holiday season painting sale!

Are you looking for a unique gift to give this holiday season?  Check out this album of artwork I currently have for sale.  Paintings and drawings range in size from 5″x7″ studies to larger, more developed pieces.  Please contact me for more details or a price list at emlee7@gmail.com.

Available Paintings

Thanks for looking! — Emilie

painting in the competition at Sagamore Hill

I just spent the past two days at the Teaching Studios of Art plein air painting competition in Oyster Bay, NY.  I was one of thirty five artists juried into the event and we had 83 acres of beautiful landscape to explore at the Sagamore Hill National Historic Site. The weather was stellar, and I was thrilled to be spending some of the last days of summer in a beautiful place.

artists on the beach at Sagamore Hill

 

 

athletic tape saved the day when my tripod broke halfway through the weekend.

 

We had two days to paint, and at four PM on the second day we had to submit two framed paintings to the gallery, one of which would be chosen to hang in the exhibition that night.  This was my first time painting under these kinds of conditions, and I found the pressure to be just what I needed to blast through some of my hang-ups.  Often I struggle with feeling too slow, getting caught up with details and telling myself I’ll just come back another day to finish the painting.  Working under the time limit, I was able to crank out four small paintings and I learned a lot about what it takes for me to be productive.  Not only did I get to spend two days

My friends from the Hudson River Fellowship- Cesar Santos and Steve Dolan were also in the competition. We painted together on the second day.

in a beautiful place, I got some great paintings out of it and I learned a lot about how to manage my own time and work habits for optimal productivity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the painting I submitted to the show- Marshes at Eel Creek, 10"x8" oil on linen

A good day’s work – painted, framed, and hung in the show all in one day.

 

The Exhibit will be on view at the Oyster Bay Historical Society through October 4th, 2011.

 

20 Summit Street, PO Box 297
Oyster Bay NY 11771
516-922-5032

Surviving the Hurricane

The view of Manhattan from our neighborhood in Brooklyn on Saturday afternoon.

Well, I got back to New York just in time for the earthquake and the hurricane.  My apartment in Greenpoint was only one block away from the mandatory evacuation zone, with what looked like a likely possibility of flooding and the nearest dry land being two miles away.  My roommate Sonya and I prepared for the worst, but we wanted to stay since we can both get a lot of work done on a stormy day stuck at home.  Sonya Kitchell is a very talented musician and I love listening to her practice while I’m painting in my room. (Download a free song by Sonya here)

during the worst of it my skylight started leaking, but my plein air painting rig saved the day

Taddy's Pond, 12"x9" oil on linen, 2011. This was the last painting I did before coming back to the city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went out and bought some wine, stocked up on drinking water and food, and ate a cozy dinner while we listened to the rain beat down on our skylights.  I spent the weekend painting and listening to Sonya play her new piano.  When the storm passed, our neighbors brought over all their hurricane provisions and we had two more nights of feasting and merriment before the city resumed it’s usual fast pace and we all went back to work.  We’re all grateful that the storm didn’t do more damage around here, especially with the huge waste water treatment plant on the banks of Newton Creek around the corner (yuk).

Then I dragged out this one from storage. I had started it 2 years ago after my first summer at the Hudson River Fellowship. After two more years of learning and experience, I'm having a much easier time painting from imagination and memory.

Periodically checking the weather ... is it safe to go out yet? I was a bit disappointed in the weak hurricane we had in Brooklyn, but also grateful that it wasn't worse.

Plein Air Competition and Exhibition at Sagamore Hill

Competition Cancelled due to hurricane Irene!  Rescheduled for Sept 9-10

This Friday and Saturday I will be participating in the Teaching Studios 1st Annual Plein Air Painting Competition at Sagamore Hill Historic Preserve in Oyster Bay, NY – a setting with over 83 acres of beautiful landscape, as well as the last home of Teddy Roosevelt.
The preserve is located on the beautiful Gold Coast of northern Long Island.  I’m looking forward to exploring a new landscape that I haven’t seen before and meeting the other artists.  It should be a fun way to wrap up the summer.

Bird's Eye View of Sagamore Hill

3 Events- Free and Open to the Public

1. Instructors Rob Zeller and Bennett Vadnais will lecture on the Barbizon School and the great Russian Landscape painters of the 19th Century, respectively, at the Teaching Studios of Art in Oyster Bay, Friday night August 26, starting at 8pm.

2. Utrecht Artist-in-Residence Joe Gyurcsak is conducting a demonstration in Plein Air painting on Day 2, Saturday August 27, from 10am-1pm on the grounds of the event. This demonstration is free, and worth checking out since Joe is going to try and paint TR’s mansion. That’s not an easy demo.

3. Later that night, an exhibition of paintings from each of the participants and judges will open to the public from 7-9pm at the Koenig Center of the Oyster Bay Historical Society. Light refreshments will be served and wet paintings will be available for sale.

20 Summit Street, PO Box 297
Oyster Bay NY 11771
516-922-5032

Sunrise in the Catskills

After painting and drawing this scene at Laurelside 3 or 4 times over the past month, I made this painting (12″x9″, a bit larger than I usually work) from memory using written notes and referring to the earlier studies I have. This was the first time I’ve tried working from memory and I really enjoyed it! I learned a lot and this morning I woke up early to watch the sunrise and compare what I had done yesterday with what was actually happening. I made a few changes-making the mountains more chromatic but leaving the sky as I had painted it yesterday. A great learning experience!

Studies from the Hudson River Fellowship

I just finished up a month of landscape painting at the Hudson River Fellowship in the Catskills. It was amazing to be able to focus on painting every day without any distractions, which is why my blog has been so neglected this summer. Here are some pictures of what I have been working on. At the fellowship, artists are encouraged to work towards creating a larger painting in the studio using their small plein air studies as reference. Many of these were created with that goal in mind. I’m excited to get in the studio and see how it goes, but there’s one more month of summer left and I hope to spend much of it painting outside before I come back to the city for my last year of school. It’s going to be a long dark winter, so I’m getting outside as much as I can right now!

Nest Rock, oil on linen, 8″x6″

Forest Path Study, oil on linen, 6″x8″

South Lake Fog, 10″x8″, oil on linen

https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

The Great Hudson River Exhibition

“The Great Hudson River Exhibition” Juried Fine Art Exhibition Opening Reception
July 9, 2011 • 4:00-6:00pm
Mill Street Loft ARTS, at the River Center
Red Flynn Road, Beacon, NY

I have two landscape paintings in this show that opens Saturday! 

Mill Street Loft ARTS new exhibition space located at the River Center on Red Flynn Road, at Long Dock Park on the Beacon Waterfront, is pleased to present The Great Hudson River Exhibition a fine art exhibition focusing on the majestic Hudson River opening on Saturday, July 9th.

This show will be the first art exhibition to open at the River Center. The show will remain on view through Sunday, September 4th. An Opening Reception for the artists and public will take place in the gallery on Saturday, July 9th from 4:00 – 6:00pm.  A special awards ceremony featuring prizes and other recognition awards will be held during the opening reception.

Nicaragua and PRE

In June I went to Nicaragua on a vacation with my boyfriend Jesse.  He’s been down here every year for the past 5 years, so it was a total treat to be shown the country by someone who knows their way around.  One of the reasons Jesse keeps coming back is to visit and work with his friend Espen Haugen, who started a non-profit organization to help build schools in rural areas.  Over the last four years, Proyecto Remedios Educativos (PRE) has helped to facilitate the building of over 20 new schools in the Tola municipality which have benefited over 2,200 students.  The organization provides building materials and text books while the local communities provides labor and planning.  Visiting Espen was one of my favorite parts of our trip because we really got to see a part of the local scene that most tourists don’t have access too.  Many families are living a subsistence lifestyle without access to education, and it doesn’t take much money to get a school up and running.  I was hugely inspired to see Espen’s work and the country is a wonderful place to visit.  We got our fair share of beach time and surfing in and I can’t wait to come back for a more productive painting trip now that I know my way around a bit.

Playa Popoyo

Espen Haugen, founder of Proyecto Remedios Educativos

Oxen hauling rebar to the remote village of Berlin where PRE supplied building materials for a new school

We visited a job site where provided materials for a new well to be built. The 60 ft deep well was dug by hand and lined with bricks (also made by hand)

Espen & Jesse. I think Jesse is talking about how awesome the mangoes are in Nicaragua

Overseeing the delivery of saplings to a tree farm

mid-bushwhacking adventure, contemplating the possibility of poisonous snakes

Espen leading the way with a Machete

Hometown Roots

I saw this spot on my morning trail run near dad's house and returned to paint it afterwards

I’m on the bus back to NYC after a very brief 4 day trip to Vermont to catch up with my Dad and reconnect with my hometown community.  I’ve been traveling and living all over the country since I was about 18 years old, but nothing compares to the feeling of roots I have in the land where I grew up.  Over the years I’ve been able to come back a lot and I always draw a lot of strength and energy from my time in Vermont.  On this trip, I knew I only had four days, but I thought I would still have time to paint – which is typical of me to try and do way too many things in a short amount of time.  Whenever I get out of New York, freak out and want to paint everything I see.  Even the weeds on the side of the highway look exciting!  On my first day home, I was able to carve out a few hours to paint, but after that I got swept away by trail running, yoga, hiking, and projects with Dad.  There’s never enough hours in the day!

The yellow flowers were beautiful under the gray sky...

Whenever I come home, I make it a priority to check in with my yoga teacher Christine at Bristol Yoga Shala.  I’ve been practicing yoga for 12 years now, and with Christine for the past ten years learning Ashtanga.   My yoga practice has grown slowly over the years, but at this point my Ashtanga practice is a daily routine and a huge source of positive energy in my life.  Most of the time I practice on my own, so my brief visits with Christine are really important opportunities for me to tune up my asanas and get some instruction.  I always learn something new that helps my practice evolve and I leave inspired to keep it up.  It’s pretty amazing to step into Bristol Yoga on a Sunday morning and practice with 15 other super fit yogi-ninjas -many of them are over the age of 50 and totally killing it!  I’m gonna be that kind of old lady – doing handstands and back flips when I’m 65.

Bristol Yoga team spirit ... that's me in the upper right corner doing Warrior I in the Merced River

 

While we practice yoga Gracie is on the stairs doing her own asanas

 

Christine Hoar, a wonderful friend, teacher, and mentor in my life!

 

Hiking up Mt. Abe with Dad

Every time I come home, I hike or run up the Battell trail on Mt. Abraham – 6 miles car-to-car with 360 degree views at the top.  This time Dad and I hiked it together – the weather was perfect and we didn’t see anyone else out there all day.  Dad is a super tough guy.  After getting crushed under a tree in a logging accident 2 years ago (he was trapped under a huge maple tree for 6 hours in a blizzard before he performed a heroic self-rescue) he had knee replacement surgery a year ago. This hasn’t slowed him down much – he’s still charging around in the mountains, and even skied Tuckerman’s Ravine this past spring.

The view west - looking out over out hometown and beyond to Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks

 

our summiut mug shot

 

hiking Mt. Abe with Dad & Fred on Christmas Eve last winter

One of my missions on this trip was to enlist Dad’s help to make some painting panels in his shop using his table saw.  After our first batch last summer, I had some ideas for design improvements, and we went right to work.  Once we got going, our production got a bit out of control and we both ended up spending most of the weekend on this project.  But I tell you what – I won’t be worried about running out of painting panels any time soon!

At Charlie and Em's Panel Factory

 

Here they are - 1/4" birch veneer, poly gloss on back, C13 & C15 linen on front. And that's not even all of them!

 

The Bristol farmer's market was quite a scene!

A lot of my close friends from childhood have settled down and built their lives in our hometown, and we have a really vibrant community full of artists, musicians, creative people, small farms and businesses.  I had the perfect opportunity to catch up with everyone at once at the farmer’s market.  It was amazing and delightful to run into so many old friends and see them with kids and families!  I must say, wow you guys have been busy!  This town is crawling with little ones – I’m so excited for them to be able to raise their kids together in such a great place.

Bay with brand new twins Scarlet and Magnolia

 

Silas & Levi

 

Josiah rocks out with one of the girls

 

Josiah, Rory, and their boys.

 

home sweet home ... another trip that felt way too short!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teachers

In a month I will be participating in the Hudson River Fellowship for my third consecutive summer, and to say I am looking forward to it is an understatement!  I love my New York City life, but I really come alive in the mountains, so I look forward to summer a lot.  Summer, you are here, and I am freaking out!

I’m writing this post about a few of my teachers who I study with at the Grand Central Academy and the Hudson River Fellowship.  Jacob Collins, Travis Schlaht, and Edward Minoff all come from a background of academic figure painting, which is what makes their approach to landscape unique.  I’ve been fortunate to study with them for the past three years at GCA and then tag along with them at the fellowship over the summers.  What I’ve been trying to learn from them is how to make plein air studies in the field that will be useful back in the studio as reference for large scale paintings.  It is important to note that taking reference photos is not gonna happen, so all reference material must be collected in oil sketches, pencil sketches, written notes, and conceptual understanding of light/form/perspective/subject.  A sharp memory helps too.  One of the fun and fascinating things that happens with this process is that you can never get all the information you need, and the missing gaps force you to figure out a solution, expand your understanding, and exercise your brain.  It keeps you on your toes, and allows for more creative thought.

"Forest Interior" by Travis Schlaht. Approx. 24"x36" (my guess)

I took the above photo of Travis’ “Forest Interior” painting at the recent ACOPAL exhibition.  This large canvas is the result of many smaller studies done on site, including the one below.  You can see how the smaller study contains a lot of specific information for the rocks and roots in the foreground, but the distant trees and the upper half of the study are much more vague.  To complete the larger painting, Travis must have referred to different studies he has of trees in the forest, how light penetrates foliage, and the different values of tree trunks as they recede in space.  To combine all these different things into one believable image takes a solid understanding of light and form and a lot of time spent observing nature.

Travis Schlaht, plein air study for "Forest Interior," Oil on Linen, 14 x 11 inches

Jacob Collins has a show up right now (until July) at Adelson Galleries in NYC, so if you’re in the city don’t miss it!  To illustrate the idea of using studies for reference material in the studio, I’ve chosen this drawing of Hen Islands.  You can see where it appears in the background of the finished painting below.  The drawing is only 13 inches wide, but the finished painting is 7 feet wide, so you can see why making a very detailed drawing is important here!  All the different studies Jacob used to make this large studio painting are on the Hirsch & Adler site.  There’s also a good interview with Jacob on the subject of landscape painting on the artist daily blog.  Jacob is overflowing with quotable advice for aspiring painters, but one thing he said that really stuck with me is that you have to be insatiably curious about the world around you.  When you’re out painting and sketching, be trying to learn and understand as much as you can about your subject, and that means beyond simple visual impressions.  

“Hen Islands,” by Jacob Collins Graphite on paper, 8 x 13 1/2 inches

"The Hen Islands from Eastholm," by Jacob Collins, Oil on canvas, 50 x 120 inches

 

"Stormy", by Edward Minoff 32x48 inches, Oil & Gold Leaf on Linen, 2011.

Edward Minoff’s working process is absolutely insane.  To create these huge studio paintings, he goes out to the beach and sits for hours watching the ocean, taking written notes, and trying to understand how water behaves.  Small plein air studies like the one below serve as color references.  A detailed article describing his working process can be found on his website for those curious about the master of waves.

"Waves-Study" by Edward Minoff, 11"x7"

 

So that’s just a little bit of inspiration from some of my teachers.  I hope I can keep up the blogging this summer and find time to write more thoughts and ideas about what I’m learning as I go.