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Posts tagged ‘art’

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!

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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.

Apr 13

1 Comment

When will it end?

As Time Goes By, acrylic on canvas, 40×60. Available at Portland Art Gallery, Maine

After an eventful winter and spring this new painting holds a different kind of sentiment now. The small circular shapes were like an image of days passing by, suns or moons, your choosing. Then the light coming in from behind the shelter building felt like a new day dawning with endless possibilities. That was before the attack on Ukraine by Putin. How horrible an experience for the Ukrainians to have to endure. And to see that no other country or group of allies can or will do anything to immediately stop the human destruction of little children, elderly, and families who just a few weeks ago were enjoying all the things we enjoy here in USA. Really? Nothing more can be done to stop the unbelievable murderous, callous evil of Putin? I pray for intervention of any kind to bring peace to those poor brave people. And I pray that God, in whatever form you believe or not, will stop Putin’s heart.

Lesson learned: Evil exists unless good people do something to stop it.

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.

Dec 10

If a Painting Could Speak

It’s Good to be Home, 36×36 acrylic on canvas;
available now at Powers Gallery, Acton, MA

I’ve often heard people say they love the titles of my work. Thankfully they love the work too, but they also make it a point to mention how much they love the title. It happened so often I needed to understand why it was happening with such frequency. I wish I could remember at what point my titles went beyond describing what was in the painting–to the idea of what it could say if it could speak. As though I am divulging a secret of some kind.

As I recall comments about my titles happened when I gave my fisherman a girl in 2014 or so. I began to think of the people in my work and what situation I had positioned them in. I developed a little story between them and thought it would be interesting to look at the work in light of the title. Sometimes the title would be a bit philosophical, hint at a religious sense, or be playful or hopeful. Or even what the painting might say about itself.

It’s not easy to choose one to six words as a title (my personal preference for word count). It’s similar to designing a brandmark or logo that I have done for many years as a graphic designer. There is something both difficult and satisfying about winnowing down multiple options to just some key shapes and letterforms. I think finding thoughtful words that work as titles is a similar process–before, during or after the painting is completed. For sure though, by the time the painting is wrapped and shipped off to a client or gallery.

Lesson learned: Be creative in everything.

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.

Sep 17

1 Comment

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.

Aug 29

2 Comments

Peace Still Matters

Amid the chaos in our lives due to the pandemic and all the daily events it has affected, it is still important to find a way to peace. To try to take each day as a gift to be opened and shared especially with someone who is finding it difficult to find peace. This detail of my artwork demonstrates a bit of chaos with spots of warm orange notes or peace. Hope you find yours.

Lesson learned: Just be still for a while.

Jul 26

Outdoor Art Show Aug 1

outdoor art show in Goffstown, NH, August 1, 2020

Have you been starving to see original art? Your chance is here. Saturday, August 1, 9-3 in Goffstown, New Hampshire. View 23 artists’ work in a variety of media. Our 12th annual outdoor show in Goffstown village. Hope you will join us. Covid precautions will be in effect for artists and visitors. Thank you. Follow #Uncommonartonthecommon group on Facebook.

May 12

Springing Back to Life

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

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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