New Work for the 2020 Holiday Season

13FOREST Gallery

167A Mass Ave, Arlington, MA

https://13forest.com/plenty-2020

13th Annual Holiday Exhibition

Plenty 2020, starts November 21

Madonna of the Purple Rhodys

Winter Sun

Reduction linoleum prints

Francesca Anderson Fine Art Gallery

56 Adams Street, Lexington, MA

PortraitsNorth.com

36th Almost Miniatures Exhibit 

November 20-January 24th, 2021 

4 linoleum prints from 'The Comfort' series

Loading Dock Gallery

Western Ave Studios

122 Western Ave. Lowell, MA

http://www.theloadingdockgallery.com/

"Winter Lights"

December 1- December 31, 2020

                                                                                                        Winter Barn, monoprint

Hen House, acrylic

Newburyport Art Association

65 Water Street, Newburyport, MA

Holiday Pop-Up Show

"Celebrate! Miniatures, Ornaments and Fine Crafts"

'Joyful Lobster' ornaments
two-color, linoleum prints

Lowell Boat Shop

459 Main Street, Amesbury, MA

http://lowellsboatshop.com/

"Virtual Holiday Open House"

December 1-6, 2020

On-Line Auction goes live December 1st at 9am

Framed, 12x16 plein air painting of LBS docks and dories


SUPPORT LOCAL ART AND ARTISTS

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

In the Gardens with Madeleine

Wednesday was a holiday, Veteran's Day, a no school day.  In the morning, my grand daughter and I traveled to The Trustee's Long Hill Gardens in Beverly for some outdoor art making together.

We enjoyed the warmish but grey sky day sitting among the falling leaves.

 She concentrated on painting a white pine and a yellow tree in the thickets using acrylic paints.

I worked on small, 9x12 inch mixed media drawings: conte, charcoal, pastel, china marker, gesso.

Beach Camping at Horseneck Beach, September 13-16

 

During this COVID isolation I had to have a change of scenery with another summertime camping trip. This time I made reservations at Horseneck Beach State Reservation near Westport in Southwestern Massachusetts. This coastline area has the most beautiful old stone walls lining the countryside roads, meandering across properties and marking pasture land borders. 

Charlotte's Yard, 12x16

These stones, described more like medium sized, round granite rocks, covered the beaches as well. At high tide when the waves hit the beach and pulled back to the ocean, a sound of rolling marbles knocking about was very soothing and musical. Some of these beach stones were transported back to camp to weigh down the picnic table clothes to prevent them from flying away.

Morning High Tide, 8x10

I think a couple of Green crabs flew in as well either by the winds or dropped by a sea gull.  One was found hiking along the asphalt road near my camper.   At Demarest Lloyd State Park in Dartmouth, I had to pardon myself and gingerly tip toe through a large colony of Fiddler Crabs. Perhaps hundreds were mucking about on a path I was on to get to a painting site along a canal.

Demarest Lloyd State Park

And while painting at another beach, I chatted with a gal jeweler who stopped to admire my painting and to talk shop.  In her hands were the most beautiful, large Blue Crab claws she had found while beach scavenging: a color blend of red, white and blue.  I later learned female claw tips are colored a bright cadmium red…like painted fingernails I thought.

Crab Carapaces, charcoal/conte drawings

During this camping/painting trip I had to endure the gusty winds that never seemed to subside. One morning at 3am, I awoke to feel my camper being pummeled back and forth. These horrific winds died down after more than an hour of rocking.  Most of my cooking time was spent shielding my propane stove with my body from the winds. One morning I had to forgo a thermos of hot tea.  The water in the metal pot wouldn’t boil because the heat from the flames quickly dissipated into thin air from the winds. And these pesky winds made painting a bit of a challenge too with one hand holding onto canvases so they wouldn’t sail away from the easel.

Paquachuck Inn, 12x16

During this painting get away, the area's sunrises and sunsets were a bit peculiar in color caused by the  smoke particles caught up in the upper atmosphere emitted from the ferocious forest fires of California and other western states. No cerulean blue skies during the day as well.  So the paintings were a bit on the grey side of the color spectrum but no less interesting to paint.

             Farm for Sale, 8x10                                                        Westport Rivers Vineyard, 8x10                                            

 

 

Get out of town.

Recently I made a camping reservation in a Massachusetts State Park. Since I own a T@G trailer, it would be easy to get out of town for a few days. My scheduled travel plans, a June tour trip through Newfoundland, to see icebergs and puffins was cancelled due to COVID. I was on-line three days after the state open its booking platform, and almost all sites were already booked. Geeez, I guess others had the same idea. Also the scarcity of sites was due to 50% site closures due to in compliance to COVID regulations. After much searching I finally found a site for three days in row at the Mohawk Trail State Park located between the Cold River and Deerfield River in Charlemont.

During my get away, Massachusetts was having a heat wave and the weather was hot and humid even in the Berkshire Hills  Here's my self portrait I painted one afternoon using a hand held mirror. Notice the wet, clumpy strands of hair and lack of cheerfulness.  Oh well.  It was good to be out of the house.  During one special night there, I heard a Barred owl and her three owlets.  Her baby owls whistle not hoot like their mom.

 

On the first day of painting, I naturally selected the Cold River river basin which was filled with huge rounded boulders, hundreds of water washed rocks and numerous intimate pools.  I had to scramble down a wall of rocks and stones to get to the river base and set up my easel.  Once set up, I enjoyed the sound of water trickling over the bed rocks as I painted.

Campers enjoy floating in these pools and to cool down esp in this humid weather. The Cold River during the summer months has a restful nature. Children like to build small dams by piling up the rocks making deeper pools of water were they can splash about or sit on inner tubes.

Second day of painting, I was given permission from the Ranger to enter a closed area where there were a pile of logs which were moss covered, split bark, piles of saw dust and had a background of light filled green woods. She came over where I was painting during her lunch break to check out what had piqued my interest.

"Hey, do you ever paint fungi?" she asked. No, not yet but I have painted Jack in the Pulpits and Ferns en plein air.

Be well.

meat tray printmaking

I have been looking at my recycle bin a lot lately and asking the question: what recycled material could be reused in making a print.  Not that I eat a lot of meat but over some time, a minimal number of meat trays began to stack up.   Styrofoam meat tray is not a new material used in making prints. Most elementary school age children are introduced to the principles of printmaking with the cutting and/or carving into these meat trays.

So during some COVID-19 free time, I amused myself by creating images with meat trays as a printing substrate.

The following six small paintings were painted en plein air in the NH White Mountains, the pre-pandemic winter and I wanted to re work these images into small prints.

The overlapping planes defining the hillsides were not complex forms.  There was no sun light when I painted and so the landscape's planal shapes were flatten. I choose the upper left image to work from.  Below are the 9 foam shapes I worked with for the printing of the images

Exact-o blades and blunt end pencils were used to cut out the shapes. The Styrofoam surface has lots of air holes.  When this surface is rolled lightly with printing inks and printed on paper, an atmospheric illusion of fog or mist is created.  Incising the foam surface with lines drawn with a pencil will give linear details and textures.

To keep the printing paper in place while switching out inked shapes for over printing, I used a clip board with a right angle taped to the board to help maintain proper positioning of the shapes.  I used a limited palette of pre-mixed Caligo inks (water soluble), very similar in color as the original painting.

I had a very enjoyable afternoon working in the studio experimenting with a limited number of shapes and colors to find multiple solutions. I plan to use my other small NH paintings as a start point for other prints using Styrofoam meat trays as the substrate. And maybe sometime in the future they could be further enhanced by working the printed surface with other media such oil pastels or collage.

Madonna and the Purple Rhodys

This has been an extraordinary time for self isolation  and reflection.  I took it to the studio and treated the 8-10 weeks of social distancing as an artist retreat.  With no distractions and with my family buying my groceries and other staples, I accomplished a lot. I will share just one of those projects with you.

Since outdoor mobility has been on lock down, looking out from within my home has been a renewed pleasure and mindful self-reflection.

This April, I identified a Black Throated Blue Warbler in my grove of rhododendrons outside my office window.  Here is handsome he:

Because my plein air painting group was no longer meeting due to COVID restrictions, I volunteered to give Thursday morning prompts for everyone.  One of the prompts was to paint a windowscape that is, to combine the elements of the interior and exterior world with a window; the near and far.  Often artists will arrange a still life of personal items on a window sill or on a small table placed in front of an open window. I choose to set up a still life at my computer desk consisting of an Easter lily and a wooden icon and a view of  the rhododendron grove.  My rhodys weren’t in bloom at the time in April but what does that matter.

And so I painted this scene in acrylic :

                                   

Which then lead to two, new lino prints.

The first print and its edition was accomplished in just one day; quite an exhausting feat for a hand pulled, reduction print edition. I limited the number of colors and used Caligo water soluble inks. I enjoyed working with these inks for the first time; fast drying and easy clean-up.  The print was created for the International Print Day on May 1.   All submitted prints had to be created in one day. I slept like an old, tired dog the next day.

Since I really like the theme, Madonna  of the Purple Rhodys, I decided to give it another whirl by creating a second print with more colors and upping the composition complexity, typical of my method of working in reductive process. I continued the use of the Caligo inks: three process colors (red, yellow and blue) and white.

My studies/drawings for the second print:

Previously, I mentioned my rhodys weren’t in bloom when I created these images. Well here is a photo of those blooming beauties this June, doubly blessed with a glass table top reflection of the scene out my window.  Such is  inspiration.

Be well,

Susan

Susan Jaworski-Stranc

www.sjaworskistranc-printmaker.com

http://reduction-print.blogspot.com/

Madonna of the Purple Rhodys

Today I participated in the Annual Print Day in May, a world wide event where printmakers celebrate their craft by creating a print in one day.  When the print is finished, the printmakers share their creations by posting it on line. Not sure how many participants but there must be hundreds from around the world.  Printmakers here in Massachusetts are social distancing so we're working alone but together.  Great to know there other printmakers printing away in studios around the world.

https://printdayinmay.com/2020/05/02/madonna-of-the-purple-rhodys/

Image is a windowscape from my office.  7x5, 5 color reduction linoleum using Caligo water soluble inks. Printed on Rives Lightweight paper.

In need of a caption

Recently I set up an interesting combination of toys for a drawing exercise.  Since I have so much uninterrupted time on my hand lately, I have been drawing a lot with markers.  After looking at this drawing for sometime, I realized this drawing was begging for a cartoon caption.  So I asked a few friends for their suggestions. Here is the list of captions they relayed to me.

·        We feel the heat of adversity too… but Frosty, you are the only non-threatening character among us to go outside and pick up our take out order.”

·         "Six feet? Six of whose feet?"

·         "Whaddaya think? Are we 6' apart?"

·         "Ummmm, I don't know guys...doesn't quite feel like 6' to me..."

·        "It's a whole new world out there, Archie. No way can we bend like that..."

·       Even the toys are ignoring social distancing rules.

  

·        “Triplets?  Really?”

·         "Got any more of those masks?"

·       “Come on now, I know you're going to be great friends!!”

·      “For the last time, you're not a real snowman, you can’t melt”

·         “Can we get the virus?”

What a story to tell

Saturday, March 14th, Timmy* escaped when I left the front door open a crack… I didn’t mean to leave the door open when I was in the studio.

I found him sleeping in a leaf pile near the garden shed. Unfortunately, I spooked him when I tried to pick him up and he ran to the front of the house.  I called his name, Timmy, Timmy, over and over again and then… I heard meows coming from my car.  I located the pitiful sounding meows coming from the engine compartment. For an hour, I sat on the ground at the front tire calling his name and shaking his yummy treat bag.  He wasn’t budging from within the car.  I called every public service department in town, the fire (they said they would have to tear apart my car $$$$)  and police, animal control (leave him be I was told),  AAA to see if they could jack up my car (they don’t provide that kind of animal/auto service), my VW dealer (they said do not turn on the car), my animal hospital.  I could not believe how heartless these public servants were.  Many stories have been reported of foxes, deer and lately a beaver being rescued by firemen and police.  An auto mechanic was called for help by a neighbor (just leave him be).  As a last resort, I blasted my car horn several times to scare him out…NOPE.

What a blessing to have caring neighbors who took pity on me and Timmy.  These folks came to our rescue. It was determined Timmy was wedged under the battery shelf. They removed the battery but the shelf was bolted to the metal block.  They jacked up the car and removed the tire thinking perhaps something inside the wheel well could be torn away…NOPE. That battery shelf had to be removed.  One of my neighbors came over with an electric hack saw and all our eyes lit up in fear… no thank you. Well, after breaking three hand saw blades, we had no other choice but to cut the bolts with the electric saw. In seconds the bolts were cut. The men pulled with all their might and broke the battery shelf so I could reach in and extract Timmy from the engine compartment. It was like delivering a baby…reaching in and pulling and twisting until he popped out. I held on to him no matter what and put him in the house where he flew under the bed.

He is fine…me? I was emotionally spent by the whole ordeal.  My car had to be towed away by AAA to my VW dealer and have the damage repaired.

I am so relieved to have Timmy sitting on my lap purring again.  I am so thankful for having such wonderful neighbors, who persevered for hours in the cold to help rescue my furry friend.   

*Timmy is my late son's feral kitten he rescued from under a beach cottage during his radiation and chemo treatment.  Timmy came home to live with me after Jeremy passed away.

Sugar Hill, NH

Ten painters from Western Avenue Studios and Brush Gallery both located in Lowell, traveled to Sugar Hill, NH and stayed at the Sun Set Inn for three days of painting. The weather we experienced was  typical for early spring New England weather..rain, sleet, snow, howling winds and peaks of sunshine all in three days.  So exhilarating! always challenging for plein air painters.

I brought along a kid's sled to transport my gear easily across the snow covered landscape. I brought my snow shoes along but didn't have a need because the snow wasn't all that deep for hiking out in search of a painting site. And besides, the mountain views from the Inn were spectacular, no matter where I stood.

On the second day, I did ventured out further from the Inn.  Precipitation was minimal: a few flakes were falling.  I started out at 9am with my sled packed with my gear.  When 1pm rolled around, my friends became concerned because I didn't return for lunch or possibly I had became lunch for a bear. I wasn't far from the Inn and so the search party didn't have a problem locating me. They let me be until I returned at 3pm.   I apologized for worrying them. 

I painted on a 16 x 20 panel divided by six. Once I found my painting spot, I just pivoted six times for a different view at the same spot. My palette was limited due to the lack of sun but my palette of warm and cool greys made for interesting color combos although the range created a somber feeling.

The last afternoon of my stay, I painted inside using sepia wash and a brush.  The Inn has a huge reception hall downstairs with a covered veranda: a perfect place for artists to work in inclement weather.   

The next morning after breakfast, I packed up, said my good byes and headed home. So glad I had the opportunity to see, feel, hear and smell snow again.

white pine, pine cones and pineal gland

With some new snow on the ground, I hiked into Maudslay State Park for a morning of painting.
At the far park's edge along the Merrimack River, I found a mound of wind blown pine boughs.   A curious display of numerous neophyte pine cones covered the fallen branches. What a unique find. So instead of focusing my painting on a panoramic  of the Merrimack River with ice flows traveling up the river, this gathering of winter green would be the painting's subject.  Organizing such a jumble on canvas would be quite the challenge for a three hour session.

Since it's illegal to take anything from the park, I snapped a few close ups pics of those petite pine cones. In the studio for further study, I drew with charcoal the pine needle clusters and the pine cones from the photos.

 

 

While researching white pine, I came across information about the pineal gland.  The shape of the gland is that of a small pine cone and is known as the third eye.   It regulates the circadian rhythms, that internal clock that affects actions such as when we sleep and wake.

Is it February?

No snow. Temperatures in the 40's. Brown and grey. Ho Hum.

This morning there were dozens of robins in my backyard, thrashing through leaf litter looking for nourishment.  My sumac tree with its cone-shaped clusters of red berries was an inviting treat for these migrating feathered harbingers.  For us humans, making sumac tea from these wild edibles is supposedly a refreshing autumn drink that tastes like lemonade. Never tried it.

With the sighting of my garden chives peaking through the ground, I guess with Punxsutawny Phil not seeing his shadow this past Feb 2, his forecast of an early spring looks to be correct.

But I am holding out hope for a few more snowy days for painting . Below is a a little stream in Maudsley State Park I painted recently. Brown and grey. Ho Hum.

Timber!

The US Fish and Wildlife Service recommends letting the dead and dying trees alone in the woods.  There are at least 200 species needing dead and dying trees to thrive. Many dead trees make great nesting and feeding areas for wildlife.  In my area, there are numerous Great Blue Heron rookeries.. Their large twiggy nests are set a top dead trees in wetlands.  Decaying trees are hosts to many species of mushrooms and fungi. In some places of the country dead trees are more valuable than the lumber they could yield  because the economic impact of wild mushroom harvesting, such as the wild Morel, is greater.

A few days after a recent snow storm,  I was at Maudsley State Park to paint. Not having my snow shoes to traipsed through the snow covered lanes, I walked along the plowed Curzon Mill Road in search of subject matter.  Succumbed to the chain saw, a large pine tree has been felled and  dismembered. I am not sure if the tree was alive or dead at the time it was cut down but it was in a area where it could be a danger to barn and people if it toppled. Many of these old growth firs at the park have been toppling over. (See my blog post, Old Growth Pines Trees). Patron safety is a major priority at the State Park esp. along road ways.

With my critical eye, I viewed the remains piled haphazardly near the road side. Cylindrical shapes are wonderful forms to paint especially with rough bark, textured coverings.  Yes, this is what I want to paint today!

Concord Art Member Juried show

There were 86 pieces of artworks,all paintings and sculpture, accepted into the CAA Member Juried Show.   My plein air painting, Winter Pond Series 2, was one of the pieces selected for the show.  Six artists were singled out by jurors, Emily Eveleth and Penn Young, and given special recognition with monetary awards at last night's reception... and I was one of them.

Jurors' statement regarding my painting: "We admired the subtlety in composition, tones and values. So too, the certainty in the paint application.  The scene is wonderfully observed and the scene beautifully cropped.  We liked that the brushwork was loose and free, yet done with control."

I couldn't describe my painting process better than those written words. Thank you.

Here are the four paintings I painted separately last winter at Maudsley State Park.  Enduring cold toes are worth beautiful paintings. This winter, I am waiting for the perfect winter storm, so I can get out and engage with the elements.