Bear Notch sunset 24×36

Bear Notch Sunset (named for an overlook on Bear Notch Road in Bartlett, NH) is the piece that I started as an abstract painting inspired by Tom Thompson.  Like all of my previous attempts to paint abstractly,  it morphed into a recognizable landscape.  But this time I collaborated–I gave in to my natural predilection in order to rescue the painting (after all, 24×36 canvases don’t grow on trees), but am still determined to keep working on the abstract angle.  Proof:  here is the one I started immediately after declaring Bear Notch Sunset finished:

Design Inspired by Nature 11×14

I had no photographic reference for Design Inspired.  It grew from a mental image, which I tried to capture in paint, thinking if it’s successful as a design, I might do a larger version.  However, I currently am not inclined to go big with it.  Not that I didn’t enjoy the expressiveness of applying this thick, dark pigment.  (I switched internally for inspiration from Tom Thompson to Vincent Van Gogh.)  But I don’t feel like repeating that design; I’d rather come up with a new idea to use in the same manner.  Maybe not a landscape.

Unfinished business:  I promised images of my four paintings from the Blackstone Valley Plein Air Competition at the end of September, but I have only one to show you.  Two of them were purchased, one to persons unknown, and the other to a nonresponsive purchaser for whom I have only an email address.  A third I donated to the sponsoring organization (“Alternatives”).  But the fourth has come home, and, alleluia!  it was my personal favorite:

In the Shadow

The little community was aswarm with painters (25 but seemed like more), while I was tucked away in this secluded spot that the director had led me to.  I felt very special.  I was on the balcony of one of the red brick mill buildings that Alternatives inhabits.  The roof over the balcony cast a huge shadow over the millstream below.   It may help your orientation if I tell you that the waterway disappears over the edge of a dam on the right.  The play of shadow and light on the water and on the aquatic plants intrigued me, but I worried that you couldn’t tell what was happening.  Others have assured me that they easily “read” it as what it was.  Was the subject matter too abstract for the customers?  Or just not evocative of a landmark?  Doesn’t matter, I’m happy to have it still in my possession.

The Alternatives event was outstanding, as good as Castine except with respect to the number of avid collectors at the finish of Castine.  Both were first-time events, which makes the undertakings even more admirable and their success amazing.  Alternatives treated the artists like kings.  We got box lunches delivered to us in the field on the first day, and a buffet luncheon back at headquarters on the second day, and more food at the auction that night.  High class all the way.  I wish I had made a point of meeting the juror, Charles Movalli, but  at that point I was on the edge of wipeout and still had the drive home ahead of me (2 hours at least).

Aline Lotter is currently exhibiting:

at the Hatfield Gallery and the East Colony Fine Art Gallery in Manchester (both are in Langer Place, 55 S. Commercial St., Manchester, NH);  at the Bartlett Inn in Bartlett; at the Red Jacket Inn in North Conway;  at the law offices of Mesmer and Deleault at 41 Brook St in Manchester;  at the Epsom Library in Epsom, NH; at the Manchester office of Congresswoman Carol Shea Porter;  at the Studio 550 Art Center in Manchester NH, as part of the annual 6×6 show of the Womens Caucus for Art; and at her studio by appointment (email: alotter@mac.com).