San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, a haven for artists

by | May 5, 2022 | Arts, Cold Wax and Oil, Travel, Workshops

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.

Lucy MacGillis Painting

Lucy MacGillis Painting

by | May 4, 2021 | Oil Painting, Plein Air, Travel, Workshops

I met Lucy MacGillis through a friend at the Boston Globe. Lucy is the daughter of Don MacGillis, who sadly passed away this past Fall. Don and his wife Ingrid talked many times about their daughter who moved to Italy and was so successful at her painting that she never moved back. Lucy grew up in Pittsfield, Massachusetts and as a youth would visit the Clark Institute in Williamstown to study master’s paintings. Lucy now lives in Umbria with her son and her companion. She makes gorgeous oil paintings of the italian countryside, portraits and still life.

Lucy paints from life, directly from observation, as a “perceptual painter”. The style might also be called “magical realism” or just “realism”. She first studied at University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and got a grant to study in Italy at Nick Carone’s former International School of Art in Montecastello di Vibio, Umbria. “Along with Carone I learned from Lennart Anderson, John Lees, Jake Berthot, William Bailey, Ying Li and many others; quite the line up.”

On her website you can book a workshop in Umbria, Sicily and Austria. She travels back to Massachusetts for openings at the Hoadley Gallery in Lenox, Mass. and teaches a class that same weekend at IS183 in Stockbridge. I was fortunate to attend a free public art talk hosted virtually by Black Pond Studios this March. She offers an online class studying classical painting by sketchings and writing observations. Lucy also described how she makes her own italian earth paint in her studio by mixing ground earth and stone with Walnut oil.

On a visit to a Hoadley Gallery opening a few years ago, I was able to ask about her methods which she was very generous to share. She first stretches the linen and sizes it with rabbit glue. I noted that some of the tan canvas can be seen between the splashes of paint on the finished work. This reveals confidence in the medium and location. Her impressionist playful dabs of color shows a deep understanding of what makes a good painting.

“Lucy MacGillis combines an appreciation of Cezanne and Morandi with her own unique style to create exquisite oil paintings of her life in Umbria. Her paintings are timeless and classic yet have a fresh contemporary feeling.” –– Hoadley Gallery.

If you get a chance, visit Hoadley Gallery in Lenox to see Lucy MacGillises outstanding work.

Featured Image: “Gaetano (Man’s Name)” at Hoadley Gallery, Lenox. Inset Image: Italian Earth Color Study, by Lucy MacGillis.

Travel Inspires Art

by | Aug 23, 2019 | Cold Wax and Oil, Photography, Travel

I was editing my Perugi Studio Website and placing photographs. This involves going into the media folder and picking out the images. I noticed a photo I took on a trip to Italy three years ago that clearly inspired one of my recent paintings, Arches. The place and image must have been in my subconscious. The photo at right was taken at the Florence Leather School in 2016. The Cold Wax Painting was made in 2019. Take a look and see what you think. Here is the painting and photo:

Traveling in Ireland Inspires!

by | Oct 18, 2017 | Travel

Travel is always a great way to get out of your zone, catch some new views and get inspired! Last week my husband and I went to Ireland, our very first trip to the Emerald Isle. Note that the “first” is emphasized. We plan to go back! It was a rush of a week, visiting four cities in 6 nights. We spent one night in Kilkenny (the craft capital of Ireland), two in Killarney (where the RIng of Kerry beckons), two in Galway (music non-stop), and the last night in Dublin (Temple Bar party town!). Some of the best sites and landscapes I have ever seen can be captured on the Wild Atlantic Way, (“wild driving” way you mean!) between Killarney and Galway. On that route, you can stop at the Cliffs of Moher for a well deserved rest from the frenetic driving. Note that the cars have the driver seat on the right side and you drive on the left of the road. It’s a nail biter! But the views are worth it. Next time, stay a few days in one spot and venture out with your camera and sketch pad. Your tired husband driver will thank you!

 

The Playwright Pub

Kilkenny

Southwick Brewery

Kilkenny

Rock of Cashel

Countryside

Ring of Kerry

Killarney

Foggy Cliffs of Moher

Wild Atlantic Way

Waterville

Small village life

RIng of Kerry

Panorama

Kelly’s Bakery

Waterville

Georgia O’Keefe

Georgia O’Keefe

by | Aug 7, 2017 | Arts, Travel

A few weekends ago we visited my daughter in her new apartment in Brooklyn. She suggested we head over to the Brooklyn Museum and see what was there. I immediately homed in on a Georgia O’Keefe exhibit which was well worth the small entrance fee. The show called “Living Modern”, focused on the evolution of Georgia as artist, painter and fashionista. She was spare in a very elegant way, as evidenced by her clothing. Fashion students definitely need to see this show.

Some paintings were there that I had never seen. Photographs of her as well. But there was something that really caught my eye. She was very interested in Japanese style and woodblock prints. A book there displayed the words “NOTAN” on the corner of a chapter page. “Notan” is the art of sketching the darkest areas of a photograph, so that an artist can determine the blackest tones of a painting before they begin. Many artists who fail to do this can get lost before they begin. I learned this from a Mary Gilkerson, a landscape painter in North Carolina, who I discovered on Pinterest. In one of her blog posts, she taught us the term “Notan”, and when I repeated it in a painting class the next day, no one had heard of it.

So, here, randomly at a Brooklyn Museum exhibit, on a book, I see this word, and it blows my mind. Anyway, check out the exhibit if you can. You will be rewarded in ways you would not expect!