Tag: Finnegan

Spring Visitors

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OK I’m back… if only for what was supposed to be a quick entry and has now taken me two hours just to sort through some photos for ya.

I have begun to get emails and inquiries from some of you who have been worried about my blog absence…along with some not so gentle nudges for updates and more photos…I am heartily sorry and phenomenally busy. More that the usual crazy around here but we are all well and, as you will see in the pics here…just plain plowing through the spring.

With a very few exceptions I have been painting non-stop getting ready for the big Granary show this summer and a June show at Gallery 1261 and a special exhibition in Santa Fe in July ! I promise to fill you in on all of those very soon.

But for now here are some highlights of our early spring weeks…

The Lake Placid Lackeys came for an extended visit that spanned the entire month of April and right on into May. Jon was working on a stunning stone project in lancaster and commuted from our place while Zoe and her mom Tonya hung out with Gran and Mima. When T went back home to her teaching gig Zoe took over grandma sitting and we worked in the garden and built a new arbor with raised beds for some more veggies and herbs and a grapevine. I gave Zoe her first woodworking lesson at the shaving horse. And she got her very first taste of Reeser’s ice cream !

On the back end of that trip we spent my favorite day of the year at the Sheep and Wool Festival. It was one of my all time highlights to introduced Zoe to this event and except for one very big and loud Baaaaaahhhh…she had a blast.

Now it is mid May and the northern visitors have left and all that rain, the wettest April on record, has indeed brought the most beautiful May flowers I can remember. The beach rose which I brought back as a tiny seedling from the island is in full bloom and her scent carries me back to the bluff every morning when I come over to the studio yard to begin the day.

A loving couple of bluebirds has taken up residence in the blue birdhouse in the studio garden and all day long they flit around perching on the tops of shovels and dogwood branches and they have christened the new arbor as their very own sky box for a view of our comings and goings.

Herself and Finnegan have developed a daily walking routine that is getting them both in fabulous shape and they are unchaining my ankles from the easel for a couple hours on the sunny days to let me work in the garden which is helping me to deal with pre-show stresses. Frames and professional photographs are starting to come in for the finished paintings and the studio is a beehive of activity. Look for previews here soon and details on all the upcoming shows.

And last night we attended the Dutchland Roller Derby Bout with the debut roll of our first grandaughter Amanda…or as she’s know in the Rollerderby world…Seeds of Destruction ! (that’s her…the blur of a watermelon helmet with tiny pink shorts complete with sewn on watermelon seeds…of course ).  It was awesome and terrifying to watch her confident, atheletic and graceful body spin round and round that track. She jammed her way through that pack with style and grit and, though there just isn’t enough padding in the world for her grandmothers, it was amazing to watch her. (In the bench shot you can just catch a glimpse of the mascot…an Amish girl and her  black hatted little brother who ran around the ring with cowbells to rally the fans. It’s not your mother’s roller derby anymore.)

So our spring has been bookended with time spent with the oldest and the youngest grandchild…doesn’t get any better than that.

For now…here is the spring, so far, in pictures…

Birthday Blog

Posted on by heather • 1 Comment on Birthday Blog

I’ve been chained to the easel for long hours and late into the night and thought I’d take a break and write a quick blog to catch you all up.

The Granary Show is coming together. This year I have decided to focus on a few core themes and explore the subject matter across several paintings. A large central work accompanied by some other takes on the theme and then including smaller sketches to add some whimsy. The frustrating part is that I’m running out of time to meet the ambitious goals I set when I came up with this idea. Back when we were still enjoying turkey leftovers and looking forward to months of snowbound studio days.

Now… I haven’t been slacking off. Those winter months were productive but I had some commission work to do and an exciting Santa Fe show to paint for…stay tuned for that announcement… but here we are with easter bunnies and ham sandwiches and the clock is ticking.

 One of the “themes” I’m working with is … Laundry. Yes, that most humble, and dare I suggest…sensual, of the household chores. Back in the early days my friend Rex Wilder, the world famous poet, wrote a poem called The Folder. It echoed perfectly the act of love that goes into the folding of a lover’s freshly washed linens  and seemed to capture what I was trying to say in this painting of the same title (circa 2000)…

Pat is, as I write, up at the laundromat …lovingly washing and folding my clothes.

And I… am getting ready to play around with these three little panels…

It’s a PERFECT painting day…dark and stormy skies and rain puddles for Finn to play in while I set up a still life with tea towels and teacups and clothespins.

And at the end of this day…the promise of a sushi birthday dinner !

Life at 53 is a blast.

First day of Spring…

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It’s not all about painting this week…

The kitchen table has been piled high with vegetable catalogues and gardening bibles and seed packets and yesterday it was time to get some dirt on my hands. This year we’ve added two new raised beds. One for raspberries and the other for a cold frame greenhousey kind of thing under which I’ve started all the lovely salad greens and those devine french breakfast radishes.

Next project is to repair and secure the old Finnegan fence sections and then finish planting the peas…but mother nature is helping the muses out by dampening those plans with a forecasted week of rain.

Sooooo…it’s back to the easel for me. But at least I’ve got some dirt under my nails and those wonderful gardening endorphines keeping a smile in my heart.

Happy Spring !

winter workshop relocation

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We have had one day in the last two weeks with temperatures above freezing and I was able to get out to the garage and finish wrapping the rest of the panels working late into the last of that afternoon sunshine.

But, along with the rest of the country, we have been shivering ever since. In this part of the state the meteorologists use Harrisburg International Airport as the official temp. gauge. This morning I happened to be at HIA and could verify that it was indeed 1 degree outside. And since the little dribbles of water that we had left running from both of log cabin faucets decided …..to….stop…….dripping……..yesterday…………morning……………I can attest to the fact that it is too cold for those panels to be out in the unheated garage.

So I have brought them all, all 20 of them, inside and up the steep and narrow stairs to the library loft.

Last night I got  the first coat of gesso on the back sides. This is more easily done with a wide putty knife…unless the plastic one you bought for this purpose was used as a chew toy by your apprentice…

Today I will turn these all over, give the canvas a light sanding to remove stray bits of dried gel medium (which is the adhesive I use to attach it to the Dibond) and then …using the new putty knife…will start the first of several coats of the acrylic gesso. I find that I can use the scraper up to about the third coat before the streaks it leaves are too prominent. I’m going for the smoothest, weave-free look possible.

The final coat will be with the Art Board Gesso and probably brushed on. But I’m eager to see if working up in the loft, with it’s great source of light, will make any difference to how well I can apply the final layer.

This all will have to wait just a bit longer however…since the phone reception is poor up there…and I am monitoring a delayed flight due to mechanical troubles…and the computer has now become command central until my traveler is wheels up…and safely back down.

Stay tuned.

too cold to prep…

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awoke to a snowy commute to the studio…

we have been off the snow storm track for the first part of this winter so all those marvelous nor’easters are blowing right by and leaving six or seven flakes on the ground just to tease…

today… an inch !

I’ve begun the serious work of narrowing down the best compositions for the winter’s hibernation. The list…the short list…is over 30 paintings. When I count out the weeks, the days, between now and the big summer show at the Granary Gallery… July 17th for those who might wish to know… the realist in me, no pun intended, might anticipate 12-15 solid pieces, one of which will be another very detailed 8 footer. So… the pressure is on !

With my supply of ready-to-go panels dwindling I can’t wait for the weather to warm up before putting some more in the pipeline. The newly roofed garage is cleared out enough to provide ample workspace and though it is not insulated or heated the space heater and afternoon sunshine warm it up enough to work. At least that was the case until this morning.

The snow means no sun and the temps are well below freezing. Even though I keep the adhesive next to an iron and use said iron to smooth and secure the canvas to the panels…and even though I have Finnegan laying at my feet and the Koln Concert vibes warming up the rest of the garage…it was too cold for this artiste. I got one more panel wrapped and fled to the warmer studio.

A couple weeks ago I finished a painting which featured this compost pile…and uncharacteristically I’ve gone back a couple times since to tweak the light and shadows…not quite satisfied that it was singing.

Yesterday morning…as Finnegan and I made our way to work through the back gate… I passed the compost pile…

 

and  just that little bit of snow, almost an inch ! ,  gave a place for the raking light to…well…rake. I’m going to go back one more time…with today’s snow falling outside and the fingers warming up…and see if the muses were right.

Stay tuned.


Welcoming the New Year…

Posted on by heather • 1 Comment on Welcoming the New Year…

Zoe’s smiling face greeted me in the studio this last morning of 2010…

as my Aunt Lorrie said…it doesn’t get any better than that !  Right on Lo…we Grandmothers have it made….but they were only here for a brief visit and Finn is at a loss without her baby to take care of…

… to take her mind off of watching her sweet smiling pal being bundled up and tucked safely into the car and waving goodbye…Finn and I have begun to plan next year’s garden additions.

The seed catalogs have begun arriving and a mini-January thaw is promised for the weekend so we are going to build us a new bed and move the last of the dirt, which is threatening to become one with the driveway, into it and let it hang out with some compost for the rest of the winter and be ready to receive the salad green mixture of seeds in the early spring. I’m seriously eyeing one of those cold-frame covers in the gardeners catalog but the goal this year is to recycle the pile of construction materials from the old garage shed, and the other bits and pieces of clutter and debris that have taken up residence in our corner of the planet over the two decades we have been responsible for it’s care…and feed ourselves and a few neighbors along the way.

So…when Finnegan suggested using her old wading pools as planters…well we were off and running…

We’re thinking zukes and beans here…with some of those fabric potato pot planters as anchors…at least that’s what Finn is thinking.

We’ll head back out there after a morning session of painting…

and tonight, when we’ve put away the brushes and the tools and watched the last sunset of the year, and settled in with Herself by our fireside…we’ll pop a cork and raise a toast to all of you out there who make our lives so much richer for being at the other end of this blog.

Happy New Year !

 

 

 

Hitting the road…

Posted on by heather • 1 Comment on Hitting the road…

You may remember that some time back I showed you a photo of a hubcap that had just arrived at the studio door. Well today’s the day that I begin working on that project.

Some months ago I received an email from a fellow by the name of  Ken Marquis inviting me to be a part of a recycling adventure that he had begun…Landfill Art. The basic idea is that he is sending out old hubcaps that have been rusting along our highways and letting artists have their way with them. There is a gallery of the ones returned so far on his website and he plans to publish a book showcasing all 1,041 and then choose 200 for a traveling show.

His selection of artists has an unusual scope as well…

“The goal of this project, is to include at least one professional artist from each of Pennsylvania’s sixty-seven (67) counties, at least one from each of the 50 US States, and to include a number of international artists.

In addition, I have always been a believer inthe 80/20 rule. My goal is to have 80% of the project be completed by professional artists and 20% fulfilled by nontraditional artists. These nontraditional artists are mentally and physically challenged (ie, down syndrome and autistic artists), politically oppressed artists (ie, Cubans), young artists (ie, 25 NYC third grade school children) and incarcerated artists.“

So, today it’s my turn. I’ve been pondering this for months now and at first thought I’d do some form of teacup composition…aka roadside diner theme. But after I did a quick sketch I picked the hubcap up and looked more closely…and saw my reflection. Shazam….new idea. Waded through the mounds of leaves to the old studio, now the prop room, and brought down the old gas station mechanic’s uniform that hangs there.

A fun little side trip was discovering the trail of stink bugs that followed me back into the studio….and right back out onto the porch where I dug dozens of them out from each of the many pockets …ugh.

I also found an old cap with a Shell logo on it that I forgot was up there…and an old pair of lock pliers…

So, now I’m thinking of painting the reflection of a mechanic fixing to put this shiny sphere back on the good old chevy.

Not sure if I need to gesso first or just paint right on the metal. That will be today’s adventure…along with trying to fit into the overhauls !

I’ll keep ya posted,

and oh yeah…Finnegan wanted to say hi

 

Falling…into my easel chair.

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Tis a beautiful morning in the studio…

There are still some maple trees holding on to the last of their glowing yellow leaves and the sunrise was a stunner with every shade of red clinging to the edges of the clouds. The light is strong and the air is crystal clear. My lungs have followed suit and yesterday’s reaction to the flu shot is a whispered memory. Finnegan had a good romp in the leaves with her bucket and is snoring peacefully at my side.

In the words of Monty Python… I feel much better. I feel Happy !

Just thought I’d share…

On the bluff…

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I meant to post some pics from our time on the bluff as soon as we got home. Well now it’s been over two weeks and I’ve got a tiny little breathing room so without further ado…

We saw more almost every sunrise, and every single sunset…spent the first two weeks knitting and reading and finishing a sweater while watching dancing with the stars with Ted…dinners with friends…many walks on the beach  and around the meadows with Finnegan…spent the last week holding new grandbaby Zoe and teaching her to play Pinochle and boccie and what it feels like to have dog whiskers on her face and watching the reflection of her melt-your-heart smile in her mama and papa’s eyes.

I don’t know about you other artists but my creative channel seems to never sleep. The goal was to relax and enjoy the vineyard’s healing solace and shut down the side of the brain that takes everything in as a painting reference. All in all…I sorta did.

And here’s the proof…

Updates and upgrades…

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Please excuse the mess…My apprentice and I are putting the finishing touches on some upgrades to the website. The big summer show is a good opportunity to refresh and reconnect with patrons and friends and the website is the focus for the launch of the new paintings….soooo it’s time for a mini makeover.

Most of the improvements are happening in the background, thanks to my webmaster Ross !  He’s making it more user friendly for me to load images and select options. It’s making my job so much easier in this season of deadlines. I’ve added a new look to the boring lines of type that provide links to and fro within the site, and we are including some video and revamping a new studio tour…coming soon !

Check it out !

This week it’s all about the show. As of yesterday afternoon all of the paintings are back here in the studio. Half of them are framed and half…not. There are painters notes to be written, files from the photographer to be cleaned up and sized for the website and the gallery’s use, art supplies and equipment to be packed…and oh yeah…the trailer vent which failed and had to be ripped out and sent back to the factory…ugh…has been replaced with a new one which arrived yesterday…in the pouring rain…so that has to be reinstalled before any of these babies get loaded.

But we’re on the positive side of this adventure and …all shall be well.

New paintings will be launched on the website on Saturday…I hope !

Stay tuned… and stay cool,

h