Animal
World USA, Dec 2008 • Art Business News Magazine
Elizabeth’s artwork on Senator Snowe’s Holiday Card
Fox NEWS Correspondent, Laura Ingle's Blog
USA Today Online Gift Guide • American Art
Collector Magazine
POPSUGAR.COM •
the
Maine SWITCH
• NY Times Article • Port City Life
scroll down to read
the articles
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Summer
2011
First
Friday Art Walk comes a long way, even without binge
eating
By
Natalie Ladd
Jul 06, 2011 12:00 am
A couple of hospitality industry tidbits struck me this
week, and it’s been a while since I’ve shared this type
of thing, so here goes:
I am duly impressed with how far the Portland First
Friday Art Walk has come since the early days.
If planned right, wine scrounging art lovers can not
only get their daily cardio by walking from the top of
Munjoy Hill to the bottom of Spring Street (and all
cobblestoned sideways and bi-ways in between), but they
can also sample lots of well-intended, but mostly
mediocre house wine and nibble Scoobie snacks in select
places. Oh, and there’s great local art, too.
Over the past six months I’ve visited many such venues
and after collaborative deliberation with total
strangers, have narrowed down my two favorites.
Starting
at the top of the Hill at 81 Congress Street is the
home and studio/gallery of Elizabeth Fraser Art Studio.
As of late, the cheerful yellow house has been better
known as home to Girl Gone Raw as Elizabeth embodies,
and professionally teaches a raw food lifestyle while
continuing to paint on a daily basis. Amazingly, she
successfully juggles her time between the two
businesses, doing justice to both of them.
A First Friday visit to her studio is not only tasty,
but also a visual treat as Elizabeths’ style is bold,
colorful and can only be described as cheerful without
being juvenile. She is well known for her local
landmark depictions and consigned pet portraits. A
First Friday visit will no doubt introduce many to
selected raw food appetizers and green smoothies,
making this a double-hitting stop.
The second Friday Night Art Walk must-see/experience is
the relative newcomer, 15 Exchange Bistro, located in
the heart of the Old Port. When I stopped in, it was
the bartender's first shift ever at the location, and
she was freely, heavy handedly pouring a red and a
white selection (of which I had both). I won’t mention
them by name as they’ll be changing weekly, but the
variety and extensiveness of the art itself is
unparalleled. The old Walter’s location looks much the
same, but every available inch of brick and wall space
is covered with national and local art, including a few
Not for Sale pieces that are the property of owner, Joe
Soley.
Joe was on hand last Friday and is especially impressed
with the art work of Councilman David Marshall, who is
also his choice for mayor. The conversation was woven
around Portland’s upcoming first mayoral election in 81
years; the fact that Joe went to graduate school at MIT
in 1982 to keep his undergraduate son “company”; and
his belief that word-of-mouth, and a well-executed
operation surrounded by loyal, experienced employees
will bring 15 Exchange Bistro the kudos (and repeat
business) it deserves. Also on hand was Joe’s brother,
Henry, who is a former film instructor at Brandis
University. It was the stuff art openings (and good
Woody Allen movies) are made of.
The second industry-type thing worth mentioning is that
the Rock and Roll Diner located at 622 U.S. Rte. 1 in
Scarborough has a new chef and is rightfully proud as
up until the recent hiring of Tom Cote (formerly of
David’s Restaurant and the old Captain Newicks)
everything about that place was wonderful, except the
food.
Like all Diners, the menu is Americana – serving
breakfast, lunch and dinner. It offers daily specials,
an impressive pie and milk shake selection and is
fairly priced. If you’ve never been there, it’s worth
the trip down Rte. 1 on a soft-summer Wednesday night
when cool, old cars gather in the expansive parking lot
for show-and-tell. The ‘50’s themed diner is adorable
anyway, but with Tom’s touch, things are sure to be
even more “bitchin.’”
Splattered all over the news is the recent Nathan’s hot
dog eating competition promoted by the Major League
Eating Association, based in New York City. Agree with
the premise or not (who could make this up?),
competitive eating is the true test of manhood.
Offensive linemen at the training table have nothing on
pros such as Joey “Jaws” Chestnut and Pat “Deep Dish”
Bertoletti, each a consummate athlete capable of
devouring an entire hog’s worth of hot dogs. ESPN
televised Chestnut’s successful defense of the coveted
Mustard Belt last week, and gave up all the dirt on his
banned Chinese competitor, Takeru Kobayashi, who is in
a contract dispute with the MLEA.
The MLEA’s primary sponsor is Peptol Bismol and to
those who ask if it’s a real sport, I say, “Could Tom
Brady wolf down 62 hot dogs with buns in 10 minutes?”
Chestnut did exactly that to win his fifth consecutive
title.
County fairs, festivals and Portland venues have
promoted eating competitions (Binga’s at the Stadium
stands out in particular), but the MLEA has somehow
managed to turn binge eating into an art form all its
own.
Thankfully, we won’t be seeing it anytime soon on a
First Friday Art Walk.
MY TAKE: Perhaps the highly organized Art Walk folks
will consider a little passport stamp program like the
“Passport to Play” thing being done to encourage
healthy visitations to city parks. The current maps and
materials are highly effective, but it could be a fun
and perhaps rewarding way to take in the sights, sample
the wine and hit the streets.
(Natalie Ladd and her “What’s It Like” column take a
weekly look at the culinary business in and around
Portland.)
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December
2010
Today I am sharing some exciting news with you ... this
painting, “Dreamin’ of the Maine Coast” is going to be
on a wine bottle label for a vintage reserve bottle of
red wine for Gudlach Bundschu, a Sonoma Valley
vineyard. YEAH! The release date of the wine is
December 1st.
Why a Maine scene on a California wine?
Gundlach Bundshu has been doing a series of vintage
reserve wines on the American Landscape & this year
New England is the theme. Visit their website
www.gunbun.com OR to
order a bottle, call the vineyard at
707.938.5277 & ask for the 2007 Vintage Reserve
bottle with the Maine Coast painting by Elizabeth
Fraser. :-)
24x26 • oil on canvas • SOLD
The past few days have been busy &
fun! My partner celebrated the BIG 40 this weekend, so
we had lots of good times with friends & family
& I have had no time in the studio.
Today I am sharing some exciting news with you ... this
painting, “Dreamin’ of the Maine Coast” is going to be
on a wine bottle label for a vintage reserve bottle of
red wine for Gudlach Bundschu, a Sonoma Valley
vineyard. YEAH! The release date of the wine is
December 1st.
Why a Maine scene on a California wine? Gundlach
Bundshu has been doing a series of vintage reserve
wines on the American Landscape & this year New
England is the theme. Visit their website
www.gunbun.com
24x26 • oil on canvas • SOLD
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December
2009
The
weather took priority on the show this morning, but one
of my daily paintings of Maxi, our hound dog, is on the
set with the gang at Good Day New York for a pet lovers
gift guide segment. How fun! I’m so proud to be a part
of www.dailypainters.com
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April
2009
Elizabeth’s
dogs, Maxi & Calvin, WIN the Fetch $4M idea
contest!
Click HERE to visit the
Fetch website!
THANK YOU, FETCH! We are so honored! :-)
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December 2008
Order the Daily Painters Book!
scroll down to see what my page in
the book looks like.
165 BEAUTIFUL PAGES--$39 plus shipping. A
perfect gift for the daily painter fan!
I have been a with daily painters website since the
very beginning & I am thrilled and honord to be a
part of such an amazingly talented group! The book is
GORGEOUS & you can flip through some of it by
cicking HERE. I have one page in the book
feautring 4 of my paintings and a blurb about my
Paint Squared project--A preview of my page is
posted below.
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Animal
World USA, December 2008
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Dec
2008
My
daily painting of the World’s Largest SnowWoman on
Senator Olympia Snowe’s Holiday
Card.
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August
2008
Tribute to a
Beautiful Earth
An International fine art exhibit by 137 artists in 10
countries - August 1 - August 31,
2008
Denver, CO July 15, 2008 -- How do artists see the
world around them? During August, our beautiful earth
will be showcased daily in painted images at
DailyPainters.com. The 137 member artists from 10
countries will post their tributes to the planet at the
free website. The online international show, which
opens August 1 will run all month to celebrate the
beauty of the world and taking care of it.
All of creation is potential subject matter during the
Daily Painters Tribute. Juried member artists will
present picturesque people, places, animals and other
subjects from around the world. DailyPainters.com
members hail from Canada, Chile, Denmark, France,
Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, United Kingdom,
and the United States.
DailyPainters.com gallery owner Micah Condon says "I
think we'll see quite a variety of subject matter in
this Tribute exhibit. We have artists who skillfully
paint their beautiful regions so I know we’ll have lots
of unique scenes from around the globe, including
landscapes and cityscapes from Europe, the U.S., and
elsewhere. Surprises may be in store for viewers too."
Condon continues, "Our artists are committed to
conserving our planet's resources, so some members will
also be painting and discussing conservation-related
themes. With gasoline so expensive these days, this
exhibit is a terrific chance to see the world without
driving or flying."
Visitors are able to communicate directly with the
painters, and learn the stories and inspiration behind
the paintings. Site visitors can enjoy the latest
paintings, browse by artist, search by category, and
visit the artists' blogs. Viewers can also subscribe to
daily email updates to get the most recent art in their
inbox every morning. Because the paintings are sold
directly by the artists, prices are very affordable.
The members of DailyPainters.com represent a growing
trend in the art world, known as 'daily painting' or
'painting-a-day'. These artists strive to produce one
small painting every day, or nearly so, and post them
for sale at the online gallery. Visitors to the site
(over 1.5 million expected this year) can peruse over
20,000 paintings by the daily painters.
DailyPainters.com was founded in 2006 by artist Micah
Condon and has since grown to include almost 140
artists. DailyPainters.com painters have been featured
in publications such as The New York Times, USA Weekend
Magazine, The Boston Globe, and Art Business News.
For Addtional Information: See the Daily Painters
Gallery website at www.DailyPainters.com or contact
gallery owner Micah Condon at micah@dailypainters.com
or 303.828.4701
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Art
Business News Magazine
December
2007
One of my paintings was featured in an
article called "Small Wonders," about the hot market
for small original artwork. Michah Condon, artist &
creator of the Daily Painters website (which I am a
member of), was quoted in the article & my painting
of "2 Red Pears" was posted along with it.
.
“Two Pears,” a 5-x-5-inch oil on paper by Elizabeth
Fraser,
is one of many miniature pieces created daily and
posted on www.dailypainters.com.
Click HERE to read the
article.
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December 13th, 2007
6:32 PM Eastern
Rainbow; the one
eyed dog
by Laura Ingle
Fox News, Laura's Lowdown
Meet Rainbow, the one eyed dog. A few days ago, I
blogged about my good friend Rock n’ Roll Al having a
birthday, and I have been dying to tell you what I got
him for his present!
He has had his dog Rainbow for 15-years now. She is a
black shepherd lab mix, maybe a little bit of wolf,
and”a little bit of crazy” in her (that’s what Al says)
Rainbow lost her left eye in 2004 when she had glaucoma
and a cataract at the same time. It was removed, sewn
up, and she’s been winking at people ever since!
Rock n’ Roll Al ADORES this dog, and I wanted to do
something special involving her for his gift. I was
surfing the net a few months ago, and came upon an
artist named Elizabeth Fraser in Portland, Maine who
specializes in pet portraits, and once I clicked on the
link, I couldn’t believe how great her paintings were!
www.paintsquared.com
I started emailing back and forth with Elizabeth, to
try to get her the very best picture of Rainbow so she
could work her magic - the problem is, Rainbow doesn’t
like to have her picture taken, so there are only a few
in existence, and most are from far away. I told Al I
was going to blog about Rainbow and needed some
pictures of her (my trick to get some photos) and he
sent me some on email, but none were a close up of
Rainbow’s face. Then… my amazingly talented boyfriend
thought of a way to get the shot.
When we were alone with Rainbow, he took a Starbucks
handle bag, cut a hole out in the bottom of it, slipped
the camera in it, turned off the flash (that’s what she
hates, and is scared of) and then put a treat inside
the bag so she would come up close and sniff it. And it
worked! We got the shot, Rainbow didn’t get spooked,
and a commissioned piece of art was in the works for
Rock n’ Roll Al’s birthday.
Here’s the final product…..
Don’t you just love it? Thank you Elizabeth for making
such a great likeness of “the girl”!
This rocks!
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USA
TODAY, ONLINE GIFT GUIDE, 12-5-07
Click here to view online
guide
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American
Art Collector
November 2007
One of my daily paintings is featured on the
www.DailyPainters.com
advertisement in this month's issue. Can you spot
me??
I'm the Winter Churches on the 2nd row from the bottom,
2nd one in. :-)
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POPSUGAR.COM
Commissioning
a Painting...of Your Dog
Mon, 10/08/2007 - 5:58am by casasugar
Sometimes I worry about walking that fine line between
being a responsible pet owner and an obsessive pet
owner. ("Your dog is wearing a backpack," my sister
recently observed.) Still, that concern didn't deter me
from commissioning a painting of my dog, Ozzie.
Portland, Maine, artist Elizabeth Fraser, whose work
I'd found on Etsy, started out with a photo of Ozzie,
and two weeks later, the painting arrived in the mail.
The painting's diminutive size, at at only 5x5 inches,
made me feel like less of a weirdo for getting my pet's
portrait commissioned. But as more of my friends saw
the final result (framed and placed on my fireplace
mantel) they stopped thinking that I was slightly nutty
and began to realize that I was on to something really
cool.
Fraser, who works primarily in oils, was a delight to
work with, and I thought that $75 was a major steal for
an original piece of artwork of my pet.
What do you think? Would you get artwork commissioned
of your pet?
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The Maine SWITCH
A
painting a day
Elizabeth
Fraser aims for 8 squared each week
By
Avery Yale Kamila
2007-05-22
Paint Squared Paintings
"I
Think They're Home" • "Nighttime Falls Over Casco Bay"
• "Mostly Eaten Watermelon"
It’s been a little more than a year, and Elizabeth
Fraser continues to crank out 8 paintings a week. The
Munjoy Hill artist is part of the small world of
painters who create work daily and sell them to the
highest bidder on eBay. She took her inspiration from
Duane Keiser, a Virginia artist who pioneered this eBay
painting trend in 2004.
“It’s
rare that I miss a day,” says Fraser, 35, noting that 1
day a week she paints 2 pieces. “I’ve probably missed 5
since I started.”
Each
of her works is a 5-inch by 5-inch square, and she
paints with oil on mat board. The size combined with
the frequency led to the title of her project: “Paint
Squared, 8 Days a Week.”
Using
bold brush strokes and rich splashes of color, she
makes each piece an eye-catching gem that captures a
small slice of Maine. Her subject matter is
wide-ranging, including buildings, landscapes and a
variety of pet portraits.
“I
get inspired by my walks on the Prom, food in the
kitchen and the travels I’ve taken,” Fraser says. She
adds that her pet portraits have been particularly
popular, leading to a number of
commissions.
So
far, she’s created 550 paintings and sold 500 of them.
The bidding starts at $60, and Fraser said on average
the works sell for around $75, with an occasional piece
selling for more than $250.
You
can view and bid on her works online at
www.paintsquared.com. Fraser’s work also is on display
until the end of the month at Casco Bay Frames, and
during each First Friday Art Walk she opens her studio
at 81 Congress Street (between the Blue Spoon and The
Front Room).
“I
can’t imagine not doing this,” she
says.
Which
means her fans can count on many more square meals of
art.
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Elizabeth's
Daily Paintings mentioned in the NEW YORK TIMES, August
31, 2006
Online Shopper
Everyday
Scenes, Painted Every Day
By
MICHELLE SLATALLA
Published:
August 31, 2006
NICK JAINSCHIGG was having a terrible time last week
trying to paint a pink rose in 30 minutes. One day he
said the petals looked thick as icing, and the next he
just couldn’t get the bud texture
right.
“Despite my best intentions, the image of a rose on a
white background will always look like a greeting
card,” he wrote in despair.
But Mr. Jainschigg refused to give up. And as he used
different techniques — he tried big, floppy
brushstrokes, he tried painting at twilight, he even
changed the background to a flat chalky gray — I found
myself rooting for him. And for the rose.
I was following his progress by making frequent visits
to
nickjainschigg.org,
the Web site where he posts results of his efforts
to complete a tiny postcard-size painting every day.
Each afternoon, I clicked on his newest thumbnail
image, hoping to see a
masterpiece.
Why did I care? There were several reasons, actually,
the most obvious being the empty space on the wall in
the hallway that leads to my kitchen. Mr. Jainschigg is
one of a growing number of artists who in the last few
months have starting selling one-a-day creations
online. One of his roses could look great on my
wall.
Three might look even better. And suddenly, thanks to
the one-a-day art movement, buying three original oil
paintings is not a budget-busting proposition. Mr.
Jainschigg, for instance, sells his small paintings for
$100.
But beyond my instinctive shopper’s impulse to find a
bargain, I was also excited to be witnessing yet
another example of how the Internet has the power to
upset old ideas and reshape retail
markets.
Sites like
acollageaday.blogspot.com
(where Randel Plowman sells his 4-inch-by-4-inch
collages for $25) and
dailypaintings.com
(where Elin Pendleton has posted her acrylic and oil
paintings for prices as low as $100) remove the
middleman from the transaction, connecting artists
directly to collectors.
The Internet changes things fast. By most accounts, the
roots of the painting-a-day movement reach back only as
far as December 2004, when a painter named Duane
Keiser, who also is an adjunct professor at the
University of Richmond in Virginia, decided to test his
discipline by challenging himself to post a new
creation every day on his site at
duanekeiser.blogspot.com.
“I wanted to make a ritual for myself, to complete a
painting in one day, every day, without any excuses,”
Mr. Keiser said in a phone interview last week. “I
liked the diary aspect of it, that it was like putting
a time stamp on a painting. When it goes up on the
blog, I know it happened on this
day.”
Mr. Keiser’s experiment soon attracted the attention
of
boingboing.net,
a popular blog that identifies online
trends.
“After somebody wrote a little blurb about me for
Boingboing, the whole thing just spread like, well, it
was unbelievable,” Mr. Keiser said. “I would wake up in
the morning and paint, say, an egg, and post it, and
then some guy in India would e-mail me and it was
breathtaking to realize that within a few minutes of my
finishing a painting, people everywhere in the world
were looking at it.”
Previously, Mr. Keiser sold most of his work through
traditional brick-and-mortar galleries. “But this has
allowed me the flexibility to not worry about whether a
gallery will accept me,” he said.
Now there are plenty of other artists are doing the
same thing. At
paintingadayproject.blogspot.com,
for instance, Jan Blencowe posts what she calls “small,
simple still life paintings of common objects.”
The artist Elizabeth Fraser sells her paintings on
eBay, starting at $60; her work is online at
www.PaintSquared.com.
At some painting-a-day Web sites such as
justinspaintings.com
and
shiftinglight.com,
I could subscribe to mailing lists; now I receive
e-mail alerts the moment a new painting-a-day is
posted.
There was a time when Mr. Keiser’s daily artworks sold
for as little as $100 on his site. But since Domino
magazine anointed him “the godfather of these blogs” in
an article published in July, things have
changed.
These days, he auctions his painting-a-day work at
eBay, where last week a 5-inch-by-5-inch painting of a
plate decorated with a crab got 12 bids before selling
for $265. As of yesterday, a 5-inch-by-4-inch painting
of a rushing river had 18 bids, and was up to
$380.
But eBay frenzies turn me off. I’ve lived through too
many of them.
I can remember, for example, when prices for milk-green
Depression glass coffee cups were rising by the day as
collectors who once were at the mercy of local flea
markets’ limited inventory suddenly discovered the
novelty of finding a world’s worth of collectibles at
eBay.
I’m one of those people who overbid on a stack of
chipped saucers. Now I look at them in the pantry and I
feel the same kind of vague embarrassment that may
overwhelm someone who stumbles across a Chia Pet in the
attic.
Will the painting-a-day frenzy last? Or is it merely
the fleeting symptom of a new Internet trend? In recent
weeks, Mr. Jainschigg has sold the vast majority of the
413 painting-a-day works he posted during the last 15
months.
One of his biggest challenges now, he said, is not to
cave in to the temptation to create work solely for the
sake of selling it.
“All of a sudden, I realize, there are people looking
over my shoulder,” Mr. Jainschigg said. “But although I
do paint some fun stuff like little pretty landscapes,
the occasional stuffed animal or a bug, I like to paint
what I’m trying to learn. I was doing study after study
of skeletons for a while when I was trying to master
anatomy.”
Most of his paintings of skeletons and skulls are still
for sale.
Last week, he warned his audience that he was painting
his last rose for now. “This one, the final bud for the
time being, was by way of declaring victory and going
home,” he wrote.
Did
I want to hang it on my wall? I wasn’t sure. Luckily,
he’ll have something new for me to consider
tomorrow.
E-mail:
Slatalla@nytimes.com.
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