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Posts from the ‘New England’ Category

Sep 13

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Side by side or side by each

Each photo is a detail of a much larger painting. It was selected to demonstrate the various ways I paint similar situations I have created in my work. They each speak to togetherness, friendship, and the simplicity of just being together with someone you love.

I can speak for many of us when I say we all have a special someone in our life. Someone who sees us for who we really are yet gives us space to grow and mature. It is that person who is represented in these doorway images I frequently incorporate in my work. It is intentionally not a portrait but a symbol/gist/likeness of what it may look like to be part of another person – note where I have merged color to connect people together. To love being close and feeling their warmth. Sharing life’s lights and darks, it’s rough and smooth edges, its absolute joys and sorrows. Some of my fans and collectors find all this imbued in my work and let me know through heartfelt notes and emails. When I began making these images I was not aware of how deeply someone else would feel about them. After over 10 years of painting fulltime, I now know that what I create can hit home in ways I never imagined. Thank you for allowing my work to touch your soul and in some cases, heal it.

Lesson learned: Do it anyway.

See note at right. Choose from these four options, or choose to be surprised!

Please follow me on Instagram anntrainordomingue, or on Facebook at anntrainordomingueart.

If you would please confirm your interest in following my blog please let me know via email at atdomingue@gmail.com. If you’d like to stay or be added to my snail mail list, please email your snail mail address and I will ship you two blank art greeting cards as a thank you.

See more of my work online at anntrainordomingue.com

Apr 27

In the Changing Light

Visit Portland Art Gallery website to view all 15 new works. And please share! Thank you.

Dec 30

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Dawn Breaking 2022

Breaking Dawn, 24×24 acrylic on panel available at Portland Art Gallery, Portland Maine.

If we believe the best is yet to come, that all things are possible with God (whichever iteration you choose to believe or not believe in), that we each need to follow our own path, that being nice still matters, that retaining our personal freedom to make our own decisions is valuable, that loving our neighbor as ourself is kindness in action, that peacefully coexisting in an increasingly diverse society is important, that solving differences does not need to lead to violence of any kind, that giving and receiving a sincere hug is a warm gift, then maybe we can –I will– begin the new year with a renewed heart and open mind and be the help someone else needs to find their joy again. I hope you make it a Happy New Year and find your own Peace.

Lesson learned: One timid step leads to another more confident step in the right direction.

Aug 24

Fish Moon Light Days Reflections

Fish Moon Days, 24×48 on canvas, 2021. Available at Portland Art Gallery, Portland, Maine

The moon has a pull that I don’t understand in its entirety, but I still find it a fascinating detail to place in my work. Even adding another where it doesn’t make sense. Am I to use my creativity to reiterate and repeat reality? Or is it to reinvent/rework/recreate/renew a common image by imbuing it with fresh ways of looking, bringing another point of view for others to ponder? As in life, encouraging new ideas and new ways of looking at things can make all the difference. Hopefully shedding light and new joy.

Lesson learned: Keep making images that bring joy and hope.

Jul 22

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Village in the Pursuit of Happiness

“… home was not just a cabin in a deep woods that overlooked a placid cove. Home was a state of mind, the peace that came from being who you were and living an honest life.” ― Kristin Hannah, The Great Alone

Detail of ‘Village in the Pursuit of Happiness 2’, acrylic on canvas

We all have such different ideas of what home is. The quote above was one I found while doing a bit of searching for a quote by an author that resonated with me and reflected the small family vignette of one of my large paintings I have selected for this post.

This image is part of a 40″x60″ acrylic painting titled ‘Village in the Pursuit of Happiness’. In this ‘village’ series I have incorporated several different visual ideas of what living in a village feels like for me. I am careful to not be too precious with shapes and color and detail rather letting all the vignettes live together peacefully as a painting. View a full image of ‘Village in the Pursuit of Happiness’ with this link.https://anntrainordomingue.com/Art/Detail.php?artid=1211296

Lesson Learned: Home is not only the shelter we live in, but also how we create a life together in the shelter of home.

Feb 22

2 Comments

Different Yet Similar

Bridging the Gap, 12×12 acrylic and graphite on panel

Are you sensing something similar to what I’ve presented in this artwork? A very large gap between differences and similarities? A space between two people that seems permanent? An inability to reach across time and space to reconnect with someone who was special to us? A sense that the space is getting wider? An idea that life as we knew it is not likely to return in a familiar way? During this pandemic I believe we’ve all been forced to adjust and accept certain changes. And I believe we’ve also tried to retain and keep close to our hearts people, things, and experiences that we are not willing to let go of–ever. They hold too much meaning and are part of our souls. To let go would mean failure and giving up on something that matters most.

This painting is my thought of what it may look like to build a simple bridge. Even though it may seem too delicate or hard to see, its a start. A way to reconnect with another soul who’d like to be touched by an honest peaceful gesture of friendship. Especially when differences are known to both individuals. We should reach out to one another because we believe in individuals being just that. Individually absorbing life and times, choosing a point of view and forming opinions. I hope despite core differences, we can each find our core similarities. And use these to make our way back to civility and respect of all people.

Lesson learned: If a friendship is formed on foundation of respect, holding different viewpoints should not matter.

Oct 29

Peaceful Transitions Matter

In this new painting, ‘Village Under the Sun’, the imagery is filled with all kinds of transitions— from line to gradient, warm to cool colors, curves to angles, light to dark values, textured to smooth surface, not to mention the imagined overlapping and off-kilter architecture. And the changing unreal scale of buildings and people. Yet if handled well, all these juxtapostions can live peacefully together. Creating a kind of balance that despite its quirkiness and unusual views, still does create a recognizable world where we live well in the peacefulness of a place we call home. Contact Kennedy Gallery in Portsmouth NH for more information. Visit Ann Trainor Domingue website for more info.

Lesson learned: Living together in peace despite differences matters most. Let’s hope the upcoming election results in a peaceful transition or continuation for America’s sake.

Oct 7

Calendar by Ann Trainor Domingue!

This is my first calendar and I am excited to let you see it just before it is ready for sale! I am distributing it through one venue only– Kennedy Gallery and Custom Framing located at 41 Market Street in Portsmouth, NH. Please call to reserve yours at 603-436-7007 or send email to art@kennedygalleryandframing.com

The calendar is quite different from standard art calendars in that I have included a story and inspiration behind each artwork to let you in on the behind the scenes work and thought process of each of 12 frameable images. Several images are also available as blank notecards and prints also only available at Kennedy Gallery. Just ask, they will be happy to help. See sample page below.

Thank you for your interest in the calendar. the image above shows the 12 different artworks included in the 2021 calender. This will make a great gift for someone who loves art and the thinking behind an art work.

Lesson learned: Take a risk and the rest will work itself out in due time.

Sep 17

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Adapting to Offkilterness

One At A Time, acrylic on panel, 18×18. Available at Portland Art Gallery, Maine.

We all share a common sense of confusion and offkilterness in 2020. So many aspects of our lives have been jolted into an unsettled sense of being. We fix one thing and another thing jumps up like a whack-a-mole game but it’s truly no game at all. It’s exhausting. And discouraging. And without a way to bring back a sense of calm and peace, it will continue on through the fall and into 2021.

I’m addressing this ongoing problem in a few different ways.

  1. Being sure I am prioritizing listening to people who are positive influences–not pollyannas or debbydowners, but realists who seem to have found a way to manage these unsettled times.
  2. Taking a hard look at my commitments and removing those that are causing more stress than they are worth.
  3. Refocusing my efforts in practical matters that are key to my successes as an artist. Going deeper into the items that will benefit from my complete uninterrupted attention.
  4. Doing small things that matter for people I love.
  5. Reining in the scattered interests that take time away from my core interests and values.
  6. Finding time to be ok with doing nothing but thinking about how blessed and grateful I am and will be in the future.

Good luck as you find your balance again.

Lesson learned: I could have done all this without a pandemic.

May 12

Springing Back to Life

Compressed charcoal of buoy design in progress
Babaking Daay, 4×3, watercolor
Buoys sketch, 8×10, colored pencils
Moondance 1212×12 acrylic on canvas

Whew. What an odd, stressful late winter and early spring.  Now 2020 is one year that I’d love to put in the way back of my mind. Nonetheless I have been working on new ideas using images collected over the last year or so. I’m just stopping, taking a breathe, checking in with my galleries, praying that my art friends and acquaintances are healthy.  Also taking care to check in with my family and especially my mother who lives in a nursing home in a secure ward as she has Alzheimer’s. Strangely enough she is happier not knowing what is going on in the world today and worrying about her husband, her nine grown children and their families. Very grateful for this  blessing.

I’m also optimistic that the world and our small area of it will recover and rebound to smartly begin to live in communities being our friends and family again. We need to be social, visible, connected and able to once again hug those we love.

Peace to all and here’s to safely opening up our lives again.

Lesson learned: Stopping is important but starting is essential. 

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