"No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow!"

"Flowers are earths way of laughing"

Signs are popping up everywhere that spring is just around the corner here in the valley and we've got a bit of spring fever! here are some of our favorite spring quotes to help us and our dear friends through the final stretch!

"March winds are like the mornings yawn,

 the land, awakening with bluebird skies 

and the promise of new life."

"Lupines in Sunrays" by Varvara Harmon

"Spring Chestnut" by Thomas Merriam

Hoppy Spring!

"come the spring with all its splendor, all its birds and all its blossoms"

"Spring Migration" by Thomas Merriam

Spring forward!

Stop by when you are passing through beautiful downtown Center Lovell, overlooking Kezar Lake and the White Mountains of western Maine and New Hampshire.

Varvara Harmon comes to Harvest Gold Gallery to teach a Plein Air class

Varvara Harmon is a Russian artist who moved to Windham Maine in 2001.  She graduated from art school in Russia over 20 years ago and has been painting since she was a little girl. Her work is all made in different mediums and she creates it in a series of small paintings or drawings that are connected by a common subject or theme. We are proud to have an award winning Maine artist showcased here at Harvest Gold Gallery, and even more proud to have had her teach a Plein Air Class here at the Gallery. 
Plein Air is a French expression which means "in the open air," and is particularly used to describe the act of painting outdoors, which is also called peinture sur le motif ("painting on the ground") in French. 
This past saturday Varvara set up her easel and paints and got straight to work here at the gallery using our beautiful Center Lovell View. 

The beginning of Varvara's Plein Air class, and the paintings are starting out great.

By noon Varvara has already accomplished so much. She is amazing to watch in action!

This photo is after 5 hours of dedicated painting. 

This is the end result! It's absolutely beautiful! We are so proud to say that Varvara Harmon painted the view from Harvest Gold Gallery. 

We just had to share Varvaras pallet and organization! Love these colors, they really express the shades of Maine in the summer.

Feel free to come and see more of Varvaras work and check out the view here at Harvest Gold Gallery in Center Lovell, Maine. 

One of Our Favorite Retirees, Jean Swan Gordon, Final Days at Our Gallery

Jean Swan Gordon

About twenty five years ago Jean Swan Gordon, an accomplished painter of landscapes, interiors and figures in oils and pastels started something new. A passionate gardener, she began to paint portraits of bouquets of garden flowers and wild flowers in ink and watercolor. Gordon states, “I had become fascinated by line, and flowers were a natural subject. I could explore the intricacies and the variety of line and color and, at the same time, celebrate my love of gardening and nature.” Mrs. Gordon uses only stark white paper as the background of her bouquets, allowing the personality of the flowers and vessels to radiate and imply season, quality of light and emotion. She only paints bouquets in front of her, and since she has been a full time New England resident, her paintings have taken on an even stronger seasonal feeling. They are casual bouquets, not formal arrangements. The same flowers and vases appear again and again but like a repertory company of actors, in each painting they play a different role.
We have had Jean's paintings in the gallery for many years,and have been honored to have had that privilege of her water color garden bouquets gracing our walls . We have been grateful for being able to share her art with numerous others. The last three pieces will be leaving our gallery shortly and will certainly be missed! Thank you for letting us be part of such a delightful experience in loving your work and you!

East Boothbay#3

Summer Bouquet

Bittersweet

Plein Air Celebration!

This past Saturday and Sunday was a flash of color 

in a flash of time. 

Four local Plein Air artists came out to play and paint

in the beautiful foliage of New England, in Lovell, Maine.

Diane Scott lead the Artists with her many years of painting in the open air under her belt. The artists settled into their spots around the town of Lovell, some overlooking the lovely Kezar Lake, others by local attractions around town. 

Each artist brought the beauty out through the brush strokes.  

After a day of painting on Saturday, the artists finished, framed, and present their work to us here at Harvest Gold. 

Then on Sunday, the Gallery was opened to the public, to enjoy the works and have wine and cheese and a lovely evening all around.  We have four paintings on display now from the paint out.  

Look for more events coming up and contact us at

harvestgold@fairpoint.net

(207) 925-6502

or on the web at 

www.harvestgoldgallery.com

Stop by any day, we are open daily!

Museum Quality Master Hot Glass Artists At Harvest Gold Gallery

 Stephen Lundberg was one of the first Hot glass artists we began to collect.  This was years before we ever thought we'd have a Gallery.  Of course, his work looks lovely in the natural light with so many layers of color and clear the vase becomes almost 3-dimensional.

 Charles Lotton.  Yes, that's right The Charles Lotton was one of our first Hot glass artists.  We had such good taste!  His work paved the way for the American Hot glass artists of today.  Shattering the myth that the Europeans were the best glass artists.  Now we carry the next generation in Charles' family.  Several of his family members have become involved in the business Scott Bayless perfumes are beautiful and Jim Heer has the Caliliy perfect in the vase and perfume.

 Orient and Flume's artists use amazing detail in their work.  Each is signed and numbered, highly collectable.  This company is based out of Southern California and has been producing fine quality work for over 20 years.

Watch for more on our Hot Glass Masters.  We have only just begun!

Good Morning moon over Center Lovell Maine setting over Kezar Lake and the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  Mount Washington is a sliver of reflected sunrise light.

 

Egg Tempera artist Barbara Coburn

 Award winning watercolor artist, Barbara Coburn has been painting the beautiful New England countryside since her early college days.  She got her Fine Art degree at Anna Maria College.  From there she was very successful in the advertising and marketing world. Her first love, however, has always been painting. Lately she has discovered a new medium.  Studying with some of the great egg tempera artists she has come to love this new to her technique.

Egg tempera is a painting process that uses egg yolk to bind pigments, the color, into paint.  The artist must manufacture the paints herself by finely grinding the pigment and mixing it with water and egg yolk.  The paint is then applied in a method where the optical laws of egg tempera are obeyed thus the unique surface of egg tempera will be achieved. 

Tempera paint dries rapidly. It is normally applied in thin, semi-opaque or transparent layers. Tempera painting allows for great precision when used with traditional techniques that require the application of numerous small brush strokes.  When the final painting is created then it is sealed with an organic varnish.  This is needed especially if you have a cat around who might want a little lick of that egg!

With the ancient egg tempera technique Barbara creates a luminous glow in her work.  The detail that she can achieve is amazing.   Every blade of tall grass in the field by the old barn is visible.  All the paint peeling off the old boat is there!

Tempera paintings are very long lasting, and examples from the 1st centuries AD still exist. Egg tempera was a primary method of painting until after 1500 when it was superseded by the invention of oil painting.  Andrew Wyeth was one of the most noted egg tempera painters.  His painting, Christina’s World is very well known. 

Barbara's new paintings will be showing at Harvest Gold Gallery through the holidays.  Stop by when you are by Lake Kezar in beautiful downtown Center Lovell.