Holiday Treasures! , small affordable art, original art, holiday gifts, holiday treasures, little gems

Holiday Gems! The four paintings above, can all be purchased individually. They were painted with the holidays in mind and would make lovely gifts for that special someone on your list. Each painting is beautifully framed in keeping with the paintings' characteristics and can be shipped to you in time for Christmas. Please see details below.

"Pigtails and Teddy Bears", 8x8, oil on panel framed in a wide gold frame.- $400

This painting would be an ideal gift from grandmom for that special little girl in your life. Imagine her waking up in her room each day and looking at the painting on her wall and being reminded of her beloved Gandmom! It is available through the Debra Huse "Holiday Treasures" Salon, which is being held at the Debra Huse Gallery on Balboa Island, California. Please see here for more info about the show, and if you cannot attend next week's reception, please call the gallery at 949-723-6171 to purchase online or follow this link: How to purchase online.

"Red House, Swim Beach", 6x6, framed-$300

The Red House on Monhegan Island is known by every resident or tourist that has ever visited Monhegan Island. It was immortalized first by the Wyeth family of artists and has undergone various changes in structure over the years since it was built. Nonetheless, its location on Swim Beach overlooking the tiny island of Manana will never change and it would make a lovely gift for anyone seeking to recall memories of vacations, honeymoons or moonlit jaunts by boat to Monhegan's incredibly beautiful and eclectic island landscape. This painting and two others have been selected to be in Randy Higbee's annual 6x6 inch squared show, held at Randy's Gallery in Costa Mesa , California. It is my understanding that this is THE art event of the season, so if you are in the area, please attend the opening reception next Saturday, December 7th.

If you are not in the area and would like to purchase this painting, please go here for an online PAypal link. It is my understanding that Randy is offering a 15% discount to other artists in the show, so if you have been wanting to collect one of my pieces of art, and like the one above, by all means call Randy's gallery at and take advantage of this special!

"Scaredy Cat", 6x6, oil on panel, framed- $300

What's not to like about a little kitten with a penchant for mischief and an adorable face? This little gem would make a lovely gift for that cat-lover in your life. It is also available through the Randy Higbee Gallery's annual show. If you cannot attend the show but wish to purchase online, just go here and hit the button and it will take you to the Paypal link.

 

"Rat Boat Reflections", 6x6, oil, framed- $300

Last but not least, who can resist a Rat Boat? This little old wooden dory makes its home on Cape Ann , in the Rockport Harbor, and a trip to Rockport would not be complete if I did not make sure that this little dory is still floating peacefully in the harbor, waiting patiently for its chance to fulfill its duties. A must-have for any old boat aficionado!

To purchase "Rat Boat Reflections", please follow this link to purchase via Paypal.

Thanks for visiting my blog and Happy Thanksgiving!

"Early Morning Light, Shem's Creek", 16x 20, oil on canvas, Charleston, fishing boats, shrimp boats, scenic places in Charleston area, Maryanne Jacobsen art

"Early Morning Light, Shem's Creek", 16x 20, oil on canvas
Note: you can click on the image to see the detail in the painting.

I finally got around to going through some of my reference photos from my trip to Charleston in October. Painting at Shem's Creek was the highlight of the sights we painted during my workshop with Kenn Backhaus that week, so I gravitated back to those photos.

The shrimp boats there were fabulous with their old green nets hanging in the sunshine, and the sun glistening off the sides of the boat in the early morning light. The two shrimp boats in this painting are the Captain BTS and the Sea Horse. Both boats are a beautiful cerulean blue so as Ina Garten would say, "What's not to like about that?"

"The Pond at Horseshoe Farm", 11x14, paintings of ponds, reflections, trees, farm, stables, horses, Chester County, Pennsylvania landscapes, MAryanne Jacobsen art

SOLD

"The Pond at Horseshoe Farm", 11x14

This scene looks out over the pond and stables at the Strawbridge's Hetheridge Farm on St. Matthews Road in Chester Springs, Pa. It also happens to be the scene that I used to look at every day from my back yard when I lived in Horseshoe Farm in Chester Springs.





 The sun always came up over the pond in the morning,and the reflections of the pines on the far bank against the sky color reflecting into the pond was pretty amazing.

This painting was done a couple years ago, but I took it out yesterday and re-worked it slightly. I then posted a picture of the revised painting on Facebook and it sold right away.

I'm guessing that I'll miss looking at this painting, which has been hanging in my home for a while, just as I still miss looking out the back windows of my old home at the lovely pond at Horseshoe Farm.

"Red House, Swim Beach", 6x6 oil on linen- MOnhegan Island, Jaime Wyeth, red house, red famous houses on Monhegan

"Red House, Swim Beach", 6x6 oil on linen
Note: This painting won Second Place in the Fall Member's exhibit at the Venice Art Center!

A few summers ago we visited Monhegan  Island on a hot August day. I couldn't believe that Maine could be so hot, especially some thirty miles out to sea in the cold Atlantic! Well, it was way too hot for me to want to paint outdoors, so instead I dragged all my paint gear around the island shooting photos wherever I went.

The Red House looks out towards the loading dock on the island. It is well known for its distinctive color and over the years has gone through numerous renovations and additions.


From what I understand, the Red House was first immortalized in paint thanks to the Wyeth family, who used to escape the Pennsylvania Chadds Ford heat ('scuse me for laughing!) by going to Maine in the summertime.


Most recently, Jaime Wyeth, son of Andrew Wyeth, spends winter months on the island as well, immersing himself in his paintings. One of those paintings- his depiction of Monhegan's Red House, fetched a whopping $973, 000 at an auction back in 2006. You can see what his painting looks like below:

Since I recently painted on Jaime Wyeth's "Point Lookout Farm" for Plein Air Brandywine Valley, I thought it was kind of cool to realize that there are a couple common interwoven threads in this story.

First off, the very first piece of art that I collected after my marriage in 1971, was a lithograph of the "Hay Ledge" by Andrew Wyeth, Jaime's father. That was  a very special piece that my husband bought for me as a gift after an out of town business trip forced us to be separated for a while. Secondly, I lived in the Brandywine Valley area for most of my life and have collected Wyeth prints for the better part of my married life as well. So painting a scene immortalized by the son of one of my favorite artists, at Monhegan Island- a location that I happen to love,( even though I can't live there!), and having just recently having had the honor to paint at Jaime Wyeth's own residence off of Smiths Bridge Road, just made it all seem serendipitous that I should paint this scene again.

Here's my first painting of the Red House, and I hope you enjoyed learning more about the painting and thanks very much for visiting my blog!

"Pigtails and Teddy Bears", 8x8, oil on panel

"Pigtails and Teddy Bears", 8x8, oil on panel

 What's not to like about pigtails or teddy bears? I loved the light coming in from an unseen window, creating dappled light across the child's cheek and the bear's face. I used thick paint on the light passages and thinner paint on the shadow passages.

For more information, feel free to contact me at maryannejacobsen@aol.com.

Plein air versus studio! "Country Road, Take me Home", 9x12, oil on linen

"Country Road, Take me Home", 9x12, oil on linen

I decided to take my plein air painting of the "Cornfields at Granogue", and use that and my reference photo to conduct a little experiment.

Over the years, many collectors have fallen in love with my work, as a result of the colors and palette knife work that I used in my first  few years of painting. Over the past few years, however, I have moved more towards the representational, replacing many of my fauvist colors with colors that more accurately describe the subject at hand. I also began favoring more brushwork in my paintings, as I felt there were more ways to be descriptive with a brush, while the palette knife limits how you can render certain subjects, like clouds or cotton.

So today I decided to recreate the "Cornfields at Granogue", using a palette knife and the palette of colors that I used to use exclusively- which is after the Cape Cod School or Hensche method. This was my reference photo:

I think the thing that hampered this experiment of "which is better", is the fact that the first painting was exclusively plein air- it was finished on site and therefore had more immediacy and freshness to it than the studio as piece, as well as truer color.

On the other hand, I was able to be more thoughtful about the trees in the background in the studio piece and they are probably more accurate than the plein air painting for the simple reason that by the time I got to them that day the light had changed dramatically.

The cornstalks in the foreground were definitely in shadow when I began the painting that morning. Yet I was aware that I was starting to "Chase the light" by the end of the 2 hour session, adding more and more light to those foreground cornstalks and thus rendering the light direction confusing.

So overall, both methods of working have their pros and cons, with different results and I feel that this was a good experiment in thinking about things that will help me paint better in the future.

Would love to hear your comments on which of the two paintings you like better and why!

Thanks for visiting my blog.

"Cornfields at Granogue", 9x12, plein air, Brandywine Valley, DuPont estate, farms, cornfields, autumn landscapes

"Cornfields at Granogue", 9x12, plein air

This is another painting that was done during Plein Air Brandywine Valley. For me it was the best day of the event, as I simply loved the setting, and I think it was reflected in the way that the painting turned out-my best of the week.

Granogue is the country estate of Irenee Du Pont and the mansion sits high on a hill overlooking the beautiful Brandywine Valley.

Although Granogue remains a family residence, much of the land is preserved, in keeping with the DuPont tradition of conservationists.

It was a clear beautiful day, on the day we were allowed to paint there, and it was difficult choosing from farmland, old barns, cattle, ponds and the rolling hills that cascade down the valley toward the Brandywine River.

I chose to stand at the carriage house, where I had unmitigated views of the rolling cornfields ,and a farm and fall foliage in the distance.

I only wish I had the option to paint such beautiful scenery every day of the week!

This painting is available through Galerie Du Soleil.

"Bell Tower, Westtown School", 8x10, plein air, fall paintings, Westtown School, brick buildings bell tower, Chester County art

SOLD

"Bell Tower, Westtown School", 8x10, plein air

This was painted on the grounds of the Westtown School in Westtown, Pa., near West Chester during Plein Air Brandywine Valley.

Ironically, this was painted on the very same day that I nearly froze while painting the early morning moon over the meadow at Christ Church in Wilmington. In the afternoon, the temperatures rose quite a bit and there was glorious sunshine- so much so that I had to keep stripping off the layers of clothing I had on!

Westtown has a gorgeous campus and is very familiar to me, since my three sons all went to middle school there, and my eldest graduated high school as well. Westtown is based on Quaker traditions, and it provides a very fine, well-rounded education for children from Pre-K through high school. My son boarded for the last two years and overall it was a fine preparation for college. It was fun to return there and paint on the campus. The painting I did was of the wood working building next to the old smoke stack. I chose that building because I love the little bell tower atop the roof. The school also has a lake where many of my artist friends painted on the day of the paint-out. I wish I had had more than just one afternoon there. It was great to see all the old brick buildings again amidst the gorgeous Chester County foliage!

Please email me at maryannejacobsen@aol.com, if you are interested in purchasing this painting.

"Morning Moon over Christ Church Meadow", 9x12, oil on panel, moonscape, autumn foliage, red maple

SOLD

"Morning Moon over Christ Church Meadow", 9x12, oil on panel

When my eldest son was a little boy, I would always read "Goodnight Moon" to him every night. He loved the book and he would recite it with me, falling asleep peacefully at its conclusion. I think the happiness that that book brought to my little one, was with me the morning that I painted this scene in Wilmington, Delaware last week. It was truly bitter out- especially for this Florida resident who's blood has certainly thinned after 9 years of Florida living. I had forgotten how it felt to have one's toes and fingers go numb and then start burning in pain. Although I was wearing layers of clothing, the thinned-out blood and the Raynaud's disease that I've had since my early 20's did not diminish the joy I felt at capturing this morning moonscape!

The sun was very low in the sky and its rich warm glow illuminated the tops of the trees, displaying God's glory for all to behold! The richness of the red in the maple tree was truly spectacular, and I counted my blessings to be able to paint this beautiful scene, in spite of the bitterly cold temperatures!

Christ Church in Wilmington, is located in a serene and beautiful setting. There are fields and a labyrinth or meditation garden on the premises and the church is very lovely. I was delighted that it was chosen as one of the spots for the Plein Air Brandywine Valley artists to paint.

Please email me at maryannejacobsen@aol.com, if you are interested in purchasing this painting.

"Three Roses, a Lime and a Love Letter", 6x6 oil on panel, roses, lime, love letter, small paintings

"Three Roses, a Lime and a Love Letter", 6x6 oil on panel

Sometimes we just have to take the sweet with the sour and the thorns with the petals. It is a testament to the human spirit that we are able to weather the ups and downs of life, and even grow from negative experiences. This is called resilience.

According to Psychology Today, "Resilience is that ineffable quality that allows some people to be knocked down by life and come back stronger than ever. Rather than letting failure overcome them and drain their resolve, they find a way to rise from the ashes."

I suppose that these are some of the things that were on my mind when I created this little set-up and painted this little painting today.

"Autumn Fugue at Winterthur", 14x11, oil on board, plein air, fall foliage, autumn landscapes, Winterthur Museum, Brandywine Valley art

"Autumn Fugue at Winterthur", 14x11, oil on board, plein air

This was painted last week on a cold morning at the Winterthur Museum for the Plein Air Brandywine Valley Paint-Out. I was standing on a slope and my easel blew over a couple times until I finally moved it onto the tram path, which was level. This meant I had to move the easel every time a tram or bus went by, which was basically every 15 minutes. I was attracted to the little gazebo up on the hill as a focal point, as well as the strong contrast of light and shadow patterns. Over all, I was really happy with the way it came out, as the autumn foliage really inspired me to push the palette more than I have been doing recently. Here is what it looked like when It was hanging in the show:

  Unfortunately, whoever shipped it back to me from Wilmington, had no clue how to ship a wet painting. Since this was painted with a palette knife, the paint was extremely thick to begin with. Common sense should have told the person that nothing should come in contact with the paint, but maybe the person didn't realize that the painting could be ruined by contact with heavy paper. At any rate, the painting had been wrapped snugly in brown paper and there was paint all over the paper and the frame when I received it today. Throughout the painting the thick impasto was either smeared or gone!I was really upset because I had worked so hard on the painting at Winterthur. Yet it was truly my own fault, too, since I had not given better instructions on how to ship it back!

So I took it out of the frame, cleaned up the frame and set about to repair it. It does not have the same freshness of the original painting, but I am still happy that I was able to rescue it somewhat. If you are interested in purchasing the painting, just send me an email at maryannejacobsen@aol.com.

The grounds of the Winterthur Museum are gorgeous all year long, and it was a treat to be allowed to paint on this beautiful property. Founded by Henry Francis du Pont, Winterthur (pronounced “winter-tour”) is the premier museum of American decorative arts, reflecting both early America and the du Pont family’s life here. Its 60-acre naturalistic garden is among the country’s best, and its research library serves scholars from around the world. Please check out their website and be sure to visit if you are ever int he Wilmington , Delaware area.