Tag: easel

Inside and Out

Posted on by heather

Progress report…

We have windows.
And a great big door.
And a roof.

And on top of that roof we have…

A tiny cedar tree.

An old time tradition of “Topping Off” was to nail a small fir tree to the tippy top of a new building as the tallest member of the structure was in place. By way of appeasing the goddesses of nature whose job it is to watch over the trees, we who have used new lumber to create shelter pay homage.

And inside we have the beginnings of a glorious open space for the light to live…

and a cozy nook of a library where in the books can live…

As I write this blog post from the temporary office in the old studio which we are slowly beginning to call, The House, there are two crews of tradesmen at work banging and sawing away inside the New Studio. Remnants of Hurricane Ian are still bringing waves of showers through a third day of dark and stormy weather but it is high and dry and safe inside the new building and the sound of real progress just makes my heart soar.

There was a peek of sunshine a minute ago, and it lit up the trunk of the maple tree just outside this window. A patch of bright red appeared which I suspect is poison ivy but it screamed AUTUMN at me. And the chill in my fingers are I type confirm that the seasons have changed. This one is my favorite and I say bring on the knitting needles…

Just wanted to give you all an update before I head back to the easel.

May your furnaces run clean and your pumpkin spice longings be sated.

Rock Solid

Posted on by heather

Rock Solid – 48 x 34

I’m writing this from the old studio back porch
Been sitting here all morning
Watching big machines moving heaven and earth
Well mostly earth
And big stones
They move in sync with slow motion arcs
A graceful and very loud dance.

I’ve also been thinking my way into writing this,
the last of the painters notes for this year’s GG show.
In my head for days now
The focus keeps shifting
And I keep putting it aside
Recognizing that I’m not settled enough yet
So I step back and out of my own way.

This morning’s air is clearing and blessedly cooler once again
And maybe that’s all that I needed to see
That this painting began as an homage to that wall.

It’s Jane’s wall, but she’d be the first to tell you
that the great stone walls of Chilmark
belong to the island, the islanders, and the town not the landowners.

This one runs through the backyards up on crick hill in Menemsha
But long long ago
When that land was farmland
It was built to make use of the tilled up boulders
And to fence in
or out
the pasture.

Jane remembers walking through that gate opening as a girl
So I took out the shrubbery that lives there now
And gave her back the passage.
She believes it to be the tallest original stone wall on the island
And I believe Jane.

So last October when we came to visit
And she and Herself were solving all the problems of the world
I stepped out on Jane’s deck to explore
And the Muses had lit the place up.
The wall was raked with that brilliant autumn island light
And it was as if seeing it for the first time.

The sun streaming through the crystal clear air was similar to this morning’s back porch light
And maybe that’s why I’ve finally found my way back in.

Yes the painting is about the wall
It started there
And never was about anything else
But today
As I sit watching the work being done
to build the foundation of my new studio
I see that it is also about the people who built that wall.

Solid is absolutely one way to describe the islanders.
A disposition bred out of the challenges of living on a rock in the middle of the ocean
Moving heaven and their own patches of earth
To raise themselves and their families into generations of community.

I guess that’s what humans have always done
And Vineyarders would be the first to tell you they’re nothing special
But the ones I know
Are pretty special to me
And that’s about all I was really ever trying to say with this painting.

The Coming and The Going

Posted on by heather

Now it’s time to zoom out…
Remember that dear little blue painted hinge ?

The Coming and the Going – 36 x 24

The Coming and the Going

That has come to signify this era for so many.
Writ large or writ local
some of the shiftings have been tectonic
while others mere whispers of change.

The Painter’s Notes for Unhinged…

(Which you can read by clicking on the image above)

…well that journal entry sets the scene for… The Going

This painting gives you the harbor’s perspective
of this particularly seismic change in the town of Menemsha.

In Menemsha all manner of vessels and humans
are constantly in the pursuit of both…

Coming into port
Going out to sea
This gentle village is always in motion.

On this day last October there was a fair bit of going
as Larsen’s Fish Market was being demolished
to make way for a new version of that special old salt.

If you take the time to compare with Unhinged
you will see that in this composition
zoom in closely…
that dear blue painted hinge still holds fast
and there is just this one last corner of wall
left standing.

As in all artistic endeavors
the artist is free to edit.
I have gently done so here
removing most of the heavy machinery
and repainting the green dumpster.

For years now I’ve been looking for a way
to bring that great big landing net into a painting
ever since I found it washed ashore on Stonewall beach.
It was hopelessly beyond use for a fisherman
but I loved the brokenness and it has been reminding me
as it leans against my old studio stairs
of the power of the sea.

So it was sorta fun that here
in proportion to the old and now broken fishing shack
it could stand tall and represent.

Over the decades
of studying those rhythms
of steady comings and goings
I have learned
that while there can be stillness…

those spaces in between

…there is always some manner of change
on the horizon.

Coming to the end of a year of sometimes brutal
and always jarring shifts in our world
there is wonderful and joyous change on our horizon.

This week the concrete is to be poured
securing a literal foundation
for my new studio.

That great big light at the end of the long tunnel
coupled with the shipping off of this year’s worth of paintings
for next week’s Granary Gallery show
has afforded me one of those precious
moments of in between.

My spirits are lifting
and the peace is familiar
and kind.

At rest finally
with both
the going
and the coming.

Drawn Butter

Posted on by heather

Right at the stop sign and just over the little tidal bridge and our first stop is…

Drawn Butter – 30 x 24

This is Poole’s
Ok Not any more
But it was back then
And it’s hard to teach this old dog new tricks

The captain of this ship was Everett Poole.
He left the helm a while back
and left the planet a few short months ago.

He wore many hats over his 91 years in Chilmark
but I remember him in a red hat
on the stool
in this corner of his shop
pipe wisping away
with that hammer in his hand.

The reference photos I used were from a few years ago.
Donald took over for his dad Everett for a while there
and now Stanley owns it.
Someone could probably date those old pics just by reckoning the price of the lobsters.
And lordy that butter was a bit salty.

But remembering all those last minute trips
to pick up the catch of the day
and the cups of warm chowder
we picked up along the way to the brisk autumn beach…

priceless.

Entwined

Posted on by heather

Everything old is new again.
And in this case it’s the gate.
Which Nathan helped me rebuild
at the entrance to the studio
leaving this old worn section
just hanging in the wind
with nowhere to swing.

Everything around me is changing.
And that includes the landscape
of the studio yard.
When I started work on this composition
the space between the gate
and that red roofed garage
was a patch of weeds laid bare
after I had moved all of the raised beds
to make way for the new studio.

Here is a picture from yesterday
of that same gate at the writing of these Painter’s Notes…

I wanted to mark the passages
of moving the old front gate
out back to give me a new doorway
into the Ruth Stout garden.
And to have one lasting look
at that empty space beyond it
which very very soon
will be a place
where I can sit at my easel chair
and reach out the window
on a summer day like today
and pluck a ripe cherry tomato.

Reach for the Stars

Posted on by heather

Those nights were restless after the flood.
Unable to climb the rickety stairs in the studio
I was sleeping on a tiny lumpy daybed
in a corner crammed with some of the things we had rescued
and after long stress filled days
it was a welcome and safe harbor.

In the quiet dark I wrote long winded passages to my friend Beth
unburdening some of the days’ burdens
and her gift of listening was its own blessed harbor of safety.

Somewhere deep into those nights
as I lay awake looking out the picture window
the sky had cleared and the world had grown dark enough
that I realized I could see the stars
from my bed.

Back in the cave like dark of the log cabin
I had once surprised Herself
by painting glow in the dark stars on our bedroom ceiling
it was the closest we got to the real thing
and those stars are probably still glowing at night over there.

Here now, on that starry studio night,
I was overwhelmed with magic
C.S. Lewis’s …Surprised by Joy …kind of magic
a profound and fierce wave of it.

I can’t remember if I sat up right then
or if it was later at dawn
but I wrote to Beth
and wrote
and wrote.

It was the exact moment when everything shifted
again
but this time toward the light
and the idea for a new studio came to me in one complete flash.

Sketchbooks are never far from my hands
and I dug out the sweet jewel of a ruler
which has heretofore been only a prop
but one of my most treasured objects
with its delicate markings
and sleek leather case
softened by HN Lockhart’s
hours of work…
I wrote “Reach for the Stars” on the paper…
and let the Muses take the wheel.

Now I’ve painted my share of houses
inside and out and on my easel
with both big and tiny brushes
and I know my way around building things
but it soon became clear I’m not an architect

but Beth knows a guy
her Michael.

When it came time for my sketches
to meet with his expertise
I ceremonially handed Michael that ruler
and said…”design me a studio around this”.

He did.

And today
as I write
there are big machines
moving mountains of dirt and stone
pipes being laid
walls going up
and that new studio is being built.

I’ve made a point over the years
of telling my most authentic truth
through my artwork.

Breadcrumbs along the way.

This painting is one such marker.

That is the original sketch
the very ruler
with my hands in motion.

When I sat down at the easel to bring it to life
it was April and the lilacs were in full bloom.

Today August has begun and,
while there have been many other hands moving to get us to this day,
I want to give special thanks here to Beth and Michael
who were there at the beginning
listening
to my story about the stars.

Her New Morning View

Posted on by heather

Her New Morning View – 18 x 20

Next month we will celebrate Mother Nature’s great flooding shove.

Celebrate ?

Well heck yeah.
We are still here…
together
our tiny family
just a bit wigglier and furrier
making the best of
turning the old studio
into our new living space
and now the summer is in full swing
and we are sitting on the back porch
in our old lady rocking chairs
watching big machines
move heaven…
and lots and lots of earth
in the service of
building us a new studio
with extra space
and light…
lots and lots of light.

This painting was the first one up on the easel
after we had shifted the old studio around enough for me to begin again.
It was early last winter
and we were discovering the pleasure
of eating breakfast together in the sunrise studio kitchen before I got to work.
Herself was enjoying watching how the early rays of light
stream across the snowy yard and wake up that magnificent stone barn.
And we were beginning
to move on
from survival mode
to the counting of our blessings.

Granary Gallery 2022 Show

Posted on by heather • 1 Comment on Granary Gallery 2022 Show

And here we go…

The first of the New Paintings for this year’s Granary Gallery show is ready for the reveal…

Hands down the happiest part of our lives right now is Maggie. She’s an amazingly fun addition to our tiny family and she certainly keeps we two old ladies on our toes and in our cups with laughter and life.

The Painter’s Notes tell the story behind the friendship between dog and sparrow and Maggie always has a favorite stick nearby. Part Tigger, part mountain goat, her joyous and helpful spirit is my constant shadow and her youthful exuberant spirit is tamed by Herself’s calming nightly massages. So it is only fitting that the first painting up on the blog should be this bright light of a companion. She sets the tone for our brighter horizons.

My New Muse – 24 x 18

This is our Maggie.

The happiest
wiggliest
friendliest
most curious
most lovable
thing in our lives.

Seven wonderful months old as I write this today…
she was two months younger
when we sat together
early one morning
in the studio kitchen
watching out the door
to see what would become of our day.

What was that ?

We both turned our heads
towards a flicker of white.

Well Maggie was the first to see it.

What caught my attention
was that she kept turning
from me
to the porch
back to me
until finally I got up to go see
what it was
that she could see.

Just beyond the porch
perched on the wire statue
of Beatrice…
who used to watch over us
on the log cabin porch…
was this little sparrow.

And,
as you can see,
in her beak
was the craziest white and wild feather
almost twice the size of the bird.

I was almost
as excited
as Maggie was.

And with her persistence
I snapped a pic
just so I could remember
the proportion
of bird to feather
and feather to bird.

Then I gave her a big pat
on that tiny furry white head
and nodded a thank you
to the chorus of Muses
watching from behind my shoulder
as they gave their new apprentice
a proud and raucous
round of applause.

That’ll do pup.
That’ll do.

Good Fortune

Posted on by heather

Well now…

Here we are with half a year flown by…
The solstice has come and gone
The daisies are in their second bloom
Herself is up swimming at her lake
Maggie is happily chomping on a new bone
A batch of new paintings lean in between piles of boxes and bags
And the Granary Gallery Show is almost here !

It has been a wild and crazy ride since last year’s flood.
As Billy Collins would say…A freaky blast…which is my new favorite way of looking at the world.

With the help of some dear friends and short controlled bursts of “freakishly” hard work
we have new paintings and exciting prospects on the horizon.

Last month, in a moment of particular exhaustion
after a day of navigating roadblocks
and jumping through hoops that kept rolling on through
I opened that dinner’s proverbial fortune cookie
and read this…

Whoever put that into the tiny folded cookie
could never have known how prescient the sentiment was
or how much we needed to hear it at that very moment.

So I taped it up on the easel
in order to keep the focus
in the midst of the chaos
on
the CHILL.

Soon, very very soon dear patrons and followers
I will be able to reveal both the new paintings
and that new big project
which is indeed coming our way.

Stay tuned for the Annual Granary Gallery Show Rollout.

The opening is August 14

Until we meet again…
smell a rose for us
take a walk on the beach
throw your dog a bone
and stay safe out there.

H

Still Thankful

Posted on by heather

We don’t need the declaration of a national holiday to remind us to say thank you.

Our gratitude runs deep, like the splash of a dandelion blooming beneath the blanket of deep November pin oak leaves.

And the harvest of sweet carrots that hung out in the back bed long enough to put the finishing touches on the chowder we got to share with all those good friends.

And the little tree that lights up this corner of our studio…now living room.

The light at the easel in the background holds the promise of the season…

That I will be able to get back to my day job very soon.

With construction progressing…
that goal gets closer each day…

For now,
we are thankful to be safe and snug sitting by those twinkling lights
and comforted every day by all who have showed us such kindness and support over these last few weeks.

Let the season of light and love begin…

Ready

Set

BAKE !!!!