Entries from August 1, 2006 - September 1, 2006

8/28: Stop Global Warming- Buy Art!

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Rebecca Daugherty, Green Boat, Orange Stripe III
oil on panel, 10" x 10", $425
 
Here's a new one from Rebecca. It's been cool here the last few days, and suddenly people are asking "how was your summer?". For some, the cool weather seems to be proof that global warming is a hoax wrought by liberal propagandists.
 
For the past two months- ever since "An Inconvenient Truth" showed at the Opera House,  letter writers in the local paper have been debating the veracity of global warming. It's strange how it has become a political argument, rather than a scientific one. At this point, any observation about the weather is likely to instigate blatantly opposite observations by those affiliated with opposing political parties. "It's hot," one might observe, which draws the inevitable response "no hotter than usual, we're heading for an ice age, and it has nothing to do with air pollution or anything else that might adversely effect the stock market should corporations need to take responsibility for anything."
 
I find it hard to understand why it's so important for some people to deny that global warming is real, but they seem to fear that acknowledging it will somehow threaten their values and way of life, along with their God-given right to wreck the planet. And yes, they're afraid of messing with the stock market. So my modest proposal is this: don't invest in the stock market; buy art instead. It probably won't save the planet, or pay off any better than the stock market, but at least you can enjoy it until the world ends in fire... or ice, or whatever.
Posted on Monday, August 28, 2006 at 12:51PM by Registered Commenterisalos fine art | CommentsPost a Comment

8/27: New Paint

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This past week, the exterior of our gallery has undergone a transformation. Painters arrived and scraped away what was left of the old paint and replaced it with a fresh coat. What a transformation; I'll be able to replace the wintry night-time photo on the website's welcome page.
 
Aside from that, it's business as usual here: lots of traffic through the gallery, the last big hurrah before the season crests and we go into the slightly more subdued autumn season. Every single day people ask me how business is, and tell me they've heard other people say that  it's slow, etc, etc. I've heard this every single summer, and I still don't really know what to make of it. I tell them things are fine, that we're still a fairly new business and our expectations are pehaps a bit more modest than those galleries who have been around for a long time. Of course, I guess I wouldn't say much anyway, whether we're getting rich or going broke. I'm happy for every sale we get, big or small.
 
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Bryan Gagner, York Island Fog 
 
Traffic has been such that I don't have much time while we're open to sit here and ponder all this stuff on my blog. And much of my non-open time needs to be devoted to getting art ready to ship. Kayaking has suffered, although this morning a couple friends and I went out  at 6:30 to paddle out around Ram Island and walk around Hardwood. One of the friends was Bryan Gagner. Walking and paddling alongside him made me see all of these Bryan Gagner photographs just waiting to happen. A few clouds made the light a bit subdued though, so he'll have to go back on another day for his photographs.
 
 
 
Posted on Friday, August 25, 2006 at 04:39PM by Registered Commenterisalos fine art | CommentsPost a Comment

8/18: New Vaino Kola Painting

 
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Vaino Kola, Causeway Tidal Flats, oil on canvas, 44" x 56" 
 
We've been waiting for this one. For about a month, Vaino has been working hard to put the finishing touches on Causeway Tidal Flats. Finally he called to let us know that there was nothing  more to do; it was finished. We rehung the front room of the gallery with this and some of his earlier paintings, and as usual, people are drawn in from the sidewalk in awe. At first it might strike the viewer as photographic. Some viewers though, might be struck more by the way this selection from the landscape works  as an abstraction, the band of watery blue curving toward us across a horizonless, textured surface. Then, as you're drawn toward it, you can't help but be astounded by the intricacy and scope of the detail.
 
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 (detail)
 
 
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 (detail)
 
 
Posted on Friday, August 18, 2006 at 01:57PM by Registered Commenterisalos fine art | CommentsPost a Comment

8/16: New Carolyn Caldwell Pastels

Carolyn Caldwell brought us some new pastels; take a look...

 

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Carolyn Caldwell, House on Indian  Point, pastel, 17" x 25"  (sold)

 

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Carolyn Caldwell, Moonlight on the Cove, pastel, 12"x 18" 

 

There's more here.  We'll be getting a new Vaino Kola painting tonight. I'll post it here as soon as we have a photograph.

 

 

Posted on Wednesday, August 16, 2006 at 05:28PM by Registered Commenterisalos fine art | CommentsPost a Comment

8/15: Yo Ho Ho, You're in Vacationland!

We've been busy. We've had a fairly steady flow of visitors all day, every day. Last week nearly everything we did was in preparation for the Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors Show in Rockland. I closed on Thursday to help Rebecca set-up, and I was there for Sunday. She had been working hard to finish some new work for the show... most of which sold before she could frame it.  And since she had most of her boat paintings in Rockland, I hung some of her landscapes  here, so we sold a few of those. I'm getting that "time to raise some prices" vibe, but we'll wait until the proper date (April 15).

 

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 Crossing the bridge, beside the almost-connected Penobscot Narrows Bridge

My trip to Rockland was my first time off the island for a few months (with the exception of kayak excursions to other islands) and as usual, the world "out there" felt a bit chaotic. We depend upon tourism here, but out on Route One, the businesses  pander to passersby in a far louder and crude fashion, competing for business with signs shaped like huge lobsters or bearded, pipe-smoking fishermen in yellow oilskins. Business names are designed to remind you, just in case you'd forgotten, that you're in Maine, and they employ just about every Maine pun you can imagine: Mainestay, Mainely this or that. Even pet-related businesses cater to the Maine Dog... make that the salty Maine Dog. Yo ho ho, shiver me timbers, you're in Vacationland! So yes, as usual, part of my blog thesis after leaving the island is that it is better here than there.

 

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 The Boatyard Dog Trials at the Maine Boats, Homes, Harbors & Dogs Show

Rockland though,  was great. Wouldn't want to live there- a little too busy, too much traffic, too much everything, but it was nice to eat at some nice restaurants:  Cafe Miranda, Park Street Grille...the new Tim Horton's. And the show was fun. We've gone every year  they've had it, so this was our fourth, and I expect we'll be there again next year. 

Posted on Tuesday, August 15, 2006 at 03:49PM by Registered Commenterisalos fine art | CommentsPost a Comment
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