Hopper show

paintings           http://www.bechler-arts.com/audrey/paintings/newwork_fr.html

On the 14th of October  i saw the Hopper show in Brunswick at the Bowdoin College Art Museum.  It was a major show of about, my guess100 paintings, all painted in Maine. Most of the paintings i had never seen before in books or the Boston show a few years back. It was exciting and inspiring to see. I bought the catalog book. I love my art books. Some people have said my architectural paintings remind them of Hopper, I do not try to emulate Hopper however most  artists are influenced by other artists works that they like, and Hopper is one of my favorite painters.

Waldoboro Village, Winter

 

Windy Day, acrylic  22x17

 

Hopper, House of the Fog Horn 11

 

Hopper, House of the Fog Horn 111

 http://www.bechler-arts.com/audrey/paintings/newwork_fr.html 

abstract painting "Cube"

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Oct 1 2011

I plan to do some abstract paintings based on sacred geometry. I have been working on the Cube, 30x40 acrylic. From the sketches you see how I worked the geometry. there are several ways to get the 5 sided pentagon. One way is from the square. I took images of the canvas as I worked  out the design and colors.  On the right is the circle squared, the middle section has the 4, 5, and 6 sided shapes, the cube shape and the equilateral triangle with extended lines going to the edges. I didn't like the light purple square and kept the enclosed 6 sided shapes all warm colors. Last I added the dark lines. They may look random but I spent some time redrawing them until they looked right for the composition.

cube 1

 

cube 2

 

Cube 3

drawing

 

drawing

 

 http://www.bechler-arts.com/audrey/paintings/newwork_fr.html

vern's studio

September 2, 2011

I looked through my sketch books and found some drawings that were made when visiting Vern Broe back in the seventies. 

 His house was small. The inside was covered with  old boards he found at the dump. Those were the days you could pick the dump and could find some good stuff. Vern constructed all the draws and shelves. His lighting was tin cones hanging down on wires. 

Vern didn't eat much. He smoked and drank coffee all day. In one sketch is the stove cover with a board with stuff on it.

There were no screens on the windows and when they were open as in a couple of drawings the bugs came in and  some, those little nats, got stuck on the wet paintings. He  did the paintings of boats in series and about 10 would be lined up on a board against the wall. I guess he must of sanded or scraped the bugs off.

Vern played the guitar and he had piano keys with no piano, so no sound. Sometimes Vern and Charlie talked about music theory . 

The house was in bad shape and you see  in one sketch the leaning door. Outside on the propriety  the bushes and trees were never cut so the house was being taken over by nature. Vern had a lot of art books and he collected pots and things like wooden tackle for boats, and tin cans that got crushed by cars. These things would be hanging from beams or on shelves and I found them interesting to sketch. 

The memories  of Vern will be with me always.  

 

 

 http://www.bechler-arts.com/audrey/paintings/newwork_fr.html

 

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Vern Broe

Vern Broe passed on yesterday August 27th. I met Vern in 1959. Friends of mine I had met in Europe were visiting me in Boston and we ran into Vern at the fog Museum in Cambridge. They knew each other from the Art Institute in IL. Vern was looking for a place to live and there were rooms at the rooming house I was living in on Newbury St. Vern moved in and we became friends. It is through Vern that I met  and married Charlie. Charlie and I bought a house in Newburyport. and a couple of years latter Vern bought a house on Cherry St. in Newburyport.  Charlie and i visited him quite a lot. He was the kind of person you could drop in on and spend a couple of hours talking. I made many sketches of Vern's studio. In 1984 Charlie and I bought a house in Waldoboro ME and not long after that Vern bought a house in Richmond Maine.  Charlie and I didn't see Vern very much after we moved to Maine, but I thought of him often.  I visited Vern in the spring on my way back from  Amesbury where my son lives.  He will always be with me. Now he can hang out with Charlie and others in the field of non matter, or wherever spirits go.

This is a painting Vern gave to Charlie and me.

painting by Vern Broe

 

This is a painting I did of Vern's studio on Cherry street. The large print is by Winslow Homer, one of Vern's favorite painters. After Vern moved to Maine  the house he lived in on Cherry St. was torn down.

Vern Broe's Studio

 http://www.bechler-arts.com/audrey/paintings/newwork_fr.html

wildflowers

August 4, 2011

It is a partly sunny day, not to hot, and I spent the morning working outside. My fields are full of wildflowers. I haven't cut them in years so they are turning into woods, mostly alders.  Right now the pink malva is in bloom. It reseeds and I am always pulling it out of my flower garden, but I like it in the fields.  These are two for my favorite paintings with malva in the field.

WildFlowers 1     sold

 

Wildflowers Afternoon Light     sold

 

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island granite

July 28 2011

Island Granite is one of my favorite paintings. The summer after Charlie died my friend Gudie invited me to stay with her on an island off of Stonington. She was caretaker of  about 10 islands  that were part of a reserve .  She stayed in a cabin on the island Saddleback, 75 acres of trees with granite shoreline. My favorite subject to paint is rocks. My father built a house near Old Garden Beach in Rockport MA when I was three.  I guess my love of rocks began then. The memory of my little vacation on Saddleback will be with me forever. I had three  perfect days there.

Island Granite sold

Monday was a perfect day for a painting trip, the first one this summer. A friend and myself  went to Birch Park where I painted this watercolor.

 

Rocks at Birch Park wc 13x21

 

http://www.bechler-arts.com/audrey/paintings/newwork_fr.html

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audrey's farm

Below is the flower garden looking toward the shed.  My gardens are chaotic . Everything is so close together it gets to be a jungle.The lilies are in bloom now. They are one of my favorite flowers. There is a  small pond  where the cattails are. I never planted them. Somehow they got  to my pond from the swamp across the road from me. The second picture of the lilies is looking toward the barn which is attached to the house.
The ducks are happy to have a pool. I am getting more eggs from the chickens then I can eat. It is feast or famine.

Duck pen

Chicken coop by the vegetable garden 

Ducks in their pen

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Flower garden looking toward shed

Looking toward the barn

Duck about 5 weeks old

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