Part of what makes October special
on Martha’s Vineyard
is the Derby.
Fishermen from all over the world
come to test their mettle
against each other
and the sea.
When the weather blows in stormy
as it did last year
and Nor’ easters backed up
one after the other
it was really exciting…
to grab a couple cups of chowder
at Larsen’s and drive up to the beach.
From that vantage you could
see the bravest amongst those shore rod and reelers
fighting the waves and wind
and feel all cozy and safe and warm
as you rooted for them to beat the odds.
On our last night on the island
we drove to Menemsha to say goodbye
and no one was home
we were the only ones in the parking lot
and this boat was the sole vessel afloat.
Turns out we were there at the exact moment
when all those fishermen were at the other end of the island
celebrating the victorious among them
at the awards ceremony.
NOW I can finally tell you that I have finished all of the Painter’s Notes for this year’s Granary Gallery show and …. they are all up on my new YouTube channel.
I’m going to test a link here to see if it will take you there...click here.
Ok that seems to have worked…at least it does on my computer but please let me know if it’s not appearing on your end.
You can enter my name in a YouTube search and find them as well.
I’ve had some help along the way…thanks from my tech gurus Barbarella and Paul…and a whole lot of patience as I came home later and later each night…love ya babe…but for the most part, climbing this learning curve has been fun.
I’m going to publish them here on the blog as I have in the past but this year I’ll be including the brand spanking new video versions along with the traditional printed ones.
In the shameless self promotion department…if you like what you see they tell me it really makes a difference to hit that like button…and if you also click the subscribe link you will get notices of all future videos that I share. Bonus tip…there will be at least one more coming…a studio visit which Herself is already ironing her outfit for.
So we’ll start with the big one…Menemsha Morning (video link above)
This painting is
the culmination
of a dream I have had
for over 40 years.
To spend the night
and wake up
in the village
of Memensha.
Last year
that dream came true.
And every morning
for a week
I got to experience
for my creative soul
everything
magical
that harbor
has to offer.
To officially launch the New Paintings for this year’s Granary Gallery show…
I am going back to the beginning…
Signaling Home – 24 x 36
And…to experience that ocean breeze just a little closer to you…just visit my YouTube channel and enjoy this short video which tells the story behind this painting.
We have come to the final new painting for this year’s Granary Gallery show…
Morning Menemsha – 48″ x 92″
In this day and age it is hard to keep things on the Q-T, and when you quietly post your first ever YouTube video so that you can practice with how to do that…
and then you decide it looks sorta cool so you tell one or two friends that it’s up…but please don’t share it publicly yet…
and then you tell a few more people and swear them to secrecy, knowing that you want it to be saved for the big finish in the website rollout of new paintings…
because you hope that someone out there actually reads these blog posts and enjoys the anticipation each year as much as you do…
and then you get the green light from the gallery that the paintings arrived safely and the word is getting around…as it does on an island…and people are trickling in to SEE this painting…
and then you are peeling potatoes in the studio kitchen and check in with your phone and see that your WIFE has actually gone ahead and posted the video ON FACEBOOK…
well…drumroll… you’ve been scooped.
So without further ado…
here is a little fly by video I made so you can get up close and personal with my painting…Morning Menemsha
and I’m happy to report that the paintings have arrived safely at The Granary Gallery and all who helped along that journey are also safe and sound. Bless you all.
The lightness and positive energy I am feeling now clues me in to just how anxious I had been. It’s always a pretty stressful time as a self-employed artist to pack up your entire year’s worth of work and haul it hundreds of miles…across land…and sea…but…throw in economic uncertainty, civil unrest, cultural upheaval, political warfare and top that all off with a PANDEMIC …well it’s been a stressful time for us all hasn’t it.
Which makes it all the more wonderful today and I’m going to celebrate the positives…
AND…
I’ve got one very special positive to share with you today…
Jack the Lad – 26 x 30
I give you Jack..
the Lad…
and his pal Graham.
Let’s Zoom in a little…
There they are.
I’ll have a lot more to say about this in the Painter’s Notes…but after much anticipation on both our parts…Graham and Jack finally got to see their painting today…
It fills my heart to share the delightfully tender and upbeat energy those two souls exude.
Sure wish I could have been there for the unveiling Graham but this photo is all I need to see. May we all enjoy a bit of this happiness today.
Gallarista Adam pulled in to her driveway a few minutes ago where the plan is to load up both Mary’s work and mine into the Art Van to return to the island of Martha’s Vineyard for our upcoming summer shows. A big thank you to Chris Morse, owner of The Granary Gallery, for helping to arrange this Pandemic Pickup.
And tremendous thanks to Adam and Nathan for taking the risks involved to make that trip for we studio-bound artists.
It takes a village.
And that is a perfect segue to today’s new painting reveal…
A Fisher of Men – 36″ x 48″
This portrait of our dear friend Arthur walking in his calm powerful grace has been a comfort leaning against the wall in the studio lo these many weeks since it came off the easel. It has been hard not to be able to gather for our evenings of conversation and frivolity in the midst of the pandemic…when we could all desperately use that fellowship.
More on Arthur later…
The phone just beeped the good news that Nathan has arrived safely, Adam has almost finished loading Mary’s work and then we’re up.
My next deep breath won’t come until he pulls safely back into my studio driveway…so Pat is instructed to continue her novena a little bit longer.
Now I can move on to writing all those Painter’s Notes. Good inside work for these beastly hot days.
The intense emotions and recalculations of this roller coaster of a week have left us dazed…but we are closing it out in a much better place thanks in no small part to the true kindness of friends.
And honestly…that could describe every single week of this year so far…probably for each one of us.
So…Onward !
While this particular morning rings in a foggy soupy kind of summer day…
In this next painting, I want to take you to another kind of summer’s day…
The Morning Bell – 24 x 30
A bright and colorful familiar along the Menemsha dock.
What I wouldn’t give to be sitting on a bench there now.
I remember this heart piercing quiet now.
In Finnegan’s wake the studio may feel empty…
but it is full of paintings.
The logistics have all been ironed out for this year’s Granary Gallery show to travel on up to the island.
With the wicked virus floating around, we are most gratefully relying on the helpers in our world to make it safe for us to manage the parts of this workflow that require contact with the outside world. This week the frames arrive, thank you Julie and Kory. Next week the trailer gets loaded, thank you Matt and Paul. And then it gets hooked up and driven north.
Now all those thank yous are in advance and it will take some powerful angel to sync these steps smoothly into place…
luckily we have a brand new one.
Our valiant carrot whisperer is 10 years old today !!!
This painting was done when she was 8.
So much has changed in the world since then…
But Zoe’s imagination is growing brighter every day.
Sending you love and eagle hugs from the studio kiddo.
The Carrot Whisperer
“…I believe that everyone has imagination, that no matter how mature and adult and
sophisticated a person might seem, that person is still essentially an ex-baby. And as
children, we all lived in an imaginal world…you know, when you’d be told, “Don’t cross
that wall, because there’s monsters over there,” my God, the world you would create on
the other side of the wall. And when you’d ask questions like “Why is the sky blue?”
or “Where does God live?” or all this kind of stuff…like one of the first times I was coming to America,
I said to my little niece, who was seven, I said, “What will I bring you from America?”
She said, “Uh…” and her father said, “No, ask him, or you won’t get anything.”
And Katy turned to me and said, “What’s in it?” – (laughs) – which I thought was a great
question about America.”
An excerpt from the On Being conversation between Krista Tippet and the Irish Poet John O’Donohue
Our little carrot whisperer would have asked that same question at 7.
Now she is 8 and when we see her soon
I will ask her
but mostly I like to listen.
Zoe is one of the most richly vibrant souls
it has been my pleasure to share the planet with.
Her curiosity is fueled by a Tigger-like enthusiasm.
Stealthy observation informs her empathy.
And story telling is her super power.
So, last summer,
when I asked her seven year old self
to pose with the freshly picked carrot
and she examined it for a long while
deciding it made her think of
the snowman Olaf’s nose…
I waited
Then she thought the long green
fronds looked like hair
and she curled them in an arc over her head…
and I waited
And she started a story about how that
made her feel like a queen
and she was going to take the carrot
to visit her castle…
and I waited
until the queen decided she was in a carriage
and the carrot would, therein, accompany her
and she rested it regally on her shoulder
closed her eyes
and beckoned the footman to ride on.
An artist can’t choose her Muses.
We can only sharpen our brushes everyday
in the hopes that when they are ready to appear
we can catch them on …
the whisper.
