Painting With Nancy, Kate and Kitty

For a couple of years now, I've been fortunate to paint with two artist friend's Kate Buhner and Nancy Keanan-Barron on a monthly basis. We often gather at Nancy's house in S. Gardiner, and we sometimes take our artmaking on the road, where we sketch and quickly work with pencils and other dry media. When the weather is warm or on a vacation day our children will play together, so there are often interruptions of performances or laughter. This particular day we  had additional company from Nancy's new kitten. 

 

 

 

                                        Kate contemplating her cupcakes

My artistic and personal relationship with these two women have had quite a profound impact on my artmaking.  Both have taught me such wonderful things, and not always things one can put words to.  

 

Our days together are often productive, although one of us can often be "off". And although that may happen sometimes, but you can always feel that a day working and talking together was worthwhile. The energy of that community can remain, the comments, ideas, the techniques shared can be happy and helpful memories back in your own studio.

 

 

On this particular day, we paid tribute to one of our favorite artists Wayne Thiebaud.  I brought over some cake forms and we collaborated on out still-life set up and cake decorating. Quite fun!      

 

 

 

Nancy's Set Up with Work in Process

Kate and Nancy getting started

View of the Still - life from Above with my drawing on top of an old painting

There's an old painting of mine that I had been toying with painting over.  Yes, I do paint over old paintings.  But not without some contemplation. This one I brought home and hung it in my bedroom.  It was pretty clear to me with in a few days that this one was on its way out.  You can see here the old one received a somewhat orange transparent-glaze and then I drew on top of it with a white colored pencil. Still unfinished in the studio today but I will work on soon.

Kitty Visits

lemon cake slices

with sprinkles

with two raspberries atop

As for using photographs.....

 

The use of photography by painters as tools and sources for their artistic work and for documenting their creative lives has existed since the post-Impressionists in the later 1800s.  Its hard to believe that my living and working as a painter 150 years later, my practices in the early 21^st century have not strayed from these original uses of the camera. And much like the artists who first used their camera to capture many things including family life, models, landscape, they would also not have considered themselves photographers. I would also never consider myself a formal photographer, although one rarely finds me without somesort of camera nearby. I love that I have the opportunity to “click” away on something I find fascinating visually that would have otherwise been impossible to pull from my memory or to stand and sketch or paint. Taking photographs and documenting this way is an integral part of me living a creative life.

En route to Virginia, I had heard this unique story on NPR regarding the urban legend of shoes being strung from inner city power lines.  I had always thought this had an association with gang affiliations and crime. However, NPR demystified this narrative by sharing stories of children being released for summer vacation and throwing their sneakers up in celebration. The story stayed with me and when we arrived in the village of Carytown (a playful and boutique / café laden walking part of the city) in Richmond, I was drawn to this spot where a little turquoise house had been wedged between a couple of commercial buildings. The directions of the lines of the trees, the verticals of the buildings, the pulsing of the bricks and then the strong horizontals of the power lines... I fell in love with this composition.  Well, I don’t habitually use my photographs as a direct source. I can and I do sometimes, but for teaching sake I did for this one. 

....Lets start in the beginning.  Here is the original photograph. It doesn’t matter what my support is for my work or the medium but I always do a little underpainting first. This one started with a soft pink color. It is a mix of several layers of gesso that has been tinted and painted on panel. Before any drawing took place,  I played with the shape of the composition and its relationship to the surface I was going to use. Then with willow charcoal I lightly located on my photograph and panel the centers for horizontal and vertical edge, and drew a few graphed lined on each to make sure the photograph and painting would be aligned. I use willow charcoal (this is a very soft drawing stick which come in a variety of thickness - I choose the skinny). I love it for its "forgive-ability". You can wipe it away. Let it slide into the paint without being noticed. And it just feels good between your fingers. In this step I was most concerned with placement, compositional design, and where edges between visual elements met i.e. where exactly do the power lines cross the house etc.  You can see the size of my panel is about 14 X 20 and I am using a table easel. For various reasons I can go into later, this is the max size I would use on a table easel too.

STAGE 1

STAGE 2

STAGE 3

For the next stage, I mixed up some mid value ranges of the colors I planned to "block" in the painting with. I then applied the paint mostly with a straight-edge palette knife and used a smaller flat brush for smaller areas. This process was very quick and wanted to also use the knife to scratch back into the surface while the paint was still wet or drying to allow for some of the pink underpainting to come through. The paint at this stage was applied rather thinly..

In STAGE 3 I began to observe the sense of light in the painting more and began to work both the values and the cool / warm variations of the forms to reflect that light source. I also started developing some of the details including the shoes, the contours of the windows. These parts were painted mostly brush but I also used rags, a spray bottle to keep or get things damp, my finger, and the palette knife to work the surface.

STAGE 4

You can see the tree starting to extend up as well as more description added to the building in the distance. My own studio windows are extremely light filled...can you tell? No complaints here but sorry about the triangular light falling on these ones.

The Painting Set-Up

I've never believed that artist's needed expensive set ups or supplies to make good work. But I do believe in good paint. My favorite acrylic brands are Golden's Fluid Line and Amsterdam. My paint palette's are often tupperware containers, paper plates and I ziplock ALL of them in the zipper locked bags. Its amazing but those bags can keep my acrylics wet for weeks! I don't have the advantage of spreading out my chosen colors like I do in other mediums but I can pour out a generous amount and not feel like I have to use it right away!  Acrylics can dry in minutes. One of its bittersweet qualities.  I also use mason jars for water because they clean well, rarely tip over, white cotton rags I buy from Goodwill, and a water spritzer from home depot. My acrylic tubes are stored in an old sewing machine table's drawers. My palette knives are: ones with straight flat sides but one comes to a point the other to a squared edge.

STAGE 5 The details

In this stage I am still refining colors and redefining edges. Here I am using a small long round to place some of the tree branches.  These trees are variations of mauve and ultramarine.....and with touches of warm pink. I am so still pushing and pulling the colors all across the board - making the brick building bounce a little and adding information about the structure of the turquoise house - bricks, wiring.  This step takes the longest... and as I am doing this I am asking myself - is this painting doing what I originally wanted? and if not, what is it missing? 

THE FINAL STAGE

Here its. Was this ...interesting? helpful? what?

Play With Clay Day

Surprises. Yep. These kids came right out of my hands today. Send me off with some new artist friends, a beautiful studio on the ocean, an entire day and these were some of my creations.  Enjoy.

Just Painting

It has always been true for me that there is a spiritual side to the making of my paintings. Not easy to describe with words but I know that the process within I pursue my ideas and the peacefulness with which I pursue them, are very much linked to meditation. After painting for the entire morning (and having completed two new paintings), my step is lighter and happier, and I am ready and willing for whatever the afternoon brings me.

Currently, I have been exploring a pond near to my new studio in Manchester for the focus of the subject of my work. I like the idea of pilgramming out to a specific space with the intention to commune with it. I want to deeply engage with the forms, colors, and the subtle and dramatic changes occurring within them. 

For a number of years, my artistic work responded directly to my creative writing. That created a nice bridge between my thoughts and my art practice, but what was I to do when I lost my words?  Thats where I've been. Without my own words. For whatever reason, they have not been able to surface so I have been reconnecting with poets work I admire or find inspires that connection with the visual I am searching for.  I think Mary Oliver's connection to nature is remarkable. She uses it as a metaphor for speaking to how you ought to live your life - and I really understand how she asks the reader to slow down and look at the world. I want viewers to engage with my paintings in the same way, to draw relationships with our natural world, and feel their poetry.

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!