58th annual academic Artists Association National Exhibition

Sunday april 13 was the grand opening of the 58 th annual National exhibition of the Academic Artists Association. And it was GRAND. Jean Murphy and I went to the opening at The American International College in Springfield Massachusetts.

This is a juried show, and not that easy to get in. But Jean had a nice drawing voted in named "Jim".
Lynn Wrona had entered a lovely oil painting named "the Road Home" and won the Samuel E. Armour Memorial award for it.
Another Worcester artist I have known for a long time won a Honorable Mention, his name is Robert Duffy. His entry was an oil painting entitled "Maine coast".

Before the show opened a painting demonstration was given by yet another famous Worcesterite, Bob Aiello. He painted a lovely winter scene while everyone was asking him questions and giving advice, not an easy task.
My favorite in the show was a large painting named "Generations" by Sandra Wakeen of Somers CT. Here are some visuals:

Robert Duffy, "Otter Cove":
Bob Aiello, "Glory":
Sandra Wakeen, "Generations":

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:

Bobcat on the island

During the winter some trees had to be cut on the big island at Cooks Pond. To move the wood and concentrate slash the men decided to drive a bobcat to the island over the ice to do the work.

When the work was done and they had to return the machine it gained so much momentum going down the steep banking that went through the ice.
It took a lot of manpower, cables and winches and they succeeded to get it back on the island.
Now the motor was not working anymore.

As the bobcat was borrowed from a brother in law there was a lot of pressure and anxiety. In the meantime the ice melted, spring sprung, and the bobcat was on the island. What to do? Leave it till next winter? Build a cabin around it? Have it picked up by helicopter?

Yesterday it was decided to float it and have it pulled by a cable to shore.

All the fuel and hydraulics were emptied and sealed. Big air pillows were attached as pontoons and they pushed it down the steep banking.
We were all yelling :'pull, PULL!!!!!!!' and very, very, slowly it got pulled ashore.
Here are some photo's (sorry it was not the animal "bobcat" as you thought:)

The preparation:
The operation:
The sweet smell of success!

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.

My Achy Breaky Heart

During the last week I have been to the cardiology department at the Fallon Clinic in Worcester many times.
Since (what I thought was) my bad cold in December I become very tired very fast... often with a pain in the middle of my chest. At Fallon they did a stress-test and some kind of chemical test because (they say) I have a " left branch bundle blockage" or LBBB. From the stress test they learned that there is a scar on my heart from a recent heart attack. My cardiologist at Fallon, Dr. Luigi Pacifico, said that there is no way I can travel in this condition. So the big Paramaribo expedition is out.
April 7th he is going to do more tests.
You can all understand that I am very very disappointed to have to cancel my trip to Paramaribo to visit my cousin. I have not seen her in over 50 years. She is celebrating her 70 th birthday this month and I wanted to be there.
I was looking forward to go to an tropical country as there is still ice on the duck pond.
I guess the song of the week is "My Achy Breaky Heart".

Watercolor Travel-kit

About a year ago my friend Dave gave a little lecture on how he "travel logs" when he travels. He showed his watercolor equipment; it all fit in a little pouch on his belt. I was in awe how compact it was. For this expedition I do not want to take along much luggage. Oil paint, canvases or paper and certainly and easel would be too much of a burden.
Watercolor is a totally different way of painting. I have not done it for many many years. It's so much different from oils because one needs to know how to draw. No moving nice buttery oil paint around. I am going to try it!!!!! My nifty travel-kit turned out to be quite an investment. First a little Winsor Newton set, extra brushes and of course extra paint because the colors that come with the set are "odd". My investment included some aquarelle pencils and watercolor paper, not to forget some sheets of kitchentowels. See the pictures of my new equipment.
I am open for suggestions, help, etc. Everything (photo above) is in the box behind the little artist painting the tulip.... my first watercolor since I can remember.
That statue, by the way, was carved by my friend Dick Whitney. (†2006). He made these carvings for many of his friends. We all cherish them.
The equipment is in a zippered makeup box 5x6x2 inches (below). I did cut the pencils in half, and shortened the brushes a little . The paper pad is a larger but all of this will easily fit in my carry-on bag.

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.

Princeton portrait group having an exhibit

Our Portrait group exhibit in Southbridge Jacob Edwards library will open April 3. The portraits will hang there for the whole month. We are very exited about this because it is not often that we are invited to show our portraits, painted in Princeton. I entered Coert's last portrait, worked a bit more on it, and feel it is starting to look like him.I will not be going to the opening on April 3 , Because I will be traveling to a tropical country !!!! Suriname!!!!. Nobody seems to know where it is, that is why I am adding a map. Once there, I will be visiting my cousin Riet. We used to be pals, our mothers were sisters. We have not seen each other since I was twelve, and she was sixteen. It was a little over a year ago that we found each other back, via the internet. SOOO exiting!!!! To get to Suriname from here I have to change planes in New York, than in Port of Spain Trinidad, than to Paramaribo. I will arrive the same day at 11.45 pm. Riet promised to pick me up. Hope we recognize each other. I will not be "Blogging " till I come back, by April 16th . maybe some photo's.

Grotere kaart weergeven

Coert 's visit

During Coert's visit he posed for the Portrait group in Princeton, and here are the paintings made that day.

The Lost Tape

My son Coert was visiting these past days. He spent some time sorting out our VHS tapes and converting them to digital. Previewing most of the tapes Coert came across an interview I did for a (long lost) local television station. In this interview I explain the motivation behind my series of four WorcesterWare urns.... The phases in a woman's life. I have posted WorcesterWare before, but because of the many reactions I thought you might like to see this clip. Beware, the VHS was aged and damaged so the quality is poor. I, however, still look pretty good. Make sure to click on the lower (and smaller) "play" icon... otherwise you'll see all kinds of other stuff over at YouTube.