Ode To Joy by Pam Malone
I like simple things
like my new porch rocker
I got it at Cracker Barrel
I rock and watch the hummingbirds
flutter before my eyes
I watch my flowers grow
sometimes they die
But sometimes they reach the sky
like a bright sunflower
whose yellow glory
is an ode to joy

These 2 paintings, "Tulip" and "Hummingbird", will be on exhibit at the Studio Montclair, 20 x 20 Juried Exhibition at the Academy Square Galleries, 33 Plymouth Street, Montclair, NJ.  The opening reception is Friday, October 20, 6-9 pm.  Show runs from October 13-December 15, 2017.

 I painted this painting because of the sad plight of Syrian Refugees.  The image of Joseph and Mary and the baby Jesus fleeing Herod is a metaphor for the plight of all refugees no matter what religion.  This painting has just sold, and it is my wish that those who see it will feel compassion for those who suffer persecution and must flee their homes.

When we go to the country I always look for deer.  I find them very exciting and magical. In fact I think it is like seeing an angel, because they have a powerful spiritual aura.  Imagine my surprise when a deer appeared in my own garden!  I was spooning my morning yogurt into a bowl, when I saw him out the window.  He was nibbling my petunias, then he tasted the tomato leaves (not the tomatoes, thank goodness, he's like Jay Leno, doesn't like vegetables!)  Then he took a drink from the bird bath. All this time I was mesmerized, spoon dangling in air. I came to my senses in time to get some good photos of the guy. Then I started to feel the gardener's dilemma.  Yes he was an angel, but he was eyeing my just about to bloom sunflower with tasty interest. So I made some noise and he decided to leap away. I had been looking for an excuse to paint the flowers in my garden, and very much wanted to paint this deer.  I hope you enjoy it.

This summer I fell in love with the pink roses in my garden. They were full and  burgeoning with pink beauty.  I took photos of them, delighted in them, and drew them.  It was my intention to paint them.  But suddenly, I found the painting in my head was of a beautiful woman, very high fashion, in a glorious hat with my roses blooming from her hat.  So that's what I painted.  Hope you like it!

We have been going up to Pleasant Valley, New York, for years.  My husband's grandfather used to own a farm on Malone Road (named after him).  My husband was nostalgic for his roots, but I soon discovered there were goldfinches on Malone Road! They would appear in August and fill the trees.  One minute there would be nothing, and then a flash of gold.  Nothing thrilled me more.  I love birds, as you know if you"ve looked at my paintings, and goldfinches have always been particularly magical to me. They symbolize happiness, and unexpected beauty.  Recently, I looked out my window and a darling little goldfinch was at the feeder (the seed that attracts them is nyger).  My heart was filled with joy and this painting literally popped into my head.

Mount Katahdin, Autumn"
Marsden Hartley was a very original American artist (1877-1943).  This exhibit was close to his soul, the landscapes of his native Maine.  By turns, these landscapes, lyrical, bold and haunting, allowed him to express his unique intimacy with the mountains, water and rocks of Maine, through the seasons (autumn being the most vibrant and powerful).
Some of the paintings are tapestries of rich color, such as "Summer", (1908, Oil), and "Carnival of Autumn" (1908, Oil).
 Some are simple and strong, painted in bold thick color such as "Mount Katahdin, Autumn (Oil) and "Smelt Brook Falls," (Oil, 1937), which has a rich glaze.  "An Evening Mountainscape" perfectly captures peace and tranquility.
But Hartley went through a dark period when he was living in New York City.  There, he painted the mountains of Maine from his imagination.  And this series of paintings, "Paysages" (Dark Landscapes) done in 1924, are a bit scary.  In depressing grays and blacks, the brooding mountains show the harsher side of nature.
Hartley was influenced by Winslow Homer and Hokusai and painted "The Wave" in several versions.  I found these to be flat, static and lacking in the strong vision revealed in his mountain landscapes.  Even when painting a French mountain, "Mount Sainte Victoire" (1927, Oil) he captures a happy exhuberance in bright brilliant color. Obviously, mountains were his métier.  the show will remain on view at the Met Breuer through June 18, 2017.

MATISSE AND AMERICAN ART

This is the first comprehensive exhibit to examine Matisse's influence on American artists from 1907 to the present.  There are 19 works by Matisse and 44 works by American artists.
Matisse was famous for his nudes, his spare, fluent lines, love of texture and design and bold color.  It is fascinating what a wide net his influence cast.  Let me say from the get go that the best paintings and drawings in the show are those by the master himself.  Nudes in charcoal with perfect lines.  "Pianist with Checker Players", 1924, an oil painting with all the detail and love of textiles Matisse is so famous for.  The well known, "Yellow Odalisque", 1937, with the strange large hands.  What I love best about Matisse is his playfulness.
As for his followers, the net is wide.  Stand outs for me, include, Walt Kuhn's "Portrait of Vera", with its bold color and strong lines.  Walter Pach, whose oil, "Girls Bathing", has a very Matisselike feel, joyful with colorful flat female bodies romping in the water.  "Spring in Central Park", by William Zorch, with deep blue, outlining two nude lovers with flowers springing all around.  A real stand out is Andy Warhol's "Fabulous Woman", synthetic paint and silkscreen inks on canvas, 1985.  He perfectly channels Matisse with his fluid lines, and yet, Warhol's own unique vision shines through. He pays homage to the strange large hands.
In some cases, the kinship to Matisse is a stretch, such as George Segal's sculpture, "Girl On A Chair." The only parallel drawn is that it is a nude and the chair is bright red.  On the other hand, Patrick Bruce was Matisse's student.  And his painting of flowers in a pot from 1911, is a direct imitation of his teacher.  And less remarkable for that fact.
There is an adjacent exhibit by Janet Taylor Pickett, "The Matisse Series, in which she expresses, through collage and water color, her admiration for Matisse while incorporating her own African American cultural references.
This show is at the Montclair Art Museum, February 5-June 18, 2017. Let me add that it is a wonderful museum with a Native American Gallery and a permanent collection of the mystical works of George Inness, who lived in Montclair at one time.

I love egrets let me count the ways:  they have so much dignity, they are happy to be alone, they know what they like (shallow wetlands, cloudy skies, fish) and they go for it.  And they are so beautiful, whether just standing there, or flying high in the sky.  I go to the wetlands bird sanctuary in Cape May, New Jersey every summer. I trek in  the hot sun, binoculars and camera in hand.  Sometimes I have to glimpse them from afar, but sometimes they let me get up close and personal.  This great white egret actually let me watch him as he plucked his lunch out of the water.  He was majestic and beautifully feathered, but also, humorous with that little silver fish dangling from his mouth.  He seemed to pose for his portrait.  Hope he likes it.

The Neue Galerie is one of my favorite museums, because it is not like a museum.  From the moment you enter and ascend the twisting circular staircase you are not in a stuffy institution, but in an elegant Fifth Avenue home.  There is something so intimate about the space, and even when crowded, you can get up close and personal and really see the paintings.
I love Expressionism and come to the museum often to see the works of Klimt and Schiele.  This was a special exhibition of the art of Alexei Jawlensky (1864-1941).  He was Russian and went to Munich where he was influenced by the Expressionists.
But he kept his own individuality and is actually quite different.  His work involves bold blocks of color, and is extremely simple.  No ornate details.  Portraits of plaintive faces, including "the Savior", as well as landscapes that are charming in their effect, as if one were viewing a garden or mountain scene in a dream.  Sometimes, more hinted at than actualized, blurry and unfocused.
He used strong palette knife strokes. Sometimes, I found some of his more abstract blocks of color too simple!  But I loved his childlike flowers, and the faces of exotic women, from Spain and Asia.  Definitely a show worth seeing. And to cap it off, there is nothing more elegant and old world than the Café Sabarsky.