Steven Kennedy's signs of spring

It sounds like we're in for this again.

Don't get us wrong, we love Steven Kennedy's paintings. Even the ones he had to bundle up to paint. But we're really, really ready for spring.

It's almost March, so pretty soon we can trade this scene

for this scene.

Or maybe this. 

We're hoping for warmer weather because Steven paints en plein air and we don't want him to get cold. He doesn't complain, but the thought of him standing in the snow for hours makes us wish for spring.

We can practically smell the day this was painted. Can't you?

Spring is just around the corner, we know it! Right after these next few inches of snow.

In the meantime, Steven will keep bundling up and documenting these views just as he sees them. Since the early 1980s, Steven Kennedy has worked in the “plein air” tradition, painting directly from life outdoors in the many variations of weather and season.

He paints what he sees, staying loose while keeping the details. Steven calls his style painterly realism. (Those of us who sometimes forget our glasses think they look very realistic.)

Click here for a reminder of what the Cape looks like when it's warm. Steven's work is shown in Orleans and on Commercial Street in Wellfleet.

Artist Spotlight: Carol Aust

Carol Aust's paintings are moments caught in the act - acts of tranquility, courage, joy.  Through her subjects, Carol gives us a glimpse of human emotion, on the brink of events small and large. They tell stories of everyday moments, showing the first step or that one instant that everything changed. Maybe we're projecting, but the current collection is full of hope, curiosity and promise: An intimate dance in the woods, the optimistic first steps of a journey, the surprise of a brightly candled cake, a spontaneously joyful leap.    Sailing over the turbulence. Perhaps it's the time of year that makes everything look this way. Instead of wondering what's next, we realize we're in the middle of what's next. Just like Carol's paintings. Carol works in acrylic on canvas and wood panels from her studio in Oakland, California. In her work you'll find influence of artists including Emil Nolde, Marc Chagall, Kathe Kollwitz, and the German expressionists.  We hope whatever moment you're caught in the middle of, it's full of promise.

You Have Reached Your Destination

"When people go on vacation they generally seek out destinations that offer them the sense of being someplace, not just anyplace."-Richard Moe, President, National Historic Preservation Trust

This explains why every so often we feel the need to vacation right where we are.

Last week was February vacation, and those of us who were not at the shows stayed in town - despite the lure of warmer weather elsewhere. If we didn't live here, this is where we'd spend our vacations.

There's no place quite like it. No two stores are the same, and we never tire of the local restaurants (that has not always been true, but it certainly is now). People ask us all the time about the other businesses, so we figure lunches out (not to mention the new shoes and the facial) are all part of market research.

At this time of year, it's easy to support local businesses because there are so few of us open! Yes, the money we spend with our neighbors is likely to come back to us, but we're also lucky to have very talented neighbors. If we didn't know what we know about the benefits of shopping locally, the businesses near us would still be our first choice for just about everything.

We try hard to make Left Bank "someplace, not just anyplace." Spring merchandise will be arriving shortly, and we can't wait to see it! Audrey found a few new people at the shows this year, and some of our favorite artists are trying new things.

It may be February on Cape Cod, but it's far from dull (even without the state-of-emergency snow storms).

Come by sometime. We'll show you all the best things.

If you live or vacation here, let us know your favorite places in the comments. We can compare lists!

The hazards of advertising

We have a new theater company in town and we wanted to place an ad in their playbill. Simple enough.

Since they are practically neighbors (they are Harbor Stage Company and they are, as luck would have it, on Wellfleet Harbor), we wanted to be neighborly. The plan was to photograph a Tin Woodsman measuring scoop with a cup of sugar in it. Get it?

Sadly, our photographer was in Orleans today, where we didn't have the right scoop. So she thought quickly and said to herself "cupcakes! They'd probably like cupcakes!"

Because who doesn't like cupcakes?

She went to Hole in One and bought two gorgeous cupcakes. (And a muffin - to ensure that the cupcakes made it to the photo booth.)

For reasons she is not willing to explain (or perhaps admit to), the cupcakes didn't work out.

So we went back to the cup of sugar idea - in a less dangerous form this time.

Welcome, Harbor Stage Company! For you, we would do it all again. (In a heartbeat.)

Plein Air - not for the faint of heart

Audrey ran into Steven Kennedy on her way home from Commercial Street.

Bank Street is one of his favorite places to paint

And here's Steven:

The painting sold almost as soon as it arrived in the gallery. If only spring would come as quickly!

Happy Halloween!

Watch out for zombies in your sugarbowl.

Annoyed

Not everyone appreciated being moved inside for hurricane Irene.

Remembering 9/11

Our friend Allison Argo made a documentary for National Geographic and has offered the community a special screening so we can remember 9/11 together. Join us at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, September 11, 6pm, Julie Harris Stage. 2357 Route 6, Wellfleet. Admission is free.

Looking back at summer 2011

That was fast. Here's what happened....

Deborah Howard

Ellen Granter

Peter Batchelder

Carol Aust

Graceann Warn

Judith Motzkin

Cynthia Kirkwood

Jennifer O'Connell

Brian Kiernan

Maggie Schmidt

Jim Holland

Monique Goetinck

Oysters, by Alison Evans

This weekend is OysterFest. If it's anything like years past, there will be roughly 15,000 people eating oysters in our town! Have you been to Wellfleet? That's a lot of people.

And a lot of oysters.

Check out the OysterFest website for details and schedule of events. There's so much to do! It's one of our favorite weekends.

We'll be open, of course, and would love to see you.

Cosmonaut Volkov and an edible still life

When people visit the gallery, they ask lots of questions unrelated to art. Questions about lunch, coffee and beach stickers, for instance. In the case of lunch, people get more of an answer than they bargained for.

One of our favorite places to go is the South Wellfleet General Store, in the now impossibly-trendy SoWo neighborhood (alongside Route 6 at LeCount Hollow Road, across from Blackfish Creek). If you are remotely hungry right now, you might want to skip this.

Chef Tony took over the kitchen this year and has changed the way Wellfleet eats. Some of the seasonal sandwiches he's making at the moment are:

• Fresh Striped Bass with fried green tomatoes and onion marmalade on a griddled Portuguese roll
• Grilled bluefish with Portuguese vinegar onions and braised radicchio
• The Uncle Vasco - Portuguese chourizo with peppers
• Slow-cured roast pork, pickled onions, local baby arugula and apple mayo

On the kids menu they have a Nutella banana panini. You don't have to pretend it's for a kid (trust us).

It should go without saying that they use only fresh, local ingredients. If you're curious about what kinds of ingredients they use, take a look in the produce section. Fresh produce comes from Redberry Farm (Eastham), Nestwood Farm (Truro) and Sixpence Farm (Truro).

The growers at Sixpence Farm are so proud of the produce they bring Tony (and he's the only one they sell to), they've provided cards that make for great summer reading.

If you can't read the sign, it says:

"Cosmonaut Volkov
This is not a plum tomato! It is a Ukrainian Russian heirloom - smuggled across the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. Named for the Soviet astronaut who lost his tether and floated off into space. Komrade Volkov is orbiting the earth as you are reading this."

Now that we think about it, people are asking questions about art. Haricot vert with garlic olive oil and sea salt art.

It's time for lunch.

Oyster Fest 2009!

It's raining
It's pouring
The oysters
Are snoring

It's time for the Wellfleet Oyster Fest and we're not going to let a little wind and rain get us down. There's music! and oysters! and competitive shucking!

In other words, there's nothing else quite like it.

Many of our friends and family have booths - selling art, crafts and oysters. Go tell them hello, won't you?

The Evangelist

A film crew is coming to the gallery! Nate Chapman is filming The Evangelist in Wellfleet, and will be using Left Bank in some of the scenes.

Here's a preview.

They are looking for people to fill supporting roles and bit parts. Casting calls are:

Wellfleet Public Library - 2/22: 10:00-6:00
Provincetown Art House - 2/14,2/15: 12:00-4:00

"The Evangelist": Gay middle-aged theater director has recently adopted a twelve-year old named Gideon Bellamont. Gideon soon reveals that he is a religious fanatic and wants to spend all of his time evangelizing to the local community. He drags Danny on his mission and it quickly starts to put a strain on the newly formed father-son relationship.

Wellfleet Affordable Housing

We have posters by Helen Miranda Wilson, which we're selling to benefit the Wellfleet Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

Helen Miranda Wilson, who grew up and attended school in Wellfleet, had her first exhibition at the Cherry Stone Gallery in Wellfleet in 1971. She shows regularly at the Albert Merola Gallery in Provincetown, and is represented by DC Moore Gallery in New York City. Her work is included in the collections of several prestigious museums and many private collections. She moved back to Wellfleet full time in 1999 and began serving on various appointed or elected boards and committees, including the Wellfleet Housing Authority and the Affordable Housing Task Force. She was elected to the Select board in 2003 and served from 2003 to 2006. As she devoted more and more time to serving the town, her art practice was invigorated and transformed: starting in 2001 she stopped working representationally from direct observation and began making "abstract" paintings with no recognizable subject matter.


top: "Romance" 14" x 16", $50
bottom: "Swallows" 14" x 16", $50

Uncle Tim's Bridge, pt II

There it goes!

Preservation Hall

Please join your friends from Wellfleet Preservation Hall for two great events next week. On Tuesday August 5th at 8pm in the gardens behind the Hall, "Outer Space Night" with free movies for the entire family.

On Saturday August 9th they will be holding a golf tournament at the Chequessett Neck Yacht & Country Club, in Wellfleet. Come after the tournament for a fun filled evening which includes a silent auction and a dinner/dance. Reservations are encouraged.

Fine Art and Travel Auction

On July 27th there will be an auction to benefit Wellfleet Preservation Hall, our community cultural center. Left Bank artists Arthur Bauman, Michael Davis, Jim Holland, Steven Kennedy, Rosalie Nadeau and Fay Shutzer will all have work in the auction.

For more information, including a complete list of artists and travel destinations, go to the Wellfleet Preservation Hall website: www.wellfleetpreservationhall.org