Sep 2009

Vermont Studio Center

September was a glorious month for me spent in Vermont at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont.
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This is the very first picture I took there on a moonlit night. This is the main building where we would have our meals together with over fifty other visual artist and writers.
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This is more what is looked like during the day. A bridge next to the center was being rebuilt creating a big mess and a lot of noise during my stay unfortunately.
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It must be quite nice without the construction noise. I thought Vermont was indeed very picturesque. The Vermont Center is located in the very small town of Johnson, Vermont
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This is main street. You could walk anywhere in 5 minutes.
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This has got to be one of the prettiest elementary schools I've ever seen in spite of the run down condition of the sign. I took this picture because in Iowa where I grew up the state motto is "A Great Place To Grow" what a coincidence!
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Absolutely beautiful with the fall colors.
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This is the house I lived in.
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As you can see it's rather spartan with a combination of homemade and junk yard furniture. These houses were really old.
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This was my studio.
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This is my second studio. I worked on a series about the carp pond in pastels. I had never used pastels before.
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Outside of my second studio named the Wolf Kahn studio.
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I did manage to get out on a few hikes with friends to admire the view.
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There was a river next to the center we enjoyed. The water was quite clear. Most of the time I was there we had beautiful weather with only a couple of rainy days.
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About 30 minutes from the center was The Trapp Family Lodge where the Von Trapp family, made famous in The Sound Of Music, settled.
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I had to see it. It's in a very beautiful area in the mountains. I would love to stay here in October when the fall colors are at their peak. I also managed to go to Montreal and saw a wonderful exhibit of a French Canadian artist none of us heard of before named Betty Goodwin. Her work really impressed me. She worked in every medium, it was amazing.
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(Left) The Red Sea (Right) So Certain I Was, I Was A Horse
These are two huge works of hers done on paper.

I also managed a trip to Burlington, Vermont and took a ferry boat ride on the 6th largest lake in the USA, Lake Champlain. This was one of the most memorable days I had in Vermont.
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I took many pictures of this beautiful lake and a movie. In the movie you'll see a sailboat lesson.


At The Vermont Studio Center. I decided to work outside of my comfort zone and try a new medium. I'm getting tired of oil on canvas. The reason I chose the subject of fish is because I didn't want to think so much about subject matter while I experimented with pastels. Water is also an interesting subject to me. It has movement, shadow, light, color, depth, it can be opaque or translucent. I would like to explore the subject of water more. To see my Koi series please go to my paintings page or click here > Koi series
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