Liberated by the iPad

For a while now, I've been admiring the cityscapes I've seen painters creating. I love the misty mornings, long afternoon shadows, snow, ice, rain, heat and night scenes portrayed in these painters' works. I long to create some of my own. But, that would draw me away from the current series on doors and other portals that I'm developing in oils in the studio. 

To satisfy my desire to get into the city-scene frame of mind, I created this one on my iPad, using a photo from the New York Times as a reference. I'm not sure which Middle Eastern city the reference photo depicted, but I've made it my own anyway. Hope you enjoy!

A snowy evening

While on a late afternoon drive recently, I thought I saw a fire burning 

in a local wooded area.

I had to investigate, not because I'm a fire-chaser, but because the scene was captivating.

Turns out, the snow-tubing place was making snow.

Pastel on paper. Approx. 8 x 11

Available

Red Tree — a new pastel

Here's a new pastel, from a sketch done on a sunny afternoon in the waning days of fall in New England.

Pastel on paper, 9 x 9. Available.

Autumn's Last Gasp

As Fall made her annual New England visit, I was able to witness some spectacular color before the winds took down all the leaves. In this view, out my South-facing office window, I've tried to capture a bit of the drama of late afternoon. The actual color had faded considerably, but the sunlight adds warmth and inspiration.

"Facing South"

Pastel on paper

7.75 x 9.5

AVAILABLE

Second Annual Holiday Open Studio

Here's a fun thing to do on a December weekend! I know that your December weekends are filled with idle hours, so why not drop by my studio and view some of my latest (and earlier) works in oil and pastel!

Portals: A Series

Here's a new work in progress. Titled "Number 8", after the number that will be on the building, this is a door in Paris, France. 

Oil on panel, 8 x 8.

Renewal

Here's a pastel I wiped off and reworked over the weekend during a wonderful workshop with Casey Klahn, the renowned pastel painter. The original was a cold wintry scene featuring a frozen river close to where I live, on a particularly dreary January day a few years ago. The new piece has a warmer and happier feel to it, I hope!

Renewal, pastel on paper, 12.5" x 16"

2014 Desktop Calendars are here!

In a few minutes I'll be picking up the new calendars from the printer. Included for 2014 are some new oil paintings as well as pastels. All work is new, and some originals are still available for purchase.

The calendar price remains at an affordable $18 plus $3 shipping & handling. PayPal accepted.

Click here to buy!

Today's Pastel Painting

"John's Corn", 12 x 12, pastel on paper. Thanks to John for letting us drive around in the cornfield!

This painting is available. To bid, click here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=161115543445

Paintings on Exhibit Now

I have a few shows currently hanging in New England.

I am Artist of the Month at the Bailey Art Gallery, 42 Spring Street, Newport, RI.

And, a selection of work is on exhibit at the Larkin Gallery in Provincetown and the Post Office Gallery, 38 Shore Road (6A) in N. Truro, MA.
Please stop in if you're enjoying a visit to any or all of these lovely seashore towns!

See also: Atir Salon, Acton, MA; the Gallery at 537 Mass. Ave., West Acton, MA

Pop-up Galleries

With a nudge from a forward-thinking businessman in town, I've been curating a rotating exhibit in a vintage house that's been rehabbed into a gorgeous building housing several small businesses and a Montessori school. Every couple of months I solicit 2D artworks from members of our Open Studio group to hang in the common areas of this building. It's been a great success, and building tenants and their clients have bought some of the works.

This weekend, 3riversarts is hosting an art & music project — AMP — in West Acton. We will have representation there as well, and the rotating exhibit will be open for viewing.

In a couple of weeks, the Open Studio group will have a booth at the Sunday Farmer's Market, a popular gathering place to buy locally produced & grown products. 3D and 2D works of art will be available to see and buy, and to offer a taste of what our October 19 & 20 Open Studio artists will be presenting. More on that event later.

Another member of our group coordinates a separate rotating exhibit in the manager's office of a nearby bank. The manager had a shelf installed specifically for this purpose, and now his customers have something interesting to look at while he's figuring out their mortgage payments.

Pop-up galleries are a great, small-scale way to bring art to a public that may not have other opportunities to see original art. Sometimes, a pop-up gallery can bring life to a temporarily vacant building while awaiting permanent tenancy.


www.3riversarts.com
www.actonopenstudios.org

Urban Scenes -- a series of three

This is the first in a series of 8 x 10 oils, painted from the third floor of an office building in Boston. The afternoon sun and the shadows cast on the buildings across the street were mesmerizing to me.

Finished: Lunch at the Colonial Inn

Here's the pastel from Sunday's sketch at Concord's Colonial Inn. 
"Lunch at the Colonial Inn", Pastel on paper, 8 x 8.5

A New Oil Painting

This little oil, finished recently, depicts one of the strangest, most incongruous architectural decisions I've seen in a long time. Let me just say that these are really the colors of this door & trim, and it's a back entryway to a grand old, cream and brown mansion south of Boston.
I'll never know how these paint colors came to be, but what a find for me!

© 2013 catherine f. meeks

all rights reserved

Meetup Groups

Yesterday I painted in Concord, MA with a plein air meetup group. A meetup group isn't a way to find a life/love partner, but a way to meet people whose interests are in line with yours. For painters, it's also a great way to paint outdoors without anxiety about safety. 

In preparation for my upcoming trip to Paris, I decided to design and test a lightweight, easily portable, TSA-safe kit consisting of around 40 Nupastels and a pad of black pastel paper with wax paper interleaves to prevent smudging. I also cut a few sheets of a beautiful fuschia paper to size, and carried that along as well. When I got home, I referred to my notes and ordered a number of pastel colors I'd discovered I was missing.

Here's my one-hour start of Concord's historic Colonial Inn, built in 1716 and used during the Revolution to store arms and provisions. Now it's a popular inn and a great spot for a lovely lunch al fresco.

Showing in Portland on Saturday!

If you're in the Portland, Maine area, please plan to visit my booth at the extraordinary WCSH6 Sidewalk Art Show! I'll be set up on Congress Street between Brown and Preble. Show is open from 9 to 4.

Mysterious #5

Here's number 5 in a series of six. "Mysterious #5", oil on panel, 8 x 8. Painting has temporarily slowed a bit as I work on framing at least 20 new works for upcoming shows.

Mysterious #5

Mysterious #4

Here it is...# 4 in a series of six. All 8 x 8, all oil. Will be offered as singles or in groups. See them all together Next month at Larkin Gallery, Commercial Street, Provincetown, MA. Opening Reception September 27, 2013.

Downtown Portland (ME) Sidewalk Art Show

See this and other oils and pastels in my booth. August 24, 2013 9AM – 4PM.

I'll be on Congress Street between Brown & Preble, near the Longfellow House.

Sponsored by WCSH6-TV.

Last year I was the recipient of the WCSH Purchase Award.

Retreat #1

Here's #1 in a series of two, from the cottage on Cape Cod where I enjoy a one-week art retreat from time to time. No TV, just me, my paints, and Public Radio. And an open window, so I can listen to the sounds of... not much at all!

Mysterious Painting #3

8x8, oil on panel.

Mysterious Painting #2

Second in a series inspired by trips to Tuscany. 

"Mysterious"

Here's an 8x8 oil on panel, inspired by my trips to Tuscany. Partly from imagination, this and the others in this series are meant to represent more of the feeling of a place than an actual place. These are begun by rolling paint onto the smooth wood panel and using the result as a jumping-off point for the somewhat dark, mysterious painting.

Small Cape, water view

Here's a 6 x 8 oil on panel of a lovely little house on Cape Cod, overlooking the bay. Today I hope to work on a slightly larger version of the same house.

© catherine f meeks

A small oil from Cape Cod

Near Pilgrim Lake in Truro, MA

Oil on panel, 6" x 8"

A new pastel from Santa Fe, NM

9.5" x 12", Pastel on Paper

A small pastel from Tuscany

Here's a 9.5 x 13 pastel on paper, from my trip to Tuscany a couple of years ago. 

"Steps to the Seine" Accepted into upcoming juried show

This pastel, "Steps to the Seine", was accepted into the Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod's annual juried show, "For Pastels Only". For more info:
http://pastelpainterssocietyofcapecod.com/exhibitions.php

Digital Painting on iPad

A TV show about Julian Beever was scheduled for last night but for some reason they were featuring a group of young Massachusetts men who build custom drum kits for popular bands instead. When it became apparent that the show I wanted wasn't happening, I called up the images of forsythia I'd been storing in my brain this week, and created this on the iPad.

An oil painting from the town of San Quirico, near Pienza, Tuscany

Just finished this second oil in a series from the same viewpoint in San Quirico, Tuscany.

Small — approx. 6 x 6

S O L D !

On the Easel Now...

An oil sketch of a building in Grignan, France

Tuscany Revisited

I picked this one out of the "finish later" bin. Something made me start this little oil painting a while ago, and it still called out to me. I've made a lot of adjustments and am in the process of adding some glazes. Still liking it enough not to put it back in the bin.

A Work in Progress - Oil Pastel

I don't usually work in oil pastels, because I find them somewhat uncooperative. I'm learning to teach them who's boss though. This 12 x 12 work in progress is a submission for Casey Klahn's "Paint the Barn in Winter" Facebook group. Every month, Casey posts a photograph and artists are invited to interpret it in whatever medium they choose. I'll be working more on this one, but here's a start.

iPad Painting: Valentine Tulips

My husband went to bed early so I stayed up and admired the tulips he gave me.

A new pastel from Provence

Stairs in Provence, pastel on paper approx. 10" x 10"

Another Oil-in-Progress

Grignan, a  city in Provence, seen across a field of lavender.

A work in progress.