and more...

I am still having issues with this blog...but I want to get more of these images up, so I will continue this way. Perhaps those who run Blogspot will notice, though probably not, and fix things...so on we go:

This was an early work when I was still in undisciplined mode...it's called 'off to market', and I love the light moving around and reflecting off unseen walls. Dawn in Vaison la Romaine was amazingly beautiful, with the sun coming up over the mountains in the east, and people walking down through the hill town to the markets in the valley. I was still searching for the periwinkle blue in the shutters, which I didn't find until I got home and could use white again!

This process is too tiresome...I shall wait until tomorrow to do more...



more workshop works...

Les Buies des Barronnies

Les Buies is a village near Vaison la Romaine, named for its 'buies', or arches built under the town houses you see above. The houses are incredibly colorful,and even in October, after the grape harvest, there were still people in some of the homes. It rained while we were there, and so many of us painted under the arches, but I fell in love with the roof lines and colors.

I will try another image?!?

Nope...

Workshop works...

The luxury of a painting workshop is that all things are taken care of except what you put on your paper, or canvas. I have never allowed myself the luxury of a workshop until my neighbor, Tony van Hasselt - noted watercolorist, announced that he was leading one to Vaison la Romaine in Provence last October. And so I went, and had a wonderful time...here are some more works:

La Potterie, Brantes

This little pottery makes lovely china, which Tony and Jan have in their home in East Boothbay.

(Blogspot seems not to be allowing me to add more than one image per blog at the moment, so I will add more work in the next blog.)



June- JUly BRAF show: Boats, Boats and more boats...

The Boothbay Region Art Foundation early summer show begins for Windjammer Days: June 25th and 26th this year...so I am putting in boat paintings, though they are more or less illustration/ sketches of boats and the Harbor. Here they are:

'Oliver C. Weyant'

at Hodgdon's dock in East Boothbay

'Sumurun'

one of the big boats in the Shipyard Cup each year

'Cosy Harbor'

on Southport overlooking the Sheepscot River

'Cross Purposes'

at the mouth of Linekin Bay

It's been too long, I know...

but it's been a busy, travelling fall. I went with a painting group led and taught by Tony van Hasselt, a neighbor here in East Boothbay, to Vaison la Romaine, a small town in the mountains of Provence near Avignon. I spent 12 days without worrying about the lawn getting mowed, the boats bailed, the gardens weeded,or the groceries laid in - only about what was going down on my paper! And then I went to Paris and London!

This is my favorite, i.e. most finished, painting from Provence. It is currently in the Boothbay Region Art Foundation's Plein Air Show. In the tiny hill village of Brantes, population 65, we all painted for 2 days. You can see Tony painting down the road to the bottom right of the image. And because Tony kept after me saying, "no black holes in the middle of the painting," there's a ghostly friar in the doorway of the tiny chapel, where every Christmas the entire town parades up the hill and celebrates.

Then there is this little painting of the view from my bedroom window, which I painted for the lovely friends who drove me to Portland when I left, and picked me up when I returned nearly 3 weeks later. The periwinkle color of the shutters at the far end of the street is extremely hard to find in watercolor without using white, which I finally did use. And there were grape vines everywhere, as you can see!
We stayed in a lovely inn called Hostellerie le Beffroi, le beffroi being a belltower, which in this case was over the old medieval gate to the village below the castle on top of the hill. We had to walk up the hill and into the Inn everytime we left. I have several views of le beffroi, and will post one as soon as one is finished to my liking.

After 12 days of joyous work, I left Vaison with one of the other painters, hopped on the TGV in Avignon and arrived in Paris in the mid-afternoon. I walked and talked and ate at the Cafe Constant on rue San Dominique with my friend Mme. Emily Donahue that evening, and did more of the same the next day. I spent the evening with Unesco friends, and the next day spent the whole day at the Grand Palais, in two exhibitions. The first was smaller, a retrospective of Felix Valloton, an Impressionist-era painter, who wasn't really an Impressionist. My favorite work of his is below:

 Many of the works were photographable, though not theoretically this one, and I was chastised by a guard for taking this. But it's not as if you can confiscate film from a digital camera, now can you?
The other, and the major exhibition in the Palais was FIAC Paris, one of the giant art shows proliferating around the world, led by ArtBasel and ArtMiami. FIAC is when all the biggest and 'best' galleries in Europe bring their artists' best work to show off to all the other galleries and to the hordes of collectors and spectators like me. I have not had time to sort many images out, so they'll have to wait...
After Paris, I went to London to visit my niece, the Rev Dr. Jennifer Smith and her husband, Keith Riglin, an Anglican priest. We spent quite a while looking for Alastair Cooke in Westminster Abbey, only to discover later that he was spread in Central Park, not laid down in the Abbey where his Memorial was. Afterwards, we went to Whole Foods in London, by far the biggest one I have ever been in, and quite fun. It's in Kensington, near Harrods. I felt a little like I did when I headed straight for the Starbucks located at the foot on the Great Wall of China - a wee bit guilty, and a wee bit relieved to find something familiar there! Here's Jen and me in Whole Foods, looking kind of pleased:

Well, sorry, my blogspot seems to be refusing any more images...I shall have to end this now, and do more soon. Somehow I picked up a terrible cold in London, and spent the first week home, recovering. And now I'm trying madly to catch up with myself...More soon!

Good Grief! Where has the Summer Gone?

As you might guess from this photo by Nick Mace of Southport, I've been sailing my boat intensively in August. July was such a weather wretched month, that I gave up for a while and only tended the garden. But the August weather perked up and I've been making up for lost sail time.

I spent another week out on Damariscove Island as substitute caretaker again with my friend Marianne. Once again, I failed to create a decent image out there, except for a poster for the Wine Dinner at the Yacht Club. I keep trying though and one of them has some potential.

The opening of the River Arts Show was great and really well attended though no sales. And the Unity Show opening was similar with poetry readings and quite moving talks. I'm very pleased with both though not financially.

I've begun work on some water colors for Art in Maine - one that was inspired by one of the poems from the Unity Show: Chickering Bog....

"And Place was where the Presence was...."

The title of this show comes from Emily Dickinson's poem, "A Single Bird...", and is about places on the edge - of dawn, of history, of sunset, not unlike our planet's edge. But there is still beauty and presence where people once were, hence the show...

Here are my works for the show:

'where once he lived...'

Foggy Dawn

Green Island Dawn



Fishermans Island

Emerging Island

Blackstone Island

Carmel Valley Ranch barn

Cross Purposes

In Sync

Island Vertigo

I am in love with the quiet moments, when all you notice are the natural things present.



Work for the 4 Seasons show

I am posting the works that will be in the 4 Seasons show with Linda Burley's mother's work:

Late Bloomer

Late Bloomers

Midsummers' Isle

Summer Birch

Spring Birch

February Island

January Island

Snow Showers

All these plus assorted small works, and the island on the poster:

November Island!

Hope to see you there!

new show: the Four Seasons of Maine

The Four Seasons of Maine

by Lina Burley &

Sally Giddings Smith

Every season in Maine has a different character, a different tonality.

Paintings by Lina Burley and Sally Smith reflect the seasons

 as both a summer person and a native see them.

Using different media, the works are not place bound,

but weather bound,

reflecting differing light, differing tonalities, the different character of branches and trees, water and rocks, flowers, and islands,

 in every season.

The show will be at River Arts, on Route One, in Damariscotta

From June 21 through July 3.

Opening Reception is June 21, from 4-7pm.





What a Spring!

And it's not over yet! I still have tulips and daffodils blooming in my yard, while the lilacs and apple blossoms are ready to burst just as soon as it stops raining and gets above 50 degrees.

Just like Congress will bloom -hopefully - after the next Congressional election! There are so many issues that need attention, that are being worked on by the more sensible Members, but the Tea Party rain and the chilliness of Obama are keeping everything from happening. Although the time was ripe for background checks, just as I dreaded - the NRA won out. Their bullying fingers were pointing words like Goya-esque paintings, at people who wish to make some kind of progress.

In the meantime, my life has been blooming. I've been asked to be a part of a show at Unity College in Unity, Maine, this summer. Another painter, Patty Ritzo, and a photographer, Barbara Goodbody, have come together under the aegis of Michele Leavitt, a poet and the wife of the President of the College. The theme of the show is a line from Emily Dickinson, "and Place was where the Presence was..." about a bird landing on a branch outside her window, and then flying away.

One of my small ink and watercolor paintings is my lead image:

called, "Where once he lived..." All of the others, with one exception - an abandoned barn in Carmel Valley, California, - are of islands. Some are larger like this one:

called Island Vertigo because sometimes when the fog is coming in, you can't see a horizon line at all, and it always gives me vertigo.

And others are smaller, like this one:

and one is all about light:

called, "Winter Light".

The barn is out in the middle of an old ranch, Garland Ranch, which is now a park in Carmel Valley. It is a quite wonderful redwood structure now falling to ruin:

Though I have tried to match color and tones, it is difficult to do even with Photo Shop, so I have decided to go to a workshop at River Arts in Damariscotta to learn how better to use Photo Shop. I hope it helps because these paintings actually all have very similar tonalities. But yellow is hard for me to find on my machine!

There's another show, which I am putting together with Linda Burley, which will play for two weeks at River Arts. Linda's mother, Lina Burley, was a very fine, nearly abstract watercolorist and oil painter from Boston, who came to Boothbay each summer to paint. I think her work will complement some of my other island paintings even though many of them are snowy. Showing snowy paintings at the end of June is a bit daring, but so be it.

So the invitations will go out soon: the Unity show opens on June 27, at 5 pm, and will be around until early August. The Burley/Smith show will open on June 21st and be up at River Arts in Damariscotta until July 3. Do come see!

calling for courage

When I was a child, my grandparents and my aunt and uncle shared the work of a man who taught everyone how to drive cars and tractors, and hunt and fish. He kept the cars and trucks running and the barn full of drying meat and fish. He was from Canada.
He also taught everyone how to shoot, and take care of guns. When I went to Girl Scout camp, and later other private camps, I shot 22's and was sponsored by the NRA as a Junior Marksman. My ex-husband and I always had a 22 around, and when the boys were little, a BB gun. I still have a BB gun, having discovered in California that coyotes, while not bothered at all by the BB's themselves, hate the sound of the gun cocking. The air compression must hurt their ears.
So I have been encouraged lately by the signs that Congress might actually do something in response to the Newtown killings. Even if it's only to close the loopholes in the purchase process by requiring all sales to be given federal and/or state scrutiny and to limit magazine size. I consider that a brave move on the part of all of Congress.
At the same time, there seems to be a "one step forward, one step backward process" happening. And I am reminded of the dreadfully negative power of the NRA. It is simplistic to think of them as just another lobbying group. Why? Because they have guns, and they unleash the bully inside many gun owners.
All of a sudden, Senators and the President get poisoned letters. Bombs go off, killing 3, on Patriot's Day in Boston. I'm sure that the homes of many in Congress who support these new measures of gun control, are being patrolled by pickups with gun racks filled. Sheriff's are being called to protect and warn away threatening people. Fingers are being pointed as if they were guns, at people walking to work in government. The children of Congress people will be threatened at schools, and after school. It happens; it happened to me.
So don't be fooled by the suave-talking dudes from the NRA. They may talk a good game, but underlying their smooth talk, is the ultimate threat: if you don't do as I say, I WILL get you, one way or another.

What we all need right now, is the courage to do the right thing - not a simple task in the face of such opposition, but absolutely necessary!

*The painting above is of an old friend who inhabits the wilds of Weld, Maine, in the summer, and California in the winter. He is not half as tough as he looks here.

Hanging Pics

Returning from California, I was over come by a blizzard here in East Boothbay. I was scheduled to be a part of a 3-person show at the Damariscotta River Grill, with an opening on Wednesday, March 20, but it started snowing that Monday night, and snowed ferociously all Tuesday when we were supposed to hang the show. Happily, on Wednesday morning, the snow began to stop and I bullied my car out the driveway and on up the road to Damariscotta where I hung the show with Greg Laderer and Lettie Chieu Husson. It is a pretty wonderful show. Here are some photos:

These are a pair of 'late bloomers,' flowers that lasted through the first frosts and were pretty rough and tough. So I painted them with palette knife and thick, rich paint, thinking of van Gogh all the while. The top one was the advertised one of mine, and is on postcards, if you'd like one.

On another wall are more flowers, and then more:

These are not great pics, and there is a whole wall of Valentine vegetable posters, plus several of the original paintings of Veges, and some landscapes. So, if you're in the vicinity, do drop by the River Grill and check all the paintings out, including Greg'e and Lettie's wonderful landscapes... The food is great, too. The show is up until April 30...

lovers point

Sometimes a photo triggers such a strong positive reaction, that it is impossible to try and duplicate it in paint. So I did it in ink and wash, from a slightly different perspective.

IT's been wonderful being out here in California, even though the weather has not always been like the above photo. IN fact, it has been chillier than usual except for the few days when it has been toasty.
Lovers Point in Pacific Grove is not historically meant for romantic lovers; it is so named because Pacific Grove was begun as a chatauqua community, or summer community, founded by the Methodist and Epsicopalians of the Bay Area. They were, in fact, lovers of Jesus, and the point was where they would gather on Sundays.

Despite the attractiveness of the water off Lovers Point, it is as cold as any water in Maine, and usually only children go in without wet suits. Surfers wear their wet suits while surfing there, and wet suits are worn in the annual Triathlon here. Once, in the entire time I lived here, 13 years, I went swimming - when El Nino brought the warm waters of Baja north along the coast, and the water rose to about 68 degrees. IT was tolerable then, but it certainly isn't now.

Soon, I'll be back in EBB, where the water will be snowy and cold still, and not nearly so blue. BUt it will get better, and bluer, and then summer will happen. I can't wait.

snowstorm!!!!!!!

This was the door I usually use to go in and out of my house. This was the sight I found on Saturday morning after 24 hours of wind and snow. All the doors out of my house, except for one were blocked like this. The one I use the least had had the snow blown away from it, so that is where I first tried to get out.
However, in order to shovel out this door, I had to fight my way through thigh high snow. At one point, I contemplated lying down and rolling down the hill. But then I thought I might not be able to get up again.
I finally made it to this door, and shovelled it out, and then I shovelled the deck, and then a path to the driveway, should it ever be plowed. Then I went to bed after the second day of storm.
This morning I awoke to brilliant sun and a plowed drive. I have never been so happy to be able to drive out the driveway. Cabin fever came early this year, but didn't last long.

Valentine Vegetables (and One Fruit)

In the beginning of my single life, I bought a leek and found a perfectly heart-shaped gingko leaf in its middle. So I started making valentines with messages from the vegetative world. This one was, "In the middle of the strangest places, you can find your valentine."

The next year, I found an onion with its roots intact. The message here, I think, is that, "Through tangled roots and deep inside, even an onion has a heart."

These carrots caused me to become more graphic. This one is called, "Heart's Desire," for obvious reasons.

Keeping with the theme, these parsnips float for me above a Marc Chagall-like landscape, i.e wintry and Russian, like where and when they grow. But I love them, so I call this, "Parsnips a la Chagall."

"Squashkin" is an aberration, but I painted him for the friends who grew him. And squash is a simple vegetable, good to eat and easy to grow, like love.

After a silly and dangerous fling, I cut open this apple and found this perfect heart. So what I said was this, " He sliced open an apple and found my heart." But the apple turned out to be rotten.

So this year, I found this perfectly shaped shiitake in my local food coop. "Out of the mud and muck of life, a perfect shiitake can grow." Though I am thinking that the mud and muck of life resembles chocolate this year.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!