“Morning, Raspberry Island, Maine” by Jerry Weiss / Image: JerryWeiss.com
I think by now there isn’t a soul alive who doesn’t know how much Fred and I LOVE Maine art… one day we were downtown (Charleston, SC) going in our usual galleries, when we walked by a painting that we recognized. My husband said “that’s Raspberry Island!!” and we hear a voice that said… “you’re right!” whoa! We went in this wonderful gallery called Ingram Fine Art & Antiques… FABULOUS work mostly by Maine artists. Artists who we have met on Monhegan Island in Maine, or who’s work we’ve seen in other places as we bopped around Maine. How utterly cool that they were right here in Charleston! We spoke to one of the owners for quite a while and she was such a delight to talk to… it made us really miss Maine and really LOVE her gallery. If you’re in the area I highly encourage you to pop in and say hello and check out all the beautiful things they’ve got in their gallery!
Jerry Weiss is a fabulous artist, this is a large painting (30 x 40) and is splendid in every way! I love the shadow of the island in the water, and they sky, and… and… and… I guess it caught both of our eyes because a few years ago we rented a cottage in Port Clyde, ME, that faced Raspberry Island, so this was our view! I love the loose strokes… I swear, we need to build more walls in our house, ha ha… Here’s a blip about Jerry from his website… or click HERE to read a different version from Ingram Art & Antiques! I love learning about the artist! If you aren’t in the Charleston area, check out Jerry’s website, it’s a great one!
Seeking competence in figure painting, I spent the better part of six years drawing and painting the figure in art school, and after leaving, continued the notion of the figure in the interior. My goal was to create a visual diary that would be a pictorial record of artists and friends. Then, as now, I was intrigued by the portrait and figure as a most sacred subject.
As a landscape painter I was self-taught, and I struggled for a long time to find my vocabulary. It took many years for me to realize a structural approach, looking for the anatomy that exists in landscape as it surely does in the human subject. Since moving to Connecticut in 1994 and painting outdoors in earnest, I have become better at emphasizing abstraction of shapes. I want to refer to the individuality of the subject, those characteristics which render a person or place unique. For me this also means not merely noting the external beauty of things, but going after something a bit deeper. Put another way, I try to paint temporal qualities, but composed in such as way as to render them timeless.
Evident in my work is an enchantment with the feminine, fascination with psychological nuances, and love for the natural and architectonic shapes of landscape. I am amazed by the color of skin, continually gratified to recognize bone and muscle beneath the surface, and delighted by the powerful forms underlying the Maine coast and Connecticut River Valley. If I may be permitted understatement, I also like light, without which there would exist no space, form or visual coherence.
Catch you back here tomorrow!
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