Member updates and invites

Joe Smiga along with at least fourteen other photographers will be exhibiting their photos in the lower level at the Hooksett Library from September 1st to December 31st.  

Joe will also be doing a lone photo exhibit in the main level of the Hooksett library that will run the first quarter of 2016.  He plans to have 12 to 14 photos in that exhibit of pictures he took in the Canadian Rockies.

Joe took these two photos of stained glass in a friend’s home in Manchester. 

Several of our members will be exhibiting at the Manchester Artist Association annual Art in the Park show.  This year the show will be held in Merrimack on September 26th, 9:30 – 4:30. The event will be held at the Abbie Griffin Park, 6 Baboosic Lake Road, Merrimack. There is ample parking behind the town hall.

Rollande Rousselle is now part of a new artist’s group in Amherst (28-1 State Route 101A). The artists are painting on site, giving classes and have a lovely gallery called Creative Ventures.  The grand opening will be on Friday, September 11th from 3-6 PM. 

Some information from their website:

"In July of 2015, Creative Ventures Gallery was born. Creative Ventures exists to provide working space and to create visibility for talented local artists who gathered together with the common goal of getting more stable exposure to the public. The studio/gallery is open to the public and provides a relaxing environment, allowing the public to interact with artists. The artists work independently but come together for our united cause. On any given day several artists can be found working in their studio spaces.

Our location combines studio, gallery and classroom space all under one roof. At any one time the art represented may include oils, acrylic, watercolor, pastels or other works on paper. We also offer sculptural ceramics to the public. Our gallery space is part of each artist’s studio space. Some are paintings come right off the easel. Some artists offer art classes and workshops. There also are outside artists who teach in the classroom."

Good luck to the artists and their new venture.

Our next Friends of Art Manchester meeting is on Thursday, September 17th at 7:00 p.m. at Linda and Joe’s house, 511 Pickering Street.  We hope to have a guest who will talk to us about how we can help with the Riverwalk in Manchester and some of the downtown graffiti problems.

June Challenge - Doors

Shirley Perry was the only one to submit a photo for our June challenge of "Doors". Thank you, Shirley.

These two are my own photos and they are in Manchester.

There are many interesting doors downtown. You are welcome to submit more photos or sketches and I will post them for you.

Send compressed file to: lhfeinberg@gmail.com
Thank you.

Public Art - Urban Art

Congrats to our VP, Anthony Williams, on his first place prize! Thank you to member Shirley Perry for these photos. Anthony teaches art classes locally.

You can find his contact information on our “Contact Us” page (tab at top).

















No one submitted any art for the June challenge in our last post (it’s still on so you can still submit a sketch) so I’m posting some urban art from my recent trip west. These photos were taken in Boise, Idaho.

I hope that these inspire you to submit some of your own work. You do not have to be a member of Friends of Art Manchester to do our June challenge. Please send your ideas, guest posts and art/photo submissions to our treasurer Linda Feinberg, lhfeinberg@gmail.com

If you include any attachments, I would appreciate it if they are in a condensed file format, not a large file. If you prefer, you can send me a link to where the file is posted (especially if it is a large file) and I can include that. Thank you.

Bluebird - Painting from a Nature Photograph

Painting from a Nature Photograph

If you are choosing to paint from a photograph, there are some points to keep in mind. Shoot the photographs with the image of the painting you want to create. Capture all the details as a reference for your artwork. If it’s not the “perfect” photo, you can still take whatever you want from it. You’re the artist!

When photographing outside early morning or afternoon is the best time to capture your subject.

The example I’m showing today is a photograph of a bluebird on its nest at the Massabesic Audubon Center. With patience and a telephoto lens, I was able to capture this beautiful bird on its nest as the main focus for my painting. I left the background without “clutter” so it wouldn’t detract from my subject.

If you are photographing flowers, be sure to include the stems, leaves, buds as flowers as well as the back of the flowers for color and lighting references.

I hope you enjoy my work and look forward to continuing to blog more photographic tips to capture animals, people, etc.

Until the next time,

Shirley Perry

Blog note: Thank you Shirley for the guest post.  Shirley is an experienced photographer and a new painter. She is enjoying her painting lessons with Anthony Williams at Hobby Lobby.

Mural Finished!

Thank you to everyone who participated. Great job! This was a first time painting outdoors and on brick for many of us.

Photos above by Linda H. Feinberg

Our artists are continuing to paint outdoors. Many of them are working with the Eagle Eyes group painting a boat house on the west side.

Photos above by John Mitchell.

Summer Thoughts

Your House

I like the time
spent at your house.
The most fun was
when we walked
in your garden.

We adjusted the
sprinklers, and
got wet doing it.

And the grass
thanked us by

coming up
even greener-
next morning.

The meals were good too.
The roast was
the best.
And the broiled potatoes?
The finest
I've ever had.

When will you
invite me back?

I want to see

your grass and
flowers again-
eat from your big table
the sweet meats
and fruits so fine-
picked right off
your pear tree.

Poem and photos by John Mitchell
Photos from The Smoke Stack Complex, taken with 35mm Cannon AE-1 camera with 70 mm lens in June 2007. Thank you, John.

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Just a note: Priming has started on the wall at 720 Union Street. Murals to start soon.

City Hall Gallery-final month

This is the last month for the exhibit by our members at City Hall. Hope you enjoy the photos. Of course, the originals are much better so you should go see them while you have the chance. It is difficult to photograph photos and paintings under glass (unless you have professional equipment).

Life on a Star

Out of Portsmouth Harbor we motored on the fishing vessel, Perseverance. It was my fifth year as a volunteer on Star island in the Isle of Shoals. This year my two sisters went along for the adventure. A full weekend of chores was in store for us in our assigned tasks of cleaning, and gardening.

The Oceanic hotel has been in operation since back in the days before electricity. It still evokes another era as one of the grand dames of period architecture - graceful staircases, wainscoting and a general ambiance of class in all the details. The chapel is the central building of about six other stone ones. It was once used with multiple purposes as general store, meeting house and storage.

The island has a religious past as a retreat and still is supported in this mission. It has become a successful place for many people to get away for a weekend, engage in one of the many workshops offered or just be. Elegant in one sense but simple in another. The place has nothing you would expect but everything you hope for - quiet solitude, the wind and water, friendships to be made, a moment or two for reflection in our hurry up world. It is always with dedication we give our time to keep this wonderful place going. And did I mention the food? Upscale like you wouldn't believe for an island where everything has to be brought in. They are going green in many ways but the upkeep is constant. I was taken off my assignments when they found out about the one task I could do and I spent the rest of my time prepping old window frames with a heat gun, removing broken glass, adding new panes, points then glaze. I loved it!

www.starisland.org

Guest post and photos today by member Deborah Curtin.  Thank you for this information and the photos.

Books and Photos

Our members have been busy this year.  Joe Smiga will have his 7th book published this summer. The cover photo is by his wife and this blogger, Linda H. Feinberg. This is a western, a sequel to A Cowboy's Vengeance.  All of his books are available on his website (you get a signed copy), or through Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Poetry by author and artist Linda H. Feinberg, red poppies and green clover, is now available for Kindle at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KKRUOF4 
The poems are from 1979-1985 and take the reader on a journey as her marriage ends. She includes poems about her friends and family who give her the strength to continue her growth and ends with finding her true love and continuing her journey. You can also preview the introduction and first few poems of the book by clicking on the image on the Amazon site. The cover art is from an acrylic painting of a canal in Leuven, Belgium.  The author lived there from 1969-1974 and the title of the book is from one of the poems in the collection, reflecting her time there.

John Mitchell contributed some beautiful sky photos for this week's blog:

John said these were taken in Concord, across the street from the state prison. Thanks for submitting your work.

I hope all our readers have taken the time to go to City Hall and look at our artwork and photos there. Ten of our members submitted work for this gallery and you will enjoy it.

City Hall Gallery - More Photos

Photos by John Mitchell. Thank you. Paintings and photos by our members from our group show at the City Hall Gallery, Manchester, NH.