Open Studio Weekend

"Early November"
Vermont’s natural scenic beauty is enhanced each spring when the work of Vermont artists and craftspeople can be seen firsthand during Vermont’s 17th annual Open Studio Weekend May 23-24.
My studio will be open from 10am – 5pm both Saturday and Sunday, May 23 & 24. I’m looking forward to again welcoming visitors my studio, showing new works and discussing my work, materials, processes etc.
Open Studio Weekend is a statewide celebration of the visual arts and the creative process. Bennington County, Vermont is home to many fine artists and artisans including the other members of The Artisans of Southern Vermont. The other twenty-nine members of the group will also have their studios open this weekend. The fine work represented by this group includes other paintings, jewelery, pottery, furniture, sculpture, and more.
Take the Artisans of Vermont Open Studio Driving Tour and be eligible to win a $150 gift certificate to the artist’s studio of your choice. Simply visit at least 8 of the 30 Artisans of Southern Vermont studios, get the artists signature and then leave the form at one of the open studio locations. Drawing to be held on June 15, 2009. Open Studio Driving Tour map, instructions and “Studio Sleuth” form downloadable here.
The End of Winter
OK – this is my last winter painting for the year. This one, titled “Late Winter” is one of what I call my metaphoricalpaintings. The location is real, from White Creek, NY and was drawn in a sketchbook some years ago – I’m not sure how long ago since the sketch is not dated. But the work itself was created by drawing on my own consciousness. In this case, the conscious feeling that this winter seemed particularly long and dark. By the time March rolls around, nearly everyone in these parts – even those who are fans of the season – is ready for the end of winter. Generally, March is the time when fields begin to emerge from under the melting snow, creeks and streams begin to thaw and flow. The sky is also usually lighter and has fewer clouds while the sun brightens.

"Late Winter" - Watercolor landscape - 13" x 17"
The color scheme in this work carries the emotional content of the painting. The composition is very like the original pencil sketch, which is shown below. Since the sketch carried no color notes, I was able to pour in colors that seemed to fit the mood more than reality. Blue color dominates the painting as a metaphor on the end of winter “blues”. The light and warm sky as it appears in the top of the work and as reflected in the bit of stream is the growing optimism in the knowledge that the snow will disappear as spring arrives with warmth and is promise of summer.
The original sketch is shown below.

Pencil sketch for "Late Winter"
Interested in this painting or any of my other work – contact me via email – mail@tonyconner.com; or by phone – 802-753-1156
My artists website - www.tonyconner.com My artists blog – http://tonyconner.wordpress.com/
My architectural illustration website – www.tc-ai.com My house portrait website – www.houseportraits.biz
The light in early November

"Early November"
A depiction of the light of early November on the leafless and wizend tree. Trees, particularly weathered old trees are always inspiring to me. This work is a cousin of several other of my recent works, all of which are the genesis of two sketches – one in pencil and one in watercolor – done on Boston Common in June of 2003.
This painting began, as many of my paintings do, while perusing old sketchbooks. While paging through, I again came across the pencil sketch from my trip to Boston. As usual for me, the rugged, weathered look of the trunk was attractive. The sort of tripod form of the main branches as they grow up and away along with the sense of the main trunk twisting over itself also caught my eye.

Often, upon finding an inspiring sketch, I’ll begin composing a new painting. In this case, I decided to create another pencil sketch using this sketch as the model for the new drawing.
This was last November. I am very attracted to the quality of light in November. It is clear and bright and yet is also obviously fading. The shadows cast on a sunny November day are sharp but seem to have a transparency that is different from other times of the year. In the painting, I wanted to capture the sense of November light as well as the character of this old tree.
The new pencil sketch is shown below.
In the sketch, I tried to create a new tree, but wanted to retain the sense of twisting trunk and the tripod form of the main branches. Once complete, the sketch remained near my easel for some time while I considered it’s possibilities as a finished painting. Obviously, the sketch was turned into a painting, the one featured on this post.
As I mentioned, this work is the cousin of several others. One in particular , “Prairie Oak“, has had particular success in juried exhibits – it is shown below.

“Prairie Oak“
Interested in either of these paintings or any of my other works – contact me via email – mail@tonyconner.com; or by phone – 802-753-1156
My artists website - www.tonyconner.com
My architectural illustration website – www.tc-ai.com My house portrait website – www.houseportraits.biz
New England Watercolor Society North American Open Show
“Equinox Road“
20″ x 27″
My painting, “Equinox Road” has been accepted into the 11th Biennial North American Open Exhibition of the New England Watercolor Society. There were 418 works submitted by watermedia artists from all over the United States. One hundred works were accepted. It is a thrill to be included in this prestigious show.
The exhibit will be open from September 19 through November 2 at the South Shore Art Center, 119 Ripley Road, Cohasset, Massachusetts. The public is invited to the Opening Reception & Awards Ceremony which will be held on Friday, September 19 from 6:00 to 8:00pm.
I wrote about the process of creating this painting back in April of this year. That post can be seen here. It includes information on the germination of the idea, exploration of compositions and the final creation of the actual work.
Summer Work
A quick browse through my galleries will make it obvious that light on trees, especially on the trunks of the trees, is a favorite theme and subject.Many times, my studio paintings begin with an older sketch, developed through a series of thumbnails, often followed by a color study or two. This latest work began quickly from an old thumbnail sketch. The thumbnail indicated a deep forest and meandering creek, with bright sunlight streaming in from the left of the picture plane.
Rather than working out the composition with thumbnails and studies, I decided to jump right in. I sketched out the composition on a half sheet of stretched watercolor paper and worked with a wet-in-wet background.

“Glow Woods”
13″h x 20″w
Unframed
$520
The initial underpainting was developed with layers of paint applied directly in successive layers. One of the greatest challenges of working in watercolor is in creating rich darks without creating “mud” or muddy passages. In this work, the deep foreground darks were developed by layering glazes over the background and over each other, but only after each successive glaze had completely dried – becoming “bone” dry, as I often tell my students.
The resulting painting worked well enough. The contrast of the highly reflective stream with the dark shadowed forest along with the tree trunks that seem to glow with inner light create a bit of a fantasy look to these summer woods.
New Summer Work


“Along The Way”
9″ x 13″
Unframed
$235
It’s been almost two months to the day since the last post!? Summer is a busy season for me with exhibits, shows and fairs. The unfortunate reality is that actual painting time tends to get squeezed. I have been more productive lately, with a number of works in progress and a few completed.
As is the case for me quite often, this work began as a search through old sketchbooks for ideas and inspirations. In this case, a very old sketchbook contained a color sketch completed in the little town of East Arlington, Vermont in 1994.

East Arlington Vermont – Sept 7, 1994
The sketch is painted as if it was peak foliage, but it couldn’t have been that early in September. Anyone who has looked at other posts on this blog knows my attraction to raking light and sunlit structures. Looking at this one again inspired me create a similar feel but in the summer season.
My first thumbnail sketch was an attempt to keep both the feel and the scene as it was depicted in the original sketch.

After completing the first thumbnail, I decided to try another with the structures moved to the top of the composition and to give up the attempt to keep them as they were in the original sketch (and still are in East Arlington!).

This was the thumbnail that I decided to go with – with a couple changes. In the final painting, farm buildings were switched with each other – the main building ended up to the right and the “el” building to the left. In addition, the both were pushed a bit farther into the distance and another building was added to the left to create more distance in the final work.
Open Studio

Vermont Crafts Council Open Studio Weekend - Memorial Day Weekend, May 24 & 25 – 10am – 5pm
Once again, my studio along with more than 280 others will be open to the public on Memorial Day Weekend. This is my third year participating in this event. I look forward to hosting old and new friends along with meeting new people who visit over the course of these two days.
This year I’ll be showing many new works that have been completed over the fall and winter along with other recent work – and a few of my favorite older ones.
The studio has been spruced up and is ready for guests. If you don’t already know where it is, there are a number of ways to find the studio:
Looking for the big yellow signs with studio #58 on them
Print out a Vermont Crafts Council map and artists info for all participating Bennington County artists and crafters
Open this Google Map of my studio location and get directions from your location to the studio
Call me in the studio – 802-753-1156- or email me mail@tonyconner.com
Look forward to seeing you on Memorial Day weekend.





