New Painting: P'town Dunes

"P'town Dunes"

9" x 12" 1" oil on panel

Painted while I was in Cape Cod. The light on the dunes in September inspired me and reminded me why the Cape was such a popular art colony in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

$280.00 (USD) Free shipping within USA.
(Buyers outside of US, please contact me via email.)

Available for sale HERE at my Daily Paintworks gallery or buy now:

New Painting: Jamestown Fishing

"Jamestown Fishing"

5" x 7" x .0.25"

Jamestown Island is one of Rhode Island's hidden gems, tucked away from it's more famous neighbor, Newport.

Sunny Day in the Hollow

"Sunny Day in the Hollow"

18" x 18" oil on linen

A recent painting done at a CT state park called Chatfield Hollow State Park. With the beautiful sunny days, I often feel torn between hiking and painting. I got to do both the day of this painting!

Shroomscapes: My Paintings at the 39th Annual NEMF Sam Ristich Foray

"Portabello Blues" 

Oil on panel

8" x 10" 

Eight of my "mushroom paintings" will be on display at Crozier-Williams Center on the Connecticut College campus in New London, Thursday, July 30th - Sunday, August 2nd New London for the 39th annual Northeast Mycological Association (NEMF) Sam Ristich Foray. Connecticut Valley Mycological Society (CVMS) is hosting the event this year at Conn College. 

My friend Laurie Gorham told me that She'd seen my earlier mushroom paintings and thought I could come up with more "portraits" for the conference.  Thank you Laurie for the heads-up!

Check out the organization's FB page here for more infomation on the conference, updates and   photographs by NEMF member of locally foraged mushroom, morels and fungi. 

"All in the Family"

Oil on Panel

8" x  8"

                                        

Bull Dogs

"Sam Side"

Miniature magnet (oil on panel)

 2" x 2"

"Sam Sitting"

 oil on panel

 7" x 5"

Two portaits I painted this year of a beautiful bulldog I briefly got to know.  The first one is a "miniature magnet painting": I attachd a super-strong 1" round magnet to the back of the panel to create an original work of art that can decorate the fridge, or office file cabinet. Who says art has to be restricted to white walls?

FARM, WINERY & BISTRO III EXHIBITION RECEPTION THIS SUNDAY

"Barn Island Trees" 

Oil on Panel

8"H x10"W

Two of my recent landscape paintings have been accepted at the Chamard Vinyard / Six Summit Gallery invitational exhibition for Connecticut Women Artists, Inc (CWA, Inc) members.  

The opening reception is this Sunday, Dec 7th from 2-5pm at Chamard Vinyard in Clinton, CT. The vinyard is located at 115 Cow Hill Road, Clinton CT, 06413.

Dinner will be available before and after the reception; call 860-664-0299 to make your reservations.

The exhibition itself runs from January 23rd to March 22nd.

Painting Empty

"Downtown Shadows"

Oil on Paper

7" x 11.5"

What do I mean painting empty? Feeling empty, tired, But what really is "empty"? For me empty means, ironically, too full, had a tiring day or week of work. It means I need "defragging": clearing out all the garbage in my brain so I can create. Today, I decided no ideas coming so, just show up at the easel to paint. I think the process of painting defragged my brain; just the process of doing it helped empty my brain, made me feel clearer. This is the defragging painting above, quickly photographed and probably will see stuff to change later.

Do you feel this way at times?  Please feel free to share with me your feelings and your methods to jump start yourself  are post here are click my facebook link to share on  Judy Holder's Studio.

"First Pepper"

6" H x 8" W x 1/4" D oil on panel

"First Pepper" was an opportunity to preserve in a still life one of the fruits of my summer gardens, and at the same time play with the lush, sensual qualities of oil paint.  It's now available for sale on my ebay auctions.  (You can check out all my works for sale on ebay in time for the holidays here.)

"Reflections at Dusk" - Second in my Cigar Box series now on ebay

Mixed Media

Dimensions of box:

7-1/4" L x 4-1/2" W x 4-1/4" D

As promised in my previous post, here is another of my painted Cigar Box featuring my original oil paintings, now up for sale on ebay  . This land/waterscape in also an image from Bluff Point State Park in Groton; in addition to being a wonderful local place for hiking (the woods have endless trails that all eventually lead back to one another, so my walk is never quite the same twice), the variety of woods and water and beach provide a lot of inspiration to me as an artist.  And it's right in an urban area, but can feel very far from the city.

Check out my auction for this item, or go to my main ebay page to see all my current auctions.

"Reflection at Bluff" - My first ebay auction this season

Mixed Media

Dimensions of box:

7-1/4" L x 4-1/2" W x 4-1/4" D

This box is my first ebay auction of the fall/winter season, in time for the holiday season. "Reflections at Bluff" is one of my series of oil landscapes on wooden cigar boxes.  The boxes are beautifully made, with dovetail joinery and brass fittings; and since I prefer panel or board to canvas for my oil paintings, working with cigar boxes seemed natural.  

And it's practical, too: something you can use to store small items, and at the same time display fine art anywhere in your home besides the walls.

The view is one from Bluff Point State Park in Groton. CT.

I'll have more in this series posted to my ebay auctions in the coming days.  In the meantime you can bid on this item here.

Sunset Haze

10" x 10" oil on panel

What can I say? I enjoy looking up at the skies for inspiration.  Their subtle and not-so-subtle shapes and colors, in their vast endless space, seem to offer a key to simplify life in this complex world. Sometimes I love looking at skies more than I like looking at (this) world.  Gazing up helps me clear my head: there are no intersections, no interruptions, and no clutter.

Downtown, No Parking

3.5 " x 9.5"
oil on panel

A bright day in the city, decorated with cast shadows everywhere, gave me many reasons to paint shapes in complimentary tones of yellow, lavender, red, and green.

Mushroom & Sweet Pepper

8"x 8" oil on panel

I love how the portobello mushrooms look this year as subjects for still life painting. Their unusual shapes and subtle colors offer opportunities to play with paint; in this case, the muted "flesh" of the mushroom reflected the blue-green backdrop. The pepper gave me a chance to play with cool and warm reds to create form, and contrast the neutral tones of the mushroom. This organic mushroom and sweet pepper came from Fiddleheads Food Co-op in New London.  

"Dalmation Two"

8"h x 6"w Oil on Panel

This painting is the companion-piece to "Dalmation One" and depicts the same dog in a different pose.  Again I used blue tones to represent the black spots; this time a slightly less abstract and more "painterly" style seemed appropriate, and the colors are more muted than in the first.  I almost never plan those sorts of things in advance, but let the painting itself guide me towards the "look" it wants.

Boston Terrier

5" x 5" oil on panel 

This beautiful little Boston Terrier was definitely looking forward to it's treat. I had fun working with the shapes of paint and creating energy with the brush strokes, colors and the forms created by the dog's pose. 

Portabella Mushroom Family

Oil on Pan
8"x 8"
SOLD

I could not resist creating a still life oil painting of a beautiful organic portabella mushroom I bought last week from the Fiddleheads Foods Co-op in New London, CT.  This one had little mushrooms growing at its base; it made me think of a family or of a "hobbit home"of mushrooms.  The beautiful white stem provided me with an opportunity to depict for the reflected red and blue-green colors of the background. 

Little River

SOLD

Enjoyed painting this view of Little River in Waterbury VT earlier in the summer. I had to work fast with the light changing and a few pesky mosquitos after me.  So I decided to just use a palette knife and go at it.  Palette knife painting appeals to me on many levels because I can get very clean color, very tactile surfaces, and the surface is reflective due to light playing off the ridges of paint. Setting aside my paint brush down now and then is liberating and fun.

Latest Paintings for aution on Ebay

"Chicken Snacks"

Acrylic painting Magnet

1.75" x 1.75"

SOLD

Plane Time

4.5" x  7" Oil on Panel

This is the 2nd oil painting in my "Hardware Series" of tools, etc.  I have alway loved old wood planes: their beautiful wood handles, worn from use, against the streamlined steel metal parts; and to top it off, finely machined brass knobs, etc.  So I decided to pay homage to this little block plane that I have and put it in the spotlight as my model for an oil painting.

No Ducks/ Pond and fall foliage

oil on panel

Sold

I really had to work on simplfying this landscape of many shapes.  For me, learning to stop working on a painting is sometimes a challenge.  By continuing working (to get it "right"), my mind tricks me.  What is "right"?  Why does that idea have a hold on my mind, sometimes stronger than that of the painting itself?  I may ruin the raw energy or kill the painting by continuing to work on it, but not realize it until too late.  (That is however one of the benefits of working in oils: scrape or wipe the surface, and I get a second chance!)  With "No Ducks", though, I realized early on that it was finished.

Thank goodness.