Marsh at low Tide by Melody Phaneuf

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The Truth Cannot be Told  ~Lao Tse

There is an authenticity and resonance when color, texture and the impression of light congeal in a painting to express the effect of what is observed. This is a thrilling moment. The experience of truth is the reward in painting from Nature.

I often use small formats to explore combinations that unravel the immediacy of effect as a prelude to larger, more involved paintings . Smaller work quickly chronicles dynamic color and elusive lighting situations. This practice helps me store in memory defining aspects and, without too much difficulty, I can later expand on it.

The coastal marshes are especially colorful and lovely in autumn light. The pastel medium seems to lend itself beautifully to the textural quality of the grasses, Interweaving strokes of color that simulate the radiant effect of sunlight on the marsh. Each day is slightly different, revealing the progression of seasonal light.

In addition to pleasing color and texture, this marsh series is satisfying to me because of  the abstract patterning. Despite the simplicity, each has an undeniable presence and an essence of truth that can be recognized by the unity of effect.

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 Selected from  Marsh Series, by Melody Phaneuf

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Melody Phaneuf is an award-winning Boston Artist, well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. She has exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists in Boston, MA; Patricia Hutton Galleries in Doylestown, PA; and North Shore Arts in Gloucester, MA.

Phaneuf lives and paints landscape in Gloucester, MA and maintains a studio at Fenway Studios in Boston, where she paints and holds workshops continuing the Boston School lineage.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

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This weekend, November 3 & 4 is our annual Open Studios event. We are completing last minute details to welcome art lovers to Fenway Studios.

It is an occasion to reflect on this past year’s work. I am pleased with a coastal landscape series based on healing elements that Nature offers. There is also a selection of small paintings, little gems perfect for holiday giving.

I look forward to sharing this year’s offerings with visitors to Fenway Studios. They are always an enthusiastic audience.

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Melody Phaneuf is an award-winning Boston Artist, well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. She has exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists in Boston, MA; Patricia Hutton Galleries in Doylestown, PA; and North Shore Arts in Gloucester, MA.

Phaneuf lives and paints landscape in Gloucester, MA and maintains a studio at Fenway Studios in Boston, where she paints and holds workshops continuing the Boston School lineage.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

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Hues of Autumn by Melody Phaneuf, 18 x 25 oil painting

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Light, dry, colorful, transitory–Autumn enchants the spirit and sparks an elevated state of awareness. I’ve tried to highlight these characteristics by design choices made in the painting, Hues of Autumn. The selected objects have an obvious connection to the theme but the arrangement of them is to me, the more subtle and intriguing aspect.

From the time of my first memorable aesthetic experience, my quest has been to identify the abstract combinations that evoke certain responses. Viewing excavated murals from Pompeii left me astonished. I hadn’t been aware of how the design was drawing me into a state of trancelike sensitivity, poised to fully experience the finale, a cracking strike from the Dionysian flagellation ritual.

That experience opened my eyes and transformed my purpose. Many years later, and with a better understanding of geometry and visual dynamics, I continue to be intrigued by the forces of perception. When color, light, shape, and movement are fine tuned to express an idea, the picture becomes a powerful talisman.

In Hues of Autumn, the lighting effect, a high major key, creates the sparkle so characteristic of the angle of the autumn light. The anthropomorphic shape of the earthenware vessel evokes a sense of awe, having much to do with its verticality and especially by the open areas cut out by its handles.

A warm, analogous color scheme expresses the transition of the season, its movement away from the dominion of the sun. The angular shapes of the colorful, curling leaves echo the fabric pattern and provide a contrast to the curves of the jar, the seasonal pomegranates, and the oval arrangement of the draped satin. This subtle contrast provides enough disorder to engage the eye and focus attention.

The eye spirals pleasantly through the picture vertically downward and is buoyed back to the top by the placement of the leaves. The movement is reminiscent of autumn winds and suggestive of gradual change.

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Melody Phaneuf is an award-winning Boston Artist, well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. She has exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists in Boston, MA; Patricia Hutton Galleries in Doylestown, PA; and North Shore Arts in Gloucester, MA.

Phaneuf lives and paints landscape in Gloucester, MA and maintains a studio at Fenway Studios in Boston, where she paints and holds workshops continuing the Boston School lineage.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

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Terrace at Central Park by W M Chase

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The selection and arrangement of pattern is an essential skill of the artist. The process requires a sensitive eye, the ability to see abstraction. An understanding of dividing a picture plane into a pleasing distribution of shapes of differing value is the motivating force. Seeking and implementing pattern is a quest of the landscape painter who work from observation of Nature.

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Gathering small pencil studies in 3-5 values are a good way of practicing what my teacher called, “spotting.” This expression evoked in me the idea of butterfly wings and their riveting markings. As time went on I better understood pattern to be interlocking puzzle pieces holding a picture together.

There is something visually satisfying about sensitively orchestrated pattern.  Pictures built on this kind of design seem to resonate deeply. Whatever effect that a particular arrangement calls forth, competent patterning always furnishes a sense of wholeness.

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Melody Phaneuf is an award-winning Boston Artist, well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. She has exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists in Boston, MA; Patricia Hutton Galleries in Doylestown, PA; and North Shore Arts in Gloucester, MA.

Phaneuf lives and paints landscape in Gloucester, MA and maintains a studio at Fenway Studios in Boston, where she paints and holds workshops continuing the Boston School lineage.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
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Above~ Landscape compositions in pencil from the sketchbook of Melody Phaneuf

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Splash, by Melody Phaneuf, 30 x 24 oil painting of Gloucester, MA

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Rock, water, light~ the relationship is mesmerizing. Patterns emerge, dissolve, scar fluid memory into stone.

There is something compelling about these harbor hollows–Nature’s version of great cathedral naves, built to inspire seekers with carved stone heights and colored light. Granite walls echo the song of vortiginous waves and hurl dancing color onto the flowing surface. This is surely sacred space.

Splash chronicles a moment of solitude. Water, light, and time flow onward, a  standing stone and an appreciative painter are the only witnesses.

Splash is a 30 x 24 oil painting of Stage Fort Park in Gloucester, MA

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Melody Phaneuf is an award-winning Boston Artist, well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. She has exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists in Boston, MA; Patricia Hutton Galleries in Doylestown, PA; and North Shore Arts in Gloucester, MA.

Phaneuf lives and paints landscape in Gloucester, MA and maintains a studio at Fenway Studios in Boston, where she paints and holds workshops continuing the Boston School lineage.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
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]]> http://melodytheartist.com/blog/2012/09/19/painting-marines-in-gloucester-splash/feed/ 0 http://melodytheartist.com/blog/2012/09/05/the-spirit-of-renewal-returning-tide/ http://melodytheartist.com/blog/2012/09/05/the-spirit-of-renewal-returning-tide/#comments Wed, 05 Sep 2012 09:55:15 +0000 Melody http://melodytheartist.com/blog/?p=917

Returning Tide, 30 x 24 oil painting by Melody Phaneuf

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According to Feng Shui, the element of water holds the energy of calmness and purity. Water symbolizes abundance, and is used in the east and southeast area of the home as a cure for its absence.

To me, Returning Tide is about renewal, the influx of new energy. Living on the coast and watching the tides ebb and flow reminds me of breathing. Water is the life force of the marshes.

Visually, I am compelled to paint the calligraphy of the narrow blue swash expanding through the landscape. At this moment the richness of low lying sand is still exposed, violet tones resonate with blue water and contrast with the yellow-green grasses. All scintillates in the lemon yellow light.

Returning Tide is a recent 30 x 24 oil painting of the marshes near Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester, MA.

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Melody Phaneuf is an award-winning Boston Artist, well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. She has exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists in Boston, MA; Patricia Hutton Galleries in Doylestown, PA; and North Shore Arts in Gloucester, MA.

Phaneuf lives and paints landscape in Gloucester, MA and maintains a studio at Fenway Studios in Boston, where she paints and holds workshops continuing the Boston School lineage.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Mums and Blue Willow, 20 x 16 oil painting by Melody Phaneuf

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I heard three memorable comments this past week. The first was from a stranger, passing by as I was tending my garden one morning. “Thanks for the beauty,” she said with a smile. The second remark came from a seven-year old neighbor, riding his bicycle. “I like your garden, it makes it feel like a rich neighborhood. One thing about a rich neighborhood, they keep things clean.”

The final mention, came from my sister when glancing at a table where I was preparing food for grilling–romaine and radicchio, sliced and marinating, chicken breasts rolled in cinnamon and pepper, cherries and apricots in a blue and white bowl.

“Is this a still life or what you are cooking?” “It’s both,” was my reply.

It’s interesting to me as an arranger of things how we evaluate a situation by visual presentation, and how display can alter minds and hearts. Visual impressions have immediacy.  Certain arrangements can lead to appreciation for the intrinsic beauty of the objects, like orange apricots in a blue and white bowl. Appreciation liberates beauty and makes the world a kinder and yes, richer place.

I think of these things when I paint and when I select or arrange objects for that purpose. Paintings can shift mood, focus the mind, and bring us healing. I recall reading about Hippocrates, who often prescribed a number of hours contemplating beautiful form or listening to certain notes of the harp. I don’t think we need more chaos, noise or clutter; I’m for keeping the neighborhood clean.

I find hope in the comments of the past week. It shows me that on some level we recognize the importance of beauty, of taking time to plant flowers or dig out a blue and white bowl. I wonder what the world would look like if we appreciated art and beauty with the same intensity that we cherish celebrities or sporting events.

What are your thoughts on living  in beautiful surroundings?

Mums and Blue Willow, featured above, is also available in fine art print, tumbled marble beverage coasters, and handmade note cards.

Related Articles~
The Importance of Beauty in Everyday Life
A Mystic’s View of Beauty
Ancient Wisdom and the Perfection of Health

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Melody Phaneuf is an award-winning Boston Artist, well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. She has exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists in Boston, MA; Patricia Hutton Galleries in Doylestown, PA; and North Shore Arts in Gloucester, MA.

Phaneuf lives and paints landscape in Gloucester, MA and maintains a studio at Fenway Studios in Boston, where she paints and holds workshops continuing the Boston School lineage.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Visit Fenway Studios
Commission a Painting
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View From Halfmoon Beach, oil study by Melody Phaneuf

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After just teaching a painting workshop, it is fresh in my mind that I have often gone to the museum simply to feast on color. I seem to always find myself in the Impressionist Gallery basking in the glow of live and breathing vibration. I’ve read somewhere that there is a physical response of the pupil to warm and cool colors. That expansion and contraction must be pleasurable but I also suspect that the pupil massage is restorative.

It is a joyful pursuit to capture the yellow sunlight within a clear, blue sky and bring it home to illuminate a room. If the color combination “breathes” as it did outdoors, it is nurturing to the eyes and the spirit. Bringing landscape color indoors is to me, akin to having fresh cut flowers from the garden on the table. It reminds me of Nature’s abundance and is nourishing for my soul.

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Melody Phaneuf is an award-winning Boston Artist, well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. She has exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists in Boston, MA; Patricia Hutton Galleries in Doylestown, PA; and North Shore Arts in Gloucester, MA.

Phaneuf lives and paints landscape in Gloucester, MA and maintains a studio at Fenway Studios in Boston, where she paints and holds workshops continuing the Boston School lineage.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

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Make Your Life a Work of Art~
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Blue Hydrangeas, oil painting by Melody Phaneuf, in private collection

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Last night on the way home from the studio I caught part of Tom Ashbrook’s interview on Monet’s garden. It was a nice bit of synchronicity, just that morning while watering the garden, I wondered what political connections Monet had in order to reroute the Seine into his backyard. The politics weren’t mentioned in the interview but Dr Paul Tucker, a wonderful speaker and expert on the French Impressionists, did refer to the dam that allowed Monet’s water garden to be born.

I’ve been to Giverny several times and admired not only the gardens but also the aesthetic with which Monet lived, surrounded with art and lovely things; he most assuredly lived a beautiful life. I attend to living a humble version of that aesthetic, without water lilies but with heavenly blue hydrangeas that echo the views of Gloucester Harbor. I love painting my garden and take infinite pleasure in the color and resonance of wind chimes playing in the early morning breeze.

What about You? How does your garden express your idea of beauty?

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Melody Phaneuf is an award-winning Boston Artist, well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. She has exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists in Boston, MA; Patricia Hutton Galleries in Doylestown, PA; and North Shore Arts in Gloucester, MA.

Phaneuf lives and paints landscape in Gloucester, MA and maintains a studio at Fenway Studios in Boston, where she paints and holds workshops continuing the Boston School lineage.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

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Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Visit Fenway Studios
Commission a Painting
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