Ann's Art Blog

Walking...

2012-01-10T08:36:00.000-08:00

My dear little blog will take a turn for a while as I focus on an important aspect of life and source of energy for my art...walking.  Before I launch into this I want to say a BIG thanks to neighbor & extraordinary artist Maggie Connors for letting me use one of her paintings to start this off with. Look at the woman in the painting walking so confidently & easily, fantastic! Thanks Maggie...

I walk for exercise of course but it is also my main source for deep thinking & problem solving. As I get older I want life to slow down with hopes of absorbing every second of every day and the pace of walking suits that nicely plus there is so much more to see when walking.  Sometimes it can feel as if I'm moving in slow motion as people jog, speed walk, bike or just scamper past in that type-A brisk busy walk which requires twice as many little snippy steps as any normal walk. I've certainly done all those but much prefer a good old fashioned stroll. Italians have it right with la passeggiata (a gentle slow stroll) in the evenings after one of their exquisite meals.

So why am I so focused on walking? It has become a big issue in my life due to advanced osteoarthritis, every step hurts and journies are only short distances for which I pay a painful price with screaming knees and sleepless nights. Actually it feels like I'm under house arrest lately! I will be getting new knees soon and the first thing I'm going to do with them is take a good long walk. Science has made great strides (ba da boom) with joint replacement so I'm confident for the future and getting back to being an action figure.  These days I think of people like Renoir who suffered enormous pain and deformity with RA. In fact when I was a young artist I remember seeing and being horrified (in sympathy not disgust) over a photo of Renoir whose hands were completely distorted by the disease. He had to wedge paint brushes between his fingers then tape it all together. What incredible suffering he endured! His most famous quote is "The pain passes, but the beauty remains" when he was asked how he could continue to paint while in agony from the pain of rheumatoid arthritis.   Renoir also said to one of his dealers who was watching him paint "you see you don't even need a hand to paint". That's because as all good artists know you paint from your heart. Other great painters who suffered with arthritis were: Raoul Dufy, Matisse, Grandma Moses, Paul Klee, Peter-Paul Rubens, Antoni Gaudi, etc...but they kept right on creating.

I have been doing a ton of reading, specifically, Wanderlust by Rebecca Solnit (terrific book!) and am particularly drawn to her writing about Wordsworth and how he and his sister would go on enormous walks. So for a little while I will be focused on Walking and all the art it inspires and will keep painting as well. This will be a great project to keep me going until I can get back to walking...

Men only....

2011-12-15T10:37:00.000-08:00

Just a quick little post to say I got seriously side-tracked for a bit with some issues I'll be blogging about next. However this post is a quickie about something really shocking in this day and age. I went to the Boston International Fine Art Fair and visited a gallery I'd long admired and had always wanted to show my work. Plus they exhibit the work of one artist that I really admire and was about to do a blog piece on...I've decided not to do it. The friend I went with said to forget about the gallery they don't show work by women artists. HUH???? Sure 'nuf she was right but I had to push it a bit so went over the representatives, turned on the schmooze machine wrapping up with questions re to whom I should send a cd of my work. There was an uncomfortable silence until one of the men said "well, we only show work by male artists". I looked him in the eye and said "are you kidding?". Once home I googled them and indeed they only represent male artists! I had checked their site before but it just never occured to me that they wouldn't show women! There is nothing but the listing of artists that declares their prejudice, their statement says in part: "...was founded ...with the goal of creating a showcase for contemporary, representational artwork. That goal still rings true today. The ...Gallery is now internationally known for showcasing acclaimed and distinguished painters..." Excuse me but there are a great GREAT many women artists who are also acclaimed and distinguished painters! Until I delve into this further and talk to them directly I am going to withhold the name of the gallery. Most super savvy people in the art world already know who they are. I am hoping they will change their currently narrow, chauvinistic view so until them I'm keeping a close eye on them and will keep you posted.

One year ago...

2011-10-30T13:10:00.000-07:00

View from Villa Aurelia

My front "yard" at the Villa!

One year ago today I was headed to the airport to get on a plane for Rome, to one of the most extraordinary opportunities of my life - a month long Visual Artist in Residence at the esteemed American Academy. I remember being terrified that when I got there they wouldn't let me in, that I made a mistake and read the letter wrong. When I landed I did get lost a bit trying to get to my hotel with a huge wheelie bag in the pouring rain as the Academy was closed for All Saints Day. I was jet-lagged, painfully tired, hungry and only one restaurant in the area was open. I wish I could remember the name of it as the food was fantastic...cold and rainy I started with a soup, then a perfect pizza margherita, wine of course and a very sympathetic waiter who was most kind to my weary, soaked self. Then back to my hotel and asleep at 7 or 8 pm...really needed that. Next day took a fabulous crazy taxi ride to the Academy where to my great relief they didn't laugh or turn me away, they gave me an envelope with keys, instructions and I was made to feel most welcome and the place, physically, is spectacular. After further check in they took me to my place...a palace!...I had a friggin' apartment in a palace with manicured gardens, flowers, breathtaking views of Rome - Awesome!

After recovering from being dazed on all levels I settled in and painted like crazy. Have to admit I only liked some of the paintings I did there but have made some terrific work in the time since and know if I had longer than a month I could move from being overwhelmed to massively productive, because once the ideas take hold the paint flows like a wild river.

I wrote a lot about the experience on my blog, it was actually the reason I started a blog to keep friends and family up-to-date with my Roman adventures, so you can read much more about in detail if you go to my Nov & Dec posts. I loved being at the American Academy like I've never loved anything else before, high on a hill overlooking Rome, marinated in centuries of history, full of people with great passions for their field and intellect. People so brilliant I thought surely they'd made a mistake in letting a blue collar painter like myself in but I was made to feel welcome and desperately want to go back but for a full year - a total immersion. I've applied again and will keep applying. One fellow said he had applied 12 times so I should never give up...he was one of my many favorite people there.

This coming year I've also applied for a residency in France and think it would be just perfect if I got that then hung out in Europe until I got to go to the Academy in the Fall. Yes, I am a magical thinker and that just seems like the best of all possible scenarios, Art Gods hope you are listening!

So my dearest American Academy I miss you terribly and hope to come back...

Post Open Studios purge...

2011-10-27T17:25:00.000-07:00

Will I never learn? If I kept my studio clean I would not have to binge and purge every year around Open Studios! First I stuffed everything into every place I could. Now all this week I've been hauling stuff out including canvases of failed paintings and yes, I believe one can learn from their mistakes and that parts of failed paintings can be studied for future paintings...so take a picture! One doesn't need to save every last thing. I'm happy to say the purging is complete and it is SO satisfying to chop up work! Big storm coming this weekend and I'll be ready for it, music, wine, clean studio and lots of ideas ... YAY.

32nd Annual Open Studios

2011-10-22T17:06:00.000-07:00

Last week at this time I was sitting with a fine glass of wine after 1 1/2 days of opening my studio on Friday night and Saturday, only had one more day to go...Sunday. Friday was a wild, windy, stormy night and still people came, hardy New England souls! Saturday I said Hi and Welcome to almost 400 people and more hundreds on Sunday...it's fun and exhausting. Open Studios is without a doubt my most favorite art event, people come into my home and studio, I try to make them feel comfortable, welcome and eager for their questions - they always have lots of questions and I love that. This was Fort Point Artist Community's 32nd annual and the 28th year for me. When I first came to Boston the first event I ever went to was Fort Point's Open Studios it made a huge impression. Not only did I want to be part of it I also wanted to be part of Fort Point...it was/is happnin' here! I lived in the fabulous North End at the time, had a studio in the Castignetti building so pitched the idea to the artists there and organized their first ever Open Studio or OS as we call it. After a while I moved into an illegal artists building nearer to Fort Point and enjoyed many and OS there, now almost 20 years have gone by and all of them in Fort Point. The changes to my neighborhood have been immense, the talent of my neighbors continues to astonish and amaze.

Lots of people don't realize we live AND work in our spaces so that's always fun to see their expressions when it dawns on them. There are great stories of the rare clueless gits who do or say something outrageous and I'm hoping we put together of those stories some day. Friends come by that I haven't seen in ages, there's always ALWAYS the woman who comes and takes all the food - if it's good. There's the guy who comes every year and gets into lengthy conversations about aliens which worries me that he thinks I know so much about them! There used to be the guy who came every year, would pull a book of my shelf, set himself down to read...I booted him out one year and he has not come back. Someone will always ask how much to I pay to live here, I always respond that it's rude to ask such a thing because it is! Many, probably most, come to see how we decorate, heck that's what I do when I go to other OS!

My favorite OS experience this year was a woman who came to one of my first ones here about 16+/- years ago and bought a painting. She came with it on her iPhone and wanted another painting! My favorites are always the kids, they are the best, their questions can knock your socks off.

It's over for another year, my place is still clean and of course I hope it stays that way but, sadly, know it won't. It's been a week and painting withdrawal has set in so it's time to get my stuff out to work tomorrow or next week for sure. I have a show to get ready for next year and hope to drum up more galleries to show my work, now that I've rested up it's time to get back to work!

Thanks to all who came, all your questions, your curiosity and to those who bought paintings I'm deeply grateful for your interest and support.

Plein air adventures...

2011-09-15T17:06:00.000-07:00

watercolor sketch, Arnold Arboretum, 12 x 9

Ah some plein air adventures are just too good not to share. Last Sunday I went up to Arnold Arboretum, a hugely favorite place of mine, to do quick watercolor sketches and check out places I want to spend more time at with my oils. So I sat down on the stone wall and it was the perfect situation, a big flat wall, not too high. The light and temperature was just right and NO bugs, a plein air painters dream. Lots of people strolling, walking dogs, some peeked, most just kept sauntering by, many smiled. Towards the end of my time there an elderly couple sat down right next to me so I figured they'd chat but no they didn't seem to notice me at all. After a few minutes he took off his shoes and socks and began inspecting, with the help and great interest of his wife, some oozing sore on his foot and his toe nails. La la la la la....just keep painting, don't listen. I have a toe nail phobia, don't really like feet in general and he was being very descriptive. I started to hum lightly trying to block the chatter. She gets up and leaves never once even glancing my way. He puts on his shoes and socks (phew) sits for a few minutes, gets up, comes over, I look up and he's just staring at the painting (the one above) which was almost finished, then he looks at me and says "Dappled" then walks off. I stared after him trying not to crack up.

Soon I was up and moving to the next spot. Now we are in a real plein air painting situation, muddy, almost no place to put anything, exposed, no shade and LOTS of mosquitos - didn't bring the spray! Finally got situated and this is a much more high traffic area but they can't get to me, no sane person would wander into this mash of bushes and bugs but it was the best view of what I wanted to paint. Lots of people took pics of me working and think I'll end up on a bunch of Facebook pages. But one time I looked up and an Asian man is filming me! Ah my first art movie, wonder what I looked like. I wasn't in this spot too long because sitting still I got devoured by mosquitos and it was pretty awful. The painting got ruined because at one frustrating moment before the watercolor dried I swatted at a particularly thick collection of mosquitos on my leg and smeared the paint. I wrapped up and moved to a more bug free area to enjoy lunch and the rest of the day.

I'm going back this weekend but will bring the bug dope and do my hair so I look better for more filming opportunities..just kidding.

9/11 cured my fear of flying...

2011-09-11T08:19:00.000-07:00

A Time of Change, September 2001, watercolor 3" x 5"

On the MSNBC news last night Lester Holt did a segment on how 9/11 changed us. For me it cured my intense crippling fear of flying, you’ll learn how in a moment but first here is my 9/11 story....everyone has one.

In September of 2001 I was doing an Artist-in-Residency at Corner Brook, NFLD. I was taking a shower when the other artist in the residence came over from her apartment, pounded on my bathroom door to tell me about the planes. Julie Tabrum, the other AIR, was from NZ and her mother lives in Quebec, she called Julie to tell her and then Julie ran over to tell me but we didn’t have a TV. Already it was an international event! Then a neighbor we had befriended let us come up to watch her TV....I stayed for hours, I couldn’t get enough because I couldn’t believe what was happening. I couldn’t sleep that night, couldn’t make any art at all, two weeks into my residency and pretty much all art making was done except for one little painting,....I just wanted to get home. I began hearing about all the people stranded in NFLD when they grounded the planes and I wanted to rent a car to get back to Boston but they weren’t renting them. Then I saw a car, a beat up wreck, for sale at a gas station for $500, I went to buy it but it was already sold. I was going to be in NFLD till the end of the Residency, another 2 weeks. Angela, the neighbor who let us watch her TV suggested we get away...a road trip. All I really wanted to do was watch the TV but I’m glad she took us to Rose Blanche – Harbour le Cou for the day. Along the way we stopped a number of times to check out the view or watch herds of Caribou that is where this little painting, my first plein air, (above) was born. I was watching a herd of Caribou and looked out to the East over a vast unbroken landscape. I knew there were no roads, no homes, no nothing for about 1,000 miles due East. Only wilderness and wildness, the urge to step off the road and start walking was overwhelming, I wanted to walk off never to return just step out into the woods, explore, be with the animals when I noticed the spark of orange/yellow in the trees, started thinking about Fall, change and how everything had just changed forever. This little painting is called “A Time of Change”, I will never sell it, I will never let it go it is my 9/11 tribute.

The rest of the residency passed as if I was in a fog, our kindly neighbor took us to other places and I’m so grateful for her attempts at diversion. Newfoundland and it’s people are really extraordinary and I’d love to go back. They should be remembered today as well when the world landed on their doorstep and they came out and took us in.

Finally time to go back to Boston and my normal, utterly crippling fear of flying is now so amped up that the only thing I can focus on is getting home and stop puking up my guts. Up till this time I’d only gone outside the US once in my entire 53 years, only flown a handful of times when I absolutely could not get there anyway else. I had a truly intense fear of flying or even getting near a plane. And, by the way, it’s important to note here that I almost cancelled my trip to Newfoundland when I was at the airport that morning...for this trip my fear was off the scale...why it was so much worse I am not sure. Now it’s time to get back on the plane so I did. It was a prop plane, seats about 50 and looked like it was a restored WW1 antique. Then I notice I’m one of two women, all the rest were men, dressed in camoflage. Huh? The guy next to me was dressed normal so I make a joke (I get super goofy when nervous) about the Newfy Army is coming to our aid...lots of people cracked up over that. But my plane neighbor said “oh we’ve all been hunting for the last 2 weeks up in the remotest parts of NFLD”. Curious. I look out the window and see wrapped antlers and only boxes stamped MOOSE or CARIBOU being loaded....no suitcases. So I turn to the guy next to me and ask if the rent the “things” they shoot with (gun is a bad word on a plane now) He said “no all the guns, amo are on board” then he returned to reading his hunting magazine and the article was about the best kill shot with diagrams! Stunned I started putting it all together....I’m sitting in a plane full of men who have spent the last 2 weeks (starting from 9/11) in the woods killing things, next to a guy studying kill shots, I’m sitting on top of their guns, amo and dead animals. I started to laugh...till my belly hurt & the tears came, it was a good, long deep laugh I couldn’t stop...it was cathartic. They all thought I'd gone mad but in fact I'd been freed. God has a seriously twisted sense of humor. I got to Nova Scotia and before transferring to my next flight went right to the bar, ordered back-to-back super stiff drinks, got on the plane and went home.

After 5 decades of airplane terror it was completely gone, after all that happened I couldn’t even imagine what more there was to be afraid of...IF the Shenksville heros can sacrifice themselves as they did, IF we can survive and grow from 9/11, IF I can get on a plane full of dead animals & guns and get home...it was all a sign. Don’t get me wrong flying is still not my most favorite thing but the absolute terror I used to feel is all gone. I’ve since flown many times to Europe, in the US and it still makes me nervous but nothing like it used to be, not even close. God bless all those we lost on 9/11.

Sold...

2011-09-06T17:03:00.000-07:00

Fog, 48 x 44", oil on canvas

Throughout the years many people have asked if it is difficult to sell a painting. Usually it isn't for a couple reasons: First, I don't want to grow old surrounded by all my work. Second, I love the look on people's faces when they see a piece they love and can afford - then I know it's going to a good home. Third, I make my work affordable as I believe it's all wildly overpriced these days. But my beloved Fog was really hard to part with. This painting came from where most of my sea paintings come from - boat rides to Provincetown on Bay State's fast ferry. Up until the fast ferry started the seascapes came from the time I've spent in the Dune Shacks. On this trip we were socked in the whole way over, the water had a slight chop, outside on deck it was warm and moist. I hung out on the stern just loving the fog then decided it should be a painting. As usual when we got close to land the fog cleared and it was a lovely day. The minute I woke up the next day I started painting this painting and it only took me a few hours, then had to wait a few days to let it dry before finishing it up. I almost always work alla prima (first stroke) and this one was truly a gift from the Art Gods. People have been lusting over it for years and I could have sold it 10 times over, but none of the prospective buyers wanted to pay full price for this stunning original and none of them seemed like the "right" fit. Then the perfect person came along, she has bought a lot of my work and is a true supporter. After not hearing from her for a year (since she bought the last painting!) she emailed asking if I still had "that grey painting" she couldn't stop thinking about all that time... so Fog now has a new home and a really good home. There is a giant hole where it hung for years and I miss it terribly but now more people will see it, plus it is in a home by the sea where she first came from and I'm busy making more paintings. I love all my work even the duds but Fog was truly a special painting, a real gift. With all my heart I hope the Art Gods smile upon me like that again, they have been so very good to me so far!

My mis-adventure into abstraction...

2011-08-28T15:22:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to write this post for ages. Hurricane Irene is causing a fuss outside so it's a good day to write (and paint, clean, etc...) I also spent quality time with some of my favorite periodicals: Fine Art Connoisseur and Plein Air Magazine specifically I was reading about Scott L. Christensen and my mind began to wander thinking about "what if" I had spent time studying with guys like him instead of wasting my time in college. I normally don't spend any time on "what ifs" but this came up like a daydream. The answer is very clear I would have been a much better painter sooner...no question.

I thought I had to go to college, thought there was something there I needed to learn that wasn't anywhere else and I wanted the diploma, needed the pride that goes with that and went to a college near me (during a painful divorce) and actually didn't have a way of knowing about great places like the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Art (PAFA) plus it never occurred to me to seek out painters I admired to go study with them. Big mistake.

College had it's good parts but as a realist painter it was a blistering experience. I went in as a realist painter and they did absolutely everything to beat that out of me, I was made to feel stupid, inferior and one especially horrible critique was downright abusive. So much so that when I talked to an old friend recently she asked me (30 yrs later!) if I remembered it and how upset she was about it. I sure do remember how it made me feel and it's painful to this day. The pain, in part, comes from my not standing up and walking out. I should have told my teachers and classmates to shove it. But frankly I was pretty fragile from a nasty divorce that was going on during my Sophomore year and didn't have any fight in me right then, so I gave in for survival's sake and became an abstract artist. It was never a good fit. I did make some good work and I have a great appreciation for abstract painters but I am not one. As an abstract painter I was entirely derivative, I thrashed around trying to find the real visual me, wondering what was it I was trying to say artistically. Paintings are a way to give "voice" to your great passions, interests and I believe it's important for an artist's "voice" to be genuine. Pushing that metaphor further let's say you have a deep baritone singing voice and they brow beat you into being a soprano...it simply doesn't work. Now, whenever someone asks me about which school their kid should go to to study art I ask them a lot of questions and hesitate to suggest college, rather I mention studying with people who might reflect their interest or taking classes at great art schools like PAFA and Provincetown Art Assn Museum. Do not go to college if your goal is to make a fortune with your art, never ever go to college if you want to be a highly skilled realist painter and care for foundation, great training or a classical approach - they do not respect it. A friend who is an art teacher and head of the painting department at her college said all the kids coming into school now want to be the next super star, cutting edge artist - sad - and the school will certainly not dissuade them or help them find their individual artistic voice.

It is my hope that schools will become enlightened and tolerant of different styles encouraging those whose path is realism. A few years ago I saw some of my professors and they asked to see my website, they seemed surprised I stayed in Art and were visibly shocked when they saw I'd gone back to realism. One professor was completely speechless and clearly disappointed. If there was ever one thing I could re-do it would be to forget college and seek out people doing work I admire and learn from them.

I know I am not alone in this so please feel free to share your experiences...good or not so good.

Brian Rego - one of my favorite painters!

2011-08-15T08:19:00.000-07:00

salty’s, oil on linen, 16x20, 2011

wedge, oil on linen, 10x13, 2011

yellow houses, oil on linen, 14x18, 2011

I first learned about Brian Rego through one of my all time favorite websites Perceptual Painters http://paintingperceptions.com/. When I first saw his work a shiver went thru me, everything that stirs me artistically was there, juicy rich colors that were like that bright deep thrumb of a base that you feel rather than hear, great use of fat & thin paint that seemed so easily done, wonderfully simple almost poetic subjects. I love his point of view and his palette. I am a painter responding to another painter I greatly admire and not an art writer so as with all my favorite artists posts I want to keep it brief and urge you to explore Brian's work through his website...let the work speak. So please go to Brian's website and savor his work the link is http://web.mac.com/brianrego/www.brianrego.com/Home.html

Also I want to thank Brian very much for letting me use images of his work...it was tempting to put all of them up there but I want YOU to be inspired to explore his work further, you will be greatly rewarded.

Running from success

2011-08-08T18:36:00.000-07:00

John Marin, Island (Ship’s Stern), 1934, watercolor on paper

Here's the bold, brassy truth...I've been playing hard this summer and applying for every grant I can find so not posting much. Now that the rain has interrupted my fun, plus needing a break from grant writing I'm enjoying this moment to get caught up and frankly the blog is "fun" writing. Two weekends ago I was in Maine at a friends house and between visits to the beach we went to see the John Marin exhibit. I have never missed a chance to see his work but he is not one of my favorites can't really put my finger on it however there is something that clearly draws me to him. The Portland Museum of Art has a super exhibit of his work right now, many pieces I'd never seen before. We were there for the gallery talk and after hearing about John I ended up really liking him more than his work - he was an outdoorsman, rugged individualist and curmudgeonly. What really got me was how much he did not want success...he just wanted to paint. My favorite anecdote was the one where (I think the gallerist said...) the Louvre chased him around Europe to buy a painting and he was miserable to them, in the end finally relenting just to shut them up. Crazy! Hey Louvre call me I have some paintings for you!

He is not the first artist I've heard about or know that is too busy making art to be fussing with all that nasty success etc. Why just this weekend I met an amazing artist who has shows falling into his lap, is making a good living with his work in these ultra-challenging financial times and while I do not know him well at all my sense is he is happiest at his home which is deep DEEP in the woods and if he never had a gallery then he'd be ok with that too.

John Marin came along at that fantastic time in American Art when it was all happening in New York. Steiglitz found out about him and it seems that when you knew Alfred things happened. It makes one wonder about the nature of success and even the definition. Is success just having the chance to make your work, the room and time to do so. Or is it having the Louvre chase you around Europe to buy your painting. Or is it a by-product of networking or otherwise being connected to some art mainline.

The art world is so crazy and makes me crazy when I ponder it too much. However, all my favorite success stories are ones just like John Marin's...he's out living his life, doing all the things he loves especially painting.

Money, money, money....

2011-07-22T07:22:00.000-07:00

Grant writing...

I've had that Abba song running through my brain for days! Finally feels like all the books I've read re grant writing are finally paying off. Have to give a big shout out for the latest grant writing book I have read to tatters...Gigi Rosenberg's "The Artists Guide to Grant Writing"...super helpful! One thing I would love to find in every grant writing book is a chapter or maybe just a paragraph that says "Ann....write this down exactly and you will get every grant you apply for." Grant writing is seriously painful. I'm not a writer, but with all the advice plus writing a blog which I find fun it's getting a tad easier. I am particularly proud of my most recent effort, haven't sent the grant in yet but the proposal feels strong and a friend who is a grant writer offered to look at it and said I did a great job nailing the points, holding to them, being clear, etc. So I'm feeling hopeful yet realistic...I am one of many that will be applying, a certain percentage will be instantly culled because they either didn't follow instructions or sent in terrible reproductions of their work. Every single piece of advice about grants points out those two things as major pitfalls and I know from experience that is what will not get you anywhere.

First a bit of personal and hopefully funny history about my own grant writing fiascos and really, who doesn't have some funny history re grants! It was my first big grant experience, to this day I can't even think about it without laughing till the tears come. I can only imagine what the granting organization thought when they saw it. A friend and I decided to apply for some major grant as a team. We thought that because the organization was big, important and gave out serious money that we should sound uber-smart. We most certainly did not. Oh god my sides are hurting already...my art buddy and I (both just out of school and of course no one in college ever told us about grants or what to do about them!) discussed our project at length, read the instructions and to our credit followed them to the T. But we wanted to sound "smart" so we got out the Thesaurus and wrote from that...meaning whatever words we picked for the "dynamic" words we tried to find bigger and smarter words for it. The end result was an absolutely unintelligible proposal that we glowed over. We sounded so smart and yes...you guessed it, we never got the money but I've no doubt they are still howling after all these years.

With the blessing of a few years and hindsight I cringe at the thought of that grant and happy to report I went on to write much better ones, many of which I succeeded in getting funds and as you all know it is a huge thrill to get a Yes letter.

Best experience was the time I got to sit on a grant panel for a state arts agency. Fabulous and boy did I get to see things I never thought possible. Even though requirements were clear, just a proposal, images and resume people sent in reams of info about themselves...did they think swamping us with all kinds of stuff would make us go "wow this person is amazing we must give them a grant". Then there were the dreadful reproductions of their work, crooked, unfocused, on an easel w frame showing or trees in the background (yes natural light is best but learn how to crop). There were proposals written in pencil, names were missing, the most painful were the ones that listed every bad circumstance in their life and begged for money.

I've applied for hundreds of grants and have had some success so when I write I focus on those positive results and examine why they worked. In the end it's really luck of the draw but in every case the writing was strong, clear, concise. Other than that it depends on the taste of the reviewer(s), but you will always be closer to succeeding if you follow directions precisely, submit professional images to the foundations specs meaning don't sent 72 dpi if they request 300 dpi, strong clear writing and don't flood them with other materials that are not requested. And apply, apply, apply...never give up...good luck to all!

Santa Fe...I'm still in love!

2011-07-16T06:29:00.000-07:00

Travel sketch #1, watercolor, 9 x 12"

I've been busy having a blast with watercolors from my Santa Fe trip. Here are some...

Abiquiu Arch, watercolor, 14 x 20"

One of the things I get thinking about is how solid the sky is, it's a mass of blue, an object a monster chunk of turquoise. Not like the Northeast which I'm most used to, all our juiciness and proximity to the ocean makes for a much more atmospheric sky.

Rock Tower-Abiquiu, watercolor, 14 x 20"

The other thing that struck me and hope to work with in future paintings is how the canyon walls and sides of rock towers remind me so much of the stone work of Europes Gothic Cathedrals. There are striations and rows of things that look like naturally stone carved figures peopling the cliffs.

Canyon Walls, watercolor, 14 x 20

Love you!

2011-06-25T17:14:00.000-07:00

I was just looking at my blog stats and see that people from Ireland to Thailand to Brazil and beyond are reading my posts so this post is specifically to say THANKS and I LOVE you all! I may live in the US but have always considered myself a citizen of the world. What goes on in Africa, Arabia, Borneo, Iceland, the Falklands or Nauru and beyond is as important to me as what goes on in my own backyard. We are all in this together! PEACE & HUGS to all....

Santa Fe, Abiquiu and Georgia O'Keeffe

2011-06-21T19:01:00.000-07:00

Quick watercolor from my travel sketchbook, Ann Marie Scott, 2011

I just got back from Santa Fe. After all the pictures and paintings I'd seen I thought I "knew" the place...definitely not, it was full of surprises. One big one was the altitude, that was real tough for someone who has barely ever been above sea level her whole long life. But it didn't stop me, I just woozied my way all over the place and drank absolutely bizarre amounts of water. Anyone know what they do for outrageously dry skin?

The landscape blew me completely away. I've never seen anything like it and photos do not do it justice. I'm a geology geek who doesn't know enough about it but has a huge hunger to learn and that landscape is fantastic for folks like me. Once I started asking questions and learning about the forces that shaped the land my mind could hardly grasp the scale of those events. I wonder what it all looked like before the massive volcanos blew, was it lush, green, tropical?

I took a tour of Abiquiu, Ghost Ranch and beyond with Southwest Adventures http://www.swadventures.com/ourtours.html ( I HIGHLY recommend them...they are terrific!) I saw a ton and learned even more especially things about Georgia O'Keeffe I never knew. She was pretty ornery and a loner, not necessarily a negative thing but I find it sad particularly once you meet the people in the area. Friendly doesn't nearly describe it, they are without a doubt the nicest, sweetest people ever. I come from Massachusetts which I often call "Crankachusetts" because we are all so cranky due to the weather.

No matter what Ms. O'Keeffe's temperament was she certainly was an adventurous and courageous women...two things I greatly admire. Can't say I've ever been a big fan of her work but I certainly like a lot of it and my favorites are: Cottonwood III, Black Iris, all the Black Mesa paintings, Ranchos Church, Patio with Black Door to name some. Since I do not have permission to post those images I rely on your sense of curiosity to seek them out. Always be curious! It's another trait I greatly admire in people. As we drove around this still barren, extraordinary landscape I wondered how it was for her so many decades ago when there was even less out there and then to think about how she dragged her paints, canvases, etc around the parched countryside. Did anyone tell her to drink freakish amounts of water? Did she almost pass out every few steps from the altitude? There were lots of critters out there then, we hadn't killed them all off as yet and she hiked all around into some incredibly remote areas often with the specific intent of avoiding or hiding from people to paint in pure peace. She was one tough woman! Her paintings nail the landscape out there and by seeing it made me appreciate her work all the more.

Seeing the land also re-invigorated my love of painting landscape. I've never seen anything like it having spent my entire life in the juicy green Northeast and traveling to other juicy green places. The entire landscape out there begins with my favorite ancient color...yellow ochre. But the earth is also red, pink, white, naples yellow light, with itchy looking green (yellow & black blend with a touch of viridian) polka dot pines literally polka-dotting the land and they are a perfect fit.

The other noticeable thing is hard to articulate but the landscape is far more than just a pretty scene...it is sacred. Black Mesa is a formidable, palpable presence and I also would be very happy to sit there for ages and paint it's many manifestations.

Another quick watercolor from my travel sketchbook, Ann Marie Scott, 2011

Travel always energizes me and this trip offered intriguing surprises. I most certainly will be back out there to spend quality time painting and exploring.

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Marketing schmarketing...

2011-05-31T18:07:00.000-07:00

There are so many blogs, tweets, books, etc about marketing your art it gets tiresome sometimes. It often feels that as artists we are hawking a "product" and I certainly don't think of my work that way.

Then there's publicity - it is such a crazy world! When I had my first big two person show the reviewer came up to me and said while they preferred my work, that it was stronger than the artist I was showing with she could only give me a mention because the other artist was The Story. My fellow exhibitor was recovering (nicely I am happy to say) from brain surgery and was indeed the focus of the review. While they mentioned me briefly and included a picture of my work they went on for paragraphs about the other artist but not their work except for a mention. In the end tremendously unfair to both of us. Recently in a discussion with a marketing person/art reviewer I told them about this, they merely shrugged saying while it's unfortunate that's the way it is. Publicity is just weird but willing to explore all options recently I tried a new angle, I contacted some PR folks, one firm I've tried before and I'm not sure how they stay in business as getting them to reply is worse than pulling teeth. Another firm I contacted had not read through my materials nor did they look at my work, their one and only question in every correspondence was how much was I willing to spend...it was all about the money.

So having tried a number of different angles I am back to my normal routine of contacting galleries, applying for grants, using a more personal approach with people. As much as I like being isolated in the studio I'm also a people person so really like the personal approach. Another favorite of mine is the great chain of personal connections. Lastly, there's no question I'm a huge fan of galleries. They have all the mechanisms in place to keep publicity flowing and I just get to paint. A good gallery is invaluable. Believe me gallery folks work hard for their artists!

Let me know what you have experienced with marketing, PR and the media please post your comments, stories.

Solutions to some of todays biggest problems ....

2011-05-21T08:06:00.000-07:00

Photo by Dave Martin / AP

The title of my blog is Thoughts on Art, Travel and Life (heavy on the art) and I'm going to expand the focus a bit this time. This entry is about creative solutions for some very big problems facing us today. I've been watching all the anguish over the Mississippi River flooding and have a solution. If you are going to build on a flood plain as active as the one along the Mississippi then why not build your house on a barge - when the river rises so does your house! I think it could really work just keep a boat nearby so you can get to higher ground. Also to keep your house from floating away tie it off to something or use pilings like marinas use which allow docks to rise and lower with the tides. I saw some pictures recently of people trying interesting solutions to keep the water away, one person built an impressive dike around their property and it would have worked perfectly except it appeared broken at one end. I think it would be kinda cool to have a really huge dike around your property...like a solid mountain ring. You wouldn't see your neighbors but could scramble up and get a great view. We should really study what Holland does, they are ingenious when it comes to water issues. When I was there I saw massive dikes holding back the sea - most impressive! On top of that they let their sheep and cows use the dikes and flood planes for grazing, so livestock is taken care of and no mowing! I had some great conversations with the Dutch re Holland and relationship with water...we could seriously learn a lot from them

Then there's just ALL that water! I have a solution that could generate thousands of jobs: hauling jobs, construction jobs, water purification jobs, etc - what if there was a way to capture as much water as possible with pipelines, trucks, trains any container we can find. Heck, make containers to do just that and moveable pipelines to syphon off excess water...even more jobs created! Move the excess to areas that are facing drought or prone to forest fires, store it in massive reservoirs allowing the earth to filter it naturally or into container farms similar to the sewage treatment plant on Boston Harbor, clean up the water and use it to water lawns, golf courses which are notorious for their water abuse, use it for watering crops or anything that "grey water" could be used for. Of course there are lots of groups, people and government red tape that would be against it or hamstring it for one reason or another.

After the massive outbreak of spring tornados this year I also got to thinking. You know how they always say if you are outside and see a tornado coming head for a ditch...so what if you built dirt ramps around your house so the tornado skips up and over, or if you built you house so it drastically slopes - maybe half the house built into a hill. Of course the best thing would be to have one of those fabulous hobbit houses. I'd like one but realize they are not for everyone.

While these seem like light-hearted or simplistic solutions I think they, or some version of them, could work with considerable tweeking and wonder why we always just go back to building the same old thing that will get washed or blown away again. Plus I have to say it really fries my bacon to see all the housing construction materials etc piled up in the trash. We chopped down a lot of trees for those houses and now we have to chop down many more, seems incredibly foolish. One thing I do know is that the storms and water problems of this year has hit people who are already working so hard to make life work and my heart goes out to them. Lives and dreams have been lost and it's just so painful.

In praise of feedback!

2011-05-15T08:34:00.000-07:00

I met with a gallery director this week which is an incredible treat because normally you contact a gallery and then never ever hear from them again. This has happened to me a lot lately. Last month I contacted 6 galleries sending them materials according to their instructions on the websites, contacted another 4-6 by email as they instructed. Within a reasonable amount of time I sent a follow up email...have not heard ONE thing back from any of them. Next will be the phone call to them. Do they even look at your web link? Do they even open the envelope with the CD of your images? I have visions of galleries getting envelopes and just tossing them in the rubbish. It just boggles the mind to think how many artists are out there versus how many galleries. I've also been in galleries and shared the horror of when someone comes in to show the director their art and try to get represented. That is a killer, the worst approach ever and terribly embarrassing for all.

But this week I got to have a valuable face-to-face with a gallery owner who spent a healthy chunk of time with me to look over my work. He did so thoughtfully, slowly, while I practiced painful and uncommon restraint from babbling like an idiot over each piece. When I get nervous I babble, this time I'm proud to say I did not. Once again I tried to show a "range" of work, translation - it looked like an artist displaying her multiple personalities. He was most kind and said it's always good to see a range then proceeded to give me what I dearly love and desparately need…terrific, clear, intelligent feedback. None of the I like this, don't like that stuff. He looked long at each piece and offered a range of comments. Of course what I wanted to hear was that I was clearly an undiscovered genius and his gallery would take all my work then turn me into an Art Star that puts Picasso to shame (he did a lot of different styles of work too…so hey!) While it's always nice to hear good comments from friends and family they usually are not always things I want or should hear, however I am lucky to have some friends that give feedback like this guy did. Now it's up to me to put his comments to good use.

Wood curls and memories...

2011-04-27T16:34:00.000-07:00

It's so funny what can spark a treasured memory. Today I was playing with my new thumb plane using it on some stretchers, the curls of wood falling on the floor, the cats chasing them, the smell of the worked wood all brought back some exquisite memories of working with my Grandpa Scott in his woodshop. He had a very crowded, well used woodshop -the workbench and tools worn smooth with use- in the basement of his house. During the summers he was a lockmaster for Lock #14 on the Trent River in Campbellford ONT. In the winter he worked in his woodshop where he built everything from cabinets to tables big and small and rowboats...all of his own design. I still have one of his end tables and I treasure it. But mostly I hold dear the memory of being his assistant which meant I played in the wood curls and handed him things like a hammer, screw driver etc. We would chat and it always strikes me how incredible those times were. I have no idea what we talked about, can't remember back that far but I was very very little and do remember how much I loved his company and how he never treated me like a little kid or that I was in the way which I'm sure I was. The woodshop memories are all about the senses - the smell of the wood...he only worked with cedar which is the only thing that grew in the area, the smell of his pipe, the feel of his rough, work calloused hands when he would pat my head or take a tool out of my hand. He also worked on his outboard motors so there was also always a very faint perfume of oil or gas that had been part of the motor. One of the many remarkable things about my father and grandfather was that they never treated me as a girly girl, they respected me and taught me things like woodworking, fishing, boating and even hunting that I never forgot. I even got to help him with the locks by helping with turning the giant key that opened and closed them. When we weren't building something in his shop or working on the locks we sat on the porch (veranda) eating peanuts and feeding all the critters that loved peanuts too. Grandpa would put peanuts in his shirt pocket and while we chatted chipmunks would climb in and out with the peanuts, or just sit in his pocket with their head poking out while eating. Grandpa Scott only had one thing he always wore...Sears work clothes...green, worn but clean and pressed plus an ancient felt fedora that I wish had not gotten lost when he passed away. It was all sweat stained and during our porch chats he would put peanuts on the rim - if the chipmunks weren't in his shirt pocket they were on the rim of his hat eating the peanuts, all the while we chatted, he would smoke his pipe and I adored him. Birds would also come in flocks to sit around us as he tossed bread crumbs to them which is how I came to have a pet crow for all the time I was there.

Then there is Grandma Scott who knew everything else. She grew all her own food, there were no grocery stores anywhere around...if you didn't grow it, hunt it or fish it out of the river you did not eat. So Grandpa, my Dad and Uncles (more spectacular men) hunted and fished. Grandma did all the food growing and...here's the super cool part...knew how to tan the leather from the animals we hunted.

Here's a great side story that knits the formidable talents of these two people together. One night we all were awakened by the horrifying sounds of Grandpa's hunting dogs being attacked by a bear. I will spare you the truly gruesome details. We all woke up, Grandma took us kids and huddled in her room with us while Grandpa got his shotgun, loaded it, stepped out on the porch we heard two shots, Grandpa cussed, the bear groaned, smoke from the gun cleared and we all peeked out to see the bear face down in the driveway about 5 feet from where Grandpa stood ( the bear charged him with the dog still in it's mouth) and Grandpa landed both shots in the head. He said "show's over, go back to bed" but in the morning we dashed out to take turns sitting on the sprawled bear. We deeply mourned the loss of Betty, one of his favorite hunting dogs. Then he took the bear away, eventually brought the skins to my Grandmother, we had more bear steaks (not my favorite) and we all had new bear fur vests in time.

Grandma knew how to tan hides to make clothes, purses (with outrageous hand-tooled designs of her own!), and gloves. She knitted, crocheted, grew food put it by for the winter and raised 5 kids (lost one early in his life) plus was a nurse in the local tiny hospital. You can do a lot w/o TV and technology! She taught me how to make the best pie crust ever and I still can! Sadly I was a dismal failure at knitting and tanning leather but did learn how to crochet. Given all the hype around Kate and Will's wedding it's appropriate to mention that my Grandmother was the Royal Family's most loyal subject. No matter what was going on at the house, whether it was baking, making boats, gutting fish...if the Queen was on the radio everything stopped. Grandma would whip out the fancy tea cups and we would get cleaned up and listen to the Queen. When they did get a TV and the coronation came on it was a fancy dress day with high tea. Another great memory!

How does it ever get better than that! Those really were the good old days...and how very grateful I am to have had people like them in my life and for the wood curls today that brought back such treasured memories.

My Favorite Artists #2 - Kate Mccgwire!

2011-04-27T16:33:00.000-07:00

Gag, 2009 Photo byJP Bland

Mixed media with crow feathers, in antique museum cabinet, 77 x 60 x 60 cm

Retch, 2007. Installation using Pigeon feathers, sorry did not see who the photographer was.

A couple friends pointed me in the direction of Kate Mccgwire and WOW I love her work! So I emailed her to ask if it would be ok if I used a couple of her images for my "Favorite Artists" blog bits. It was a thrill to hear back from her and she said OK! Thanks Kate.

"My favorite artists" is meant to highlight people whose work I admire so I won't say a lot as the work speaks for itself, however I can't help but gush a bit and say I find the work to be meticulously crafted, smart, luscious, seductive and it would be painfully difficult not to be able to touch it! I have a great fondness for sculptures that use natural objects and this work is brilliant. I've been all over Kate's website and pretty much am an over the top fan. Fume/Seethe is another spectacular work. I would love to help with an installation to see and be part of her process. Please learn about Kate Mccgwire for yourself by visiting her website at http://www.katemccgwire.com/

Still life...

2011-04-16T07:35:00.000-07:00

I've been aching to do Still Life work but not the bowl of fruit, vase of flowers kind. I've been working on a number of ideas and am enormously pleased with the outcome. Everything I paint comes out of the pursuit of an idea which is what the still life's and wall paintings are about or an experience which is what the land/seascapes & Europe paintings depict. It feels strange that it takes me much longer to arrive at a still life idea than anything else I do. I need exactly the "right" thing, combination, simple, maybe a tad funny or ironic and hopefully a little poetic, all that uses very different creative muscles than the other work I do and that kind of "exercise" feels great. So here are the very newest Still Lifes...enjoy!

Been busy in the studio...

2011-04-16T07:16:00.000-07:00

My body may be back from Italy but my heart and mind are still very much there. My work falls into a few categories and these small paintings are travelogues from my time there. Oh how I miss Italy and the spectacular American Academy in Rome...can't wait to go back!

And here are some of the drawings...

2011-04-07T05:42:00.000-07:00

That came out of my quality time with pen and paper...

We kissed and made up...

2011-04-07T05:38:00.000-07:00

The best part about fighting with ones art is the make-up painting. I love painting in all sorts of mediums but water media and oils are my favorite. Oils smell so good, are messy, smooshy & gooshy. Watercolor is a seductive but harsh mistress. Like water itself it is at once soft yet can also be punishing. I've worked on whole paintings only to blow it at the end with a big splop of color that drops in exactly the wrong place while in transit across the sheet. When I'm having an argument with one medium I move to another for a while and this winter my oils and I fought like crazy. I never made so many bad paintings in a row, panicked I wondered is it over with oils? Not only did we fight but not being able to do the work I had planned on doing created a serious block...frozen, locked out, unloved. I cleaned up my painting area, put all my tubes away and we did not speak to each other for months. I pouted for a bit then said, F it, I'm going back to the basics - drawing - and was revived, refreshed. I draw all the time and think it is the most important aspect of art but admit that it's always been a step on the road to a painting and in doing so I've ended up with some drawings that didn't need to go anywhere else, they said everything already. So I decided to focus on just drawing. There's a little bit of shame in admitting that I have no real memory of doing a still life. I enjoy seeing them but have no desire to paint another bowl of fruit or bunch of flowers. But if I could do flowers, fruits, table views like Christine Lafuente who's still life work knocks me out every time, or Stuart Shils, or Lucy Mac Gillis I'd be crazy happy. Since oils and I weren't speaking there was not going to be any color and I wasn't going to use watercolor either - that snub will surely cost me at some point. So I turned to pen, pencil but didn't like the lines they seemed weak and I wanted bold, big, one stroke shapes, forms - happy to report it worked. Buoyed by my success, refreshed from working with another medium, feeling strong again I had ideas for more oils. I opened the drawer of paint tubes, we stared at each other. I picked up my old friend yellow ochre, gave it a little squeeze and wondered if we were back on track...I started slow. Just ground painting at first - let that dry. Bring out a few more tubes and the next day I was painting, Spring was in the air, birds singing all was good again.

No matter what kind of relationship one is in, it can't be forced or controlled and it's always a painful, heartbreaking lesson if one tries to do that.

Sluter's The Mourner

2011-04-06T06:24:00.000-07:00

This little statue is one of Sluter's "Pleurant" (Mourner) studies, it's at the MFA in Boston and I just love it. I would love to hold it and take it's pain away, it is so full of emotion. It isn't grand, maybe only a foot high, but it is powerful. It appears lots of people are looking at my blog re Sluter's fabulous maquette. Thank you and wish I'd written more about it. This little statue touches me deeply. I understand it is part of a series of maquettes he did for a tomb. I cannot think of another piece that affects me as much as this one does and I visit it every time I go to the MFA.

A powerful little favorite...

2011-03-26T16:51:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in the post just before this I was at the Museum of Fine Arts today for a lecture on "Inclement Weather in American Painting" given by Katie Pfohl an art history student and one to watch! She's clearly got a great future ahead of her. After the talk I went to visit my favorites, and I have a LOT of favorites, but this one strums my heart strings like no other. It's a little study by Paul Huet called Foret de Compiegne (1830) and it's only about 13 x 17 inches. I've spent a lot of time in front of this little piece, it's quiet, a peek into the artists' mind as he wanders and paints in this famous forest North of Paris. Maybe one of these segments will become a larger painting, maybe it's background work for a series, it doesn't matter I just love seeing his process and how complete each little section is the rest I'm content to wonder about.

Another mysterious painting...

2011-03-26T16:29:00.000-07:00

Big day at the Museum of Fine Arts today, fun but shocking. As usual I went to visit my little Rembrandt painting and ...it's been moved. AH. Be still my heart, I know it will pop up somewhere else and there's tons of stuff to see, like the one above. It is another compelling and mysterious painting - Gerard ter Borch's "Man on Horseback". I couldn't find nearly as much written about this as there was about El Perro, by Goya. But then again Goya was far more famous than Borch. There is a cheesy Boston Globe blurb that reckons this with the Marlborough Man, ugh. Another article from the UK I found on-line basically just describes what we already see but offers interesting comments about not seeing the face, hence not being able to read the emotions. However, I pick up a lot of emotion from the soldiers' demeanor and the ease of the horse, most of which feels like tiredness or weariness: the soldier is relaxed or even a tad slumped and the horse is not galloping, it's doing an easy plodding gate perhaps they are coming back from something that has spent them completely. Or after digging into history a bit maybe they are riding, hesitantly, towards something very difficult. I think the key to understanding this work is that it was painted in 1634. That was the year that the great Battle of Nördlingen took place in Germany and was part of the Thirty Year War. The soldier is bent a little, but he's not muddy or bloody from battle which made me think he's going toward the conflict. The light is ambiguous, it could be late afternoon which would imply he's riding home or back to camp. Then again it looks like daybreak which could mean he's riding to battle. Every time I see it I read it differently and as always the true meaning lies with the artist and it is up to us - the viewer - to bring our own meaning to it. Even though I couldn't visit Rembrandt's Studio today it means I got to spend more time with this and as usual I came away with more questions.

My Favorite Artists #2

2011-03-10T15:08:00.000-08:00

...and so many more!

Wow it has been a very interesting couple of weeks and I learned a lot! First a very big, warm hearted thank you to Gagosian Gallery for the generous time and attention they gave me regarding a recent request to use images. At first I was intimidated to contact them as they are such a giant but in the end I relied on the old saying "it never hurts to ask" and the people I talked to were fabulous. Also the same big thank you to the DeKooning Foundation for their willingness to answer my questions and pointing me in the right direction.

You are probably wondering "what the heck is she talking about"…well I wanted to do a blog series on my favorite artists, many of them are alive and thriving (thank goodness) some of whom are carried by Gagosian so I contacted them regarding the rights to use images of the artists work since I had no way to contact the artists directly. As an artist I don't want people using images of my work without my written permission (and I mean via snail mail) so I won't use images by other artists without the appropriate okays. As we all know Gagosian is a mega-gallery and wicked busy but I enjoyed great email exchanges with them until I realized this project, if I went forward to get permissions, was going to turn into a monster time-eating enterprise for me and for those I would be contacting. I learned that it's not just a quick ok, you have to be very specific in your request, be ready with detailed information about the image you want to use and when you contact someone as big as Gagosian you are using up their valuable time. So I decided to drop the project with the exception of the image above where I write the artists name and there may be more posts like that which frankly has an appealing meditative quality to it.

For the most part when people see an artists name such as some of the above whose very names invoke images that will be enough and you can ponder the work from just the mere mention of their name, but if you don't know the artist it would be my deepest wish that you have the curiousity to find out more about them. I have a great respect for curiousity!

Recently, and some of you may have seen it, I put up Willem DeKooning as my first "Favorite Artist" blog post because these were some images that resonated with what I'm currently working on. I told the gentleman at Gagosian with whom I'd been talking to about it so he could get a sense of the post. He very kindly advised that I might want to take that post down until I had permission from the DeKooning Foundation. So I called the DeKooning Foundation and had a great chat with them. I was under the assumption that since we had lost this genius (DeKooning) that his images were up for grabs…not so!!! It varies and this is what I've learned from further research…there is a general rumor that it's about 75 - 100 years after an artist passes that one can use their images. Since it does vary and since it depends on WHO holds the copyright one should always check. The DeKooning Foundation was more than willing to look at the images I was using, pass them around to the appropriate people at the Foundation for further approval but it dawned on me how much time this will take on their part just so I could post a few pictures on a blog. Don't get me wrong, I love my blog and hope it is an important/different view on all things art plus I have a lot of fun with it but these people are swamped with requests and frankly I don't want to add to their mayhem.

Furthermore The DeKooning Foundation sent me to an important website about copyright information which I hope readers will bookmark for future reference The Artists Rights Society and the address is http://www.arsny.com/index.html

What a terrific learning experience this has been and in one of my discussions (I won't say which place) we talked about how blogs are the worst for snatching images without permission, it happened to me and I didn't like it so I won't do that to other artists…living or gone to the great studio in the sky.

New Ancient Wall paintings!!!

2011-02-08T16:52:00.000-08:00

With all this wretched snow, sleet, generally rotten weather one good thing about it is I'm either painting or cleaning. Curiously I seem to have lots of paintings but my place doesn't look much cleaner...hmmm. I am thrilled to introduce the newest paintings in the Ancient Wall series. At first these may appear different from my usual work but I intentionally post this after posting about my two little darlings, they are from the same area - Trastevere in Rome. When I wander around I look at everything and the weather and age beaten walls are so exciting to me with their colors and textures I had to paint them. The pink ones are in a series called "Old Skin", there was an area where there was random swipes of pink paint and it reminded me of skin. These are all acrylic on paper, pink ones are 15 x 15" and the last one is 15 x 23 and is the first in the series of Aperatura's (openings)

Two little favorites...

2011-02-08T16:40:00.000-08:00

I just love these two little paintings from my time in Rome...if I could hug a painting I would hug these.

2011-01-30T06:28:00.000-08:00

Every time I visit the Museum of Fine Arts as well as every day I worked there I would make a daily pilgrimage to a simple, beautiful, deeply personal little painting "The Artist in his Studio" by Rembrandt. It is special to me because I was there in that very studio during a visit to Holland in 2008. I went to Holland as a birthday present to myself during tulip season (gorgeous!), I developed a craving for raw herring dipped in onion with a big mug of beer, learned that the Dutch make the best soups ever…especially pea soup which is so thick you can stand a spoon in it. During the last few days of the trip our group was taking a canal tour of Amsterdam (fabulous!) at the end of which we were let off by the diamond factory for a scheduled tour but I learned that Rembrandt's house was only a block away…that's better than diamonds for me. I'd heard about a show of botanical paintings by Maria Sybilla Merian which turned out to be mind-blowing! She watercolor paintings on vellum in the 1600's but they were so bright and clear they could have been done yesterday! She is one of the rare, deeply gifted women who break through in a time dominated by men. But then again Holland was/is a very progressive place and Maria was held in high esteem given opportunities as an artist that were unheard of, she got to travel to places women rarely went so she could study then paint the flora and fauna. That exhibit was in a modern looking part of Rembrandt's house, so I figured maybe it was the "site" where Rembrandt's house once stood, maybe they had built over his place. Not so, after a bit more exploring I ended up in Rembrandt's very home!!! Saw where he slept, ate his meals, did his etchings. I was the first person in the door that day so had the place to myself for a little bit. I saw an impossibly tiny, twisted staircase to the upper floor the guard hadn't even made it up there yet and there I was in HIS studio, with his brushes, palettes, a partially prepared canvas on his easel…I felt faint. The light was dim because the shutters were still closed. Moments later the guard walked in, we exchanged good mornings as I was standing in the middle of the room with my hand over my heart, gently tapping, trying to breathe. Once the guard opened the window and saw me better she rushed over rapidly speaking in Dutch something about "was I ok?" It dawned on me the I might have looked like I was having a heart attack, she kept trying to get me to sit down, her hand was on the walkie talkie when another person walked in who, thankfully, spoke English and Dutch. Maybe I also looked pale, after all it's no small thing to be standing in Rembrandt's studio with his brushes and all he touched so close! This new person translated for me that I was fine, completely fine, but overwhelmed to be in the Master's Studio. The guard relaxed and I got over being stunned then took a great deal of time to look at each of this things…oh how I wanted to touch them! My other favorite room was the one that housed his collections of bones, sticks, flotsam and jetsam of all kinds…in that way we are similar. The studio in this painting is the very one I stood in and it was an immense thrill to be there in the spot where he stood. Plus with all the grand paintings he did this one is small and simple, clearly a deeply personal painting for him to give us.

You are not forgotten...

2011-01-19T05:58:00.000-08:00

The beautiful new wing of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts is full of surprises and work that has never been on display before because there wasn't room. One of the biggest surprises, one I've returned to many times is the exquisite room of cross stitch pieces done all around the 1700's in Boston and surrounding areas by 12 year old girls. It's an amazing room that guarantees goosebumps when you begin to think how seldom women, let alone young girls from that era get represented. These fragile pieces are gorgeous, gentle works and a way for these girls to learn their letters. The one pictured here is a particular favorite of mine and one I make a point of seeing often, it's by Martha Decoster (Decoster or Decosta is Portuguese for "the coast"). She lived in the North End of Boston, my old neighborhood and even though her name conjures up images of the Sea her father was "a humble bricklayer". Clearly he was a busy man as Boston is smothered in brick!

I cannot make out all Martha has written at the top of her piece but the bottom writing is clear and says: "Martha Decoster is my name New England is my nation Boston is my dwelling place and Christ is my salvation when I am dead and lied in grave and all my bones are rotten if this you see remember me and never let me be forgotten." Martha stitched this piece in 1749, 262 years later Martha you bring tears to my eyes and a chill to think a 12 year old girl could write this and so beautifully. You are not forgotten...

More palettes!

2011-01-18T09:15:00.001-08:00

It's snicing out there (snow + ice) and it's not nice! I hate winter and don't go out unless I absolutely have to so I'm doing my spring cleaning early + I just painted my studio floor and can't go there for about another day. This morning I cleaned out a closet that is small yet somehow I stuffed a shocking amount of junk in it and to my great joy found these 3 palettes!

Accidental Abstraction...

2011-01-12T12:54:00.000-08:00

I will let the images speak for themselves. These are photos of my palettes that I began saving quite some time ago and hesitate to admit it but I often like them more than my paintings! I'm a lousy abstract painter (topic for another post) but when it happens accidentally it's magic. Enjoy!

This is my current "in studio" palette, freshly scraped, looks very Spring like!

my disposable palette which I won't save, used this for my alkyds.

This is an interesting one...it's double sided and this is side one, think I'm going to frame it.

...and this is the other side, where I actually mixed the paint.

Geesh I just love this one...

this next palette is the first one I saved and I'd been painting a lot of florals...you can kind of tell from the colors.

The most mysterious painting...

2011-01-09T09:50:00.000-08:00

El Perro by Goya for me is one of the most mysterious paintings in the world. During a whirlwind trip through the amazing Prado last year it stopped and held me in its trance. El Perro is one of the few paintings that comes to mind often as it did recently. I can see it vividly in my mind with fresh wonder. No one can truly decipher what's going on in an artist's mind, lots of people have incredible and melodramatic theories about what the painting means but they can never know for sure. Problem is that most glom onto one of the many interpretations and don't form their own. Lots of meanings have to do with a lonely and abused dog, why so grim! What sadness lies deep in people that makes them come up with that, perhaps it's true but they (and I) don't know. My interpretation is that the lighter shadow on the wall is the dog's owner who is coming home and the dog hears his steps and woke from a nap, with the darker form along the bottom being a late afternoon shadow. It does seem to be afternoon light overall. There could be humor in the piece as well with the dark shape along the bottom being the form of a plush bed which the dog has been sleeping on (and shouldn't be!), and startled at the sound of it's owner coming in. Or perhaps the dog doesn't recognize the steps hence the slightly startled look of "who's that". It is most interesting that Goya painted it on the walls of his house so maybe it's a shadow painting of his dog. It would be helpful to know what wall and where in the house it was, there is some dispute as to whether or not it was painted on the wall of the second floor or not since they aren't sure it the house even had a second floor. Perhaps Goya painted it to be his watchdog, alert to intruders, and for all who like to go to darker meaning perhaps the shadow is death or more political strife and Goya's faithful friend is guarding against it.

The painting is mesmerizing and frankly far more mysterious to me than the other most "mysterious" painting the Mona Lisa. No image required because I'm sure it pops up in everyone's mind the instant you hear the title. A bunch of years ago I got to see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre. I was shocked at how small it really is. It's lovely but to be honest if it didn't come with centuries of hype and was just hanging on the wall with all the other paintings I might not spend much time with it. What I found much more compelling than the Mona Lisa was all the people filing in to pay homage to get some cheesey photo of themself in front of it or everyone looking at it through their cameras or cell phones but no one NO ONE actually really, deeply looking at it. In any case you wouldn't have much time to spend looking at it close up and carefully as there are huge lines of people that are filed through by guards who must absolutely hate having to be there shuffling people through. I feel for them. Mona Lisa has become a travel trophy which seems to be a monumental tragedy for such a simple painting. What also strikes me about the painting is to ponder how many people have seen that painting, how many pairs of eyes have looked at her vs. how many have looked at El Perro? I'll bet you if I went out on the street and did an informal poll of thousands of people and asked them "what is the most famous painting in the world" to a person, 100% they would say the Mona Lisa. The other astonishing thing when you are in the same room as the Mona Lisa is that the room is full of gigantic paintings but no one seems to bother looking at them! Just crazy.

It is interesting to note that those are the thoughts that come up when I think of the Mona Lisa but not the painting itself. However, when I wonder about something mysterious El Perro -the whole painting- comes to mind.

Think before you eat...

2010-12-10T16:33:00.000-08:00

Don't worry this isn't one those annoying holiday pieces about watching your waistline. This is about being much more mindful and grateful about where your food comes from, the sacrifice of animals and the overall quality of what we eat. I have a theory: America's obesity is due to the poor quality of our food, so we keep stuffing ourselves because we can't get full without nutrition. Oh we've got tons of food but it comes from factory farms that have stripped the earth of all nutrients, replacing the good earth with chemicals. I've just come back from food heaven, Italy, where the phrase "localvore" is not a trendy movement it's been a way of life they've followed for millenium, it has started here and we should embrace it with vigor! While in Italy I ate exceptionally healthy and it was so easy - from the simplest pizza to food as High Art from chef Mona Talbott and the kitchen gang at the American Academy. Since I've been back it's been depressing, returning to eating in the cafeteria at work has been especially brutal. So food is high in my mind these days, couple that with all the PETA posters I see when riding the subway with pictures of animals horribly mistreated it always makes me wonder why are we so cruel and uncaring to the animals, plants and earth that sustains us! How can we possibly justify such actions? We should be worshipping these things by taking very good care of them.

There is a person I admire greatly and heard him speak at the Academy where he is a fellow. He's on a mission I want to help spread the word about his great work....Edible Estates. Fritz Haeg (http://www.fritzhaeg.com/) has a great desire to get people connected with how their food comes to be, wants to move the garden to the front of the house to celebrate that which gives us life and the gardens are beautiful. Plus his philosophy is to leave the excess fruits and veggies you harvest and cannot possibly eat in a basket so others can take it. He also believes in the magic of worms and their great composting skills. He is someone we should be paying close attention to and if you have a yard you should have a garden!

This is the season when people will mindlessly stuff themselves with mass produced, poor quality food that is full of salt and preservatives then spend months regretting it or joining some weight reduction group. So in this season of massive consumerism (aka gluttony) of every kind take a moment to be mindful and deeply grateful for what sustains you. Hopefully in the new year you will think more about it and realize that we live in and are steward of this beautiful Garden of Eden and we are responsible for taking very good care of it and all it's beings. That is my holiday wish for us all...

Some final notes on Rome, Florence & Bologna…

2010-12-05T13:11:00.000-08:00

The reality of leaving Rome and Italy hit like a hard punch in the nose when I was given my airplane "lunch". After a month of the finest food on this planet I had a piece of chicken that clearly came from the smallest chicken in the world and almost made me turn vegetarian. Spongy carrots and whatever they did to the rice should be punishable by making them eat it. The sucker punch came when the "snack" was delivered. It was a lunchable gone very wrong. Not entirely sure if that was cheese or butter or an unknown substance on the bread, it was tasteless and slimy in a kind of creepy way so I used a lot of mustard to take my mind off it. Brutal re-entry.

Rome - after being here for a month I got into the rhythm of the city just "being" there, people watching, got into the daily cappuccino at my local cafe routine. Rome is a big very busy, chaotic city, it is NYC on massive quantities of caffeine! For cheap sightseeing and because I love to people watch I rode the buses everywhere and watched the riders. Romans, Italians, work very hard and endlessly they have a most admirable work ethic which I always appreciate in anyone. My fellow bus riders look like everyone else who works hard for a living, never earns enough for their efforts, hate the political structures they are saddled with - they are tired.

As I mentioned above buses are the way to go anywhere in the towns, great for cheap sightseeing. Chances are you will only need to get a few tickets as most of the validating machines on the buses don't work and most of the riders don't bother using them. One wonders how they pay for anything as no one on the bus pays but you'd better have a ticket or a euro and make a good faith effort. One time I got frustrated the validating machine wouldn't work and there wasn't a machine to deposit a coin so I went to the driver and handed him a euro…he refused!

Florence is very walkable, very sweet and just my kind of town, however, it's a real toss up between Orvieto and Florence. I dream of moving to Italy for a while and would love to live in either town. Bologna, not so much. I'm glad I went there, I was on a pilgrimage to see the Giorgio Morandi museum and loved it. One of the best things are Bologna's covered streets and the cafe scene I wrote about in an earlier post but overall it didn't really move me. Wish I had planned it differently as there were some towns I would have rather seen but it just means they are on the list for the next visit!

Be advised: they give directions just like they do in Boston. So, keeping that in mind, ask several people many times which way. Around the corner or down the street doesn't mean one corner or close by. It could be 12 miles away or around lots of corners.

It's good to be back, see my friends and so forth but there is a quality of life in Europe that I adore and miss terribly. The food is amazing, local, fresh and not processed to death. Being an artist in Europe, even visiting, is fantastic. Their reaction to hearing you make art is the best, they want to know what you work on, what you are interested in, they never ask the tacky crap that you get in the U.S. which is always "how much do you sell it for", or "how many galleries do you have". You never hear that dreaded phrase "I know what I like"…always said by people who haven't a clue. Europeans instantly understand because they have been surrounded by art for millenniums and have a deep almost genetic love of culture it's hard not to want to be there all the time….sigh.

The limnal spaces in art...

2010-11-26T12:49:00.000-08:00

The skies have been really dramatic. Big cauliflower clouds, dark menacing ones with glowing edges of brilliant white, and so on. It's been great fun to watch and paint. I have a passion for dramatic skies, big weather and November in Rome offers both. As I watched one day I realized it was the sky I'd seen before by the great landscape painters then realized it was only the British and Dutch School that came to mind. I got wondering about Italian landscape painters, so went searching and all I could find (albeit not an in-depth search) was Canaletto but his sky or any other nature was clearly secondary to buildings. The skies are so dramatic here I couldn't believe it waited until the 1700's and Canaletto for them to even gingerly enter an Italian painting. Certainly the great frescoes include sky drama but again, the main theme is religion. Since I am at the American Academy in Rome surrounded by breathtaking minds I asked around. Turns out the shift to landscape did not happen until the Barbizon School…hard to imagine it waited until the 1830's! Without a doubt the really great landscape (and for sake of this entry land/sky) painters were hands down the British and Dutch. They had all the dramatic elements to work with and be inspired by but so did the Italians and what were they doing? One brilliant person (and deeply witty)I spoke to, says it began with Turner's visit to Venice followed by Ruskin's incredibly long tome about it which in the end is all about Turner in Venice.

It is precisely the limnal space between artistic movements that drives me crazy. Frankly if I were younger and not so desparately poor I would dash right back into school and study precisely that…the space between artistic movements, the shift between overwrought religious paintings and landscape, or how and why did the leap from prehistoric painting become more considered work - meaning brought indoors to serve a specific purpose. Or my favorite, when did art go from largely king & church supported to commercial. I want to know the politics and everything else about what goes on during those shifts as it's always more than one thing. I will definitely look for all the information I can about this but do not feel as if I can take it on in a scholarly pursuit, not only because I feel too old to do it but more importantly it would entirely consume me and take me away from making art, something I won't allow to happen. Not many people follow my blog but maybe someone will find this entry, be intrigued by the idea and run with it. I firmly believe the limnal spaces in art are an area rich for exploration.

Musings on art residencies...

2010-11-25T11:18:00.000-08:00

The Margo Gelb shack, an inch of wood against the weather! Also stayed in Zara...

I've done a bunch of art residencies through the years and each one has been remarkably, dramatically different from the last. First one I ever did was in a dune shack on Cape Cod. No electricity- only an oil lamp and candles, no running water - only a pump down a 100 ft dune that pumps water you are never really sure is ok to drink even though they say it is but rusty orange water is not attractive, no bathroom - only an outhouse but a nice outhouse with great sea views! The dune shacks are all small maybe the biggest being 10 ft x 15 ft with a bed (more like a camp bed) that you always have to shake off the mouse turds. A propane refrigerator & stove, table and maybe 2 chairs. Overall it is an inch of wood against the weather and it's fabulous. It's also not for everyone, the solitude is intense and your only company will be the zillions of mice that spend and extraordinary amount of time and energy trying to get in, or when all light fades running around the place like maniacs. But it is a purifying place, your senses get a good rest and in my opinion the shacks are hallowed ground where really great writers, artists, poets etc have all stayed in and either started great work, worked on existing great work or recharged their creative batteries.

Pouch Cove, residency in renovated bank...

Next residency was with the Pouch Cove foundation in Newfoundland. I stayed for a month at their newest facility…a renovated bank in Corner Brook. Newfoundland called to mind what the US or pretty much anyplace looked like before ANYONE got there. Corner Brook is a sizable town but just outside of it is vast wilderness. You could lie down and take a nap on it's main highway and never get run over. This was my least successful residency for a number of reasons first, I really wanted to see Newfoundland it seemed such a strange and wild place and then 9/11 hit. But before it did I went exploring and took a bus up to Gros Morne, stayed in a B&B…a real one…someone's house & I stayed in their spare room. It was very nice and so were the lovely couple who were just trying to survive. I explored the area where the words bleak and desolate still come to mind…but so does the word fascinating! When I do a residency it takes me a bit to get the creative juices off jet lag and running smoothly. I got back from exploring and was just about to start making images when 9/11 hit. My residency was for the entire month of September 2001 and, as you can imagine, I couldn't focus on anything except what was happening in the US and world. It was a global event. So that residency was certainly my least successful in terms of work.

And now I'm at the American Academy in Rome...fabulous!

Now I'm wrapping up a month long residency in Rome at the amazing American Academy and has been my most successful residency! Of course what I proposed when I applied for a Fellowship is not at all what I've been doing. Rome is like smacking your forehead and going WOW especially since I've never been here before. I was thrown off my pins but once I steadied again I dove into just making art, no agenda, no plan, just visually respond to everything and I have to say the work from the second half of this time has been very successful. I started to form a desire to focus on color and form and I did. The other terrific part of this residency is being part of this amazing community of great minds! Did they make a mistake letting me come here? I do not have the scholastic pedigree these folks do. Once I got over my own issues of insecurity I started making friends. I've been learning about archeology from Greek Vase painting, secrets of ancient landfills, history of ancient battlefields, religions, languages, etc. etc. I LOVE good conversation and have had plenty of that, it's been wonderful! My residence is as close to living in a palace like a princess as one can get. It's been utterly magical! Every place you look there is art old and new, it's no wonder Italians and Europe in general are so comfortable with art and the concept of artists. I wish I could stay but know one thing for sure…I will be coming back.

Best Baby Jesus ever...

2010-11-24T23:46:00.000-08:00

I have never, ever seen so many baby Jesus' or Madonna's. Today as I wandered the Galleria Borghese it dawned on me that no wonder Christianity took such a firm hold…this was their form of media blitz, advertising. Of course if you see thousands of Madonna's and baby Jesu a trend emerges, the Virgin Mary, at least to me, is always beautiful, serene, passive but you can sense her power. The baby Jesus is usually pretty ugly either depicted as a freakishly small man or just not all that baby-cute except for one painting which is now my all time favorite baby Jesus painting. Lotto painted it in 1508 and shows the Madonna and Child with St Flavian and St Onophrius, Jesus is squirming in her lap. Jesus is a fat cuddly looking little baby who's grabbing at the cardinal's clothes, you can almost see the drool on his chubby little chin…he's a real baby, clearly a handful and she has that calm but tired look of a mother who has a very active, curious baby boy not a mini-man who's aware of all mankinds foibles at barely 1 years old.

I saw more of Lorenzo Lotto's paintings in the Uffizi and he really has a knack for getting baby Jesus right. Another favorite of mine is Madonna della Grazie, 1542. There are angels around but Baby Jesus and Mary are the ones in real communication. I love the gesture of her hands and the pose, gesture and expression on Baby Jesus. Another favorite is Madonna and Child with Saints and Mary looks young, tired and in a comfortable pose. Jesus is no longer a baby, he's a bit older and his curiosity has deepened as he watches and listens to the Saint but you can almost sense his little chubby legs are about to do that funny thing babies do when they do bouncy or rubber legs. The other interesting thing is that Jesus is listening to the Saint but you sense his attention will break at any instant but Mary is not focused, she's daydreaming. I've been researching more on Lorenzo Lotto and find I really REALLY like his work. His people come across as real, soft flesh, great emotion and many in family situations, they seem more natural than work I've seen from this time period. As far as I can find out he was never married, never had a family…maybe he wanted that.

Another surprise painting I saw today at the Uffizi painted by Francesco Rustici around 1621 called Allegory of Painting and Architecture. It is a painting of a painter and an architect with all their tools around them and clearly in a full blown discussion about something and they are two women!!!! I cannot think of another painting, especially that early, that shows women in such revered professions. Rock on Rustici!

Another surprise was to see the paintings of Andrea Di Vanni Andrea and learn that the painter was a woman who did these works in 1370!!! And is the only woman painter in all of the Uffizi for centuries up until the amazing Artemisia Gentleschi's works! It's huge to even acknowledge a woman painting at that time.

Then I went on an art pilgrimage to see much more modern and perfectly simple work by the incredible Giorgio Morandi. It was a welcome break from all the massive frames and giant intense paintings that invoke a mental sound track of angelic music. His works are small, very simple and deeply inspiring! More on Mr. Morandi at another time...

Most recent work from Rome...

2010-11-24T14:06:00.000-08:00

One might think I'm just gadding about Italy. Well I am but with a purpose...to DRAW. Drawing is the very bones of art and it helps to sit and take in the sights, study an area. Here's a link to the newest work which is basically visual note taking, making a log of things I see and love all the colors of the buildings and angles! The first images in the group (posted at the top) are really strong and I'm very pleased with what's happening. Here's the link to all the new work I wanted to move more towards shape and color and it "seems" to be happening. We'll see when I get back if it holds, heck if it doesn't I'll just have to come back to Italy!!!

And for once I'm so pleased with the pen and/or pencil sketches I put them out there for all to see. There are two in the group that reveal my process for making a painting...lots of notes all over the drawing and it was a scene so visually rich I can't wait to get started on it.

Best part of travel is...

2010-11-20T11:21:00.000-08:00

Meeting people! ...

Sister Maria (r) and Sister Hikkema (l)

Me & Roslyn having a great dinner!

Every time I travel I meet interesting people either in the group I'm with or when I stay places on my own. This time around has been a particularly rich experience. The Visiting Artist Residency in Rome just got a lot deeper and more than about making art or seeing it and beautiful towns. During my time here and in a recent trip to Florence I met people who have stopped me in my tracks, introducing wonder, awe and humor. It hardly gets better than that.

During my residence at the American Academy I've met musicians, master stone carvers, lots of writers, medievalists and archeologists. But I've never met an archeologist for the military...until now. Laurie Rush is a real inspiration, sorry I don't have a picture of her. She works for the military as an archeologist and has been instrumental in preserving Iraqi cultural and religious sites and training the soldiers who serve about how important those things are to the people they come in contact with. One of the ways she does this is she took everyday playing cards and re-designed them so that each card gives important information on protecting antiquities, the culture they are in and the religions of the area. Because of her efforts many soldiers go into archeology after their military time has been served. I'm in awe of her work but it turns out she is only one of many! Laurie told me of another female soldier who signed up in the military specifically to protect the culture and art (and artifacts) of another war torn area. This was a real eye opener for me as I, along with probably everybody, only think one thing when they think of soldiers...turns out there are some who fight but not with guns, they fight with ideas!

Speaking of Iraq, this will be hard to write up only because it's so moving I'm already tearing up. This week I went to Florence and stayed at a convent, turns out it was quite possibly one of the most moving experiences of my life. Casa Santo Nome di Gesu used to be a full on convent for Franciscan nuns and as the number of sisters dropped off they turned it into a school and then the sisters were moved to other convents and the convent was taken over by the Dominican Sisters and are trying to make a go of it as an incredibly clean, safe and inexpensive place to stay for travelers...then I learned about the sisters who are running it...there are onlhy 3 of them. They are Iraqi nuns of the Domican order. Sister Hikkema and Sister Maria, the third nun is off on retreat at the moment and they miss her terribly. These two Sisters are quick to smile and laugh, they are sharp, quick witted, multi-lingual and have a HUGE place to run. All of the money goes to the good missionary work of the order and to help sustain these nuns. How was this all life changing? I got the back story on these dear Sisters Hikkema, Maria and the one on retreat. They were moved out of Iraq after the very recent bombings of Christian centers just this past October. Many civilisns were killed and two priests...one was 25 years old, the other 30 years old, barely fresh from taking their vows. These nuns moved into tents in the desert so as NOT to further endanger any civilians then they were moved (evacuated) to Florence, given a B & B to run and they seem to love it and they certainly have a great sense of humor given what they've just been through. I took this picture of them just before I left and each one took one of my hands and asked me to pray for them and for Iraq...so I extend their wish to all of you...pray for these nuns and tell everyone to stay at Casa Santo Nome de Gesu and pray for Iraq.

Now for some lighter inspiration...the other photo is of me and a terrific woman I met at the convent, since I'm not sure if it's ok to publish her last name I'll just call her Rosalyn and she's from Australia. She lost her Mom recently and told her daughter she was off to see the world for a while. She retired early (63) and hit the road, she doesn't have a plan, she just goes where she thinks would be interesting and has -so far in about 2 months- been all over Europe and now exploring Italy. She stays about a week in every place, longer if she's crazy about it, and is not at all wealthy. Roslyn takes cheap, slow transportation because she sees more and meets more people that way. She's been a massage therapist, social worker and most recently writes bereavement ceremonies which I learned are all the rage in Australia. They don't want ministers running the ceremonies of bereavement or marriage there because as she says with great humor "Aussies are a bunch of heathens". Rather they want a lovely poetry & music filled event, plus she spends a great deal of time with each family finding out as much as she can about the person who has passed so she can "make it as meaningful as possible" for them. During her travels she's been most moved by Scotland and is headed back there for Christmas. Roslyn says, quite proudly, that she's never owned property and to that end recently had a gypsy wagon built so when she gets back to Australia she can keep moving. The only home she says she could ever tolerate is one on wheels and that has a lot of character...Rosalyn certainly has a lot of character!

I don't have a picture of this, so you have to use your imagination, liberally, as this is hands down one of my favorite people watching events in a long time. In Bologna after fulfilling my mission of seeing the Giorgio Morandi Museum (awesome) I decided to wander the streets of Bologna to see what the folks do there until I saw a sign for hot chocolate and Panna. I heard that's pretty tasty and it is. I went into the tiny coffee shop, SO cute, got a table in back and just to my left was an astonishing woman ... let the show begin. This little coffee shop had about 5 tiny tables, all full, with me and the rest locals having lunch. The woman to my left was a character in the social play about to unfold. Clearly she'd been sitting there for a while and it was easy to pick up on the "energy" between all the players. Let's call the woman in question Lola...Lola was in a TIGHT, super short animal print dress that left nothing to the imagination...and I mean n o t h i n g, my best guess is she's a 46DD most of which was also on proud display. She was drenched in lots of cheap gold-looking jewelry, bright blue nailpolish on freakishly long fingernails which typed furiously away and a neon pink cell phone, she has a mop of curly bottle blond hair whose roots need serious retouching, lots of make up and 10 inch heals. Right across from her was clearly the wife of the owner (and the owner would sneak peeks whenever he could) and she was the cashier who would smack him on the arm if she caught him. If you could ONLY see the looks she threw this woman you'd double over. But every time, and I mean every time any man walked by Lola would "display" herself and the woman cashier really had steam coming out her ears!!! Then more people came in for lunch, clearly they all knew each other and the looks flying around the room were incredible...so much being said with the eyes & gestures but amazingly no one actually said anything. I sensed the drama would deepen so once I finished my hot chocolate I ordered lunch - no way was I going to miss this! Then Lola gets up & goes to the restroom...well the chatter began and I didn't need a translator to know what the women were saying! Lola comes back out and sits back down, she had to have heard them and she was stuffing it in their faces. My lunch was finished and I couldn't justify staying any longer. I think Lola was there for the long haul and maybe purposefully to drive someone crazy. OH how I wish I were a playwrite as it was a great scene!

Moving, heartwrenching, inspiring or just plain goofy...travel and meeting people or people watching is the BEST.

The ugly side of Rome...

2010-11-14T11:23:00.000-08:00

Graffiti! I hate it, really hate it. Lots of people will disagree, that's fine but I don't care...I hate graffiti. Unfortunately the bored "Art" world ever in search of edgy or odd things or the new bad boy (never a bad girl!) has raised this visual grundge to art with jerks like Banksy, who clearly learned how to manipulate the media because he just needs attention, and Shepard Fairy who is now even working in the studio making piles of money by mass producing his images, he's just making a product. Graffiti, in my opinion, is not art. It is, however, the visual equivalent of dogs pissing on lamp posts, building corners, mailboxes etc. to mark territory. And in Rome it is a gruesome visual blight. In many cases it is disastrous for the antiquities. I never understood why people do it, it's so stupid. Is it really all about wanting attention? In Rome it doesn't even come close to being art for those who want to call it such. It's mindless, repetitive scribbles over absolutely everything, cars, vespas, walls of every kind, stairs windows on and on. I was talking with a friend who has lived in Rome a great deal of his life and he said it's never been as bad as in the last 5 or so years. Plus he travels throughout Italy and is seeing it places that have never been defaced before. It doesn't seem like anyone even notices it, but it's not surprising because there is so much of it that it becomes one long visual sour note that just hums across your eyes. There are people in Rome trying hard to combat this but in one interview a graffiti person vowed they will never be defeated...what a dope. You want to be noticed? You want to write? Go write a book, play, music, paint, want to leave your "mark" on the world then do something REALLY creative because if you visually piss on everything you are not an artist.

One focus of my work is the gorgeous effects of time and weather on ancient walls. The colors change, moss grows, there are water stains and salts seep through all of which make for amazing natural art, then some butt head visually pisses on it. Makes me crazy!

Big doings at the Villa

2010-11-12T12:35:00.000-08:00

Leaves on the Sycamores are fully changed to yellow ochres with touches of cadmium yellow light, burnt sienna and the trunks of the massive trees are mottled greys. Fall has clearly come to Rome. At the Villa the ever busy landscapers took away all the lemon & lime trees that line the edges of Villa Aurelia and in an incredible checkerboard pattern in front of the main entrance. Each tree carefully removed to the shed area and they still had so many lemons on them! I wanted to pick them all, I love lemons! Once they were all moved they began on replacing them with the very healthy Holly topiaries that line the path along the walk to my place. The checkerboard of lawn & pea stone in front of the main entrance now has little Holly trees on each green patch.

There is so much that goes on here and a big crew all lead by a fantastic guy Alphonso. He has an absolutely HUGE smile and it's immediate. The smile bursts across his face instantly and effortlessly almost as if he's going to break into an hysterical laugh I smile too in a knee jerk reaction, you can't help it when you see him. I defy anyone not to smile when they see him, it's not possible to hold it in. He doesn't speak any English but it doesn't matter he prattles on and somehow I understand or I don't care if I do...I just want to be in his presence, he sparkles.

The landscape crew seems to be huge I can't get a grasp on how many there actually are but each one has a job and they buzz away all day almost every day, but especially when there's a function and they work extra long hours. There's no 10 am break, no union, no leaving at 3 but they do get the healthy European lunch 2 or 3 hour which is most civilized. But when there is something going on at the Villa they come right back and work long hours. Last weekend was a fall music festival, concert on Friday night, all day Sunday event. Then they were shooting some TV or movie thing here most of the week. Next weekend is more concerts...it's always something.

One of them brings their dog and we've become fast friends. When he sees me in the morning he bounds across the lawn while I brace myself for his forceful greeting...the dog smiles too! He's a lab mix, very big and strong and like so many Italian animals, not neutered so he doesn't understand gentle, it's all big play and I'm trying to find ways to establish "boundaries". Like any dog I've ever known if I just keep throwing the ball everyone's happy.

Then there's my own personal cleaning crew that comes in once a week. Two men and a woman, they mop, vacuum, dust, clean each room, change my linens, lights indoor and out if needed and EVEN vacuum my piazza, dust the eaves and railing! Amazing! All in about 10-15 minutes max then whoosh they are gone to the next place. I am going to be so spoiled they're going to have to drag me screaming from this place!

But the melancholy has set in now the nights are downright chilly, the lemon trees are gone, replaced by holly. Here's some pics of the crew changing out the trees & my canine buddy!

2010-11-11T00:19:00.000-08:00

I'm living in a dream and I don't want to wake up! Currently I'm in Rome as a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome and I've entered my second week here. I have hopes for this residency one of which is to focus on drawing, the very bones of art and I never spend enough time really drawing so that is a goal. However, as usual everything interests me and I'm painting whatever comes in from of my eyes. I spend a day painting and a day exploring and drawing. I am in Rome after all and there is a very great deal to see. This ancient city is all new and exciting to me and I love history. My god standing in the Parthenon or wandering the Roman Forum you can feel the history, it bubbles up through my feet and takes me over. But today I got to wondering if Italians ever get tired of all the antiquity, all the statues and giant fountains. Every street, every turn reveals new astonishing wonders for me but what is it like for a person who sees the Parthenon every day? I was weak in the knees when I saw it, do they feel that way after years or decade. After 2 weeks here I feel a bit worn out by all the chiesas (churches)! More than likely they are just so sick and tired of all the tourists! Clearly there are a lot of Italians who care deeply for their history or it would not be preserved. Yet every Italian I meet instantly knows I ain't from around here asks where I'm from and then go on about how much they love America, Boston plus the Celtics and Red Sox!

Usually when I go to a city first thing I do is seek out the art galleries and spend as much time in them as possible. Normally US cities architecture just bores the beejesus out of me, one more square bldg of glass and steel. So I seek solace in galleries & museums but in Rome I never ever thought about it until today when I saw a museum and I couldn't bear to go in…there's so much to see outside! Rome is a living museum! I went to the Vatican Museum and had NO idea it was so massive. I could spend days in there. All this history is our history too, a cultural genealogy of sorts and many lessons to be learned…I am walking through time and it's intoxicating. I'm grateful to all those who work so hard to save these Roman treasures, what a tragedy beyond words it would be to not have access to this!

Here are some paintings & drawings I've done so far that I like :) More to come later...enjoy!

In the bookstore...

2010-10-29T06:39:00.000-07:00

It was a cold, damp day in New England - the perfect day for a bookstore and it was an interesting day! First I was looking for a book to take on my travels, of course I headed to Jane Austen but have read all hers so wandered over a couple rows to Bronte and picked up Villette. As I read the back of the book jacket it I thought about how books of that era seem to be mostly about class, money and overcoming great difficulties to survive and win in the end while books of our era are about wounded people and how to heal. Curious.

Like every month I go there when the new art magazine issues come out, get a cup of coffee and read thru them all. This month they were more interesting than usual and the focus in all seemed to be sculpture which I adore! Even tho I'm a painter I was trained as a sculptor and really love it but am happiest as a painter. However, Arp makes me swoon, so does Henry Moore and there's a great article about him Art in America, in that issue I also learned of a new (to me) sculptor Orly Genger and his work is awesome! Check out this link http://www.museomagazine.com/issue-14/orly-genger I won't post pics of his or other artists I mention because I don't have their permission so you will have to be curious and go looking. I also discovered and fell in love with the work of Oscar Tuazon (http://www.contemporaryartdaily.com/2010/03/oscar-tuazon-at-kunsthalle-bern/) and back to painters I love the new work from Pat Steir.

Do you get fries with that?

2010-10-27T07:48:00.000-07:00

I get goosebumps & shivvers every time I say this but I received a Visiting Artist Residency at the esteemed American Academy of Art and the reactions from people when I tell them about it has been most interesting and in two distinct camps. First, all my art buddies and family are excited they get what this is all about. Second is a wide groups of friends & co-workers who always ask "well what do you get with that?" like it's a prize and I should walk away with an object, when I explain it they go blank. The gift of time to paint is not something people understand easily. We are all so pressed for time, plus it all must be done instantly due to our new instant electronic age and so on, a very insidious circle and a residency breaks out of that. A residency breaks all routines and the best ones are in another country which breaks all ties, even momentarily, to known comforts and bad habits. So my dearest friends, what do I get with this residency? I get the great gift of completely uninterrupted, unscheduled time to do what I want to do all day every day....paint. I get to immerse myself in another culture, see lots of things new for the first time, peel the fish scales off my eyes and see, really see, absorb - be a human sponge! Also important is that I hope to make new friends and contacts. Here's a question for you....artist or not....if you had one, two weeks or a month in front of you to do whatever you wanted (and don't say clean your place, change out winter to summer clothes...nothing to do with any kind of chore) what would you do with it?

The little paintings at the top are ditties I did to calm my travel nerves! Stay tuned as I will be posting from Rome soon...

Plein air adventures...

2010-08-28T11:06:00.000-07:00

Late Spring of this year I took a Master Class with Stuart Shils at the Philadelphia Academy of Art, I'm such a huge fan of him and his work. It was a great experience that months later is finally having a positive effect on my own work. He gave a talk the first night that was simply fantastic the next day we hit the field to paint en plein air. First let me say the last time I was in Philadelphia was when I was about 5-7 years old so I didn't really remember that visit but I fell hard in love with that town on this trip. What a GREAT city and so pretty with tons of art around. Now I've been painting for a long time and have done all kinds of work but our first day out there and being a little intimidated it felt and looked like I'd never painted in my life. I'm not comfortable painting plein air but am drawn to it like a moth to bright lights - it's really about confidence. In my dream en plein air moment I go out to effortlessly whip up a masterpiece while dazed on-lookers ooo and awww frantically searching for their wallets and the bidding war begins - that is certainly not what happens. There are times when it's great and I love talking to people, there are times when people gush on about their Aunt who paints or how they paint and what they would do differently if they could get ahold of my brushes but my favorite is the kids, the best critics in the world! Once in a while someone comes by makes a brief comment then mostly just watches me and during the awkward silence I start blabbering about how it's really just a field sketch blah blah blah and inside my head I'm saying "what are you doing....shut up and paint."

During the Master Class I made work so stunningly bad that clearly I was possessed by an evil art demon who took away all my skill. At the end of the day looking at the paintings was an out of body experience as in who did that crap. My classmates, of course, were making awesome work which made it all the worse but Stuart was most kind and offered some really helpful comments. In fact, unless he reads this blog post he may never know how helpful. I came back from the Master Class determined to take plein air head on and have begun to see some real success, my favorite so far is posted above. It is only 6 x 8 inches and absolutely embodies the direction I want my work to go in. Exploring the entire process of painting outside has been fun...I've been trying different size canvases, mediums and exploring the city in a new way as I look for inspiration, finding the grittier parts of the city far more interesting than the well-manicured parks and pretty places. Of course one major aspect of all this fun is buying art supplies! I've got more plein air easels now than I care to disclose. My purpose is to streamline the gear as I don't have a car and have never liked lugging a ton of stuff around plus I want to streamline the work also. Meaning - get everything "said" loosely without a ton of detail, this seems to finally be happening so many months after I painted the worst things ever put on paper and I can still hear Stuart's great advice whispering in my thoughts. The other breakthrough for me regards scale. There is a saying I love but don't know who originally said this "If you can't make it good, make it big, if you can't make it big, make it red." I have always been freaked out by small painting but am finding it helps keep me way from endless detail and more focused on my ultimate goal of keeping things loose. It's all one big challenge and that's what I love the best. My larger work has begun to show the benefits of being outside and certainly my overall painting mood has improved greatly. There is a correlation, at least for me, about being stuck in the studio and being stuck in my work.

2010-06-30T15:16:00.000-07:00

This painting is called "The Gulf" it is 46" x 76", oil on canvas. As you will no doubt see it is based on Picasso's Guernica. The second day of the spill I was watching the horror of the oil spill on TV and during commercials looked through an art magazine when I saw Guernica. The whole idea gelled instantly - one horror begets another. The next few weeks were spent drawing out sections of it, filling sketchbooks with ideas, printing out pictures from the Gulf for research, one photo in particular showed a young mother, holding one baby and the hand of her other young boy. She looked so sad, so worn out and far too young for that, she broke my heart. Everything about her reminded me of the woman holding the baby in Picasso's painting. So she became my role model for Mother Nature on the left hand side. Once I filled sketchbooks with expressions and interpretations of wildlife I made a life-sized drawing to see how it all fit. I wanted to make it the same size as Guernica but do not have a studio wall large enough.

I join the many who are utterly distraught over the tragedy happening in the Gulf and to the people who died because of the rig explosion, to all who live and work from the Sea, especially to all the fragile sea life and ecosystems that have been destroyed because of this inexcusable negligence. I am fiercely passionate about and protective of nature. It inspires all the work I do. We live in the Garden of Eden but utterly disrespect it and trash it daily. I cannot find the right word to describe my anger and disgust over this tragedy and the countless other ones that take place around the world because of corporate greed. I cannot get time off from my part time job to go clean the coast, help the wildlife or even hand out information or water to those who are helping. So I did what I love & know how to do best…put it all in a painting, my art is normally inspired by the beauty of nature, this painting is inspired by the stupidity and greed of man.

My goal for this painting is to find a very public way of auctioning it off with ALL the money (minus the shipping…unless I can get that donated) going to some really deserving place in the Gulf, maybe to the families who lost loved ones in the rig blast, maybe to some single mother who tries to make her living by the sea and now cannot, maybe to some school art program that is desperate for funds. I'd love to give to some wildlife organization but only if it helps the animals. I'd really love to get enough from auctioning this off to help all those and more. I do not ever give money to big organizations because it only goes into some CEO's pocket. I've put this all out there to a number of places and hope something will happen. It's all I can think of to do….

Art & Money #2 brief musings…

2010-06-29T16:35:00.000-07:00

Just some brief thoughts on the topic. I've worked two or three jobs my whole life, my job as an artist and then the other things I had to do to survive. I only ever want to work one…artist. Currently I work in the corporate world but don't get excited I'm part time and don't even make in a week what the lawyers carry in their pockets! Every once in a while it amuses me to wonder what it would be like if the world was reversed. What if we really did value art & artists? What if as you grew up you were expected and pushed to be an artist of some sort…painter, sculptor, writer, dancer, woodcarver, actor and so forth. But what you really deeply wanted was to be a lawyer, banker or realtor and somehow you had to cram the job you desire into your day? Ah the economics of it all…artists would be making 6 figure incomes and bankers barely anything. I would certainly love to see it all reversed. This would be a much better world if driven by creativity rather than greed.

Back to Italy...

2010-05-18T06:41:00.000-07:00

Finally some good landscape paintings are coming out of my trip (last year!) to Italy. I had been having a lot of trouble with these and one painting (Terrevecchia) I did 3-4 times and it just got worse and worse. I was tightening up something fierce, so the Master Class in Philly really helped get me unstuck with oil painting and the bad habits I was forming. I'm extremely pleased with the looseness and brush work in these paintings and look forward to continuing with this and most of all desperate to get back to Italy!

Still lifes!

2010-05-18T06:19:00.000-07:00

And now for some new Still Lifes (and no it's not Still Lives, altho that would make an interesting body of work!). I honestly can't remember the last time I did still life painting, one of the reasons for not doing them is while enjoy other still life paintings I just don't want to do the usual subjects. That being said it I want a still life that is an accidental combination of objects and have been keeping a close eye on my kitchen counter. And as you will see other things caught my eye...stay tuned more coming!

Hello again...

2010-05-18T06:05:00.000-07:00

Phew...sorry I've been away for a bit. My little pt job has been nuts but the best thing is I took a FABULOUS Master Class with Stuart Shils in Philadelphia. I learned a ton, broke out of my big stuck place and have new things to think about and work on. I'll get back to the Art & Money Series but first here's a bunch of new work from the last couple months. Let's start with the Intercontinental Hotel, on those first nice days of Spring I'd sit across the water from it and watch the light play and the distorted reflections...I was hooked. I've always had a squishy spot for the grid and this building is just so beautiful - it plays with light all day and I'm enchanted. More coming but here are the first ones.

Art & Money #1

2010-04-08T05:36:00.000-07:00

The relationship of art and money both fascinates and horrifies me. How did it all begin and how the heck did it get to where it is now? There are many times when I think long and hard about that first mark making, the very first drawing. As an artist it's as important to me as finding our human origins. But I can just imagine as there are only rare traces left of their markings, it would be great to combine art and archeology to become arteology! Who made that first drawing and why? I assume pictures came before words or maybe they grew together and I assume it was to tell the tribe, clan, group about the big herds of whatever they saw and should go hunt. Was it a dream that needed to be shared, a portent, or something scary that needed explaining? Was a map to the hunting grounds the first picture? I imagine that first drawing to be an urgent communication and love to ponder how that person felt when they did it and how was it received. Were they thrilled by it? Whatever the reason and no matter who did that first drawing I am thrilled thousands of years later just thinking about them and their drawing, it's when it all began!

Now let's go from the sublime to completely ridiculous and imagine the time line from that first pure moment to the recent art feeding frenzy and subsequent collapse - an endlessly entertaining yet thoroughly depressing journey. I've read lots of really good books on this subject but my all time favorite is: "The Twelve Million Dollar Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art" by Don Thompson. My reverie about the first mark maker has been altered with wondering if all the nouveau riche who got bilked out of millions for art ever regret spending that money? It has been a whirlwind of madcap art gluttony merged with greed. Thus begins my series of art an money, stay tuned...

Spring!

2010-03-08T06:29:00.000-08:00

I'm in a fierce painting slump so I've set it all aside and went wandering in the warm sunshine yesterday, here's some things I saw along Comm Ave and the Back Bay area...enjoy. I can't get some of them to orient the right way so just tip your head :)

These first two always catch me when I walk by, it's on Comm Ave (for those out of the area that's short for Commonwealth Ave) just about 2 blocks up from the park there's this bronze dog and I wonder if it's in memory of someone's beloved pet? I love it!

and here come the first flowers of Comm Ave!!!!! JOY!!!!!!

And these are just things I liked...

2010-03-01T07:08:00.000-08:00

My latest seascape! I'm working on simplifying the seascapes, trying to grab the essence of a big bold day. All the seascapes are painted alla prima and except for a few touch ups they are painted in just a few hours. They are about space, lots of air, limitlessness, a place to wander & ponder & lift up out of all that weighs us down. I'm about to begin work on some that are even simpler - sea/sky.

I saw it in a dream...

2010-02-09T10:33:00.000-08:00

Curious night last night. I had entirely visual dreams, no narratives, no people, nothing but images. One in particular strengthened as the night went one and was a full painting by morning. That's how it all began for me as an artist. When I was 12 I had a dream so astonishing and vivid that when I work up I got my paint by number kit and the cardboard from my Father's dry-cleaned shirts and painted it. My first painting has long since been lost but I can still see it, a humble but earnest effort lacking any basics like perspective and the cardboard soaked up all the extra linseed oil from the overly juicy paint by number paints. God how I always loved the smell of those paints because of the linseed oil. To this day I can call up that original dream as it if happened last night - it was of me in a very dense jungle of rich green foliage, I was on the top of a hill looking down through the jungle to an outrageously blue, clear, large pool of water with white sand all around. The first time I went to the Caribbean I almost passed out as it was the full realization of that dream.

So last night there was another dream and first thing today I sketched it out to capture the idea. It felt like I'd spent all night looking at this image and know that it is inspired somehow from my trip to Italy. The image was full of rich warm, deep colors with a shock of light spreading from sharp & glaring to waning as it traveled over the darker colors, as if a door to a pitch dark, long closed room had been opened a little. I believe it is being fueled by my great hope that I get picked for the Rome Prize, it's a real long shot but I want it so badly there isn't a day goes by I don't think about it. The vision last night even came with title "Ancient Light". So tomorrow I will get to work on the painting. I became an artist because of a dream so am hoping this dream comes true too!

Another day at the beach...

2010-02-04T05:58:00.000-08:00

Ah it's been so satisfying painting lately. I've started a run of clouds with big personalities and have another canvas prepped for a very large sea/sky. I purposely do not put boats or people in my paintings for a couple reasons, first I'm lousy at painting people and second, boats in a painting can be so tricky it either works or is cliche. The larger reason I don't put things in my beach paintings is because I want to let that beach belong entirely to the viewers. A stroll on the beach is walking meditation for me, a place to get rid of stress, or just relax, be in the sun and think it's probably like that for most people. So enjoy...

2010-02-02T10:44:00.000-08:00

Back to seascapes for a bit and it feels so good to paint a place I love going to and wish I were at now! On top of that I wish it were summer! Can't wait for the warmth. Getting new work ready for my wonderful Provincetown Gallery the Lyman-Eyer check them out at www.lymaneyerart.com. I'm particularly pleased with the way this turned out. It was painted alla prima as most of my work is and have more paintings in mind with bold, big personality clouds.

Tree paintings....

2010-01-18T15:04:00.000-08:00

Some tree paintings, the first two are brand new. I'm lovin' doing these on paper and they connect up nicely with the Night paintings. Enjoy!

The Night Paintings

2010-01-18T14:49:00.000-08:00

Here's a collection of the Night paintings, the first one is still sopping wet. If anyone knows of any Night Art exhibits coming up I've got the work for it!

Not every painting works out...

2010-01-18T06:22:00.000-08:00

Honestly it feels real good to chop up paintings. Among artists there are many schools of thought about less-than-successful paintings. Some hang onto every work no matter what, some see a glimmer of hope in even the least successful, some feel even failure is success. I definitely agree on those last two thoughts. If I hang onto older work it either represents something special from that time or I’m very emotionally invested in it...otherwise chop chop chop. I had one gallery a while ago that wouldn’t give me back the paintings that didn’t sell because she knew what I’d do to some of them and would beg me not to cut them up. I’d just smile. That being said I would never cut up a painting that had at least a gleam of interest somewhere in it but also feel it isn’t good to hang onto every piece one ever made. Oddly enough I feel a failed oil on canvas to be much less precious than anything on paper...it’s just cloth to me when it doesn’t work out and I can always get more canvas to stretch another. Paper, however, has a hold on me, so I gesso over the failure on paper and work it again. In Italy last year I visited a shop that makes hand made paper and I swooned. I bought all kinds of it and open it just to touch it, feel it’s softness, the weight of it but haven’t used it, just knowing I have this beautiful paper is satistying! So not every painting works out but as I write this and look at the picture I’m getting an interesting idea...stay tuned!

2010-01-07T08:36:00.000-08:00

This night painting is acrylic on heavy watercolor paper and oh how fondly I remember this scene. It was April of 09, I was walking back from dinner in the ancient town of Terrevecchia in Southern Italy. On the way back to my villa the night was blue/black, sparsely lit with scattered street lamps. One street lamp lit this small scene plus it had rained much of the day, so everything glistened. It was so silent and such a nice night I ended up walking all over the town. Magical! There's a few more night paintings in the works - so check back.

2010-01-07T08:26:00.000-08:00

My Idea Book

I got this handmade blank book in Paris a few years ago and saved it, didn't know for what but it sat in my travel case (a case that has something significant from each place I've been) and finally it has found a purpose that fits it's specialness...c'est nas pas en Journal, it is simply an idea book. I am beseiged by ideas...in a restaurant watching the wait staff I see choreography, going to the beach I had a vision for a large shoreline sculpture, and so forth... I have no skill re: choreography and not enough time to create even a small fraction of the ideas that come to mind but have found a way to at least preserve them.

The beginning...

2009-12-27T07:56:00.000-08:00

And so the work begins anew. There is just nothing more satisfying than having everything at hand to begin painting. Stretched a nice big canvas last night and it should be all prepped and ready to roll by Tuesday which is going to be a full painting day. Now just have to decide what do I paint? I have two images in mind and will certainly do both but which one first? Hmmm.

2009-12-27T07:34:00.000-08:00

Well it wasn't all baking cookies and gluing corks my friends. I finished these two paintings as well. The night trees is the first in a series of night paintings and I'm thrilled with the way it turned out and really excited about a number of new things I tried in the painting. Night #1 is oil on canvas 34 x 40. The Yellow Birch painting is a watercolor, 22 x 30, and I'm just as thrilled with it. I did them at the same time, while the oil was drying I worked on the watercolor. I'm lovin' the contrasts between the two.

2009-12-20T10:30:00.000-08:00

I had a very fun party last night to unveil my Wine Cork Christmas Tree which was LOTS of fun to make and of course collecting the corks was the result of much joy too! One of my friends who was a heavy contributor of corks was thrilled to see what I'd done with them. People brought wine (with corks) so I think I'll add another layer or more to next years tree!

Cheers!

2009-12-20T10:19:00.000-08:00

I just love how the snow rests on the window edges of the building in back of me!

2009-12-20T09:36:00.000-08:00

When I lived deep in the country, miles from anything, a friend visited one day and upon leaving looked up to the sky like the one in this photo, then turned to me and said we'll have 6 inches of snow in the morning. And yes today as then, I woke up the to a solid 6" of powdery white fluff and it was beautiful! My friend was a farmer as was all his family from as far back as anyone could ever remember. All their information about nature came directly from nature. They worked too hard to sit in front of TV to catch weather reports which were/are notoriously wrong. Where I lived I could barely get one bad radio channel and certainly no TV so my observational skills grew strong by the end of winter. To this day I try to figure out what the weather will do just by observing then double check with the weather report on TV and I always marvel at how much we have lost in the ancient art of pure observation. It just wasn't all that long ago when observation was all we had to rely on. After that winter I left the area but have stayed in touch will most everyone back there and we talk often about all the changes they see in crops, insects, animals, tree habits, weather patterns and they are afraid, very afraid of the climate changes they are observing.

Cookies!

2009-12-16T11:39:00.000-08:00

For some reason this year I am seized by the Christmas spirit even to the point where I made cookies. There is no way to describe how monumental this is, normally I hate this over-commercialized holiday they start advertising in May, but recently even over-heard myself humming xmas tunes! My last memory of baking anything was when I was married - a long time ago. Whatever I baked we devoured and both of us got really chubby. Post divorce I slimmed down, then I quit smoking and got chubby again...now I'm just normal or at least that's what I call it. All that could change tonight when I bake then do a quality check those cookies. The last time I made cookies was probably 30+ years ago so I marveled today at the easiness of falling into the rhythms of blending, mixing and (gasp) it felt so good. Flour, sugar, shortening all over the counter, the scent of fresh scraped (organic) orange peel in the air. I happily remembered spending time with my grandmothers while they trained me to do this very thing. It was all done today (and then) by hand - no electric mixer. At one point I grabbed 2 forks to blend the dry ingredients flashing back to when I was taught to do that. It was such an automatic a gesture! One grandmother taught me how to make cakes and truly great pies. To this day I am still the best pie crust maker. My other grandmother taught me how to make muffins and fudge. About the fudge...I still can't eat it. She made a tray of fudge one day and we ate the whole tray. I've never been so sick and can't even stand the smell of it to this day! My Mom also excelled in pie making, something she perfected after she set the kitchen on fire - she took that as a challenge! Mom did lots of things really well but my most favorite memory is of making pie crust for when I came home from school. Waiting for me was a nice little plate of plain pie crust (which is the way I like it) right out of the oven with a big glass of milk. Such a great memory! Ah the cookies are cooling so time to sign off and do a thorough quality control check of them, even if it means eating a whole plate full of them!

2009-12-16T09:08:00.000-08:00

and I've been working on more than paintings and cookies! My newest Christmas obsession will soon be fully revealed!

Time Out?

2009-12-16T08:30:00.001-08:00

Speaking of time, I'm having a time out with a painting. It is turned to the wall only because we need a break from each other and it's time for me to focus on other things before I ruin it. This painting is one of my first, in what I hope will be a long series, of night paintings. This particular one has some exciting new things in it that I've never done in a painting before and I want to keep playing with it but we know that's not a good idea. With the holidays being here it is an excellent time to take a break and turn my attention to other things: cookie making, being with friends, etc. Slow down, reflect and savor.

Time?

2009-12-16T07:50:00.000-08:00

I am convinced Time is an alive thing. Before this past Monday I had about 2 weeks where I just never seemed to run out of time. I got tons of art made, Christmas presents bought, wrapped, food made for parties, cleaned...everything and still had time left over. Not now, I can barely get anything done. Haven't you ever asked anyone "how's it going" and they say time is just crawling by but you think it's flying....or vice versa. Wonder if it is all just perception? Could it be a biorythm thing? Guess I'll just have to pedal faster to get stuff done this week!

Monet at MOMA...afresh!

2009-12-03T15:03:00.000-08:00

On the trip to NYC when I saw the Hockney exhibits the day turned into a great whirlwind trip where the clock seemed to stop and I got to see a lot of terrific art. Besides Mr. Hockney's exhibit I went to MOMA to see Monet's Waterlilies - a recently installed exhibit in their new section, it is up until April. Now I know a lot of folks just groan when they hear Monet, it's like hearing Vivaldi's 4 Seasons or the 1412 Overture .... yet again. However I was drawn to this exhibit because of one particular painting I had never seen "The Japanese Footbridge." Wow what a painting! It is a flurry of rich colors, brush strokes, abstract and real at the same time, which happens to be one of my favorite things when the boundary between realism and abstraction cross. Never mind that anything Monet groans under the weight of it's popularity - take a deep breath before walking in that room, shed what you know or think you know and just go in, it's astonishing! These paintings are wicked abstract and truly only come together at a distance. I was looking at one of the best known Water Lily paintings up close and could only marvel at how crazy the surface was, the color application is simply whacked. Talk about dry brush! The paint looks positively gummy in places but water thin in others. Colors layered and globbed on top of each other I got up close and personal to them and just marveled at his process. If I had done that painting I could NEVER have been so brave to do what he did then walk off ... hence just one of the many reasons why I remain obscure! These paintings are amazing to behold close up and far away. So for all those who cannot bear to see another Monet...do it, spend some time with them especially up close. After seeing the exhibit I feel refreshed and must go to Paris to the L'Orangerie to be surrounded! (Ok busted...I just want to go back to Paris....)

David Hockney's exhibits in NYC

2009-12-03T14:56:00.000-08:00

Just a few days before Thanksgiving I was in NYC for two reasons...to pick up work from the Salmagundi Club and see two David Hockney exhibits at Pace Wildenstein on 57th and their other gallery on 25th. I'm a huge fan of Mr. Hockney and the exhibits were so satisfying! My particular favorties were the gargantuan paintings of "Bigger Trees Near Water" but what adds to their drama is that as he was half way done painting them through the seasons when they chopped them ALL down. If you see the painting you know that it is a considerable number of trees, a veritable forest and the reason for this churlish act seemed limp at best...they were diseased and could fall...but all of them? Knowing this little tidbit added to the viewing of the nearly flourescent log paintings and added a touch of ghoulishness to the one of just a large stump which read like a torso with logs (limbs?) around it. I felt uncomfortable looking at that one and moved on with great joy to my other favorites the Elderberry bushes. These were two terrific shows which will no doubt help with my current work as I have been painting dense sets of trees with dramatic shadows and currently working on a set of trees at night.

2009-12-02T05:47:00.000-08:00

It hasn't even started snowing yet and everyday I think of the Caribbean!

My first blog!

2009-12-02T05:42:00.000-08:00

Hello! As much as I've resisted doing this here I am. Never say never as they say! I have a lot of thoughts about art, travel, books, etc and figured this is a great place to put it all down.