I am so filled with appreciation !  The 3rd Annual Studio Show was a huge success!! Seeing friends from long ago and welcoming first time visitors to my Studio was truly enjoyable..

The weather was unseasonably warm and the mood as people shopped and shared conversation while sipping sangria was like being at a fun party!

Studio Shopping

Pottery by Melynn Allen

 

Melynn Allen’s Pottery looked perfect displayed in the cupboards and through out the Studio. I was sad to see her beautiful pieces leave their temporary home when Melynn packed up  at the end of the show! I’m already looking forward to next years Post Thanksgiving Studio Show. It’s a far cry from “Black Friday” at the Malls…no pepper spray…no long lines…just good company. 

 Thanks to all~

Welcoming visitors to share my Studio

“I sing the song of life…With the smile of the sun and the dance of the twilight.  I float in the sky in rhythm with free spirit and joyous heart.”     ~ Swami Paramananda

   Years ago I found a small leather bound ”Book of Daily Thoughts and Prayers” by Swami Paramanda.  It was in a pile of books at a “White Elephant Sale”.  When I opened it the words of wisdom caught my interest and so I purchased it for fifty cents.  I now consider it one of my priceless possessions.

Inside the front cover is a hand written inscription by the Swami himself  “With my hearty ~wishes & prayers… Paramananda  July 24th 1938 For Mabel Miller”  I can’t help but wonder who this woman was and how her paths crossed with this amazing Guru.

Tucked between two pages of thoughts at the end of the book I found an envelope and inside was the obituary written in the Boston Globe for the Swami…he was just 55 when he died of a heart attack while preparing for a service

Each morning I read a short meditation from this special book with it’s golden cover and consider it a gem.  I’m certain that it found it’s way to me…and I’m so grateful that it did.

As the Swami says… “Keep your mind and heart tranquil and your life peaceful”. 

“How does one become a butterfly,…You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar.”             ~Trina Paulus

My studio has been a safe and comfortable cocoon for me this summer.  A place where I can spend hours getting lost in my landscapes…dreaming… drawing…putting colors on canvas and paper.

 But now that the seasons are shifting and Autumn is approaching I’m beginning to get that  ” back to school” feeling.

 And so I’m planning a solo trip to Monhegan  in early October.  For me being on the Island  is like being in a classroom with the very best teachers presenting valuable lessons.  Nature, the sky and the sea are my Professors . I take notes with my paint brushes.  It’s a true learning experience.

Colored Rocks... Monhegan Gouache...C. Kidder

 It’s so easy to get stuck in your cocoon…”Without change there could be no butterflies” …I need to venture outside of my Studio to find my wings…it’s time. 

Taking flight

Two Barns...11x14 oil pastel C. Kidder

Two days in Vermont just made me want more.  Motoring through the mountains and watching the cotton candy clouds drip across the tips of the hills in the early morning made me want to pull over and set up my easel!

A few years ago I spent an entire week exploring Southern Vermont with my brushes…no agenda…just painting.  On that trip I found two barns with alot of personality on an “off the beaten path” back road.  I parked on the edge of the field in the middle of nowhere and began sketching with my oil pastels.  I lost myself…and I was lost… but it was heaven!

I need to head for the hills again sometime soon . I’ll bring my paints and stay awhile in the Green Mountains painting it’s peace and breathing in the crystal clear air…I love Vermont…I know that it’s  good for me.

Dreaming in Color...11x14 oil ...C. Kidder

This is one of three paintings that I’ll be dropping off for the “Art in the Barn ” Exhibit in Essex,Ma. this coming week…always a fun and diverse show.

Camelback Morning...Gouache and oil pastel...C.Kidder

Staying at the  Camelback Inn Resort in Scottsdale Arizona was like visiting another planet. A planet called Paradise. Maybe some people would disagree but living in an unreal world can be very healthy…especially when you’re coming from a place called New England where the Spring that you longed for all winter was nothing more than a stretch of gray and rainy days.

In Arizona the temperature can reach near 100 degrees but you need not worry… your energy  is never drained. The breezes from the palm trees fan your face and you just don’t feel hot. It truly is a “dry heat”.

Red Rock Mountains

One day I took a hike up Pinnacle Peak Mt. and that just confirmed in my mind that I was in another world. Saguaro cacti towered tall from the redrocks…and a bright orange Gila Monster lizard sun bathed on the rocks.  Unreal .

Now I’m back home and the weather has turned to summer like temperatures…skipped right by Spring.  It ’s very green here  and a part of me misses the terra cotta colors and the peaceful energy that comes from the Redrock Mountains ( not to mention the Pina Coladas poolside) but tomorrow I’ll go for a walk on the beach and be grateful . There are no beaches in Arizona. This is my real world. Not bad.

Fleeting Beauty...oil painting...C. Kidder

 “EVERY FLOWER AND EVERY TREE AND EVERY ROOT ARE ANNUAL PROPHETS SENT TO AFFIRM THE FUTURE AND CHEER THE WAY.”  ~Henry Ward Beecher

There have been alot of gray and green days this May… but even when the sun isn’t shining the light of plush pink flowering trees lifts my spirits.

I’ve actually decided  that the blossoms are even more vivid when the skies are violet and the grass is freshly green.

Nature’s lessons are subtle…There is always a choice in how we view the world…I think it wants  us to see it’s beauty.

One Pink Flower...oil painting by C.Kidder

“KEEP YOUR LOVE OF NATURE, FOR THAT IS THE TRUE WAY TO UNDERSTAND ART BETTER.”

 ~VINCENT  VAN GOGH

Springtime ~Oil Pastel~ C. Kidder

  Lines Written in Early Spring…by William Wordsworth

I heard a thousand blended notes,  While in a grove I sate reclined, In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts bring sad thoughts to the mind  .

To her fair works did Nature link the human soul that through me ran; And much it grieved my heart to think what man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower, the periwinkle trailed its wreaths; And’t is my faith that every flower enjoys the air it breathes.

The birds around me hopped  and played, their thoughts I cannot measure: But the least  motion which they made it seemed a thrill of pleasure.

The budding twigs spread out their fan, to catch the breezy air; And I must think, do all I can, that there was pleasure there.

If this belief from Heaven be sent, If such be Nature’s holy plan,Have I not reason to lament what man has made of man?”                                                                                                                           

I’ve just finished reading a book called Clara and Mr.Tiffany by Susan Vreeland and so it was fun to see several panels of  Tiffany Glass exhibited on display when I visited the Metropolitan Museum in N.Y.C. last week.

From the book I learned alot about the delicate process of “painting” with glass shards and also about the women who designed many of the nature inspired pieces in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.  They were a small group of young, single,and talented women who worked together and were fiercely devoted to their art .  Women who worked tirelessly and were immensely proud of  their creations.

A Tiffany Window

Mr. Tiffany made it mandatory that all female employees remain unmarried.  If they chose to marry they could no longer work  with him at the Tiffany Studio.  Very interesting….”We’ve come a long way baby” . Imagine how that requirement would be received today!