PAINTYNGS: Monhegan artists

Showing posts with label Monhegan artists. Show all posts

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Some Paintings from the Monhegan Trip

Gull Cove To Whitehead, oil, 16" x 11.5"

Face-to-Face Trucks, oil, 11" x 18"

Houses Down the Hill, oil, 12" x 18"

Dawn Prenumbra, oil, 8" x 10" (this was a fifteen-minute sketch of the sunrise color)

Monhegan Madness Again

The MLG Painters 9/17-9/24, Clockwise From Left: Judy Carducci, Sue Braswell, Linda Brandon, Greer Jennison, Alex Tyng, Diana Cobb Ansley, and Carrie Lewis.

In September I headed back to Monhegan Island, off the coast of Maine, to paint for a week with the Maine Landscape Guild. The Guild has expanded: Linda Brandon flew in from Phoenix Arizona, Sue Braswell came from Virginia, Judy Carducci and Carolyn Lewis from Ohio, and Greer Jennison all the way from Nevada! We also split into two houses plus a few staying at the Monhegan House. And to make things even more complicated, another group of MLGers (Eliza Auth and Mary Walsh) came the following week.

Judy and Greer painting outside the Red House.

Diana and Sue painting on the rocks at Gull Cove.

Linda painting Manana from our front deck.

And here I am at Gull Cove, trying to figure out how to salvage my fog painting.

Another one of Diana and Sue from where I sat on the rock.

The weather wasn't always "drop dead gorgeous" (as Diana Cobb Ansley is fond of saying), but the varying weather patterns made for some interesting cloud formations and even some days of fog. I tried to paint the fog at Gull Cove, but made a miserably dull mess. The master of fog painting was Judy, who produced some wonderful pastels, one from inside the hotel during the worst weather. We all got together for dinners, wine and cheese, critiques, and some great conversations.

One foggy afternoon, Linda and I decided to try painting each other. We each posed for half an hour.

Linda's painting of me--what a speed demon!

My painting of Linda. Sue and Diana were amazed at how differently we mixed paint and approached the work.

There was a propane shortage on the island when we got there, and people were eagerly awaiting the next shipment from the mainland. We had to conserve fuel, which meant no hot showers for the first couple of days! Boy, were we glad when the delivery man arrived to hook up a full tank!

Sue, Diana, and I were up on Horn Hill behind our house painting when the delivery truck arrived. YES!

We walked up to the lighthouse museum, and again the curator was kind enough to show us the wonderful portraits by Alice Kent Stoddard. In all it was a truly wonderful week, a perfect ending to the summer's painting adventures.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Right Here: New Maine Island Paintings

Last Friday, on August 5th, my solo show Right Here opened at the Dowling Walsh Gallery in Rockland, Maine. It was a busy night for the arts in Rockland--First Friday Art Walk with gallery openings all over town and in nearby Thomaston, The Farnsworth Museum open late with free admission, and the famous annual Lobster Festival all coinciding--so I met lots of art lovers that evening! Jake Dowling and his talented team never cease to impress me. The work was hung beautifully. And the food (thanks to Hilary) was out of this world. If you are tired of gallery openings at which only wine is served, go to Dowling Walsh for a multi-sensory experience.

I first met this couple a few nights before at the CMCA Auction.

Suzette McAvoy, Director of the CMCA and former Curator at the Farnsworth, and my long-time friend and painting partner, Diana Cobb Ansley. Suzette wrote the essay for the catalog for my 2009 show at Fischbach Gallery in NY. She has known Diana since she interned for her at the Smithsonian.