Tag: Musings

A new year, a new knee, a new wave of creative energy…

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and a good time to catch you up on the progress here in the studio…
It’s now been two months since my first knee replacement surgery and by all accounts things are moving along swimmingly. The first month was all about learning to walk again…

and the second month has been about taking a defibrilator to my mojo. Even though I was able to walk over to the studio by week three…the creative muses had decided to take a longer vacation and it was many more weeks before I had the energy to lift even the tiniest of brushes. But…thanks to my long suffering nurse and team of PT helpers… I’m back !

Before this saga began I had decided to get a painting started so that I would have all the setup work done and, post surgery, could just sit and paint. I had posted a facebook photo taken early one morning as I came to work in the studio…

and the muses must have been working on that website because the responses made it clear that I HAD to paint this. So with a few tweeks I  I painted right up until the day before surgery and had a pretty good start…

And after sitting patiently on the easel for weeks, it was more than ready for my impatient attentions. The first few days were short controlled bursts of playing with puddles of paint but finally the spark returned and I put the finishing touches on this work in the very last hours of 2012 and it felt great.

And day one of the new year found me in the studio beginning again to fill requests from galleries for new work. My goal is to sharpen the focus of who I am as an artist and to lay back and enjoy the gift of being able to do what I love right up until the fat lady sings…or at least until she has finished her mending.

May all of you find your sparkles alive and well in this new year.

 

The Season of Solstice

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Celebrating the season of long winter nights and welcomingly fragrant evergreens, a grateful return to my seat at the easel, the twinkling of colored lights, newsletters from loved ones, the trail of cookie crumbs from studio to cabin…and back, and the sparkle in the eyes of our sweet lapdog Finnegan who is thoroughly enjoying the frosty morning walks with her buddy.

Wishing you all manner of love and laughter and light…

Pat, Heather and Finn

Healing

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A sunny crisp winter morning greets me here in the studio after a long quiet month of healing days. Slow and steady progress finds me able to negotiate the short commute across the lane to the studio yard and to catch up on the piles of paperwork and take short naps in the warming sunshine.

Now that the new body parts are settling in it is time to rouse the sleeping muses. It is a somewhat disconcerting phenomenon that the creative energy levels have been slow to resurface and I’m just going to have to try and trick those atrophied muscles back into gear. Perhaps just sitting in my easel chair will spark something. Or maybe aroma therapy ? sniffing an open jar of turpentine ?

Well, while my muses have been on vacation… some of my favorite artist friends have been working hard and I wanted to pass along news of these spectacular shows that are must sees…

Robert Jackson
Bob’s crazy quirky humor is on display in a group of stunning new works at the Gallery Henoch in NYC. This show was delayed due to flooding in the Chelsea Art District after Hurricane Sandy and it is winding up now but well worth a look to see the fun that his boxes have gotten up to lately.

Scott Fraser
Oh the pleasures of viewing new works by Scott. In a few days, Dec. 15, his solo show will open at the Jenkins Johnson Gallery in SF. Below is a photo of the invitation which was slightly bruised in transit by the US postal system but it will provide a link for you to see more of the current work.

Michael Allen and JD Wissler
A study in… studies. These two friends have been part of a group of plein air artists who have spent hours and indeed years together out in the wilds of central Pennsylvania capturing the atmospheres on canvas. Their work has been featured in an article in the current issue of Plein Air Magazine.

My idle brushes are lifted to them all and with a bit more

It’s been a while…

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and the muses are calling…
calling me back to the studio…
the brushes are flirting with me as I walk by them from kitchen to office and back again… oh how the empty panels stacked up alongside the easel do tease.

I am listening, but there are a few more tasks to be swept away before I can return to my easel. Today, for instance, I have added some new prints to the website shop. Here’s a quick peek…

 

There are over 40 prints listed on the site now but if you have a particular favorite which you do not see there please contact me and I’ll let you know if it is available.

And remember…shipping and handling is… FREE ! 

 

Small works in a big way…

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All hail the return of civilized weather. When that first waft of cool air hit my lungs I all but fell to weeping. The edges of my soul were beginning to get crispy and my eyes felt like thickly glazed donuts.

With the earlier sunsets and the thin carpet of leaves, the studio is poised for a hiatus. We are once again returning to Martha’s Vineyard for an autumn sabbatical and an opportunity to work among the gulls and the waves in person.

But I haven’t been idle in the last few weeks. My brushes have been flying in pursuit of some smaller panels but no less meaningful gestures. I will shortly be loading the car to bring up new works to fill spaces on the walls at the Granary Gallery…and will be sending a parcel of new paintings out to Denver, to Gallery 1261, for their upcoming small works show in November.

Meanwhile, I thought I’d give you dear readers a sneak peek. Here, for your perusal, are the latest musings from the studio… I hope you will enjoy them with a fresh mug of  cider…or warm cup of tea.

                             

Moving in Day…

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Every woman needs a retreat. A place to be where the creative muses can find her while her hands are busy and her soul is at rest. For me, that place is my garden. And now, a sanctuary within that sanctuary…my greenhouse is finished !

 

Three days of hard work to finish the carpentry and then stain and paint and today Pat helped me to carry the books and seeds over to start filling the shelves…

 Now I can cast about the studio and cabin to find some things to make it homey, and make cushions for the wicker chair I found and a few hangers for hats and jackets, and some sort of solar powered lamp. It feels so good to complete something as fanciful as this. My garden folly. Now to find the windex !

 

 

 

Creative Maturity

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An imaginative and beautifully designed magazine, Martha’s Vineyard Arts and Ideas, is the creative brainchild of Patrick Phillips. A few months ago we spoke about including my work as one of the featured artist profiles and it has been published in this month’s issue.

http://www.mvartsandideas.com/arts/artist-profiles/heather-neill

When I spoke to Patrick earlier this summer I was preparing to work on a painting which had the title, Aren’t we aging well…which I wrote about in the last blog entry.

The musings in MV Arts and Ideas, about “aging into creative maturity”, were in part a reflection on how I was going to interpret the title for this intimate portrait of myself and Pat…but were also part of a current dialogue that I have been having with the muses about how, even as a mid-career artist…read, she’s gone through enough sketchbooks and pencils to fill a spaceship…there are still daily moments of uncertainty as I sit in front of the easel.

I expect that most of you artists out there who are of a certain age are also still balancing the confidences of craft with the moments of dreadful doubt…especially since so much of what happens between the brush and the panel is a mystery. I’d love to hear how well all of you are “aging”.

 

Granary and Garden

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We’ve been home for over a week now and the re-entry hubub has settled down and I am back at the easel in earnest. And back in the garden as well but not so earnestly as the summer heat wave continues. But this is all good because I am getting my garden fix early in the cooler morning hours and then the rest of the day spent at the air-conditioned studio easel feels like a spa.

Time then to post some photos from the Granary show. The opening was wonderful…a sea of art lovers with many new faces and lots of kind words of support. I took some photos after the crowds had cleared to show you blog readers the installation.

And not to be left out… a few snaps from this morning’s raid of one of the potato bags.

I’m in the mood for some vichysoisse and decided to dig around for some spuds. A task which I approach like an archeological expedition… gently brushing aside layers of dirt to reveal the brightly colored treasures. It’s just magical. Though I’m not too impressed with the yield so far. I welcome any advice from all my master gardener pals on how to improve next year’s crop.

In the coming weeks I’m going to look back and show a couple “paintings in progress” photos I took while working this spring. And I’ve got a slew of panels ready for a series of smaller paintings which will be headed out to Denver for the Gallery 1261 small works show in November/December.

Meanwhile I finished this piece the other day…(here’s an unvarnished studio shot)

It’s title is “Aren’t We Aging Well”…from the title of that wonderful Dar Williams song. I’ve carried just the title forward through several sketch books and when I decided on a visual interpretation it was originally supposed to be an anonymous couple, though always two women. But after Pat and I posed together in the studio yard…I used the remote shutter release on the camera to sneak some shots from behind the chairs…and I looked at the pictures, I realized that we were in no way anonymous. And then it became so deeply personal that I took it out of the Granary roster and put it aside to work on after the show.

I’m so glad now to have it finished …and have cleared some wall space in the studio to hang it after it dries, is varnished and photographed…just for us.

It has been years since I allowed myself to do a painting that wasn’t destined for a gallery or show. It’s good, as the song says, to “steal out with my paints and my brushes”…and paint as if nobody is watching.

But now…I’ve got to be getting on with the current still life. A few of the familiar props are making another appearance like the red stiletto, the silk camisole, and is that one of Polly’s cigarettes ? Really ?

Patience dear reader…all will be revealed…in good time.

 

 

 

On the road again…

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Now this is sorta fun…

When this post hits the airwaves I hope to be somewhere around New London, Ct. in the car, hauling the trailer, headed for the island.

But today, as I write this while procrastinating instead of packing the trailer, I have two more paintings to wrap up and a whole lotta last minute packing to do so let’s get right down to it.

I’ve saved the biggest for the last two and today I give you….

#17 – Up Island Morning  40 x 90

A little slice of Chilmark heaven. Our destination this week is just over the hill from here and right on the edge of the planet. Zoe will not need the sheep whose internal music player lulls her to sleep with the sound of ocean waves…because they will be right out the window !

May you all find peace in whatever slice of heaven you wake up to this morning…

Blossom smile some sunshine…

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The Granary Gallery show opening is exactly one week from today !

And I seem to be aware of that on a cellular level. My frazzled brain is tingling with firing neurons and my body is leaning into the promise of an ocean breeze. So it didn’t surprise me at all when, after watching a video on the New York Times website about preparing squash blossoms for an appetizer I went out to the yard and took some photos for the blog of the very blossoms I plan to put on a plate this evening…

I am in a bit of garden angst at the thought of leaving my tenders behind for our week on the island…just as the fruits of our labors are…well…blossoming. I have the drip irrigation system up and running and a timer installed yesterday seems to be working just fine…but if you have ever raised a raised bed full of veggies you know the rewards that are reaped from constant vigilance.

Anyway, I thought that stumbling upon that recipe was kismet since I now have lots of blossoms that, if left alone, will grow into fruit that I won’t be here to pick. So…much against my usual judgement, I’m a gonna pluck the best of the lot and nibble on them tonight.

Then I come in to write today’s blog and go to the folder where I keep all the show images to see what is left on the list and… wait for it…

#14 – Blosson  14 x 20

You’re all gonna think I planned this but remember that frazzled state ? There is no extra room for such detail…this is pure garden grace at its finest.

So here we go… into the final countdown. Painter’s Notes must be finished today. Then a host of other computer work and some studio clean up and a whole lot of packing. Oh, I remember the days when a trip to the Vineyard meant throwing some clothes and books in a napsack. Now it’s the station wagon, the dog and the trailer…all packed to the gills.

Here’s a link to Melissa Clark’s recipe for Squash Blossoms…http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/06/zucchini-flowers-in-the-raw/

I’m going to go with Boursin, since I don’t think Burrata could be found within 50 miles of here on a Sunday, and a basil/garlic tapenadey thing. I’ll let you know how they come out.

Meanwhile, go take a walk in your garden and breathe deeply of the beauty.