Laraine Armenti

student of painting

Sojourn

by

On my return trip from Vermont in August, I took the route from Bennington through New York. It is less traveled than Route 7 and therefore a nicer drive. In a small town in western Mass, I noticed a weathered old woman sitting in front of an antiques store. Her shop contained a crowded collection of objects in several dingy rooms which she complemented with a robust set of political views sharply … [Read more...]

ANE / Bennington — Week 1, no. 3

by

Last painting was done on Friday in the acryla-gouache figure class. The female model alternated between two poses within the same paintin, while the third figure is from a photograph. Saturday we had final critique and discussion of the week's work. ABOVE: 3 figures, acryla-gouache on panel, 16 x 20 inches ( 41 x 51 cm), 07/22/11 Eleven paintings in a week, acryla-gouache on panel, … [Read more...]

ANE / Bennington — week 1, no. 2

by

Day four. We had a new model today. She posed while we combined her image with two other sources — a place and a figure. In the afternoon she took two poses wearing different clothes to create the impression of being two people. We're working fast to try to complete a painting in less than three hours at the same time that the panel size increases. It was extremely hot in the studio for the second … [Read more...]

ANE / Bennington — Week 1, no. 1

by

During my first week at Art New England, I am in a class called "The Figure in Context" taught by Susan Lichtman. The first night we were assigned two homework paintings: a quick twilight landscape and a still-life, leaving space in both to fit the figure. We did a direct painting of the figure on the first morning of class. In the afternoon, we painted her into the still-life using light tones … [Read more...]

Broadmoor

by

One of many considerations for outside painting is choice of location. From the beginning the rough beauty of nature appealed to me as a subject, perhaps motivated by countless childhood hours spent on long, solitary walks in the woods. Most of these places were paved over in my lifetime. Is it nostalgia for what once was that attracts me to remnants of farms, rivers, and fields? Or mourning … [Read more...]