The Path, 6x6 inch Oil Painting by Kelley MacDonald

SOLD

 I've painted this path to the beach before, but honestly, this is the one I'm happiest with!  Little 6x6, I look at it and say "Yes, I can see my path...."  I love painting of paths, beach paths, forest paths, etc. and for some reasons the brushwork in this turned out EXACTLY as I imagined it.  Live and learn, as my Mom used to say...  Here's your path... take the first steps...

Jar Of Joy, 5x7 Inch Oil Painting by Kelley MacDonald

$100 & $10 S&H

Click HERE To Purchase!

I really changed gears last week.  It turns out there is so much wattage necessary to get ready and have an Open Studio that afterwards I was the equivalent of a wet noodle - could hardly paint!

But this little charmer made me smile when I painted it.  Something about the blue and yellow - always a favorite of mine... 

And then my class gave me a charge, on Saturday.  We chose squares of colors which were face down on a plate - cut from magazines.  When we got 5 or 6 we taped them to the side of a piece of paper, then set about to exactly come up with that color.  You might think this is easy - you would be wrong!  But it was fun and challenging, and then we were ready to get to our little still lives... and I took the bit again to dive into painting.  Good thing... I have the OTHER Open Studio coming up in a few weeks!!!

I promise I will start a newsletter soon, so every post is not filled with updates, but I was so thrilled to hear that 3 of my paintings were accepted into the Small Matters Of Great Importance Show at the Edward Hopper House in New York in August.  Here they are, below:

I'm crossing my fingers that my framer got the frame right - I wanted a floater frame with a gold liner.... 

Gratitude

This weekend I participated in the South Coast Open Studio Tour.  It was successful in so many ways. I met people who 'knew' me from my blog (lots of you!).  I met people who I only knew through Facebook.  And I met friends of friends who had seen my work in small doses at other shows, or at The Art Stable Gallery.

Here's what I found... people who love art, have big, beautiful hearts.  I don't pretend to understand why, but they see beauty first, just like so many artists.  Meeting them is a joy.  They may or may not purchase anything, that is irrelevant.  What they say to me when they see my art makes my heart sing.  They say that it makes them smile.  It lifts their spirits. It reminds them in the dead cold of Winter that there will soon be Spring.  They 'get' how I love dogs, cats, birds... sunsets, glittering water and dew on the grass.  They say they 'know' me through the things I choose to paint.  They cheer me on, and remind me why I share my work online, as well as in shows and galleries.

Well, THEY lift my heart.  With their comments on my blog and on Facebook.  When they wish me luck with my Open Studio. When they pile in the car with friends and make the trek to visit my part of the world, trusting me that when I say there's a lot of interesting work to see besides mine, that I won't steer them wrong.  They tell me my Blogging Talk motivated them to start their own blog, and are happy they did.  

Honestly, I had a LOT of sales.  It was exciting.  It was exciting to see someone have a painting 'speak' to them, and have them tell me they will treasure it.  But the most wonderful thing was to meet so many truly beautiful people, to share a little conversation, and to feel the connection.  Thank you to all of you who came out when they could've been sitting in their air conditioned living rooms.  Thank you for making my weekend.

Chocolate At The Beach, 18x24, oil, and a correction by Kelley MacDonald

Now you call know why I never did well in clerical jobs - how they kept me on as a legal secretary in my younger days for 3 years is totally beyond me!  Yesterday's little collage said my Open Studio was on Sunday and Monday.  No.  The South Coast Open Studio Tour is SATURDAY and SUNDAY, the 20th and the 21st.  I think my brain is not working right because of the heat.  Which I am trying desperately to avoid!

But the doggie, above, will be hanging this weekend at the Little Compton Art Show at the Community Center.  Friday night, Saturday and Sunday.  It's a great little show, and if you're in the mood for a ride, it's a beautiful ride from my house.  You can't miss my Open Studio - I've got art EVERYWHERE.  On the house, in the house, on the porch, the side porch.....  it's a good thing, though.  And I have two FUN friends helping me out this weekend, I feel so blessed, and lucky..... really lucky.

Also this lovely lady at the Little Compton Show: 

I've been awol lately.  No excuse except I haven't been painting many little Daily Paintings!  I've been working on bigger pieces and trying to get organized (a Herculean effort for me) for my first Open Studio weekend of the Summer - this weekend!

As a member of the South Coast Artists Open Studio Tour, I'm excited to show you my work!  I'm emptying out my living room and porch to hang paintings, so if it's too hot we don't have to deal with it - I'll have the a/c on! ( I figure this is a great excuse to do work in my living room after the Tour.... heh heh heh!)

You can download a brochure, or pick one up at my house first!  I'm easy to get to:  from ANYWHERE! 

•  Take Route 24 in RHODE ISLAND.  
• Exit 5 (again, in RI) which is Tiverton and Little Compton.  
• Head South off the exit for about a mile - I'm 1888 Main Road - right past Coastal Roasters (best coffee anywhere).  

You can download the brochure HERE, and you will see I am #9  on the map - but I am the FIRST artist on the Main Road.  A great place to start, and I can give you easy directions to any of the other great artists on the Tour.

Listening To The Heartbeat Of The Sea, 8x8 Inch Oil Painting by Kelley MacDonald

This painting is in response to the Challenge of our Girls Just Wanna Paint group.  The topic was a line from an e.e. cummings poem.

maggie and milly and molly and may

  by E. E. Cummings

             

maggie and milly and molly and may 
went down to the beach(to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang 
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing 
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone 
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me) 
it's always ourselves we find in the sea

-

"For whatever we lose (like a you or a me), it's always ourselves we find in the sea...." I myself am always drawn to the water, be it a stream, pond, ocean, pool, etc.  I stand at the ocean's edge and feel my heartbeat sync to the lapping of the waves.  I feel like I can find the solution to any problem there, and that in the end, it will all be OK.  This couple must feel the same way.  In Maine lots of people walk out on to the rocks, as in this painting, and sit and just experience the deep, cool, peace of the water's edge.  This painting, as well as the others posted today on our blog, will be shown at our show at the Thayer Academy gallery mid November - December.  Please plan to stop by!