Tag: Heather Neill

Museums and Orchards…

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Museums…

A great article (click here to read) about the new Museum of Realist Art which is a project in the planning stages but gaining momentum towards the dream of a 2014 opening in East Boston. The founders, George Kougeas and Pamela Sienna, have been working hard to realize that dream and have been terrifically supportive of the artists they have already begun curating into the collection.

More than just offering a venue to showcase Realist art, they are building a dialogue amonst the artists though their support and promotion that is enhancing and enriching our community. I’m thrilled to be on their radar and doubly pleased to see that the Boston Globe included one of my new paintings…yes one which you saw here first only a few days ago…in the online article.   Camera Obscura

So, again…and again… many thanks to them.

And now… Orchards.

It’s time to unveil the anchor piece in the Apple Series paintings. Many of you were along for the ride when, this fall and winter, I was blogging as I slogged through the adventure of painting seven hundred fifty thousand apples. Ok, not literally but it sure felt like that at the end of each day. I have included those blog entries as the Painter’s Notes mostly because it reminds me that a little perserverance and a lot of whining can get you through even the toughtest of artistic challenges.

And now that it’s done and framed and ready to be put in the trailer… I am so glad that I chose to do it on a larger panel than originally planned. For me it’s all about Ted’s hand and that would have been completely lost in a smaller format.

Rumor has it that Debbie, the orchard owner, is planning to provide a little appley treat to accompany the painting at this sunday’s opening. Those planning to attend might want to arrive early to insure a taste of Tiasquin’s Finest.

For the rest of you… here is…

#16 – Tiasquin Orchard  34 x 60

Ok I can’t delay this any longer…it’s out to pack the trailer.

Be well…

 

A Frenzy of Packing…

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I almost forgot to post today’s painting in the midst of all this packing. We have one more day to get all this together and I’m suddenly WAY behind schedule…

So, without further ado here ya go…

#15 – The Canoe Trip  24 x 36

Another look at James Pond
but this time from Gulliver’s perspective.

She was a wonderful dog.
Shy around some, she chose her humans carefully.

As Saren will tell you,
if you were lucky enough to have Gulliver trust you,
it was a rare gift of grace.

And Gully was loyal.
Beyond measure or equal.

So that when her best buddy Pat,
and pack members Jon and Tonya,
decided to take a sunset canoe trip on the pond…
those loyalties were surely tested.

Paddle alongside them to make sure their passage was safe…
or stay on shore guarding me,
the one who is mostly unsure of the water
and boats
and a reluctant swimmer.

You can see
that she chose to wait and watch
and I will forever be grateful to her
for that gift.

She watches over us all now and is ringing her chimes as I write.

Working in the studio kitchen…and a bit about packing…

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Every inch of this studio is at this moment filled with framed paintings. Yesterday I finished the last of them and wrapped them up for travel as I went along. There has been a bumpy learning curve over the last decade as I tried several different ways of securing the paintings for long distance transport.

One memorable year, when I still had my old Toyota pickup, circa 1982, I decided to stack the framed paintings horizontally…one on top of the other…with sheets of matboard and cardboard in between. After the 12 hour drive to Martha’s Vineyard, in steamy summer heat, I was dismayed to discover that some of the cardboard sheets had wilted and sagged enough to touch the surface of the paintings and actually “etch” a faint series of lines into the varnish. A hectic and sweaty few hours ensued wherein I had to transport them to a garage large enough to lay them out and then unframe and revarnish. NOT something an artist wants to have to do the day before a big show !!!

But, as I said, memorable and lesson securely learned. Nothing, absolutely NOTHING ever touches the surfaces of the paintings again. Now think about that. When they are framed, the frames provide a measure of protection by standing proud above the surface of the panels. Some are deeper than others but all of them give a bit of room for air to circulate when a board is placed on top or between frames.

But remember the sagging ordeal. Even a rigid foamcore board can bow enough in the heat and humidity to touch the surface even when packed upright. So I have sheets of ultra thin plywood which are wrapped in cotton sheeting in the trailer. They provide a rigid barrier in between the largest of the paintings and will not warp under stress.

So I have evolved to the current packing method which involved cutting foamcore corners and wrapping clear plastic packing film around the frames only. The plastic can touch the frame but usually stretches tight and doesn’t but either way it won’t leave a mark and lots of air can circulate around it. This makes it easier to handle the frames as they go in and out of the trailer.

 

Pat’s coming over later to help me wrap the two largest ones but in the meantime here’s a look at the finished carved frame which I showed you in progress a few days ago…

And because I spent most of yesterday working in the studio kitchen…

today’s painting is of one corner of that very room…

#13 – Swept Away  18 x 26

Gay Head Lily

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Here’s a fun one…

#12- Gay Head Lily  26 x 19

This is another that was inspired…insisted upon is more like it…by Ted.

He asked me three years ago if I had ever seen the Gay Head Lily and wasn’t satisfied with my answer so he took me on an adventure one afternoon over to a field out back of a friends house where they were blooming by the acre.

He found the perfect specimen…

And insisted on holding it so I could see all sides…

We chat once or twice a week, more when I’m on island, and every single time he has asked me if I have painted that lily yet. I was originally going to paint him holding it pretty much just as you see above. But it wasn’t working for me until I decided to turn it on its trompe l’oueille head. I wanted to tie it into the other paintings this year which feature those beach stones and you get the idea.

It was fun to paint but not as much fun as the phone call telling him it was finally finished. We’ll see you in less than a week now Ted…the show opening is on his 96th birthday. Now that’s sorta fun.

 

Calling all in free….

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We hooked up the trailer early and headed up to the photographers’…John Corcoran, my digital magician. Check out his website for some amazing examples of his work.

He and Pat always have a yuck yuck…even while helping me to load massive paintings into the trailer…

It’s the middle of the afternoon now and all the paintings are safely home in the studio and together for the first time in months. I mean ALL the paintings…and ALL the frames. There is barely enough room for me to walk let alone frame but that’s what needs to be done so I’m winging it. They say the effects of this kind of a heat wave are cumulative and I have been feeling it today but we are among the lucky ones who have power and cool air inside.

So a break here to chill down and let you see today’s addition to the Granary Show lineup…

#9 – Skillet Apple Pie   24 x 29.5

Yes, another in the apple series paintings…and this year’s Recipe Series entry. You can read more including the original recipe in the Painter’s Notes.
No more goofing off for me…it’s back to the framing.

Toodles

Trinity…

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#7- Trinity   34 x 39

This one goes a little deeper…
and as the Painter’s Notes reveal even deeper than I thought.

The Trinity

 I’m listening to Paul Winter as I write this.

His song, Belly of the Whale from his Earth Music Album.

If you were here and we were both sitting in front of this painting listening to it together…
I wonder if it would expand your thoughts about it,
the painting that is, too.

His saxophone is tilting in a graceful arc above the water
while a clear soulful whale song bubbles up from the ocean deep.
They meet a hair’s breath below the surface
in a gentle but haunting cello solo…and dance.

There is darkness and pain which flows into a brilliant blue tenderness.
A compassion that makes me weep,
and one or two notes that are all I need of joy.

I never would have chosen any of those words to describe this painting.
I’m not sure why I’m including them now.
But I do know that this painting was a mystery from day one.
It does not appear in any form in any sketchbook I’ve kept.
The objects are as far apart from each other in the studio as it is possible to be.

I remember picking up the clarinet
in order to adjust the string that was holding it askew on the wall.
Then taking the painting of Ted, which hangs facing the easel,
off the wall so I could hang it there.
Seeing the yellow of the whale oil strainer from across the room…
and then noticing the morning light catch the tip of the seagull feather in the driftwood.
How I got them all to stay like that on the wall and how that window got there I don’t know.

During the weeks I painted this Pat was away caring for a critically ill Uncle and his wife.
We weren’t expecting it and the separation was disconcerting.
 I suppose the muses knew I needed a meaningful distraction.
And so they brought me to the edge of this latest in the spirit vessel series.

And I suppose they are at it again…

choosing tonight, as I write,
to have Paul Winter’s Saxophone to fill the studio, my heart, and my spirit

I love it when they surprise me like that.

 

 

 

A fine morning to carve…

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As the heatwave nestles into the valley I was disuaded from my early morning weeding by the ever watchful apprentice who decided that we should heed the air quality warnings and head inside to the cooler chambers of the studio.

So I’m getting an early start on the frame carving…

It’s been a while since I have done one of these and I’m loving the chance to get out the woodworking tools and make some tiny shavings. I mentioned earlier that the first painting, “All this and more”…

was based on an NC Wyeth quote and so that’s what is being carved into its frame. I spent all day yesterday getting the words onto the wood. Years ago I created a digital alphabet by first drawing out each letter on graph paper and then scanning it into Publisher and then laboriously cutting and pasting separate files for each letter. That allowed me to open a new file and cut and paste the letters as needed to form the words in each quote. Then I size them to the frame, print out and transfer with graphite paper to the wood itself.

A large part of the morning yesterday was spent trying to FIND that file which was buried on my old harddrive. Ugh. But once I got it on the new computer it worked like a breeze. Still laborious but way easier than the way I did it before, drawing it all out by hand several times until I got the spacing right. Difference of hours vs. days.

But I have to back up a step…the frame really starts with a trip to the local lumber yard…where my trusty assistant volunteered to let the poplar boards rest on her lap rather than on top of the roof for the ride home.

I didn’t get a photo of him but the next step is hauling the boards up to the frame shop, Artworks in Mechanicsburg, PA,( my heros),  and back to John Weist, my super hero. He chops the moulding and the poplar boards at the same time and then joins them seperately so I can work on it assembled which makes it much easier to design.

What I end up with is this…

Then I cut out the words, lay them out on the boards, tape them down and use the graphite paper to transfer lines to the boards.

Clean up the lines…

and break out the tools…

Raking light is essential to see where the cuts need to be trimmed and refined…

and then it’s all about the fun and challenge of removing the wood that doesn’t want to be there.

I’m headed back to the tools now… but first…

for those who are here to see today’s painting…

a happy little number and one of my favorites…

#5- Beach Rose  14″ x 20″ 

Stay cool out there now…