With the countdown looming for the summer show at the Granary, I decided to have some fun painting smaller pieces inspired by my gardens. And this week it’s all about the roses.

Don’t look at the weeding in progress beyond the foreground…but this is the view from my easel window. I have Gulliver’s windchime hanging just over my shoulder so she can keep an eye on me and the first summer after she died this rose bush began to bloom. It now climbs up the chime’s support and reaches out of the dark corner into her light. I noticed this morning that another branch is peeking up over the window sill. Leave it to Gully to know how to cheer me up.

Yesterday I brought this beach rose in and played all day with a still life set up. (Responsible for about half of the meltdowns it was.) This morning that flower is flat out and the studio smells wonderful.

And here’s the first pass which was done last night. With roses behind me and roses before me I am ready to face whatever this day has to offer.

With the promise of a bit of Shiraz and Herself waiting for me at the other end…I can manage anything !

My favorite moment of the spring is when this rose bush first blooms. It was brought back to my studio oh so many years ago as a tiny off shoot from one of the grand dames of rugosas that bloom on the bluff in Chilmark. Now it is happily filling out the entrance way to the yard and this week it is full of welcoming wafting aromas that take me right back to the ocean.

As I am grinding away at the easel, burning the candle at both ends of the day to get the last paintings done for the Granary show in July, it is such a gift to see these roses and a much needed reminder that the treasures of that peaceful island are just there… on the edge of this spring breeze.

This sparkly smiling little boy is Blixa, the 3 yr. old son of an old friend of mine…Doug, aka Dug, and Lauren Cawley and younger brother to Dregen. Dug and I go all the way back to Harvard Square in the early 80′s when we worked together in the tiny closet of a frameroom at the Coop.

Now he and his wife own a frameshop in San Francisco and Dug tells me he’s some kind of famous in the screaming grundgy music world since he plays and sings in a band called The Grannies. Now…it’s a good thing for both of us that I’m not a music critic… and when we reconnected via facebook a while back I did take a quick tour of his site and listen to some of the music…and for an old folkie like myself it’s downright terrifying.

So consider yourselves forwarned if you dare to go down that road and look them up…although there are sure to be those among you who will be quick to challenge my narrow gereatric musical tastes and enlighten me to the intricacies of lyrics and costume…have at it.

What I can say, from the bottom of my heart, is that Dug is one of the finest, kindest and dearest humans on this planet. And so it was especially hard to hear the news that young Blixa has just been diagnosed with Leukemia. This is a family that has picked up more than their share of burdens, having been swept out of their home by the mortgage dementors. And, with their lives already out of balance, there is now a different focus to their needs.

I’ve followed along on his facebook page as he kept us all in the loop from Blixa’s hospital bed to his homecoming. That kid is smiling in every single photo and appears to have all the special powers he will need to battle this transformer. But the family could use some help.

The band is doing some fundraising gigs. Their website has some scary posters and gear for sale. And they have just put up a link on Paypal which lets people donate directly to Blixa’s medical fund. I tried that link today and Dug responded immediately so I know it’s up and running and it’s safe….

If you’re moved to want to pay forward some kindness that you were offered when you were in need of  help…

I’m just sayin’…

here’s the info directly from Doug’s FB page…

Also a lot of folks have been asking about a donation site and we now have www.paypal.com set up – just use BlixaHeron@comcast.net as the recipient & it will go directly to a health account for Blixa. Thank you!

Ta,

H

Lynn Langmuir died peacefully this morning…

and even as my heart is dimming,

I know that the night sky…

 just got a whole lot brighter.

The painting that keeps reminding me what a small world this is…

As I mentioned in a blog post way back in January of 2011, many members of the original Circus Kirk have contacted me after learning of this painting to share stories of their time in that circus, indeed on that very truck.

This week two more people wrote asking about the availability of prints, Ellie who went on to be a teacher and photographer and remembers the “hectic” schedule traveling with the circus, and Terry who actually painted the name on this very truck.

I wanted to update the information here that yes, the original of this painting has sold and YES, I do have prints available. They are discounted for Circus Alumnae and are $125 – printed on archival paper that is 17″ x 22″ and shipping is FREE.  Please send a check or money order to my address (listed on the contact page of the website) and include the address to which it should be sent and off it will go.

Long may the circus live !

Don’t know about where you are but here in central Pennsylvania the seasons have abruptly changed. Since we had no winter to speak of it is not a dramatic shift anywhere but in the closet where I’ve had to dig out t-shirts and shorts from under the fleece.

I’ve been remiss in blogging and will set about to fill you all in soon. The “Big Painting”, which I’ve taken to calling it, is still up on the easel. Been a full month and I am churning towards the finish line now. It’s definitely one that needs to be viewed by the public only upon completion. Looks pretty straggely at the moment. But all shall be revealed soon.

Meanwhile I’m sure those of you who are experiencing these warm sunny early spring days are, like me, tuning up the garden beds, planting those peas and spinach seeds, raking and pruning and … watching the daffodils stretch out of their winter’s nap.

My neighbor Sue has come to expect hammering and drilling around this time of year so as not to disappoint I am building some new raised beds and…a greenhouse. It’s all about recycling and son-in-law Pete has come to the rescue with an offer of windows, a glass panelled door and a sliding glass door which will be sweet and Jon and Zoe are headed this way in a couple weeks to lend a hand with the construction.

I’ve got the foundation set and the floor framing done…

It’s been so nice to spend time out in the fresh warm air doing good hard work. Makes it all the more rewarding when I head back inside the studio to my day job sitting in a chair and lifting tiny brushes.

Here’s to the return of the Pinkletinks and the hope that your daffodils are smiling at you…

Oh, it hurts to look back on those days… anyway… today I am in the midst of clearing the office for tax prep and I ran across the tiny stack of the surviving photos. They tell a tale of very early days of my woodworking career and some of the fun that Peter Follansbee and I had and since most of you know me only as a painter I thought I’d share them as proof that once, in a time far far ago… I was a Chairmaker…

The beginnings at the Follansbee home on Pierce Rd.

Follansbee and Myself along the banks of the Little Conewago Creek...which as you can see is still in it's banks.

And now here's his son Daniel hard at work in his Plymouth Plantation workshop.

A chair for nephew Neill

This kid is now in college !

Little Nephew Johnny who is now 16 and well over 6 feet tall.

and...I think this is James, Stephanie's oldest son, Steph being my oldest friend from waaay back in high school...he's now at Brown ...that's my basement workshop in the background.

So there you have it. Now digitally documented for posperity.

When I decided to give painting my full time attention, circa 2000, one of the first things on my easel was this homage to that life of shavings, In the Chairmaker’s Wake…makes me want to sit on my shaving horse and think back on all the happy hours with the old drawknife…

A rare snowy day this winter and I find myself at sixes and sevens bumbling around the studio…eager to get the next painting up on the easel but there are gremlins about. I have a stable full of panels that are prepped but stand awaiting their final coat of gesso…the good stuff. This means that, once I decide what I’m going to paint and find the appropriate sized panel, put that gesso on and let it dry, then do the final smoothing wetsand… I have at least a day if all goes well before I can start the next painting.

Today, there was little cooperation from the muses. After telling myself not to try to do this without a drop cloth, I dumped a full quart of gesso on my favorite handmade rug…after I told myself to put on a smock…there went the shirt and pants…etc. Even when it did dry and I started the wetsand there were troubling areas that seemed to wipe completely down to the canvas so I had to re-apply and wait for that to dry and then sand again…twice !

So, while I practice patience and wait for that hopefully last coat to dry… it’s time to get back into the blog world. Last week my friend Peter Follansbee had an entry on his blog about the painting he is doing on his groovy new toolchest.

I noticed that he was using a mahl stick..

The simplest of painting tools it is basically a stick used to rest your hand on to steady it and the brush. It’s especially helpful for fine detail.

The one I’ve been using for decades I made from a twisty branch I brought back from Tucson. I sharpened the end, put a superball on it and wrapped that with a piece of soft leather. Wrapped this way the ball provides a soft pivot point that won’t marr the painted surface as you rest that end on the panel.

This one is about two feet long but has it’s limitations.

Then I watched a video that Bob Jackson has out now in anticipation of his newly published book,

Click on his painting above, The Feast, to view it’s creation. It’s a crazy slideshow look into his work process and along the way I saw him using his mahl stick. Couldn’t really tell because of the speed of the video but it looked to be somehow attached or anchored at the top of the panel or on his easel. This gave him a nice pivot point which seemed sturdier than my floating version.

So…I looked around the studio and found… The Niblick.

It’s an old wooden golf club that was used as a prop in the painting, Tea Time…

and now it is reincarnated as painting tool. It has just the right flexibility from the thin wooden shaft, and the iron head provides a nice weight, and the hook of the wedge is perfect for catching the top of the panel, or cross pieces on my easel. Because that edge is sharp and hard, I softened it by tying a piece of leather on and also wrapped the handle with a chamois for extra comfort there.

It’s just the thing for those tiniest details…

The painting I just finished yesterday was quite a bit larger than the one featured above and when the stick was hooked over the top of that panel it did not reach low enough for me to work on the bottom half of the painting. So… I dug around in the golf bag and came up with a 5 Iron. Not as asthetically pleasing with it’s metal shaft but the sturdiness of the metal seems to be needed for the extra length. I do have to close the curtains when the sun rakes in though…it shines off the silver and casts wierd light onto the panel surface.

Well the sunset came on quickly and the snow covered branches are blue against the darkening sky. I’m going to go see if that panel is dry enough to sand and then work on tuning up the sketch. Then it’s home to the fireside with Herself and Finn…and the snowy walk home will make it all the warmer.

Keeping up with the latest technological trends is definitly a balancing act but our behind the scenes tech wizard, Ross Ritchey, has finished his tweeking and handed over the newly polished website which, as you can see, now includes the HN Studio Blog.

For you, that means one less click. If you have any interest at all in following along with our conversations here, you can subscribe to this blog (look at the boxes on the right…all the way down the page…for the subscribe box) and you should receive an email whenever a new post arrives.

For me, it means that I can now use the WordPress interface to edit and manage my entire website. Who knew. Ross did and now the learning curve continues as I try and navigate the new powers at my fingertips.

Finding new and novel ways to reach out to patrons and friends and to expand the audience is integral to the creative process, and I do appreciate your feedback and checking in once in a while to see what’s fresh off the easel…it’s all part of the journey.