Coventry Farm

This painting was done on a trail bordering Coventry Farm in Princeton Township, NJ. It's the J. Seward Johnson, Sr Trail, and the long wooden boardwalk that I'm standing on bridges over some wetland. I liked how the hard geometry of the walkway contrasts with the softness all around it. And, it was a nice change of pace from all of the buildings I've been painting lately:

"Coventry Farm Boardwalk"
8x10 oil on panel

One thing I have to remember is that while my umbrella provides a nice spot of shade for my paintbox, it doesn't do much for me. It was a hot day and I was roasting in the sun when I did this one. And I also have to be careful not to bump my tripod when standing on elevated walkways - I almost sent everything tumbling off the edge, but managed to recover with only getting a little bit of paint on my shirt. One of the many hazards of painting en plein air.

Coventry Farm is a beautiful piece of preserved farmland which borders a few other parks - together they form a very big chunk of preserved land in an area that really needs it. I'll have to explore some of the more wooded trails next, so I can find a shady and cooler spot to paint.

The 1860 House - 2 views

"1860 House, Front Porch"
8x10 oil on board

This weekend, I was painting at The 1860 House - the home of Montgomery Center for the Arts in Skillman, NJ - a classic white clapboard farm house which now has some nice gallery space inside. I finished painting the front of the house and I started packing up to go back home... but then I walked around the side of the house saw another intriguing view. Since my palette was still covered with the right colors, I decided to paint the side porch too. This is a view I painted before, but I had the urge to try it again:

"1860 House, Side Porch"
8x10 oil on linen on board

Web Feed for my Paintings and News

I've added a web feed to my main website, joekaz.com, to list my newest paintings and occasional newsletters. It's way for you to easily know when I've added a new painting there. I post more paintings on my website gallery than I do to this blog, so there really won't be much overlap.

Rather than go into any more detail here, I'll refer you to this article on how to subscribe to my web site feed where I also try to explain what a web feed is in case you don't already know. It's a pretty cool web feature that many people don't know about, and you may find the information useful for other websites, not just mine.

Artsbridge 13th Annual Juried Show

"Winter Afternoon, Amwell Valley"
12x24 oil on canvas

This painting was accepted into the Artsbridge 13th Annual Juried Show, which will run from June 30 through July 28, 2007 at:

RiverRun Gallery
Laceworks
287 South Main Street (Rt 29)
Lambertville, NJ 08530

gallery hours: daily from 10:00 – 5:00,
Sundays 12:00 too 5:00, closed Tuesdays
Opening reception is Saturday June 30 from 6 to 9 pm.

This is one of the few winter scenes I've painted. It's looking out over Amwell Valley, just across the street from where I live.

Also of note is the fact that including myself, 8 of the Artists' Gallery members have been accepted into this show. Considering that hundreds of artists from a 75 mile radius enter the Artsbridge Annual, it's pretty impressive that we're so well represented this year. Images of the other members' work can be found on the Artists' Gallery blog.

Yes, This Is New Jersey

My next big show is coming up soon: June 21 through August 2, 2007 at Bell's Tavern in Lambertville, NJ. It's a solo show of some of my larger studio paintings of the surrounding countryside. And maybe a few small plein air pieces too - I'll finalize that when I hang the show this week. The name of the show:

Yes, This Is New Jersey
Local Landscapes by Joe Kazimierczyk

"Cider Mill Farm"
16x20 acrylic on canvas

I have to credit Abby, owner of the Hopewell Frame Shop for inspiring that title. She told me that at my recent solo show there, people would look at my paintings and ask: "is this really New Jersey?". The answer to that question seemed a natural title for this show.

Bell's is a great little restaurant and bar at the northern edge of town. The owners always like to display local artists' work, and this will be the second show I've had here:

Bell's Tavern
183 North Union Street
Lambertville, NJ 08530
[map & directions]

Open for dinner only:
Mon-Thurs 6pm-9:30pm, Fri & Sat 5pm-10pm, Sun 5pm-9pm

There is no opening reception, but hey, it's a bar and restaurant so every night will be like a reception, even better.

One painting I'm looking forward to showing is this triptych - it's the only triptych I've ever done and I've had few opportunities to show it, because of it's size. Bell's has one long unbroken wall, so here's my chance. The painting is of one of the dams of Round Valley Reservoir, and the road atop it. It's a road I cycle on a lot, and this scene has always fascinated me:

"Round Valley Dam Triptych"
16x60 acrylic on canvas (3 panels)

Green Sergeant's Covered Bridge

Here's one from yesterday. It's the covered bridge near Sergeantsville, NJ - New Jersey's only covered bridge. I've always wondered why New Jersey only has one covered bridge while there are dozens just across the river in Bucks County, Pa. No matter - it was a beautiful day to be out painting. And a nice change from last weekend when I was painting on the Hidden Gardens of Lambertville tour as hundreds of people filed by. While painting the covered bridge, I didn't see a single person. I only heard the cars and bicycles riding across the bridge. And 2 horses clomping by on the road along the creek. It was a bit treacherous standing in the rocky creek bed, but still, it's a very pleasant place to spend a few hours.

"Green Sergeant's Covered Bridge"
11x14 oil on canvas panel

The Hidden Gardens of Lambertville

Last week, I talked about how I would be painting out in public along with other Artists' Gallery members during the Hidden Gardens of Lambertville tour. The tour was very successful and there were well over 200 visitors passing through. I'm not used to painting with so many onlookers, but that wasn't really bad at all. Most of the visitors were thrilled to see us artists in action! Unfortunately, the painting I came up with was not that great and I had a lot of witnesses. Since I told you about this event already, I feel obligated to show you the painting:

"Garden Gate"
8x10" oil on panel

I think the main problem was that I was rushing. I didn't have time to check out all of the gardens first, and the few I did look at were just too small to accommodate a painter - these are private, back yard city gardens after all. I found one large enough, it was shady and pleasant, and a fellow artist was there for company which was nice, so I set up there. I started painting the garden gate because it was an attractive garden feature, but that's not enough to make a good painting. I rushed to get something down on canvas since so many people were watching, and poor composition is the basic problem here. Plus I had one big technical problem: I've recently started using a new medium (Gamblin Galkyd) and it had really gummed up in the bottle making it difficult to use. And the gate went from full sun to full shade within an hour. Excuses, excuses...

This fall, probably September, our gallery is having a special exhibit of the garden paintings we created, and we'll be donating a portion of the sales to the Kalmia Club, which organized the garden tour and which does a lot of work for local charities. I really want to be able to show a good painting for this good cause, so I did another one from photos. This one is a much better composition, and since I had more time, I included the table and chairs which really would have added some interest to the first painting:

"In Kevin's Garden"
8x10" oil on panel

Here I am in action. Carol Sanzalone is the artist sitting down working in watercolor:

Pine Tree Trail

My last post was way too wordy, so I'll balance things out with this one. Here's a painting I did last weekend. It's a trail on the banks of Round Valley Reservoir near Lebanon, NJ. It was a nice day to be out and I had a lot of fun doing this one:

"Pine Tree Trail"
11"x14" oil on linen panel