December Art Fair

I will participate in the Sommersworth Arts and Crafts Fair, in Sommersworth, NH, Saturday, December the fourth.

I also now have a presence on Fine Art America.

http://harold-kirby.artistwebsites.com/index.html

A couple more Oil Pastels

I'm still working with Oil Pastels. The first painting 11 by 14 inches of one of the fountains in Prescott Park, Portsmouth, NH. The second painting is of a sojourn in Bancock, Thailand, also 11 by 14 inches Oil Pastel.

Fuller Gardens

Wednesday, July 8th I will be doing a demo painting and showing some of my art work at the historic Fuller Gardens, North Hampton, New Hampshire. There also will be an art auction from 5 PM to 8PM that day.

Oil Pastel of the art nouveau well in the center of the rose garden at the Fuller Gardens.

The painting is 11 by 14 inches.

Twilight Garden

I have painted a number of canvases in the "Strawbery Banke", a recreated colonial village in Portsmouth, NH, complete with reenactors and period craftsmen. This painting was of the Aldridge Garden which has this lovely archway.

I was painting with acrylics. As most acrylic painters know they darken as they dry. The day was actually a very bright summer day and I couldn't find shade to set up my easel, so I painted in the bright sunlight. While I was painting, I thought I was producing a nice bright summer's day painting. When I got home I was appaled at how the sun had tricked my eye and how much the painting had darkened as it dried. In a stroke of inspiration, I titled the painting "Twilight Garden" and it sold the first time I showed it.

The Fountain, Two Views

I have done a number of paintings in "Strawbery Banke" (yes that's how they spell it) in Portsmouth, NH. It is a small living museum of the period of the American Revolution and Historic buildings have been moved to the site and it's peopled with reenactors, and period crafters. I've been permitted to paint in there and here are two acrylic plein air paintings completed there.

They are both of the same fountain from two different vantage points. One view is through an archway of cedars and the other is a view from the lawn of the flower gardens.

Both paintings are on canvas and are 11 by 14 inches and are still available. The price is $150 each which includes a simple frame. Shipping costs run $30.

Japanese Gardens

I have painted several versions of Japanese Gardens and this is one of my favorites. It is a pastel on coarse Canson paper, hence the texture.

It's titled "Strolling Paradise", and it has an attached haiku.

"Gentle warming sun

Fragrant caressing breezes

Strolling paradise."

In the ancient world, the word for paradise was the same word as garden, hence my justification for the haiku.

May you also stroll paradise.

This painting also won several awards and has been sold.