Bank Street, Goldsmith's, and the Clock on the Green

I had a great time at Goldsmith's last night. It's too bad the weather was so cold, I'm sure we would have had a larger crowd. There's a lot of talk about making it a regular event, possibly monthly, which would be great. Since that section of Bank Street is closed to traffic, we could probably turn it into an evening street fair. I think the Elegant Evening concept is something people in Waterbury are looking for.

The completed painting of the clock on the Green is now at Goldsmith's where it will be framed next week.







Nothing has been finalized yet (at the very least, I need permission from work), but it looks like I might be painting in the window at Goldsmith's on Friday afternoons this summer. I think that would be a lot of fun (and it only took an hour last night to get used to being a window display). I've started a second large canvas, of the horse fountain, which a lot of people took interest in last night. If I work on that canvas in the window every Friday, it would probably take me the summer to finish. People could come downtown every Friday for lunch, then stop by Goldsmith's to observe my progress. Or stop by to observe my progress before going to an early dinner.

Goldsmith's is also interested in giving me wall space for my paintings. I'm in NYC all next week, but after that I'll put some effort into filling up the wall space. I might have to swipe two paintings currently at the Waterbury Club, plus the clock painting, the tiny cross painting, and then maybe I can get a handful of little canvases done quickly. I think I will also order a few things from my cafepress.com store to sell to people who don't want to buy online.

Things are looking up!

5x7=4

Last night I was feeling motivated to try a small canvas. I dug up one of my photos of Holyland (well, a photo of the cross on the hill taken from the mall--and that's the old cross, not the more elegant, yet controversial, new one) and in four hours completed a 5 x 7 canvas.




I might still go back over the sky surrounding the cross. Things got a little muddled there, working wet on wet while trying to paint straight lines.

The next time I buy canvases, I really need to find a smooth weave. Every time I see the bumpy weave on my paintings, I wish I had a smooth surface to work on.

Back to the Fun Stuff

Now that the painting of the clock on the Green is essentially finished (photo to be posted later), I'm eager to start the next one: the horse fountain on the Green!



I think what I learned from the clock on the Green is to avoid getting bogged down in fussy details. There were so very many fussy details. The horse fountain painting should be relatively fussy-free. There are only two groups of people, plus one lone man. Also, I'm feeling much more confident in my ability to leave things out. It's been a long, slow process of learning to do that. The painting of East Main Street originally had many more cars, but a friend urged me to leave out 80% of them (so I left out 40%). For this painting, I already see loads of things to leave out, starting with the excess of flags on lamp posts.

I had planned on waiting to start this painting. I wanted to switch over to small canvases for a while. I still want to do that, but today I have a compelling urge to lay down some green paint. I love painting trees. I don't know why.

Assuming the Bank Street event doesn't get rained out on Thursday, I might do some small paintings there. Maybe watercolors, maybe oils. Maybe just drawings. Come to Goldsmith's on Thursday evening and find out!

Bank Street Open House

Merchants on Bank and Grand Streets will be hosting an Open House on Thursday, May 28, 5-8 p.m. There will be a lot of great things to do and see. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. And, for those of you who follow my efforts to be an artist, you'll have the opportunity to see me do my thing--I'll be the "Live Artist Showcase" at Goldsmith's, and I'll have with me the newly-completed painting of the clock on the Green!