Beach Studios Exhibits in Newport, RI

Here are photos from 12 Beach Studios Artists exhibiting at Spring Bull Gallery in Newport, RI for the month of September. We work in many different mediums, oil, acrylic, encaustic, pastel, colored pencil, monotype printmaking, origami and paper sculpture.

 Anne Winthrop Cordin (left) and Susan Petree (right).

 Cindy Jordan, origami and paper art.

 Cindy Jordan, paper art.

 Diane Gay

 Helen Woodhouse (left) and Sandra O'Brien (right)

 Kathy Morton (left) and Felicia Touhey (right)

 My work, Turtle triptych, colored pencil boxes and handmade book.

Helen Hadley and Judy Chaves (right)

Anne Winthrop Cordin's painting demo for Gallery Night last week. 

Invitational Pastel Exhibit

 Key Largo Palms

 Scarlet Vista

 Torreone Village, Tuscany

Cortona Hillside, Tuscany

Here are my four pastels that I have put into the invitational pastel exhibit at Spring Bull Gallery in Newport, Rhode Island. The top two abstracts were started in a workshop with Casey Klahn through the Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod last October 2013. I had tucked them away and enjoyed completing them just recently. Casey challenged the class to work abstractly and in shapes and to sometimes change from using local colors.

The second two pastels were painted plein aire while in Tuscany, and also finished in the studio. I've learned to make good color notes because when I come back to the studio and try to finish from a photo, the colors and values have changed from working on location.

The exhibit is on through the month of November and includes nine other pastel artists: Rick Cardoza, Shelly Eager,  Sarah Fielding-Gunn, Janet Gendreau, Diane L’Heureux, Priscilla Malone, Kelly Milukas, Evelyn Rhodes, and Jeanne Tangney.

My Colored Pencil Students' Artwork

I'm very proud of my colored pencil students whom have finished and framed their artwork for the Student/Mentor exhibit at Spring Bull Gallery, Newport, RI. Here are the groupings of the different works in done in class and some on their own. Several were done from still life set ups and a few from photographs. The hats were especially fun to draw and so was the paper bag. One artist even combined colored pencil with Zentangle. They've done some wonderful work and I enjoy teaching the classes.

Handmade Accordion Book for Mentors and Students Exhibit

 During the month of March, my colored pencil students and I are part of an exhibit called Mentors and Students at Spring Bull Gallery in Newport, RI. There are also five additional instructors and students exhibiting in this exhibit in mediums including pottery, drawing, watercolor, pastel, encaustic and acrylic/oil. If you are local and have time to see the exhibit, please stop in. The gallery is open every day from noon to 5 p.m. Our opening reception was so well attended there was barely room to move in the galleries! It is exciting for the mentors to be able to share our talents with students and see our students work progress as they learn the different mediums. I am planning to stop in the gallery when it is less crowded so I can take photos of the artwork and post them.

For the Mentors and Students exhibit, I put together an accordion book filled with my small drawings. I worked on these drawings in my classes along with my students to help them see how I would approach the subjects they were working on in terms of form, value and color. In the classes we were experimenting with different surfaces and colored backgrounds.

To create the book, I cut out and glued together small sheets of heavy weight drawing paper to which I glued my small drawings, some individually on each page and some collaged together. Each little page measures 7x7" and the book is folded and tied into a neat little package. Above are photos of the book stretched out in my studio.


Exhibitng Mentors include: Gail Armstrong, Charlene Capazano, Jane Austin, Felicia Touhey, Susan Shaw and me.

Exhibiting Students include: Elisabeth Wagner, Christine Witkos, Maggie Ramey, Sherry Italiano, Suzann Andrews, Jane Berriman, Mary Jennings, Akiko Omori, Laurence Lavagne, Lara Pilla, Susan Wermuth, Lara Pilla, Norma Burnell, Carol Normandin, Adrienne Ranelli, Rayne Baer, Marisol Lagares, Libby Gilpatric, Cheery Hall, Maureen Cunningham, Patty MacLeish, Jan Goldstein, Elizabeth Sullivan, Brenda Langlais, Craig Masten, Marie Fontaine, Nina Ackmann, Sheila Turner, Diane Crane, Madeline Beaudry, Phil McAllister, Deborah Grant, Sharlie Sudduth, Ara Sadanientz, Michael Manni and Jean Patiky.

Beach Dunes in Colored Pencil

I am working on a series of beach dunes and beach grasses in colored pencil and on cradled wood panels. The grain of the wood is showing through in some areas of the drawings adding texture. I've also left some of the wood showing in the areas of sand, the wood grain and wood surface make a nice addition to these organic types of drawings. Pictured are three, I am working on two additional all in different sizes so I can hang them together as a grouping. I'm also trying out adding lots of colors that aren't in my reference photos such as red and pink skies

I am varnishing the wood with several coats of Golden UVLS Polymer Varnish brushed on. I let each coat dry approximately 30 minutes before adding another layer of varnish.

I have work in a colored pencil exhibit titled "the Magic of Colored Pencil" on display through the month of June at Spring Bull Gallery, Bellevue Avenue, Newport, RI. Our New England Chapter of CPSA is sponsoring this exhibit which has many beautiful pieces of colored pencil artwork. I am pictured with my piece "Woman in the Window" (difficult to see because of the glare) which I am honored to say, won Best in Show in the exhibit.

Three Boats, Three Apples

Here are three small pieces I've done for a local small picture show at Spring Bull Gallery, Newport which opens Saturday. They are all 5x5" and will be framed in 12x12" frames with a wide mat. I chose a boat theme for tbe Newport scene.

 Illusion 5x5" colored pencil on gray Fabriano Tiziano paper. This reference photo is from Nantucket, MA

 Primary Colors 5x5" on UArt 800 sanded paper. I took this reference photo in Malta.

 Reflecting the Sky 5x5" on UArt 800 sanded paper. I believe I photographed this boat is in Wickford, RI.

My newest candy apple pieces (I don't think I put these on my blog yet) On the Chopping Block 12x12", Three Apples 6x8" and Melting 8x8". All on 2" cradled Ampersand Gessobord. These three pieces are hanging in Angelina's Coffee, Bristol, RI.

The Edge of a Dream

The Edge of a Dream is what I've titled my latest colored pencil drawing. I may  have mentioned in previous posts that I love walking on the beach any time of year and taking photos of the surf, the waves breaking on the beach and the clouds. I've worked several drawings of beach scenes from my photos but never incorporated any other subject into the scene.

Subsequently, earlier in the summer my husband and I were invited to a fashion show fundraiser in which we were lucky enough to be seated directly next to the runway. As the models sauntered past I whipped out my little camera and started snapping away, my thoughts of incorporating these tall wiry women and their interesting costumes in some of my artwork. This young woman was exceptionally tall and exceptionally thin and I had been pondering what type of interesting scene I could drop her into. After much thought I pulled out some of my more dramatic beach photos and decided to create a scene in which she is walking along the beach, stormy clouds and colorful waves behind, her skirt flowing in the sand. My intent is to give the the figure and the scene a dream like quality, as I was working I would put myself into the scene, perhaps she is me.

As in my past several drawings, I am using the UArt sanded paper with Polychromos and Prismacolor pencils. The Polychromos pencils blend and sink into the paper when burnished with a bristle brush. The Prismacolors blend also but not quite as well because they are much more waxy. The paper is very textured with distinct horizontal lines and I find that burnishing vertically and horizontally helps blend out those lines. The sanded paper eats up brushes in no time so I purchase cheap, flat bristle brushes and cut the brush hairs to about 1/4" so they will be stiffer and better for burnishing. I enjoy working on the UArt because it takes the colors so quickly, I can achieve deeper values and brighter colors on this sanded surface.

On another note, I am going to be leaving Spring Bull Gallery in Newport, RI at the end of August. I have been at the gallery since 2005 and enjoyed it so much. Spring Bull Gallery is a cooperative gallery  in which the members share in the expenses and duties. I have really enjoyed my past seven years at the gallery and I love the family of artists in the gallery with me. Leaving the gallery is bittersweet, I am sad to go, however new opportunities await and are in the works. Customers are welcome to contact me and see my work at my studio in Middletown, RI.

Retrospective Exhibition at Spring Bull Gallery

Spring Bull Gallery in Newport, the cooperative gallery I belong to, is have a retrospective exhibition opening this Saturday evening, August 6th from 5 to 7 p.m. We have invited all previous gallery members from the past 20 years to exhibit with us so it will be a creative and diverse exhibit for the gallery. I have chosen to exhibit my tulip colored pencil piece titled "Reaching Out" and this new piece I just whipped up in the past week (*laugh*). We've been on the water boating quite a bit this summer and I decided to draw a water scene. My choice is a traditional lighthouse drawing, this one is Rose Island Lighthouse right at the entrance to Newport Harbor. Once in a while its fun to just put together a local scene for the local audience and tourists that come into the gallery. Maybe this one will sell?? So I worked from a photo I had taken last summer of the lighthouse at sunset. I started the drawing by laying in the basics but then put the photo aside and had some fun choosing my own colors. I especially enjoyed the clouds; adding some bright pinks and purples. I also got creative with the wave patterns and shapes to add contrast to the soft textures of everything else. My camera bumped up the contrast in the red buoy in the front, it's not quite as bright in the drawing. Being a big fan of red, I enjoyed the drawing the buoy!

Colored Pencil Exhibit at Spring Bull Gallery

Our New England chapter of CPSA is holding a theme show & silent auction at Spring Bull Gallery, Newport, RI during the month of November. Our theme is H2O ... the artists' interpretation of water. Here are two pictures from the opening; me with one of my pieces "Memories of Sanibel" and viewers looking at the works of art. The 5x7" "Candy Apples" is my silent auction piece. Call the gallery (401) 849-9166 if you would like to bid. Current bid is $100. Proceeds will go to our chapter for our membership, special projects and community outreach.