In the Studio Today... Art on Gospel Flat Farm

Wednesday August 28, 2013

My tiny 6" painting on hood of my car where I painted with Art on the Farm

I just updated the blog for the Art on the Farm group, and thought I would share a little more about my most recent paint out.  We had a terrific day out at the Murch Family farm in Bolinas, "Gospel Flat Farm".  This is the iconic, Marin Farm Stand that you see on the entrance to Bolinas, which is open 24 hours and sometimes sells fresh bread.  What an amazing part of Marin, and how lucky we are to have young, dedicated family farmers.

If you haven't been to Bolinas or met Mickey Murch and his family, you need to get out there and share the joy that this family farm provides so many locals and tourists.  At the end of our biggest painting day all season, I went to purchase my produce from the farm stand and Mickey was just placing jars with bouquets of giant zucchini blossoms out on the table.  Mickey told me that he loved getting to take the kids from a local camp out to gather eggs from his farm, and then pick the squash blossoms and return to their mobile kitchen right behind the farm stand, and cook the blossoms and eggs with the kids.  Mickey told the story with such joy and you could sense the pride of ownership and love of teaching kids about his job.

I bought two jars of blossoms and brought them home to stuff with ricotta cheese, fresh basil and bread in egg, flour and fry in olive oil and garlic.  A family recipe from my Italian heritage and grandparents in Connecticut, my meal was memory-laden, gathered locally, connected to art, education and joy, absolutely delicious, and.... priceless.

Click here to view more photos of the paint out and read the blog at Art on the Farm

In the Studio Today... Art on the Farm Show

Friday, October 23, 2009
This weekend, Sunday, October 25th is the Annual Harvest Celebration of Art on the Farm at the Pt. Reyes Vineyards. This is the show were everyone involved, well over 100 artists, show up and share their art. Many of the paintings are hung on hay bales! It is really fun and festive to see. I hope we get a lovely day with warm sun shining on the vineyards. I may even paint on Sunday if the weather permits. Hope you will come! For more information, see the website for Art on the Farm at www.artonthefarm.org

In the Studio Today...Bolinas Farm Bike; Day 2

Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Work in progress... Produce stand owned by Gospel Flat Farm, as you enter the town of Bolinas, CA. Details of Bike and close up of stand, image 1 and 2 above... image 3 is the full sized canvas, 18" x 24".

In the Studio Today...Christin Coy Workshop & Mill Valley Coffee Shop

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

I started 2 paintings in one day, today! Wow...! You know you have a deadline when you start 2 good sized, detailed paintings in a day. The paintings I started today are local shops in Marin County; The red awning of the Specialty Coffee shop in downtown Mill Valley, and the Gospel Flat Farmstand as you enter Bolinas, California. I now have a total of 6 paintings for the Mill Valley show, and I have about 5 more to go. I chose some large canvases, so the paintings should fill in the Depot Cafe walls with some good negative space around them. If I have 10 new paintings, I will be delighted. If I can finish 12, that will be even better... but quality versus quantity, always. Spoken in the voice of Ellen Degeneres, as Dory in "Finding Nemo"..."Just keep painting, just keep painting, just keep painting, painting, painting...". By the way, if you've read this far, this marks my 202nd post on my blog! I reached 200 posts with out even realizing it!

"Ride to the Coffee Shop", 16" x 20", o/c.
Work in Progress... (Will detail 4 bikes in scene when complete).

Actually, the real reason for the 2 paintings in one day... I had a workshop this evening with artist, Christin Coy. It was a great session. Richard Lindenberg, who used to work for Sennelier Professional Oil Paints, was on hand to give a color mixing lesson. It was fantastic. I haven't mixed colors in a color wheel format in many years, but it was a great reminder, and I learned about "Chinese Orange", a color specifically commissioned by Cézanne. It's sort of a burnt umber, rust orange red color, but has a great transparency to it so it can be used to varnish, or when mixed with white, it is more opaque.Christin taught me to pre-stain my canvas with an acrylic color and water, to give it a warm undertone and get away from starting with the blank white of the canvas. The color I used was a warm sienna red color, which was perfect for the reds in the awning of the coffee shop.