FOR SALE BY ARTIST

HOUSE and 32 acres FOR SALE
In Fletcher, near Fairfax. House built 1937-38. Hardwood floors. 4 Bedrooms. Needs work.
Current owner/resident is indigent artist whose family land this has been since 1867. New furnace, new chimney lining, roof new about 5 years ago. Excellent spring water.

Large studio/workspace attached to house with heat and double-door entry.

Listed with Paul Clark, 802-598-4553 (Lang McLaughry Spera, MLS#2912808).

When the going gets tough . . .

. . . the tough go into business!


Two days in a sweatshop, where you get fired if you are caught sitting down while waiting, will either kill you or provide adrenalin. I got the adrenalin.

There is a new business in Vermont. In Franklin County. (Only a couple of artists would have the temerity to start an "art" business in this economy!)

Here's the link where you can see our buttons: ART BUTTON WORKS.



The first official display will happen Saturday, the 17th of October at the Farmers' Market in Taylor Park, St. Albans.

Making It In Vermont - Jay Hathaway

I usually wait to calm down before I write on an awful subject, but the tears are still in my eyes. Vermont has lost it's main mover and shaker in our cultural affairs.

Jay Hathaway was a man who did what he said he would. If he weren't, the many things he's done would never be.

I met him three times. The first in a two hour bar conversation in Montpelier during the Art of Action doings in January. And later again in Montpelier at a VAC meeting. The last time was in Richmond a couple of weeks ago where we both, along with everyone else in attendance, were over the moon about the display of AOA art that was spread across the sunlight-dappled wood of the Monitor barn. We just hugged and grinned at each other.

It was in the Montpelier bar that I first heard about his slogan idea that titles this post. He was so excited about the double entendre of scrabbling to get by AND creating anything in Vermont.

His enthusiasm was infectious--like a master teacher. And his subject was Vermont, Manchester, the arts--at any given time in any given order. And he did make it in Vermont.

It is the rare person who can mark me as soon and as deeply as Jay Hathaway did. I cried this morning as if I'd loved him my whole life. This is a terrible loss for Vermont and the arts.

Long Hiatus to be Even Longer

No news is bad news.

Have been looking for work and finally have been reduced to a temp service. And, in St. Albans, the only temp work is factory work. Have had one day of it, and could barely move on Saturday.

Will try it again on Monday, but I don't hold out much hope for its continuance. The $8.00/hour is not enough incentive to offset the pain. Factory work to me meant line-work. But this is not that and there is not a chair or stool in sight. So, from a sedentary work style to one of on-your-feet-all-day is a real show-stopper.

The only bright moments are the few where I can practice calligraphy for a class at the Open Doors programs for St. Albans City Schools (god, I hope it makes!) and those when I go to the Bishop Street Artists group on Thursday mornings. The desperate need for money blocks all creative thoughts--they just don't happen.

My One-day Vacation

No two weeks in Hawaii, or whatever destination constitutes one's idea of a vacation in paradise could match my one-day wonder.

This is the entrance to The Clark Institute of Art in Williamstown, Massachusetts. A red granite respository of almost unending visual excitement. And, I was there. I was there for this:
Ever since Jayne Shoup (Vermont Pastel Artist in Middlesex) called my attention to the work of Arthur Dove after looking at my work earlier in this blog, I've been getting deeper and deeper into what he was doing. And then, after she went to this exhibit, she told me about it. I was determined to go because, by then, I'd already read a great deal about him and had resigned myself to the fact that, at my age, I would never see his work in the flesh.

Yesterday was the day. A day I'll be recovering from for a very long time. There will be more about it in upcoming posts, but for now, while it is wholly undigested, I at least wanted to give a heads up to any Vermont artists in the southern part of the state. Go there; it's up through 7 September. See this work-- Dove and early O'Keeffe. And, as lagniappe, there's a massive display of Sol Lewitt's work right next door in North Adams at Mass MOCA.

Announcement: Gallery Showing

Since I paid money for postcards and stamps to send out an announcement, it suddenly occurred to me that I should, for free, announce it here! (duh)

I've now officially "come out" as a painter. Nervous and excited, but very glad that I am where I am. So, there are now two of me at the STAART Gallery: these and a section of my black and white Vermont photographs.

The Opening Reception is Friday, August 14, 2009, 6-8 p.m. at 42 South Main St., St. Albans, Vermont. The Gallery Announcement is here.

Two Days of Art in Burlington!

Last Thursday I collected on my investment of $75 that I used to register for Sean Dye's class in Oil Pastels at the Holbein Art Event at the Hampton Inn in Colchester.

The profit was magnificent. Something folks can rarely say these days about most of their monetary investments!! Not only did I learn a good deal about oil pastels, but I also had the dubious pleasure of working at a size much larger than my normal 4" x 6"!

He is a marvelous and approachable teacher.

And, it was because of him that I took a deep breath (a beer would have been preferable) and plunked down an actual credit (not debit) card to sign up for an all-day class with another Vermont artist--Jean Carbonetti. As my first class in watercolor, this was a home run. Again, the pain of working larger meant that nothing I did in the class was anywhere near successful, but what I learned and what I'm eager to pursue is incredibly exciting. One of the things I learned was something I've been mucking about with on my own--with limited success: achieving depth with watercolor. This particular class was titled Painting with Light.

Like Sean, Jeanne is an excellent and generous teacher. Both are associated with Black Horse Fine Art Supply in South Burlington, an art store that should be the supply destination of every Chittenden County artist!