one of my newest landscapes. As its name implies, this was a scene from the shortest day of the year in December. I've had the idea for this piece kicking around in my mind for almost two years now. Ever since I painted Summer Solstice, I wanted to create its opposite counterpart. It took until just a few weeks ago to get the perfect confluence of features: Interesting clouds, a light covering of snow, and a clear atmosphere to enhance the fading daylight.

This piece was inspired by a location near Whitehall Road in State College, Pennsylvania. Although I do a lot pieces on location, these cold days require me to work from my photographic reference material....I've tried painting outside during frigid temperatures, but it's too hard on my hands because there's really no way to work while wearing gloves. Nonetheless, don't assume that it's just a simple matter of "point, click, and paint." I often take ridiculous risks to get The Shot for my ideas, and this scene was no exception. This was an exceptionally cold evening and the wind was howling. Blowing and drifting snow created a glossy veneer of ice on the rural roadways and it was treacherous to be out in such conditions (black ice is the worst). However, I wanted to capture this idea while it presented itself. The good news is that with the weather we've had lately, there will be more opportunities to capture the beauty of these winter days.

New Year, New Easel, New Ideas

2009-01-06T20:08:00.005-05:00

Happy New Year, Everyone!

I was blessed with my most successful year ever in 2008. Before starting with my thoughts for this new year, I'd like to offer a sincere thank you to all of my clients who helped me to achieve so many of my goals this past year. Given the chaotic economic events of these recent months, I may be about the only person in America who was sorry to see the year end. But I already have lots of ideas in the works for the upcoming year.

To start with, I'm getting back into the routine of painting. Other than a few landscapes and some commission work, I took much of the past two months off following my last art show in late September. I needed a break to recharge my creative batteries. During that time, I traveled to many great destinations with my husband and picked up tons of inspiration that I've started to tap as I get back to work. I also spent some time with my family, finishing up a mural for my nephew and hosting the holidays at our home for my family members from out-of-town.

To better balance my life and ensure that I'm giving my best to my art, I started to work with a personal trainer towards the end of 2008. This has already helped me immeasurably. I feel more energized and more at ease mentally. Unlike your stereotypical image of a laissez faire artist, I may be slightly neurotic. Slightly. Just ask my husband. Or my Mom.

OK, I digress. But thanks to my trainer's guidance, I'm working towards a goal of participating in the upcoming Bike the 5 Boros Ride in New York City this May. I plan to make this ride as much about getting artistic inspiration as it is about getting a good workout.

Starting next month, I'm also going to work with a good friend and extremely talented fellow artist, Lisa Mitchell, who will offer guidance to me about painting the human figure. In my cityscapes, I remain interested in exploring the narrative element of people within various urban settings. One of Lisa's specialties is portraiture and I'm very excited to have the opportunity to learn from her. Everyone needs "continuing education" in their profession and although I've taken a few workshops since beginning my career as an artist over five years ago, I'm ready to work with someone individually to advance my skills.

My new easel, partially assembled in the shipment packaging, on my studio floor

Over this past year I made some investments in my studio environment. Everything from better lighting to an air filtration system that mitigates the pastel dust (the only bad thing about working with soft pastel). Most recently, I had to replace my studio easel. My old easel began a slow, inexorable death this past September when it began to wear out and could no longer support large, heavy drawing boards for some of my bigger pieces. I purchased a new easel this past month and it's super-sturdy, so I'll no longer have to deal with the nightmare scenario of a piece-in-progress crashing to the floor.

I'm excited about 2009. I look forward to our new President taking office within the upcoming days. I'm also excited to visit some new locations this year, including Charleston, South Carolina and San Francisco, California. Stay tuned!

A Mural for Maxwell

2008-12-22T22:11:00.006-05:00

Ladies and Gentleman, there's a new man in my life: My two year-old nephew, Maxwell.

If you follow my artwork and this web site closely, then you know that I've been on a brief hiatus from painting this fall and early winter. I've had my most successful year ever, but it's been exhausting and I just needed some down time.

Yet this doesn't mean that I've been completely AWOL from making art....In fact, I was long overdue to finish a series of murals illustrating scenes from the story of Noah's Ark for Max.

I began this project two years ago, before Max was even born. Unfortunately, all of the little animals proved more than what I could conquer in the week's allotment of time for painting. More unfortunate: It took until this past week to return to Florida and finish the project with the final scene of the animals safely disembarking from the boat.

The mural in progress

But now Max has his new murals for his bedroom (four scenes in all) and I have discovered how cute this little guy is. He's a natural dancer and I can't wait to see what the future brings for him.

Max in front of the newest mural

Where I've Been...

2008-11-20T20:36:00.005-05:00

Since returning from London last month, my travels have continued. I've visited a number of great places over the past few weeks and perhaps I haven't spent as much time in front of my easel as I should (blush), but the reality is that I needed this break. And these travels have only augmented my source material and inspiration for this winter.

Beginning in late October, my husband and I spent time in Gettysburg. It's only a 2.5 hour drive from our home, but it took many years of living in Pennsylvania for us to finally make it there.

I was blown away.

Totally blown away.

The scale and the scope of what transpired there are just mind-boggling. Even as someone who's visually "gifted," it was difficult for me to envision the thousands of people who fought and died there.

Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC

The following weekend, we traveled to the Washington, DC to visit some dear friends and to attend a concert by our favorite singer / songwriter, Dar Williams. During that visit, I had the opportunity to peruse the latest exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur Sackler Gallery, where I especially enjoyed an exhibition of Dwight Tryon's pastel seascapes. Dazzling!

This past weekend, my husband and I traveled to Hyde Park, New York to take a "bootcamp" class at the Culinary Institute of America. When he's not doing research, my husband's second passion is cooking. In fact, he does all of the cooking at our house. I'm allowed to chop onions. That's about it. We had great meals at the campus restaurants, we learned a lot, and we'll definitely go back again.

Oh, and two days ago, I ventured off to Indianapolis to pick up some picture framing equipment that I bought off of eBay (Hooray for eBay). It was a quick two-day trip, in and out, but it was fun to gaze upon the midwest farmland along I-70 during these crisp November afternoons.

Now, finally, I'm back to work on some commissioned paintings for the holiday season. It's been a hectic fall / early winter, but these travels have been a great way for me to recharge my creative batteries and I'm pleased to report that I'm now getting back into the groove of painting. Some of the first things that you'll see will be landscapes from Gettysburg, which leapfrogged over London in the queue of my source material. I'm also thrilled with the new lighting in my studio. This is paying huge dividends already because winter has come early this year. The snow is already flying outside my window and I'm wondering with this portends a long winter or -- hopefully -- an early spring.

We shall see....

Back from London

2008-10-28T09:17:00.004-04:00

The London Business School invited my husband to be a visiting scholar for a couple of weeks, and I got to tag along. We recently returned from a wonderful trip to London. It's an expensive city (yikes!), but well worth the journey. Fantastic Indian food! And we did many of the typical tourist things, such as visiting St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and a stroll along the River Thames.

We had delightfully mild weather. In fact, I wish that I would have packed shorts. With very little rain and several days of sunshine, I picked up lots of inspiration for new work that you'll see in the coming months. There was the expected, such as Big Ben, and then there were some unexpected things. I can't wait to get back to work with these ideas.

Tomorrow I'm going to have some additional lighting installed in my studio because the grey days of Pennsylvania's notorious winter are already upon us. Snow is in the forecast already. Ich-h-h-h. But I've taken some time this month to rest and regroup after a busy show season and I'm looking forward to settling back into my work during cozy winter days here at home.

October - Rest and Rejuvenation

2008-10-08T16:47:00.003-04:00

Central Pennsylvania's Black Moshannon State Park kicks butt during the fall

Fall is here. This means two things. First, my summer art show season has concluded. Secondly, the splendor of central Pennsylvania fall foliage is in full swing.

I am grateful for what has already been a very successful year despite the turbulent economy and I want to thank all of my collectors for their support. Although I've made tracks throughout central Pennsylvania to paint on location and gather source material of fall colors for my landscape work, I'm currently preparing for my first visit to London. I anticipate capturing many great cityscape ideas while I'm there as well as taking the time to recharge my creative batteries with museum visits and great Indian cuisine.

Please stay tuned to this web site later this fall to be the first to see the new works that come from this month of rest and rejuvenation.

September in Black Moshannon State Park

2008-09-06T20:30:00.006-04:00

After a very busy summer that saw me working in my studio more than outside -- not my preference during the best season -- I'm pleased to have the opportunity to get out and paint more as my art show season winds down. I'm continuing my plein air painting series of works done in Pennsylvania's Black Moshannon State Park. Yesterday, I ventured out ahead of the arrival of Tropical Storm Hanna and worked on a piece along the Moss Hanne hiking trail during the late afternoon. The weather here yesterday was fairly hot for September, with the high nearly reaching 90 degrees at our home. But the park is located at a significantly higher elevation than our home, so it's always about 5-10 degrees cooler. A welcome relief on such warm days.

A postcard from the easel, showing "Black Moshannon No. 21 - September" in progress

Seen here, you have a sneak peek at "Black Moshannon, No. 21 - September." I've sold all but two pieces out of this series; one of those two I gave to some dear friends of ours as a house warming gift when they moved to New York last year. Regardless, I'm pleased with the reception that this series of paintings has received. Even at a show in the Chicago area a few weeks ago, I sold the predecessor to this piece (Black Moshannon, No. 20 - July Morning) to a couple from Missouri.

I continue to enjoy this venue as one of my favorite sources of inspiration for my landscape work. Yesterday, the first hints of fall colors were beginning to emerge. This is very exciting because the colors can be absolutely breathtaking during the peak season, which usually falls around the first week of October.

Unfortunately, plans are still afoot to put a dump (yes, a garbage dump) in proximity to this state park. You can read more about this debacle in one of my earlier posts as well as by visiting the web site of People Protecting Communities.

Annie relaxes near my easel

Despite vocal public opposition from residents in Snow Shoe Township, plans for this dump persist and have been recirculated in different manners over the past couple of years. People Protecting Communities needs financial help to continue the ongoing legal battle against these plans. Please consider making a contribution if you agree that a trashy dump next to one of Pennsylvania's most beautiful areas is a bad idea.

I got lost, but look at what I found...

2008-08-10T11:07:00.010-04:00

My husband and I moved to central Pennsylvania just over four years ago. Since that time, I've had a lot to learn about where to go when I want to paint out in the field. Each season, I add to my "mental Rolodex" of places....Go here when the sun is bright, go there when the clouds are dramatic, etc. But in order to learn about new places, I play a bit of a perverse game: I intentionally try to get lost while out traversing the rural roads of this area. I almost never succeed. I think my artistic sensibility has cursed / blessed me with a great sense of direction and a good recollection of landmarks.

From Cherokee Lane12 x 24 pastel on board.

But the evening when I caught this view for "From Cherokee Lane" was different. I did indeed get lost. Although I didn't even realize it until after I was done painting that night and I was ready to head home, just as the sun was setting and darkness was arriving. I had crossed into Mifflin County from neighboring Huntingdon County and I stumbled upon this beautiful vista just by chance. I don't even think that I could find my way back here since it was just a small gravel lane in the midst of hundreds of acres of farm country.

My first clue should have come when the owners of the property pictured here approached me while I was working. I was racing the fading daylight and while I tried to be polite and conversant with them, I overlooked a valuable tidbit that they shared while talking to me, "Gosh, we don't get many people up here. Most people who end up 'round here are lost, couldn't find their way around the detour in town."

"Uh-huh," I nodded while trying to add a dash of pink to the undersides of the clouds.

They departed on their way into "town" (wherever that was) and I wrapped up shortly thereafter.

And then the real fun began.

I was supremely confident that I knew how to get back to highway 322, the main highway that crosses central Pennsylvania and leads back home. Wrong. The nearby town had a major construction project underway and the main bridge that would have perhaps gotten me on my way home was out. I followed the detour and then ended up seeing road signs for communities whose names I didn't even recognize. Annoyed and growing more concerned about the impending darkness (I'm not afraid of the dark, but I am afraid of deer on rural roads at twilight), I had to pull a U-turn and head back to the local gas station for assistance.

"Wow! You ARE lost!" exclaimed the customer behind me when I asked the clerk for directions back to State College.

Gee, thanks, I needed that.

Thanks to the assistance of the clerk, I eventually found my way back to highway 322 and was safely on my way by the time total darkness descended.

Nonetheless, I still have fond memories of working on the study for this piece. I may polish up the study and frame it as well, but my favorite part of that night was listening to the "clip clop" of the horses as they passed, towing the Amish carts along the narrow country lanes.

Summer, Summer

2008-07-27T16:10:00.004-04:00

Black Moshannon Creek

My husband and I wrapped up a very successful Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts a couple of weekends ago. Thank you to everyone who stopped by my booth and for making it a great weekend. Since that time, I've been catching up on bookkeeping (one of the less glamorous aspects of being in business for oneself) and relaxing a bit before I gear up for our next show in Highland Park, Illinois.

My parents visited during the arts festival weekend and helped us with taking care of our studio mascot, Annie, during the show hours. We then enjoyed a beautiful summer hike to Pennsylvania's spectacular Ricketts Glen State Park. You can definitely expect to see some new landscapes based upon this recent hike in the coming months.

Right now, I'm getting out and enjoying some plein air painting in Penn's Valley as well as my favorite haunt, Black Moshannon State Park. Earlier today, my husband and I took Annie up to Black Moshannon Creek and hiked during the cool morning hours. All went well, except that Tim lost his glasses in the dense undergrowth along the creek. You wouldn't believe how easily expensive prescription bifocals can disappear in the woods. But it was a beautiful morning, highlighted with a blue heron sighting along the creek as well as amazing stands of blooming rhododendron.

From Philly to Chicago and Home Again

2008-06-20T15:13:00.002-04:00

We wrapped up our first art show of the season earlier this month in Philadelphia. I say "we" because I include my underpaid art assistant, a.k.a. my husband. The show went well despite intense heat and within days of finishing up in Philly, I was off to the Windy City to capture source and material and inspiration as I prepare for a Chicago-area show later this summer.

Dueling cabbies under the El in downtown Chicago

It's been a whirlwind month and I'm also busy preparing for my local show, the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts. The weather here at home couldn't be more beautiful right now, so I'm getting out and doing some field work and you can look forward to seeing the fruits of these ventures in the coming weeks as I get new works ready for July.

May - A Month in Pictures

2008-05-26T18:18:00.010-04:00

I've been so busy getting ready for my first art show of the season in Philadelphia that this past month has flown by in one giant blur. Thus, I've been little bit remiss with my postings.

This month was also complicated by the mother of all head colds, which had me out of commission for about eight days....It's never a good time to get a cold, but I was especially peeved because for months I made it to our local swimming pool by 6:30am to swim laps during the black winter mornings without so much as a sniffle. And then when the weather moderated - pow!

The good news is that spring is here in central Pennsylvania. Finally. And I thought it would be nice to share with you some of the pictures that I've caught over the past month during my outdoor excursions. Enjoy!

Annie and I along Honey Creek in central Pennsylvania's Reeds Gap State Park

Annie helps herself to some of the fresh spring melt

A delightful panoramic over the farm country of central Pennsylvania during a May morning. I'm always a fan of "cottonball clouds."

During an outing to the Penn's Valley area, I came across these silos, aglow in the fading evening light

Along the Blue Ridge Parkway

2008-05-01T21:02:00.002-04:00

This morning I made my first foray onto the Blue Ridge Parkway, beginning at the entry point just off of I-64 in Virginia. I drove about 20 miles south and soaked in the wonderful white dogwoods and redbuds, whose blooms seem to be enduring for longer than usual this year with the cool overnights.

I stopped at the "20 Minute Cliff" overlook to paint a study of a gnarled pine tree. The light was absolutely beautiful, but I was swarmed by what the locals refer to as "black flies," which I would unflatteringly characterize as a cross between the common house fly and a gnat. This was not something that I anticipated having a problem with at 3200 feet of elevation!

My easel along the Blue Ridge Parkway, with a work in progress

Nonetheless, I resorted to wearing my coat over my hat and my shoulders to keep them at bay and out of my ears. This worked reasonably well. Oddly enough, my resulting bizarre personal appearance did not deter interested passersby from stopping and approaching me to see the work in progress. I always try to be polite to people when they approach me at my easel (I don't want to perpetuate any negative notions about aloof artists), but it is a challenge to work with someone watching closely over my shoulder. Indeed, I could avoid this altogether by venturing off the beaten path to a remote area, but I try to minimize my risks when I travel alone, so I tend to work in more trafficked locations as a result.

With the distraction from the flies this morning, I'm not sure that the field piece will be what I call a "keeper." When a plein air piece falls short of being a "keeper," it becomes a "study" for something larger in my studio. There's never time wasted in the field; I always learn something, even if it is that there are flies at high elevations.

Following my work this morning, I ventured into Staunton and walked throughout the historic district of the town. It's really very charming, especially at this time of year when residents have colorful tulips throughout their gardens. One of Staunton's claims to fame is that it is the birthplace of President Woodrow Wilson. If time permits tomorrow, I may visit his presidential library.

But the real plan to tomorrow is to get up early (not my strong suit) and venture out before the heat of the day causes the haze to build into the atmosphere. After spending a day and a half here, I have a better sense of where to go to get the kinds of vistas that appeal to me. Stay tuned for more.

In Shenandoah National Park

2008-04-30T21:00:00.009-04:00

Friends and family sometimes jokingly refer to me as "Mario" (Andretti) when characterizing my driving style. But today I just putted along very deliberately through the beautiful scenery that is Virginia in the spring. I've passed through the state numerous times on my way to North Carolina or Georgia, but I've never taken the time to really explore it other than the national monuments around the DC area.

The north entrance to the park, near Front Royal, Virginia

The first leg of my trip began this afternoon with a trip down Shenandoah National Park's Skyline Drive. Although I live in the mountains of central Pennsylvania, the briskness on the high ridges and overlooks along the drive took me by surprise. At elevations of approximately 3200 feet, the temperature dipped a full 15 degrees below where it had been in West Virginia and the foliage still hadn't emerged in many areas. But in the valleys and lower elevations, the white dogwoods and redbuds were absolutely amazing.

One of the many beautiful vistas from along Skyline Drive

Due to construction on Skyline Drive (the roadway dates from the 1930s and they're rehabbing it in the central area of the park this year), I detoured out of the park onto highway 211, which was also stunning in its beauty. I arrived in Staunton early this evening, grabbed a quick dinner, and headed out again to scout some locations for landscape source material.

It's clear, it's crisp, and as soon as the sun disappears it becomes colder than I was anticipating for this location at this time of year, although I realize that this weather is well within the average pattern for this area. Tomorrow I'm going to head over to the Wintergreen / Nellysford area, and as the weather warms I'll set up my easel and see what results. Stay tuned.

In Philadelphia

2008-04-20T08:49:00.003-04:00

Market Street in Center City Philadelphia creates a "river of light"

I took advantage of the unseasonably warm and sunny weather this weekend to dash down to Philadelphia and gather some source material for new cityscape paintings. The more familiar that I become with the center city area of Philadelphia, the more I like it. I regret that I didn't have an opportunity to visit the Museum of Art on this trip, where I like to stock up on books just as much as viewing the current exhibitions. But I had a wonderful time walking the city and admiring the beautiful spring foliage. The city is about 2 weeks ahead of us here in central Pennsylvania in terms of the blooms and buds. It's always fun to watch the scenery change along the Pennsylvania Turnpike as I make the descent out of the mountains. Watch for some new works inspired by this trip over the coming months.

Maple Sugar Season in Pennsylvania

2008-03-30T17:24:00.005-04:00

That's me, next to a sugar maple. Today's latest technology involves plastic jugs and plastic conduit lines for tapping the syrup

Spring is late this year and I'm extremely restless to get out and paint. But it's still a little cool for my fingers to paint outside and the landscape is not quite in bloom yet. Nonetheless, maple sugaring season is well under way and my husband and I took advantage of a bright, sunny afternoon to attend this year's Maple Harvest Festival at Shaver's Creek Environmental Center in central Pennsylvania. I’ve included a few photos from our afternoon to share with you:

The evaporators in the sugar shack

The different stages of refinement as the water within the sap is boiled off to create syrup

Displaced glass marbles illustrate the volume of water that is boiled off and the change in density of the sap as it moves from a watery substance to a more viscous substance

Back from North Carolina

2008-03-13T12:01:00.006-04:00

My husband, Tim, and I in the Sarah P. Duke Garden on the Duke University campus in Durham, North Carolina

We just returned from a great trip to visit our friends down in the Raleigh, North Carolina area. The weather was a bit on the chilly side (I was hoping for shorts weather, but it wasn't quite the season yet). Nonetheless, we had a wonderful time visiting with our friends and even our dog, Annie, managed to get along with their dogs. Annie had *huge* dog aggression issues when we first adopted her in 2002, but she's doing better with each passing year. And we all re-charged our batteries in the North Carolina sunshine, so it was a relaxing trip. We didn't even encounter a single traffic slowdown through the DC metro area. Always a plus.

I'm looking forward the next month because I have no trips planned. It will be a quiet time for me to hunker down in my studio and get some new pieces completed as I build my inventory of paintings for the summer art show season as well as for my galleries and other exhibition opportunities. Things get crazy with my schedule beginning in mid-April, but until then I'm going to enjoy the peace and quiet. I'm also going to keep my fingers crossed for some warmer weather so that I can get outdoors and paint a bit, too.

Work in Progress: "Memory"

2008-03-04T20:12:00.004-05:00

An on-the-easel detail of "Memory"

The image above is a detail of a work currently in progress on my easel. I'm planning to call this piece "Memory" because I was so drawn in by the woman's pensive gaze; it seemed to me that she was mulling over a distant recollection. I caught this at a neighborhood coffee shop in the trendy Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, DC. I've spent much of the past week working on this piece. It's a bit of a self indulgence because I've devoted a lot of attention to commissions this winter, and this idea represents a change of pace for me. It's somewhat eccentric and 100 percent pure inspiration for me. We're due to travel to visit friends down in North Carolina this weekend, so I'm not sure if I'll finish it before that point, but I'm pleased with how it's progressing thus far.

And just as this work symbolizes a new direction for me, I'm looking forward to the upcoming months because I have some new experiences on tap. In April, I'll participate in a plein air painting event along the Eastern Shore in Maryland. And in May, I'm planning a midwest road trip and painting excursion. My itinerary is still taking shape, but at this time I'm looking forward to visiting the Cuyahoga Valley in Ohio, Detroit, Chicago, and my old hometown of Madison, Wisconsin. I'm totally stoked. Further updates as events warrant...

Artists and Charitable Contributions

2008-02-19T20:05:00.005-05:00

It's a mere two months into the new year and I've already received six different solicitations for charitable contributions of my artwork. All inquiries that I receive are for a good cause and I appreciate the implicit compliment that each request represents.

However, I don't think that many of the well-intentioned people associated with these causes understand what making a donation involves for artists....Most people assume that we can deduct the fair market value of our artwork, but we cannot. Instead, we can only deduct the cost of materials, which is only a fraction of what the work is worth.

For this reason, I donate only to causes that are near and dear to my heart: Animal shelters, environmental organizations, children's educational causes, and women's resource / domestic abuse shelters. This past year, I contributed to Easter Seals of Central Pennsylvania and the Clearwater Conservancy.

Fortunately, change is on the horizon within our nation's Congress in the form of the "Artist Deduction Bill." This proposed legislation will allow artists to deduct the full, fair market value of their works:

"...bipartisan legislation, S. 548 or H.R.1524, which would allow artists to take a fair-market value deduction for works given to and retained by nonprofit institutions. The U.S. tax system accords unequal treatment to creators and collectors who donate tangible works (e.g., paintings or manuscripts) to museums, libraries, educational or other collecting institutions. A collector may take a tax deduction for the fair-market value of the work, but creators may deduct only their 'basis' value—essentially the cost of materials such as paint and canvas."

As a professional artist, I ask that you please consider following this link to sign a petition in support of this legislation:
http://capwiz.com/artsusa/issues/alert/?alertid=9521951

Nocturnes

2008-02-11T09:05:00.002-05:00

I like to take an upbeat attitude in my posts to this blog, but it's been a rough few weeks at our house and I think I need to write candidly about some of the things going on in my life to help make sense of the work that I've been creating lately.

First, some good news: My husband was offered a chaired position at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It's a very tempting opportunity, but for a variety of reasons (both personal and professional) we will probably stay put in central Pennsylvania for now. Nonetheless, I'm proud of my husband for earning this opportunity and I think it will be the first of additional professional opportunities for him as the years come.

In addition, this past week I hung my first exhibition of the year at the Mount Nittany Medical Center in State College, Pennsylvania. I'm calling the exhibition "From the City to the Country" because the works on display span my dual interests of rural and urban scenery. It will be on view until March 31, 2008.

But for many months, I've been dealing with stomach problems of mysterious origin. To make matters worse, our dog has also been sick with a couple of chronic issues of her own and it's been a roller coaster at our home as we deal with "up" and "down" weeks with her. Both of these things have combined to put me into a bit of a somber mood as 2008 begins and I decided to channel my restlessness into "One, if by Night," my first nighttime landscape.

One, if by Night, pastel on paper, 16 x 24. Currently on display at the Mount Nittany Medical Center until March 31, 2008.

Nighttime scenes are a popular theme within my cityscapes, but for this piece I took ample inspiration from the nocturnes of Frederic Remington. In particular, I think that his painting, "Last March" (1906), may be one of the most powerful works that I've ever seen because its low key palette perfectly suits the subject matter.

As far as my own work, "One, if by Night" captures a very cold December night along Nixon Road on the edge of State College, Pennsylvania. I find endless inspiration at this location (please refer to Sunset, from Nixon Road, Down Whitehall Road, and Mighty Oak for a sampling of other scenes inspired by this venue) because it's one of the few places in central Pennsylvania where one is surrounded by a vast openness very much akin to what one commonly finds in the upper Midwest, where I grew up. Indeed, the night that I caught this view, my car was literally rocked to and fro by the wind howling across the openness of the fields out there.

Evening Shopper, pastel on board, 12 x 18. Currently on display at the Mount Nittany Medical Center until March 31, 2008.

Another recent piece, "Evening Shopper," taps into the solitary aura that many of us can feel in the midst of a city. I've had the source material and the idea for this piece kicking around for almost a year, and I finally felt like I was in the correct frame of mind to tackle it over these past couple of weeks. I was drawn to her distinctive profile as outlined by the manmade lights around her. This play of light afforded an opportunity to push the colors to a stylized crescendo in this piece, which is one of the main reasons why I so enjoy working with cityscape subjects.

I'm confident that as the temperatures warm and the daylight hours expand I'll recalibrate to a better frame of mind, but for right now my work has taken a decidedly darker turn and that may not be all a bad thing. Time will tell...

The First Works of 2008

2008-01-31T20:53:00.000-05:00

Well, we were supposed to go to San Francisco over the upcoming weekend for a quick getaway, but an impending snow and ice storm caused our airline to call our house tonight and cancel our flights. I am a bit bummed because I was really looking forward to exploring the city via some walking tours that I had booked. But I traveled a lot during the early portion of this month, including a great trip to Ithaca, New York to visit some good friends and a trip to Detroit, Michigan to visit my family, so it's not all bad. Despite a lot of interruptions as well as time devoted to some commission pieces that I'm still working on, I managed to finish a couple of new pieces this past month.

The first, "Reflections, Bear Meadows," is a landscape from the Bear Meadows Natural Area, a National Natural Landmark within the Rothrock State Forest of central Pennsylvania. I'm working on a panoramic commission of this same location for a couple of clients and I decided to tap the field studies and source photos that I'd captured in preparation for their piece in order to create this work. Bear Meadows is one of the largest fresh water bogs in the east. Unlike the bogs of Canada, the bog at Bear Meadows was not touched by the glaciers of the last ice age and it supports a variety of plants in its ecosystem. It sits atop a high plateau, and there are many remnants of wind-stripped trees that stand within the bog waters. Whether you visit during the first mists of morning or the last light of the day, the eerie quietness and the stark profiles of these now-defunct trees creates an other-worldly feeling.

The second piece, "Constitution Avenue, DC," emerged from my visit down to the city last month to soak up some great exhibitions at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art and at the National Portrait Gallery. I love to explore the play of lights and emphatic darks within urban nightscapes. For whatever reason, I'm in sort of a "dark" mood as I begin this year and it's leading me to focus upon more night scenes both in my cityscapes and in my landscapes. I'm currently working on what I think will be a fabulous piece from NYC's Times Square, so stay tuned....