Windswept,12x16, oil, Experimenting with paint, Rockport Massachusetts homes, Old Garden Path, beautiful homes of Cape Ann, perennial gardens, paintings on copper, Maryanne Jacobsen art , Impressionisnm

Windswept, 12x16, oil on copper

This is a favorite house to see in summertime, whenever I am visiting Rockport, Massachusetts. The gardens are lush with perennials- Black-eyed Susans, purple coneflowers and Russian sage. The flowers grow tall and proud on this little hillside, where the house, appropriately named "Windswept" proudly looks out across the lawn to the sea beyond.

This is my second time painting this house. I painted it over a year ago with a restricted palette of about 4 colors (I don't remember which ones) and here was the result:

"Summer Garden, Rockport, 11x14, oil on linen

And here is the house itself on the Old Garden Path in Rockport in June, with peonies and irises blooming:

There are things that I like about both of the paintings, so if I were to choose one that I like better, it would be hard. I like the loose, impressionist feel of Windswept , and the harmony that was created by using a limited palette. In "Summer Garden, Rockport", I like that there are little places where the copper peeks through, (hard to see in a photograph) especially in the stone walkway, giving it the burnished orange tone that you can see in some of the walls and rocks in the typical Rockport garden. As a matter of fact, you can see little bits of that orange in the image of the rock wall in the photo above!

So perhaps I should do a third painting of this house, using copper , but limiting my palette and trying to keep it looser and more impressionistic. In other words, kill the detail.

What do you think? Which do you prefer? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

If you are interested in purchasing either of these paintings, please send me an email at maryannejacobsen@aol.com.

"Bakers at Red Lion", 12x12, oil on panel, French bakery, Kennett Square Pennsylvania, Galer Estate Vineyard and winery, Fresh baked bread, Chester County Pennsylvania, hidden gems

"Bakers at Red Lion", 12x12, oil on panel, Note: click on the image to see the painting better.

"When the flag is out, the bread is ready!" The French flag at the entrance to this little gem of a bakery, is a welcome sign on weekends for residents of the Kennett Square, Chadds Ford/Longwood area of Pennsylvania. Because it is in this place, called the "Bakers of Red Lion" that the most sumptuous breads , boules and brownies are created by two talented and jovial women named Nancy and Barbara.

I painted this about a year ago, but never posted it because I could tell that the perspective was a little wonky. (Funny how our artistic egos are.) And although the perspective might be a little off, I finally decided it was well worth sharing this painting for the sake of introducing people in the Chester County area to this incredible hidden gem .

This is what the locals look for on the weekends... the French flag indicating that the bakers are open for business and that the bread is ready!

I discovered the Bakers at Red Lion by accident. We were having a nice little mini vacation at the beautiful carriage house on the Galer Winery estate. The Winery is located right across the road from the French bakery in Kennett Square, and as we pulled our car into the Winery's driveway, I noticed the beautiful little home with all the flowers and awnings and French flags outside calling out an invitation to explore!

And so I did, and I discovered the most incredibly delicious bread I had ever tasted!

Here are the bakers themselves hard at work turning out delectables!

My favorite was the cheese bread and even now, a year later, the thought of it makes my mouth water.

If you are ever in the area, stop by and see these ladies, grab a baguette, and then head across the street for a wine tasting on the idyllic Galer Estate Vineyard and Winery.

Here's some pics from our stay at the charming carriage house, which coincidently , is only about a mile or so from the beautiful Longwood Gardens! A little piece of Provence, right in the midst of Chester County, Pa.!

This setting was inspiring for me. If you look towards the window in the bottom photo, you'll see  the fresh peonies on the table that inspired the painting below , "Wish you were Here" .

Now that you've seen my pics and heard about the fresh baked bread and local wine, don't you wish you were there?

"Fond Memories", 12x24, oil, house portrait, commissions, paintings of family homes, Cape Cod, seaside homes, Maryanne Jacobsen art

"Fond Memories", 12x24, oil

I was recently commissioned to paint a memento of a very special family home that was about to be sold. The house, on Cape Cod, held many pleasant memories for my client and thus it needed to be memorialized in paint.

Painting a portrait of something as near and dear to a person as a family home is always a bit stressful for me, but in my past experiences the outcome has been worth my stress as the owners are always joyful to have a little concrete memory to retain.

I took my time with this one, studied the photographs, made preliminary sketches in pencil and even painted a small 9x12 paint sketch to make sure I had thoroughly familiarized myself with my subject matter. In the end, my client was very happy with the painting and so for me it was well worth the effort.

If you would like a portrait of your own family home painted, just send me an email at maryannejacobsen@aol.com and we can discuss the process!