Michael Chesley Johnson - Salt Marsh Glimmer

This little painting is only 5x7, but I think it really evokes the sense of late summer here on Campobello Island in the Canadian Maritimes. A light fog tumbled in from the ocean into the salt marsh, throwing a cool light on the scene. But the grasses, which are just starting to change into their fall colors, lend a sense of warmth to the foreground. The cool light in the distance and the warm colors up front go a long way to creating an illusion of space in the painting.



"Salt Marsh Glimmer"
5x7, oil, en plein air - Michael Chesley Johnson, PSA MPAC PSNM

www.MichaelChesleyJohnson.com

Journey to England:5

Libby Caldwell, Oil on Canvas, 5 x 7 SOLD

Journal entry 5: July 2008.
The garden in the afternoon. The roses were at their best about a week ago, so they tell me. I remember this maple tree when it was about as tall as me, now it shades a large area around the summer house.

Vince Fazio - Lone Figure

Vince Fazio 14 x 17 Graphite on paper $55.00

A drawing can find its own natural borders or edges. In this case a kind of vignette is formed by the edges of the drawing, a frame within.

Betsey Nelson-Grounded

5x7 $240 oil on canvas board
This was done plein air at the end of a painting day. The challange was to do a good composition on a very small canvas. Mostly this was a horizontal set up so thought was needed to work the vertical in and alos to deal with a lot of the image weighted to one side.

Michael Chesley Johnson - East Quoddy Morning

We have three lighthouses within a few minutes of my studio. Although some artists eschew the idea of painting lighthouses as being too cute, there's a lot that can be done with them. I chose the East Quoddy Lighthouse (also known as the Head Harbour Lightstation) to do an early morning study of light on a white structure.

It's a lonely-looking lighthouse, isn't it?


"East Quoddy Morning"
5x7, oil, en plein air
$60+$5 shipping
www.MichaelChesleyJohnson.com

Carol Marine 6x6 Oil on canvas panel - bid

I've been working on a series of carnations, this being the 4th. A student in my last workshop asked me to paint them and I've been stuck ever since. Carnations are a tough flower to paint, but I am thoroughy enjoying the challenge!

Journey to England:4

Oil on Canvas 9 x 12 SOLD

Arrival: the sun in the late afternoon creates a welcoming glow. An unusually large array of cushions have congregated on the end sofa. In the background I can hear a BBC program about choirs, it sounds like a competition, one choir just
sang 'Moon River', so I'm off to investigate.

Sunday Interior

Vince Fazio 9x12 Oil on paper $140

This is a example of continuing the drawing process into a painting process. I enjoy the way that a work on paper like this remains a drawing. I feel drawings work best as unfinished pieces retaining an openess that is hard to leave in a 'painting'.

Boynton Canyon Mural

Acrylic on wood panel, 4' x 7.5'
I live in Sedona, an amazingly beautiful part of the world. One day while driving down Dry Creek Road the light was particularly mind blowing and I shot a series of photos.
In this mural I wanted to catch the light and the incredible immensity of these red rocks. The mural was done as part of my grant project, (a series of murals in acrylic in a 'watercolor style').

Robert Burridge - Make Things…

Every year I am involved in the Central Coast Wine Classic, held in California. The event is very supportive of the arts and I wanted to create an image that would accomplish three things: 1) Be a painterly painting 2) Include wine imagery without be a typical still life and 3) Convey an uplifting message. I was happy with the results. I have been using stenciled lettering in some of my paintings for the last few years. I find that people respond to my narrative text. I like it because it keeps me focused. After good response, I decided to create a "Make Things" series of works. This one is 22 x 22, acrylic on paper, mounted on a canvas.

Adele Earnshaw - Study at Dusk

'Study at Dusk' 7" x 7", oil on board.
Some of my favorite places
to paint on location are marches within wildlife refuges on the East Coast. The light is softer and the colors are more tonalistic. This
oil study represents an area south of Charleston, South Carolina.
It's easy to tell that this piece is done in the studio, rather than on location, as there aren't any mosquitoes stuck to the paint.

Michael Chesley Johnson - Winter Interior

I don't often do interiors, but this past winter on Campobello Island we had more snow than usual, so I thought it'd be fun to do one. The snow was very bright outside, and it threw a great deal of light into our "breakfast nook." I loved the contrast of the greenish shadows and the red placemats. Someone commented that "Winter Interior" looks like something Pierre Bonnard might have done.

This painting was done in pastel on a 9x12 Rtistx board.



"Winter Interior" 9x12, pastel
$100+$5 shipping

www.MichaelChesleyJohnson.com

6"x6" oil on canvas panel bid

I've been working on a series of kiwis and I'm really happy with this one. It was one of those thoroughly enjoyable painting experiences where everything goes just right. I love the glow of light through the kiwi and the little dabs of light on the spoon that suggest a bit of decoration.

Journey to England:3

Libby Caldwell, Oil on Canvas, 9 x 12 SOLD

Journal entry 3: July 2008.
A country road in Norfolk. I had forgotten how lovely the hedgerows are, and how dramatic the skies can be; so I watch as the clouds shuffle and heave themselves around the sky, manipulating sunlight against thunder, pinks against dark blues and then glimmers of white try to rise, then subside and then have another chance and through an opening the sun illuminates a patchwork below...of fields, hedgerows, trees, roads and almost and then a dulling as clouds gather once more.

Vince Fazio - "Couple"

Vince Fazio 9x12 Oil on canvas panal $140

In a vast setting simple proximity indicates closeness.

Betsey Nelson - Green Cottage

8x10 oil on canvas board $435
This was done on a sunny summers day- plein air.
I had seen this blue green house and wanted to see it in full sun just to notice the house color change. Always good to paint from life to discover what color is it really not what color do you think it is.

The Rock Path - Peggy Sands

Mixed Media 13 3/4 x 22 $395

I loved the light on the rocks, and tried to catch it, but I wasn’t happy with the painting. It lacked spice, was getting overworked and I didn’t know what to do. It sat on my table till I mistakenly spilled water on it, and it left the realm of high art forever.Another play date with a painting!Drew into it, collaged on top of it, got out my gold foil and experimented with that… needed some red so that was glued on, (the triangles)… painted some more…This way of working is affecting all my paintings. When I become tight with a painting I put it aside for a few days, and then attack it. In the back of my mind I’m afraid I’ll mess it up, but so far so good, and actually the opposite happens. My students always ask me at this ‘attack’ point how I ‘know’ what to do.I don’t, I’m just following something that has no explanation.

Robert Burridge -Whoa!

This painting is part of my "Roadside Attractions" series that I have been working on for over a year. I was probably 8 or 9 years old when my dad rescued me from school one day and took me to my first circus. I remember every second of that day inside the Clyde Beatty - Cole Brothers Circus. The sight of enormous canvas tents in an open field mesmorized me. The aroma of circus tigers, elephants and popcorn mixed in with fresh sawdust stirred me up. The aerial performers, costumed clowns and the sound of the live circus band pretty much did it for my impressionable self - I was hooked!
After my tenth birthday, I decided to perform a one-man circus act. I loved climbing, swinging and hanging from ropes tied in our backyard trees. In our yard, my dad built a trapeze and a high bar for me. I bought a book on "How to be a Clown." I listened to circus music and I practiced magic tricks which included the family rabbit and dog. During the summer I performed an entire one-man backyard circus act for our neighbors. Now, I swear to God this is true - for the Grand Finale I performed swinging gymnastic gyrations on a burning suspended bicycle ten feet in the air!
"Whoa" was created as a series of three - all a variation of this High Flyer Costumed Bird Performer.
Original 12x12, acrylic on canvas. $625 plus $50 shipping.

Michael Chesley Johnson - Four Values

In my outdoor workshops, I teach John F. Carlson's concept of rendering the landscape in four values. Typically, the darkest darks will be uprights, such as trees; the mid-darks will be slanted surfaces, such as hills; the mid-lights will be flat surfaces, such as meadows; and the lightest lights will be in the sky.

I ran into a situation the other day that exemplified this concept almost perfectly. Rather than slanted surfaces as the mid-darks, I had a distant, befogged treeline. The value of the treeline is close to that of the meadow, but still a bit lighter. You can see clearly how I've broken up the landscape into big, simple shapes and have kept my four values well-separated.



"So Quiet" - Michael Chesley Johnson
9x12, oil, en plein air
$175 (unframed) + $5 shipping

www.MichaelChesleyJohnson.com

Journey to England:2

Libby Caldwell, Oil on Panel, 9 x 12 NFS.

Journal entry 2: July 2008.
Heathrow Airport Train Station, London, England. The blue lighting against the wall of the tunnel makes it look like an aquarium, it's mesmerizing. I intend to travel light next time, my luggage is overwhelming the joy of traveling at this point.

Audience II

Vince Fazio 9x12 Oil on canvas panal $140
Every sunset is different and unique, as are the groups that form to witness it each day from this cliff at the edge of the Grand Canyon. This painting reminds me of compositions I used make while drawing subway riders in New York City. Looking down the row they become one group.