San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, a haven for artists

San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, a haven for artists

I’ve made plans to travel to San Miguel de Allende in October for a 5 day workshop with Jerry McLaughln, master of cold wax media painting. (https://www.jerryscoldwaxworkshops.com/) Yes, I’m looking forward to getting up at the crack of dawn, stumbling out to the breakfast room for coffee and breakfast made by cheerful Senoritas and hurrying to catch the bus to the studio. In the evening. I’ll ramble around this artsy town full of galleries, artisan shops and restaurants. Maybe I can meet up with my friend Genevieve for a hike at dusk. Such bliss!

Ex Pats are all over the place. Even Jerry, who several years ago organized his first class there, decided to move to this small town three weeks later. He’s renovated a studio for his classes and opening a work residency for artists this fall.

I’m taking the beginning class because I have been going my own way with cold wax since 2019. There is a lot more technique to learn and I hope to be able to apply that to larger boards when I return. For more on what cold wax is, see my previous post here.

2022 Shows in Spring and Fall

2022 Shows in Spring and Fall

Coming soon! Newton Open Studios is heralding Spring this year with a show May 21 and 22 throughout the town. With over 190 artists, find me and ten other artists at New Art @ Trio, 245 Walnut Street, Newtonville, a well-lit large gallery space, corner of  Washington St. 11 am to 5 pm both days. We are on the second floor accessible by elevator. 

Date still to be announced is the second annual “Pop-Up Art Sale”, in West Newton this Fall (Sept or Oct). Located at 52 Sewall Street in West Newton, it was a huge success last year. The open grassy green space with shade was perfect for visitors to stroll and take in the photography, painting and crafts. Stay tuned!

Intimacy and Power

Nicholas Wilton recently spoke with artist Nadine Renazile, and she shared something about painting with scale that confirmed his creative experience, but never thought through to put into words.

“Small, tiny paintings need to feel powerful and large paintings need to feel intimate.”

See the video interview here: https://www.art2life.com/2020/07/26/the-intimacy-of-scale/

I’m sharing three small paintings I did in a series before the Black Lives Matter interrupted into a national crisis. I was thinking about slavery and maybe it was Black Lives month, and reports of police abuse were beginning to be being aired. So I did this. Only when the first two were made did I recognize what I had made. The third one was begun and I saw a skull. The series came into being. Serendipity but also an artist will to communicate a thought. So I think this is a good example of tiny paintings that feel powerful.

The paintings below describe the experience of an African Slave in America.  From left to right: A Way In as a slave via a ship, The Hiding Place while fleeing slavery, and finally Death of a Slave.

 

 

 

Newton Community Ed Cold Wax Class

This Monday we started a five week class on Cold Wax Painting at Newton South High School through the Newton Community Education Program. Class starts at 6:30 pm and runs until 9 pm. Come join us! Cold Wax medium is provided by the instructor (me) and there is a list of other materials to bring. Check it out at the Newton Community Education website. It’s not too late to join us!

In this class we are learning about what Cold Wax Medium is and how to use it. There are a lot of materials and tools involved in the stages of the cold wax drying process. We are also covering Value, Design and Color so that artists can improve their art skills as well as learning the medium.

Newton Art Association Show at Newton Library to Open

Today a myriad of artists showed up with art work in hand to add to the yearly Newton Public Library Show. The show opening is on Monday at 8 pm and all are invited! There are three rooms displayed with paintings and sculpture: The large gallery room, a middle room and the library entrance hallway. An art hanging committee of ten people (including me) stayed three hours to arrange the pieces, hanging them on clips and spacing and labeling them accordingly. My diptych, “Doors and Ways” is in the main room. See attached photos.There are always a few who label their pieces wrong, like me, and the typist has to make another few labels. Thanks, Carole Slattery!

Newton Open Studios 2019

On April 6 and 7, Newton open Studios will open artist doors for free. Come pick up a map at Eastern Bank (1255 Centre Street)  located in Newton Centre. Carol Stoltze, Martha Doolin and I will be setting up our canvases, drawings and jewelry and we would love to get a visit from you! We are very close to Starbucks, so stop in for a coffee and a browse! We will be there both days from 11am – 5 pm.

For more information go to https://.newtonopenstudios.org.