New Paintings for Yates Arts Show (Click to read post)

Dear Collectors,


Updated June 9, 2022:  
Framed and Ready to Go to the Gallery

Happy to report that I have delivered the above group of paintings for the "Seeing the Light" show at the Arts Center of Yates County in Penn Yan, New York, which is at the north end of Keuka Lake in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State.  

It runs through the 4th of July weekend.  

Hope you will stop in to see it if you are in the area.  It's on Main Street next to Long's Bookstore.  
This is my first time doing a show with them; they are a great group of mostly volunteers, a 501c organization dedicated to bringing the arts to the area. 

Sales go through them, and unfortunately, they do not ship.  

Their phone number is 1-315-536-5123.  Kris Pearson is the Executive Director.  

They will receive a commission which will go to support their organization, a very good cause.  

Here are the first three paintings:

"Lake Cows II"
16 x 20 inches
Oil
This is a larger 16 x 20 inch version of Lake Cows which you may recognize from the past.  The small one --- which was about 6 x 10 inches and a slightly different shape --- was acquired by a visitor from Australia, so I always think about it being "down under."  Hope this version finds a new home, too.  

"White Barn with Vineyard"
10 x 8 inches
Oil
"White Barn with Vineyard" is an interpretation of a black and white film image I took many years ago.  I enjoyed creating a color environment for the viewer, using purples for the cool snow and shadows and yellows for the warm sun in winter.  

"The Resting Tree"
12 x 24 inches
Oil

"The Resting Tree" is a bold experiment for me.  I pushed the color and the values as far as I could while still keeping the light raking across the scene believable.  

A resting tree is a large tree with a canopy in the middle of a field where farmers could take a break in the shade to rest their horses and themselves. 

It was my first time trying many new things for this show. 
In this daffodil study, I have painted a subject which is backlit for the first time.  And I experimented with a pre-primed gray toned background.  We had an abundance of daffodils this Spring.  
It was the first time I painted at home for an extended period of time.  I converted our dining room into my studio.  Luckily, I have a very supportive husband who didn't mind.  
My art buddy, AJP, happened to send me some Inchies so I used them as tokens on the back of each panel, to muster up some good mojo.  Inchies are 1x1" squares cut from collages of ephemera she collected. They become tiny abstract art capsules.
Almost as big as our sofa...
I also stretched myself to paint something really big --- 36 x 48 inches ---as well as something really small --- 2 x 4 inches.  And had custom frames made for them by a local woodworker.  

The large one is made of ash, which had significance for me.  The ash trees in the forests around us have been decimated over the last five years because the ash borer destroys them.  I learned that do not worm their way into the wood but destroy the lining between the tree and the bark, so the internal wood is not destroyed but can be used.  Ash is used for baseball bats, axe handles, etc.  And now my handsome frame.  Thank you, Mark Wilmot, of Father's Pride Woodworking.  He completed it for me despite being very ill.  
These little guys are 2 x 4 inch canvas panels that create different challenges.  How do you convey a feeling or a concept on such a small scale?  Like a thumbnail.  

There were many more firsts but I will save them for comments on the individual paintings when I get the chance to post them individually.  

All of these paintings are available for sale through the Arts Center shown at the gallery during the show through 4th of July weekend.

Less than a month now until it ends. 

If you are in Penn Yan, I hope you will stop in.  

Thank you for your interest in my work!

      ----Barbara
  BarbBlumer@gmail.com  or call me at 607/368-5732

Barbara Blumer
607/368-5732

Email Post