Something from Nothing By Artist Don Rainville

The Night Before

2011-02-07T15:41:00.000-08:00

Click on image to enlarge;

Winter can be a tough opponent for many artists and I am one who sees winter as both a challenge and an opponent. I most often enjoy painting color and passion often in combination if I am inspired by something. Winter is not so much color as it is illusion and shadow, at least in the way I see it and would prefer to render it. I spent some time.. a couple years in fact thinking about painting winter before I actually took action and started working. For myself I am compelled to paint winter as a passion... in part because I find that those who enjoy it most are passionate about it. Skiers, hikers, and get away winter vacationers as well as hard core "all four season" people.. are lovers of winter. Personally, I enjoy winter most when there is snow, and just as I love a good summer storm, I also love a good winter tempest as well. So most of my work of winter is, and I imagine most often always will be, infused with as much passion as I can find to express in it...

This particular work was inspired by the first true storm of winter when the leaves of autumn are still rustling about the ground. It's a storm that in its first hours combines a beautiful blend of swirling wind rushes and blinding white gusts, chasing fallen leaves off the ground, creating an autumn winter mix before one's eyes. It's a storm that ushers out the autumn and proclaims the coming of a new season with a beauty and passion all its own... one that is crisp and fresh, cold and white.

I have depicted this ushering storm as one of night. For me, that is when winter storms are their most beautiful. The night in upper New England is quiet and the skies are bright and while there are many incredible places to view the passion of a winter storm, this is one of my favorites... at the edge of a forest.

Tree at my window

2011-02-07T14:51:00.000-08:00

Click on image to enlarge:

One of my more recent works...

I sometimes find myself involved in small excursions of learning or revisits of learning from my past... Most often these bursts are related to things that I feel relate to work that I am doing... Sometimes it's music and sometimes it may be writings or philosophy. I have gone on a number of passion quests reading poetry from past and present poets; however, I find I often come back to those poets who have well established themselves in time.

In this case I found myself drawn to the poet Robert Frost and his work "Tree at My Window" which I found very compelling. I think perhaps because it notes the bond that can often occur between humans and our wooded brethren. There are few things of which we can claim such kinship as trees... from the dawn of our time to our present day they have given us shelter, warmth, and protection like no other natural entity. Robert Frost is just one of many poets who has spoken of this often unspoken bond we feel and carrying forth his words, my work is for me what I see through his words.

TREE AT MY WINDOW by Robert Frost

Tree at my window, window tree,
My sash is lowered when night comes on;
But let there never be curtain drawn
Between you and me.

Vague dream head lifted out of the ground,
And thing next most diffuse to cloud,
Not all your light tongues talking aloud
Could be profound.

But tree, I have seen you taken and tossed,
And if you have seen me when I slept,
You have seen me when I was taken and swept
And all but lost.

That day she put our heads together,
Fate had her imagination about her,
Your head so much concerned with outer,
Mine with inner, weather.

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Currier Museum Show

2011-02-05T07:33:00.001-08:00

After the flurry of finalizing some works including this one, I finally got a chance at the show opening to take a few images of the accepted work I submitted... The opening went very well, the Currier is a beautiful museum recently expanded with a very good collection of works... My wife and I got to see and enjoy works by Monet, Benton, Hassam, Carot, Georgia O Keefe, two beautiful large Neil Welliver works, Picasso and many more famous artists of the past as well as and prominent living artists as well...

Sheli Petersen's work Turkey Clan, (Prisma color, soot and coffee on paper)... was the first place award for the show... it was a beautiful piece of work with great perspective, concept and execution... Some other artist I enjoyed were... William Turner's "Winged Warrior" ... Melissa Turner's untitled work which reminded me of Georgia O Keefe's work... Nancy Davis Johnson "Island Ledge garden" was another beautifully rendered work which one could look into and enjoy timelessly... All in all the show had a great mix of work to satisfy many different tastes.

For those who wold like to view the show catalog, see below:

http://www.currier.org/uploadedFiles/Exhibitions/NHAA%20catalog%202011.pdf

SHOW JURORS: Jen Mergel, Senior Curator of Contemporary art, Museum of Fine Arts Boston & Dina Dietsch, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art deCordova sculpture Park and Museum. The Jurors selected 47 works from a body of 239 submitted entries.

The show is open Jan. 29th thru march 6th If you're in the area, it's a museum well worth the visit they've done a great job with the expansion... It was one of the best orchestrated show openings we've attended.

Cahoon Museum of American Art

2010-08-03T09:47:00.000-07:00

"Blue Corn Moon" w32" x h54"

I am pleased to post that I will be exhibiting "Blue Corn Moon" in the "Moonstruck show"at the Cahoon Museum of American Art. The Moonstruck show will be exhibiting from September 21st through November 7th...

http://www.cahoonmuseum.org/

Brushstrokes Exhibition

2010-07-22T03:52:00.000-07:00

Betula Shadows... 40" x 48"

This is a work in black and white with blue hues throughout... I am often intrigued by the effects that photography can create and thought I might work some of my own color effects into some works and see what evolves.

Danforth Museum Show

2010-05-19T09:33:00.000-07:00

The above work "Silence," will be exhibiting at the Danforth Museum's annual juried exhibition. Each summer the Danforth hosts two shows... "Off the Wall" and "A Community of Artists"--these shows will run concurrently at the museum this year from June 12th through August 8th.

Below I have attached links to the Danforth Museum page outlining the show/s as well as a Boston Globe article from last year's show.

http://www.danforthmuseum.org/annual_members2010.html

http://www.boston.com/ae/events/articles/2009/06/04/danforth_showcases_regions_best/

Last Minute Impulse

2010-04-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

Birch Tempest H48' X W 68"

The above work "Birch Tempest" was exhibited and awarded first prize at the 24 Annual Omer T. Lassande juried exhibition at the Levy Gallery in Portsmouth. The juror for the show was Katherine French of the Danforth Museum in Framingham Ma.

See attached local news post:

http://knox.villagesoup.com/ae/story/camden-artist-takes-first-place/318666

Wild Birches

2010-02-15T05:51:00.000-08:00

This is the latest of my work just recently completed... "Birch Tempest," 48 inches high and 68 inches wide... Very often I find that some of the most beautiful perspectives on the natural world are not those we typically see. As people we tend to see the world from the ground up and thus we see trees as large guardian protectors towering above us, providing a graceful shade with their long over hanging branches... they dominate the landscape in many areas of the world and certainly so here in New England... However, every once in a while we see trees from a different perspective... possibly looking out a window through the canopy of trees close to our home... or possibly on a trip to the mountains where we gaze over steep hillsides over the canopy and into the distant horizon... Personally, I have some of my best memories of tree foliage and canopy experiences from being a young boy sitting high up in the branches of any one of the hundreds of trees I climbed... and several of which held tree forts high up in the depth of their thick summer green or autumn colored foliage... The world is a different place high up in the branches and foliage of our large earthly friends... High in the tree canopy there is protection, hiding, perspective, solace, and much more, all accented by the fragrant aromas of the foliage itself and views of earth and sky most will never see.

Boston Children's Museum Show

2010-02-14T14:31:00.000-08:00

For those who might like to wander through, I will be exhibiting "AS Found" at "The Yellow Show" present by and at "The Boston Children's Museum" and set up by curator Jennifer Jenson... Starting April 22nd until June 20th... This painting is almost 4 feet wide and over 6 feet tall... It is painted on a board I found at the recycling center here in Camden. I found the board sitting on top of the recycle pile in perfectly and beautifully worn condition as though someone had used it for a work table top or to cover and old doorway... It had edges worn over in and erratically feathered almost like a piece of hand made paper stationary. I imediately removed it from the pile and brought it back and started preparing it for painting. It went through many concepts and stages along its way to evolving into this final image... The whole process took over a year but in the end I finally got what I wanted, which was a piece of work that bonded with the character of the board it was painted on... I am always impressed with autumn and just how vivid the colors are and how beautifully overwhelming they can be... which in the case of this painting is represented by the many shades of yellow best complimented in nature by the birch tree... I am looking forward to the show and meeting the kids who come to the opening... In most cases at show all of us adults attend to the respectable reality that you don't touch art work... However, in this case and with kids in general, I always expect and even encourage them to walk up, look and even touch the painting, so they can get all their senses involved... I always think somehow that it's more important to inspire a child's curiosity as long as they are being respectful than it is to... over cherish and protect an object!

Showing

2009-11-06T07:36:00.000-08:00

Out of Time W 40" X H 46"

My next show will be "The Red Show" at the Cambridge Art Associations University Place Gallery at the Kennedy School for Government building at 124 Mount Auburn Street Cambridge Ma

There will be many artist including myself exhibiting at the show, so as always it will be a fun and intriguing experience.

The shows opening reception will be Friday November 20th... 6-8 pm and of course everyone is welcome.

See link below for further information on the show and or The Cambridge Art Association...
http://www.cambridgeart.org/kathrynschultzgallery.html

Vivaldi Autumn

2009-11-03T10:27:00.000-08:00

Vivaldi Autumn W 48" X H 32"

This is the latest in the Vivaldi four seasons group to be completed... (Vivaldi Autumn) I usually don't like to create groups or series as far as my art work is concerned... but this was more of an intrigue for me than anything else. It was created specifically after the third movement allegro.
I've seen several movies recently old and new with 18th century story lines featuring scenes of this particular piece of Vivaldi music performed in dance. Technically speaking I can't make trees dance however, I have tried to orchestrate the trees to depict or capture the movement of the dance and the body movement - postures of the people dancing on an open floor to the music. Hopefully, I've captured some of the spirit of Vivaldi s music, the visual sensation of autumn which inspired it as well as the spirit of the dance performed to his music...

Link to Vivaldi Autumn music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7SnqKUOByM&feature=related

Winter Scenes

2009-10-06T09:24:00.000-07:00

I have found in the past year or two as the winter season approaches with the temptation to create a series of winter scenes. Some artists love to paint winter and some throw a winter scene or two into the mix each year and some artist actually do not paint winter scenes at all, in fact some artists adamantly refuse to paint winter subjects.

I find myself in somewhat of a separated place from others I have spoken with on the winter scene subject matter. I like winter especially the early parts of it when things are fresh and the holidays are approaching. The hard depth of winter and later part I don't find especially satisfying beyond the few days after each fresh snow fall when winter is again freshly renewed in its best -other worldly- presentation. Most often when I have thought of painting winter, it is the -other worldly- aspects of it that I most often think to create or capture somehow. In the past the place I have found myself in, is one of indifference. Winter is a season which seems to bring out firm and sometimes intense appeal in some people and in others it is only unavoidably tolerated. Most often in my tenure as an artist I have chosen to create images of Spring, Summer and Autumn as these are most appealing to me and have the broadest appeal to others. Winter is a selective genre, mood and thus market, so up until now I have simply not moved my own creative thoughts into the action of painting it.

Each time an artist takes on a different scene or genre' they must approach it from the nature in which they themselves paint, and I am no exception to that reality. It could also be said that when an artist takes on a new genre' they almost have to teach themselves to paint again... The idea is actually to learn how to bring ones own style or technique to the table and make the scene work using that approach. In much the same way an actor must learn to bring themselves to each new part to make the role appealing and/or compelling... it is not so much learning how to play a character as it is making the character work with the way you present. .. with the exception that as an artist, there is no director involved.

Winter is what it is... just as each character in Shakespeare are who they are... The best performances come from the individuals portrayal of a character according to their personal skills as an actor. I once saw Anthony Hopkins get asked how he managed to choose so many good roles.. how did he know which roles to choose? Mr Hopkins responded (in general) by saying that it was the character of himself -as a person- and the technique with which he conveyed that, which he brought to the role that made it work and not picking the right part or role which would be successful.

It is very much the same with art... one must create according to their own personal style and if you employ that with enough of your own character it will make the scene work. It is the scene which one needs to make conform and work with ones individual style, rather than trying to choose a scene which will be appealing. That is why a great actors always seems to be a good works of film and stage and that is how one can see the hand of certain specific artists from 20 feet away in a room with 30 other artists works upon the walls.

So after many years of passing it by, I have made the decision to make winter happen this year in the ways I personally like it best... crisp, fresh, furious and other worldly...

Vivaldi

2009-08-24T06:51:00.001-07:00

Vivaldi Summer (Presto) W 48" X H 32"

Vivaldi's Four Seasons- was one of the first classical pieces of music I ever really truly listened to that actually made me stop and think about classical music. Being raised in the feverish height of the 60s rock and roll era, I was not often exposed or enticed into listening to classical music. The first time I every really listened was in my mid 20s when I was prodded into listening to Vivaldi's four seasons.

Amazed by what I clearly saw in my minds eye by the simple orchestration of instruments, I soon after developed a much better appreciation and curiosity for classical music. Now years later as an artist I have a much better understanding of what it feels like to try and convey an emotion or common thought without using words. I thought it would be challenging and intriguing to take what Vivaldi has expressed in music and translate it into what I and hopefully others sense and see in their minds eye when different movements in the music Vivaldi created are heard.

I created the above work with the imagining of a fast moving intense summer storm where the sky turns quickly dark with deep blues and purples of cloud cover. When the wind suddenly in moments rises and the wind driving rain beats down while quick flashes of lightening illuminate the furiously blowing upper limbs and leaves of the trees... ... then just as suddenly as it arrived, it passes. For me this is what I see and hear in the Vivaldi Summer -Presto- movement and what I tried to capture in this latest work.

Here in Maine I will be representing my work in my own gallery space here in Camden starting next June 1st 2010. My work is also represented in the "Elaine Beckwith Gallery" in Jamaica VT... See web site listing below:

http://www.beckwithgallery.com/index.php3?gallery=-60-Paintings&info=-55-Donald_Rainville

Art is not just a pretty picture

2009-05-12T07:17:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I like to photo my works upside down, sideways or from an angle and then look at the images... it shows me images in the work both obvious and somewhat illusionary that I might not see from a simple straight on viewing. Art is not just a pretty picture... it is an expression of how one sees and feels the world around them, be it a city work, an ocean work or a forest work. Abstraction is often seen as a separate art form, when in truth, it is simply a visceral expression of how one might feel or see something which a realistic or impressionistic expression of would not capture... so the translation of the emotion to art is via partial or absolute abstraction.

For all the outside opinions of what a piece of art is ... I personally find this saying most fitting for me... I find this most true ... "A picture is something that you paint, while a painting is something you create."

2009-05-07T15:05:00.000-07:00

Blue Corn Moon 39" x 54"

Night forest scenes with moonlit roads home were fairly common paintings in the later 19th century, and I often wonder why more artists are not creating modern concepts of this genre'?

I think in the world of the 19th century and before it was common to walk home along a path or possibly through a wooded area after visiting with friends. I imagine it was a much more common occurrence and lacked the fear we might apply to it in today's world... Since they painted it so often, it must have held a certain peace of mind for them, or perhaps a bit of mysterious allure. Often there was a cabin or home with lit windows in the distance making the viewer think and feel of the warmth, safety and comfort inside...

I'm not a "house at the end of the moon lit path" artist, but I do believe that the night and the light of the moon over a field or through a forest has an allure all its own. Some prefer to view it from windows inside the safety and warmth of home and still others prefer to take a walk and see the moonlight shadows, hear the night sounds and smell the crisp night air, face to face.

Art Blog

2009-02-27T06:54:00.000-08:00

Since Facebook has skeptical policies regarding copy rights to things posted on Facebook, I will in the future be posting all my art related images and information here on the blog. I am trying to coordinate a lot and get a web site up and running specifially for art and I'll post all the info on that when I get it worked out.