"Winter Scene"
20" x 20" oil/canvas
$1375

I've neglected to post to this blog for many months. My e-newsletter is easier to use so I do. Still, for those who want to check in with my work this way, here's my latest painting. This scene is in the alley in back of the apartment where we're living while our house (across the street) is being renovated.

It started snowing here in Frankfort on December 2. What a difference to the landscape the fluffy white stuff makes. I love it! I've not yet made it our for a plein air session -- too cold! -- so I've used photo references and the view out of my tiny studio window.

This winter wonderland makes the Solstice and Christmas seem all the more seasonal here. It's a dream come true for this Elfie-one. I hope you and yours are snug and warm, enjoying making meaning of this time of year for yourself.

Ellie

PS I have a few 2011 calendars left: "Up North" and "Vieques." Go to www.EllieHarold.com to order using PayPal or other means.

"Michigan Morning"

20" x 20" oil on canvas

$1375

What Really Matters in Creating Art

A quick note to check in after my wonderful show at Les Sirenes in Frankfort: I received some great publicity in the local newspaper and enjoyed a very good turnout for the opening. So much goes on during the two-month summer season here, it means a lot when people choose to attend your event! I was very pleased to see a red dot on a painting when I walked through the gallery door. A pre-show sale is always welcome! Several other sales, including one of the large show piece, "Summer's Day," just before I returned from a trip to Atlanta, qualified the show for me as a successful effort.

While sales are one measure of success, they certainly aren't the only one. The first and, perhaps, most important one is my own satisfaction with the work. Given my (self-admitted) history as a co-dependent personality, that's saying a lot! But, seriously, I paint to receive the gift the painting comes to bring, much as I enjoy speaking to hear what comes out of my mouth.

Lest you imagine me a total narcissist (instead of a partial one), this is how I experience Something More -- God, the higher self -- or whatever you choose to call a power greater than the everyday, ordinary self. Some people pray and meditate, I paint and speak. When I "get" the sweet delight of what's been given through the artwork, I'm nourished from the inside out. Then, when someone else appreciates what I do, it's simply delicious icing on the cake. (And, when they make a purchase or otherwise claim the value in what I do, that's good too.)

There's no resting on laurels for me, however; it seems I'm always getting to make fresh starts. Just back from a two-week ordeal of moving house in the incredible heat of a Georgia summer, I was eager to see what I'd paint after "Fresh Light." Well -- surprise -- it turned out to be more fresh light! One of the attractions of where I now live is the Lake Michigan shore that's four blocks away. There's a spot where I can stand in the shade and see dunes and deciduous trees and water, three favorite landscape elements. People walk by and add their two cents. I love it!

Last Friday's result was "Michigan Morning." It has an almost photographic quality even though it's painted loosely and without much detail. I was pleased with it, and I hope through it you'll enjoy a bit of Michigan summer too. Let me know what you think!

Getting Clear

20" x 20" oil/canvas

WIN-WIN at CLAC

This week I facilitated my first painting workshop at the Crystal Lake Art Center (CLAC). Offered to beginning plein air painters, we discussed the challenges of painting outdoors, the need for reliable and streamlined equipment and how to begin a painting that you know you’ll only have 2-3 hours to complete.

I prepped for the workshop by taking spending a session on the beach here in Frankfort, MI the morning before. The last of a heavy fog was drifting out over the lake; the morning light kissed the trees and small dunes. Shown above, this painting conveys a sense of the soft light and serenity of this spot and so many like it along the shore of Lake Michigan.

Live demonstrations form an important part of a painting workshop. It’s not always what you can say about the painting process so much as what you can show your students that helps them learn. It’s a great opportunity for me, an easy talker, to doing some “walking” with my brush in hand. For this workshop, I made a painting based on the piece above. Then the students made their own demos based on this or another of my plein air paintings I had on display.

I love teaching the eager students you often find in painting circles. Like sponges soaking up information, they’re grateful for and appreciative of clues I can offer that help them express their artistic desires. (They did some really nice work too.) I come away from such workshops feeling valued for what I am able to share of my experience and gifts. What a win-win!

With warmest regards,

Ellie

PS I’ll be opening a show of my recent work at Les Sirenes Galerie D’Art at 338 Main Street in Frankfort on July 8. I met the owner, Terri Haugen, last summer as I was embarking on my Artist In Residence adventure at Sleeping Bear Dunes. (Her nationally acclaimed batik work is really amazing.) The reception is from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. The exhibit will continue through July 21. I hope to see you there and, please, bring a friend.

Welcome Spring

12" x 12" oil on canvas

Michigan -- A New Home

I arrived in Frankfort about a week and a half ago. I'd flown from Vieques to Atlanta, then Roo flew down and we drove back here together. We're living in an apartment on Main Street, across the street from the house we're renovating. It's great to be here. For one thing, it's cool; for another, there are no mosquitoes or roosters. Plenty of friendly folks, however, and miles of beautiful landscape

Where to paint first? Always a tough decision for me. But first I had to dig out of storage my equipment from last October when we left for the winter. Whew! I found a blue, a red and a yellow and a small tube of white. Enough to get started. Off to Treat Farm at Sleeping Bear Dunes. I'd heard the woods were full of trillium, I had to see them. Sure enough, the white flowers on either side of the trail from Tweddle Farm blanketed the wooded dunes. I headed on to the meadow beyond, though. I wanted to paint the farmhouse.

Sheltering in the shade of a small pine tree, I set up my easel and squeezed out my paint. Except the cap on the tube of yellow I'd brought along wouldn't budge. And it was very chilly. As my winter duds had been stolen in the burglary back in Georgia, I'd layered up as best I could, but it wasn't enough to protect me from a stiff breeze off Lake Michigan. Undaunted, I scraped as much yellow as I could from under a dried pile from last year. Tough going painting that brilliant sunlit forsythia in front of the house. Like many first drafts, this plein sketch was sent to the bottom of the pile.

On the way back to my car, I spied the friendly pair in the painting above. Next time I was free to paint, I made sure all the caps would unscrew. The yellow leapt from my brush onto that bush. "Welcome Spring" -- I'll count this as my first keeper of the season, the painting that welcomes me back to Michigan to my new home.