Spoiler alert

I'm going to go a little out of order here because I have a lot to say and a lot that I'm working on. So I'm just going to post about each thing as it pops into my mind. That's just how I roll right now.

For my solo exhibit, Working Through at Monkitree, I've been making new paintings and also reinventing some old paintings by completely painting over them. It's quite liberating and I highly recommend it! It all ties in with my artist statement and I'll get to that in the next post.

I dug through my cabinets of old paintings (yes, cabinets) and found four that I just wasn't feeling the love for anymore. Here they are in all of their non-glory:

Now, let's focus on the one on the bottom left. That was called "Green Apples" and I painted it a few years ago for a group show at Monkitree. It seemed fitting to start with that one since I feel I owe it to the gallery to make a nice painting out of that one.

Green Crapples-- I mean, Apples

At the time I painted it, I sort of liked it and thought it might grow on me. It didn't.

The original painting was casein & wax pastels on paper mounted on board. So I immediately thought of using some cadmium green sketching oil paint and my oil sticks on top of it. The color choice was a reminder to me of what was underneath. Moving forward is important but remembering how you got there is key.

first new layer

After covering it completely, I started drawing into it with my oil bars.

starting some marks

Then I kept drawing and painting, drawing and painting, and I guess I got caught up in the moment (that is the best part, isn't it?) because I didn't take any more photos of the steps in between. Well, like I said, how you get there is key...but enjoying the ride is the goal.

finished!

When I look at this I think about piles. Piles of crap: worry, exhaustion, feeling like a pile. In thinking of a new title, one that is nicer than Piles of Crap (but that would be fun, too) and references the old title, I think I'm settling on Compost Pile. It's gritty enough. It's also about how you can take a pile of crap and turn it into something useful.


Come see my first solo exhibit Working Through at Monkitree, 263 Water St, Gardiner, Maine
Opening Reception: Friday, April 4, 2014  5:30-9pm
Exhibit runs April 4 - June 7, 2014
Facebook Event page here

4th studio session of new painting

Sometimes it's hard to get into the studio. I don't mean like "I have too much to do" or "There's no inspiration" or "There's a truck in the way and it's on fire." But there are often other obstacles that I am not in control of.

If I have too much to do, I make time. It's important to let yourself have the time to do what you love, even if it's just a few minutes.

If there's no inspiration, that's the perfect time to paint! Your most creative moments may come out of working through it and not being tied to an idea-- YOU'RE FREE!! ENJOY IT! See what happens!

If there's a truck on fire, well, get an extinguisher and call the fire department. I mean, yeah, that's going to put a damper in the day but hopefully the fumes won't be too bad.  Ok, this one will sting a little but you'll bounce back.

5th studio session of new painting where I really attacked it

The thing that's always getting in the way for me is my health. I'm often dizzy, have a migraine, in pain somewhere in my body. Most of my days I just work through it, set a goal of keeping up appearances, and relish the moment I get to sit on the couch with my pup and a warm blanket. But I've got to get in the studio-- again, it's making time to do what I love. And the frustration/anxiety/pain/bliss-getting-through-it is what feeds those pieces. This week, I've dealt with power outages that made the studio way too cold to work in and dizziness/migraines/sciatica that just seemed like that truck on fire, barricading me from the studio.  But I still got in there. It did take some time. It took energy to push myself to do something I did not feel like doing. But I kept thinking of that moment when it gets better. When the pile transforms from something I don't like and want to end, to something I'm happy living with. Then there's the painting. ;)

Sketches 1 and 2, oil on Arches paper, approx 9" x 6" paper size

While I'm painting larger pieces in the studio, I like to work out my ideas on a smaller scale to sort through my palette, composition, and drawing. This time, I took some Arches watercolor paper, taped it up, and gessoed the painting areas. Here's the first little batch!

Sketch 3, oil on Arches paper, approx 9" x 6" paper size

detail

Sketch 4, oil on Arches paper, approx 9" x 6" paper size

detail

Sketch 5, oil on Arches paper, approx 9" x 6" paper size

detail

Sketch 6, oil on Arches paper, approx 3.5" x 3" image size

Sketch 7, oil on Arches paper, approx 3" x 3" image size

Sketch 8, oil and graphite on Arches paper, approx 11.5" x 5" image size

Cover Crop, Woven Photo Transfers on Cloth with Embroidery, 23" x 11"

Had another great night making monotypes.   I really loved the image of the big barn from the day before, but I wanted to flip the composition.  I loved the result and so I made one more (so far).  In the second one, I added red to give more dimension and a hint of the color in real life.

 ....

Read more about the project here: http://csaart.org/


If you have a few dollars you'd like to donate to this project, please visit our Indiegogo page-- the thank-you presents begin at the $10 level!  http://www.indiegogo.com/CSA-Community-Supporting-Arts

Hit the studio today making more monotypes for the CSA Project at the Harlow Gallery.  Like the last set I was working on, I'm really digging the look and feel of this process.  My husband taught me a method for monotypes using water soluble Speedball ink on a plexiglass plate.  I played around with it and really found that I liked covering the entire plate in custom color mixed ink and then using a reductive method of drawing my image in.  I'm finding that it leaves an almost ghostly appearance which matches the hazy memories I'm working from (as well as the instant photographs to jog the brain).

My friend Kim and I were accepted to a very exciting project with the Harlow Gallery in Hallowell, ME called CSA - Community Supporting Arts.  We were paired with a local farm, Wholesome Holmstead of Winthrop, ME,  and we are going to create a body of work based on our inspirations from the farmland, the farmers, and their community interaction.  We've visited the farm twice so far and have been having an amazing time.

We went back today, hoping to spend all day on the farm painting and taking photographs, but today's temperature and wind was just too much for us to handle!  We literally only lasted 10 or 15 minutes outside. We couldn't feel our fingers after taking our photo adventure.


So we went to the farm stand to purchase some food to take back to my warm studio and ran into our farmer who taught us about cheese making.

Kim's a great fiber artist and recently taught me how to weave. We first bonded with each other about being photographers so we thought this was a great way to combine our interests and connections. The idea is that we'll take tons of photographs over the seasons, focusing on how the farm and farmers are woven into their community. (all puns intended)   Our first joint effort -- a prototype/work-through sketch of a fiber and photography project we have in mind. These are photo transfers of farm images we have taken so far.  

Caran d'Arche Neocolor II water soluble wax pastels

Despite my camera's best effort to foil my documentation (I completely blame technology, not myself), here are some new paintings from last month...

Backstays; Acrylic, Casein, Graphite, Wax Pastel; 18" x 18"

Let It All Hang Out; Acrylic & Wax Pastel; 18" x 18"

This Is Where I Hide; Acrylic, Casein, & Wax Pastel; 18" x 18"

Yesterday I packed up 16 small encaustic paintings to ship for the Teeny Tiny Art Show at Three Graces Gallery in Portsmouth, NH. I'm so excited to go to the opening next Friday! It's going to be so much fun to see all of them up together and amongst other teeny tiny work! I can't recall ever seeing so many of my pieces hung at one time. How cool?

I'm hoping that in this new year I will allow myself more time to paint and focus on my work. I've been accepted to a new show in February and am creating some new small works for it. I have some plans to create large pieces and get my work out into the public eye a bit more. Here's to 2010!

I was surprised to find myself in an Etsy Finds email and Storque article today entitled "Yours And Yours Alone"!  Not only was it nice to get recognition in such a well put together art grouping but I received over 65 shop "hearts", tons of item hearts (including over 53 on this painting), a bunch of sales, and a couple of great emails from people!  It was such a great day!!

I will be participating and co-moderating the Etsy Visual Artist Street Team's (VAST) Trunk Show tomorrow night!  Come and take a look and meet new artists with a great range of styles, medium, and prices!

I've been commissioned by a dear old friend of mine to create an oil painting for her.  I'm so excited!  So I've stretched a new canvas and began priming it.  This picture above is of my favorite part of the prep stages-- I always brush on some water to release the sizing in the canvas and watch the water bead up-- I love it!  Then I brush it in really hard and get the canvas nice and taught.  Then I banged it like a drum!  What a great sound.  

Talking Pictures #1
Oil on Canvas
6 x 6"
June 2008

Do you submit your work to art shows?  I've been thinking about getting back into it.  I used to submit my work upon occassion ...if I found a show that I really thought suited me.  Have you had any reasonable success with this?  I've done great for local shows but not for those big national and international calls that you see all over the place.