Winter Visions

Corner of My Village, by Suzor Cote

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After what seemed to be endless shoveling, I am happy to be painting again. Finding myself to be less enthusiastic than I was earlier about snow paintings, I resolved to restore my winter spirit with the vision of Suzor-Coté. Continue reading~

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

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On Light~

If I could journey back in time I would choose the interval that our consciousness bridged the visual world and language. I envision that we were in and out of comprehension of our being rather than simply being, that we recognized the separation of ourselves from the stream of events. Continue reading~

From Christmas in Rockport, oil painting by Melody Phaneuf, in private Collection.

Christmas in Rockport is available in fine art print and handmade note cards

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
See our complete selection of affordable, Art Gifts
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

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Twelve Days of Christmas Featured Painting

Into the Field, Oil Painting by Melody Phaneuf

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Today’s Featured Painting, Into the Field, is one of my favorites included in the 12 Days of Christmas offering. As a student, I copied paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts. I was attracted by the work of Dennis Miller Bunker and copied his field paintings. Analyzing and emulating his technique of applying paint in separate brushstrokes illuminated my concept of color. Continue reading~

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

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Restoring The Light

Radiant Vessel, Oil Painting by Melody Phaneuf, available in Keepsake Ornament
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Seasonal darkness wraps me in awe with a deep desire for the light. Brilliant stars twinkle, tiny visual bells ringing in the crisp night air. I imagine ancient ancestors huddled by a fire, inventing stories about rebirth of the light.

Radiant Vessel evokes the spirit of such ruminations. Continue reading~

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
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Working in The Sight Size Method

Melody Phaneuf's studio, showing the distance between painting table and easel in the Sight-Size Method

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Attempting to paint the visual impression from nature is akin to putting together a puzzle. It’s much easier when you have an image of the whole.

Whether it’s a portrait, landscape, or still life, I stand way back from what I’m painting in order to picture the entire composition. Being far-sighted, this seems natural to me, but I was also trained to do this as an atelier student.

The method, called sight-size, requires that the artist stand back at least three times the distance of the diagonal measurement of the picture plane. From there one measures the tops, bottoms and key points of objects, using a level. A plumb line is used as a guide to locate points on a vertical axis. Relative widths are judged by using thumbs on a ruler to mark edges of objects, then finding those points on the paper or canvas from the same distance. Continue reading~

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade notecards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

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Seeking Wholeness

Winter's Passage II, 30 x 25 oil painting by Melody Phaneuf

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There is a kind of order that comes from seeking wholeness. Vision of the whole dominates perfection of any of the smaller parts, they are only important in as much as they support the structure of the entire design.

How does one capture this wholeness in a painting? At the outset all small detail is suppressed. Continue reading~

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
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Art Around Boston~ Liberty Hotel

Beacon Hill New Age Crystals, oil painting by Melody Phaneuf

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With Fenway Open Studios behind us the focus is on the Liberty Hotel’s Art & Wine Tasting event November 16, 6-8:30.

Formerly the Charles Street Jail, the structure has been transformed into a most elegant hotel. Plush surroundings and superb wines create a hospitable ambiance in which to view art. If you missed Fenway Open Studios, there is another chance to join art lovers and wine connoisseurs. The Liberty Hotel can be found at 215 Charles Street, on Boston’s Beacon Hill.

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
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Boston Art~ Open Studios This Weekend

Sunflower Field, oil painting by Melody Phaneuf

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This weekend, November 6 & 7 is our annual Open Studios event at Fenway Studios. Participating artists scurry about, pulling together the last minute details in order to welcome art lovers to their studios. Continue reading~

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
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Directions to Fenway Open Studios

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Vendage~ Celebrating Harvest

Vendage, 30 x 24 oil painting by Melody Phaneuf
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A lively rhythm of vines and grapes bathed in sunlight is the essence of Vendage, a celebration of harvest. The painting is light and festive, the movement through the composition angular and energetic, evoking mirth and delight. Continue reading~

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Download our free 2010 Calendar
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Into The Field

Into The Field, oil study by Melody Phaneuf

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I love the wild beauty of fields. Much of my childhood was spent in grassy expanses, bordered by woodland. It is in these surroundings that I sense the animation in Nature.

Painting the spirit of this terrain is a study in abstraction. Continue reading~

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Into The Field, 8 x 10 study in oil by Melody Phaneuf

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
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A Sketch Book Journey

From Melody Phaneuf's Sketchbook, Quincy Wince & Pal
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It’s sometimes a revelation to peruse old sketchbooks. Pictures store the essence of an artist’s spirit at the time of their creation. They hold up a mirror to time, like snapshots of a journey.

Drawings done from imagination seem to be most telling. Continue reading~

Sketchbook Illustration by Melody Phaneuf from The Marvelous Adventures of Quincy Wince

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

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Art Boston~ Open Studios, Featured Artist

Golden Days by Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf

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The Artists of Fenway Studios are busily preparing for our annual Open Studio weekend, November 6 & 7, from 11-5. Fenway Studios is a National Historic Landmark building, the oldest continuously functioning artist building in the country. Fenway Studios was the first in the country to create a limited-equity artist coop. Continue reading~

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Golden Days, 20 x 16 oil painting of Boston Garden by Melody Phaneuf

Golden Days, handmade note cards

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

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Read more about~

• Fenway Studios
• The Liberty Hotel

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Yellow

Yellow, oil painting by Melody Phaneuf, Boston
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Yellow, color of sunshine, has a stimulating, lightening and gladdening effect on the soul. In Greek mythology, Helios the Sun God donned a yellow robe while driving his golden chariot drawn by fiery horses across the sky. The Sun’s radiant yellow light came to symbolize divine wisdom. Continue reading~

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Yellow, 28 x 24 Oil Painting by Melody Phaneuf
Yellow is available in Open Edition Print and Fine Art Note Cards

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

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The Art Spirit

Archived Portfolio Drawing, circa 1979 by Melody Phaneuf

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A few days ago I received a message from a former student who is pursuing illustration. She had been shaving her Prismacolor pencil to the needle-sharp tip that I had insisted upon for pencil drawing precision, and considered it remarkable how natural it felt despite the waste of time and torture she considered the activity at the time of my instruction. This made me smile. Continue reading~

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Download our free 2010 Calendar
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Small Paintings at Northshore Arts

Uphill, by Melody Phaneuf, 10 x 8 Oil Painting
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The fall exhibition of small paintings begins next week at Northshore Arts in Gloucester and continues through October. Small Paintings are a special treat. The favorable price and limited space small paintings require for display offer an occasion to own an original work of art.

Landscape paintings translate especially well to a petite format. Continue reading~

Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Download our free 2010 Calendar
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Painting Radiance

Rhythms and Radiance, oil painting by Melody Phaneuf

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Light and Glass are exquisite playmates. Sometimes bending, sometimes bouncing, light penetrates glass and splashes color like liquid. I recall the exhilarating experience of standing in a ray of blue light from a towering rose window the first time I visited Chartres Cathedral in France. Continue reading~

Rhythms And Radiance, 17 x 24 oil painting by Melody Phaneuf

Rhythms And Radiance is available in open edition print and notecards.

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Download our free 2010 Calendar
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Artists That Influence~ Picasso and Degas

Picasso and Degas~ Figure Studies

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Pablo Picasso and Edouard Degas, could they be more different? Yet, the exhibit at the Clark Museum, Picasso looks at Degas, reveals that Degas, the master influenced the younger Picasso in many ways. Continue reading~

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

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Art Collecting With Children

Looking at Art
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During my summer travels I visited a gallery on Block Island. I entered at a moment when a gentleman, I suspect a grandfather, was allowing two children to select a work of art for their home. The young man, no older than twelve, selected a lovely sculpted vessel and his younger sister, a watercolor painting. Both choices were fairly sophisticated, not what you might expect children to select. Continue reading~

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

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The Art of Ritual

Mysteries, oil painting by Melody Phaneuf
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For the still life artist, objects sometimes suggest a story. The attitude of the brass vessel in the painting, Mysteries, evoked memories of a Minoan snake goddess discovered at the turn of the 20th century. The theme of Mysteries evolved out of this spark of an idea. Continue reading~

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Download our free 2010 Calendar
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In Praise of Blue

Plum Cove, oil painting by Melody Phaneuf
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There is a special healing power in blue. I have written before about standing in a ray of blue light from a rose window at Chartres Cathedral as it sent a vibration of pure joy and transcendence through my core. But my appreciation of blue began with a childhood experience. Continue reading~

Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Download our free 2010 Calendar
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Boston Art~ Painting Still Life at Fenway Studios, Aug 9-13

Relics of The Sea, still life painting in oil by Melody Phaneuf
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Painting still life is an ideal way to exercise artistic skills. Fixed objects make the study of light manageable as it reveals form and color. Still life painting gives the artist time to mix paint to emulate what is seen.

I am offering a five day still life painting workshop, August 9-13 at Fenway Studios. Continue reading~

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Download our free 2010 Calendar
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Painting In Progress~ Allegory of Strength

Allegory of Strength, closeup of painting in progress
by Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf
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Antidote to pessimism, Allegory of Strength is an artistic response to war, economic woes, and yet another oil spill. I am always buoyed by the hopeful smile of the Jester. Here, he happily pulls himself up, despite the pressing of time and relentless negative forces. Continue reading~

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Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative Gloucester landscape paintings. Phaneuf works on location and at historic Fenway Studios, Boston, MA, painting still life and portraiture. Phaneuf has exhibited at Galerie Herouet in Paris, The National Arts Club in New York City, and with Art du Monde, a traveling exposition in Japan. Phaneuf’s paintings are regularly displayed at North Shore Arts, Gloucester, MA and The Guild of Boston Artists, Boston, MA.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo showcases the artist’s original paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and coasters, fine art prints and note cards. Online ordering at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Download our free 2010 Calendar
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Triton's Call

Triton's Call, 20 x 16 oil painting by Melody Phaneuf

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This morning I awoke to foghorns. It’s one of the things I love about living on the harbor in Gloucester. Though it doesn’t bode well for pleasant weather today, the tone sets the mood for a quiet, pensive day. Continue reading~

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Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative Gloucester landscape paintings. Phaneuf works on location and at historic Fenway Studios, Boston, MA, painting still life and portraiture. Phaneuf has exhibited at Galerie Herouet in Paris, The National Arts Club in New York City, and with Art du Monde, a traveling exposition in Japan. Phaneuf’s paintings are regularly displayed at North Shore Arts, Gloucester, MA and The Guild of Boston Artists, Boston, MA.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo showcases the artist’s original paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and coasters, fine art prints and note cards. Online ordering at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Triton’s Call, oil painting by Melody Phaneuf, 20 x 16

Triton’s Call is available in Open Edition Prints and handmade Notecards

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A Kitchen Still Life

Eggs and Shells, oil painting by Melody Phaneuf
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A kitchen, in my view, requires the energy of yellow. With blue as its companion, yellow vibrates and expresses radiant joy, buoyed against its near complementary hue. Monet must have thought so too, continue reading~

Eggs and Shells, oil painting by Melody Phaneuf, private collection
Eggs and Shells, 11 x 14 Matted Print
Eggs and Shells, Boxed Note Cards

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Download our free 2010 Calendar
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Peaceful Harbor

Peaceful Harbor, 16 x 20 oil painting by Melody Phaneuf
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In the early morning you would never ponder the bustling and sounds of a working harbor. There is nothing here distracting from the abstract pattern of sky, land and sea.

It is cool this early in the day and the light flows from a silvery filter. Hints of orange foretell that it will be hot later in the day. Continue reading~

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Download our free 2010 Calendar
Commission a painting
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Art and Wine at The Liberty

Gallery Night at Boston's Liberty Hotel
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What fun it was to exhibit at Boston’s Liberty Hotel! If I were standing in the same spot 50 years ago, it would have meant I was doing hard labor at the Charles St jail. I must admit, I do enjoy the contrast.

Coastal landscape scenes and crisp, chilled wines continue reading~

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Download our free 2010 Calendar
Commission a painting
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Painting The Coast

Mouth of the Annisquam, oil painting by Melody Phaneuf
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It’s been more than twenty years since I came to Gloucester to paint for the summer. I kept finding one more spot that begged to be painted before I left. I finally surrendered to the natural beauty and called it home.

It is always changing here. Unlike the quiet soul of hilly pastures that I was used to, coastland possesses a breathing animation. Continue reading~

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
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Artist Robert Cormier, 1932-2010

Portrait of An Old Man by Robert J. Cormier
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When the student is ready, the Teacher will appear ~Buddha

It is with bittersweet fondness and appreciation that I remember my mentor, Robert Cormier. He was a brilliant portrait artist, an inspiring teacher, a great storyteller. Bob was eccentric and quirky, but masterful in his communication of aesthetic ideas. He had intention in his work and the most delicate touch with a brush or pastel.

I met Bob as an instructor at Vesper George School of Art, continue reading~

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Download our free 2010 Calendar
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Transformation

Fireworks, oil painting by Melody Phaneuf

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This morning my eye fell on a painting, perfectly illuminated in the morning light. It was a welcomed relief from images of oil covered pelicans and spewing underwater fury. I am deeply troubled how little appreciation many have for the earth as a living organism that, like a body fighting a ravaging disease, finally becomes exhausted.

The painting is called Fireworks, named for the red roses in the arrangement. Fruits, flowers, and refreshment from an earthenware jug provide a sense of abundance and beauty. I love the character of the old wooden chest, soul of a mighty tree, hand-planed with the meandering imprint of human hand. And the light that revealed vibrations of color splashing against the deep blue background is enchanting and transformational.

It is a blessing to be sensitive to that, which is miraculous in our paths– a certain slant of light, the rhythm of the ocean, the wild beauty of our world. To me, painting is an act of reverence, helping to hold the vision of a perfect world.

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Download our free 2010 Calendar
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June

Sunset From The Bridge, oil painting by Melody Phaneuf
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Portal to summer solstice, early June exhibits the most delectable sunsets. Boundless days and saffron skies await us.

Gloucester, being surrounded by water, mirrors the sky’s radiance, luring seekers of light. Among them artists, fortunate to find their way here find it impossible to leave.

It is both soothing and astonishing to live immersed in this natural beauty. Familiarity with landscape, sky and sea cradle one in the soul of Nature, then jostle with an unexpected color, texture, or rhythm.

Sunset From The Bridge is a view only 300 feet from where I reside and pass by every day. It is a forever-changing panorama of color, movement and light that never fails to enchant. An intimate little painting done rapidly, Sunset From The Bridge captures a moment’s glow.

A suite of 20 paintings that explore my favorite niches of Gloucester will be on view June 29th at Boston’s Liberty Hotel, 215 Charles Street, Beacon Hill from 6:00- 8:30. The Liberty offers a lovely complimentary wine tasting during the exhibit.

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Download our free 2010 Calendar
Commission a painting
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Spirit Of The Sea

Voyagers, oil painting by Melody Phaneuf

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From a life of constant motion, the objects chosen for the painting, Voyagers rest, echoing their past. Along with shells that refused to stay submerged, floats mark a rhythmic line of placement through the vertical composition.

Glass objects frolic with the light, sometimes halting and pushing it backwards, sometimes allowing it to penetrate, making it transparent. The floats’ etched surfaces add another texture to the composition and one more layer to the story.

Light, movement, and the forces that animate are what compel me to paint. Each picture is a quest, ultimately revealing the mechanics of an enigmatic realm of experience, the result of certain combinations of sensory input, reason and active imagination.

The floats and shells in Voyagers, having lived upon and within the movement of waves, convey to me the spirit of the sea. Breathing color and reflected light enlivens the arrangement. Voyagers suggests an eagerness to tell us a story.

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Download our free 2010 Calendar
Commission a painting
Facebook
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Flow

Flow, Oil Painting by Melody Phaneuf

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Watching moving water create ever-changing abstract patterns is mesmerising. The rhythmic flow of cause and effect reminds me of a perpetual motion machine that I saw at the science museum one childhood summer.

Waves surge up, intersect, and divide direction. Movement and light expose and interweave line, shape and color in kaleidoscopic flow.

Conceivably, like snowflakes, no two, wave patterns are alike. No evidence remains to test the theory, only an impression on the memory. Or perhaps like particles in quantum physics, they change when someone is looking at them.

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Water's Edge, by Melody Phaneuf

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Download our free 2010 Calendar
Commission a painting
Facebook
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Painting The Park, Gloucester

Triton's Call, 20 x 16 oil painting by Melody Phaneuf
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There is an enchanted park in Gloucester where I love to paint. Its mythic quality reminds me of the coast of Brittany, haunted by the ghosts of Parsifal and Merlin.

I have the sense a presence here, inhabiting a dimension that I cannot see, the carved steps in enormous rocks their stairways to invisible second floor bedrooms. Pink and ochre granite seems to radiate energy that balances too many hours in fluorescent lighting and ambient noise.

From high on the rocks I can look back at where I live, watch the bridge endlessly raise and lower, funneling boats from the Annisquam River into the harbor. People run, others bicycle, some walk dogs while I blissfully paint and observe the distant animation of a busy world.

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street; at Fenway Studios, Boston by appointment; and North Shore Art in Gloucester from May through October. Phaneuf ‘s paintings have been exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan.

Melody The Artist Home, founded with photographer and color specialist, Martha DiMeo, features Phaneuf’s original oil paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and beverage coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.


Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop


Download our free 2010 Calendar
Commission a painting
Facebook
Twitter

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Paintings Above ~

Yellow Trees by The Sea,
Melody Phaneuf,
8 x 10 oil painting

Pathway, Melody Phaneuf,
8 x 10 oil painting

Halfmoon Beach, Melody Phaneuf,
8 x 10 oil painting

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