Poppies No. 2, 16×16

By Carrie Jacobson

I started painting flowers a couple years ago, and I admit, I started timidly, never having been a real fan of floral painting. But over the years, I found that I liked to paint sunflowers, and tulips, and I also found that people like to buy floral paintings.

So I kept at it, kept experimenting and discovering, trying new approaches and new colors and new flowers, and just this past week or so, experimented my way into a style I really, really love.

It reminds me of Peter Max, with the bright colors and the black outlines, and the whimsical shapes. I wrote about this on my own blog, and a few readers chimed in with their own Peter Max and Max-related memories. One wrote to me about the favorite dress she had as a kid – one that she remembered because of my painting… and her memory reminded me of my favorite dress as a kid. It was a swingy minidress, covered with blurry, bright red and orange and pink flowers – not so different from the flowers in this painting!

At any rate, if any of you want to see this painting, and my other new florals, in person, check out the Paradise City Arts Festival this weekend in Northampton, MA. It’s a drive from the mid-Hudson, I know, but it should be a pretty drive, full of fall colors. And the show offers a wonderful collection of art and high-end craft – and good food!

Meantime, I hope you have great memories of beautiful gardens, bright flowers – and your favorite clothes!

Inlet, Old Lyme

By Carrie Jacobson

I’ve been itching to get to this spot, a place I love to paint, and I finally made it out there yesterday, and did it feel great!

I’ve often painted this place before, and have usually used a panoramic-type of canvas in a one by three ratio – 8×24, 10×30, etc. This time I tried including more sky, and it gives a totally different feel to the scene.

I painted fast, I tried to paint with sure strokes, I tried to make the canvas feel as open and sun-soaked and brilliant as the day. It was what my soul needed.

I have encountered an absolutely great idea, and am about to embark on it, and would love input from you all. I saw a story about a guy who is planning on painting 100 10-inch by 10-inch paintings, and selling them each for $100 – and the notion just captivated me.

I can’t completely explain my fascination with this idea, but the minute I heard about it, I knew I had to do it.

I spoke with a friend who runs a gallery nearby about the idea, and he pushed me to take it a step further. Maybe do 100 paintings as linear pieces, a road, a beach, a journey. Maybe get 100 dog photographs and use a mosaic program to arrange them so that when they are all together, they make an image of a big dog – or a cat. Maybe use one large palette knife only, on all the pieces, or limit myself to one or two colors.

At any rate, I have a lot of ideas going around in my head – and I’d love to hear from any of you, if you all have ideas, about subjects or approaches or limits – or any other part of it. I think this is such a fun project!