Provincetown, looking, painting

I took my son Matt to Provincetown last week. He likes off-season beaches

 and art, and P'town has an abundance of both.

I showed him my favorite galleries, gardens and houses, 

and he showed me things I'd never noticed,

like this gorgeous bit of sidewalk inlaid with iron and glass.

What's the story behind that?

There's a garden filled with sculptures I love to view through the wrought iron gate

but I never noticed the stunning stone wall

studded with geodes, minerals, marbles, glass orbs.

Provincetown has given me plenty of painting inspiration.

I'm feeling good about the switch from acrylics to oils

and these most recent pieces. Some clarity is emerging.

back to Provincetown

Four days of harbor, bay and ocean; sunrises and sunsets, fishing boats, cottages and art galleries. I took a painting workshop with Christie Scheele at the Provincetown Art Museum. Christie's paintings are stripped down, luminous landscapes. I've long admired her work and felt I could learn a lot from her, and I did. After painting steadily for a year, noodling (phaffing, Amanda?) around with different styles, I may be getting to a place of my own in my paintings. Will post more on this in the Orchards in Space blog…

Summer is truly winding down. I look forward to some autumn weekends in the country and another trip to Brooklyn. For once I am not dreading winter, am looking past my usual stacks of books (a/k/a safety net) and into burrowing into my studio and painting. I hope this time of transition is going well for you too.

xo,

Jen

More Provincetown posts:

In Provincetown

Charming Houses, Secret Gardens

Sunset Anarchy

Cafe Solo

cafe solo

I snuck away to Provincetown this weekend. 

The perfect place for a little retreat.

more posts on Provincetown:

In Provincetown  

 Charming Houses, Secret Gardens

Sunset, Somewhere  

Sunset Anarchy

country red, seaside red

Red is low on my list of favorite colors. I have no red clothes. The only red in my Massachusetts house is an enamel table that used to be my kitchen table, and now serves as a desk/place to stack books. I'm partial to blues and greens. Touches of pink and orange. White and brown. Not red.

But as soon as we started planning the country kitchen, I had to have red cabinets. I thought it was a desire to pay homage to the many barns in the area. But I think it's more than that.

Our country house is deep in a hollow, surrounded by trees, water, slate--cool things.

 Winters are long and cold.

Red cabinets, like red flannel shirts, warms things up. So maybe it's all about context.

I don't think of red as being a seaside color, but this tomato red house in Provincetown is charming.

As is this painting by Provincetown artist Chet Jones (you're seeing a postcard here on the aforementioned red enamel table).

I love the red in the above three pictures, all taken in Provincetown.

So maybe I do like red.

Is there a color you think you don't like but secretly or subliminally you do?

the gorgeous nothings

Solo retreat in Provincetown--long walks, good art, crazy sunset, interesting conversations.

"Provincetown is, always has been, an eccentrics sanctuary."

                                                  -Michael Cunningham

Green. I can't stay away.

Each little square is an exploration.

Also,

The Woman Who Lost Her Soul by Bob Shaccochis. Great book. Read it if the description makes it sound like your kind of thing.

New Directions is publishing reproductions of Emily Dickinson's writings on envelopes. The Gorgeous Nothings.

Jellyfish are taking over. And, Inside the mind of an Octopus. 

sunset anarchy

Provincetown.

Wild sunset--so many things going on in the sky that I was giddy.

The scenes in my last post, part of the same sunset, were like outer space, deserts, volcanos. 

In a span of an hour I saw clouds like mountains, mesas, tornados, Turner landscapes, Constable clouds. There were soft pinks and blacks, luminous orange, a palette of blues, whites, and grays, even a rainbow. 

These and the pictures in my last post were taken at Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown, Massachusetts between 5:37 and 6:37 p.m. 

It was exhilarating.

sunset, somewhere

(next week I'll tell you where, but feel free to guess)