"The Expedition and Beyond" YouTube Video

Check out this new video by Matter Deep Publishing on our 2010 painting expedition to Sullivan's Island, SC, and our upcoming show at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy5IRmyHf3o

The artists in the video are: Mia Bergeron, Linda Tracey Brandon, Rachel Constantine, Alia El-Bermani, Diane Feissel, Catherine Prescott, Cindy Procious, Shannon Runquist, Kate Stone, Terry Strickland, Stefani Tewes, Alexandra Tyng, and Sadie Valeri.

LIKENESS, Contemporary Portraits by Philadelphia Artists

Beth and Joe Krush, oil on linen, 36" x 48"

There's an exhibit of contemporary portraiture going on right now in downtown Philadelphia. It's called "Likeness," and it's at the Board of Ethics on the 2nd floor of the Packard Building at 15th and Sansom Streets. The exhibit is curated by artist Brooke Hine and sponsored by InLiquid. If you find yourself walking down Sansom Street or anywhere nearby, please stop by to see some exciting work by the 10 Philadelphia figurative artists listed below. Some of my portraits of well-known people in Philadelphia's art community are on display.

Contributing artists:

Rachel Constantine

Kerry Dunn

Stephen Early

Diane Feissel

Katherine Fraser

Amy Kann

Jon Laidacker

Carlo Russo

Alexandra Tyng

Lea Wight

Location:

Philadelphia Board of Ethics

1441 Sansom Street (N.E. corner of Sansom and 15th, side door on Sansom St.)

Philadelphia, PA

Exhibition dates: February 1st--March 28th, 2012

Alexandra Tyng Art Exhibit at the Maine State Capital Building

The following article appeared in the Bangor Daily News on 10/27/11:

New art exhibit unveiled at Maine Capitol Complex

Posted Oct. 27, 2011, at 1:19 p.m.

Alexandra Tyng

The artwork of Alexandra Tyng, including this one titled "Painting on Cadillac," is now on display in Maine’s Capitol Complex as part of the Maine Arts Commission’s Arts in the Capitol program.

Alexandra Tyng

The artwork of Alexandra Tyng, including this one titled "Back to the Lakes," is now on display in Maine’s Capitol Complex as part of the Maine Arts Commission’s Arts in the Capitol program.

Alexandra Tyng

The artwork of Alexandra Tyng, including this one titled "Boat Sailing in Sunset," is now on display in Maine’s Capitol Complex as part of the Maine Arts Commission’s Arts in the Capitol program.

Augusta, Maine — The Maine Arts Commission announced Thursday that the artwork of Alexandra Tyng and James Dodds is now on display in Maine’s Capitol Complex as part of the agency’s Arts in the Capitol program.

The exhibit has been loaned by the Dowling Walsh Gallery in Rockland, and will remain on display until February 2012. The work is viewable by the public throughout the week at the Maine State House from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and at the Blaine House from 2 to 4 p.m., Tuesdays through Thursdays. Those wishing to visit the Blaine House are advised to call ahead.

“The Maine Arts Commission is delighted to be hosting this exhibition of paintings,” said exhibit facilitator Donna McNeil. “These world-famous artists depict familiar visions of life in Maine and guide the viewer toward a deep and joyful attachment to Maine’s landscape and way of life.”

Tyng began drawing and painting the Maine landscape as a teenager while staying at a nineteenth century rustic camp on one of Mount Desert Island’s lakes, and at her brother’s lighthouse home in Penobscot Bay. In the 1990s she began chartering planes so she could take reference photos of the glacially carved land formations of coastal Maine, which she uses as references to create large-scale paintings. She also paints panoramas from mountaintops, and closer, more intimate views of places. Every summer she spends several weeks painting outside on Mount Desert, Monhegan, Deer Isle and various other locations.

Tyng has had solo shows in Maine, New York and Philadelphia. She was selected as one of Maine’s outstanding artists by Maine Home+Design in 2008. Her Maine landscapes have been featured in “The Art of Monhegan” by Carl Little, and in art magazines, including “Fine Art Connoisseur” and “International Artist.”

Dodds was born in the small fishing town of Brightlingsea, which is nestled on the east coast of England. He trained as a shipwright in the nearby town of Maldon before moving to London to study painting at both the Chelsea School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London.

Dodds, who is a frequent visitor to Maine, has exhibited paintings and prints of boats throughout England and here in Maine at the Dowling Walsh Gallery.

All Arts in the Capitol events are free and open to the public, however, exhibitions are self-guided and may only be viewed within prescribed times. For information on this and all programs available through the Maine Arts Commission, visitMaineArts.com.

http://bangordailynews.com/2011/10/27/living/new-art-exhibit-unveiled-at-maine-capitol-complex/

Honorable Mention in The Artist's Magazine Annual Competition

Many thanks to juror Richard McKinley and the editors of The Artist's Magazine for awarding my painting Morning Sun over Monhegan Village an Honorable Mention. A photograph of my work was included in the magazine's December 2011 issue. This year, my work was also awarded finalist status in the Portrait/figure category.

To order a copy, go to:

http://www.northlightshop.com/product/print-issue-the-artists-magazine-december-2011-ta1211

Painting the Story of your life

I was just reading a post in my friend Terry Strickland's blog about how and why artists (including herself) paint in series, and I thought it was so interesting I felt like continuing her thought in a post of my own.

I definitely do paint in series, and like Terry I have several running at once, simultaneously, and they continue on for years. I go back and forth between themes.

When I started painting in the 70s, it was fashionable for artists to paint in "series." They would do a series for a certain show, then move on to the next series. I just didn't get it. It seemed boring to make a whole show about one theme. And then, to leave the theme, never to return--well, that seemed artificial. I knew artists did it, and enjoyed it, but it just wasn't for me.

Then I started realizing that I actually was already working in series, that I had my own series to paint. I liked painting the rustic architecture in Maine, the exteriors and interiors of these old camps, and I also enjoyed painting panoramic landscapes from mountaintops. Suddenly I saw all these paintings as part of the same series. Rather than a linear examination of a subject, it was more of a hierarchical approach, seeing and understanding certain places from different levels of distance. I had always wanted to fly over these areas to see them from even farther away, to see how everything related to each other from the air, so once I got up my courage to do so, my particular approach to a series began to reach another level, so to speak.

My fascination for certain subjects is long-running. I still paint camps and now also lighthouses and islands in Maine. Even the people who inhabit these places have become incorporated into my series. There are other themes that interest me, too. Who knows--they may run for my whole life, since series are really themes of an artist's life. If they are major themes, they will sustain the artist's interest over a long period of time.

A couple of years ago, I heard artist Mary Whyte speak at the Portrait Society of America Conference about inspiration. She said something that resonated with me. To paraphrase: "Think about the things that you were interested in drawing as a child. These are likely to be still the things you want to paint, the things that make your paintings unique." Then and there, I asked myself if I was doing that. The answer was yes. I'd been doing it unconsciously, but now I do it much more consciously. These things are my themes, my series.

We all have themes in our lives--it's just a matter of living long enough to begin to see all our experiences not as a collective jumble of "things that happened," but as interrelated groupings. We give meaning to these groupings by remembering things in a certain way, according to what is most important to us, and how we perceive life. These meaningful themes become the "stories" of our lives. Authors use this stuff to write books. Artists use this stuff to make paintings and sculpture. It's our visual language.

So if we are painting series that really mean something to us, they will never really end because they are the major themes of our lives, and getting in touch with them is crucial to getting to the root of our artistic inspiration and expression. If you want to know what makes artists tick, all you have to do is look at the ongoing themes in their work.

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.