Grace's Alpaca Hat

There is something about my niece's favorite alpaca hat that I think gives this portrait a timeless, yet contemporary feeling. Maybe it's the earflaps: old fashioned and funky at the same time. Whatever it is, the vision of her in it makes me smile.

This is the final piece for my solo show which is being hung one week from today. Here is all of the information.

Elizabeth Patterson - Works In Colored Pencil

Firehouse Center For The Arts
Market Square
Newburyport, MA

Exhibit: November 3 - December 12, 2010
Reception for the artist:
Saturday, November 6, 5:00 - 7:00
Open Wednesday - Sunday 12:00 - 5:00
and extended hours on performance nights.
Call 978-462-7336 or visit
www.firehouse.org for more information.

Hope that some of you reading this can come!

(11"x11", colored pencil on Pastelbord)

Acorn Squash and Zinnia

Here is one last still life for my solo exhibit, opening in three weeks. A palette of primary colors, an aged pitcher, pickings from the garden, and bright morning light are some of my favorite elements, so I've brought them all together.

Now it's time to get all of the framing done, mail postcards... and do one more portrait!

(14"x9", colored pencil on Pastelbord)

Flotilla

This work-in-progress is a piece that has been in my head for a long time. I often feature old pitchers, creamers, tea and coffee pots... basically anything with a spout... in my still lifes. When I asked my mom several months ago about borrowing some gravy boats to use as "models", she told me a little story that inspired this piece. What happened was this. My mom likes to display interesting and beautiful things, create impromptu floral arrangements, and generally come up with new ways to showcase heirlooms and thrift store finds. She had just finished attractively setting up her assortment of gravy boats on an antique oak cabinet one day, when my dad walked in and said, "What's with the flotilla?" So, here is my Flotilla. I will smile every time I look at this piece, imagining that moment, hearing my father's voice and humor, seeing my mom's spontaneous creativity and her grin at his silliness. Love.

All right. I've had a little break for tears. I miss my dad a lot.


Anyway! Set up on a blue-gray silk sea, these six gravy boats from my my mother's collection are on their way... somewhere. A flotilla under the parsley and nasturtium flag.

(20"x7", colored pencil on Pastelbord)