Friday, February 3, 2012 from 6-8 pm
http://www.harringtonbrowngall

To see my work in person visit:
Harrington Brown Gallery
5179 Wheelis Drive
Memphis, TN 38117
Phone: 901.590.3008
gallery hours Tuesday-Saturday 10-5 and by appt.
or, you may make an appointment to visit my studio.

There is a photo of my piece in the portfolio section of my website.
All works on view to the public Feb 6-Feb 10 at the Memphis College of Art.
Auction night Feb. 11
Further event info:
http://www.memphiscac.org/work

Women to Watch, Memphis Commercial Appeal, June 12, 2011
I was honored to be invited to be a subject for this column written by journalist Susan Snapp.
www.commercialappeal.com/news/

to all who have come to view Anne's and my exhibition luminous. Your enthusiastic responses to our work have been a little overwhelming to be frank. Over the last few months and weeks we've been logging a lot of hours preparing for this exhibit- creating and finishing our respective work, then mounting the rather sizable installation. Sometimes it's hard to find the energy to keep going, hard to limit our time to "doing the work"- hard to keep our noses to the grindstone so to speak, having to turn down social invitations and spend less time than we'd like to with friends and family etc.... Personally, I was unprepared for the generous responses I have received this week- so many beautiful comments and insights from so many of you and quite a number of my paintings are now going to appreciative homes. You not only melted any fatigue I was feeling, but you have made me feel supported and encouraged, I am grateful.

Luminous
new work by
Elizabeth Garat (paintings) and
Anne J. Froning (clay)

I am very pleased to be presenting over 30 new paintings to the public.
Luminous opens Friday, September 16th with a reception at 5:30 pm. It will remain on display through October 27th, 2011
The Buckman Performing and Fine Arts Center
60 Perkins Extended
Memphis, TN
Gallery hours Monday through Friday, 10-4
or by appt.
901.537.1483

in and near was where I was painting.
I learned about the Faliscans, a pre-Roman people whose tombs and cliff dwellings are in evidence here. Interesting!
Enjoyed the time with my mentors Joe and Maddine (Etrucscan Places)
Got some paintings done.
Worked daily from 9 am til 7:30 pm.
Stayed at the beautiful Relais Falisco, once a Palazzo, now a four star hotel ...night blooming Jasmine at the entryway...
Experienced fine dining at the elegant restaurant La Scuderia. Pasta with ricotta and thin curls of pear not to be missed.
And then there were the other nights ...when we dined al fresco on a piece of land called Castellaccio. At Castellaccio there were ancient tombs right behind our table- heightening the spirit of the place. Here we enjoyed the artistic culinary creations of the gifted, independent/private chef Fabio Castrucci.
How could I choose my favorite dish that Fabio made? I can not. They were all wonderful. When I try to remember all of his dishes- I think of him explaining quietly at our table what he had made- I liked his way. Our chef's eyes reminded me of Greek paintings from antiquity...One night Fabio made us a savory antipasto with lentils on toasted bread that I liked alot, and his preparation of merluzzo fish was delicious.
Perhaps I left Civita Castellana too soon... more to explore, find, experience...

Afterward, my painting colleague and I went to stay at Ponte Zingola in Seravezza, Tuscany. From there we took day trips to Pietrasanta, Cinque Terre and villages in the Apuane Alps.

Io vorrei imparare l'italiano. La prossima volta che mi trovo in Italia, voglio parlare in italiano.

I will be plein air paintinig with Joe and Maddine of Etruscan Places in the Roman Campagna this summer.
Excited !

Participating again this year...what did I make? I'll give you a hint- a lotus is the central motif but that's all I'm going to say.
Hearts will be on view for the public free of charge at the Memphis College of Art Feb 7-11
The charity Event takes place Saturday February 12th 7-10 pm.
Official website
http://www.memphiscac.org/work

www.fattoriaarmena.com is where we painters stayed in Tuscany for our painting intensive. Our hosts, Stefania and Alessandro were so warm and genial- they made our time very special. I heartily recommend staying at this 15th century farm if you travel to Tuscany and plan to be near Buonconvento in Siena province. Their food was amazing- everything made by hand and with love. It was very hard to leave.
Our daily schedule: Breakfast at 8 am. Class from 9-10 am. (A slide show illustrating our day's assignment). Paint a morning painting from 10am til 1:30. At 1:30 stop and enjoy a beautiful lunch on a covered patio prepared by Joe, Maddine and their young intern, Emi. 2:45 -6pm afternoon painting. At 6pm stop, wash up, and line up all paintings of the day by each participant for critique over wine by Joe and Maddine. At 8 pm dinner in the dining room prepared by Stefania and her son Giulio who is training to be a chef.

This summer I overcame a little resistance (understatement) to painting local scenery and have been making plein air forays in the environs of Memphis. Doing this feels good. Standing in a field here, in present time, nature stirring around me, I'm taken back to my childhood in Riverside County, CA where I spent many hours in the vast barley fields surrounding our house on my Grandfather's ranch. Red-winged blackbirds darting to and fro around me here take me back to being there. As a child, the flash of a red-winged blackbird was a magic moment--their color made such a strong and vivid contrast in the landscape. I remember that even though red-winged blackbirds were plentiful, I considered each glimpse of one lucky.
Still do.

the WAR of ART; Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield

The war is within oneself. A kick in the pants book. Mr. Pressfield exposes the force of Resistance and how it will assume any form necessary to keep us from fulfilling our highest Soul potential. Written for people in creative fields, anyone can benefit from reading this. The WAR of ART brilliantly describes Resistance as a villainous character whose goal it is to sabbotage us at every turn. It will be harder after reading this to remain blind or ignorant to the forms of Resistance we employ that block our personal evolution. Packs a punch ! Clear. Concise. Wise.

"The more important a call or action is to our soul's evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it." (and the more gratification you will feel when you finally beat Resistance and do it.)

"There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny. This second, we can turn the tables on Resistance."

In mid July I look forward to taking a workshop with landscape painter Elizabeth Tolley in California.
In early October I return to Italy to further my training with Maddine Insalaco and Joe Vinton

In February of 2009 I had the pleasure of visiting the studio of landscape painter Dave Ballew in Santa Fe. I sought him out after seeing his work in a gallery. Breathtaking paintings. Nice guy. I hope to take him up on his kind offer and paint with him out in the field the next time I'm in his area.

Over 100 heart themed works by Memphis artists on display to the public at the Memphis College of Art February 8 -12, hours 9-5 pm.
The auction event will be held on Saturday, February 13, 2010 from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Memphis College of Art. Tickets are $50 and include complimentary wine, beer, and appetizers. Proceeds benefit the Memphis Child Advocacy Center.
You can preview my 2010 heart in the Mixed Media section.

My painting "Flying Nest, New Beginnings" will be exhibited in a group show at the Memphis College of Art
January 4, 2010 - January 29, 2010
Reception:
Friday, January 22, 2010; 5 to 7pm

I traveled with watercolors on my painting expedition this year. Ease of packing, portability. In Powell's Books in Portland, I purchased Carl Little's beautiful book,
The Watercolors of John Singer Sargent. Previously I had no idea of the volume of watercolor works Sargent produced in his lifetime, nor that for the last 25 years of his life, watercolor was his preferred medium. The paintings reproduced in this book reflect his travels in Palestine, North Africa, Spain, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, France, Scotland, England, the Canadian Rockies, New England and Florida.
Each night I would leaf through the pages and fill my eyes with the images.
The discipline I set myself this year on my expedition was to give myself a time limit of one hour or less to complete a watercolor sketch. More than that and I tend to overthink, overpaint. Even when a sketch doesn't "turn out," to my satisfaction, the discipline of having practiced interpreting a scene in paint serves a purpose. Sketches are part of a process- a way of being in an outdoor scene and contemplating it with an artist's eye. Our eyes see differently than an apparatus (camera). A camera lens flattens out landscape scenes and does not record colors the way people observe and interpret them. A person has emotional responses, preferences and filters. When it comes to painting, expressing these human responses is crucial. Painting on location in the moment helps record the entire sensory experience of being in the moment- feelings, light, temperature, and sounds become encapsulated both visibly and invisibly into the sketch and memory.

...when not primping the flowers in my cottage garden or mixing pigments in my Memphis studio this summer, i will be refreshing my eyes in Oregon and Ojai CA..

presents works from an array of faith traditions contemplating the idea of the Feminine Divine

February 20-April 3, 2009

Last night we had a great opening night ! A big turn out and people really loved the exhibit. What a great experience I have had curating this show.
Participating artists:
Janna Bernstein, Carol Buchman, Lana Chu, Maritza Davila,
Elizabeth Garat, Alma R. Gomez ,Sharon Grinspan,
Vinodini Jayaraman, Stephanie King, Diane Ludy, Andrea Holmes Lugar,
Sally Markell, Ann M. Moore, Peri Pfenninger,
Sowgand Sheikholeslami, Mary Stubbs, Lisa Tribo, Anne Froning-Wike, Meg Zachry

I'm finishing up pieces for two upcoming events:

The Bird's Nest Invitational is an exhibition taking place at Brandon Michael Fine Art 202 Canyon Road in Santa Fe. It opens February 13, 2009

17th ANNUAL WORKS OF HEART, Valentine Auction and Exhibit,
Charitable Fundraiser for the Memphis Child Advocacy Center
Exhibit on view free to the public Feb 2nd-6th 10am-5pm
Main floor of Memphis College of Art

Inspired by Argentinean singer, Daniel Melingo singing "Sin Luna" I wrote 3 short poems about the moon and am creating art to accompany them. You can see Mr. Melingo sing the song here Sin Luna performed
It's an uncomplicated, beautiful song from the heart that has kindled written and visual ideas in me.
'Muchas gracias Senõr Melingo para la inspiración.'

at Memphis College of Art, Overton Park
Over 100 heart themed works by Memphis artists on display.
Fund raising auction Saturday, February 9, 7-10 pm
All proceeds benefit the Memphis Child Advocacy Center

Solo Exhibit at
Germantown Performing Arts Centre includes sketches and paintings from my travels over the last seven years.The exhibit is on display through February 17, 2008.
GPAC is located at 1801 Exeter Road, Germantown, TN 38138

"Enamorado" has been juried into the 2007 Art Kudos Exhibition International. www.artkudos.com

Bella Toscana is the culmination of two years work. Having long loved Italy, I made the seemingly requisite artist’s pilgrimage to Tuscany to paint during the past two summers. Following the well-worn path, I was taken by surprise in the Apuane Alps in 2005. This alpine region of Tuscany revealed an unexpected landscape- an atypical, mountainous micro-region with wildflowers in abundance. Marble industry was the heart of the subject there. Daily, we drove a road whose construction Michelangelo had overseen centuries before when assigned by the Medicis to open a new quarry. Apart from trucks going to and from this quarry rising steeply above our host’s renovated stone home, there was not a lot of activity. At night, except for summer insects and the soft music of the creek, we lived temporarily in a dignified silence at Ponte Zingola. Darkness lit only by stars has a way of entwining one with the threads of history. I felt humbled in the presence of this particular history. It was impossible not to feel privileged to be where we were, sharing the experiences we did. It was Deborah Whitt who gave me the tip on the painting expedition with Stella Ehrich. Christine Ritchie and I, longtime friends and painting colleagues, signed on for the journey and were grateful for Deborah’s suggestion.

Christine and I returned to the region in 2006 to capture in further paintings, a more typical Tuscan landscape. Absent the prior summer were the characteristically golden hay fields and the starkly upright candlestick cypress trees. Last summer we stayed at La Ripolina, a vast farm estate atop a hill forty-five minutes southeast of Siena. 360 degrees of unobstructed views. We took a workshop there under the tutelage of landscape painters Maddine Insalaco and her husband Joe Vinton. They have an excellent and intense painting program, Etruscan Places, I recommend. When the workshop ended, we moved to a second location outside of Arezzo where we kept up the work pace established at La Ripolina. Our second lodging, La Foresteria, was surrounded by 1200 acres of fruit orchards and provided bicycles. Each day we rose at six am and headed out for a bike ride before breakfast. We’d eat and be on the road (via auto) in search of a location to paint by nine. Our goal was to complete a morning and afternoon painting each day. From La Foresteria we made day trips to many nearby hill towns such as; Civitella, Castiglion Fiorentino, Monte S. Savino and the wider known Cortona, setting of Frances Mayes, Under the Tuscan Sun -a town though a bit overexposed of late, we found well deserving of its must see reputation.

When selecting works to include this exhibit, we aimed to show variety within the region. Reflecting on these two sojourns in Tuscany- distinctly different in physical terms and in other ways, what unites the two experiences for me is the act of painting, and the generosity of the people we met- people met in passing like the older gentleman who brought Christine fresh figs one afternoon to snack on while she worked, and new friends and colleagues with whom we hope to grow deeper relationships. Once again, the Meaningful is born out in relationships- in our relationships with others, to nature, and finally with ourselves.