"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.