Timeless Confidence Oil on birch panel 9 x 12″ framed $400
This painting is based on spots of color on my wipe rag. I seem to need some little prompt for these more abstract pieces so when I saw a pattern on the cloth I was using to clean my brushes I thought I’d try it. The painting is nothing like that pattern. It seems more marine than forest floor and with a slightly Renaissance feel.
Last week we were in San Diego and then in Santa Monica visiting our son Gavin and his family. Gavin works for Google and, bless his heart, updated all my software. So now I can use Firefox, which I prefer, for my blog. Maybe I’ll be better about posting–maybe not.
This painting is another that began with a very loose non-representational acrylic as an underpainting. None of the acrylic part remains but it gave me a start in thinking about what to do in oil. For one area of the painting I really needed a form and couldn’t think of anything that was just right. Then I saw a small part of a fashion advertisement that I lifted and changed to fit just where I wanted it–a long way from the forest floor but I’ll take any inspiration I can get! I’m having fun with these pretentious titles. 
Release Every Moment 11.5 x 11.5″ oil on birch panel $400
I’ve done several forest floor paintings but my technophobia makes me procrastinate. Here’s another semi-abstract forest floor piece. I started with a photograph but the painting morphed into something entirely different. That’s what thrills me about this series–seeing forms emerge on their own. I like negative painting and working this way gives me the opportunity to emphasize the shapes that appear. I’m still doing landscapes and still lives but it’s liberating to do these recent pieces without worrying so much about perspective and accuracy in drawing.
Absorbing and Releasing oil on birch panel 11.5 x 11.5″ unframed but ready to hang $400
Some time ago I read a description of leaf lard, what an awesome piecrust you can make with it. Leaf lard is the fat around the pork kidney and far superior to the lard you can buy in a grocery store. I began my quest for a local source by posting on the local list serve. Several people responded with suggestions. A farmer near Norwich said she had plenty so I went there expecting a nice container of ready-to-use lard. Alas, what she handed me was a big lump of pig fat. So–I went online to learn about rendering. Then I chopped up the fat so that I could grind it in the food processor. After I ground it I put it in the crockpot for about 8 hours until I had a container full of liquid fat with cracklings on the bottom. My grandmother would have used the cracklings for crackling bread but that seemed way too evil. So I disposed of the crackling and after straining the liquid, poured it in ice cube trays. I got a *lot* of Tbs.-sized servings–about 42 from 3 lbs. of pork fat. Then I bought myself some high-fat European butter and started in on the pie crust. Alas, the fancy butter was not marked off in Tbs.-sized portions like American butter so the upshot was that I put twice the butter plus 4 Tbs. of leaf lard. When I removed the foil and pie weights the crust was so full of fat it had slumped down in the pie pan. BUT–it was delicious. I juiced a bunch of lemons, grated plenty of zest and followed a standard recipe for lemon meringue pie. I think I still need to work on the meringue but I must say I was pleased. This lard is no worse for you than butter–both are saturated but not trans fats–so for special occasions I’ll break out some of the lard in my freezer and try using the correct amt. of butter.
We’ve been in Utica with Alison and her family for Christmas and have delayed our return home because of the huge snowstorm last night and this morning.
Here’s another semi-abstract forest floor painting, done mostly out of my head. I started with part of a photograph but changed all of the forms completely. I love the variety of seed pods and containers in nature so that’s the idea here.
Concerned with the Seed oil on birch panel 9 x 9″ $400
Doorway to the World 10 x 10″ oil on birch panel unframed but ready to hang $300
Here’s the next painting in my new abstract/forest floor series. As I work on these new pieces they change radically from the source I start with. It’s fascinating to me how the painting changes as I feel my way. What I wind up with bears little or no resemblance to what I begin with. And I see similar forms cropping up in different paintings. I guess that has something to do with developing an individual style. At any rate, it feels very different from the kind of primarily representational work that I’ve done in the past. I still love doing that but I’m having a good time exploring a new way of working.
Now that my cloud show is over I’m trying something a bit different–small paintings, mostly inspired by nature. I begin by taking part of a photograph of the forest floor and spinning off from that. These paintings are somewhat more abstract than my others but I’m enjoying letting the work develop as I go along. Although they’re small, each one is taking me a long time because I keep changing my mind about the composition. It’s both liberating and problematic to move away from just what’s before me but I’m finding it an interesting process. I still have paintings of clouds and other subjects that I haven’t gotten around to posting but thought I’d put this one up to show the sort of thing I’m working on right now.
Deep Within Oil on Masonite 9 x 12″ $125 unframed
I’ve had such a time with my blog! For months it has been typing one character per second–way too slow to be worth the effort. My savvy daughter-in-law Jill told me how to fix it (use another browser) so it looks like I’m finally back in business. I never signed up to have to deal with so much technology in my life but so it goes. This one is about making a tarte tatin. I’d never tried one before and when I realized I had an old box of puff pastry in the freezer and an abundance of good local apples it seemed worth the effort. I think next time I’ll use pie crust instead of the puff pastry. Maybe it was too old but I didn’t think it was as good as it should have been. But it was pretty tasty nonetheless. Note the handsome baking stone–a birthday gift from Jill and Gavin. It makes an awesome pizza on the grill. I thought while I was at it I would include some freshly-baked boules in the photo. I think I finally have the sourdough baking down so that it’s consistent.
Moss Rocks oil on birch panel 9 x 12″ $150 framed but ready to hang
While we were in Maine we took a hike with friends, into some rocky woods. I love rocks. They’re the best part of being in Maine. And to have them together with with trees and moss is a real treat.
Maine Vacation oil on birch panel 9 x 12″ unframed but ready to hang $150
Every summer we spend some happy days in Maine. Friends have a beautiful rental property in Round Pond and we got to go there after the season was over. I had a great time painting while Ed used binoculars to keep track of the coming and going of boats in the harbor below the lawn. I think of these Adirondack chairs as an invitation to the cocktail hour when the light becomes golden. I started the painting on site but had to finish it after we got home, so I took a good bit of artistic license.
Andrea Doughtie, Rural Painter 