Happy Holidays to you and yours.....

"Serene Winter" opens in New Jersey

Long time friend and talented artist Virginia Carroll is having her first solo show at The Watchung Arts Center in Watchung, NJ!  Her beautiful and intriguing paintings will hang through the month of December with an opening reception Sunday, December 8th from 1-4 PM.  More information about Virginia and the gallery is available on the website.  If you're in New Jersey, don't miss this show!

Hi everyone, Last Dec. I won first place in the The Watchung Arts Center Members Show and the honor of having a solo show in their lower gallery. I have been working toward this goal since then and I would love to have you see the paintings . The theme is winter ,but don't expect a lot of snow scenes - I stretched for a unique outlook. Hope you can come for light refreshments and a chance to socialize on a Sunday afternoon. Virginia

   

The Treasure Chest

The Treasure Chest ©2013 - "The Treasure Chest" started with a visit last July to the historic town of Princeton, NJ.  The base image was taken in an alcove of the beautiful gothic style Princeton University Chapel.  Completed in 1928, it is the religious and ceremonial center for the university and is the third largest university chapel in the world.  It is nondenominational, host's regular services for many of the university's faith groups and is open to all people.  The rather scholarly looking young man I thought fit very nicely into the composition and is from my vintage photo collection.  His pet crow eyeing up the butterflies (which actually consist of only one butterfly that I photographed many times as it fluttered around my backyard) was captured on a recent road trip to Greenwood Lake, NY.  The treasure chest containing the butterflies is an enlarged version of a smaller 4x7 inch box I picked up at an antique shop.  The window originally contained lovely stained glass but for this composition, I replaced it with two large black vultures that I captured perched on a limb in Pottersville, NJ, one of which is cooling his stretched wings in the early evening air.  Because the ethereal butterfly lives a fairly short life after it's metamorphosis from the caterpillar, I consider it to be one of nature's wonderful little "treasures" that, no matter how hard we try to hold onto, are privileged to enjoy for a brief moment, and then it's gone. 

New Show at The Parlor Gallery

Please visit the WEBSITE for more info!

New show opens Oct. 6 at the Metuchen Inn in NJ!

"Anatomy of a Chair", Hamilton Street Gallery

"Remains of the Day" was accepted into the "Anatomy of a Chair" exhibit at the Hamilton Street Gallery in Bound Brook, NJ!  Should be a really interesting show!  Opening reception Sunday, Sept 22, 2-6 PM!  Stop by if you can!

The Last Waltz SOLD!

"The Last Waltz" has found a new home with a lovely lady with an interesting connection.  She happened to see it in the recent newspaper article about my show at the Pearl Street Gallery and was immediately drawn to it.  Seems her name is Lisa Kirby (the brand name on the piano in the piece is "Kirby"), she is currently studying the piano, and she lives in the immediate area where I shot the original photo!  Seems some things are just meant to be!  Thank you, Lisa! 

"The Last Waltz" in it's new home!

The Alchemist

The Alchemist ©2013 - Funny how sometimes a composition will start as one thing and somewhere along the way evolve into something completely different.  This piece started as just a still life.  I picked up the bottles a couple of months ago at the estate sale of an artist among a lot of art materials in the basement.  They seemed to have been used for mixing pigments or maybe a substance used in pottery making.  The insides were still coated with beautifully textured remnants of the contents.  I added some bits of dried flowers that I always save from my flower bouquets after their demise for use in various art projects.  The keys were among some of the things left by former inhabitants of my house when I moved in 36 years ago.  I was pleased with the composition but still felt something was missing.  After pondering it a few days, I decided to add a photo of a window in the loft of my garage to the background, some of my backyard birds perched just outside, and a self portrait from 1992.  That provided the storytelling quality I was looking for and completed "The Alchemist".

The Locket

The Locket ©2013 - I picked up the pitcher in this piece a couple of months ago at a local estate sale with the intent on using it in a possible still life.  I was attracted by the wonderful texture created by the tarnish and wearing away of the silver plate.  Looking around my house, the next addition was a vintage solid metal banjo ukelele produced by the "Dixie" company circa 1930's.  Having been born in Georgia, the "Dixie" name prompted memories of my sister, Amy who was still living there when she passed away from cancer in 2003.  I purchased the little box the pitcher is on during one of our last antique shopping trips together.  The locket was my last Christmas present to her and contains both our photos.  The beautiful crow I captured on a recent trip to Princeton, NJ and knowing how they love shiny objects, thought he would be perfect to hold the chain.  The background texture from my basement floor and the fruit for just a touch of warm color completed "The Locket".

Interview in Courier News regarding Pearl Street Gallery Exhibit!

I was recently interviewed about my work in the Pearl Street Gallery for a local New Jersey newspaper, The Courier News.  Ralph Bellantoni, a very talented journalist, did a wonderful job and I was very flattered by his article which you can read here:   CLICK ON ARTICLE TO ENLARGE

Photographs By Darlene Foster Of Plainfield On Exhibit At Pearl Street Gallery (via Inside Out)

Elizabeth, NJ – The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders is pleased to present an exhibit of photography/montage by Darlene Foster of Plainfield in the gallery space at the Union County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs, located at 633 Pearl…

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As the Crow Flies

 

As the Crow Flies ©2013 - This is a montage of 4 different photographs, 3 of which are a result of a road trip along Rte. 57, heading toward Washington Township in Warren County, NJ.  The 4th, a crescent moon, was taken in my backyard.  The base image is the haunting remains of Mount Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church and cemetery also known as Old Swack Church (named for it's builder, Jacob Swackhammer) erected in 1844.  There seemed to be some clearing and cleaning up of the property going on, hopefully in an effort to preserve whats left of the building and the graves surrounding it.  The wild grasses from another image taken that day were added to the foreground in place of the debris from the clearing.  My favorite part of this piece is the incredible crow that I was lucky enough to capture just as he took flight from a recently plowed corn field.  Upon close examination, I realized he was carrying a tiny mouse in his mouth!  Well, it was close to dinner time. 

Montclair Art Museum presents Collecting Art: An Affordable Art Fair

The Birthday Party

The Birthday Party ©2013 - This montage was created for RSI Bank's Annual Artist's Contest with a theme of "Celebration".  When considering my entry for the show, none of my current work seemed to fit the theme so I came up with this slightly off beat version of a birthday celebration with a hint of the Alice in Wonderland tea party.  "The Birthday Party" is comprised of 25 different photos, one of which is a vintage family photo of me blowing out the candles on my birthday cake as my friend watches from behind.  The other "guests" all currently live in my house (with the exception of my backyard blackbirds and the hawk flying overhead).  The base photo is an amazing 600 year old white oak tree located in the cemetery of the Presbyterian Church in Basking Ridge, NJ.  All the historic headstones beneath the tree were incredible to walk through and read but unfortunately, didn't quite fit my composition so I added a field of grasses from another image instead and "The Birthday Party" came together.  And lucky for me,  it was accepted into the show!  If you're in the area of Rahway, NJ, the opening reception for "Celebration" is Sunday, June 2 from 11 AM to 4 PM at RSI Bank, 1500 Irving St, Rahway, NJ.  The show runs from June 2 thru June 29, 2013.

Blue Bird

Blue Bird ©2013 - I was in another still life mood recently and decided to start with one of my favorite tin boxes.  I found it quite a few years ago in a local antique shop and bought it as a Christmas present for Tom.  He has a love of warm island places so the palm tree motif fit right in with his collection of ukuleles (which are all over our house along with other related memorabilia).  The bananas and wine might be a nice thing to have on hand if you were settling in to practice a few "Hits from Hawaii".  The chameleons, whispering among themselves, seem a little annoyed by the intruding bird who apparently tipped over the wine glass as he flew in to check out the "Blue Bird" ukulele.

The Boating Party

The Boating Party ©2013 - Some of the 7 images included in this montage have been hanging around in my files since the spring of 2011 until an idea for this composition hit me recently.  The base image is a lovely little stream running through the town of Spotswood, NJ that I photographed during a visit in April of 2011.  The boat, oddly enough, was inside an abandoned house in Middle Valley, NJ (the same house I used in "By the Light of the Moon" which you can find in the archives of this blog).  Speaking of moons, the one used here was taken in Lambertville, NJ just as it was rising, very full and golden.  The birds are actually Canadian geese from a lake near my house.  I decided to take a few liberties with their coloring to better fit the mood of the piece.  A young man from my vintage photo collection completed the gathering of "The Boating Party".

The Fortune Teller

The Fortune Teller ©2013 - Last September I attended an antiques show at the Hunterdon County fairgrounds in Amwell Township, NJ.  When leaving the show after a lovely afternoon of browsing for treasures, I happened across an interesting looking yardsale while heading down the road to Lambertville for dinner.  While perusing the sale, a building on the property with lots of texture and peeling paint caught my eye so I asked the owner if she would mind if I took some photographs.  She was extremely gracious, telling me it was an old garage badly in need of a coat of paint, but I could take all the photos I wanted.  She even moved her car and several other items out of the way to give me more room to shoot!  As often happens, the images were filed away until recently when the pieces of a composition came together in my head.  The vintage photo of the gypsy from my collection seemed to echo the mood of the building with the odd emblem attached to the door.  The crocodile I found a couple of months before on someone's front lawn in Lambertville and my curious backyard blackbirds completed "The Fortune Teller".

The Ball Game

Back to the abandoned property of St. Paul's Abbey in Andover, NJ.  This time, it's looking up a small road running along the back of the large main building.  I keep checking online for any news on the fate of this property but haven't found any recent updates.  As with so many of the abandoned places I've visited, it seems all too few are being restored to their former grandeur and put to good use again.  Most remain lonely ghosts of their former selves that I will continue to photograph and preserve in my artwork.  The distinguished gentleman on the road and mischievous girls hiding in the bushes are from my vintage photo collection.  The birds patrolling the sky are from a trip to Marlboro, NJ and the ball that prompted the title belonged to my beloved ferrets, all of whom have passed on.

Deliverance

 

This montage began with yet another building on the St. Paul's Abbey retreat house property in Andover, NJ.  As you can see, I've been working with these images quite a lot lately!  The lovely lady giving the birds their freedom is friend and model Maryanne Christiano-Mistretta who is a talented journalist and author of a wonderful blog over on Wordpress.  The other models, my backyard blackbirds, have left for their winter hiatus in search of warmer weather and I miss them terribly!  Can't wait for their return in the spring!