Memory of Fire Island

Fire Island Path to the Sea by Maud Guilfoyle, acrylic 36 x 48" © Art by Two 

Memory of the Sea

I am two and a half. It is a summer afternoon and my mother is climbing steps, with me on her hip, to the top of a fire lookout tower on Fire Island. When we get to the top, I am drowsy from the heat and soon fall asleep to the sounds of the waves and the scratch of Peregrine's pen on paper as she draws the ocean.

Artists race with Spring

Magnolia in Snow, Two Panels © Maud Guilfoyle, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 96"

Getting ready to race with Spring and keep up with blooming flowers and trees. I always start out okay, then by the second or third week of warm weather more and more things are blooming. And there is the snow factor...

Artists burning dinner ...

Dolly in Spring © Maud Guilfoyle, acrylic on canvas, 20 x 24"

It was very damp and chilly today, the ground is saturated with snow melt. Hard to believe that in less than a month we will have a steady parade of flowers and flowering trees to paint. I always have plans to get everything down on paper or canvas before it's done and then it seems to burst out all at once. 

About dinner ... I wonder how many other artists begin cooking dinner, everything going nicely and then make the error in judgement of thinking they can just finish up that bit of a painting while the leeks, or other food is sauteing. 

I read somewhere that Pieter Bruegel, the Flemish Renaissance painter, hard boiled 30 eggs on the first of each month so that he wouldn't take too much time away from his painting. 

Artists: write about what interests you!

Whale Dream © Maud Guilfoyle, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 60 inches

My students are encouraged to paint and draw what interests them, and what they are passionate about. I also teach them to practice drawing what they see so that they can more easily draw from their imagination. If you are an artist who writes, it's also important to write about what you find exciting, not popular subject matter in current books or periodicals. Just as you might research a subject for a painting, organize your notes and sketches and write about it. Begin with just a paragraph a day, enough for a blog post. The more you practice writing, the more easily it will flow, just as attending life drawing sessions enables you to come to a blank canvas and jump right into your painting.

artists and money

Just finished my third e book, Artists and Money Handbook, it is on kindle, ibooks and soon nook. There seems to be so much happening this last month it is taking a huge effort to quiet my mind and work on finishing the next two, one on drawing and the other about my mom and me, and art in our lives. must take a news vacation!

Lucille's Dahlia © Maud Guilfoyle

Lucille's dahlia was a gift from a friend's garden before the hurricane swept through.

Fallen Apples

Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Fallen Apples © 2011 from Demarest Farm

I have begun working on a series of paintings of a nearby apple orchard. Growing up in Northern New Jersey I have memories of farm stands and orchards all through the area.
One by one they have gone. Last autumn after the apples had mostly been picked or fallen, before the leaves came down, I came to Demarest Farm to sketch and take photographs for a painting. It had just stormed and the air was as crisp as the remaining apples on the trees and there was a scent of cider. Just birdsong to be heard. It was magical; I felt blessed to be there.
Posted by Maud Guilfoyle at 7:00 AM