Lovely weekend for drive to Catskills

It was a whole-weekend event to get to Windham for the opening reception on Saturday, thanks to traffic galore.  It was well worth it to meet some of the other artists and potential collectors, and, most of all, to see the show!

WFA reception getting started

My paintings on wall at WFA

The exhibition, A River Runs Through It, will be up through August 9th at Windham Fine Arts. Check it out – it’s less than half an hour west of the NY Thruway (Route 87), and a gorgeous meandering, traffic-free part of the trip.

Crowds at 440 Gallery’s opening

Last night’s opening reception at the 440 Gallery spilled out onto the sidewalk of 6th Avenue as dozens of artists, friends, and patrons gathered to celebrate the opening of The Brooklyn Show.  I caught a glimpse of Florence Neal, the juror of the show, but did not get to meet her.  Chatted with other artists in the show, Francis Sills, Emily Berger, Joanne McFarland.  If you’re in Park Slope, stop by the gallery. There’s a wonderful range of media, themes and styles.

440 Gallery's reception for The Brooklyn Show drew a crowd!

Delivered paintings to gallery – whew!

It was an all day road-trip to deliver seven paintings to Windham Fine Arts yesterday. Luckily, most of the drive was absolutely beautiful. The several inches of rain we’ve had these past few weeks have made northern Westchester and Greene Counties more verdant and alive than ever. I almost expected to see chimps and macaws peep out of the dense, steamy woods! But I digress. Visit my website, EllaYangStudio.com, to see the six new paintings. Here are a couple:

Peekskill Landing, 16"x20" oil on canvas

Riverside Park Morning, oil on canvas, 12"x16"

Painting accepted into juried show: “Brooklyn”

I just found out that one of my paintings, Early Evening on Garfield Place, will be included in The Brooklyn Show, a themed-exhibition juried by Florence Neal, the co-founder (1990) and director, of Kentler International Drawing Space in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Ms. Neal is also an artist and her work, along with several public art commissions, is presented in local, national and international venues.  This group show is hosted by the 440 Gallery, a jewel-like gallery in Park Slope, Brooklyn, located at 440 6th Avenue (between 9th & 10th Streets. The show opens on June 25 and runs through July 25, 2009.

Riverside Park Morning – a new painting underway

I started this one and there’s more to be done on it, but have a look anyway!

Next: Hudson River views

Thanks to an invitation to participate in a show at Windham Fine Arts, a gallery in upstate New York, I’ve been hunting views of the Hudson River – the theme of the show is the River as 2009 is the 400th anniversary of its discovery by the Dutch. In between setting up my show at the Salmagundi Club and gallery-sitting, I’ve been painting outside. I first tackled some spots in Manhattan. Riverside Park, by the boat basin was a nice spot.

I also ventured to Battery Park with my pochade box. These last few days I’ve ventured further north into Westchester County, and discovered a lovely park in Peekskill.

I was tempted to paint the ice cream truck, but was unsure how long it would stay.  Besides, it was playing Christmas tunes for some reason and was very annoying!  I even found a tiny town park in Buchanan, and a great spot by a marina in Tarrytown.  So, I now have several paintings I’ve started. Stay tuned! These paintings are due to be delivered by June 22, so I haven’t got much time…. except to get back to work!

In/Sight=On/Site opens this Sat, May 30

Please join me and Mary K. Connelly as we open our exhibition this Saturday, May 30, at the Salmagundi Club in their Patrons’ Gallery. We’ll both be there all afternoon, 1-6 pm.  We’ll be showing mostly small works: Mary’s interiors are intensely colored and are incredibly evocative; I’ll be showing recent street views from Brooklyn and Manhattan, as well as a few landscapes of Block Island and Cape Cod. The show will run through Thursday, June 11, with general hours being Wed – Sun, 1-6 pm, and Thursdays, 1-8 pm. We’ll be taking turns gallery-sitting.  Contact me if you’d like to know when I’m there! Located at 47 Fifth Ave, at 12th St, it will also be convenient to head over to the Annual Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit.

En Plein Air – it’s finally time!

For an outdoor painter, I’m considered a bit of a cold-weather wimp. Finally, tomorrow’s forecast sounds inviting and I will venture up to the Marina in Riverside Park.  I am hugely motivated because I’ve been invited to participate in a group exhibition at the Windham Fine Arts Gallery in upstate NY, the theme being Hudson River painted “en plein air.” And, as of this moment, I have no paintings that meet that description. Wish me luck!!

Sneak peek at new paintings for upcoming show

I’ve been painting a bit more slowly than usual; my time has become highly divided between artwork and my volunteer duties for the Salmagundi Club.  (Note to self: must limit time away from painting. It has been painful, not to mention it makes me very cranky!). Here are three new paintings I’ve worked on for my upcoming show with Mary Connelly. I’ve been focusing on small works because the gallery we will be showing in is very small. There are others underway.

“Cafe Bar”, oil on canvas, 9×12 in.

I’ve walked by this block on 5th Ave in Park Slope a gazillion times on my way to my studio.  One day this view struck me – such a typical Brooklyn street scene, on a quiet weekend morning in Park Slope before the hordes hit the streets.

“ABC Construction Co.”, oil on canvas, 12×16 in

I’ve looked at this view even more than a gazillion times… it’s a scene from my studio window! A typical Gowanus neighborhood view.  For the last couple of years, I couldn’t quite figure out a composition (see “works in progress” for a painting I never did finish because it just wasn’t working for me – a view mostly of a cloudy sky above this view). It finally hit me this spring when the guy started to sweep the driveway, the truck was pulled out front, the shadows hit just right. I like how it captures the feeling of all the “layers” of urban space receding back and away.

“Little Owl Cafe, West Village,” oil on panel, 9×12 in.

I started this painting using my pochade box after walking around quite a bit in the West Village (yes, I ventured into Manhattan).  I realized that one down-side of the pochade box is that you need to be able to sit somewhere to paint with it. I ended up perched on the edge of a narrow tree-well “fence” with my pochade box on my lap. It was precarious and definitely not comfortable. I got a good part of the painting done while there (the gentleman in the painting sat for a few minutes, walked away and then miraculously came back so that I could finish getting his likeness!), but finished it up back at my studio.  I enjoyed working with the shaded areas in the foreground and the sun sneaking through between the shadows of buildings and the cafe’s awning, but the background buildings are lit up… sort of a reversed lighting set-up.

Upcoming show = busy in the studio!

There’s no denying that an exhibit makes me focus on what paintings will be in it, and even though I have many paintings, I’ve become newly inspired thanks to the theme of In/Sight=On/Site.  We’ll be showing in the Patrons’ Gallery at the Salmagundi Club, which is fairly small, so I’ve been creating new small, but intense paintings.  Along with the colorful, intimate streetscapes, I’ve become bemused, almost magnetized by the myriad of trucks that are in my studio neighborhood.  I’ll post some of these soon, but here’s a look at my studio with works in progress: