Isalos Fine Art

We just spent a few days with family in Ottawa, Ontario for our Christmas break. I suppose it was a pretty normal family Christmas: long days of sitting around and eating, punctuated by movies on a huge-screen television in which the bad guys get plowed-down like they're in a video game.

We did manage to get out and see some art. The National Gallery of Canada would have made the whole trip worthwhile on its own. As expected, we saw a lot of work by Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven, whose work we've read about, but had never seen. Our first reaction, of course, was 'wow, they're much bigger than the pictures in the books'. Even more inspiring though, was the collection of studies the artists painted on location. Most were about 8" x 10", unframed, oil on panel landscapes. These pieces were done in the wilderness and then carried, often via canoe or pack, back to the studio, the paint still wet. In their studios, the artists would decide which pieces might work well on a larger scale.

 
Making big paintings from little studies done in the field isn't such an uncommon thing, but sometimes the small paintings have at least as much vibrancy as the bigger works that get all the attention. Of course, we notice paintings that are recognizeable from a hundred feet away, and those big paintings  will go for big prices and get plenty of attention. In the museum though, I pulled up a chair and sat looking at the little paintings for quite awhile. It wasn't so different from sitting in our own gallery or at home, where we put paintings up on a ledge to casually admire them and play the 'which one do we want?' game. Well, we wanted a few of them, and anyway, they weren't for sale, unlike these or these. Or these.

We also enjoyed the more recent, Albers-esque color study paintings, and  the contemporary wing, with installations like the trailer (of the 18-wheel variety) made of movie set materials, put together in a room with small doors. And there was the video on a huge screen of a guy standing on a beach with an electric guitar and a couple Marshall stacks playing "Stairway to Heaven" while the waves crashed behind him. I was very curious to find  out if anything more happened... like maybe the tide coming in or something, but it was closing time.

We could have easily spent another day in the museum, but the next day we had our nephew's hockey practice to see, and we visited a town that will remain un-named, which has a reputation as an artsy destination with a bunch of galleries. Unfortunately, the galleries we saw were more of the pine country knick-knack shop variety. Artists' statements tended to include when the artist had been laid-off by the high-tech industry, which gave them the opportunity, finally, to be an artist (which they really had been since the age of three when... etc, etc.). There's nothing wrong with that, of course: it's just not my thing.

This experience, once again, reinforced my appreciation for both artists and the art audience in Deer Isle and Maine in general. We may sometimes take it for granted, but we've got it good here.  I seem to touch upon this theme every time we go away, but hey, it's true. Here's a snowman my nephew Wyatt and I built. That's his dog at his side. Once again this demonstrates... Ok, kidding. Sometimes a snowman is just a snowman.

And now the moment you've all been waiting for: drumroll, the crowd goes wild. Yes, it's John Dalton's 2005: The Year in Alternative and Indie Rock. Dalton lists not ten, but eleven of the choicest new releases. I would have heard of none of these performers if John didn't keep me informed on these matters. Check it out.

And while you're at his site, read about his novel Heaven Lake, now in paperback from Scribners. This year it won the Barnes and Noble Discover New Writers Award as well as the American Academy of Arts and Letters Sue Kaufman Award. Aside from all that, it's a great read.

Wendell the Gallery Cat 

Need that perfect gift for a cop? That's right, give the gift of donuts; the kind that stick around for awhile. These three "Tea Paintings" are Rebecca's latest. They're all 10" by 10", oil on panel, framed in black metal 'floater' frames, and sell for $400 each.

Rebecca Daugherty,  Tea: Chocolate & Maple-Frosted with Sprinkles

Her tea series started about three years ago when we spent the winter remodeling a house. Somehow, doing construction work makes us feel that eating donuts is one of the perks of the job. She started saving the best-looking donuts for her paintings. Now when we buy donuts, they're mostly just for painting subjects (IRS take note- that's why we deduct them).

Rebecca Daugherty, Tea: Blue Teapot, Yellow Cups & Three Donuts

Rebecca Daugherty, Tea: Powdered Donettes

We were at a pot-luck the other night and came home with a couple of cupcakes, so it looks like the next tea painting will feature chocolate cupcakes. Fortunately, I ate one at the dinner; by the time Rebecca is finished with the painting, her subjects are a feast for the eyes only.

Well, there's the new store, the Harbor View Store. Brought to us by the same people who own and run the Fisherman's Friend Restaurant, the store takes up a portion of the former Bartlett's Market building. After an extensive remodeling project, the building will be the new home for The Fisherman's Friend, which opens in the spring. The convenience store quietly opened its doors late last week, in the middle a snowstorm.

 

I went in for the first time last night when I went in to order a pizza. I took a look around while I waited. Outside, the temperature was in the single digits, which undoubtedly contributed to the lack of people around, and the speedy baking time for my pizza. The store isn't completely stocked yet, but they have an excellent selection of wines at prices that compete with the stores in Ellsworth. Of course there's beer and ice cream with flavors named after rock bands, and the usual odds and ends that make a convenience store so convenient. The amazingly convenient part for me, was that I could walk home with my pizza, and eat it while it was still hot. My advice though, is to ask for no jalapenos, unless you're into that sort of thing.

Here's a nice little pastel by Barbara Bellows, which has amazingly not been scooped-up yet. Only nine... make that eight shopping days until Christmas. We could probably still get it shipped to you.