I’m looking forward to watching this tonight.
The island fisherman have brought wounded vets to the MV Derby and it’s a good old American Throw Down. I’ve got my money on the Tomahawk piloted by my pal Buddy Vanderhoop…but the waters are deep out there.
Here’s a link to the trailer… Click Here
Happy Memorial Day to all !
I went searching on my website for the pic of this painting to use in today’s blog post and discovered that it had never been added to my portfolio. So I guess I was meant to read Peter’s Blog today, as I do most days actually. I need to be painting…NEED to be painting…but I wanted to quickly let you all know of a kickstarter campaign that he mentioned on his blog and it’s all about… Spoons !
Peter learned spooncarving from Wille, I learned spooncarving from Peter, and carving spoons is just about the most fun a person can have. So they want to make a movie about Wille, who is a national treasure in his home country of Sweden. And they need some money to do this and do this now as Wille is getting on in years. Basically you are pre-ordering the dvd and, as with all kickstarter campaigns, you don’t get charged unless they make their goal.
Here’s a pic for his AAC Feb 2011 magazine article which John O’Hern took of me carving a spoon on the studio porch…
And one of Peter a few years back carving a spoon on the log cabin porch…
So for all my woodworking pals out there…
Since it looks like Peter’s day is as chock full as mine I stole the following right off of his site rather than put it in my own words so you can read below…
and, even though I’m going to have to fight the overwhelming temptation to pick up a chunk of cherry and a knife… now I’ll get back to the easel.
From Peter…
There is now a kickstarter fundraising site set up to help get the film about Wille Sundqvist underway. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/761142325/the-spoon-the-bowl-and-the-knife-craftsman-wille-s?ref=recently_launched
I’m in a rush right now (clean up shavings in the kitchen from last night’s spoons, help get the kids off to school, me to work, etc) – so I will write at length about this later. But let’s get it together to raise this money pronto. Shouldn’t be hard. When you get to watch this video, you will be amazed. Here’s a snippet from the kickstarter blurb
“The biggest risk this project is that Wille Sundqvist is 87 years old. He is getting tired of age but still he is working with craft everyday. Last week when I talked to Wille he said he was in good shape and that he was eager to start with recording the film in June. He told me he is refusing all orders just to make bowls and spoons for the most generous donors. This tells us how he looks upon his own status. But of course everything can happen with a man at his age.”
If you are leery of using kickstarter, you can send a check to Drew Langsner.
Make it out to:
Country Workshops – Sundqvist video project
990 Black Pine Ridge Road
Marshall, NC 28753
It’s this kind of a morning here in the studio yard…although this is a painting of the bluff in Chilmark and those spider webs are over a decade old.
Our spider webs, here in the hollers of Strinestown, are brand new and based on the jungle of gossamer threads that I am pulling out of my face and hair…I have yet to learn this spring’s prime locations.
The experts keep saying our flora are three or more weeks behind this growing season but that is based on the last few years of climate change which has now become the new norm. These long weeks of cool days and cool nights are what I remember as being the springtime of my youth. Slowly warming temperatures and gentle rains gave the gardeners time to ease into the toolshed and let the winter weak muscles wake up gradually.
We did have an early zap of three or four days of 90 degree days and my thriving spinach began to bolt…but almost a month later in which temps stayed 20-30 degrees cooler…it has settled back down and I have been able to test several spinach artichoke dip recipes.
Neighbor Sue and I have noted that this is the craziest grass growing season ever. She can’t keep up with it and she is one who lives to mow.
The peas, radishes, beets and carrots I planted back on St. Patrick’s day are sooooooooo slow to climb up outta the dirt. But the lilacs…oh the lilacs…they are loving this weather and, when I leave the studio late in the evening, their fragrance fills the valley and soothes my tired soul.
So, while the world outside might be three weeks behind and dragging its arboreal heels…inside the studio this artist is racing the clock and hopping.
The countdown is on for the Granary Gallery show this summer…July 21 is the opening date…and I’ve taken on a major challenge which I’ll be telling you about soon. For now I can tell you that the brushes, mostly the tiny ones, are flying from early morning until late and later… and later… each night.
There’s a very large panel on the easel right now and and it makes a hilarious contrast to the tiny brushes that I am using. The detail is electric and the concentration required keeps me so focused that only the thing which has been able to break it is the nuclear bolt of lightening that lifted me off the chair last night.
So…here’s to a real old fashioned spring…
and a face full of spider webs…
and a rich green carpet of grass…
and a studio full of flying brushes.
Enjoy !
As the spring flowers bloom all around the studio yard, I am reminded of all the season’s holidays, and weddings that will be just around the calendar’s corner. If you are looking for a unique gift for that someone special…
I hope you will consider selecting a print from our new Etsy shop.
There are lots to choose from for that gardener you love…
and the sports lover…
the woodworker…
the artist…
that beachcomber…
who loves to read…
and yes, even your favorite tea drinkers…
All prints are signed by…me.
And, for all my blog readers, I am sweetening that tea with the offer of a SPECIAL COUPON…
just type in this code…
HNBlog2013
and you will recieve FREE SHIPPING on all orders.
Coupon will be good up until July 21,2013 (Which just happens to be the opening day of THE GRANARY GALLERY show this year !!! )
Happy Spring and, as always, thank you…I am so grateful for your support,
Heather
In the spring,
at the end of the day,
you should smell like dirt.
Margaret Atwood
Print available for sale in my Etsy Shop…click here to browse.
7th Inning Stretch
from the Painter’s Notes…
I love listening to baseball games on the radio
and when I lived in Watertown Square, back in the 80’s,
I would sit on my fire escape overlooking the 7-eleven and the front steps of the catholic church beyond and tune in the Sox and work on the weekly crossword puzzle,
while watching the woman’s softball league practice in the park across the street.
When I was a much younger girl I played baseball with my friends. My brother Rob was a first class pitcher but he threw the ball way too hard for me. So I moved on down the line of brothers to Scott.
The two of us would play catch in the street out front of our home in Swarthmore for hours after school. I was learning Russian at the time and with each toss I would teach him a new word.
I still have my mitt, and the last time his son Neill visited the studio we got it out, and the old baseball which bears the signatures of friends along the way, and played catch in the yard.
My arm ached for days but the smile lingered in my heart for weeks.
That’s my old bat and glove in the painting. You can just make out the peace sign I taped onto it.
It was the 70’s after all.
But what is missing from the final composition is Gully whose nose was in my lap each time I ran from the camera to the chair to outrun the self-timer. Boy was she pining for those cracker jacks. I almost painted her in…but … the closest she’s ever come to a baseball was chewing off its cover…
or to ironing for that matter….
when, as a puppy, she would curl up in the wicker basket and wait for…
the 7th inning stretch.
It’s a very small sign…
but today I’m prouder than ever to wear it.
Here’s a look at the process…
Having come a tad late to the painting party my process and palette have evolved from a rather spotty beginning. Well over two decades passed between those mid-70’s intro to color classes in college and the decision to paint full time at the beginning of this century.
Today I use a pile of disposable waxy palette sheets tucked into an old plastic watercolor box. It thoroughly offends my aesthetic senses but it does the job nicely when it comes to the daily rituals of setup and cleanup.
I have six drawers full of oil paint tubes. Most of them are Old Holland colors but along the way I have tried many others and if it gets reordered once…it’s a favorite. The main players change depending on the subject matter but for the most part the palette is arranged chromographically (a word ?) by hue.
The medium I use is Fine Detail Liquin and I use so little of it that even the smallest caviar jar dries out before it is emptied. (Notice how I dropped that fancy culinary delectable in there ?)
That tiny jar along with two former artichoke jars half full of odorless turp sit next to the palette and the brushes…well they surround.
A while back I took some progressive shots of the palette as I worked through a painting for the Granary Gallery show this summer. I typically use one palette for the entire painting unless I’m working on a mammoth panel and then I go through many palette changes. For this painting, I kept the same one going and you will be able to see subtle changes from day to day. I also took photos of the panel at the end of each day for comparison.
So here’s a look at the road to… The Caretaker
for the Teacups !
We are selling PRINTS…and to start off the festivities we are offering…
The Teacup Series
While large format prints are still available on my website…www.hn-artisan-staging.xzk7618f-liquidwebsites.com,
we will be using the Etsy site to offer somewhat smaller sized prints.
My studio policy is to only offer prints of my paintings after the original has been sold.
So you can visit the shop periodically to see NEW prints as they become available.
For now… those whimsical teacups have been lined up and polished up and are eager for your purusal.
I hope you enjoy them and please share the love !
Thanks as always for your support !!!
