I’ve been saving up a few favorites to pass along and this is at the top of the list.
The Lace Reader, by Brunonia Barry… Many of you NPR listeners may have heard the interview a few weeks back with the author and her husband. They shared the story of their publishing phenom which rocketed this book from a self-published stack of pages to a multi-million dollar book deal. Caught my attention but the book itself is a winner. I listened to it while doing the last painting and actually read it twice to go back and catch some of the early clues that drifted away. It is a superb mystery and beautifully crafted.
I found my way to her website, and blog in which she mentions doing an interview with Diane Rehm…so I downloaded the podcast of it and listened AFTER reading. (There was a much anticipated surprise ending that I didn’t want to spoil). Not since discovering Laurie R. King and her brilliant writings have I enjoyed a novel as much.
Here’s a link to the website and her blog is there as well.
Pat is saving her copy of the book for the Vineyard next week. I can’t wait to talk to her about it when she’s finished. For everyone of my book reading, story loving friends…
When she left early yesterday morning to get her 16 year old volvo (with 400,000 miles on her !) washed … and drove out of the driveway with the trunk wide open…I knew Pat was pretty excited. There had been a flurry of phone calls from headquarters the day before announcing a last minute Obama rally in Lancaster and Herself was to be given a vip pass. As a steadfast volunteer for the local Democratic Party, Pat has been in the trenches for many months…showing up to do anything they have asked…even the smallest, dirtiest jobs…putting her time and energy with a birkenstocks-on-the-ground attitude into being an active citizen in pursuit of real change. No armchair complaining for this grandma ! She IS the change she has been waiting for !
And all along the way…through the long months of this primary season…she has been an ardent, sometimes rabid, supporter of her heros Barack and Michelle.
So, when she came running over to the studio to tell me that she was going to be given special access to this rally…I swear her feet did not touch the ground !
Now it was hot yesterday. I mean well above 90 degrees. And Pat had agreed to carpool and pick up a couple other volunteers so she left here just before noon. They were told that parking would be a nightmare but Fred was watching and led her to the perfect spot. They were ushered to one of the four picnic tables in the park (everyone else had to sit on the lawn) …under a nice shady tree…and told not to move from there. Water was being passed throughout the afternoon but it was still over 4 hours of waiting until Barak appeared. I was watching CNN coverage of O’s speech in York earlier that morning and he looked like the heat was doing a number on him then…but he showed up in Lancaster looking refreshed and envigorated…and they picked up coverage of his arrival in time to see him greeting the crowd and SHAKING PAT’S HAND !!!!!
When my hero finally got home, well after dark, and slowly settled back down to earth… we unloaded the camera and selected a few pics for you to be able to share in the excitement. Though she did not get a photo with her candidate, she’ll settle for the handshake and the memories and is right back out there today spreading the message of hope and change that is so important to us all.
When you are 8, and your dream is to be a zookeeper, and you ordered a tadpole habitat over a month ago, and you had the neighbor come every day while you were away camping to check the mailbox so that your tadpole (which was supposed to come that week) would not bake in the mailbox…and when you came home…it had not arrived as promised…and every day for the next two weeks you skipped down the driveway to meet the maillady and came shuffling back witout the tadpole…and now you have just started back to school and have to wait until you get home on the afternoon bus to check and see if….if…IF your leopard frog tadpole has come yet !!!!!
Well I suppose then you would be so frustrated that you too would be driven to put up a sign on your front porch …
The Cruisers, Ted and Chris, looking dapper as ever…weigh in from that swinging hot spot…the island of Martha’s Vineyard. Grab some lobstah in Menemsha for us boys !
Every window and door is open to the coolest air of the season… delicious.
Spent yesterday trolling the internet researching feng shui for a new series of paintings. Moved some things around in the studio according to the bagua map. Polly’s purple pumps now adorn the kitchen and the bathroom got a makeover including putting the toilet seat down so that our money isn’t tempted to flow out. Even cleared away the props from the front door, which I never use, to allow the good chi to move through the studio. Feels better already.
The balancing act continues today as I dust off some of Aunt Imy’s teacups to see what stories they have for me to paint next. But before I get to the easel, it’s time to introduce a new category for this bloggy thing…
WHERE’S YOUR HAT BEEN LATELY ?
And here’s the first installment… from my dear friend Saren who was recently on a well earned girls only vacation in Cape May. She took along her well earned Patron hat…and it did some travelin’…
Way to go gals…
and this just in… Tally gets in on the fun
And now….
Get that hat out there and let’s see where YOU have been…
Next up: The Cruisers, Ted and Chris, looking dapper as ever…weigh in from that swinging hot spot…the island of Martha’s Vineyard. Grab some lobstah in Menemsha for us boys !
Took some extra grit this morning but we did manage to load up our little family and haul our sleepy selves up to the high school for the South Beach Supercharged Walk. Week 2. It’s a lot prettier than the alternating days’ exercise routine…trust me. And it does feel great to get the stiff old joints moving early in the day, come home to a protein filled meal, shower up and be charged up to get right to work at the easel.
I made a detour today to check email and found a note from friend Jen on the Vineyard,
” Congratulations once again on MV Times front page. Great article, but where’s your picture? “.
Here’s a link to that article …
Click on this image to read article.
Brooks Robards called for an interview last week and we had an interesting conversation about the many interpretations and definitions of REALISM in art today. She pushed me to clarify where I felt my artwork fit into that genre.
People often respond that my paintings “look just like a photograph”, but I am not a Photorealist. not as Estes, Close and Goings and others defined the genre in the 60’s. Here’s a brief definition from Wikipedia..
Photorealist painting cannot exist without the photograph. In Photorealism, change and movement must be frozen in time which must then be accurately represented by the artist.[14] Photorealists gather their imagery and information with the camera and photograph. Once the photograph is developed (usually onto a photographic slide) the artist will systematically transfer the image from the photographic slide onto canvases. This is done by either projecting the slide or grid techniques.[15] The resulting images are often direct copies of the original photograph but are usually larger than the original photograph or slide. This results in the photorealist style being tight and precise, often with an emphasis on imagery that requires a high level of technical prowess and virtuosity to simulate, such as reflections in specular surfaces and the geometric rigor of man-made environs.[16]
20th century photorealism can be contrasted with the similarly literal style found in trompe l’oeil paintings of the 19th century. However, trompe l’oeil paintings tended to be carefully designed, very shallow-space still-lifes, employing illusionistic devices such as the use of shadows to cause small objects to appear to exist above the surface of the painting. (Trompe l’oeil literally means “fool the eye.”) The photorealism movement moved beyond this illusionism to tackle deeper spatial representations (e.g. urban landscapes) and took on much more varied and dynamic subject matter.
In so far as a Photorealist is trying to make their paintings look like an actual photograph they are focusing on a two dimensional product. The craftsmanship has to be strong, the technique flawless, in order to convince the viewer, but the subject matter is static, representing a moment or snapshot in time.
This differs from my goal, at least what I am trying to aim for, which is to uncover layers of meaning and narrative and light from the subjects in my paintings which represents them in an arch of time and history.
I do use photographs for reference when I can’t sit the subject down in front of my easel, but have, sometimes, hundreds of shots that relay information as to detail, design and form. Coupled with sketches and studies over time and in many different conditions of light and space, I build a composition, especially with the still lifes, that often could not exist in the “real” world. Even with the landscapes and figurative work, elements may be altered to enhance the structure of the composition or the narrative. But, hopefully, the essence endures.
I appreciate your generous and kind words about the paintings Brooks, and you got the point that I so clumsily was trying to articulate…that that third dimension is where the difference lies…from her article, she (Heather) says, “I aim to be three-dimensional. That’s where the soul comes in. I like having several layers in a painting. You have a whole narrative going, then you step back and look at the title and get a whole other idea. There’s a sense of mystery.”
Light, mystery, the patina of history, and above all a good dose of humble humor…that’s my reality, the realism I try to represent in my work.
I’m not sure which of my artist friends has the time or inclination to read these blog entries…but I would love to continue this conversation. What is your definition of Realism, and how does it inform your artwork?
Chime in and link us to some of your artwork while you’re at it. Opening new windows is what this blog is all about.
And now, it’s time to leave the cyber world and get to the easel…
A great big Happy Birthday goes out to Amanda today. (oops make that tomorrow !)
Gran and I welcome you into the Wild World of Womanhood ! We are so proud of the human you are becoming. Stay frosty kiddo, the planet needs more sunflowers like you !
After a hearty breakfast omelet, Gully and I communed with the birds and the cool morning air and watered the plants and listened for the whispers.
Yesterday afternoon, Amanda and her friend Margaret came for a visit. Amanda turns 21 on Saturday !!! and she and Margaret have an evening of restuarant hopping planned. They found the perfect dress for the occasion, are still searching for shoes and a clutch, and Gran has been saving some of Polly’s jewelry to adorn the young fashionable women’s attire. They were thrilled with the table full of necklaces and earrings and it made my heart sing to remember Polly wearing this one and that one. Ted was right, Polly would be so pleased to see these girls carrying on her stylish flair…
It has long been our tradition to remember loved ones with a windchime. A vessel for their spirit if they should choose to pass our way and visit for a while. Our yard is full of them and each one rings independently of the wind.
I knew that Polly’s had to be special. She was a formidable New Englander with a commandingly deep voice and whip-like wit. Pat had to get the tallest hook that the nursery had for this tall throaty chime, and it is nestled between the newly planted lace-cap hydrangeas which remind us of the Vineyard…. and now of our dear friend…
When I begin a painting the first step is to “oil out” the gessoed panel. A thin coat of oil paint is wiped onto the panel to tone down the blaring white and to give a layer of paint on which to build. If you have company for dinner the night before (which turned out to be a wonderful evening with Saren, Cori and Mike )… and are watching the neighbors’ dog while they are away and you get several phone calls in between and you and Pat spent a hilarious afternoon taking turns modeling for this next painting in house dresses and aprons and oven mitts…and you don’t have time to do this oiling out proceedure the day before…
well then you have to find something else the to do the next morning while you are waiting for it to dry…
I got up early today and quickly oiled out the panel on the studio porch and then went up to let Jed out for his morning check for all the wee beasties he tends in Sue’s rock garden. While he was running and playing I saw a deer in Walt’s corn field across the street. From her yard, you get a great view of the farm and, since Jed was otherwise occupied, the deer walked peacefully around the field and disappeared back into the corn field undisturbed. It got me to thinking about another painting I am beginning to work on… The Corn Trilogy.
In our corner of central Pennsylvania, corn is a repeating backdrop. Unlike the flat factory fields in the mid-west, corn fields here seem to tuck into the pockets and hollows between the heavily wooded hills…settling to hug the rolling landscape like Sandburg’s fog. This time of year, in a summer when we’ve had some decent rainfall, there is wall of a dusty bluegreen sage color on either side of every back road. From our studio yard I’ve been watching Walt’s corn field all summer.
But as you can see, it’s distant enough to read only as background. So today, when it caught my attention via the deer muse, and the first rays of the morning sun were coming through these hickory trees, I decided to come home, put my boots on and grab the camera and trespass myself right over there for a closer look.
But when I got up close and personal I realized… it’s missing its ears!
I’m still not sure what form this trilogy will take. I’ve seen some artist’s lately who are incorporating elaborate framing designs that resemble altar pieces surrounding paintings… hinged panels that open wing-style or close up into a cabinet that lend themselves well to the trilogy format. (see and explore Rob Evans new work as an example…Click Here ). And I found some very old sketches I had done decades ago, after seeing a show at the Danforth museum, with similar designs for some small cabinets that when opened reveal trompe l’oeuil paintings. So the symmetry of being drawn once again to paint from my authentic self, and the iconic gesture of the corn fields in their annual rise to the sky, and the challenge of taming both in a new format has my synapses on overdrive.
I’m going to chronicle the development of The Corn Trilogy and will set up a separate category for anyone interested in following along.
Meanwhile, the panel for today’s painting is dry and ready for the sketch to be traced on. I can’t wait to get some paint on that puppy.
And as I sit working at my easel, I can watch while, across the street, the corn fairies dust those tassels and tend to the stalks and get that crop ready for the artiste…
