It’s been a couple of seasons since we had the pleasure of John O’Hern’s company in our little corner of the planet. As part of his east coast travels, he came to the studio to interview me for the American Art Collector Magazine. John is one of those rare humans who has a thriving curiosity, the intellect to follow where it leads, and a profound peace at the center of his core. The combination makes for stellar conversation and his rapier like wit always keeps me on my bog-Irish toes.
I’m so grateful to John for his continued support and to Joshua Rose, the editor of AAC for profiling my work in this issue. The magazine is my go to source for the latest from artists and galleries and I’ve found something new and important for my work in every issue.
The February issue will be out soon, if not already, but here’s a peek at the first page of John’s article…
A frosty december day here in Manchester. Spent the whole morning cleaning out the office and now we could hold a barn dance in here.
Gallery 1261 invited me to have some work in their upcoming Small Works Show. It opens on December 10th out in Denver with an opening reception from 5 – 7 pm.
Here’s a sneak peak at a new painting that will be headed out west for that show…
By Design
Oil on Panel 16″ x 12″
Another in the Teacup Series this little one is jam packed with props that I have had stored in the Prop Room for years now. When I went up there to snoop around for some inspiration they, one by one, jumped into the old suitcase.
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 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.
Take full advantage of nature’s drying oven and….make panels !
The studio yard doubles as workshop in order to get a jumpstart on a batch of smaller panels. Day one – Dibond cut to size. Day two – Portrait grade cotton canvas wrapped and adhered with acrylic matte gel. Day three (morning) – Call Pat on her way home from market and ask her to detour to pick up some Liquitex acrylic gesso… use plastic putty knife to paint backside of panels. Day Three (afternoon) – use same putty knife to paint front side of panels. Day Four (today) – second coat on front with Liquitex.
Let the sun do its thing today and they will be ready tomorrow for the first coat of ArtBoard Gesso. I’ve written about it before when first trying it out and after months of working with it…it’s become my gesso of choice. The beautiful chalky surface is easily and quickly worked into a smooth paste using a fine sanding sponge and a little bit of water. I can control the texture and even when it’s glassy smooth there is still plenty of tooth to hold the first coat of oils. It is pricey enough that it would be wasted on the primer coats, but well worth the expense for the finished product.
I’ve got two more shows this year and want to have new works in both so there is no down time in the studio for this artist. I’ll be posting the expanded exhibition schedule soon…but in the meantime mark your calendar for these two dates…
Another summer storm has moved over the island and the steamy air is warming up again…as we head over to Menemsha to pick up some lobsters for supper tonight we found a copy of this week’s MV Times. Front page photo of the Menemsha Basin painting which will be featured in tomorrow’s show at the Granary Gallery.
On the island of Martha’s Vienyard, one of the earliest signs of spring…is the sound of its tiniest harbinger…the Pinkletink. Known to the rest of the world as a tree frog, the island is the only place you will hear someone call it by that name.
I have just spent the morning packing this little guy up and he’s on his way north to the Granary Gallery for the first of their traveling summer trilogy … Animal, Vegetable, Mineral.
You can click on the painting above and follow the link to see all of the work and where each of the three shows will be exhibiting…
Now it’s back to the easel…one…maybe two ???? more paintings to go.
What does an artist do when a still life set up requires a subject that is…out of season ?
When the very name of the island that serves as the backdrop has the name Vineyard in it and… it is June ?
Well, she takes herself to the grocery store…or to her iphone.
Yep, who knew. Way back in April when this painting idea came to me and I went to the new supermarket in search of props only to find that concord grapes are not among the items shipped in to our late winter township from some warmer climate on the other side of the globe. While wandering over to my favorite section…the cheese gazebo…I looked up and poof ! Concord grapes, complete with leaves ! Not exactly what I wanted but in a pinch… !
Now, in the middle of June, as I scramble to complete the paintings for the Granary Show, it is time to pull those photos from the camera roll on the trusty iphone and print them out as reference for the still life that sits before me.
You’ll have to wait a bit longer to see the finished result…but here’s a teaser…
This cardinal and his mate have been tap tap tapping on my studio window incessantly for …ever.
I have tried closing the blinds, leaving them half open, open all the way, hanging strings in the window… putting up tiny signs that say hush… and still…every day…he and his mate come back a’ knockin’.
I even suspect that this is the second generation because last year the female had a strange growth on her head…probably from knocking it all day…and this year it’s gone.
One morning this winter, while I was eating breakfast, a cardinal slammed into the kitchen door. I mean kamakazi. He didn’t make it and what with the three feet of snow on the ground the best I could do for him was to throw him in the garden. He sank like a stone. Yesterday I found the bright red feathers amongst the brilliant green chives.
Perhaps he was the patriarch and the current pair are keeping up the family tradition of trying to get into the studio…or just to get my attention…
