Pop-Up Artist Bob Pecchia

Posted on by Maine Art

Featured Artist Bob Pecchia is the guest artist for Pop-Up beginning Thursday, September 2 to Wednesday, September 8. Read on to learn more about his inspiration, his process, and his work.

September 2 to September 8

 

After retiring from a career in higher education, I decided to indulge my interest in photography. I found my professional skills in theater..directing, set design, and light design, translated well over the visual art of photography. My focus has been primarily on landscape, cityscape, and seascape, but I have also developed an unexpected fondness for wildlife photography.

I began selling my work about four years ago in a few shops. This brought me into the world of pop-ups and online sales, which then started me off on doing commissioned pieces—my work is now in forty-five states and twenty-four countries. My commissioned pieces have been as large as 4’x6’.

My prints are fine art giclee paper and canvas, traditional paper prints, metallic paper prints, metal and acrylic prints.

Print sizes for the pop-up would range from 4”x6” for a tabletop display to about 24”x36” for wall hanging. I also have a notecard series for table display.

All my fine art giclee printing is done with Holly at Hunter Fine Art Printers in Kennebunk.

For more info about Bob Pecchia, check out the following links: 

Instagram

The Power of Three – Artists Carr, Bigbee, and Joergensen

Posted on by Maine Art

 

A few years ago, three amazing friends who also happened to be artists decided to go on an adventure and stay in a treehouse in Georgetown to paint the incredible scenery.

And so it began.

Diane Carr, a local Kennebunkport artist, shares a bit of how a trip became a journey.

“What started as a painting trip among friends turned out to be so much more,” shares Carr. “It created  a bond to last a lifetime.”

Over the years, artists Claire Bigbee, Ingunn Joergensen, and Diane Carr have shared more than paint and canvas.

“The three of us shared a common connection – the loss of a parent,” explains Carr. “It is a feeling of loss I can only describe as an untethering, a feeling of being aloft. Someone had cut the cord that bound us to this earth.”

Together through tears, laughter, wine, and paint, these three talented local artists have helped heal and keep each other firmly rooted. We are so thrilled they are willing to share paintings they created from their journey.

We cannot encourage you enough to find time to visit this one-of-a-kind show at Pop-Up at Studios on Maine Art Hill.

MAINE HORIZONS

POP-UP at STUDIOS on MAINE ART HILL

5 Chase Hill Rd Kennebunk, Maine

AUGUST 26 – SEPTEMBER 1

Artists Reception Thursday, August 26, 5-7 PM

OPEN DAILY AT 10 AM

 

Pop-Up with Heather Milliman

Posted on by Maine Art

Featured Artist Pop-Up with Heather Milliman is the guest artist for Pop-Up beginning Thursday, August  19 to Wednesday, August 25. Read on to learn more about her inspiration, her process, and her work.

August 19 to August 25

I became aware of nature’s beauty growing up on Cape Cod in the 1970s and ’80s. As a child, I was overwhelmed by the enormity of the ocean, the shifting sands, and the constant mosaic of salt-drenched colors and changing light.

I discovered the beauty of the chemical darkroom and the power that photography holds at an early age; the way it shifted my perception of the world was unequaled. Once photography trained my eye, it opened up the worlds of sculpture, ceramics, art from found materials, and mixed media, moving through each medium yet always returning to photography and painting for grounding.

My paintings use a technique I call “reductive finger painting”. Each canvas is loaded with color and then white paint is placed on top of the color layer by layer to slowly edit the unneeded visual information. I blend every color and layer with my fingertips, using brushes only on rare occasions.

The main composition on the canvas – multiple washes of color – is comprised of layers of alcohol inks and clear enamel, which is integrated into the canvas as the color is reduced and white layers are added, so this is both a reductive (subtract color to leave white space) and additive (layer alcohol inks to build layers of color and light) process.

My paintings capture a mood, a certain light as it hits the landscape. Residing solely on the interpretation of the viewer, my paintings are made from acrylic paint, ink, and multiple layers of enamel; they glow from the inside, emitting light, and energy. All of my projects – collage, paintings – even my old sculptures and installation pieces – rely on the aesthetic fundamentals I learned through photography; framing, composition, shadow.

I look to my life-long passion for photography as my North Star in all projects. In fact, many of my projects start out as photos and turn into something else along the way.

For more info about Heather Milliman, check out the following links: 

Website

Email

Celebrating the Sky – A Maine Art Hill Summer Show

Posted on by Maine Art

When two artists come together to celebrate summer in Maine, the sky is the limit, or in this case, the subject.

Maine Art Hill is thrilled to announce the arrival of a mid-August show featuring favorite artists Margaret Gerding and Craig Mooney. The show opens at 10 AM Saturday, August 14, with an Artist Reception from 5 PM to 7 PM at 10 Chase Hill Road in Kennebunk.

Summer skies are a stunning part of Augusts in Maine, and no two artists recreate them better than Craig Mooney and Margaret Gerding.

Gerding, a resident Kennebunker, spends a great deal of her plein air time in the marshes surrounding her home. Easel, canvas, and oils will travel for this lovely local artist, and the results are the spectacular skies surrounding her. 

Gerding says, “Each piece is based on a real place, a moment I have experienced and been inspired by. There is something about being alone with nature – a quiet that connects me like no other. It is only this solitude, whether outside or in the studio, that allows the landscape to reveal itself to me.”

A once an en plein air only painter, Gerding’s oils embody the natural landscapes of coastal Maine. Her realistic interpretation of these unspoiled settings reflects a single moment in time. Her warm palette and textured brushwork, for which she is known, capture subtle changes of light and fleeting moments of color. When she paints on location, her work is loose, while her studio time allows her to refine her art to a more finished state.

“My studio gives me more time to examine my work. It’s more intellectual, and the final pieces are polished. When I work en plein air, it is fast and intuitive and exploratory,” says Gerding. “With both spaces as part of my process, I have the time to develop a piece and push my understanding of the atmosphere and abstract simplifications in the landscape.”

The second half of this duo is all about big skies and sweeping landscapes. Artist Craig Mooney is internationally known for his big beautiful renditions of our memories. With a sweep of his brush and a blending of oils, Mooney captures the memory of all the places we said we would never forget.

Mooney says, “I have been lucky enough to experience places where skies change from orange to pink to blue in the course of a day; where seas reflect dark and grey, and in just a moment change to crystal blue; where land, sky, and ocean converge to produce a perfect contrast of nature. These places are familiar to all of us. We live here. We created memories here.”

Mooney’s paintings make people felt connected to the sky and the sea. He creates new and original pieces that hold a familiar feeling –  a feeling we are just not quite ready to let go of.

“For me, my paintings are places only I have been. They are the epitome of New England’s perfection. There is a piece and part of each beach, mountain, or ocean I have visited, and they represent somewhere I found peace,” Mooney says. “But for you, it is a memory from a place you remember with a smile.”

Owner John Spain says, “Maine Art Hill is so much more than the traditional Maine gallery, and this show has so much more than the classic Mooney landscape and a perfect Gerding marsh. Be sure to take some time to visit this all-encompassing display of art.”

This show runs from Saturday, August 14, to Thursday, September 2. Shows on Maine Art Hill opens at 10 AM every day. Don’t forget the Artist Reception from 5 PM to 7 PM opening day at 10 Chase Hill Road in Kennebunk. Both Margaret Gerding and Craig Mooney will be in attendance. FMI call 207-967-0049 or visit www.maine-art.com/shows.

To see the show in its entirety, including the 360-degree virtual tour, click here.

Preview opens Wednesday, July 21. Virtual Tour is available on the evening of Friday, August 13.

To see our complete collection of both artists’ works, click below

Margaret Gerding –  Artist Page

Craig Mooney – Artist Page

To read more about the process, inspiration, and background of each artist, click below.

Margaret Gerding – Insights and Stories

Craig Mooney – Insights and Stories

 

Returning to Maine – Artist Insights from Artist Margaret Gerding

Posted on by Maine Art

 

page1image15931696

“Goose Rocks Beach holds special lifetime memories for me. It is full of sun, adventure and fun. Now that I live locally, I can capture this beach in paint anytime. It is a joy,” shares Gerding. “This is one of the first ‘beach’ paintings I have attempted, and it truly tells the story of what the beach means.”

It is not uncommon to find Margaret Gerding sketching at the beach, marsh grasses, or the wetland waterways. Since her move to Cape Porpoise, she spends more and more time surrounded by the area’s beauty.

 

“I no longer have to travel from Massachusetts to Maine to paint. Instead, I am immersed daily in the area of my greatest inspiration,” says Gerding. “It is a place where nature provides a lifetime of exploration and study.  I had the good fortune of vacationing here every summer as a child. I grew up wandering in the marshes, exploring the greenness and the vast skies. It was a puzzle to traverse the waterways, an escape. Now, it’s home.”

The two pieces above are from Gerding’s 2021 Summer Show. Below are more details regarding the show itself.

This show runs from Saturday, August 14, to Thursday, September 2. Shows on Maine Art Hill opens at 10 AM every day. Don’t forget the Artist Reception from 5 PM to 7 PM opening day at 10 Chase Hill Road in Kennebunk. Both Margaret Gerding and Craig Mooney will be in attendance. FMI call 207-967-0049 or visit www.maine-art.com/shows.

To see the show in its entirety, including the 360-degree virtual tour, click here.

Preview opens Wednesday, July 21. Virtual Tour is available on the evening of Friday, August 13.

To see our complete collection of Gerding’s works, click below

Margaret Gerding –  Artist Page

To read more about her process, inspiration, and background, click below.

Margaret Gerding – Insights and Stories

 

 

 

 

 

Knowing When to Loosen Up – Artist Insights from Craig Mooney

Posted on by Maine Art

Artist Craig Mooney takes the time to share a bit of insight into a few of his new pieces for his summer show, SKY at Shows on Maine Art Hill.

“When I was thinking about this new body of work, two things stood out initially. First, I was painting newer versions of much older, more abstracted pieces,” explains Mooney. “Second, sometime after at least a decade of my work tightening up, I’m loosening up again. Corse brush strokes, less definition, a build-up of surfaces. It feels fresh again.  

image0.jpeg

“At the same time, I am still following the tightened feel with other work. Specifically, those that relate to archetypical coastal themes. I find some definition is needed for these,” shares Mooney. “Many were inspired by 18th and 19th-century British landscape painters. Embracing the classic motifs, such as the lone dory or the romantic handling of light, are reminiscent of past artists.”