Joelle Feldman’s Art Bog

The gift is small, but love is all

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:24:08 -0500

Another little gift bag for a favorite person on Valentine’s Day. A single rose makes the gift small, but love is all...!

This 8 x 8 painting is done on black Sennelier sanded pastel paper.

Available for purchase through Yarmouth Frame Shop and Gallery or Email me for details.

For you...

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 10:34:56 -0500

A little gift bag just for you!

This 6 x 6 painting is done on black Sennelier sanded pastel paper.

No longer available for purchase.

Two is the limit...

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:23:48 -0500

February 14th is fast approaching and I am preparing a few paintings for a Valentine’s Day show on Saturday 13 February at the Yarmouth Frame Shop and Gallery. It should be a fun event, full of delightful paintings for the occasion.

This 6 x 6 painting is done on black Sennelier sanded pastel paper.

Available for purchase. Email me for details.

The Little red vase

Fri, 8 Jan 2010 11:54:36 -0500

A few years ago, a colleague of mine made this lovely hand blown little red vase. He kindly gave it to me as his going away present and I have enjoyed it ever since. Red is one of my favorite colors and I like the simplicity and informality of the vase. It is a perfect vessel for simple country flowers.

This 8 x 8 painting is done on black Sennelier sanded pastel paper.

Available for purchase through Yarmouth Frame Shop and Gallery or Email me for details.

After a good day’s work

Sat, 2 Jan 2010 10:05:00 -0500

When you live in New England, you get your garden “ready for the winter”. You dig up dahlias to store in the basement, you move and re-arrange plants in anticipation of spring and cover what you can in the hope that the deer won’t feast on your favorite bushes during the colder months.

After a good day’s work in the garden, I hosed down the dirt from my rubber boots and shovel and let them dry against the garage wall. I felt a sense of accomplishment and liked the scene.

This 8 x 10 painting is done on Sennelier sanded pastel paper.

On exhibit at Masterpiece Dentistry at Copley, Boston Mass. Available for purchase.

About to be chopped

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 10:57:31 -0500

I have painted this bowl that my neighbor Bridget gave me numerous times in oil, experimenting with different compositions, shapes and shadows.

For this pastel version of the bowl, I used black sanded paper and a mixture of hard and soft pastel sticks. I like the texture effect of the black paper coming through the painting. The old chopping tool came with the bowl as well as the fresh home grown garlic!

What goes around comes around! Happy holidays, Bridget!

Tight Fit

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 11:33:57 -0500

It is a tight fit, but I still like these tomatoes slightly oversized for the wooden bowl!

Available for purchase.

Tomatoes in Old wooden bowl

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:16:09 -0500

My neighbor Bridget kindly gave me this lovely old wooden bowl that belonged to her grandmother and it has become the perfect and a favorite receptacle for tomatoes in my kitchen. I painted the bowl from 2 different perspectives, this one lit from above and “Tight Fit” seen at eye level.

Available for purchase through Yarmouth Frame Shop and Gallery.

Blueberry Ice Cream

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:01:22 -0500

Blueberries were particularly abundant this summer in Maine and I did my share of picking from our neighbors’ beautiful bushes. There were thousands of berries to pick for weeks. I made batch after batch of blueberry ice cream that was enjoyed by neighbors and friends all summer long. I painted this bowl of ice cream to remind us of a plentiful and delicious summer.

This painting is dedicated to Ken Hough.

Beet Trio

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:14:55 -0500

Fall is here and I find plenty of inspiration for painting seasonal fruit and vegetables. After unloading my groceries, I selected three interesting looking beets, arranged them on a kitchen towel, set up my easel and started painting. I particularly liked playing with the bright orangey-red colors in my palette to render the rough texture and the odd shapes of these not quite yellow, not quite red beets. They were delicious roasted ...and you can eat the greens too!

Available for purchase through Yarmouth Frame Shop and Gallery.

One tomato missing

Wed, 9 Dec 2009 14:11:00 -0500

Tomatoes are one of my favorite subjects to paint. I love their cheerful red color and the way they shine.

I started painting these tomatoes first as an exercise in color and shape. Once the tomatoes were done, I could not figure out what to do with the background to complete the composition. I noticed the white kitchen towel with the red stripe in my kitchen and... voilà, I found the background for my painting! It may not be the most conventional way to create a composition, but it worked for me!

Best of the Bunch

Mon, 7 Dec 2009 16:07:42 -0500

Summer came early this year in Provence. By May, cherry trees were laden with ripe fruit in the orchards and private gardens. In St Quentin la Poterie, we bought a kilo of cherries for 2 Euros from a lady who had just picked them from her garden. She had set up a makeshift counter in the doorway of her home in the main street to sell them. These were chosen as the best of the bunch to paint and... to eat!.

They will now be enjoyed in Yarmouth Maine, where they were purchased at the “Small Works” Art Show Reception, graciously hosted by the Yarmouth Frame Shop and Gallery owners, Beth and Lee.

Haute Provence Yellow road 2

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:18:01 -0500

This painting is another version of the previous Yellow Road posting. It is the same road, a little later in the day. It had rained for a little while (short showers are common in Provence in May) and though the colors were somewhat muted after the rain, the yellow broom was still vibrant. I also wanted to capture the anticipation of yet more beautiful scenery beyond the curve of the road.

Haute Provence Yellow road

Sat, 8 Aug 2009 09:57:38 -0400

In May, Haute Provence is not yet about the lavender. It is about wild flowers called genêts (broom) that line all the country roads. As my husband and I were exploring medieval villages one late afternoon near Seguret where we stayed for several days, every road side and country hill was ablaze with these beautiful bright yellow flowers. I like painting the yellow Provence as much as the lavender one.

Selected for the 15th Annual Juried Exhibition at the Zullo Gallery, Center for the Arts: www.zullogallery.org

Provence Trio

Sat, 8 Aug 2009 09:50:31 -0400

This is a quintessential provencal garden picture. These old pitchers are used as watering cans in my sister's garden. They were sitting on the granite step leading to her terraced garden in the late morning sun. I loved the way they were casually arranged on the step after the lavender had just been watered.

Day lilies

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:23:13 -0400

The recent Plein Air Painting Event in Maine kept me on a flower painting kick. These day lilies from my garden were in their one-day glory and I decided to capture their fleeting beauty. The painting is on foam board prepped with a pumice solution and fluid acrylic paint that my friend and great painter Suzanne de Lesseps told me about. It is a fun medium to work with. This flower painting is the last in the flower series for a little while. My next blog will be focused on my trip to France in May/June, the paintings I did while I was there and the new ones I cannot way to start.

More Boothbay Plein Air Paintings

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:30:04 -0400

Here's the second pastel painting I did at the Plein Air Painting Event at the Boothbay Botanical Gardens. Again, I focused on one area where the astilbe was perfectly placed and stunning in the light. I created this painting in about 35 minutes, keeping it loose and fresh.

Plein Air In Boothbay, Maine

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 10:55:42 -0400

I can think of no better way to start this blog than share a couple of paintings I did at the Plein Air Painting Event at the Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay in early July. A beautiful day with 60 artists scattered all over the gardens to render their own interpretations of that beautiful place.

I chose pastel as my medium, which I enjoy in plein air settings. The painting Sun Drops isolates a few lovely yellow flowers that bloomed in profusion. It sold at the event and I’m thrilled that part of the proceeds went to support The Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, which I highly recommend.