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.

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.

Tuesday's Portrait

Last tuesday we had a wonderful model in Princeton, her name is Lauren. She works in the same WPI medical office as Regina and Donna, (see november). Next time we have a model I will make pictures of the other paintings as well and not only my own. She liked Jean Murphy's painting best and bought it.

Getting Winter to Flower in New England

Now that the holidays are over winter has started to get serious. This is the time of year that I start longing for flowers..... however much I enjoy the light, color and shades of winter.
I started my Amaryllis late so that is not yet blooming. The Paperwhites are budding; but the most important, the Hyacinth is blooming.
I miss the smells from outside in the winter. The earth, the sheep, fresh mown grass and the flowers blooming.
It is around this time of the year, that I dig up my paintings of flowers and hang them up all around me. The first one, of the Nasturtiums, was painted last autumn.
The Sunflowers are from last summer.
The Gladioli are from my garden some years ago. The vase they are in is my own Worcesterware.

Painting together with PAS

Still haven't got the date on my camera under control.... But anyway. This week was the first time that the painting group came together since the holidays, we had a lot to tell eachother.
Sid Solomon (seated above center with "white"coat) is having an exhibit of is locally painted landscapes, portraits and still-lifes at the Worcester Jewish Community Center. The opening will be Sunday, January 13, from 2-4pm.
We painted Lynn Wrona's granddaughter, Sarah, today. She was a great model. I also signed Coert up to pose for us on February 26th. I'm counting on him to plan his trip home around posing and cutting firewood..

Tuesday's in Princeton

As you know I go to Princeton every Tuesday to paint with a group of artists. We take turns bringing a model every week and that is not as easy as it sounds. We paint during working hours and the model has to be able to climb stairs as our "studio" is on the second floor of the old Princeton Center Building. I was thinking to post the painting I make on Tuesday from now on. Here are two to start with, these ladies work at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Donna Damien is a medical office administrator.

And Regina Roberto is a nurse practitioner.

Portrait of the Grandson

As I mentioned a few "posts" ago, there is just sooo much to paint. The first post for today is of my grandson Christiaan. Coert sent me his school photo along with that of his sister Dana some weeks ago. I thought the pictures were so nice I just had to portrait them. The background in Christiaan's painting is an indoor climbing wall. He loves climbing and Coert takes him every Sunday to an indoor wall close to where they live. Once a month they go to the highest indoor wall in Holland, 21 meters in Amsterdam.

Two Portraits and a Party:

Here a picture of Diana Day next to the painting she is giving to her husband Ken for their anniversary. She posed for the painting in Princeton at the paint-group. Diana bought the vintage dress especially for the sitting. Since she now has the dress we, her friends in the neighborhood, decided we are all going to get a vintage dress and have a vintage Chrismas party.
The second painting is Sam Lipson, a long time friend. We both took our lifeguard course together way back in 1975. Sam is going to give his painting as a Christmas gift.
We had a nice cocktail party yesterday.... It turned into more of a suprise dinner party. I had baked a leg of lamb, mashed potatoes, gravy and peas. Linda Rochford made two pies, apple and cherry. It was a surprise for everyone that came. There were ten of us. Kind of a good thing that some of the regulars didn't show because we barely fit around the tables (I had a little table pushed up against the big dining room table). We all had a good time. While the women washed the dishes they all tried my quince liqueur. It should be ripe by Thanksgiving but it's pretty much gone now.

My favorite tree..... the Sweet Chestnut

Here is one of my favorite paintings, "the Chestnuts". I have turned down a couple of offers to sell it wanting to save it for the "small painting" exhibit coming up..... Maybe I'll just keep it. Chestnut trees, as you might know, used to be abundant in New England. Around the turn of the century there was a "blight" and all the majestic tall trees died. My barn was built out of chestnut timbers and boards because of that. When I was a girl in the Netherlands my brothers and I would go chestnut picking all through the neigborhood. My brother climbed into the trees to beat the nuts out of them so I could harvest from the ground with my other brother. Now my brothers get together every year and have a chestnut feast together. Potroast, chestnuts, pears, brusselssprouts etc. Once, about 10 years ago I was in the Netherlands around that time and I joined for the festive meal.
My son Coert has named a part of the forest he manages "Elisabeth's wood" because there are so many sweet chestnuts growing there.
Grotere kaart weergevenThats where he harvests with his family. They roast them in their fireplace. Every year at the end of October I think of the chestnuts, and you can understand my surprise when driving in Princeton one day I saw these chestnut trees, small, about the size of apple trees. They tured out to be Chineese chestnuts. They are in the yard of the Mirick family, on Mirick road. John Mirick is very active in the organization to grow blightfree chestnuts for New England. The American Chestnut Foundation.
Have a look and hopefully you too will appreciate the beauty of these majestic delicious fruit-bearing trees.

Egg tempera, getting back to business

Here are some some small paintings (approx. 5x9 inch) I did with egg tempera... a really different way to paint. Usually I work in oil paint. Egg tempera is mixing powder pigments with eggyolk. I particulary like it because we have chickens in the backyard, so fresh eggs are close at hand. I bought my pigments at the "Paintmill" "de Kat" on the Zaanse Schans they have been grinding pigments there since around 1782. At de Kat the pigments are ground from natural minerals. Pigements are easily obtainable in U.S. as well. Painting with egg tempera is tedious, not big brush work. If anyone is more interested, please get in touch with me and I will get them started on the nitty gritty. You can als take a look at what Wikipedia has to say on the subject with a click here.
Anyway, below are a birch-wood, a pair of Shagbark Hickorys and a Maple leaf. Up top, how could you paint anything in egg tempera without considering a basket of eggs?

the Last Hoorah of the Season

The sheep are running loose, it is the end of the season and they cannot do much harm to my garden anymore. My garden was breathtaking this year.
The asters and dahlia's are still blooming and in the morning the blue morninng glories. To see them in the morning sun! In the foto with the geese you can see some and also the tall yellow flowers. The last hoorah of the blooming season.
Click on the photo for an enlargement.

After thought...

Both of the painings I had submitted for the Princeton Art Society's Farm/Art Day sold at auction for the asking price..... They were both bought by the owner of the farm.

After Glow: Moving on....

I mentioned yesterday to my son Coert how this project has taken more out of me than I had expected. The build-up went fine but the organization of the exhibit and especially the opening, that wonderful opening, took it's toll. Added to all this excitement was the (short) visit of Peter's brother Anne and his wife Feli from Brussels. I needed a few days just to recuperate!
My friend Paul Gunnerson sent some photos he had taken of the exhibit. Lets use them to close this project down. It has been a wonderful experience for me and up to now I haven't heard of anyone who did not want their portrait.... As a matter of fact most of them have been framed by Cliff before leaving the store.

After Glow: the embers

Mixed feelings today. On the one hand still elated that my work was so well recieved and the opening was a success. On the other a touch of the "empty nest" because I had gotten used to looking at thirty-some portraits strewn about my studio these past months. The question arises: what's the next project? I'll need a couple of days to think about that.
Last night I had a nice long talk on the phone with my favorite daughter in law, Dorri. We talked about pretty much everything..... coming of couse to the grandchildren Dana and Christiaan. Dorri told me that their school had posted photos of the children. Look here for Dana, hit your back button and click here for Christiaan.

Farm/Art Day unvisited and the People of Tatnuck

I decided not go to farm/art day today, because it rained all morning. In the afternoon I did not want to go anymore. My friend Jean did'nt go either, that made me feel a little better. Today there was a big article in the paper about it and that made me feel a little bad again but I'm over it. I did bring the two paintings, nicely framed, so what more do they want. Today is the big day. My exhibit, the People of Tatnuck (renamed by others "Characters of Tatnuck") will be opening this evening . Tomorrow or Wednesday I'll post pics, links and the whole article. Make sure to check back often, maybe even bookmark! You can look at previous posts by clicking on the titles in the frame on the right.

the Sales Pitch

It has often been suggested that I should do more to promote the sale of my work. The truth of the matter is that most of what I want to sell has been sold, although there are still a number of unique urns in my barn and paintings in my studio. My primary motivation, as stated in my profile, is "art for the art of it". But hey, you want me to paint something for you? Let me know. I work on commission and a 3 x 5 inch, or 9 x 15 cm photo is all I need if the subject for whatever reason can't sit in my studio. An old photo, a new one or one of your house, whatever. If you see something you like on these pages, again, let me know we can talk.

By the Way

This is a photo of my granddaughter, Dana Elisabeth, carrying my paintbox through the landscape which I had just painted. The "Ermelo Heath", closeby to where my son Coert and family live in the Netherlands. Although it's already two years old it is one of my favorites.... click in the image for the big picture.