Creativity in Maine

Last Friday May 23, an event was held in Waldoboro that showed a shot documentary about me. It was the premier of the movie. Also that night Mike Whitehead’s jazz group played. This group is as good as the best. My husband started the jazz jams years ago and Mike has continued them, the first Sunday of every month. Now they are held in Thomaston at the Highlands cafe. I sketch at the jams, and about 25 sketches were matted and and displayed at the Friday event along with Julian Sack’s work who also likes jazz and sketches the musicians at the jams. For me it is a night I will never forget. The movie was being made in spurts for a few years and I didn’t know it had been completed so it was a surprise for me. A few years ago Holly Haining said she wanted to make a movie about me and she came over and did some interviews and filmed the places I paint. She did this in conjunction with the local TV cable station in this area. Mary Ellen Crowley who works at the station and knows how to do everything did most of the editing. They were recording my stories and I had no idea what was used in the movie because some of the stories were recorded several times due to sound problems. It all came together in a beautiful way and they did a great job. The movie will be shown on channel 7 in this area this week the last week of May. 

Vimeo - https://vimeo.com/96714381

A great many creative people move to Maine because it is so beautiful, and many like the quiet country lifestyle, many like the energy of water and some find the mountains stimulating. A few talented people go to the metropolitan areas to seek fame and fortune, many equally talented want to pursue their creative nature and find places where their surroundings nurture and enhance their creativity. 

I think my children believe I live in an area where there isn’t much happening.  When Charlie and I moved to Maine we didn’t know anyone. Charlie found many talented musicians to work with. I believe there are more creative people per population in Maine then in any other State. That is just my observation. There are poets, writers, musicians,  artists, crafts, movie makers, etc, and people that love and appreciate all the arts. There are symphony orchestras, choral groups, and theater. The musicians in Mike Whitehead’s jazz group are as good as any musicians you can hear in a big city. I have many creative friends that I enjoy their company and conversations. There is no place more stimulating then right here where I live. If you follow your heart you will be where you should be. 

below sketches and paintings of artists, musicians and listeners  I can't seem to get these to line up

Winslow Homer's studio

This last Mother’s day was the best I have ever had. Doug and Christina bought tickets for Winslow Homer’s Studio tour. The Portland Museum takes you there and back and the docent gives a talk on Winslow’s life and time spent at Prout’s Neck. The weather was perfect. I stood right where several of the great surf scenes were painted. They were painted in the studio but observed during the storms or right after a storm when the waves were still powerful. Homer stayed into the fall and winter so he could experience the storms that were more frequent during those times of the year. He must have spent hours watching the action of the waves.  Homer is one of my favorite painters.

 The ocean was calm when we were there as it probably is most of the time.  There is a path along the shore that is public. I have made a made a few surf paintings but my success is due to photos that capture the action. Homer’s paintings can be appreciated more because he relied on memory and skill. He captured the drama, energy, and power of moving water.  Rocks and water are my favorite subject to paint and most of the scenes I paint are of Back Cove where I live. Homer loved  dramatic ocean  scenes open and wild,  I prefer intimate and calm.

Winshow Homer Cannon Rock

Impact 24 x 24
Sufr at Pemaquid Point

Island Beyond
rocks in my cove

Moving Energy
sufr at Pemaquid Point

September Sunset      sold
from an island in my cove

Setting Sun
rocks in my cove

Shore Dock
rocks in my cove

Surf #1       sold
surf at Pemaquid Point

Surf #3       sold

The Lookour Rock
rocks on my cove

Watchers       sold
surf at Pemaquid 

Happy Spring , Happy Easter
The cool weather is slowing growth down while the lengthing days are waking everything up, peepers and birds are singing and the daffodils are blooming in the front of my house. The 200 foot dirt drive way is drying out and full of ruts and holes. The gardens are to wet to dig in. I did do some weeding yesterday in front of the house and was tired after a couble of hours using muscles that have not been in use since last summer. Believe it or not my hands and other parts are stiff today. Easter Sunday I went to Thomston and listened to the  jazz group and had noon dinner with friends.
I finished an abstract that took a couble of weeks on and off to complete. I usually abandon paintings that are not going well and I have a draw full of those. I stuck with this one that uses perspective in the geometry. All I can say is it is not like anything else I have painted and I don't know how I feel about it. I have only made 24 paintings so far this winter which is less than I usually do but I have also been working on my book of realistic work and that takes up a lot of time. The older I get the slower I am and the less I get done. There are days when I have no energy and nothing gets done. Perhaps I have done what I need to to and does it really matter. I think our lessons are not what we do but how we do them. My glass is alway half full. The journey is what it is all about. It is Spring, new growth, new beginnings.

Lily in the window  acrylic on paper  23 x 32

Lily on the Book    acrylic on paper

Looking In   acrylin on canvas 24 x 30

April 6 2014

Winter's cold grip is finally subsiding and we have had a few days of 50 degrees. Spring is slow coming on the coast because the wind off the water keeps the temperature down. I will appreciate those winds when we get the heat of summer. The sound of birds is in the air, robins are back and the woodcock in the field calls for a mate in the twilight of the day. The ground is thawing and eventual the heaves of earth will flatten out. The house is settling and I can close doors now that were out of alinement during the deep freeze of winter. When I am home I let the chickens out and they are happy to roam the yard. No sounds of the peepers but the ice is melted in the swamp across the road. Now I think of the garden that at the moment is mud but is drying out. Time to plant some seeds and placed by the window in the mud room they will hopefully sprout.

Painted last year on shore when first  green leaves  appeared.

Shore Dock  Painted this winter

Two White Trangles    Abstract done this winter

Visit from son.

Nice day but windy. Went for a walk with Doug, Christina and dogs, only I walk so slowly that I am fifty feet behind them.

"Pictographs" acrylic on canvas 24 x 30

The jazz jams are in Thomston at the cafe and i saw the hand prints in snow and got the idea to make this painting called Pictographs

It is spring?  It was snowing today.
Because the last post was spring I forgot how to do it. Doug refreshed my memory. He and Christine came up for my birthday.
Doug came up this winter when we had a storm. When we checked the barn studio the rain was leaking in the windows that the winter before had blown out and not fixed properly. While the rain was blowing in sideways into the studio Doug took out one window at a time and stapled plastic around the frame and as quicky as possible pushed each one back into the wall frame and nailed them in. It worked and so far has kept the water out. It was a miracle he showed up that weekend and handled a crisis I could't deal with.
Other than that winter was normal. I walked the dog, and kept the wood stove and pellet stove going. Because of the cold I had to buy more wood and pellets.The three chickens laid eggs all winter, two eggs a day. I am still eating vegatables fron the summer garden, carrots, cabbage and squash. I try to paint every day but have not painted as many paintings as usual.  I self published two books, one on my abstracts and one on interiors. I am working on realism now. These books are a record of my work.

Tidemark opening

PRESS RELEASE

February 21, 2014

Tidemark Gallery

902 Main Street

P. O. Box 374

Waldoboro, Maine 04572

Contact: Charlotte Davenhill

Tel. 832-5109 or 832-7897, email: postcard@tidemarkgallery.com

Tidemark Open for a New Season
Waldoboro’s own Audrey Bechler is featured in Tidemark’s first show of 2014, opening Saturday, March 8, from 5 to 7pm. In addition to the soulful coastal landscapes for which she’s so well know, Audrey is bringing out some of her most powerful and vivid abstracts. Her “Sacred Geometry” series transcends time and place.
The gallery is both humbled and proud to present local artists of such caliber and dedication. www.tidemarkgallery.com contains this year’s calendar of artists and events sponsored by Tidemark.
Regular hours, Wednesday through Saturday, 10 to 5, begin on March 5. The gallery is located at 902 Main Street, Waldoboro Village, 832-5109.