Painting through a Lobster Glaze

After a nice respite at the ionarts retreat and spa in Maine, I’m back and ready...for a nap. Six boiled lobsters, three lobster rolls, two orders of fried clams, and steamed and countless other indulgences will bring on a desire for a good nap, or two.

I absolutely love the ever-changing light of the Maine coast, the rolling fog, and of course the clouds. I got a fair amount of drawing in and worked out serveral solutions for paintings here in the studio. It would be great to spend a whole season working in that environment, painting. Two weeks is not enough time to paint and also travel around to see the exhibits at galleries and colleges.

My last night happened to coincide with the annual scholarship auction at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Haystack is a paradise, situated on a slope with amazing ocean views from all the studios. Bidding at the auction was fast and furious, and I got outbid several times; maybe next year. See my flickr pictures of the event.

Here in Baltimore, when the heat becomes unbearable, it’s time for Artscape. I missed the openings this past weekend but plan to see the shows throughout the week and during the event this weekend July 21st through the 23rd. That’s in addition to lusting my way through the Bra Ball at the American Visionary Art Museum Saturday evening; should be a real stuffy event (sorry!).

Laure Drogoul, sculptor, performance artist, and 14-Karat Cabaret raconteur has been awarded the first $25,000.00 Sondheim Prize. The award, named in honor of the amazing Walter Sondheim and his late wife, Janet, will be given during a ceremony at the Artscape festival. Congratulations to a very deserving artist who has been making art in Baltimore for many years.

There's a lot of discussion going on, here and here for starters, concerning the Met's proposal to increase its admission price to $20.00. As long as they retain the "suggested" phrase on the signage it's unfortunately an inevitable trend. My art school professor always said, "you're not an artist if you pay more than 5 cents to get into the Met." With inflation I increased that to 10 cents. If I'm with my wife I pay 25 cents: it embarrasses her when I pay a dime. My observation over the years is that most pay the suggested admission or close to it. It would be interesting to hear from some of the cashiers, many of them artists I would bet.