Pasture in Spring

Spring Pasture, 30 x 24 oil painting by Melody Phaneuf

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It is such a delight to paint Spring awakening! The energy and color in new growth is a healing inspiration after a long, snowy winter. 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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Boston Artist, Custom Artwork

Charlie Sleeps Tonight by Melody Phaneuf, Commissioned Artwork
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Happy memories of their safari brought soon-to-be parents a vision for their nursery. Charlie’s arrival would be celebrated and surrounded with the couple’s safari enchantment. Charlie’s room would be a special place, surrounded by jungle friends. What could be a more agreeable entrée than to share a wonder of the world? 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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Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

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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~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Download our free 2010 Calendar
Commission a painting
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Directions to Fenway Open Studios

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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~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Download our free 2010 Calendar
Commission a painting
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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

Download our free 2010 Calendar
Commission a painting
facebook
twitter

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Training The Visual Memory, Part I

Comment pouvez-vous faire, cela?
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Visual memory is a fountain of artistic imagination, a collection of stored observations. The careful analysis of visual forces becomes a lens through which subsequent experience can be filtered.

How does one develop visual memory? Practice drawing both on paper and in the imagination. Memorizing simple shapes is a good way to start. Focus the attention on outline and proportion. Gradually increase complexity of shape to three dimensions by adding value, that is, light and shadow.


Begin with an image you wish to memorize, tracing paper, drawing paper, ruler and pencil. Measure your image and draw a box of the same dimensions on your paper. In the beginning, drawing diagonals corner to corner on both your image and in the box will help to aid your memory.

Have no distractions. Look at your image for 3 minutes with complete focus, then turn it over and draw it in the box from memory. Go as far as you can. Try closing your eyes for a minute if retrieving the image is difficult.

When you feel complete, turn the image over and compare. Trace the image and the boundaries of the box it is in. Line this box up with the box drawn on the paper to see where your drawing is off. Trace your image in another color or use a dotted line to differentiate. Date this tracing.

Repeat this exercise every day for a week and note your improvement. Increase the complexity of the images and gradually shorten the time you give yourself to memorize and recreate. Ultimately, you want the process to be instantaneous.

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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
Be a facebook fan of MelodyTheArtist.com
Follow MelodyTheArtist on twitter

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Fortune's Wheel

Fortune’s Wheel, Oil Painting by Melody Phaneuf
40 x 48, Framed
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Whatever the subject of a painting, an artist’s work is always something of a self-portrait. That the artist directs visual components to evoke emotion, or tell a story through the interplay of line, shape, color, movement and light, reveals something of the artist’s personality.

My own temperament is best suited to studio work. Quiet contemplation and an orderly environment provide me a sanctuary to analyze visual modes of expression. I enjoy working with still life because of its potential to express an idea or evoke emotion with familiar objects.

The still life painting called Fortune’s Wheel, is about transformation provoked by sudden change. The ever-turning wheel has stopped with the Jester hanging by one foot. Three tarot cards suggest clues to his present ordeal. The black veil that obscures the exhibit poster yokes the Jester to the wheel. An extinguished candle, well-worn map, and coins are strewn; the sand in the hourglass is running out. Light from two sources suggests that disorder rules, but the Jester still smiles, knowing the wheel will turn again.

Fortune’s Wheel is one of the paintings featured in the March issue of American Art Collector. Fortune’s Wheel will be on view at The Guild of Boston Artists, 162 Newbury Street during the month of March.

Fortune’s Wheel, Oil Painting by Melody Phaneuf
40 x 48, Framed $16,000
Available for purchase at The Guild of Boston Artists

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
Be a facebook fan of MelodyTheArtist.com
Follow MelodyTheArtist on twitter

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The Fullness of Time

The Fullness of Time, 20 x 25 oil painting by Melody Phaneuf, Boston, MA

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As a new year begins, I find myself thinking about time. Without it there would be no vehicle for movement. We become unbound from the eternal to experience motion and all that movement offers. From movement we receive our thoughts and feelings. “Emotion” is derived from the Greek, meaning “from movement.”

The Fullness of Time suggests the interplay of time and motion consequent to fulfillment. The Jester is becoming unbound to enter a temporal world. He is equipped with palette and brushes, with which he will try to visually communicate ideas from the Creative realm. The feather is perhaps a souvenir from the journey.

The painting’s composition, dominated by the wheel, causes the eye to travel along a circular path until it intersects with the oval palette shape below. This results in a lemniscate route toward hourglass, brushes, and back to palette in a continuous loop. The movement is easy on the eye and emotionally satisfying. It is the symbolic path of infinity and eternal fulfillment. The high key and preponderance of cool color establishes an ethereal quality.

The Fullness of Time is a visual story of one soul’s journey toward manifestation.

The Fullness of Time, 20 x 25 oil painting by Melody Phaneuf

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Phaneuf’s 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 has exhibited her paintings 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 showcases Phaneuf’s original paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards. Make Your Life a Work of Art~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop


Follow MelodyTheArtist on twitter
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Visit Melody Phaneuf at Fenway Studios, Boston
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Embracing The New Year

Wishing you Many Blessings & Much Joy in the New Year!

See you next week with some ruminations on Time~

Melody

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Phaneuf’s 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 has exhibited her paintings 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 showcases Phaneuf’s original paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and coasters, fine art prints, and handmade notecards.

Follow MelodyTheArtist on twitter
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Visit Melody Phaneuf at Fenway Studios, Boston
Commission a painting by Melody Phaneuf

The Art of Winter ~Winter's Passage II

Winter’s Passage II, 30 x 25 oil painting by Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf

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Silver skies and minor keys~ I love the subtle light of winter days. Neutrality gives way to endless nuances of color within its edges. A blanket of fresh snow unifies the appearance of things and gives much charm to the environment.

Winter’s Passage II is a wintry view of Gloucester, MA from one of her many hills. Little houses seem to hunker down against the blustery weather. The chromatic activity of the sky is mirrored in the harbor below and provides a shimmering backdrop for the seaside village. Typically New England, Winter’s Passage II is an enchanting ensemble of earthly comfort and Nature’s temperament.

Winter’s Passage II, 30 x 25 oil painting by Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf

Winter’s Passage II, is available as an Open Edition Print and as Handmade Note Cards

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Phaneuf’s 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 has exhibited her paintings 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 showcases Phaneuf’s original paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

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

Follow MelodyTheArtist on twitter
Be a facebook fan of MelodyTheArtist.com/shop
Visit Melody Phaneuf at Fenway Studios, Boston
Commission a painting by Melody Phaneuf

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Affordable Art ~In The Arts & Crafts Tradition

Botticino Marble becomes the canvas for Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf

Tile Beverage Coasters, Gift Boxed at MelodyTheArtist.com
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After thirty years of making art at Fenway Studios, I’ve become one of the many threads woven into the fabric of Arts & Crafts lineage displayed by the architecture of our venerable building.

The Arts & Crafts Movement began in late 19th century England, and was largely a reaction to the industrial manufacturing of goods. There was a sense that industrialization threatened to create a soulless world. Mass production was certain to dull the senses with visual monotony and lack of variation. Hand crafted goods, simplicity of design, and beauty in the environment were the banner of the Arts & Crafts Movement.

Though noble in its aspirations, the Arts & Crafts Movement fell short in its homeland. The cost of hand-hewn goods was prohibitive for all but the wealthiest class. It took American ingenuity to advance a unique combination of machined elements and hand finish. Machine production of core aspects defrayed costs and made them affordable to the middle class.

Such innovations gave rise to the workshops of Gustave Stickley, Rookwood Pottery, and Roycroft Press. It was a time of great aesthetic awareness and appreciation of honest craft and simple beauty.

I view the Arts & Crafts Movement as part of my heritage and take pride in creating a line of affordable art. Fine Art tiles, prints, and handmade note cards are little touches of artistry, well within the reach of all. It is my belief that everyone deserves to live with beauty.

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Phaneuf’s 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 has exhibited her paintings 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 showcases Phaneuf’s original paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

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

Follow MelodyTheArtist on twitter
Be a facebook fan of MelodyTheArtist.com/shop
Visit Melody Phaneuf at Fenway Studios, Boston
Commission a painting by Melody Phaneuf

Related~

• Elbert Hubbard, An American Original
• The Stickley Museum
• The Roycrofters
• About Fenway Studios

Thanksgiving Reflections

Melody Phaneuf painting at Fenway Studios
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"Blessed is the woman who has found her work" ~Variation on Thomas Carlyle

After a very busy autumn, a day of peaceful Thanksgiving is most welcome. I love the quiet moments and an opportunity to break from routine and spend time with those most dear. There will be a gentle rhythm, cozy fire, and ambrosial abundance at the table.

In this time of reflection, I am very grateful that I pursued the Artist’s life. Creating art is splendid harmony, a calibration of heart, hands, and soul. Painting transforms feelings into decorative motifs that enrich the lives of others. I often hear, with much delight, that my paintings are focal points and bring tranquility, sparkle, or make people smile.

I appreciate and thank you who read my weekly offerings. Wishing you warm Thanksgiving Blessings, and hoping they make you smile.

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Phaneuf’s 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 has exhibited her paintings 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 showcases Phaneuf’s original paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and coasters, fine art prints, and handmade notecards.

See our complete selection of Artful Gifts~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Follow MelodyTheArtist on twitter
Be a facebook fan of MelodyTheArtist.com/shop
Visit Melody Phaneuf at Fenway Studios, Boston
Commission a painting by Melody Phaneuf

Painting Color And Light~ Mysteries

Mysteries, 24 x 18 Oil Painting by Melody Phaneuf, Boston Artist

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Merlin pursued the maid Ninevah, and would not let her rest~
Tales of the Roundtable

Painting light, like painting wind, is impossible. The artist can only paint the effects of those powerful causes~ the movement caused by the wind, the color caused by the light.

Light is has an infinite repertoire of color combinations. Color appears elusive because light is moving, caressing, breathing. For many artists, capturing the essence of this quality is much like searching for the Holy Grail, we just keep pursuing the path.

In the oil still life painting, Mysteries, the light is diffuse and dusty. The shadows land quietly, and settle into place. The neutrality is alive with contrary combinations of warm and cool. The color intervals are small, yet subtle subdivisions give infinite variety.

Mysteries is a quiet painting; the color and lighting call for contemplation. The lyrical composition causes the eye movement through the painting to be gently paced. Mysteries invites the viewer to an intimate observation of light.

Mysteries, 24 x 18 Oil Painting by Melody Phaneuf, Boston Artist

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Boston Artist, Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. Phaneuf’s 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 has exhibited her paintings 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 showcases Phaneuf’s original paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and coasters, fine art prints, and handmade note cards.

Looking for affordable art?
See our complete selection of Hostess Gifts~
Online shopping at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Follow MelodyTheArtist on twitter
Be a facebook fan of MelodyTheArtist.com/shop
Visit Melody Phaneuf at Fenway Studios, Boston
Commission a painting by Melody Phaneuf