I’m finding it harder and harder to keep all my balls in the air.  The blog ball is usually the first to hit the floor.  As my years pile up, I seem to slow down.  All too often, I tell myself, “You deserve a break.”  “Deserve” maybe, but “can afford”, not so much.   Could the train of artistic success be slowing down to the point where it may become sidelined altogether?  (I can’t resist mixing up a few metaphors.  Trains, jugglers, they seem to go together OK, as in a circus somehow.)

Maybe it’s time to focus on the good stuff that has happened.  Thinking . . .  Well, I got into a regional juried exhibit at the Center for the Arts (CFA) in New London.   To be more accurate, one of my paintings got into the exhibit (as an exhibitionist, I was always a nonstarter).  The chosen painting is “Enchanted”, a 4-foot tall gallery-wrap.  [You can see it on my page titled “Studio Landscapes.]  I painted Enchanted quite a while ago, and it has hung at Hatfields, and at Kimball Jenkins, then briefly at East Colony, where I noticed how warped it had become.  I knew I had to do something to correct that issue before taking it up to New London, so I decided to mount it on a larger, stiff board, like plywood.  But plywood that large would be quite heavy.  So I am using instead a large piece of foam insulation board, which I painted dark brown.

Enchanted, on foam board

The board, for all its stiffness and success in correcting the warp, is kind of a fragile surface. That’s worrisome, and I am now debating whether to glue on some thin slats as to mimic a frame, which would protect the edges.  Such a project it has become!

The reception for the CFA exhibit is this coming Friday, November 7, 5-7 p.m. at the New London Inn, 353 Main Street, New London, NH.  Unfortunately, there’s little chance I will get there.  That Friday is one of my Boston Symphony Orchestra Fridays, and we rarely get back to Manchester before six p.m., and New London is another 45 minutes North.  But if you are in the vicinity of New London next Friday night, do check it out and let me know what I missed.

Another upcoming date to be hyper-aware of:  Saturday and Sunday, November 8 and 9, are NH Open Doors.  My personal studio is not participating, but I will be at East Colony Fine Art Gallery on Sunday, demonstrating my painting.  The hours for East Colony are 10 to 4, both Saturday and Sunday.  The address is 55 South Commercial Street, Manchester NH.

I have two new figure studies to show you.  One is Margaret, clothed in a striped shirt.  The second is Nancy, clothed in a different striped shirt.  Nancy is one of us artists, but graciously filled in when our scheduled model couldn’t get there on Monday.  Nancy usually sets up the pose and lighting for us, so when it came to setting up herself and lighting herself, she was handicapped by not being able to judge how it looked.  Looked pretty good, I guess.  I’m happy with my result.  I do love stripes! Why to people assume I’m being sarcastic when I say that?)

Margaret Sept 2014 16×12

Nancy as Substitute Model

Although it looks as if I had more time with Nancy, and therefore she must be on a smaller canvas, both paintings are on 12×16 panels.  I was forced to paint in a background around Nancy because I was painting over an earlier painting, and I hadn’t covered it up with a neutral ground the way I had done for the Margaret panel.  When forced, I can stretch.

But the Margaret was a struggle, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to show it on the blog.  It does look better “in person”.  (Note to self, must come up with better term to express personhood of a painting.)  But today I couldn’t resist juxtaposing the two poses and their stripes.

Here is a Mark Your Calendar alert:  The NH Institute of Art is holding “Art and Soul“, its 4th Annual Auction in Portsmouth this year.  Thursday, November 13, 6-8:30, at Discover Portsmouth, 10 Middle Street, Portsmouth, NH.  I have donated my Lotus Studies to the cause  (see it on Studio Landscapes page), and the family of my recently deceased friend and law partner, Hilda Fleisher, has donated something from her large collection of contemporary NH art.  I can’t wait to see what it is, out of all the pieces with which I became familiar during her life.  This event is always fun, with great music and food, and artwork.  Tickets cost $45–worth it!–and all proceeds go to fund student scholarships.

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 and the Bernerhof Inn in Glen; at the Red Jacket Inn in North Conway; at the law offices of Mesmer and Deleault at 41 Brook St in Manchester; at the Manchester office of Congresswoman Carol Shea Porter; at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center in Manchester (but access is limited to patients and health care workers). Two Lowell Cemetery paintings  are on view at the Arts League of Lowell, 307 Market Street, Lowell, Massachusetts. In a few days, Enchanted can be see at the New London Inn (address above).  And in Portsmouth’s Levy Gallery, you can find 8 of my newest 6×6’s as part of the annual Women’s Caucus for Art 6×6 show.

You may also view paintings with prices and order prints at my Fine Art America page. If the painting you are interested in is not there, or if you prefer to bypass that experience, you may contact me by email to alotter@mac.com.

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