The Last Page

Some two years ago now I complained to my son Coert that I couldn't find a mention of my work on internet. He suggested I start a web-log and make myself known. Coert got me started and I enjoyed regularly posting my activities for friends and family abroad, picking up a client along the way and, of course, "seeing my picture on the cover".
As time passes I look at all the posts and see I am having much fun doing pretty much the same.... but different. I feel, anyway, that it's not exciting enough to keep posting it here so I'm going to call this "The Last Page" for now.
For those who feel the urge.... you can keep up with me and my work via Facebook.

Welcome to My Internet Exhibit......

Welcome to the opening.
As this is a virtual exhibit I invite you to pour a glass of wine for yourself, sit back, and scroll through the paintings below.
Looking down through the next 5 posts on my blog you will encounter an oversight of some 30 paintings I made on Cape Cod.
The subjects range from inland landscape to dunes and surf all over the Cape but concentrated around Sesuit Harbor in East Dennis Ma.
Enjoy.

Cape Cod Lighthouses, Landscapes and a Portrait

During the seventies I painted pretty much every lighthouse on Cape Cod. We had a yellow 4 wheel drive jeep back then and were free to drive over the beach and through the dunes with a pass from the National Seashore. We would drive from Truro along the Atlantic coast all the way out to Lands End in Cape Cod bay.




We call this the "Secret Valley". It was just around the bluff from our beach and we did some of our best beachplum picking there. The first painting hangs in Coert's house and is scene from the valley looking back to an abandond beachhouse on the dune. The following two paintings are in the valley itself where the colors in the shrubs always blew me away.


This painting I found after having posted last week. It is another view of the meadow between Stone's mansion and Stephen Phillips Road. Look at the dune....
This is a portrait of my daughter, Cornalijn.

the Next Chapter on Cape Cod

During the Cape Cod years I was painting quite a lot.. so much and sometimes so fast I would just recycle canvases. This week we'll start with the Bagley house but then beach-side on the back-side.
The second painting is of the old Stone- house. A sprawling estate that used to be on the hill above Stephen Phillips Road, surrounded by meadows and hedgerows.
Just accross Bridge Street from S-P Road and down along Old Town Lane I painted this scene. Painted on a recycled canvas this is the only one that ever started chipping. In the background you might see two people walking along Sesuit Neck Road. It is from about there that I painted the Pear tree below. This tree still stands some 32 years later.
I got up really early one morning and went down to Sesuit Harbor to paint the colorful boats in the morning mist. This painting is in private collection.
These are the flats outside of Brewster, Ma. nearby the estuary of Quivet Creek. We call them "Crow's Pasture". This painting is in private collection as well.
This painting is of Quivet Cemetery in Brewster, painted from Sea Street the closed road as we call it. See the next painting.

I would like to express my appreciation to family members, old friends and valued customers that were so kind to send me photographs of paintings I knew were out there but in many cases had not seen for many years.

Chapter Two: the Marsh and Bog Scenes

This in a picture of me painting on Bridge Street in East Dennis somewhere between 1976 and 1980..... I ended up cutting this painting in half and selling the top half in one of those Cape Cod artist events along route 6a.

The painting below is pretty much the same but from closer to East Dennis. I painted this one from someone's backyard.This painting is the view upstream from the same spot on Bridge Street above.
This painting is now in a friend's private collection and they call it "Our Little Cottage". In the foreground is the flooded cranberry bog on Stephan Phillips Road in East Dennis. Coert mapped this one on Panoramio.
Here another of the same bog.... but earlier, signed 1974. Coert and Peter are walking back to the house after coming to visit me while painting. This one hangs in Coert's house and has been mapped as well.

Sharing the Statistics

I have been busy putting together a blog-exhibit these past weeks….

Whenever my web-log slows down you can count on me being up to something.

This exhibit will entail paintings made on Cape Cod in the 1970’s it has taken quite the effort to find them. Most I have spread around (stacked away) in my studio but some have been either sold or given away in the course of time. So I’m trying to remember what went where and to whom and contacting people for photographs.

In the mean time I thought it would be fun to share some “blog stats” with you.....

As of today we have had 3,162 “visits” to the Joy of Art, with 1,109 “absolute unique visitors”. The 3,162 visits show an average 1.78 “page views” per visit (total 5,621 “page views”) with an average of two minutes on-site.

The visitors to the Joy of Art are spread out over 60 countries around the world. In the top-ten, not surprisingly, we see the U.S. and the Netherlands, followed by Canada, Israel, U.K., Germany, Belgium, India, France and Turkey.

All in all quite some attention for a woman just doing her thing.

From Tradition to Prehistory

While in The Netherlands, just about a week ago now, we sometimes had a evening treat called “Advocaat”. Dutch tradition is to eat this alcoholic beverage with a spoon from a small glass. Today I made a batch….. Here’s the recipe:

• 12 eggs
• 400 gr sugar
• Two tablespoons of vanilla
• 1/2 quart of Brandewijn ( as this is hard to find here in the USA brandy or rum will be a good option, spiced rum even better.)

Break the eggs one by one into a bowl and beat them until smooth. Pour through a sieve and mix once more…. You want this really fine and creamy. Add the sugar while mixing the egg mass and then pour in the alcohol.

Warm the mixture in a double boiler (au bain marie) and keep stirring. Your “product” will start to thicken at about 140 degrees. When the foam is all gone the Advocaat is ready.
Allow it to cool, stirring occasionally.

Advocaat is traditionally served in little glasses, a little larger than a shot glass, topped with whipped cream and eaten with a little spoon (like one of those souvenir spoons).
That is the way it was done when I was growing up.
You might try using it as a pastry filling...
Whatever you do with it, it is delicious.

Paintings this week areTraci from the Nursery and John my neighbour in Native headdress, he collects these artefacts.

Last but not least a photo Coert sent me of a pot he made. He has been interested in prehistoric European “Linear Pottery” for so long he has started making replicas, firing them in an outdoor pit.

Re: Where Are My People of Chilmark?

Almost a year ago now I deliverd a commissioned copy of Thomas Hart Benton's "People of Chilmark" to a buyer in Los Angeles. This buyer ended up selling the painting because at its original size (65x77 inches or 166x197cm) it was larger than he had anticipated...

Since then I have been trying to find out where this painting was.... because I wanted to know.
I had heard that it was sold to a restaurant or club but nothing was for sure so I posted missing painting report with a reward on this blog and saturated CraigsList in L.A. with want ads.

Just a couple of weeks ago the original buyer (Jim) was at a flea market in Los Angeles and recognized person who bought the painting from him. Jim knew I was trying to locate "People of Chilmark".
Jim was bold enough to approach the man, Ronald, and told him the whole story of my search.
It turns out that Ronald is a art collector. After buying the painting from Jim he had the canvas stretched and framed.
Ronald and I had a wonderful telephone conversation. I am very delighted with this happy ending. Thanks to everyone helping with the search and being supportive!
The findersfee goes to Jim.

Keeping Busy

Besides being very busy in the flower and the vegetable garden. I have been painting.
Here a vase with sunflowers. At 24x36 inches this is a large painting.
The vase they are in is one of my WorcesterWare vases. I made a series of six of these vases in 1990. Most of them were later made into lamps. See the second photo for detail.....

.... Bringing it back to me

This year I discovered a new nursery hidden out on Route 56 in Rutland called Southern Exposure Nursery. Most of my garden annuals and vegetables came from there.this year.
Tracy , the woman who works there is so nice, and so beautiful. We asked her to pose for the portrait group.
They have a Southern Exposure website so you can have a look.

I made a painting of the place but I am not very happy with it. The painting is too wide and the righthandside is just too much.
I do love the middle though, with the little yellow shed under the shade of a big tree. On the left I tried to get the colors of the flowers as much as I could.

Anyway, I bet when I look at it in January I will like it.

Where are my People of Chilmark?

Last year I posted my project Thomas Hart Benton's People of Chilmark. I heard recently that the original buyer sold the painting because it was too large for his new house. As far as I could find out, to a restaurant in Los Angeles. I would love to know where it is..... I'll offer a $25 (twentyfive dollar) gift certificate to Amazon or whatever to the first person to contact me with this paintings whereabouts.

I Pose for the Painting Group

Last week, for some reason, there was no model available for our painting group in Princeton.
I volunteerd.... Below you can see the results:

Back to Work

The procedure was done, and I am fine. I will have to lose some weight and lower the cholesterol level. Before I continue posting on the Joy of Art, I want to thank everyone of you for being so supportive. I am overwhelmed by the flowers, cards, telephone messages, and visits. It takes something like this to realize how many friends one has.THANK YOU ALL.

Before my achy breaky heart took over the program my painting group at the Princeton Arts Society was preparing for an exhibit at the Jacob Edwards Library in Southbridge Ma. the exhibit, entitled "Getting a Likeness" will hang the whole month of April.

Discovery of Panoramio on the way to Paramaribo

While Coert was here he installed Google Earth for us.... The fun thing is that he, via his page on Panoramio.com, has a number of photographs posted on Google Earth. I follow suit. I created my own gallery on Panoramio. I haven't "mapped" all of my photos but I am interested to know what you think.... leave a comment here or there. Hopefully I'll be able to log in while in Suriname and keep up to date with photos. I'm not yet sure if I will be able to lug along my paint-box.

In the eyes of the beholder

As you all know I go to Princeton every Tuesday. I go to Princeton to paint a portrait together with the Princeton Portrait group. One of us has to bring a model. That is not easy. Usually you have two or three turns a year. We paint from 9 to12, after twenty minutes we take a break and after some breaks we have coffee and cookies. The person who brought the model also has to provide for the coffee-break snacks. Sometimes they are very fancy home made pastries fruit, cheese, etc. and sometimes they are just doughnut holes. I have gained 10 pounds during my six year membership. Some weeks ago I took pictures of many of the portraits and the artist who painted it. Also of the model. As you can see, we all have a different view of the model.... The works are the view (eye) of the beholder.
First, of course, is my own picture:
Next is Milton, scroll down for more.

Here are Dave and Elly.
























Sharon Bahosh and Merry's work... Sharon will be having an solo-exhibit at the Rockport Art Association this March. Be sure to have a look at her wonderful work!





























Last but not least the famous Sid Soloman. See the side-bar right for a link to his site.

Then and Now

In the winter the rockpiles are more visable than in the summer. I enjoy the shadows and shapes the snow makes, they are ever changing. The window in the middle is where the computer is and so I am looking at the rocks every morning checking my e-mail. Not quite visable, on the right is a tall collection of rocks. My son Coert brought those from the Swift River and stacked them on one of his trips here. River rocks are much smoother than our "country rocks". I love stacking rocks and there are many of these "cairns"all around the neighborhood. I'll try and find the egg tempera paintings I made of them.