Keep Moving - or 31 paintings in 31 days

The last two months have gone by in high gear.  I found myself addicted to the movement. When Gail Sibley tossed out a challenge to paint 31 paintings in 31 days I thought, Why not? Best to stay engaged and moving. In fact, that is my cure for just about everything right now, "Keep Moving."

The challenge began October, hence the name 31 in 31 and it is now day four. The challenge is to do a piece - not big or tiny but what ever is working for the time frame available for that day.

"Escape" in the making

The Saturday, October 1 work came from the quick draw for the Seneca Lake Plein Air Festival on the last day of painting in the 5 day event. In two hours, "Escape" came together and was framed for the jurying at 12:30 pm the same day. Whew!

The Great Willow, Seneca Lake

Next day, still in Geneva, the set up was on the lake- The Great Willow. The sun had come out and had to be enjoyed after the mostly iffy and rainy weather for the previous 3 days. This one is not finished as there are wavelets in sunlight and other issues that should be worked out. Stay tuned.

Seneca Lake Park

Rainy Day Apple

October 3rd dawned another rainy day but at home in the studio, I was able to set up a quick study of the apple tree outside the window. Learned a couple of things about damp weather and my pastel ground and decided Great American Pastels just are not for me.


Today Day Four has been easy. It is rolling into peak color in the Adirondacks and there cannot be an easier time to find a glorious color composition. Saranac Lake along the river. was the go-to for today Sun ducked out for most of the time but the leaves radiated regardless.

Color on the Saranac River

So there ya have it. An effort to post every day for the month will be made, with successes and failures.

You can follow along. Sign up for updates and the blog will land in your mailbox.

Where in the World is Face to Face?

There. 

All 185 portraits have been installed in Saranac Lake. This project humbles me every time. When the exhibit was first installed at the Saranac Lake Free Library last November, 2015, there were five people who helped me get all the portraits up on the wall – Kathy Merritt, Cat Micheels, Barry Lobdell, Peter Shrope and Chris Leifheit. It was up in a day and a half. I couldn't thank them enough. In fact I think I still owe them all a six pak each just for starters. This time around it was a solo job taking 5 days to install.

Whew!

It is all up!

Pendragon Theatre is hosting a Face to Face reception August 11, 5-7 pm. Stop by and visit all those friends and stay for Pendragon Theatre's production of Baskerville a Sherlock Holmes Mystery.

And attend Saranac Lake Third Thursday ArtWalk and see everyone. Yes I will be at Blue Moon Cafe August 18 from 5-7:30 for the ArtWalk. If you participated and have not received your portrait print I will have them that night.

Locations are:
Pendragon Theatre, 15 Brandy Brook Ave. 891-1984
Blue Moon Cafe, 46 Main Street 891-1310
Prime Lending, call Franny, Depot Street 891-5055
Historic Saranac Lake, Church Street 891-4606

Call for Hours!

"Promise" - A record in time.

"Promise" pastel 20x24

The day was warm and muggy. Early morning the clouds were thick and low. It was the big tree on the fence line that had captured my attention. The field had recently been hayed and wild flowers were returning. As the painting evolved so did the weather. The light became more yellow as the clouds began to rise. Just as I was getting to done for the morning St. Regis mountain appeared in the distance. It had to be in there.

"Promise" is one of my favorite works. It is what plein air is about, capturing a point in time, a record of nature. The tree has since succumbed to the green ash borer. Inside of 2 years it has turned into a pen and ink drawing etched against the sky. There are some things one cannot do anything about.

"Promise" is in exhibit "Under Adirondack Influence" thanks to Sacandaga Valley Arts Network at the Northville Public Library now through the end of August. It's a good day trip or even an overnight. Check out Northville on the lake and maybe camp along Indian Lake.

Do call for library hours and when you get there ask for the lights and air to be turned on. Enjoy!

Northville Public Library                    
341 South Third Street
Northville, NY 12134
518-863-6922            
http://www.svanarts.org/arts.htm22

'Tis the Season... for Day Lilies

Summer Trumpets pastel 28x38

"Summer Trumpets" was great fun to paint. How many times can I get into the yellow spectrum in the pastel box and get away with it? The lilies were willing posers - capturing sunshine and breezes, bowing in the summer heat. What a great way to warm up a space.

"Summer Trumpets" is in the exhibition "Under Adirondack Influence" with over two dozen pastel paintings of the Adirondacks and beyond at the Northville Public Library, just south of Wells in the Adirondacks. A reception is being held July 19 from 6-8 and everyone is welcomed.  Call for library hours. 518-863-6922

Yes that is tomorrow. Stop deadheading your lilies and come see these. They never need deadheading!

"Under Adirondack Influence"

Been slowly gather a collection of work to exhibit for the Sacandaga Valley Arts Network in the Northville Library.  "Under Adirondack Influence" will contain a majority of works that have been made "en Plein Air" in the Adirondacks and work that was made outside of the Blue Line but still reflects where Adirondack understanding of light and dark, and subject matter - which influences the images. Full disclosure, there is work made in near the St. Lawrence River, in the Finger Lakes, Cape Cod, the garden, the studio.

Where actual work is first made or conceived is not relevant to the work. What is, is where I live, in the Adirondacks, that has influenced how I see my subject matter. Light is the biggest consideration in making a composition. Dark compliments light, bringing definition and life to compositions. Light evokes air, wind and temperature. It is not a small thing there is only one winter scene in this exhibit. Winter is a dark time in the Adirondacks. Light is a different color in winter. Temperature certainly has plenty to do with the lack of winter scenes as working in pastel is a frozen knuckle/fingertip event which is simply not working for these particular fingers any more.

"Overrun" 16x20 pastel on the dark side of the barn

 Visualizing the works to be exhibited together is fearful and exciting at the same time. Most of an artists life is spent in close contact with one piece at a time. Working to assemble pieces to be next to each other in a group creates a different view of the work vs. how an artist sees work in the privacy of the studio. The goal is to create an interaction between pieces that translates to the viewer.

The viewer of "Under Adirondack Influence" can become a participant in the process making of an Adirondack grouping of works. The opportunity to look into the woods, across a field and almost smell the flowers in the garden will entertain the viewer with each story a piece offers. 

 "Under Adirondack Influence" opens July 1 exhibiting through August 29, 2016. A reception will be held Tuesday, July 19 from 6-8. I am looking forward to meeting everyone.

"A Day Better Than This?" 12x22 pastel shadows on near mountains

"Fresh Paint" 11x14 pastel feeling the heat and wind

Hours at the library are:
Monday, Saturday 9 - Noon
Tuesday 9 am - 8 pm
Wednesday, Thursday 9 am - 4 pm
Friday 9 am - 4 pm



Northville Public Library
341 South Third Street
Northville, NY 12134
518-863-6922
Sacandaga Valley Arts Network www.svan.org

There is a list for that.

Moka is ready to go.

Gardening list. Shorter - since it rained an inch and a half. Check

Dog to the vet appointment. Check

Pack art for trip to Glens Falls for Adirondack National Pastel Exhibit. Check

Pack for Sacandaga Valley Arts Network exhibit. Huh?

There is a list for that. Just over 30 pastel paintings will face bubble wrap and snug surroundings next week for a trip to Northville Public Library opening July 1 - August 28. Listed, priced, recorded - but now need the jpg to follow so that more PR can be sent to various outlets like Dale at NCPR and the Facebook page. The postcard will be following too, to announce the reception on July 19, 6-8 for the exhibit "Under Adirondack Influence".  Everyone is invited!

Somewhere near Canandaigua

All this on the heels of a week in the Finger Lakes painting in the Canandaigua area. Nope those paintings are not in "Under Adirondack Influence" Sign up for The Thumbprints Newsletter to see those. 

Or stop at the studio. Hours are up at DianeLeifheit.com

Then there is the new frame list, the grocery list, the "Where in the world is Face to Face?" list, the "Convergence of Pastel" list, the pay-the-bills list (uck). 

Where is that intern???

Oh never mind.

Do you have a gardening brain?

Here it is the middle of May and Sunday it snowed on my tulips and daffodils. What does that do to my gardening philosophy? What is the philosophy anyway?

"Gardening brain" - the ability to act on the details that need to be looked after, so the big picture can emerge. 

Planting a seed or a bulb is really an act of faith that is rewarded maybe 9 times out of 10 by a carrot, a great salad, or a daffodil. There are constant tests and chores involved in continuing success in the endeavor of North Country gardening. Through the seasons the tests change; recognizing that violets tend to behave like weeds and want to choke out other perennials; that a batch of day lilies that needed rescuing once has turned virulent and are spreading into other patches of plants that have no manifest destiny in mind; are a couple of tests that come to mind. Being proactively tidy, not OCD tidy, but keeping after the creeping weed that wants to shrink the borders of the vegetable garden and then disposing of weeds far away from the garden - in a compost that reduces the weeds inborn survival instincts - is all part of the gardening brain. Feeding the earth with good compost and supplements needed in North Country earth contributes to thriving veggies and flowers. At the end of the day the relation to the garden is - when the garden is thriving with a minimum of rowdy takeovers, then the rest of life seems to follow in the same pattern.

What does that have to do with work in the studio or plein air work? Opportunity favors the prepared mind. There is a kitschy phrase for this idea that that may be accredited to Picasso. In the studio work surfaces are left clear and ready to work for fresh return the next day. Boards are prepared for travel. Pastels need cleaning and are remade by crushing the little pieces back into dust then mixed with water to form a new stick large enough to use again. New frames need to be ordered and glass too. New pieces are worked up. The critical eye is engaged to step back and ask what does the work need to make it sing? Decisions about when a work is a "weed", taking up time and space where a other piece has better chance in coming to life are made. Not every thing works; not everything is a "master piece". Being prepared does favor good outcomes.

Fortunately it does not snow in the studio at inappropriate times. Once in a while heat takes a holiday but for the most part what is worked on there in the studio is about being prepared to move, to paint, to get out in the field to paint.

So the gardening brain is about a degree of preparedness and maintenance that allows for growth and repose, as it is also in the studio and in the field for plein air.

Artliveslong, D