Now this is sorta fun…
our art collector friends Scott and Doug clued me into this website … ARTISTADAY .
I’ve been perusing the archives and am thrilled to be introduced to so many new-to-me painters.
For all you artists out there it’s an easy process to submit your work and…. Today’s artist is…me.
Check it out.
It’s a pleasure to be in the company of these three strong and seasoned artists for this upcoming show. And it’s in our backyard so those of you who live nearby can hopefully join us for the festivities. The show opens this weekend with two receptions, Saturday from 5-7 and Sunday from 2-4. The next weekend, November 21st at 2pm there will be a panel discussion with all 4 artists and the weekend after that, November 28th a gallery walk, touring the show with the artists.
I’ve got a trailer full of originals packed for delivery and for this show I’ll also have studio prints for sale.
The show is at the York Art Association, 220 S. Marshall St. York, PA 17402 – 717 755-0028.
I hope to see you there !
Ahhhh voting day. They pulled a fast one on me this morning and moved the polls across the street. The only thing in the firehall was…fire trucks. And 8am in Strinestown is not exactly bustling with passersby to ask where the election day excitement was happening. I saw a sign at the entrance to the Brethren church parking lot and my blood pressure spiked. Getting my separation of church and state speech revved up I drove in only to find the tiny Strinestown Community Center bricked onto the back of the church hall. Still a little close for my comfort but I did my duty and was #84 in our community to vote. The day is young …your turn.
Now to the real blog news…
Before I left for the show in July I stuck a post-it up on my computer with a list of things to “buy” after we came home, IF we had a good show. I had to wait until September to start crossing things off because I put them in order of need not want. But today I got word that one of those items…which was in both categories…has come on the market.
Beth Brown Reinsel’s new DVD Knitting Ganseys is now available !!!
And I just sat down last night to start a guage with the new yarn that I spun all summer…to make a gansey with !
If you know of Beth already you were certainly in line clicking that buy button before me. If you haven’t run across her yet please at least give yourself the treat of checking out her website and blog. Beth is a knitter’s knitter. She pays the kind of attention to detail in her patterns that I do in my paintings. She makes the fine tuned techniques easy to understand and her joy of all things knitted is boundless and contagious.
Here’s a link to her website…sit down with a cup of tea and enjoy…
The Reality Boost Show is running now until the end of November in Denver. It’s exciting for me to be a part of this exhibit and to be showing among such stellar painters. The gallery website has a show preview … and some nifty little red dots ! 
Kudos and Congrats go out to one of those stellar artists…Bob Jackson, who has just had a painting purchased by the Brandywine River Museum for their collection. A well deserved honor.
And further congrats to artist friend Steve Mills who was also part of that Brandywine River Museum show, Reality Check (show continues until November 18th). Steve’s paintings have received nods from many of the reviewers and his recent show at Gallery Henoch showcases some outstanding new work.
LRK has done it again…
here’s a couple photos of the Writer’s Blocks banner in play as it were at the BoucherCon mystery writer’s convention last week in San Fran… and a mention in her blog as well…it sure was fun to be a distant part of that adventure. Thanks again Laurie !
I’m still reeling from a power packed weekend of art and artists and curators and interviews and new and old friends and a studio filled with all that and then some.
The Brandywine River Museum show was spectacular. The opening was mobbed but there were enough spaces in the crowd to get to meet all of my Realist heroes. The museum has put the paintings up on their website in an online catalogue version. It’s a nice way to have access to the images but I long for the old days when you could buy a nicely bound book to bring home and peruse at your leisure and revisit the images over the years.
With gracious appreciation to Bob Jackson, Pat and I were invited to join the artists and museum staff at a dinner following the reception and a luncheon the next day following a panel discussion. Both opportunities were pure gold and I will live on the fruits of those many conversations for months.
It was also a chance to meet many of the artists with whom I’ll be showing next month at the 1261 Gallery in Denver.
I’ve been painting round the clock to have some new works to show them and this morning the gallery director said yes to them all so …. off to the photographers and the framers went Pat today and I’ll be shipping them out early next week.
Here’s a preview of one of the paintings that will be in that show… Oils on Canvas
They too will have an online version of the show and I’ll post that link when it’s up.
The show is titled, Reality Boost and will be featured in the October issue of American Art Collector Magazine so check your bookstores or mailboxes for that…
and….
stay tuned for an artist’s profile on yours truly that will appear in the AAC Mag sometime in the near future… Contributing author, curator and all around man of the arts…John O’Hern… was in town for the Brandywine show and spent the rest of the weekend visiting here in the studio and interviewed me for his upcoming article. It was a once in a lifetime experience to share our space with him and the gift of so much of his time, depth of knowledge, and rapier like wit and charm.
John’s genius is well documented in the years of Re-presenting Realism series of shows which he curated while leading the Arnot Art Museum in Elmira, NY. But it is perhaps his current creative incarnation as a freelance curator, writer and consultant that may leave a more indelible mark on the artworld.
His most recent work was to collaborate with EVOKE Contemporary Gallery in Santa Fe and curate the show…Re-presenting the Nude. You can view their online catalogue version by clicking here. It’s a powerful collection of work and I’ve been spinning off of the catalogue to research artist after artist whose work he has now introduced me to.
Spinning is indeed the operative word for my head right now…
Add to all of the above a stellar week of sales at the Granary Gallery and we are holding on tight to this wave of positive energy flowing around us… it’s certainly nice to have good things to report on and we’re not taking one second of it for granted.
Now it’s back to the easel for me… and you all get out and take a walk in this crisp clean air !
After a stressful and busy month I am sooooo looking forward to this weekend. Some of my most favorite living artists are being featured in a show at the Brandywine River Museum which opens on friday night for members and saturday for the public.
Bob Jackson has been working tirelessly to help pull the show and the artists to the forefront and the museum is hosting a panel discussion with the artists on saturday. His painting Target the Artist, 2009 Oil on Linen, seen below, is just one of his works that will be shown. The list of other artists is a who’s who of the top realists working today in this country. I encourage everyone to try and get to see the show and my congratulations go out to the museum and curator Audrey Lewis for bringing these works together in such a fine venue.
Congrats Bob, we can’t wait to raise a toast to your success tomorrow night !
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…
Group Show Opening October 15th
and
Opening November 13th, 14th
Artist Talks the following weekend.
Back to the easel for me… stay frosty out there !
Please excuse the mess…My apprentice and I are putting the finishing touches on some upgrades to the website. The big summer show is a good opportunity to refresh and reconnect with patrons and friends and the website is the focus for the launch of the new paintings….soooo it’s time for a mini makeover.
Most of the improvements are happening in the background, thanks to my webmaster Ross ! He’s making it more user friendly for me to load images and select options. It’s making my job so much easier in this season of deadlines. I’ve added a new look to the boring lines of type that provide links to and fro within the site, and we are including some video and revamping a new studio tour…coming soon !
This week it’s all about the show. As of yesterday afternoon all of the paintings are back here in the studio. Half of them are framed and half…not. There are painters notes to be written, files from the photographer to be cleaned up and sized for the website and the gallery’s use, art supplies and equipment to be packed…and oh yeah…the trailer vent which failed and had to be ripped out and sent back to the factory…ugh…has been replaced with a new one which arrived yesterday…in the pouring rain…so that has to be reinstalled before any of these babies get loaded.
But we’re on the positive side of this adventure and …all shall be well.
New paintings will be launched on the website on Saturday…I hope !
Stay tuned… and stay cool,
h