Tag Archives: Folk Art

2 Self Taught Artists from Europe and Holiday Cards

A work by Chantal Sellan

I found the work of French artist Chantal Sellan while browsing the web. She worked as a psychologist for many years. She was born in 1936  and started painting in 1980. Her works are in many public  and private collections.

Another self taught artist I found is from Denmark. Inge Selmer was born the same year I was (and I am not telling when that was)….but I love this Henri Rousseau like painting. She spent many years working in reflexology before starting her art career in 1983.  She has exhibited since 2004.

I have been working on some small paintings on aqua board of curious creatures and continue to work on my ink and watercolors of garden parties held by imaginary animals.

I am also making a series of Holiday Cards that I plan to have printed.

I like the simplicity of this one. It is on white watercolor paper but taking photo’s in the afternoon does not always get good results, especially when there is a cat jumping on the table repeatedly.

5 Comments

Filed under Studio

HAPPY CHAPPY

Here is a new painting of my curious creatures in  conversational triads. There are a few trumpeter‘s in the picture to remind me of my son who played the trumpet until he went off to college.

This painting is 9″ by 12″ Ink and Watercolor on Arches 300 pound cold press paper. It is for sale for  $400 framed in a light maple frame.

Sunday night was the opening of Birds of A Feather and it was a truly hopping event. Paintings were flying off the walls. I have 2 chicken  paintings in the far right corner of this picture. They are on aqua board.

The show is open until September 22nd so there is plenty of time to  stop in and see the work and maybe pick up a wonderful piece of art. This year there were many chickens, interesting bird’s nests, beautiful bird pottery, cedian painted pillows, bird jewelry, encaustic, a photo of an egret on aluminum- it sold before the opening and someone ordered a second one- and some really cool gulls along with many paintings.

The show is at Kathrine Lovell’s studio at the shops at Mill Pond in Tiverton Four Corners, Tiverton, RI.

Beautiful weather these past few days. Catching many skip jacks, snappers or baby blues depending on where you are from. Had a wonderful swim last night as the water turned a glorious pink due to the reflection of  the sun and the clouds at sunset.

We were graced with company from Kelley MacDonald,

http://kelleymacdonalddailypaint.blogspot.com/

and her husband Tim who took a try at surf casting as we saw schools of   being chased away by jumping blues. those blues provided us with dinner last night and we had enough to enjoy them for dinner last night as well.

2 Comments

Filed under Studio

Birds Of a Feather Opening Sat. Night Sept. 8th from 6PM to 9PM with bird art and rocking good music in Tiverton, Rhode Island!

Birds of A Feather Exhibition

So if you are not busy Saturday come on down to Tiverton Four Corners in Tiverton, Rhode Island,  to see some great birds in all types of  art media, watercolor, pastel, oils, acrylics, wood, Cedian painting, pottery,  as well as more that I am sure is there. Kitty Lovell has put this show together and  will have a great band playing some wonderful music. You can see her work at http://www.klovell.com/

I have 3 pieces on  cradled aqua board that are of chickens of course although I am continuing to do my crazy creature paintings as well.This cockerel is full of golds and bronzes and glows color. My buddy, the rooster, is an 8″ by 8″ ink and watercolor on aqua board and is being framed right now. I love the colors of this chicken and think he would make a great barn yard companion. I am experimenting with ornate borders around my work and an toying, just toying,with making a children’s book of curious creatures. I sure miss having Bantams living in our yard. Living in Arlington, MA did not lend itself to keeping chickens although we managed to do so for several years.  I loved getting fresh eggs every morning.

Sitting Pretty is for sale for $125 plus $10 shipping. If interested please contact me at susanmedyn@cox.net. I sure wish WordPress would allow me to have a Paypal button on this website. Hate to think of having to switch. Any thoughts from other bloggers?

And for those of you who don’t know where the gallery is, it is on the second floor of an old mill building which was the reason for the beginnings of the town of Tiverton-the perfect spot  to build a mill and dam the mill pond.

Tiverton Four Corners, Rhode Island, 1990

Tiverton Four Corners, Rhode Island, 1990 (Photo credit: PhillipC)

2 Comments

Filed under Studio

The Caterpillar’s Hookah

I always loved Alice In Wonderland and have some framed chromolithographs in my office from an old book I had. One is Alice reaching up to the caterpillar on his mushroom. They remind me of my childhood being read to by my parents at bedtime.

I met a man during open studios who has several characters from Alice in Wonderland tattooed on him and they were quite cool. I wish he could have seen this painting. It has been on the wall of Partners General Store in Westport, MA.

Notice the smirk the cat has:

That cat may already have had too much catnip. But cats deserve to have fun. As do we.

This painting is 8″ by 10″ on aqua board and is framed in a maple frame. It is for sale for $150.00 plus 10.00 shipping.

 

2 Comments

Filed under Studio

Chickens, Watercolors, Open Studios and Baby Bluefish

Demo for Open Studios

Open Studios have passed and with it the flurry of activity painting, prepping, promoting and then meeting so many lovely visitors who came to see my work. I enjoyed giving a demo of the steps involved in making my paintings.

I got quite involved in making  chickens this summer. I found that adding borders to my work has brought an illustrative quality to it.

A Couple Of Cute Chicks!

These girls are on 8″ by 8 ”  Ink and Watercolor on aqua board and are framed in a distressed frame that works well with the subject matter.  This work is for sale for $150 plus $10 shipping or 2 for $275. If interested please email me at susanmedyn@cox.net.

I also made this very royal looking chicken who is wearing some very gorgeous feathers. This is another 8″ by 8″ Ink and Watercolor on aqua board, also for sale for $150 plus $10 shipping or 2 for $275. They make a lovely pair of paintings.

Fluff Full!

I was working on a drawing at a friends studio today and we both noticed the lack of humidity in the air, a sense that fall is approaching although the days are warm and the wildlife abundant. I spent the evening swimming and catching some baby blue fish AKA snappers for those of you who  live on Long Island and  skipjacks to the locals.

2 Comments

Filed under Studio, Uncategorized

Marge Simpson, Pretty In Pink and Gorgeous Jewelry

Here is a small ink and watercolor called Marge Simpson. She is 4″ by 4″ and on aqua board. I thought I would have some fun with a good hair do. Marge is $75.00 inclusive of shipping.

Here is another little 4″ by 4″ ink and watercolor on aqua board. I love this medium as I can watercolor then varnish the panel. Pretty In Pink is also for sale for 75.00 inclusive of shipping. If you are interested please contact me at susanmedyn@cox.net

And I wanted to add a sample of one of my new friends jewelry, Donna St Amant. This is a beautiful necklace made of Sterling Silver with a Blister Pearl on a string of Coin Pearls. Her work can also be seen on this weekend’s  open studio tours that I am busily getting ready for. http://www.southcoastartists.org/openStudio.html

Donna St Amont’s Pearl Necklace

Here is a link to her website. http://www.donnastamant.com/Home.html

1 Comment

Filed under Studio

Cool Chicks Undercover

I was looking though one of my books and noticed a black and white 18th century lithograph of 2 chicks with their mom. I decided that I would like to make a painting of 2 little ones with their big fluffy mom Medyn style. The colors really pop in this painting.

I find it touching how all animals protect their babies. Having had 2 babes of my own I know how that protective instinct kicks in the second your child is born. Then it is on to a life time of balancing protecting and letting go.

This painting is  an ink and watercolor on 2 inch deep aqua board and is 8″ by 8″. It is ready to hang and is for sale for $250 plus $15.00 shipping. If interested please contact me at susanmedyn@cox.net

Open studio tours are coming up on August 18th and 19th and make for a really lovely day trip. There are so many wonderful artists on this upcoming tour. Hope you get a chance to come on down.

3 Comments

Filed under Studio

Tough Bird

My friend Kathrine Lovell lent me a book on various chickens and I liked the pose of this one. I love  the look on his face. He seems to be saying “Don’t mess with me”. I have the feeling I have raised a chicken like this before. He wouldn’t go in his house, he strutted across the road in Arlington, MA, he slept on the top of a chair on our porch and he led the rest of the birds down the road to meet Alex as he got off the school bus every day.

Chickens though aren’t destined for long lives and one day a mama fox snatched him away.

This guy is painted on  2″ deep cradled aqua board and is 6″ by 6″ and for sale for $150 plus $10.00 shipping. If you are interested please contact me at susanmedyn@cox.net.

I am busy making these chicks for upcoming South Coast Artist Open Studios August 18th and 19th. It is a great weekend to come on down and tour the many artists studios in this lovely coastal area. www.southcoastartists.org for more information.

7 Comments

Filed under Studio, Uncategorized

Flybaby!

Flybaby, 8″ by 8″ Ink and Watercolor on 2″ deep Cradle Board. Private Collection

This is a wonderful little guy that I wish lived in my neighborhood. Thanks to my friend Karen Barreira Raus for turning me on to this great product for making my paintings on. Check out her website at www.karenraus.com . She also does amazing encaustics and is showing with me at both the http://www.artstablegallery.com/  in Westport, MA ( don’t forget to stop by our opening reception on June 22nd from 6:00PM to 8:30PM) and at the http://ropewalkgallery.com/ in Mattapoisett, Ma.

Here is one of her photos.

Photo by Karen Raus

I will be making more of these little paintings on cradle board and loving working with this medium.

If you are interested in purchasing please contact me at susanmedyn@cox.net

4 Comments

Filed under Studio

Necessary Fantasy, the title of an article about my work by Jes Zurrell in SOCO magazine April 2012 issue.

Necessary Fantasy by Jes Zurrell has just come out in SOCO Magazine.
It is quite interesting.

Last page of article in SOCO MAgazine. It is easier to read by going to the link listed below. http://www.socomagazine.info/

Click on read on the left hand side and go to page 62, 63 and 64 to read the article.

I was delighted to read this article today. There are several pieces of my work as well as many new gicleés at Ropewalk Gallery in Mattapoisett, MA on County Road (Route 6). I will also have several pieces in a group show at Imperial Gallery in Providence, RI starting April 19th, 2012.

2 Comments

Filed under Studio