Where?

Some of the popular challenges that artist's face (yes, myself included) are: how to create work of meaning in others and to themselves, to create meaning in the process of the work, how to balance work and play (really, art can NOT be play sometimes), how to piece together this somewhat ambiguous career of artist (financially and health-fully) and where to draw inspiration and ideas from.  The last few months I've really been "putting myself out there" on all of these fronts.... I am getting out of the studio and on the road, less to paint, and more to talk shop and attend opportunities to grow. What about this week?  Although I returned to my classroom for 2 days / week and got my family back into the structure of the fall...  I was fortunate to attend Jackie Battenfield's talk in Belfast. She's the author of "The Artist's Guide", a wonderful book that I have been referring to for a couple of years.  Still digesting my notes but wrote, "My work is more about a relationship with paint, marks, and an emotional response to the formal elements in picture making. Its less about WHAT and more about HOW. " Also, attended a lovely BBQ in Falmouth with many artists - some popular, some favored, some even famous.... Yesterday I put the finishing touches on my chicken book "They Came In A Box" and sent it off to be a part of a Book Arts Exhibition at the University of Southern Maine... so see here some of the places I have drawn inspiration, admired beauty, book forms, and recent paintings...

Its one of the first hot days of summer, and one of the first days where I've been "off" from my family responsibilities.  That interprets to me, "go to the studio and get to work".  Ironically, my studio has been less of a space for my creative workings these last few months for I've been taking my eyes onto the road.  I've revisited some favorite areas in Portland along the ocean with my favorite pencils, papers, cardboard, and painted with other painters, some other favorite spots here in Central Maine including the Arboretum in Augusta, and areas between Gardiner and Richmond, and caught up with painter friends. Its been fun but also very important to making good pictures and making art that is worth making.  I've also given a presentation to Breast Cancer survivors and designed a portrait project called "Face It". But let's talk about this a bit later.  ......So, what have I made? I've taken my on-site studies: graphite pencil sketches, watercolors, photographs, and revisited the geometric forms of the landscape into multiple finished works in oil, encaustic.  I painted a yellow dress. That's an odd one but I think there is some reason why its there...   I also put the finishing touches on my chicken book titled, "They Came In A Box" and began workings on another artist book using ancient greek sculptures, and an iced over pond as a source. And then my chicken book evolved into some small chicken paintings which I had a genuinely good time making (and laughing), and some more continued Birdworks series.

I went to work today but what did I do?  Reflected, breathed, went to the library, did some much needed online computer work, cleaned the studio for my students, made calls about my new studio plans (shhhh) and thought.... Am I completely scattered as an artist?  Absolutely!  Absolutely not.  I don't believe my role as an artist is to remain static.  I think I do need to keep reinventing myself, be open to my curiosities, explore materials and the way I use them.  But I do need to "feel" as an artist that I am grounded. Perhaps I can pursue all of my curiosities just enough that it teaches something, opens a door, embraces and wows the viewer. I hope so.  Lets see what happens next.

Looking Ahead

One of my favorite things to do, particularly when the weather is atleast "tolerable" (in Maine could be defined as atleast a half an hour one day) is to get outside and really connect with the landscape. This does not mean you can see me out there hugging trees but really engaging in seeing the landscape I live within. This means really engaging with seeing it (what am I seeing in form and color) and then contemplating the organization of these elements. How do I want to twist, directly alter the perspective, warm the form's colors and truly PLAY? This is what happens after I have seen and am heading back to the studio with an armful of quick drawings on paper. However, this summer I am taking all of my paint on the road with me to some of my favorite places to "connect" with nature. I am looking for a handful of students to work with me more formally on their observational skills, abstract thinking, and sequence of drawing to painting the landscape. Here are the dates and sites:
Thursday, May 10th
Longfellow’s Greenhouses, Manchester
Thursday & Friday, June 21 & 22
Oakland Farm, Gardiner
Thursday & Friday, August 2 & 3
Maple Hill Farm, Hallowell
Thursday & Friday, August 16 & 17
Viles Arboretum, Augusta
$60. for 1 day session
$110. for 2 day session
includes morning coffee and a delightful lunch.
Materials List Supplied Upon Registration
Sign Up by May 1st and take $15. OFF!

So how about it? Its going to be wonderful and your body, hand and heart will thank you! Please email me at helene@helenefarrar.com or call 485 5691 for more details . Be well!

Coming Up for Air

It seems as though a break in the cold weather, a moment to consider a deep breathe, a lull following a busy period is when I rear my head and come up for air. My blog seems to be the result of this time. So. Here I am having a coffee and bagel at my favorite place, just after dropping my daughter off to school and just before I head to the studio to make and teach for the day. The weather is gorgeous and my schedule today feels light because its designed by me and I am loving my work.
One of my indirect sources for my artistic work is reading poetry. There is something about getting inside someone's head and listening to their words from my lips, that informs what I do with color, texture, particularly when approaching landscape work. Most of my landscape work this past year moves quickly away from the real landscape and become something of their own. I've included here one of my "pink" works that are created with many materials including collage, willow charcoal, acrylic paint. If you do want to have a good poetry read, I found at the Maine State Library a small poetry book called "Nothing Moves On the Horizon", which is a collection of pieces by inmates at the Thomaston Prison.
As for most of the time, my work in the studio has been varied in the last month or so. Possibly its a part of my own self-education, but I don't think artists should be static. We should be open to new ideas, materials, and processes. Anyhow, as part of my new assignments, I have almost completed a painted artist book inspired by first a conversation with a student of how her chicken's she raises arrived in a box in the mail, but also by a short workshop I took with Rebecca Goodale. Here's the result.
There's more brewing at the studio but the studio is calling me to now to come clean up after my weekly messes and start some new ones. Come on by!

Best Time of the Year

Just when I am fed up with winter, I write the best time of the year? Guess not for weather's sake, but for life's sake. In January, I always find myself in a lot of reflection of my career as an artist. It sometimes can bring me to some dark spaces for some time, but I always seem to pull myself out of those corners. Then I am lead into some future planning and excitement. Thats where I am now. My journaling and space to think and plan is paying off. My vision is returning to me and just when I needed it the most. You are going to see me stretching as an artist in the coming months and creating some work that ties on many of our heart strings. I hope so anyways.
In other ways, I have been keeping busy by getting my studio set up both physically and electronically. And in the last few weeks, I have been focusing primarily on creating some new works for a show I am having at Slates Restaurant with a reception planned for Sunday, February 12th from 5 - 7 PM. I have shared some pictures with you here including my studio view on a cold winter day, an artist book of the snow queen, paintings in process and more. Enjoy! Also, I have attached here the press release for my show at Slates - and see you there PLUS the same evening you can also walk one block north and see my studio. The doors are open! Come on by. "My staff" will be at my studio to greet you while I am down at Slates, and the party can end down at my studio... Also, if you have been considering purchasing an original painting of mine, here's an extra incentive, 10% of profits will benefit the National Breast Cancer Foundation. See you in a couple of weeks at an art night out in Hallowell!

HALLOWELL ARTIST EXHIBITS “COLLECTIONS”

AT SLATES RESTAURANT

AND OPENS STUDIO DOORS IN ONE NIGHT OF ART

Event to Partially Benefit the National Breast Cancer Foundation

HALLOWELL, MAINE – On Sunday, February 12^th from 5 – 7 PM Hallowell Artist Hélène Farrar will share her new studio space and business “Hélène Farrar Art” to coincide with her artist reception for “Collections” at Slates Restaurant. Located only a half block north of Slates, visitors have the unique opportunity to see the artist’s working studio as well have a viewing her works at Slates Restaurant.

Hélène Farrar Art is a new creative space in downtown Hallowell. Hélène Farrar Art houses the working artist studio of Hélène Farrar plus a community based studio where children and adults may participate in: regularly scheduled art lessons and classes taught by a professional artists and educators, specialized weekend workshops and evening classes, and borrow art books and artistic sources from an extensive art library. These educational opportunities operate under “Catch the Artbug with Hélène Farrar Art” FMI www.catchtheartbug.blogspot.com

“Slates has special meaning to me. It was only natural to open the doors to my studio for friends and fans of my local community to celebrate with me the same night, ” states Farrar. “I’ve put together a special sampling of my works for this event including works from travel journal paintings of Northern Italy and Southwest England, plus new pieces from my Birdworks, and groupings of mixed media pieces using abandoned photographs.”

Ten percent of sales profits from both venues will benefit the National Breast Cancer Foundation. The organization is meaningful to Farrar, as she lost her mother to breast cancer six years ago. Utilizing her art as a vehicle, she is planning a series of opportunities to raise breast cancer awareness and funding this year.

Farrar has taught and worked in the visual arts for fifteen years while actively exhibiting in commercial, nonprofit and university galleries in New England and England. Farrar has a Masters of Fine Art Degree in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College in Vermont, and a Bachelors of Art from University of Maine with concentrations in painting and printmaking. Her work has been exhibited widely in Maine and has been accepted into regional and international juried exhibitions featuring her encaustics and oil works. The Flat Iron Gallery in Portland, the Three Graces Gallery in New Hampshire currently represent her and you can find her Birdworks series in Bessie’s Farm Goods in Freeport, Maine. www.helenefarrar.com

Recharging the Creative Battery

Its not a clear answer in my mind as to whether creative thinking can be taught. I do believe that creative thinking and energy can be gained through an allowance and opportunity to daydream. Daydreaming states can be allowed in many different ways. I find that a longer drive from one place to another, leaving behind old routines and spaces = travel close and far, a stimulating conversation, being in my own creative physical space, or even doing creative work aside another creative can lead me to reflect and form a creative idea. My experiences have taught me that my creative energy is recharged when I have given myself the opportunity to do these things. I am happy to have found the recipe.

In October, our family sadly said goodbye to a loved patriarch Milton Gersten. “Milt” was a prolific artist and although primarily a sculptor, worked in clay, ceramic, metal and wood, and experimented with many other mediums in his 90 years. A lover of abstract forms plus his profession as mechanical engineer created a home that uniquely and elegantly displayed a diverse art collection, as well as his own works. A conversation with Milt about art, whether about his own works or a recent exhibition at the Whitney, had the gift of leaving you inspired, curious and happy. I still recall a time in my 20’s where one conversation on an early weekend morning over bagels, sent me directly to Pearl Paint to purchase a complete set of linoleum carving tools. I didn’t mind emptying my bank account for the train fair on the Long Island Railroad or for my new tools. His inspiration was incessant.

As I have become older and have created a family of my own, I am more grateful for the doors he and his wife Leah opened to our family. In many chapters of our family’s lives, he was a constant and provided us a home. Home was not necessarily a place, but rather a resting spot filled with he and Leah’s love and comfort. He was willing to put aside Jewish laws that were laid by my great grandfather and my Orthodox family before them. I am so thankful.

When I set out this past Tuesday morning to recharge on my devoted studio day, I was mindful of Milton. While making my drive to South Gardiner to connect with my artist friend at her home, I gave myself over to the drive, to the construction, and daydreaming. A vintage yellow dress drawn and painted appeared in my time that morning with Artist Nancy Barron. We talked, laughed, painted, and drank coffee. I returned near home late lunchtime almost with my energizing complete – not without a trip to the library to scan the art periodicals, and a handful of books. Just thinking of Milt, and surrounding myself with the opportunity to get my creative juices flowing, had the same effect on me as a trip to Milt’s. Except that, I still miss him. Thank you for helping to show me how to get my creative battery recharged Milt.

Studio Sale is THIS Friday, December 2nd

Hi There Everyone.... In case you haven't heard, this Friday evening from 5 - 8 PM is my studio sale... come sooner and see new, fresh works and great ideas for prezzies for those who have everything except for a piece of Hélène Art

Opening is Friday, November 4th at the Flat Iron Gallery in Portland!

Farrar states, “Whenever I travel, I give myself assignments. The assignments are immersed in my desire to remember a place. If I draw or paint where I am, it locks into my memory. When I return home and start the finished work, I’ll also impose limits too so that the works are connected by the physical direction I took or the snapshots in my mind I wanted to select for my

Hélène Farrar’s “From Across the Sea: Journal Paintings of England and Italy" are a sampling of works created in 2010 and 2011 in response to travels to England’s southwest regions and Italy’s Lake Como areas. The imagery was developed through a combination of photography, sketchbook drawings and journaling. The journal paintings are not only physical records of these places but Farrar’s response to the landscape in forms of shape, form, and color’s response to light.

memory.” The works in this exhibition are a part of a larger body of artworks still in process.

A quiet morning

Its hard to believe that in only the half-hour my daughter has been at school that I've already had a chance to settle down and prepare for another week. Sipping my coffee and quietly revisiting our trip to Italy through my new paintings is a simple pleasure. What I love about making paintings is that the physical act, particularly in the beginning, throws out so much potential. Through this act energy and excitement is stimulated, and all the while the subject in its complete focus of my eyes, hand and mind, I am transported away. What an amazing opportunity to transport myself to a place where I can record visually, build memories, and see things in a new way. The paintings shared here are inspired by our first five days in Italy in the Lake Como region, where I was particularly engaged with the geometric shapes of the landscape and the building or stacking of varied forms of trees, vegetation and architecture. In a few weeks, I will be sharing more works as WE travel to Venice, Verona, and the Dolomites... enjoy an please let me know your responses. Enjoy the trip.

Snapshot Italy

"Snapshot Italy" and other Commissioned Artworks

"Snapshot Italy" is a simple commission opportunity for current and prospective clients to have a view of the Italian landscape of their own - particularly of the Lake Como Region and Venice. Here is how it works 1) contact me via email helene@helenefarrar.com or 207 485 5691 and let me know you'd like to commission a "Snapshot Italy" artwork. 2) choose between a 12 X 12 Oil Painting on canvas at $500., a 10 X 10 Oil Painting on canvas at 300., or a 8 X 8 acrylic painting on panel at $100. 3) I will deliver the painting to you by November 1st. In the meantime, enjoy seeing places I visited and observations on my blog in August, September, and October. Last commissions will be taken on September 30th. Seen here is a 5 X 5 acrylic painting on paper with a view looking back at Spannocchia in Tuscany. So, if you have fear about commissioning a work, then this might be a great start and some inspiration. Find out more below about some recent commission work.... I leave for Italy on Wednesday, August 3rd so the boat will be leaving soon!

When a client approaches me about creating an artwork with a particular image or concept in mind, as an artist it can be another way to push my creativity. The commission becomes like an assignment and gives me an excuse to possibly visit a specific place I've never been (and maybe make new discoveries along the way) plus give me the opportunity to examine how I might meet their needs and make an artwork uniquely its own in its approach to subject and idea. The two images here are works I did in June for a local woman who gave one to her husband on their wedding day featuring a favorite place in Portland (near Portland Lobster Co.) and the other painting for a friend as a wedding present and whom was married in this location, the Brunswick Inn. Although the works were created in a short amount of time, their quality and charm came through. Enjoy!

Finding Balance

One of the benefits of being an artist as an occupation, is that the physical and intellectual work can be a source of healing, contemplation and meditation (among many other "things"). This Winter and early Spring, I found that doing this "work" just wanted enough to kickstart me to a healthy balance. Although I am not sure what the path was from that place to now, but I do know I am back in a good place of productivity and good balanced health. Back on track, I created the following 6 + pieces. They are partially inspired by vintage and quite feminine fabrics from my collections but also some imagery gently borrowed from a copy of "Little Women". Drawing from the simpleness of their familial conflicts, with the desired carefree-ness wanted of summer and vacation, plus some thoughts by Artist Lois Dodd perculating in my mind, and even an unresolved summer poem I am yet to share, grew these quite textural encaustic numbers. You can find these at the Three Graces Gallery in Portsmouth, NY early next week. Enjoy!

Momentum

As I have become more mature in my use of encaustics, it is fought for time in my studio. Oil painting has always been "home" in my work but with more understanding of encaustics as a painting medium (center stage not the supporting actor)the two mediums have often divided my time without resolve. One can not do both exactly at the same time, unlike other mediums, because there are considerations of fire danger, waiting time, and working modes. Although I did create a full series of works "Unusual Conversations With the Landscapes" of acrylic paintings on paper plus encaustic works based on the abundance of water over varied landscapes, I did not feel an organic push in the studio in the winter months. However, momentum is kicking in. I am staying with my landscape works based on my trip to England last spring plus I plan to revisit my ongoing obsession with Blueberry barrens. I have attached a variety of pictures for you to see including: a painting in its first stages (wait and see what happens in later posts), a series of encaustic works I am completing for Three Graces Gallery based on a poem I wrote about summer, plus two finished works from my England series.

Artistic Meanderings

The following is short part of a poem written by Mother, Janice Scott, When I review later how I looked and sounded, what I said and did, and how I thought and felt, some parts may turn out to be unfitting. I can discard that which is unfitting, and keep that which proved fitting, and invent something new for that which I discarded. This poem titled "My Declaration of Self-Esteem" was recently found in an old box of nostalgia from my childhood, and for many reasons I keep reading it. The fascination a daughter has for learning about her mother from her voice and through the daughter's eyes has been a part of it, but also its language as use for the process of painting. Perhaps my mother was writing it as if she was working on a painting herself, or perhaps that painting IS her, or you, or me. Maybe we are all moving all of the parts of our own character around to make things fit.

A few weeks ago on a Thursday afternoon, I had my opening reception for "Reveal / Conceal: Unusual Conversations with the Landscape" at the Blue Gallery at Bowdoin College. My almost 70-year-old Dad was finishing up his harpsichord lesson in the building next door and joined me for a large part of the reception, which I was grateful for since I was sort of misplaced among the campus. I was pleased that some new friends joined me to ask about the paintings. I was especially pleased to join an old friend of mine to one of the Biology Buildings to view the Bird and Bug Collections. As you can imagine, this was an amazing gift to me, for I have been painting birds for a couple of years now - here I got to see them up close, and witness an amazing variety. I do plan a return trip to draw and paint from observation.

In the studio right now, I have started 8 paintings divided between encaustics and oil mediums, narrating my trip to England last Spring. Pictures to come.

Time Off

It seems that time off from the actual physicality of painting will result in stronger work. I hope so. I started painting today after a three week hiatus. Although I have been putting in a lot of time into thinking about what my next project is, whether it is a continuation or a break from the previous, I still haven't completely decided. Time will tell.

Aren't we all happy old man winter is starting to take a nap? I know I am. This winter brought some setbacks but I am looking forward. I am starting to fall in love with my new view at the studio and its generous light.

On Thursday, March 31st from the 3 - 5 PM I am having a casual reception with coffee and sweet refreshments for my new show Reveal / Conceal: Unusual Conversations with the Landscape. The show is held at the Smith Union on the Bowdoin Campus in the Blue Gallery. I hope you can join me for this event or come to see the show soon.

No Separations

It would be impossible to separate art from life, wouldn't it? Sometimes my inspiration comes in the smallest of packages, some little fingers proudly displaying the infamous clay snowman smoking a pipe. I think the pipe was added after remembering my response to my daughter's recent addition to the dress up stash. Why do children inherently make snowman when given a lump of clay? They really do. It was put to the test today at the local school I teach at part-time. I gave 115 kids clay today and probably when I was given the option to make ANYTHING, probably 10% made the snowman.

If you've spent any time with me, you'll know that I am a passionate person. One of my passions is having a good cup of coffee and the other is paint and everything about it. When one of my students commented that my art studio smelled like paint and coffee, I kept trying to create a equation for myself from that. Maybe you have an idea.

When my daughter was first born, I floated through those first few months feeling like my body was somehow disconnected from my mind, my daily activity. The tiredness of late nights, breast feeding, constant everything and then no constant "nothing". Quiet and stillness vanished and I kept trying to find ways to reconnect with my life, my new life. At that time I created a series of artworks I titled the "Landscape Diaries". The works juxtaposed my personal journal writings including letters to my mother who had recently passed, small chapters on beginning motherhood, and ramblings with landscape images of a familiar place, a "home" to me, the areas of Frankfort & Prospect, Maine. These images sought to create connections, much of the idea I am exploring in a different way in my studio today.

Last summer I was drawn to an image in a magazine of a river. The river was moving through the landscape with great gentle force but at the same time with a willingness to go "off route". Maybe I was holding a paper mirror to myself of how I wanted to be. With the intense demands of the gallery over the summer, I yearned to meander. I even read the "Art of Nothing" and found that I needed to give myself a little permission to explore in my artistic pursuits in some new ways. I started working large on paper, and started to play with images that spoke to me metaphorically about the lack of connection we can all feel at times. Using images that originally were intended to exploit either the abundance or lack thereof water in their usual "places", I have abandoned this content to use the photographs to rather speak about the lack of the human connection with the earth. Perhaps we are all floating above it, ignoring its natural curvature and building perfectly geometric homes on quiet desert... so there you are. The original images are not places I have been or known and now my eyes move to Australia where the abundance of waters have created strange paradigms for our connections with the earth. These works will be in a show in the Blue Gallery at Bowdoin College in March.

Doors Are Opening

One quiet winter morning last year, I went for a leisurely walk to drop some packages off at the post office. On my way back and en route to pick up a cup of coffee at Slates and my studio, I came upon this door. I have looked at this photograph a lot since, not knowing why I was connecting with it.

This door is now the entryway to my new studio and for our home for Cerulean. The door looks quite a bit different now. The paint chips have been sanded off and a red door has emerged from this blue layer.

We never know at the time when we are being pointed a certain direction but we just have to be open to it.