Tag: realism

Paying it Forward

Posted on by heather

One of the best parts of having a gallery represent an artist’s work is the unexpected connections that the paintings can make with people you have never met. The Granary Gallery  (scroll down to the bottom of this linked page to view a video of a summer art opening) on Martha’s Vineyard is in an old red barn in the center of the island and, with it’s unique low keyed old corner store gathering place kind of feel, it is a year round destination for everyone from tourists to school children. Whether you’re an art lover or just along for the ride there is something to catch just about everyone’s fancy.

Occasionally I’ll hear from someone who has made their way there and come across my work. I love hearing the stories and links to their common ground. One such connection was made a while back with a woman who was pondering what to do with her need to create and we corresponded about where she was on that journey…ready to take a big step.

She wrote a lovely follow-up note after reading last week’s blog and with her permission I want to share it with you…it’s always a boost to hear when an artist’s hard work pays off. I’m so proud of her…

From Tina Hickman…

Hi Heather – so happy to see you back online as I had been hoping all was well!  Not sure if you remember, but I’m the woman from NH who left you a note at the Granary, telling you how much my son and I enjoyed your work.  Since then I’ve been in touch a few times via email – telling you about my own journey; pursuing illustration for children’s books.  Early next month I’ll be recieving my certificate from RISD in Children’s Book Illustration (after a looong 3 years!), but I want to tell you THANK YOU. 

You had written a bit on month about Great Women Artists, what it takes to be a woman, and the challenges of focus, and time, and being selfish. To make a long story short, I took my small talents, and made a dedicated place for me to work (my studio instead of my dining room table), and among other small changes I became “selfish” with my time, taking my time and focusing, and felt good about it.  The results of these changes were my increased happiness and confidence in my work – but the results were also validated this weekend at the New England Regional Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Conference – were I took home 3rd place in the published division for my Book Cover Illustration for “Island od Blyue Dolphins”.  I am THRILLED  – and I owe you a huge thank you for helping me to see. 

Best of luck with all you do – always –
Tina

www.kjhickman.com

Fiddlehead Fever

Posted on by heather

It’s raining…and raining…and yes it’s April and supposed to do that so we can have those wonderful flowers in the studio garden in a couple weeks.

And yes it’s great painting weather.

Anh yes, Zoe is coming to visit today and we’ll have sweet baby toes to tickle soon…

But right about now… I’m craving a plate of Fiddlehead Ferns …

Birthday Blog

Posted on by heather • 1 Comment on Birthday Blog

I’ve been chained to the easel for long hours and late into the night and thought I’d take a break and write a quick blog to catch you all up.

The Granary Show is coming together. This year I have decided to focus on a few core themes and explore the subject matter across several paintings. A large central work accompanied by some other takes on the theme and then including smaller sketches to add some whimsy. The frustrating part is that I’m running out of time to meet the ambitious goals I set when I came up with this idea. Back when we were still enjoying turkey leftovers and looking forward to months of snowbound studio days.

Now… I haven’t been slacking off. Those winter months were productive but I had some commission work to do and an exciting Santa Fe show to paint for…stay tuned for that announcement… but here we are with easter bunnies and ham sandwiches and the clock is ticking.

 One of the “themes” I’m working with is … Laundry. Yes, that most humble, and dare I suggest…sensual, of the household chores. Back in the early days my friend Rex Wilder, the world famous poet, wrote a poem called The Folder. It echoed perfectly the act of love that goes into the folding of a lover’s freshly washed linens  and seemed to capture what I was trying to say in this painting of the same title (circa 2000)…

Pat is, as I write, up at the laundromat …lovingly washing and folding my clothes.

And I… am getting ready to play around with these three little panels…

It’s a PERFECT painting day…dark and stormy skies and rain puddles for Finn to play in while I set up a still life with tea towels and teacups and clothespins.

And at the end of this day…the promise of a sushi birthday dinner !

Life at 53 is a blast.

This one’s for Follansbee…

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Pat just called and frantically yelled to get my camera and come outside…

Here’s who came to visit the studio this afternoon…

She , or he, sat perched in this hickory for enough time for me to circle around and get the sun in the right angle and then sat long enough for us to call Sue and Zola to look out their windows and then an electric truck drove by and that was time to bolt…

It wasn’t until it had taken off that we saw there were two of them flying around together. When I came inside to look at the photos the other one was there all along…

The whole neighborhood came out to see and it was a wonderful break from a long day of painting shingles…You can just make her out in the upper left corner…my easel window in at the bottom right corner…

Someone told us they are living in a nest down the lane…now that they know their way to the studio I’ll be sure to leave some goldfish out for a snack…

Hinging…

Posted on by heather • 1 Comment on Hinging…

Getting lost in the details can sometimes mean losing the details themselves.

It can take hours and many layers of paint to make a convincing shingle, or door. Especially when the wood is painted white. Every angle and corner reflects the light differently. And you can’t just mix up a “blue” for the shadows because they rely on what’s under them as much as what the sun is doing for their color. And all those parameters can change in a heartbeat on what you thought was a stable sunny summer day when a cloud passes over.

So I’ve been paying close attention to those shadow passages for a few days as I built up the layers on this vineyard doorway…

And, as is my practice, I sat back at the end of the day to review the progress and make notes on things to address in the morning and something about this stage bothered me. So I got up and turned the lights off and heat down and came back once more before heading home…and it jumped out at me.  Did you catch it too ?

There was only one hinge on that door.

I was concentrating on the depth of that blue and missed the tiny little detail of hardware without which that door would fly away in a stiff ocean breeze.

I’ve got it on there now, along with the next couple layers of light and some the rest of the hardware and my walking stick.

Now if I only had time to fix the door to Pat’s office in the log cabin that has fallen completely off it’s hinges. Must be the theme of the week.

Art Business

Posted on by heather • 2 Comments on Art Business

This is the chair I would like to be in this morning…

But this is the chair that I’ve actually been in all morning…

Because being a self-employed professional artist is serious…well…business. Which I think they should be a required course for any art major these days !

And lately this seems to take up a whole lot more of my time that it used to.  And the creative right brained visual learners amongst us can empathize with the struggle it can sometimes be to balance all the numbers on those little bits of paper that the CPA would like you to sort out. It  is only one reason that I am intensely grateful for our team of accountants headed up by Pam Bazella at Brown, Schultz, Sheridan and Fritz in Lancaster, PA. They are clever and patient and kindly have our backs and I simply could not function without them.

Self-promotion is another aspect of  “the business of making art”  (which should also be taught in that art major’s curriculum) and it can be layered with a healthy dose of  narcissistic potholes that are sometimes hard for the shy me to step over and around. But it is a vital part of being successful when you are measuring your goals with mortgage payments and health insurance bills. So I swallow…humbly…and plow ahead with announcements each time a new rung of the ladder is reached.

AND I have another partner in this adventure…and this life…without whom I could not exist let alone function…Herself, my Lackey, my Pat. So it is with great relief that she has made it home after a week of watching the new grandbaby up in the north country. I was happy and oh so jealous that she got some good bonding time with Zoe…but happier to have her home with Finn and me.

And now, with all that business out of the way…

I’m gonna go slop some paint around.

New Gallery Representation

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I don’t know where the art gallery business began using the term “stable”, as in “stable of artists”, to refer to the artists whom they choose to represent…but I was pleased to receive a phone call last night to welcome me out of this mid-winter cold and into the warmth of the stables of Gallery 1261 in Denver, CO.

I look forward to having this venue to expand our patron base and am honored to be in their fine company of artists such as, Scott Fraser, Daniel Sprick, Robert C. Jackson, Quang Ho, Kate Sammons, and Nancy Switzer just to name drop a few !

Now, as our first real nor’easter wails without… it’s back to the easel for me…

 

winter workshop relocation

Posted on by heather

We have had one day in the last two weeks with temperatures above freezing and I was able to get out to the garage and finish wrapping the rest of the panels working late into the last of that afternoon sunshine.

But, along with the rest of the country, we have been shivering ever since. In this part of the state the meteorologists use Harrisburg International Airport as the official temp. gauge. This morning I happened to be at HIA and could verify that it was indeed 1 degree outside. And since the little dribbles of water that we had left running from both of log cabin faucets decided …..to….stop…….dripping……..yesterday…………morning……………I can attest to the fact that it is too cold for those panels to be out in the unheated garage.

So I have brought them all, all 20 of them, inside and up the steep and narrow stairs to the library loft.

Last night I got  the first coat of gesso on the back sides. This is more easily done with a wide putty knife…unless the plastic one you bought for this purpose was used as a chew toy by your apprentice…

Today I will turn these all over, give the canvas a light sanding to remove stray bits of dried gel medium (which is the adhesive I use to attach it to the Dibond) and then …using the new putty knife…will start the first of several coats of the acrylic gesso. I find that I can use the scraper up to about the third coat before the streaks it leaves are too prominent. I’m going for the smoothest, weave-free look possible.

The final coat will be with the Art Board Gesso and probably brushed on. But I’m eager to see if working up in the loft, with it’s great source of light, will make any difference to how well I can apply the final layer.

This all will have to wait just a bit longer however…since the phone reception is poor up there…and I am monitoring a delayed flight due to mechanical troubles…and the computer has now become command central until my traveler is wheels up…and safely back down.

Stay tuned.