It’s the end of January and while I'm trying to stay warm and marveling at all the snow we have here in central Jersey, I'm also dreaming of the spring and my garden (and the mud!). But before I go too far off into thoughts of spring, I am taking a little trip through the blog world, courtesy of One World One Heart. Doesn't the name just sound wonderful?! In its fifth year, One World One Heart is an amazing event organized by Lisa Swifta of A Whimsical Bohemian, who I might add is a very talented artist and she must not sleep because I just cannot figure out how she has time to do all she does as well as OWOH. Of course, there is the possibility that all of the characters she creates come to life in January and February to help her? I am very excited to participate this year. Last year 1,088 bloggers from 40 countries took a two week whirl wind tour of each others blogs. What is OWOH? It brings together bloggers across the globe who share a common interest. For me, three things make this fun, first there is this long list of blogs (1,088 last year!) that I can meander through, visiting people around the world, knowing that they all are connected by One World One Heart. This is better than the random visiting I seem to do. Second, everyone has a door prize and you can leave a comment to enter to win! And finally, I am hoping to make some new blog friends. Here's my door prize. Handmade note cards from original watercolors Three handmade blank note cards (and envelopes). The images on the cards are from my original artwork. The note card on the left is the Bar Harbor Shore Path, the top right is Long Pond, Mt. Desert Island and the third card is a sure sign of spring, Tulips. My medium of choice is watercolor. I’ve tried pastels and colored pencil, but always come back to watercolor because I love the freedom. My favorite thing to paint are landscapes and typically I paint somewhat abstractly. I’ve recently started to look for other things to do with my artwork. These note cards are fun. Adding the different papers with the images is kind of like framing artwork. I’m also experimenting with jewelry and fabric but both of those endeavors will require a bit more time. Before the end of OWOH I may have a few more cards to add to this bunch. How to win? Leave a comment and your e-mail before midnight, February 16th. The winner will be selected using random number generator on February 17th and announced the same day. The cards will be mailed shortly thereafter. Thanks for visiting. Hope to see you again. Blessings, Colleen

Autumn Gold, Lumerville - Fern Coppedge American 1883-1951

Signed 'Fern I. Coppedge' on upper stretcher verso, oil on canvas Measures: 19 3/4 x 24 in. (50.2 x 61 cm). Letter of authenticity included.

January Sunshine (All paintings in this post are by Fern Coppedge. As always click on the picture to get a better view.) "People used to think me queer when I was a little girl because I saw deep purples and red and violets in a field of snow. I used to be hurt over it until I gave up trying to understand people and concentrated on my love and understanding of landscapes," Fern Isabel Coppedge once related. She had wanted to be an artist since she was 13 years old and became more enamored with the idea when her family moved to California from her native Illinois and she attended her sister's watercolor class. Stone House She went on to study at McPherson College and the University of Kansas, where she met her husband Robert Coppedge. A teacher, he encouraged her to study art, and when they moved to Illinois, she attended the Art Institute of Chicago from 1908 to 1910. From there she moved to New York, where she studied at the Art Students League with Vincent DuMond and William Merritt Chase and also attended summer art sessions in Woodstock, New York, where she studied with winter specialist John Carlson. In 1917, she began to study with Daniel Garber at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia and started to show her work. Lumberville Cottage From then on, although she also painted in Gloucester, Massachusetts, during the summer, Coppedge lived in Pennsylvania and built her artistic reputation painting the landscapes of Bucks County, north of Philadelphia. From 1920 to 1929, she lived in Lumberville near Garber and then moved to the artist colony in New Hope, along the Delaware River, where she resided til her death in 1951. Many of her paintings can be seen at the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Autumn Coppedge was an official member of the Philadelphia Ten, an organization created by women artists who had studied at either the Philadelphia School of Design for Women (now the Moore College of Art and Design) or the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Founded in 1917, the Ten had banded together to give greater prominence to their works in a market that was dominated by the works of male artists. Although the flattened later works of Coppedge remind the viewer of post-impressionist works in France, the Ten never embraced the modern art that hit America with the 1913 Chicago Armory Show. Normans Woe Gloucester, Massachusetts Coppedge always went outdoors to capture her vision of the landscape, no matter the weather. "I may erase most of my sketch, but after I have it the way I want it in charcoal, then I work over the entire canvas with a large brush," she explained of her method of painting. "I use thin paint in trying to get the right value. I test different spots to see whether the scene should be painted rich or pale. Then I proceed with the actual painting using paint right from the tube. I hold the brush at arm's length and paint from the spine. That gives relaxation." Fern Isabel Kuns Coppedge

Phew! I’m finally “finished”. I hope you enjoyed parts 1, 2, 3. I’m actually continuing to update those earlier sections with some new discoveries, but I’m basical…

Fern Coppedge (American, 1883-1951): Lumberville Winter (c. 1930) (via Freeman's)