A Special Note at Christmas time

"Autumn at the Paquet Family Farm" on display in Connecticut

Framed in old barnwood from Pepere's Blacksmith Shop

Two days before Christmas I received a lovely note from my late husband's cousin who had commissioned a painting of the Paquet Family Farm. (The link will take you to related posts that tell the story behind this painting.) Diane's brother is both a blacksmith and sculptor and played a major role in resurrecting Pepere's blacksmith shop for our centennial celebration (in the middle building pictured above). When Jimmy learned of Diane's desire for an appropriate frame, he made one that fit perfect from old wood he had salvaged during the reconstruction. Diane is delighted, and I've received positive feedback on the painting from other family members. Diane sent me several photos and a lovely note in which she said, "I couldn't ask for more---a painting of the farm which holds many fond memories, painted by my cousin's wife, with a frame made of barn wood from the farm and made by my brother. Truly a family effort." Bob cut the mat and backing for the art, as he does for all my art.

Creating this painting has been a very rewarding experience for me. Pepere' blacksmith shop is the subject of a collage and watermedia painting I submitted for the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society Member show. Art and life are circular.

A commissioned painting

"Autumn at the Paquet Family Farm"

14" x 21"

Watercolor

Recently I was commissioned by a Paquet family member to create a painting of the farm buildings for her home. A cousin of my late husband, Gary, was very taken with a painting I had done early in the 90's of the farm in winter. She had seen the painting at the farm museum during the centennial celebration in July. I was asked to include the main farm buildings and given discretion to select a season. It's fall and I recall the lovely colors in Vermont, so I designed an autumn scene.

If you look real close, you will see a few pumpkins by the silos and under the tree in the center of the farmyard. Pumpkins are a popular item at the farm stand that opens in August with corn sales and runs into October. The farm stand is made up of a canopy and tables of farm-grown crops set under the tree. My sons, now living in Vermont and New York with day jobs, pitch in with extended family in their off hours to grow and sell the crops on the farm and to help maintain the farm.

Using bits and pieces of photos of the farm, I designed a scene that would include the buildings and terrain surrounding the farm that sits on West Hill in Barre, Vermont. Though my studio art has largely moved away from landscape in the past couple of years, I enjoyed doing this scene. I recalled getting to know Gary's grandparents, founders of the farm in 1909, hardy farm folks from the province of Quebec in Canada. I thought of all the good times we had with our young children on the farm, memories similar to those of the cousin requesting the painting. Most recently, I remet the descendants of Joe and Emeda Paquet's 13 children at the farm celebration, and we enjoyed many hours of reminiscing.

I am happy to report that the requester is delighted with the image that I sent her and the painting will soon be on it's way to her home in Connecticut. You can see more farm paintings and read more about the Paquet family farm on this blog.

Pepere's Blacksmith Shop, 1909 - 2009

"Pepere's Blacksmith Shop - 1909 - 2009"

Images of Blacksmith Shop
Paquet Farm
Barre, Vermont

The Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society is now accepting entries for their Annual Member Show, "Linear Visions," in October. I painted one piece that I will show another day, but I am ambivalent about how well I like it, so I did a second piece. I decided to use photos I had taken at the family farm in July when we had a major celebration for it's 100th year anniversary.

I am especially taken with the restored blacksmith shop, which had fallen into disrepair after the death in the early 1960s of patriarch Alphonse Joseph (Joe) Paquet from the Province of Quebec. The grandchildren pulled together to give the entire barn complex a facelift, and the Covino brothers shored up the blacksmith shop and arranged the tools. Jimmy, retired IBM executive, is also a sculptor and a blacksmith. The night of the big event, Jimmy gave an ongoing demo, creating lovely small hooks for the home on the old forge and giving them to visitors. The day following the celebration attended by hundreds of people, including the governor, the lead float for the farm in the Barre Heritage Festival parade, featured Jimmy as Pepere (grandfather) and his sister Joanne as Memere (grandmother), and the great anvil was part of the float display. We won one of the three prizes given out to three of the many participating groups, the "Very Barre Award." We were a proud block-long group of Paquet generations marching through my hometown.

I wanted to express the age and lineage of the old shop and capture the dusty air, the ancient wood, the darkened corners, the old tools, the anvil and the forge from an eye-level about even with the anvil. Using great artistic license, I developed my design. Having just done collage in Gerald Brommer's workshop, I decided that texture would greatly enhance the mood, as this place is certainly full of texture. I collaged rice papers onto the entire surface, some of which I had stained with watercolor and some left white. Afer the surface dried in the sun, I applied a very thin layer of gesso. I then developed the image using watercolor. For the dust-filled light rays, I swiped the paper with diluted gesso.

I especially like how some blue and green papers show through the gesso and watercolor to give subtle variety to the darkened interior. The interior feels dusty and old. The old forge glows very dimly with banked coals. The much-used anvil exudes the strength of generations of strong farm people. The rice paper textures give depth to the rock-lined dirt floor and the metal hood. In keeping with the Linear Visions theme, I enhanced some of the center of interest with black ink line work. Today's blacksmith and shop maintain their direct line to founder, Joe Paquet and his wife, Emeda Mathilde Savoie, who moved to Barre in 1903 and founded the farm in 1909. My linear vision of generations of a Vermont French family rooted in Quebec is expressed in this piece.

July Beauties

"Millbrook Farm Lilies"
North Danville, Vermont

The last several days have been filled with work on an upcoming workshop I am coordinating for the watercolor society. You will hear more about that as I learn to collage and texture surfaces and rise to new heights of creativity. I've also done some bicycle education, and I helped hang the latest SCVWS art show in Palo Alto today. More on that with my next post.

All that to say that finally I can write more about my Vermont stay and show you a piece of art done at my son's home. Most of my Vermont time was dedicated to a lovely town celebration of the Paquet family farm centennial. Over a 100 relatives were there for 3 full days of festivities. The farm hosted the fireworks, three music groups, and a barbecue for well over a thousand people last Friday. The upper barn was filled with memorabilia and the Jim Douglas, governor of Vermont, visited this special museum and bit of Vermont history. Family members directed the parking of 6 acres of cars and the state police turned the road into one-way traffic. Alphonse and Emeda Paquet, the farm founders, would surely have been pleased. You can read about the history and planned celebration.

On Monday I had time to sit in the afternoon sunshine and paint in the gardens of Millbrook Farm, my son Jeff's home. The Tiger Lilies are prolific and lovely in orange and yellow. I used some of the negative painting techniques I practiced in Annelein Beukekamp's workshop in June. The picture says "contented" to me. I had Bob cut a soft mint green mat for the piece and plan to hang it in my home.

Morning Light Figurative Painting

"Morning Light"
20 x 30

I decided to enter the "Anything Goes" exhibit by the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society at the Norton Gallery in Palo Alto in August. The publicity photo was due the end of June. Using one of my sketches from the Don Andrews workshop, I developed the figure and added an ethereal background. This painting is an interpretation of the figure rather than a realistic rendering of the model, Christina.

Tomorrow I will leave for Vermont and Maine. A dear friend and I will be painting in Maine for a week and then I will return to the Paquet Family Farm for the Centennial celebration. Bob will not be going with me this time. This trip will give me some additional time with family, grandchildren, and friends. I will likely not be posting until I return.

Paquet Farm Sketches

"Flower Trike"
Paquet Farm
Barre, Vermont
5" x 7"

"Barn Door"
Paquet Farm
Barre, Vermont
5" x 7"

As the day draws closer for the Paquet Farm Centennial Celebration on July 24th, I couldn't resist pulling out photos from my June visit to the farm and doing a few small sketches. Many members of the extended family and local towns people gathered in early June to clean and paint the barn, accomplished in a single day. In the course of the cleanup, Valerie found this old tricycle, which I recall Gary's younger siblings riding. The handlebars are gone and the right back wheel is tilted at an angle, but what better way to use this memorabilia than as a planter! That lovely sunny day in Vermont added such sweetness to this scene of the freshly painted barn and the little flower trike.

The barn is very large and housed many milking cows. In the middle of the front of the barn are large double barn doors leading to the hayloft. I remember the hot summer days and nights of haying when the trucks would back up the ramp and the crew would unload and stack the hay. On the day I visited in June, the freshly painted door looked festive with a pot of flowers and afternoon shadows.

Thoughts on painting and poster art

"Summer Vases"
29" x 20"
(c) Mary Paquet

I finally am back to painting, but I don't have something finished to show you here. "Summer Vases" is a full sheet painting done in a Mike Bailey Workshop. It was the last of the series and emphasizes shape, color, and line. The painting was done quickly and lacks perfection. I rather like the freshness I achieved. At the moment, this painting is hanging in my livingroom. I plan to buy frames when I see a good sale and put up some more art in the house. People who come to our home always enjoy seeing the art. I plan to rotate the pieces more frequently.

I have a bunch of paintings in my head right now and must really get to work to set them free. Two are from Memorial Day and some are related to the Paquet Farm. I took some candid shots at the railroad station in San Luis Obispo, and they all have great potential, but the one I want to paint is only in my mind. We'll see if I can do people without reference material.

I mentioned that the Paquet Farm is celebrating its centennial as part of the Barre Heritage Festival in Barre, VT. I was asked to design a poster. I had to keep it very simple with requirements for black and one color. I also am not an illustrator and don't know the software that would be ideal. With a deadline of a week, there was not time to learn. I ended up using one of my paintings of the farm, and I removed the color. The view is known to everyone in the area. The family is happy with the results. You can see the poster by pasting this link into your browser:
http://www.barreheritagefestival.com/
From this page, take the link on the right side for Paquet Farm 100th Anniversary to see the poster. The posters are going into print this week and I am promised one for my archives.

The Paquet Farm Centenial Poster Project

"Paquet Farm"
Barre, Vermont
1909 - 2009

I was asked to create a poster for the Paquet Farm Centennial celebration in conjunction with the Barre Heritage Festival. The farm is owned by my mother-in-law and worked by many family members, including my sons, part-time. I had just a few days to come up with a draft and I am not an illustrator or graphic designer, so I don't know the software one would use. I also had the constraints of one color and black. So I snapped a picture of a painting I did some years ago and converted it into black and white. Rather interesting. I used an editor to create the poster with the picture as it's centerpiece. I have a draft of the poster out for review by the town selectpeople. I will post the finished product when we get to that point, and fill you in on all the fun events they plan, including fireworks, a barbecue, and live music at the Farm on July 24. Yours truly definitely plans to be there.

Other than that -- I've been matting, framing, pricing, creating cards, labelling, and doing all the work of art. Tomorrow I turn to housecleaning.

100th year anniversary of the Paquet Family Farm in Barre, VT

My very first post showed pictures I did of the Paquet Farm that belongs to my in-laws. I grew up in Barre, Vermont, and married a local boy, Gary. We were married for 34 years until he passed away in 1998. My sons moved back to Vermont since then and stay involved in the farm operations. This year is the 100th anniversary of the farm and there will be lots of big doings. I expect to feature more Paquet Farm pictures in this blog. The painting is the Paquet corn fields at end of day. That's Camel's Hump, a definitive VT mountain, in the clouds. I took a bit of artistic license and relocated it. Camel's Hump is featured on the VT quarter if you have one in your pockets. The colors say summer day's end in Vermont to me. These corn fields provide much of the income at the farm stand every summer.

I was excited this morning to join a Yahoo group created for the Paquet Farm. I will be able to keep up on the farm events on the calendar. Next up is a February date for buying seed. The group is featuring my most recent paintings and some family photos. The photo above is "The Pumkin Lady, " created from the farm pumpkins, and with her is my sister-in-law, Val, fearless leader of farm stand operations. (I've asked for permission to paint the pumpkin lady. Stay tuned.) With Val is her small dog and some corn stalks and squash from recently harvested fields. The third picture shows the healthy size that some of the pumpkins can become. Pumpkins are another major cash crop.

These art thoughts all began with a Saturday morning phone conversation with son, Jeff, in North Danville, VT. While we were riding bicycles in 70 degee temperatures yesterday, they were watching the horses sun themselves on a day that started out with -38 degrees and never reached zero. (This is why I have lived in California since 1976.)

Vermonters are hardy folks.

My first post

2009 is off to a great start and I wrote down my artistic goals for the year: create an art blog, complete two finished paintings per month, draw daily, experiment with one new technique or material every two months, and enter one art show in 2009. You can see that I've met my first goal!

The paintings I’ve posted are two recently completed pieces. Bob and I took an epic journey this summer from San Jose, CA, to Portland, ME, on a tandem bicycle. After the trip we spent time with family in my native Vermont where the Paquet Farm Stand was in full swing. One of their most popular items is the pumpkins and I liked the way they were displayed in front of the old barn silo. I gave “Paquet Farm Stand Pumpkins” to my mother-in-law, Priscilla, for Christmas.

The second piece is more experimental in nature. The colorful gourds grown at the farm are also very popular. The old blue wooden box caught my attention with the shapes and colors. I first painted the picture in portrait format and was not happy with the piece. My artist friends suggested turning it on its side into landscape mode. Voila! I liked the composition better, so I worked on the values and shapes to complete “Paquet Farm Gourds.”

Fulfilling my goals will be a challenge as I love to travel for pleasure and to train cycling instructors. I have a lot of travel planned this first full year of retirement, which will undoubtedly provide more inspiration. I hope you will enjoy following my Art Adventures.