Sarah Faragher
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fall doings

9/8/2020

4 Comments

 
I know it's not quite fall yet, but the loud crickets say otherwise, as does the waning light.  The end of summer finds me painting nearby, here and there, and working on my memoir about a decade of painting weeks on Bear Island, in Penobscot Bay.  It's coming along, and I hope to call it done sometime soon.  Meanwhile, an unexpected opportunity has arisen.  Two years ago I applied for a residency at Monson Arts, to draw and paint in the woods and around the mountains, lakes, and rivers of northwestern Maine.  I was not accepted but was put on a waiting list, and managed to accomplish some of what I'd hoped to do, on my own.  But now it seems my time has come, because I was asked to fill in at short notice, since someone else can't make it to the next residency.

At first I thought, No, it's a pandemic, I can't go anywhere or do anything, but after talking it over with Ryan and the program director, I came to my senses.  I'll be as safe as possible, with my own house and studio, take-out meals, and distance from the other residents.  In short, I'll be in even more solitude than I currently am.  Which is conducive to painting, to say the least.  The bottom line is this: if I didn't go, I'd be home, anxiety-laden, wishing I was painting the mountains.  So I'll go paint the mountains!  I leave in a few days, and will be at the residency for about a month, with a brief break in the middle for a visit back at home to be on hand for some construction we had already scheduled.  The break will also give me a chance to pick up any more supplies I might need, along with cold-weather clothing.  Of course I will also want to hug my husband, and Hodge the cat, who already suspects that I'm going away and is unpleased.  I'm hoping for weeks of good weather, so I can be out painting as much as possible, and Hodge can sleep in warm sun-patches until I return home, and it's woodstove season once again.

Wish me luck!  I've stretched canvases and gessoed them, and sanded and gessoed panels, and am packing my supplies: new brushes, lots of paint, my watercolor kit too, and diary.  I'll be busy, I know, but I would also welcome some quiet time in the woods, doing not much of anything except looking, listening, and just being.  Stay well, friends, talk with you when I return.  
Picture
downstream, barrows falls, monson, maine - oil/panel, 8 x 10", 2018.
4 Comments
Leslie
9/8/2020 09:23:59 am

Sarah,
you need no wishes of luck from me. You are doing, what I should have done too many years ago, when I was invited to take a missing person's place on Great Spruce Island.
Should-a,would-a.... I was wrong. I should have gone.

You will be safe. Bring enough alcohol wipes to wipe down your cabin, everything you will touch and open all windows and doors for a few days. wipe down your take out containers, be over careful.

I look forward to your bounty from this sojourn.

Reply
Sarah Faragher link
9/8/2020 10:12:58 am

Thank you, Leslie! I thought about postponing, but you're right, when the time is here, it's here, and I don't want to take the chance that a residency might not come my way again. This day is what we have. I'll be super-cautious. Right now the state lists no known cases of the virus in Piscataquis County. Hope it stays that way. I'll be on my own anyway, like usual. Be well. xxoo Sarah

Reply
Rebecca
9/8/2020 03:08:12 pm

Enjoy the serenity, paint wonderful things, and come home safe!

Reply
Sarah Faragher link
9/9/2020 05:12:48 am

Thanks, Rebecca! That's my plan, let's see if I can carry it out... xxoo

Reply



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