The Studio is alive with dancing muses…
The Teacups are dividing up into twos and threes
donning their mittens and warmest scarves
and the props have been hears whispering of yuletide mischief and cheer.
Our best and our brightest…
are wishing you and yours
a season of clear frosty nights,
with morning cups of steaming tea,
and afternoon walks amongst the snowy pines.
Be well,
stay safe,
and maybe we will catch up,
grab an elbow,
and walk a little ways
down the path with you.
Yours in hibernating brushes and winter wisps of Darjeeling,
Heather and Herself,
ANDFinn !
This painting is currently featured in a new CyberShow…an online exhibition hosted by Gallery 1261 …which does exist as a brick and mortar gallery in Denver, Colorado…by day…but, as with all things worth taking a second look at… there are many layers of mystery awarding the curious “mouse” clicker…
(click on this link to view… http://gallery1261.com/html_shows/13-small-works/neill-heather-skating-on-thin-ice-12×16-oil.htm#.Uq20EXZ3vGg )
This morning Finn and I took advantage of a warm spell and walked around the yard filling the bird feeders. I had been heeding the woodland warnings not to put out seed until the bears are hibernating. I have never, repeat never, seen a bear in my yard… but lately, I seem to be leaning into the winds of caution.
At the end of the path, just before the lilac bushes, we found this feather…
It’s about 6 inches long and the tips on the right side are dipped in a burnt sienna which the sun wants to make red. The top, which is at the bottom of this photo, is a mottled grey. I first thought of a red tailed hawk. Possibly a big owl ? But my heart wants it to be a Hawk.
Peter will know, or possibly his friend Marie, and most probably several others of you out there…so I decided to toss it to the cyber winds for some helpful answer.
It’s so beautiful, on it’s own, against the creamy ivory of my journal, and I am grateful to the muses for this gift of Advent.
The other day I was talking with my friend Katie and we got to comparing our gardens this year. She was excited to be growing purple beans but disappointed to discover that they turned green after being cooked….hmmmmm ?
At the time, my beans were just beginning to grow…
so I had to wait…and wait…
This week they are ready to pick !
And Zoe is here to help,
So we filled up the blue box,
with purple and green beans,
and threw them in the boiling water with the pasta…
(which I forgot to take a picture of …)
and YES, the purple ones DID turn green.
But not to worry, Zoe reports that they both taste the same and she should know because the entire box went into her belly.
It’s been wonderful to have an assistant in the garden and we have lots more to do before she leaves so I’ll sign off now…
The studio garden is alive with color this week so I’ve been spending time outside each morning listening for the muses…
I had photographed this butterfly yesterday as she drank in the nectar from Pat’s Zinnia bed…and so today I brought out a teacup and set it on the split rail fence…and waited…and waited…for the sun to climb over the tree tops and reach that same raking angle.
Pat came out and found me sitting and staring at the fence and decided it would be a good time to pick some of her flowers…
Herself never looks lovelier than when she is holding a handful of her beloved Zinnias.
Just after she left the sun came through and I captured the shadows through the petals and the fleeting light. As I turned to leave, yesterday’s butterfly came back and danced across the tops of the remaining flowers. I was sad to see that a large chunk of her delicate wings had been broken off.
So my visit with her yesterday, in all her cathedral-winged glory, was arranged by the muses after all…and, like so many of these Garden Graces Series paintings, the emphasis is on…grace.
When I settle in to work on a big painting my focus narrows, the creative energy tightens, and all the weeks of slogging through pondering compositional elements and deciding what to keep in and what to leave out, of sketching and panel prepping, and of reworking those sketches and printing out piles of detail reference photos…it all reaches a crescendo and, like the stretching of a rubber band, it suddenly snaps ! …and the first brushes hit the canvas. So it was, all that creative momentum strung taut, when I began the large painting, Severe Clear, for this summer’s Granary Gallery show.
But now, some 300 easel hours later, I am looking back and see, on my camera’s photo stream, that there were some wonderful moments in the spaces between all those long days of lifting brushes. When I paid homage to my most favorite springtime rituals. When I literally stopped to smell the roses, and to enjoy the first of the fiddleheads, and the first grilled pizza of the season, the annual pilgrimage to the Sheep and Wool Festival, to sit of an afternoon in the studio garden with loving family, and to enjoy this wonderful life we have together.
I’ll be telling you about the rest of the project, of which this painting is a keystone work, in little bit, a series of paintings which feature a Marine Hospital on Martha’s Vineyard that is about to open a new chapter in its historic life, but in the meantime…here’s a sneak peak at the big one, Severe Clear, and some of the studio highlights experienced along the way…
The panel is up and ready
The first beach rose blooms
The sky and water begin to emerge
First Reesers of the seaon
Distant details begin
The fiddleheads arrive
Tiny tiny boats
A morning in the sky chair
Deciding to reposition the ferry
First grilled pizza of the season
Couldn’t see the forest for the photos
Sheep break
Flag day came and went
Gulliver’s roses kept me company at my easel window
At four weeks the palette was inches deep
Peg and Sir Sid sit a spell
My pal John delivers the frames
The garlic scapes, the garlic scapes !!!!
In the truck for Herself to take to my other pal John, the professional photographer
I went searching on my website for the pic of this painting to use in today’s blog post and discovered that it had never been added to my portfolio. So I guess I was meant to read Peter’s Blog today, as I do most days actually. I need to be painting…NEED to be painting…but I wanted to quickly let you all know of a kickstarter campaign that he mentioned on his blog and it’s all about… Spoons !
Peter learned spooncarving from Wille, I learned spooncarving from Peter, and carving spoons is just about the most fun a person can have. So they want to make a movie about Wille, who is a national treasure in his home country of Sweden. And they need some money to do this and do this now as Wille is getting on in years. Basically you are pre-ordering the dvd and, as with all kickstarter campaigns, you don’t get charged unless they make their goal.
Here’s a pic for his AAC Feb 2011 magazine article which John O’Hern took of me carving a spoon on the studio porch…
And one of Peter a few years back carving a spoon on the log cabin porch…
So for all my woodworking pals out there…
Since it looks like Peter’s day is as chock full as mine I stole the following right off of his site rather than put it in my own words so you can read below…
and, even though I’m going to have to fight the overwhelming temptation to pick up a chunk of cherry and a knife… now I’ll get back to the easel.
I’m in a rush right now (clean up shavings in the kitchen from last night’s spoons, help get the kids off to school, me to work, etc) – so I will write at length about this later. But let’s get it together to raise this money pronto. Shouldn’t be hard. When you get to watch this video, you will be amazed. Here’s a snippet from the kickstarter blurb
“The biggest risk this project is that Wille Sundqvist is 87 years old. He is getting tired of age but still he is working with craft everyday. Last week when I talked to Wille he said he was in good shape and that he was eager to start with recording the film in June. He told me he is refusing all orders just to make bowls and spoons for the most generous donors. This tells us how he looks upon his own status. But of course everything can happen with a man at his age.”
If you are leery of using kickstarter, you can send a check to Drew Langsner.
Zoe is now 2 and a half and is the sharpest crayon in the deck. She is also big enough to pull her own weight…as well as a wagon full of sticks…and Mima put her to work in the studio as my apprentice.
I had developed this painting up to the shadow stage and so Zoe mixed up some ultramarine violet and paynes grey … and got right down to it.
After a long day in the studio she retired to the log cabin to watch some flicks with Gran and Bear Bear…
and I somehow managed to finish the painting on my own…
but I do believe in giving credit where it is due…soooo…
if you look closely…there is a tiny little Z (she’s not got the hang of the umlaut yet) that will live forever on the signature of this painting. You made Mima proud you special little girl.
Yes, when the winter hibernation is in full swing, production inside the studio soars. But, at least in my case, this is primarily due to the fact that my garden is sleeping. When the sun shines…I would rather be digging in the dirt.
This morning the sun is brilliant. Air cleared out by last nights storm. Creek roaring at full throttle. And my watering buckets are full …
So I lifted the flap on my little greenhouse and gave the tenders a drink.
It does an artist’s heart good to see these beautiful greens in the month of January and, with the seed catalogues piling up, the big greenhouse will soon be ready for action…
OK, enough of that garden talk. Time to get back to the easel. But…there will be a tiny salad on my lunch table.
Gallery 1261 is about to open their Small Works show. It will be running from November 16th through December 31st…but I thought you might like a little preview…
A couple little sketches from the studio garden…
Green Bean Tea
Cadmium Harvest
And this one…Spent… which features Polly’s antique cigarettes and that ever faithful red pump…
I’ll be offline for a while…gotta go see a man about a new knee.
So, while I’m recovering…just talk amongst yourselves…and I’ll catch up with you just as soon as I’m able to manage the 50 ft. commute from log cabin to studio.
While on Martha’s Vineyard earlier this month, we had the great pleasure of spending a day with our favorite little shavers, Rose and Daniel, and their groovy grey haired parents Maureen and Peter. Hanging with the Follansbee family is just about the most fun a person can have and I’m still smiling…
Peter Peter Pumpkin EaterRose and Daniel display their pumpkin art at the Granary Gallery
Looking back on these pictures prompted me to check out Peter’s Blog and I see that his latest video is out. This will make a great holiday gift for the woodworker in your life and I’m gonna have a blast watching him make shavings.
Here’s a link to his website information about the DVD…http://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/2012/10/20/joined-chest-dvd-now-available/ and while you are there check out the spoons that he is now selling. As my readers know, every time he even mentions spoons in his blog or on the phone or sitting on my studio porch… I have to get out the hatchet.
Today is no exception and if this keeps up I just may have a few of my own to offer up for sale here on my blog soon.
