Early Summer Morning Mantra

I hear the robins chirping their 2 syllable tune over and over again in the early morning when all is still and there is no traffic. Their tune echos over all the other chirps. There is an underwater resonance about it that lingers in the air. This is the cats favorite time. They sit like sculptures concentrating on every note. I love the hour before daybreak. Just to sit and listen.

  'On the Lake'  acrylic on wood wall relief     ©robinrkent

More people are here Memorial Day weekend, ready to start their summer lives. The farmers market has begun, the art project (post 4/7) had its opening, music and other venues are ready.
The quiet won't last long. In half an hour things will completely change. And summer's heat will soon be sliding in.

Favorite Artists, part one

From previous generations or present day colleagues, there are artists that resonate with me. Finally got to a point where I can look at work and know immediately if it's for me or not. As much as I love my category (contemporary folk, outsider, naive or brut art), not all are my cup of tea. But the art I like in whatever category ( abstract, representational; painters, sculptors, assemblage artists, etc.) I love!  I see a common thread. Even if the medium and eras are different.

Milton Avery, 'Conversation'  (courtesy bjws blog)

I wake up daily to my print of 'Conversation' (1956) by Milton Avery. What a great way to greet the day. Never tire of looking at it. I like the simple edited form, large feeling of volume, subtle colorful colors (the color is off on this image).
I feel I can mentally paint along side him when I look at his work. Here's the best site I've found so far on him:

http://bjws.blogspot.com/2011/04/paintings-of-american-milton-avery-1888.html  

I'll add more of my favorites in future posts. Who do you love?

Shad bush and shad fish

I see the shad bushes blooming here in Vermont: lacy white flowers stand out on distant hills as I travel along the road. I know then the shad are also running on Cape Cod, where I used to live. It's as if the Vermont trees have a direct line to the Cape fish: keeping me informed of what's going on in my old neighborhood, reminding me the time to witness the fish run is now.

Bathroom Trophy Fish (for over the mirror)     ©robinrkent

I've smelled the briny air and heard the herring as they flip up the river to spawn in Harwich's Grist Mill pool. They sounded like a marble rolling through a pipe when clearing the step against the flow.
Now I'm fishing for art to hang in my small turquoise bathroom (previous post). Hopefully no fish will be jumping up any steps here. That would be quite a surprise, I'd imagine.
(I'll post the painting I'm working on for the space of honor - over the throne - when completed.)

How To Show Volume Using Just One Board

There are random lessons learned daily that can be applied in your art. Case in point: I just finished painting the bathroom and needed to add a shelf. (I want to free up some wall space for a water-themed painting, to come.)
This is a very old crooked house. But that fits perfectly, I thought, since I don't cut straight lines either. My technique is to eyeball it. If it looks right, it is right. I've heard there are people who must measure everything for precise placement.

'The downstairs bath with fish'   (shelf top left.)

Not me. So I chose a board from the barn, cut it, painted it, and placed it over my stacked washer/dryer.
The board was warped as well. Not only was it uneven in the space left to right and front to back: it undulates too. So much visual movement in a small space. 
But the surface lays flat enough, and that's most important. It holds the all the laundry accoutrements fine.