September Exhibits – Part 1

I have two exhibits coming up in September. Kind of odd, since I haven’t been doing much exhibiting the last couple of years. But that’s another story……

I’m really excited about both of these opportunities. The first one is at The Gallery at WREN (Women’s Rural Entrepreneurial Network) in Bethlehem, NH. I’m exhibiting with two other NH artist friends, Rosemary Conroy and Ann Trainor Dominque. Although I’ve known both Rosemary and Ann a long time, this is our first group exhibit. “Color Love – 3 Artists, 3 Visions” will run from September 7th through October 1st. Our artists’ reception is Friday, September 7th from 5 to 7pm.

And let me tell you, it’s all about the color! There will be a roomful of vibrant color for you to check out. And in quite a range of sizes. I can pretty much guarantee that my pieces are the smallest, most of them ranging from 4 inches square to 8 inches square, the perfect size to tuck a bit of color and inspiration into a corner, a bookcase, or a nightstand. Ann and Rosemary will both have larger pieces, strong enough to hold the focus of your room. I think this is going to be an incredible exhibit with lots to offer both buyers and viewers.

Come on the evening of the 7th to meet the artists or come later in the show when it might be a bit quieter.

 

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YAY! My work was accepted

I mentioned yesterday that I’d be working at Newburyport Art Association today to help with the jurying.

And – YES!! I did get in. And I think I was really lucky. There was a lot more work submitted for this show than there was room. So there were some pretty wonderful pieces that did not make the cut.

So thank you to the universe and all my readers who had their fingers crossed for me.

The reception is Saturday, February 13th from 7 to 9pm. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to go as I have another commitment that evening. I’ll have to pop in another day to check it out once it’s all properly hung.

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Jurying tomorrow at Newburyport Art Association

 

One of the local art associations that I belong to is Newburyport Art Association. We’re in the middle of the Winter Members Juried Shows. Part I, which included sculpture, watercolor, digital art, drawing, oil and printmaking, just finished up. Part II, which includes acrylic, fine crafts, mixed media, pastel, and photography, will be open to the public on Friday, February 12th.

I’m hoping that you will see two of my social media pieces in the exhibit. For this exhibit, the work is actually brought to the gallery and the juror will choose which pieces to include by looking at the actual artwork. Then the pieces not selected will be stored for a few days until the artists can pick them up.

Although this can be a cumbersome process, there are some distinct advantages over selecting from digital images. First of all, the juror sees the real work, in particular the real colors and textures, and can even compare pieces side by side. Secondly, it is easier to judge scale when you’re seeing the real thing. A third minor issue is the framing. And good or bad framing can really change the overall look of the artwork.

Tomorrow is jury day and I get to help. YAY!! One advantage of working on jury day is that you can see what is selected and what is declined. (Because my job is to store the declined pieces.) I get to see at least some of the pieces that don’t make it, but rarely know why they were declined. It’s still fun. And it’s great exercise. The storage area is on the second floor, so it’s a lot of up and down stairs.

It also means that I can pick up my pieces tomorrow if they don’t make it. Hopefully, they will get in. Keep your fingers crossed!

Here are the two pieces I submitted –

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New Exhibits at New Hampshire Art Association

First week of the month and it’s changeover time at a lot of galleries. New Hampshire Art Association is no exception. On Tuesday, I joined about 6 other artists to hang Prints of the Year and also repaint and rehang the Small Works Gallery. (OK. I didn’t help with the painting, but I helped with the rest.)

Because of the rather nasty winter weather, the reception has been postponed until next Friday. When you go to the gallery, you’ll find the main galleries filled with prints from some of the best print makers in the state. Parker Potter’s Prints of the Year includes all manner of the printmakers art – wood cuts, silk screens, monoprints, etchings, and various combinations. You’ll find work by Don Gorvett, William Scolere, Kate Higley, Victoria Ellbroch, Scott Schnepf, and many others.

The East Gallery is full of lovely black and white photos by the Seacoast Photo Group. And the South Gallery will have Carol Van Loon’s black and white photos of Barns.

The Small Works Gallery is now repainted and rehung with new work! So check it out.

You’ll find two small pieces of mine on the very far wall of the Small Works Gallery. (That is unless they moved them after I left on Tuesday.)

These are two pieces from my Shelter Series. This series started years ago with some very small paintings with a stylized house image. Some of these initial paintings turned into hand painted cards that were sold to benefit the York County Shelter Program. Hence the name – Shelter Series. Through an event that I ran for years at the Notre Dame Spiritual Center in Alfred, ME, I began a relationship with the shelter program and helped to raise money for their food pantry.

Ethel Hills – Shelter #11 – Acrylic on Panel – 7″ x 5″

Ethel Hills – Shelter #12 – Mixed Media Collage on Panel – 7″ x 5″

 

 

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Time to Play, Search & Experiment

OK. This is really embarrassing. It has once again been a long time of silence on my blog. I’m not sure that I can explain why I go through these phases where I want to share everything I create and other times when I’m not nearly as comfortable sharing. I do find it harder to share when the work isn’t going smoothly or when I’m in a transition period.

I have been working on more of the social media series, but felt like this series is ending, at least temporarily. The pieces were interesting, but not nearly as fun as I thought they’d be. I’ve been feeling that it was time to back off for a while now, but I still had several in process. I hesitated to abandon work that is already started, but it just didn’t feel right. For the time being, I’m abandoning the series and the few pieces that remain incomplete. I’ll go back to finish them up when I feel like it’s time. Trying to force these pieces to be done just hasn’t worked.

So for my next experiment, I’m back in play, search, and experiment mode. My plan, such as it is, is to take the next few weeks, maybe a month, and just play around the studio without expectations – without worrying about consistency, or completion, or product, or even permanency.

In some sense, it’s very difficult to totally let go of results. In another sense, it’s very freeing. It will be interesting to see how this experiment goes.

Yesterday, I did some small sketches, just to get back to playing with paint & line.

Today, I just kind of noodled around, prepped some panels, experimented with some ideas, and painted some scraps of paper to use at a later time. Again, there is nothing profound or even particularly interesting about any of this, but it does seem to be part of my process. I’ll keep on painting and playing until I figure out where I’m headed next.

Here are some shots from my studio:

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Land Paintings included in “Cozy” at Twiggs Gallery

I’m excited to be in the current show at Twiggs Gallery in Boscawen, NH. “COZY: NH Artists celebrate the joys and comforts of home” will run from November 21 through December 20, 2015.
Please join us for the opening reception: Saturday, November 28th from 3 to 5 pm.

Two of my farm/land paintings are included in this exhibit. “Home on Pine Hill Road #1” depicts the home I grew up in and the area immediately surrounding it. It includes my mother’s favorite maple tree, the huge sycamores in front of the house, the lady slippers and yellow violets which grew in the woods across the street. All the little items on the painting represent a memory from my childhood, a memory of my family, or sometimes just a memory of the stories we grew up with.

“Our Street” is much more explicit. The notes about the neighbors and my family are still visible on this painting. The neighborhood is a checkerboard of land, houses, and families. And some of the little stories that connected us all.

Ethel Hills – “Home on Pine Hill Road #1 – Watercolor and Pencil – 22″ x30”

Ethel Hills – “Our Street” – Watercolor and Pencil – 22″ x 30″

 

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Next phase of Social Media Series – 6 x 6 panels complete

I must admit that I’ve skipped some steps. I showed you the first couple of days of developing these paintings. Now I’m skipping to the end. (I do have images of the in-between stages, but haven’t downloaded and processed those photos yet.)

These paintings went through lots of different stages, but I believe they are finally resolved.

What do you think?

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These will be going into the WCA-NH Annual 6 x 6 Exhibition.

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Next phase of Social Media – 6 x 6 panels – Day 2

The different framework of these pieces is causing me to rethink how I’ll structure these paintings. What I was doing on the earlier pieces doesn’t seem like it will work on these, so I’m looking for other ideas. For this reason, the process is going a bit slower than I would like.

I miss the rhythm from those other pieces, but I like the more focused and colorful look of these. I’m hoping this will all work out. Time will tell.

2015 6×6#1 – Work-In-Progress- Day#2

2015 6×6#2 – Work-In-Progress- Day#2

2015 6×6#3 – Work-In-Progress- Day#2

2015 6×6#4 – Work-In-Progress- Day#2

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Next phase of the Social Media Series – working on my 6 x 6 panels

It’s time to get my 6 x 6 panels ready for our annual 6 x 6 exhibition and sale. The exhibit starts the first of November, but the work needs to be delivered shortly.

I thought you might like a sneak peek at the process. We all use the same panels – 6″ x 6″ MDF with a key-hole slot on the back. After prepping the surface, I painted the panels with a couple of coats of white acrylic paint.

And then I start to glue on pieces of paper – newspaper, phone book pages, pieces torn from damaged books, along with my normal selection of bits & pieces of discarded painting pieces.

To continue with the social media idea and to keep in mind the shape of the panel, I started with cutouts shaped like a generic icon (of a woman’s head) similar to what you sometimes see displayed when a user hasn’t provided a profile picture. These were glued onto a rectangular shaped colored background.

The initial pieces look like this –

2015 6×6#1 – Work-In-Progress- Day#1

2015 6×6#2 – Work-In-Progress- Day#1

2015 6×6#3 – Work-In-Progress- Day#1

2015 6×6#4 – Work-In-Progress- Day#1

I’ll be adding more Work-In-Progress shots as these paintings develop.

 

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Update on Abstractions.2015

Just heard back from ALL, Arts League of Lowell. All three of my pieces were accepted into this show. YAY!!

It will open tomorrow and run through November 15th.

The reception is Saturday, October 17, 4 – 6 pm.

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