Ah! The Beauty of a Fence

Susans' Fence, Oil Pastel on Arches, 9 3/4" x 9 1/8", © 2007 Jennie Traill Schaeffer

$129 mounted | $149 matted

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"The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said, 'This is mine,' and found people naive enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society."
-Rousseau

Unfortunately, a fence can be so old and neighbors can forget who owns their fence which determines what is theirs. Neighbors can be wonderful, they can also be not so wonderful. Lee and I have been blessed by not-so wonderful neighbors and it's been a struggle for nearly two years since our old fence was torn down without our permission by the dears. We've tried talking civilly to them, considered legal recourse which would lead only more aggravation, but without avail. We installed the beautiful dog-ear, board on board fence last fall and no, our neighbors are not now good since we put it in, but we now have our privacy. It was one of the best decisions we've made on our home.

Whenever we sit outside we always note how beautiful our fence is. I wish our situation was easier and we could have made amends, but the fence was the right solution. Last summer my mom gave me Black-Eyed Susans from her garden; this year they doubled in size and are dazzling! When I was thinking about what to draw today for my coffee hour drawing, I realized how beautiful it was outside and went to create the brilliance of my flowers against the fence, against the sky. The image is rather deceiving -- kind of a suburban bliss. Drawing behind my fence I did feel blissful this morning.

Hydrangeas!

Hydrangeas from my Garden, 7 1/4" x 10 3/4", Watercolor on Arches, ©2007 Jennie Traill Schaeffer

My sister gave me a gorgeous Hydrangea plant when I moved into our home. I planted it two years ago, last summer no blooms. Finally this season it is bursting with flowers and color, starting out as a purple and changing to pinks. Over a week ago, I learned to cut a hydrangea and to make it last you must singe the end removing a waxy film that prevents the veins from drinking water. The flowers from more than a week ago still look stunning.

The above Coffee Hour Drawing of my Hydrangea is done in watercolor, a medium I have tended to relegate to my sketch book. It's not a medium I am overly comfortable with but have had a recent interest in working with something more transparent and loose in my drawings. My students have been inspiring me with the work they are doing and so I'm urged to play with mediums I'm not used to.

Enough with the computer -- I need a good night's sleep to prepare to paint tomorrow.

Stay tuned for the next post . . . Watching Jennie Paint.

Summering in the Hamptons

Rosen Pool, 9.5" x 6.5", Watercolor Sketch, ©2007 Jennie Traill Schaeffer

The Hamptons are truly an ideal sort of fantasy land. I had never been, but my husband Lee and I had the opportunity this past weekend. We drove out to Long Island on Thursday evening to leave all our troubles behind and do nothing but relax. And that we did.

This sketch hopefully conveys the utter serenity of the place. It was a beautiful weekend, warm and sunny. We stayed at my sister-in-law's in-law's home where we had open access to the pool above, tennis courts, a hot tub, and the beach within driving distance.

The Hamptons has long been a respite for artists as the locale was at one point much more rural and less inundated by development and of course more reasonable properties. Jackson Pollock did his greatest works on the Island and living artist, Peter Beard maintains a residence on Montauk. I can see why, however the Hamptons of today are not within reach of an emerging artist unless through some generous friend or family. I am very fortunate to have spent this weekend away and hope to return sometime as a guest.

A New Saint!

Study for St. Perker, 7" x 10.5", Oil Pastel & Acrylic on Arches, © 2007 Jennie Traill Schaeffer

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The Coffee Hour Drawings were inspired by this dutiful, gleaming workhorse which provided excellent coffee while inspiring my drawing sessions. This relic of the '70s recently "went to college" as my in-laws often refer to the passing of Wembley, the family dog.

I've heard from so many people upon seeing my painting of a percolator from 2005 how much they love theirs! Each person's description of their bond with the percolator sounds more like a love affair than just an appreciation of its functionality. To honor this great kitchen appliance I've decided to canonize it. Behold St. Perker! Look for more studies and an oil painting in the future.

Emerging from Italy

Arrivederci Italia, Ciao America. I'm back from my awesome 12 day adventure in Italy and I managed to get back to NJ with a few kinks, despite the storm that hit on Friday. It was an incredible two weeks and too much to mention. I will try to give a summary of the most incredible stuff. First the food and the art. Incredible. Did I already say that? The food kept getting better, some things stand out -- a two hour meal at the Castello delVerazzano (yes the very castle of the namesake of the Verazzano Bridge) winery in Chianti where we were served a seven or eight course lunch with wine tasting, fabulous pasta carbonara (served with raw eggs that cook in the heat of the pasta with parmagiana and pancetta) in Rome, to die for fresh artichokes cooked in a multitude of ways, oh and did I mention the wine and the gelato?

The art -- it was so great to see David and Michelangelo's Unfinished Slaves again. I saw a painting from 1470 by Antonello da Messina of Sicily that was strikingly modern to me in its composition. I did a sketch of it and just tried to find it online, but can't locate it. It's the Madonna and Child Enthroned and Two Angels in the Uffizi collections. Then in Rome, after spending two hours in the Vatican Museums, we stumbled upon the modern art galleries which my tour book author shunned as horrific. I was so amazed with some of the work that I could have spent hours there despite my hunger and our need to also see the Sistine Chapel. We lingered slowly through each room seeing the Deposition of Christ by Van Gogh, a wood relief carving by Gaughin, several unfamiliar Italian artists I fell in love with, and an entire room dedicated to the art of Georgio Morandi, a 20th century Italian painter whose work I looked at often in art school.

The highlight of the trip was driving to Castrocielo and Ausonia, the two towns where my great-grandparents were born. We were given a private tour by a friend of my parents who lives in Castrocielo, driving us all over both towns and to Montecassino, a well-known abbey that has been destroyed and rebuilt three times due to war. I walked all through the towns, saw a family crypt with the names of possible family ancestors. It was incredible. Not much more to say than that.

The trip has given me a clear mind and lots of new references from which to paint. Though I am swamped with work to do for upcoming shows, I am emerging from Italy with freshness and relaxation. I have a couple of commission pieces to finish over the next week and a half and then onto paintings of Italy. In the meantime, I have just set up a flickr account and uploaded all of the sketches I did while in Italy. I completed ten drawings, I would have liked to do more, however my trip was not just for painting but also for a vacation with my husband and seeing and experiencing Italy.

To view my sketchbook drawings, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/traillworks/

Red Velvet

Yesterday being Valentine's Day I was struck with everything red discussed in the media in honor of the annual celebration of love. And after all of these years of celebrating Valentine's Day who knew there was so much new material to read or hear about. On Tuesday, NPR's Susan Stamberg did a story called The Color Red: A History in Textiles on Morning Edition about the exhibit Red at the Textile Museum in Washington D.C. She talked about the little rare bug found in Mexican cacti, the cochineal, used for making red dye and Louis XIV's contribution to fashion of wearing of scarlet heals.

Then to my further pleasure yesterday, I went online to the New York Times only to see an article on the resurgence of a popular Southern sin, the Red Velvet Cake. Cupid and my chocolate desires hit me and I was so overwhelmed by this decadent site that I used one of the photos from the article as reference for my "Coffee Hour Drawing". What fun!

This drawing was completed on Arches paper with water-soluble oil pastels. These are a really pliable medium, made by Crayola and non-toxic, I discovered these in college while interning at the Crayola Factory in Easton, PA. I haven't used them since art school; they offer very rich colors and can be manipulated fairly easily with water and brush.

It's hard to know what will sell and to spend your entire day as an emerging artist making only what will sell. So far I'm enjoying the exercise of the "Coffee Hour Drawing". I don't know if these will be appealing to people to buy, if they are, let me know. I'm looking forward to the next drawing.