March is the cruelest month

Old Barn on 59A

Officially it's Spring.  But the snow keeps coming.  And by the looks of our Mudroom, it is more officially Mud Season.  Little muddy paw prints all over the black and white checkerboard floor. Multiple pairs of Wellies lined up.  And still, those bulky coats on the hook. Freezing cold.  It all speaks to this ineffable sadness which lays over the earth today. The tragedy in Japan, another war in Libya, and the death of  Hollywood's most beautiful icon.
But there is hope. On the hills I'm starting to see the faintest blush of red as the Maples begin to set buds.  And my crocuses are in bloom by the driveway. And the water has receded from the lake that was our pasture, to once again become an obedient brook. On a walk down to the potager today, the Gentleman and I noticed that the Rhubarb were beginning to push their bright red noses up through the earth.  So all is on schedule, and I'll just have to be patient.  Spring will happen any day now.

!0/!0/!0

No time to post about my busy week now, but I couldn't let a day like 10/10/10 go by without recognizing it, could I?  Here are just a couple of new pieces I've done.  "Misty Morning Farm" is created from 7 of my own photos, blended into a scene which almost looks like Everafter Farm.   Below, in "They danced Giselle In the Moonlight",  I used parts of the same photos as above, and added some ballerinas from eBay.
I hope you are all getting out in this glorious Autumn weather, especially if you live in the Northeast.
We visited many art galleries this weekend, but there is no gallery that mounts a better show than the artwork of the Lord, fashioned in a thousand colors of foliage, on the hill behind our house.

Summer Art Exhibits

Our county is home to a thriving Artists' Community, and last weekend saw many events focusing on the arts, both visual and performing, as well as the local art of cheese making.  I was involved in two art exhibits. the first which opened on Friday night at Gardenworks. In a unique barn setting, my painting teacher, Janine Thomas, presented Lessons from the Country, a show of her work and the work of 52 of her students from over the years.  As before, I won't show you my painting, but I did show this  Mixed Media piece:

l'oiseau de novembre

Here're some of my friends and their work:

Pat and her painting of the brook through her garden

Kathy and her chicken

...and Janine and her chick.  We are all part of the "Georgi Girls", as Janine teaches our class at the Georgi Museum, and we traveled together, with two others, Holly and Susan, to Provence 2 years ago.

On Saturday there was yet another show at the Georgi, called "Gems at the Georgi".  Since I was one of the planners of this show I opted not to exhibit, but my daughter and husband did.  The receptions for both openings were marvelous, with all sorts of  wonderful local foods, handmade cheeses, and breads.

And the art was top notch.  Here's a painting by Will Moses, Grandma Moses grandson.

And Serena's gourd pottery

Cheryl Baldwin, on the right, is the director of the Georgi.  Here she relaxes with her friend, after the excitement of the Opening winds down!

La Rentrée

A few weeks ago in France the children returned to school, and so must I also return to this poor neglected blog!  But it's been hard to post anything here, for I've been so busy on RedBubble, my new Photo and Art site.  Not only can I post my work, but RB also handles the sale of all art work, including cards, prints, and calendars. The people are lovely , the art is superb, and there exists an air of civility that I have not seen on other sites.  Com'on over and explore the Bubble! Just click on the Button below.

la laitière et sa vache

High Summer

"Tackle Box"---our tubing launch spot

The first week of August is High Summer here in Washington County.  Days are hot, nights are hot, and I'm always thrilled to have a thunderstorm to water the tomatoes.  I find the studio gets too sunny to work in by 2:00, so I unplug my laptop and go out to the breezy screened porch to work.  Then, later in the day, we all pile into the Jeep and head for our swimming hole, or the sand beach at the lake, or we take our tubes and float down the river for an hour or so.

There are also so many things to do around here that we can't keep up with them.  Garden tours, church suppers, town-wide yard sales, our Fire Department Carnival.  And festivals.  Two weeks ago we celebrated the Alfresco Weekend, a fundraiser to benefit our Historic County Courthouse.  Local food producers donate delicious dishes of locally grown food, and we, the crowds, come, purchase our tickets, then move from tent to tent with our plates, socializing as we go, and filling our plates with an eclectic assortment of delicacies. This year we welcomed Bryony Graham, and her unique, whimsical, and thought provoking art installation entitled Porch Pieces, which features a freestanding, traveling porch.

This traveling artwork is a project that will inspect the place of porches in present day upstate New york.  Do they still make sense in an indoor culture saturated with TV and air conditioning? Graham, here from the UK, will transport her porch to new locations daily, inviting passers-by onto the porch to converse about their past and present day experiences living in the local area.

I had a chance to sit on the porch again the following week when a young friend and I attended SAWfest, a music festival at our local Sculpture park and school. I have invited Bryony to come and sit on our own front porch, where we will tell her how poor our lives would be without that singular architectural feature on our farmhouse.  [That's Bryony in the red shirt.]

To learn more visit http://salemartworks.com/porchpieces/

summer in washington county

It seems to happen every year.  We forget that church goes on a summer schedule and meets an hour earlier, so we arrive an hour late, see the full parking lot, and turn around and head for home.  Oh, we could go in.  People are used to our, shall we say, flakiness!  But this Sunday we decided to  get ice cream, listen to Charles Stanley and drive around our beautiful county, soaking up the rural beauty.  All of the fields have had their first haying, and these lovely hay sculptures populate many of the fields. I took a lot of colorful shots, but I tried to make this photo look as old fashioned as I feel when we drive through our unspoiled farmland.

La peinture en plein air

Recently I took a plein air painting workshop with  Harry Orlyk, the best landscape painter in our county.  I am certainly no painter, but I love the discipline of workshops that force me to get out there, set up an easel in God's gallery, and really spend time admiring creation and trying to put my impression of it on canvas. Harry has a great love of the land, and his distinct style captures the wonderful feeling of our rural area. I spent 3 days in some beautiful locations, in sublime weather and even though my paintings aren't finished yet, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Harry's palette.  I was surprised to see how much paint he puts out!

                                                                          
Here Harry begins to paint a scene at the river's edge.  Look at how large his brush is, yet he wields it like a pencil, sketching in his scene.

The painting is taking shape, but the light is changing.  He'll come back tomorrow to finish it.

Other students did great work!

Cindy lives close by, so I expect to see many more of these by summer's end!

This students filled her whole trunk with paintings...

Happy Independence Day!

We had a wonderful 4th of July, with company for the long weekend...lots of warm weather...tubing on the river...cookouts...s'mores...fireworks...small town parades...talking and rocking on the front porch...naping and reading on the back porch...and a Sunday morning promise to pray for our nation...
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14

November's Golden Glow