Laraine Armenti

student of painting

Wild Turkey Visits

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Meleagris gallopavo — North American Wild Turkeys  The hardest thing to see is what is in front of your eyes. — Friedrich von Schiller (1759 – 1805) . . . . . . . . . . Wild turkeys appear in our suburban backyard at unpredictable times. Groups of three or five amble—or race single file—between maples and pines into the half-acre lot at the top of a New England hill. Their girth and scale … [Read more...]

Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio

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Death & Marketing There is nothing so fatal to character as half-finished tasks.—David Lloyd George, British prime minister (1916–22). . . . . . . . . . A lot has changed in 32 months since my last post. For one thing, I thought the number was 18, then did the math. Grasp of time, as others have noted, has been a casualty during the Covid-19 pandemic, to put it mildly. It has taken … [Read more...]

Summer Series

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In July I went to Vermont with a plan to paint landscapes in the remaining pages of a book I made in 2016. I painted new gouache landscapes but also worked back into several earlier pages. The result is that there are still blank pages in the book, leaving me with the same reason to return again. My trip coincided with the 73rd annual Bennington Chamber Music Conference held on the college … [Read more...]

Teaching Winter Session 2018

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My winter teaching schedule begins January 8 & 9, 2018. Register at ccae.org and www.danforth.org. Copies Then and Now at the Cambridge Center Studio School. In this course European masterpieces of the 17th-20th centuries are used to develop both craft and personal expression. Each week we alternate between copying a masterpiece and painting from still-lifes inspired by the masterpiece. We … [Read more...]

Masterpiece Copies

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"Paris offers... the museums in which you can study the old masters;... from 12 to 4 you copy, in the Louvre or the Luxembourg, whatever masterpiece you like." — Zola’s letter to Cezanne, 1858 ~~ Art made in eras that are historically and culturally different from our own provides a limitless source of instruction and inspiration. For the artist, the process of copying masterpieces internalizes … [Read more...]

Vermont Gouache

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In July I took a road trip to paint outside in southern Vermont. Choosing to use watercolor and gouache on paper solved numerous itinerant-painting related issues. Watercolor and gouache dry fast, have quick set-up and clean-up, and need very little storage space. The paint doesn't melt in the heat or threaten to ignite within a baking car. There are no combustible rags to dispose. These … [Read more...]