Carol Abitabilo Ast

It’s been quite a while — been very busy with other exhibits and life in general, but I’m working again.  Found oyster shells to be very interesting and esthetic, and I’ve been working on making that visually apparent.  Will have some images up in a week or so.  A new computer and some glitches with getting photos ready for “publication”  have held me up a bit.

Just learned that my painting at the Pastel Painters of Maine International Exhibition has been awarded the Degas Pastel Society prize ($), plus a set of Diane Townsend pastels.  The painting is Haystack Rock, Canon Beach, OR (left), which had been in my solo show last August (The Sky’s the Limit).  Very happy lady here!

The Pastel Painters of Maine organization just notified me that “Haystack Rock” has been accepted into their 12th International “Pastels Only” Exhibition, in Kennebunk, Maine.  “Haystack Rock” was part of my August Solo show, and an image of it can be seen in that category on this website.   Thanks for your interest.   C.

This has been a busy  time –  paintings due for the Nevin Center at the Cornell University Plantations, and new paintings for the State of the Art Gallery’s member exhibit.

The Nevin Center’s exhibit contains work featuring the Arboretum in various  seasons.  In the show are some of my favorite places.   Will have them posted in a week or so.    The exhibit is up until the end of June.

There are 2 uncharacteristic paintings in the SOAG exhibit:  one is a boat (dingy) being towed behind a larger one, and the other is a painting of the skipper of a small boat; he’s standing at ease with hand on the wheel, looking out to sea, relaxed but vigilant.   I’ll have those up soon.

Work for both the Nevin Center Exhibition (the Nevin Center is at the Cornell Plantations at C.U. here in Ithaca) and the State of the Art Gallery Members’ Exhibit is due on Monday, May 2nd.  Been doing landscapes of the Cornell Arboretum for the Nevin show, and some uncharacteristic work for the members’ show.   More to come about that!

Litany – of the Saints

Here is the previously promised explanation of the bas relief, “Litany”, which is in the Various Subjects section:

In the Catholic church, the Litany is basically a series of short prayers to saints:   the saint’s name, followed by a response as in “St. Catherine of Siena, pray for us,”, or “St. Joseph, pray for us”.    There is usually a series of similar repetitious petitions, with different responses.  The prayers end with an “Amen”.

The sand- and stone-battered pieces of wood represent the phrases spoken or sung, as well as the humility of the people while praying.  Each is different, as are the phrases; each is connected to the one below, as the petitioners are to the words and to each other; each shows signs of what has been endured, as have the saints.

The litany begins at the top, when the people tentatively send up their initial request.  As they pray, the changes and patterns of the words are reflected in the various shapes and sizes of the wood.   At the very bottom, the single thin stick becomes the “Amen”.

My pastel painting, Good Night, Lake, was accepted into the Northeast National Pastels Exhibition being held in Old Forge, NY.  It runs from May 14 to June 25th.  Needless to say, I’m delighted!   Good Night, Lake is 22 x 26 unframed, and was part of my solo show exhibit, The Sky’s the Limit.  Check out the other paintings in the solo on the website by clicking on The Sky’s the Limit in the top banner.

The new year of making art has gotten off to a slow start, but with 3 paintings under weigh,  things are looking up.  There’s another I had begun in the Fall, but I can’t get into it right now, so I’ll wait.  No use working on something that doesn’t have an emotional pull.

I usually work on more than one painting at a time; that way, when I’m stuck on one, I move to another.  That gives me distance and  evaluative perspective which is very helpful.  Unless I’m working on site, I can’t do 2 hours of uninterrupted work on one painting — it gets almost claustrophobic!   On site, 2 hours is the limit:  light changes too much, and I get too uncomfortable (I like to sit on the ground and the older I get, the harder it gets!)

Computer was down again — that hard drive needed some thickening with a few layers of paper to make a better fit, it seems.  Hope this latest fix has cured it.

The Cornell Plantations scene is OK so far, but nothing special.  It needs to show not just the colors, but the awe at seeing them amid the drabness of Winter.  Although the colors are there, that feeling isn’t.  That’s the hard part.  There’s time to work on it.  I may have to just put it aside for a while.

The computer suffered the loss of 2 screws — holding the hard drive in place.  Replacing them seems to have done the trick (fingers crossed).  Now I can safely use my computer to access the photographs I’ll need as references for the paintings I’ve begun, one of which is of a group of red-tipped shrubs at the Cornell Plantations that look quite ordinary when fully leafed out, but are spectacular against the snow.