October, 2007
volume 6 number 7

I am putting together the October newsletter a little earlier than usual since I missed September and don't anticipate that I will be doing too many more paintings the rest of this month.

As always, September was in large part taken up by the task of packing everything up and leaving Nova Scotia for our home in Vermont. It always feels sad for us to leave the Canadian Maritimes and our dear friends there. But we are never sorry to return to Vermont, especially in October when the autumn colors and cool temperatures return once more. This was our fifth summer in Nova Scotia and the rhythm is something that we are getting pretty well used to.

But enough of this chatter! Let's take a look at some paintings and a print. Shall we?

The last couple weeks along the coast were spent on two paintings. The first derives its title from my feeling that surely such beauty stems from the divine. The composition is based on a painting called "Pleasant Point" that I did in July of last year. I like the composition very much (perhaps better than the first painting) and the colors worked well for me too.

    "Divine Reflection" Oil on Canvas 28" x 38"

This next painting is one that embodies a particular feeling that I and many others have had repeatedly along the North Atlantic coast. The day is windy and cold with the thick atmosphere of the morning just burning off in the distance. I always wonder how effectively I've captured the mood of my idea within my paintings. In this painting I received quick confirmation when our neighbor across the street looked at the newly completed painting and said, "That's a cold morning."

    "Windy Morning" Oil on Canvas 28" x 38"

Before leaving Nova Scotia I had a strong inclination to do one last linocut print. As with most of the other prints this past summer, it ended up to be much more work than I thought it was going to. It took me a full week to complete this print and there was much grunting and groaning on my part with all the rubbing and carving that goes into a seven color print. The image is derived from a drive that Patricia and I took along the Lighthouse Route of the South Shore, near Petite Riviere.

    "Low Tide At Little Harbour" Linocut 9" x 12"

I have to say that the rubbing and pulling of these prints by hand has been taking a toll on my body and I don't think I can do it much longer. As a result, I am looking at buying a press (either a platen book press or an intaglio press) in order to keep from beating myself to death while doing these prints.

But even more immediately in my future is a long awaited solo exhibition of my paintings at the South Street Gallery in Greenport, Long Island, New York. The show is entitled "The Rhythm of Land and Sea" after my painting of the same name done this past July. The exhibit opens next Saturday evening, October 20th from 6-9 PM. I do hope that I'll see you there!

The preparations for the show have been intensive these past two weeks. The show is all paintings of the coast from Nova Scotia. In order to bring them back to Vermont, I had to dismantle them from the stretcher frames and roll them up for transportation. On arrival in Vermont I had to unroll them, assemble the stretcher frames and re-stretch the canvases.

This is not an easy thing to do with just a couple paintings. With 25 paintings it is a considerable amount of work. With that in mind, I hired a young man to help me for three days. I imagine that he is now able to straighten his thumbs out after that experience....

Framing was next and then they were hung in my studio for Gallery Walk. The short, partial preview of the show comes to an end in just a few days when I take all the paintings down, pack them up in my van and head off to Long Island to hang the show there.

But wait! There's more!

I can't seem to leave some paintings alone. A few other paintings suffered minor abrasion from the rigors of transporting them. So, I repainted and touched up paintings at night for the last two weeks. I'll leave you with one that I originally painted in June of 2005. The repainting of it for this show heightened the sense of light and I like it quite well now. I look forward to hearing peoples' responses to this painting.

    "Morning on the Coast" Oil on Canvas 36" x 72"

Finally, I want to leave you with some photographs that I took in Nova Scotia and in Vermont. Before we left Nova Scotia we went to Peggys Cove for a two-night stay at the little B&B in this famous spot. I am particularly taken by the surrounding granite barrens. But the view from the B&B is quite nice as well:

    The famous lighthouse from the boulder-strewn granite barrens.

    The view from our deck at the Peggys Cove B&B.

Today was a beautiful fall day. Our guests for the weekend left and we took a drive for a few hours to Green River and along the surrounding roads:

    Patricia walking through Green River covered bridge.

    The restored timber and stone crib dam with Green River Bridge. A perfect Vermont scene.

And that is the latest from The Artist's Loft. I hope you've enjoyed seeing these paintings and prints and snapshots.

I look forward to hearing from you. Now that I'm back in Vermont, I am a little more accessible and I hope you'll drop by the gallery/studio in Brattleboro.

Yours,

William H. Hays