day by day

Happy Summer!

gloucester

"Gloucester"
10" x 8" framed mixed media painting
available here

We've been leaving Boston almost every week for the past month or two and yesterday it was sort of hard getting back into the groove of my studio so for most of the day I just did inventory and computer stuff I'd been putting off. Later at night I was playing around at my easel, sorting through material and photos, and this painting just sort of happened perfectly. I framed it in a barnwood style frame I'd been saving for just such a piece.

It's available in my Etsy shop here.

young heart

"Young Heart"

36" x 18" mixed media on canvas

unframed

www.etsy.com/listing/102925609/

I decided that this particular painting will not be made into a print... I might create a similar one down the road but this one will remain one of a kind. See detailed photos by clicking here. 

inspired by: nat geo traveller photo contest

Today I'm sketching for a commissioned painting, and for the first time I'll be using a client's own photography instead of my own. It's a little intimidating but I'm also having a good time editing and sketching and painting on some truly stunning photographs of Argentina and Chile... to take someone else's sights and experiences and recreate them using layers of my own painting techniques and wanderlust energy is an exciting change of pace. I'm hoping my vision for this painting can turn her vacation photos into a really meaningful piece of art.

While taking a break from that, I found the 2012 National Geographic Traveller Magazine photo contest. Here are some of my favorite entries, all by amateur or semi-pro photographers, many simply with their talent in the right place at the right time.

Aren't some of these just very overwhelming? There is so much in the wide world... I can't wait to take it all in for the rest of my life.

(All photographs obviously copyright their respective photographers... click them to visit their contest page and captions.)

97 degrees + more

The temperature hit 97 degrees here in Boston today, half our neighborhood lost power and half our building lost air conditioning... I took all of those as signs from above that the only logical thing to do was grab a blanket and a book and head to the beach down the street.

Logan International airport is just across the harbor from South Boston, so huge jets fly low over Pleasure Bay to land... I could watch them all day. In the sun. Eating a lobster roll. I wish it was tomorrow already so I could just go do this again.

Here's a peek at a piece I finished yesterday. I think I painted and re-painted the word restless about 50 times between 1 and 3am before it looked right... but that's just how it goes. It's at the print shop being photographed today and hopefully ready to share next week. So much new art! I love feeling inspired.

Lastly here is just a photo of fat little Chubby Boots rolling around all over my hard work because hey, why not? We like to live dangerously around here.

All taken with Instagram (@maechevrette)

born of the sea

A sweet ode to the summer shore...

"Born of the Sea" (2012)
Original mixed media on canvas
24" x 30" x 1.5"
Detailed close-ups in my Etsy shop.

field trips

"Field Trips" (2012) 
Original Mixed Media on Canvas
36" x 24" x 1.5", unframed
This one is big... see more details in my Etsy shop.

june photo-a-day challenge: week 1

One of my goals this year is to get substantially better at photography, so I decided to try the June Photo-A-Day challenge! It provides daily word prompts to interpret through photography... while most people post photos via smartphones, I thought using my Canon Rebel t2i instead would be good practice. 

Clicking on each photo will bring you to its prompt/explanation. If you like, you can follow along on Flickr or Instagram @maechevrette :)

currently digging...

On Tuesday I dropped off three large, summery paintings to be photographed at my print shop. Hopefully they are done soon because I can't wait to show them to you. In the meantime...

Playing with new supplies and a deep summer night color palette... an in-progress shot of the painting
in the background can be found on my Instagram (@maechevrette)

Llewelyn Ash {Adventures of a Glass Blower} from Benjamin Dowie on Vimeo.

Still loving the chalk lettering of Dana Tanamachi.

inspired by: the artwork of maureen brouillette

I happened across the art of Maureen Brouillette last week and immediately fell in love as I paged through her portfolio. I can't pinpoint why I love Brouillette's work so much; the layered mixed media ode to travel is so playful and bright and slightly retro, and in her own words, "a contrast between order and chaos, analytical and intuitive, geometric and organic... a balance between reality and abstraction."

And my absolute favorite...

I recognized the subject of this piece even before seeing the title... Cadillac Ranch is a line of vintage Cadillacs, buried nose-deep Stonehenge-style in the Texas desert a few miles outside of Amarillo, completely covered in spray paint and graffiti from decades of passers by. I found Cadillac Ranch on a road trip when I was 19 (after watching, in awe, the 72-oz steak challenge at the Big Texan, also featured above) and thought I was losing my mind from the heat when I first saw it. It really is as cool as it sounds and Brouillette's work does a perfect contemporary justice to this and other iconic roadside sights of middle America.

Check out more of Brouillette's work here.

the lovelist nest

It is always so exciting to see my artwork out in the wild. So it was a nice treat when I saw my "Salt Water" print sneak into an amazing bathroom renovation featured on Remodelaholic, originally by Amy at Lovely Nest.

It's worth clicking over to see a before and after. Thank you Amy!