Art in Bloom 2011: part 2

Last week I gave you a peek into the Art in Bloom exhibit being displayed at the Lynnfield Library. Here are all of the submissions from the Lynnfield Art Guild paired with floral arrangements courtesy of The Village Garden Club of Lynnfield. The show was hosted by the Library for an entire week, and visitors enjoyed a burst of spring along with some beautiful works of art.

“Covered Bridge” by Carol MacKendrick
Arrangement by Laura Thomson

“Autumn Reflections” by Dr. Frank Columbo
Arrangement by Tracy Drislane

“Leaf in the Dew” by Sarah Inglese
Arrangement by Maura Quinn

“Just Peachy” by Catherine Green
Arrangement by Mary Schwartz & Micki Trigilio

“Yellow House & Barn” by Marilyn Dresch
Arrangement by Wendy Keefe & Katerina Georges

“Surf’s Up” by Pauline Bacon
Arrangement by Ann Encarnacao & Yvonne Blacker

“Into the Wave” by Andrea Dalton
Arrangement by Jean Dalton

“Pillings Pond” by Kendall Inglese
Arrangement by Bootie Stevens

“Autumn Sunset” by Dotty Whittier
Arrangement by Karen Hathaway & Jan Lisacki

“Gloucester Coast” by Lorraine O’Brien
Arrangement by Greg O’Brien of Gregory’s

“Peaceful Glade” by Rita Carrabba
Arrangement by Northeast Nursery

Thank you to our artists and floral arrangers for sharing their talents! If you would like to be on the list to submit artwork for next year’s show, contact the Lynnfield Art Guild.

Lynnfield Art in Bloom 2011

Arrangement donated by
Gregory’s of Wakefield

It is that time of year again! The annual Art in Bloom collaboration between the Village Garden Club of Lynnfield and the Lynnfield Art Guild is now on display at the Lynnfield Library.

Stop by and check out almost a dozen creative floral interpretations of fine art pieces (watercolors, oils, photography, etc.) now through Friday, April 15th during regular library hours.

“Surf’s Up” by Pauline Bacon
arrangements by Ann Encarnacao
and Yvonne Blacker

This year, my mom (who is also in the garden club) and I thought it would be fun to work together as a team. I may have mentioned to the group that she was a little bossy ; ) but truthfully, we both think a bit outside the box – which is why I admire her – so it was just a matter of combining our separate creative impulses to come up with an end result that looked like both of our styles. We had a fun day shopping the flower markets together and we are both pretty happy with how everything turned out.




What our individual design styles have in common is resourcefulness. Sand and shells from visits to the beach, inventory from design shows, twigs from past arrangements, and even fabric from an evening gown were all woven into our display.




We chose the painting of one of our favorite artists, Pauline Bacon, who we both have interpreted solo in previous shows. My mom and I both responded to the colors and movement in the painting above, plus my mother really loves the ocean so it was a perfect match. The artist, Pauline, spoke about her work at opening night. We were surprised to discover that she is not a big fan of the water. In fact, it scares her. Looking at her painting, one feels the strong surge of the surf and can easily imagine being engulfed in the foamy waves.

There were other mothers & daughters at our event ...

This time, the artist (Andrea Dalton) is the daughter, and the mom (Jean Dalton) is the flower arranger! Jean actually had these flowers dyed blue to match the vivid color in her daughters paintings (stop in to the library to view the other two paintings that are included in this series titled “Into the Wave”).


Photographers were also well represented in this years show ...



Above we see an image captured by Sarah Inglese titled “Leaf in the Dew.” Maura Quinn of the Village Garden Club chose a large scaled “Swiss cheese plant” adorned with droplets of yellow freesia (which were inserted into the holes of the leaf) to represent the dew on the fallen leaf. Palm fronds in the water represent the blades of grass in the photo.

Click here to learn more about Sarah Inglese

This final sneak peek shows the work of Village Garden Club President Bootie Stevens with another photograph, this time by Kendall Inglese (mom of photographer Sarah above!) This beautiful photo was taken sometime during the not-too-long-ago snow-filled winter, which looks picturesque now that the warm air of spring has returned.

I will show more pictures from this event after the week is over. If you live close by, pop in and enjoy a tour of our local version of “Art in Bloom!”

Last day of summer vacation ...

I based this painting “Boardwalk to the Shore” on
a photo I saw in a magazine early in the spring.


Can it really be the last day of August already? You know that feeling you get when you attend a really fun party where everyone is dressed their best, people are relaxed, the food is delicious, and the drinks are
thirst-quenchingly good ... then all of a sudden, mid-conversation practically, you start to notice the music has been shut off and people that you hadn’t even gotten a chance to say hello to are putting down their glasses and are embracing the host with a fond farewell??? Then you start to think, is it really over already? Next the lights come on, food is being Saran-wrapped, and you figure it must be time to go.

I really hate the end of a good party and that is how
the end of August feels to me. As I look around my summer garden, which I admit I did not tend to with half the enthusiasm as I had planned, I see that there are some dawdlers who have decided to stay on for awhile. I intend to enjoy their quiet company for at least a few more weeks, even though so many of their more colorful friends have come and gone. These are low-maintenance guests who do their own thing and still look impressive at a time when the party season that is summer is coming to a close.

A galvanized bucket (with drainage holes in the bottom) makes a great garden container and adds a
bit of rustic charm. I filled this one with chives,
flowering garlic and tri-colored sage.

This second container is filled with some delicate plants – a chrysanthemum from last fall, a young poppy, and a marigold that my son brought home as a seedling on the last day of school. He watered it in its little styrofoam cup for over a month and then it was ready to transplant outdoors. We put it in this mini-still life-garden that also shows off shells and driftwood from summer outings to the beach along with some hidden treasures. When it rains (which did not happen very often this summer) the vintage blue pitcher that we actually found buried in our yard collects water for future watering use.

These “hens and chicks” are successful
transplants from my Dad’s garden.

What started out as one large succulent,
has now grown some companions.

Succulents store water in their leaves which makes them the perfect plant in dry heat or if you are too busy enjoying summer to remember to water.

A tray of colorful succulents makes a design statement
indoors at FDO Group at the Boston Design Center.

If you prefer the ultimate in low-maintenance,
then these ceramic versions are for you.

Ben’s kindergarten science project turned marigold.

Think small. Planting tiny seeds
in the small space given you
can change the whole world or,
at the very least, your view of it.

- Linus Mundy


Even though the warmth of summer is coming to an end, there will be lots of projects to get started on and fun events to look forward to in the months to come.

Painting pink ...

Whenever I first sit down to paint, it takes
awhile to push away the thoughts. Then there
comes a turning point where I am just enjoying
the process of combining colors on canvas.
Pink has been speaking to me lately.

This was the still-life set up at the studio
today by instructor/friend Mary Taggart.
I even like how my palette turned out ...

Now that I am loosened up, I am going to
take out my biggest brushes and try to get some
painting projects done around my house ; )


P.S. My art teacher, Mary, recommended today that we all check out the blog of Carol Marine, an artist from Texas who works on a painting a day that she later posts on her blog and then lists on ebay. I just discovered she is actually visiting New England right now for an artists workshop that she just finished in Newburyport (too late to sign up for that one!) Check out her work and you will see how committing to an artful life on a daily basis has served her talent well. Some of her paintings even made it to the big screen (Letters to Juliet)! I think she is on to something, and I may give this painting on a daily basis a shot (if nothing else, it is very meditative).

Featured Artist: Rosetta Nasisi

“Women at Beach” by Rosetta Nasisi

As promised, I am showcasing some of the recent works of native Italian artist Rosetta Nasisi today. I met her on Monday at the Boston Design Center while checking out the Sooki trunk show held at Grange.

“Women Bathing” by Rosetta Nasisi

Rosetta is a fine artist and art educator.
She has provided art instruction to adults
and children, in the States and abroad.

“Woman” by Rosetta Nasisi

She has exhibited in numerous galleries
in her native Italy and on the East Coast
(New York, Massachusetts, and Maine).

“Flowers” by Rosetta Nasisi

Her works have found homes in private
collections in the United States, Italy, Japan,
South Africa, and New Zealand.

“Dog Napping” by Rosetta Nasisi

Nasisi has many professional artist affiliations,
and has won numerous awards for her art.

“Woman in Black” by Rosetta Nasisi

If you are interested in seeing more of her
work, or commissioning a piece for your
own private collection, please contact Rosetta
(and mention you saw her featured here!)


{ ROSETTA NASISI }

Fine Artist/Art Instruction
Email: rosanasisi@aol.com

Back to school ...

Art lessons as an adult:
Week One

I recently signed up for an adult art class at TaggArt Studio in Wakefield. Since I was an art major in high school and studied fine art all through college, I figured it would be a relaxing way to spend a couple of hours a week. A friend of mine from high school also signed up, so I imagined it would certainly be good for a few laughs! This still life set up on our first day back “in the studio” looked deceptively simple. After an informative discussion on what makes an ideal composition, we were ready to put pen to paper ...



We began by warming up with a few marker sketches. We were asked to look at the still life – but not the paper – while we drew the shapes in front of us. At one point our instructor asked us to draw with our non-dominant hand. Fun stuff! My brain was starting to hurt by this point! After struggling with “drawing on the right hand side of the brain” (it is an actual method!) we were then deemed ready to compose our first painting. The only catch was that we had to do it once again without looking at our paper, and without lifting our marker off the page. My friend and I both tried to follow the rules, but found ourselves cheating just a little bit so that we weren’t creating art that looked like our grade school renderings!

With our teacher’s approval, we were finally able to use some water colors to bring our images to life. I am pretty sure this would have come out slightly better if I wasn’t talking almost the entire time to my friend in class (just like we used to do in high school!) Later in the day when I showed this to my husband, he asked if one of the boys brought it home from school : (
I hung it on the refrigerator with magnets anyway : )
Personally, I love the colors and the shapes, plus I had a lot of fun (even though I left with some serious doubts about my artistic abilities ... )

Week Two:
Bright Floral Bouquet


Warm-up sketch

Quick sketches to decide upon final composition

A wet-on-wet technique (wash paper with water, add watercolor, let it do it’s thing without trying to fix it!)

This soft-focus photo actually looks surprisingly like the watercolor wash to me. At this point, I am beginning to think that it would be much easier if I just stuck with photography!

Weeks Three and Four:
Formal Still Life



Composition sketch



Acrylic paints that I last used in college (we didn’t have enough time to explore oils during this first session)

Some of my decades-old paint tubes had to be cracked open. Discovered that dried paint works, but not very well. Generous friend shared fresh paint with me.

Here is the section of the still life
that I decided to focus on.

We spent two sessions from beginning to end to create our “masterpieces.” Even though I wanted to finish mine off with pastels (much easier to work with) our instructor convinced me to push through my fears of finishing (always the hardest part for me to know when a painting is “done”). I am actually happy with the end result (not perfect, but at least recognizable!)



In case you are wondering how I have free time to take art classes, I have actually been helping my friend, instructor Mary Taggart, with her marketing materials and the website design for her studio, so I figured that sitting in on one of her classes would be valid “research.” I was able to learn firsthand about her warm and encouraging method of teaching, while reconnecting with my former fine art self.
It was time well spent!

www.TaggArtStudio.com

To view additional student artwork (including my friend Cara’s beautifully rendered pears) visit the student gallery at www.taggartstudio.com. To sign up for classes (there are sessions for adults and children, plus open studio hours) check the studio schedule (Spring session begins the week of March 8th).

I love this inspiration board at Mary’s studio. It says a lot
about what influences her artistic perspective.

A new favorite blogger of mine, Stacy Kunstel of Stacy Style, has been posting a series of inspiration boards that she has come across in her travels as a photo stylist for some of my favorite design magazines including New England Home, Traditional Home, Better Homes and Gardens, Country Living, etc.! Visit her new blog to get a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes of some great interior photography. What a fabulous way to make a living as an artist : )