thaw and draw

I worked on some wee little pastels for the new group show, “Thaw”, at the Gem Gallery. I found this rough sketch in one of my sketchbooks, thinking it would be an idea to pursue. Then I morphed it into an absurd image of synchronized skaters on thin ice.

There was an event locally of the national synchronized skating association. I didn’t go, but couldn’t ignore the media around it. At any rate, I lost interest in the pastel.
I only had small frames and little time in which to do something so detailed. I returned my attention to nature instead.

I’m all done with my recent Nest, Nook, and Cranny job, but my birdwatching instincts remain. I have a thing for cardinals.
I think of my dad when I see or hear one. His favorite color was red. I grew up at an 18-unit motel called the Red Doors Motel, in Lincoln, New Hampshire.

Terry Tempest Williams says in a poem, “I pray to the birds because I believe they will carry the messages of my heart upward.”

I titled this pastel “Bittersweet Bird.”

Then I worked on a scene up in Edgecomb, Maine where a former island neighbor has moved.
This one is titled “Cod Cove Melt.”

It captures for me that shimmering glisten when snow finally departs.

Then I got into a pastel frenzy and did this rough version of a sunset I witnessed recently. Heading down front to the store for milk, I saw the bay mirroring the pink sky over House Island. This is titled “Dusky Chill.”

I also framed a pastel I did at the end of last summer, as a nod to green. Yes, the island will thaw, the green will return. This is a view called “The Ice Pond.”

I am so lucky to have a framer in the house! I could never get this together otherwise.
Thanks to you, Marty!

The Gem Gallery opening on March 20 was lovely, as always. The collective of Peaks Island artists manages to pull a certain sweetness out of nowhere every time.

Here is my little pastel nestled between fiber art by Suzanne Parrott and an oil painting of hers. She does it all.

And here my three pastels hang proudly between big talents: on left, Jane Banquer, printmaker, and on right, Paul Brahms, painter.

Tis the season for peeps! Suzanne compared the color qualities of sugar next to the lush layers of a Diane Wiencke painting.

So when folks wonder, incredulously, just what we DO out here in the winter, there is proof in the art, now bidding the season farewell. At last.

I came across this, perhaps a vestige of a stone ceremony….

Whatever it is, it brought a solid warmth to my bones, seeing elements of nature shape my vision.

For the latest on what’s up at the Gem, check out the new blog.