A group show curated by Anthony Waichulis which opens tonight ! October 10 and runs through November 1.
Two new paintings of mine will be featured and it is a personal and professional thrill to be included among the stable of realist artists from around the world. Both of these works were painted exclusively for this show and I had a freaky blast playing with the theme, Tight.
If you get a chance to see them in person please drop us a note as we wish we could be there for the festivities. Meanwhile…yours in flying brushes, Heather
Thanksgiving…the perfect time to share all the gratitude we feel for the love and support from patrons and friends throughout the year.
Here are a few new little paintings to help celebrate the season of light and love… these are currently on exhibition at Gallery 1261 in Denver for their Small Works Show.
For those of you who are scattered far and wide across this planet here’s a link for you to see all the fine paintings included…Gallery 1261. And I know a few of you who are within visiting distance of those Rocky Mountains and hope you will stop in and say hey for us.
Happy and Merry from the studio…
Sunflower Summer – 12 x 9
This was the year of Winter Sowing. A new and ancient method of seed starting. New for me ancient for the planet.
In late December, on the solstice if you want to celebarte the suns’ journey, recycled milk jugs and deeper potting pots with good drainage holes are filled with about 4? of seed starting soil. Then a packet of seeds is scattered over the top, carefully marked for much later identification… or not so carefully in my case… and sprinkled with water and covered with a plastic lid or in my case a ziplock back with ventilation holes. (Pro tip: A soldering iron saved time, and strain on my hands, in the making of all those holes.)
And then the fun part… put those jugs outside and walk away.
Mother Nature does the rest.
The beauty and the wonder of my new studio is that it was plunked right smack in the middle of my garden.
So, of course, Maggie and I inspected all those pots each day on our walks. I was a bit skeptical but not Maggie. Joyous trust is her superpower.
We had, per usual, exceeded our enthusiasm and of the initial 100 pots sown in the winter there was about an 85% success rate.
And among those the sunflowers were simply the best. Encircling the tomato plants lining the Ruth Stout Garden they made this one to remember the Sunflower Summer.
Rocky Mountain High – 9 x 12
This one came to me in a dream and taught me a new knot.
And then I got to trip down memory lane and listen to John Denver again.
I was right back in my Aunt Bonnie’s little MG with the top down and a burlap earthshoe bag full of 8 track tapes at my feet in the passenger seat.
Wind in our hair singing at the top of our lungs it was the closest I have ever come to a Rocky Mountain High.
Trustfall (Study) – 9 x 12
A Study
An idea beginning to take some sort of shape.
The lump in the throat.
A challenge thrown down by the Muses which I gently picked up three months ago now.
This very tiny painting was the first to emerge …three months ago… from the gossamer threads of a nebulous swirl which they The Muses were tossing one to the other like a beachball made of feathers in front of me.
And then in the middle of last night or rather the wee hours of the morning they woke me up and threw a scattershot of volley balls straight at me.
I snuck out of bed grabbed a flashlight and headed over to the studio to quickly capture some sketches.
That page as it turns out is a wild mess. But after a cup of tea and an hour of log editing and the 7.07am sunrise announcement from the Cardinal I went back down to the library and the next page in the sketchbook now reveals a fully formed series of paintings… Trustfall.
I know not to even be the least bit surprised that today is Thanksgiving Day.
Well I bring you all of that and more with these two new works which are winging their way out west to Gallery 1261 in Denver Colorado. My garden friends are floating out there on whisps of thistles and gossiping among the sunflower petals with stories of color and light from the new studio.
The show opens soon… November 11, 2023 and runs through the beginning of December. Perfect for holiday viewing and brightening up these shortening days.
Sending you all manner of light and love from the warm and cozy autumn studio… me.
Has it really been over two months since we last visited ? Well how’ve ya been ? I hope well and that you are still being safe out there. Please tell me you’ve been vaccinated. I hope you are enjoying the benefits of some time with old friends and new adventures.
We are taking baby steps as we navigate the brave new world. Visits outside with the fully jabbed and picking bunches of beautiful flowers growing in the gardens.
INside however the pace has been anything but slow and cautious. With all three galleries back open and eager for new work the brushes have been flying. Though we are not, once again due to the pandemic, traveling north to Martha’s Vineyard, the Granary Gallery is going on with the show so the paintings had to make a run for it.
The best part of last year’s painting delivery nightmare was meeting our driver Nathan and this year he once again has came to our rescue and all the paintings for this year’s show are safe and snug in a studio in Western MA awaiting the second leg of their journey when the gallery van will pick them up and tote them to the island. We are jealous that they will feel those ocean breezes but thrilled to have made an enduring friendship with Nathan, his wife Thanh and their new pup Ali.
Here’s a snap of Ali listening to Pat’s stories…and her heart.
And here she is riding shotgun on the painting delivery.
But before we begin the annual rollout of all those Granary pieces I’m pleased to share two NEW paintings which are, as I write, winging their way out to Denver.
Gallery 1261 is having a Small Works show which opens on August 14, and the New Paintings may arrive in time for them to take to the LA Art Fair this summer.
Without further ado I give you… Onion Moon Rising – 12 x 13
You seasoned patrons and friends will by now have checked out the new website features and be able to swiftly navigate to the Portfolio section and down to the Painter’s Notes to read the backstory on these little teacup mysteries.
While you do that I’m going to get back to work editing the images of the next batch of paintings which my camera managed to capture before they were framed and packaged for their road trip.
May your summer be full of rose sniffs and your kitchen filled with zucchini.
When I found my way back to the easel chair in early September I asked the Muses for help and boy did they come running. They are calling me back to the easel as I write…so stay tuned and stay safe !
Last of the Season – 12 x 18 Available at Gallery 1261 in Denver
I have a few NEW PAINTINGS to begin posting…the one above has headed out to Gallery 1261 in Denver.
But it reminded me of today since I spent the morning making an addition to the Ruth Stout bed.
It is mostly Matt’s fault because he keeps texting me about how well his “undercover” veg are doing and because he is my go to garden buddy. It’s so nice to throw ideas and new gurus back and forth and he is a witty soul who takes his garden very seriously.
Here are the rapid fire pics of the process begun early this frosty morning…
A chance to finally use all the cardboard I have been saving for the entire year.
Even threw in the Quarantine Box…awe Finn
Then it was time to haul all the leaves I had corralled into a bin on the other side of the yard.
I filled the spaces in with the stash of Vineyard Gazettes…minus the crossword puzzles.
It was heart wrenching to track the Covid headlines as the island has joined the nation with the out of control surge heading into the winter. These aren’t in order but they give you an idea…
Herself arrived in time to lend a hand and it took two bales of hay to cover the new 11 x 14 foot annex. The Ruth Stout bed now boast 960 sq feet of gardening space.
So, as I feature the “Last of the Season” it feels good to be laying the foundation for the season yet to come. May we all stay safe and healthy to be here to enjoy it.
They have a powerhouse collection of artists featured in this show and you can preview the work by clicking on this link…Click Here.
As we settle back home, after a whirlwind week at the Granary Gallery show, the studio has a bit more room to move around in and the muses are taking full advantage. No rest for the artiste…I am being given short spurts of time off to harvest the tomatoes, and pluck the odd green bean or two…then it is right back to the easel.
So watch this space…
Now that this new website is blazingly fast, it will be a pleasure to send out blog posts in a more regular and timely fashion. Thanks as ever, for coming along on this ride.
This falls under Ted’s favorite category of “sorta fun”.
A while back, one of my master muses, John O’Hern, sent a query asking about the painting Sisters. He was writing an article about florals, and botanicals, and Albrecht Durer, and naturally…thought of moi. (She wrote with a grin)
As I read through and found it today, I see that an image of Sisters did not make the editorial cut. I can see why as the others make a wonderful bouquet of floral still lifes, and my little garden painting is of the more humble vegetable variety.
But, here’s the fun part.
What John wrote about the painting Sisters is…in his most inimitably magical way…delightful.
And I quote,
“Heather Neill observes a helpful symbiotic relationship in her own garden between her tomato plants and a volunteer scarlet runner bean that self-seeded the year before. Sisters refers to the ancient practice of “sistering” or “growing companion plants to, in this case, literally, support one another”, she explains. “Native Americans would plant corn to support the beans, which would shade lower growing lettuces…all in the same patch.”
The subjects are shown after dusk plucked out of the dark by a porch light. Neill’s saturated color and hyperreal painting along with the dramatic light suggest a more sinister role for the vine when the light is extinguised.”
Only John would imagine such sinister designs, plucked after dusk by a porch light.
Looks like that Hubcap show, Second Time Around, at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley is a huge success. They have had well over 2400 people through just on the first weekend.
The Exhibit will be up through March 1, 2015 and it would be a beautiful day trip around this time of year. They have produced a new video which I found interesting so I’ve made a link here…Click for Video
Meanwhile, my days are filled with wrapping and shipping two groups of paintings headed out west. The Sugarman Peterson Gallery show opens in less than two weeks…oh my…and Gallery 1261 is having a new show which opens later in October, more on that soon.
Then, I have a large batch of panels in mid-prep in the garage workshop. The electricians have lit up the place, and it has been wonderful to throw the big carriage doors open to the beautiful fall weather, turn up the tunes, and work the day away.
So, though I will not be picking up the brushes for at least the next month, I will be working just as hard at the “behind the scenes” business of making art.
