Finally, Spring~

Yellow Trees by the Sea, oil study by Melody Phaneuf ~

Melody Phaneuf is an award-winning Boston Artist, well known for her evocative still life, landscape, and portrait paintings. She has exhibited at The National Arts Club in New York City, Galerie Herouet in Paris, and with Art du Monde, in Japan. Her paintings are regularly on view at The Guild of Boston Artists in Boston, Ma; North Shore Arts in Gloucester, Ma; and Patricia Hutton Galleries in Doylestown, Pa.

Phaneuf maintains a studio at Fenway Studios in Boston, where she paints and holds workshops, continuing the Boston School lineage.

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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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

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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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Reflections~ Artful Prescription For Anxiety

Anxiously awaiting her appointment with a specialist after a questionable X-ray, my friend became absorbed in a landscape painting in the doctor’s office. After a few moments contemplating the painting she felt her tensions dissolve.

Using imagery to focus the mind and center emotions is hardly a new idea. Eastern cultures developed intricate mandalas as meditative tools; arabesques adorning the walls of mosques were intended to induce ecstasy in the viewer by virtue of hypnotic eye movement. Here, image is the handmaiden of intention.

Composing paintings with intention demands from the artist a selective eye when painting outdoors in Nature. All aspects~ shapes, colors, direction, and lighting must align with subject matter to express the intention. In Reflections, I sought to prompt a calm and meditative state in the viewer. A glimpse of docked boats reflected in gently lapping water seemed a perfect visual metaphor.

Gloucester harbor is here shown in a quiet, diffused light. Contrasts of color and value are subdued; edges softened, giving objects a dreamy, ethereal quality. The oblong shape of the canvas and horizontality of the pier and boats contribute to the quiet in Reflections. Eye movement is gentle and slow, paced by the handling of the brush strokes. Reflections is a statement of tranquility.

Melody Phaneuf is well known for her evocative landscape, still life, 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 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 the artist’s original paintings on tumbled marble tile murals and coasters, fine art prints and note cards. Online ordering at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Reflections, oil painting by Melody Phaneuf, 28 x 20

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Related~

• Effects of Art on Emotion
• Using Mandalas to Focus the Mind
• Emotional Effects of Color

Painting Gloucester Harbor~ Morningtide

The many faces of Gloucester provide endless variety for the landscape artist to paint. Here, on the harbor, the wild beauty of the sea is tamed and harnessed. Rugged boats and machinery, equipment for the fishing trade, replace majestic waves and limber shoreline. The harbor in Gloucester is the hub of the fishing industry, which, though diminished, remains steadfast.

The landscape painting, Morningtide, reflects a characteristic glimpse of Gloucester’s working harbor. Old and sturdy houses are firmly planted in the hill, their watchful windows positioned for returning seamen with several days catch. Stout boats, the powerful Sumo wrestlers of titanic hauls of fish, rest here reflecting the light. It’s breezy, the water is choppy, it is barely spring.

The Cool crisp, and somewhat harsh morning light imparts contrast, patterning the shapes with a pulsating beat. Continuous oppositions of triangle/rectangle, dark/light, warm/cool, interrupt pathways of yellow, red, and blue-gray. The resulting syncopation in the design evokes the feeling of this neighborhood surrounding Gloucester’s well-worn harbor. It is here that tourists and artists flock, to savor a taste of life in this mythic fishing community.

A tourist detail~ the two-toned building to the left of the blue triangular blue one, houses the now famous Crow’s Nest, featured in The Perfect Storm, book by Sebastian Junger. The Crow's Nest open this morning, continuing the saga worthy of a novel.

Morningtide represents the ruggedness of generations indentured to the sea, one thread in the rich fabric of all that is Gloucester.

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 handmade note cards. Online ordering at MelodyTheArtist.com/shop

Morningtide, oil painting by Melody Phaneuf, 30 x 25
To purchase Morningtide, contact Melody

Follow Melody on twitter
Become a facebook fan
Visit Melody’s studio

Related~

• Historic Gloucester
• The Perfect Storm and The Andrea Gale
• 150 Years of Cape Ann Artistry