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Posts from the ‘art’ Category

Mar 22

Bridge over the Piscataqua River

18771 Village on the Piscataqua Portsmouth acryl canv 30x30 sm

Village on the Piscataqua, Portsmouth NH; acrylic on canvas, 30×30.  Available soon at Kennedy Gallery, Portsmouth

Bridge work has been ongoing for many years as needed repairs and replacements are done over the fast moving waters that join New Hampshire and Maine. We all depend on these critical crossings to get where we want to go. Some inconveniences and longer routes are simply part of living in a seacoast community as residents and tourists depend on the success of these impressive construction projects completed via cooperative arrangements between our two states.

As an artist I am also impressed by the design of the bridges and how they visually create connections from wide expanses of sky and water toward the grounded village communities at the bases. In this painting I have used the arched curve to tower over the village below as work and worship and play continues on daily in the cool shadows. Here’s hoping for a successful bridge-opening this summer as the new Sarah Long Bridge welcomes travelers again.

Lesson learned: Patience in building a strong bridge is paramount. 

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Feb 9

2018 Art Exhibition Schedule

It’s definitely going to be a busy year of art-making and exhibiting. Hope you’ll put my shows on your busy schedule. Visit my website frequently to confirm current information. www.anntrainordomingue.com  or follow me on Facebook at AnnTrainorDomingueArt page.

2018 show schedule

Jan 26

Gearing Up and Down

thumbnails photos from my sketchbooks
1″ x 1″ thumbnail
14×14 final watercolor

How do I begin a new year’s worth of paintings? Previously I have kept sketchbooks of thumbnail images –basically small inch by inch sized sketches or thoughts of an idea. I don’t work out details in this it is just a nugget of an idea on design, subject, or a color note. Because I always have a sketchbook going–too many to count in my studio–it has been a bit difficult to keep track of images that I’ve wanted to explore further.

My answer? Thumbnail pages. I went through my recent year of so sketchbooks and took a photo of each little drawing–over 200 plus–then using Adobe Bridge software brought them all into the program to create a 12 page pdf. I then put a symbol in color near each little picture–c=couples, f=fisherman, etc. Then cut them all apart and regrouped them according to my symbol system. Now I can review similar ideas on one page like shown above. The little black and white is a what I use to refer to to design a new painting–see lower right.

A bit of time to do this–about 6 hours of searching through sketchbooks, photoing, then computer work. But now I have at a glance what I need to gear up for the mountain of work ahead of me this year. Now to get down to business…

Lesson learned: Be prepared.

 

Jan 8

Time to Play

Testing a process

Working with hard molding paste, drawing into it, letting it dry overnight, then beginning a teal-colored underpainting. 8×8’s on cradled panels.

I find it is important to have time to play with materials and motifs that I have been working with for a while. Despite having done over a hundred paintings of all sizes, I continue to find new ways to use the images that I find so appealing. I have been able to do this because I give myself ‘play time’. Meaning studio hours devoted to working with materials in a different way–either applying it in a new way, scraping or drawing into it in a new way, or mixing materials to see if I can slightly shift the outcome. I’m not looking for wholesale changes just a slight step to the side or forward that feels connected in some way to previous steps. This way I won’t lose my way. Sort of like artistic breadcrumbs.

(Paintings shown are on my website, ‘Through and Through’ and ‘Sharing’, 8×8. 

Lesson learned:  Baby steps count big.

Dec 19

1 Comment

The Art of a Merry Christmas

Christmas card 2017 bubbles website card sm

Hope you have the important gifts of life which I think are family, friends, faith and fellowship. Our ever changing world provides so many opportunities to renew ourselves for the better, rethink habits that are not helpful,  and to reinvigorate our sense of what it means to be a good person. I’ll be reaching out this year to make someone else’s life better. Hope you’ll resolve to do the same. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Lesson learned: Listen to new perspectives.

Nov 20

Thanksgiving For So Much

17736 We're Home acryl pan 8x8 sm

We’re Home, acrylic on panel, 8×8. Available at Copley Society of Art, Boston

I’m thankful for so much in my life that a little post will never convey the appreciation, gratitude, and love I have for all those who I call family. You know who you are :). All of you who believed in me and my work when I was still unsure about it; all of you who are related one way or another; all those who feel related to me in soul and spirit; and all those who feel my artwork has provided a thread of connection from my life to theirs. I hope you each have a wonderful time with family–disconnecting from digital unreality–to connecting with those who matter with a hug, handshake or kiss. Happy Thanksgiving.

Lesson learned: Thank those who matter.   

Nov 1

The Big Day

17675 The Big Day acryl canv 18x18 sm

The Big Day, acrylic on canvas, 18×18. 

This recent painting was inspired partially by the wedding of my granddaughter combined with a sense of how I feel about marrying my husband more than 20 years ago. Just a sweet feeling of the joy of the day and being able to share it with someone I truly love. I’m not one to let my emotions out easily but in this case it has turned into a bit of a series of works that lets me bring some of these memorable moments to life.

My ongoing series of fishermen and women and their families have been a way for me to present sentiments such as togetherness, love, support, family, constancy, persistence, fun, optimism and faith. It is an authentic-to-me way of adding figurative/people into my work which I have been searching for for years.

I allow real life situations to provide a moment–it just nudges me with a notion of ‘hey, that might make a good way to imagine a relationship’ and away I go. Pick up a sketchbook and draft some designs, then on to a quick watercolor sketch of a composition.

IMG_0785

Sample rough sketch of idea

Once I decide on a design I move quickly to develop a painting and usually paint it in one sitting–or standing. I like the process of committing to an idea and working it through in a day or so. Then I might rework areas after a good night’s sleep. If I feel something is not quite right I wait a few days, stare at it from my old stuffed rocking chair in the studio. I’ll make the adjustments and then it is done. And I move on to another idea.

Here are two other paintings in the series of relationship paintings:

The big day continues to be the best day of my life. I hope you’ve experienced one that stays with you forever, too.

Read about the details on these pieces on my website at www.anntrainordomingue.com

Lesson learned: It’s never too late to have a Big Day. In life, in art. 

NOTE: OPEN STUDIO 2017, NOVEMBER 4 & 5, 10-4. Details/directions on website.

Jun 20

It Takes More Than a Village

17624 It Takes a Village acryl canv 30x30 sm

It Takes a Village, 30×30, acrylic on canvas.

‘It Takes a Village,’  a few words from an African proverb, was the inspiration for developing this new series of work. The first in the series is shown above–an imagined area of a small fishing village where activity is the norm and people know each other. By the sound of voices, dogs barking, children playing, and engines running. Subtle sounds of life happening as it does day after day in small American villages all over our country.

sketch for It Takes a Village

Preliminary drawing to design the square canvas shape.

I have taken this theme and worked to bring aspects of different villages in New England together in individual paintings. One painting may have a cupola from Monhegan or Portland and a fish shack from Kittery or Camden, or a beautiful home in Goffstown to a Victorian era mansion in Laconia or New Boston or Cape Cod. There are many ideas rolling around in my head to create new ‘villages’ this summer. Stay tuned.

IMG_9347

Drawn line using fluid acrylic with red wash under painting.

Lesson learned: A pair of historic fishing shacks on Monhegan Island, Maine has proven to contain a watershed of ideas for my art journey. Little did I know my first painting trip there in 2003 would offer such a huge amount of inspiration and direction. A big thank you to Stan Moeller a wonderful plein air painter from Kittery Maine was the instructor who opened the door to plein air painting and studio painting. www.anntrainordomingue.com

May 14

Birdbrain Idea, Yes

IMG_20161122_113644

So this little gem was drawn by my 6 year old granddaughter and pinned to my studio wall. These eyes have been staring at me for a few months as if to say ‘hey, why not use me in your paintings?’ or ‘you use so many fish how about giving us birds a chance?’ So I’ve been listening and adding a bit more wild life into my work–humans and birds and fish. Covering most bases with an occasional dog making a cameo. I’m learning to always consider new things in my work–careful not to throw myself offtrack–but to think of how an innocent little drawing can breath new life into my work. Thank you Gwendolyn. Love, Grannie.

Here are a few more birds that have made in onto my canvases lately.

Lesson learned: When developing new work, let something new in.

 

Apr 6

2 Comments

Solo show opens tomorrow at Kennedy Gallery, Portsmouth, NH

Exhibit on til April 30th. Hope you’ll stop in to see over 20 new paintings.

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