"Expression, Abstraction, and the Meta-landscape" through May 31, 2014

Opening Night at Imagine Gallery was a great success!

Thank you to so many friends and family members who made the trip to Northampton for my solo show.


I had the chance to meet lots of new, interesting folks that I hope to see again, as well.

This exhibition, with thirty pieces of my work in a wide range of media, will be up until the end of the month.

Please note:  If you are using Google to find your way here, it will send you to Main Street in Florence, MA, a lovely place, but not where Imagine Gallery is!

Imagine Gallery is on the second floor of 70 Main Street downtown Northampton, very near the intersection of Main and Pleasant.

Regular hours are Fridays from 6-9 p.m. and Saturdays 3-9 p.m.
You are also very welcome to call and schedule a time to visit the gallery.
Call 413-585-5830 to make arrangements.
Tricia and Kitt are warm, generous people who are very welcoming, so don't be shy!

Solo Show Opens This Friday

Expression, Abstraction and the Meta-landscape

May 9 - May 31, 2014

Imagine Gallery

70 Main Street, 2nd floor

Northampton, MA

Artist reception on May 9th 5:30-8:30 p.m.

free to the public

refreshments

My first solo exhibition opens this week in Northampton, MA.

Curator Tricia McDermott selected thirty pieces in a range of media for this show.

The opening is a part of Arts Night Out Northampton, so there will be lots to see all around town.

Hope to see you there!

Gallery hours:  Fridays 6-9

                            Saturdays 3-9

and by appointment 413-585-5830

Reading from the text that inspired this series of paintings.




photo thanks to Anne Gilman

The Artist Talks last weekend at the Sprinkler Factory Gallery were a real success.

This event concluded our group's show entitled "the [space] between".

Thanks to everyone who came and made this show such a rewarding experience.

Now I am packing up another group of paintings for my solo show in Northampton, MA at Imagine Gallery!

Opening Reception is Friday, May 9th 5:30-8:30

the [space] between

opened last night at the Sprinkler Factory Gallery in Worcester.

Today I am sleep deprived, but happy!

Thank you to everyone who came out and made this such an exciting event.

Gallery will be open to the public every weekend in April from noon until 5 p.m.

Keeping It Under Wraps!

The Found Journal Series
11 paintings installed at
The Sprinkler Factory Gallery
38 Harlow Street, Worcester, MA

Opening Reception
This Saturday night!

Yesterday I hung my paintings for the group show entitled
  "the [space] between"

I am really excited how this exhibit is shaping up.
There will be lots of innovative work in painting, sculpture, video and installation.

And , yes I will unwrap the paintings, though this does look kind of cool.....

Second Place in the painting category for December Sun!


This me and my friend, fellow exhibiting artist Paula Hite at the opening reception of the Annual Spring Show in Monson, MA.

There was a really interesting range of work, all very well done.  I was happy to be included, and thrilled to have the honor of a prize.

The exhibit is open weekends through April 13th and is online as well.

Now it is time for me to get busy with preparations for the group show in Worcester at the Sprinkler Factory.

Visit our blog http://thespacebetweenexhibit.blogspot.com to track our progress!

Next Stop: Monson

In One, Out the Other
2014
9x12
oil on panel



This is one of the two paintings of mine that have been selected for inclusion in "the 21st Dimension",
the annual, juried show at the Monson Arts Council.

Opening reception is next Saturday, March 29, 2014 1-4 p.m. at The House of Art in downtown, Monson, MA

GALA Spring Show Opens Tonight

Something about the Sea
2014
44x48
oil on canvas


This is one of the three pieces I will have in this weekend's Art Show in Gardner, MA

I saw some very interesting work, especially some innovative and beautiful sculpture, when I dropped off my paintings the other day.

Come, visit, take in the music and the art.  You will meet some of the most warm and unassuming artists ever!

Details at http://www.galagardner.org

Night Navigation
2014
8x8
oil on panel










This was the one piece I actually finished while at R&F paints in a workshop with Lisa Pressman.

I have it in a gold float frame, and it looks so nice!

I have no immediate plans for it.

Maybe it will go into my solo show coming up in May.

May.  Sounds so far away!  There is still so much snow on the ground, and maybe more coming this week.  sigh.

School Street Open Studios

School Street Open Studios
last Friday night was a great success.

This is a shot, thanks to Doreen La Scola, of one of the walls where I hung some work.

This space had still life and life paintings.  I installed about 30 pieces in all.

The event was very well attended, and guests seem to have a really good time.

I even managed to sell a piece!

Open Studios this Friday Night!

work in process
(detail)
oil on board














Please join us February 28th for Open Studios at 205 School St., Gardner, MA 6-9 p.m.

Art, Music, and Refreshments

Follow the signs, you'll find us!

Figure studies

2014

oil stick and graphite  on gessoed paper

approx. 6x7

You can still find the figure in the first piece, and probably not in the second.  

This was my intention.  I wanted to work using the model as an inspiration more than as a subject.   I find this more interesting than illustrating the human form.  

I would like to try to use these as a jumping off place for something larger. 

Anyway, it was a fun couple of hours with art pals in an undisclosed location in Worcester.  

I think we were there without the proper permission, so I am going to have to leave it a mystery! 

The Things That Keep us Together, diptych
2014
18x12
oil stick on panels



This is from that workshop at R&F Paints that I keep going on about.
Not sure what I think of it.

Feels very busy to me, but I have not been able to find anything I want to edit from it.

I have finally gotten back into shooting my work, so I'll get some more up here soon.

I have some abstracted figure studies from a recent session in Worcester and some interesting mono prints from a delightful Sunday with Dean Nimmer.

Problem Solved!

Corner of my studio


You know I love R&F pigment sticks, but there is a dark side to every love...

As you use them, you have to tear off the identifying label, so sooner of later you (or at least I) have disorganized piles of dirty half sticks  jumbled on my work space.

I spend a stupid amount of time picking through these stubs trying to find a specific color, and making myself nuts!

But looky here:  I've come up with this space-saving, mobile organizer for the sticks and other supplies.

It is a large, metal shoe rack on castors.
The paint sticks go in little plastic bins or aluminum pans from the dollar store.

I've also got my baby wipes for quick clean up, space to hang papers or rags, and my swell new apron from R&F.

This frees up a lot of valuable area on my work counter without loosing much floor space.  Did I mention the wheels?
I love things that I can push out of the way!

Full Calendar

Calendar
work in process, 2014
oil stick and drawing media on paper
28 squares, 6x6







Here are some tasty amuse bouche from a very satisfying workshop I recently attended at R&F paints with Lisa Pressman.  If you don't know her work yet, become acquainted.  She is on to something wonderful.

More on that (with pictures) later.


Here are some dates for your calendar:

February 28th  6-9 .p.m. 205 School St Gardner, MA open studios
  I will be showing mostly smaller pieces, some new, some old favs.  Cash & Carry!

March 21st 6-9:30 p.m. GALA Spring show at the PACC, Gardner, MA
   I will have a few pieces in this community show as well as one piece in the silent auction

April 5th 6-9 p.m. Sprinkler Factory Gallery, 38 Harlow St., Worcester, MA
   opening celebration for 'the [space] between' an exciting contemporary show featuring new works in
       painting, sculpture, installation and video
April 26th 3 p.m. Artists talks for 'the [space] between

May 9th 5:30-8:30 p.m. Imagine Gallery, 70 Main St., Northampton, MA
   My first solo show!   I will be showing work from the past five years with an emphasis on newer pieces.  
Curated by Tricia McDermott.

I hope you can make it to one of these events.  It would be great to see you!

Open Studios in Gardner!

Open Studios in Gardner

Friday, February 28th, 20146-9 p.m.
205 School Street,
Gardner, MA

Lori MacDonald has been the driving force behind this first ever open studios event.

Because my studio is about a half a mile of labyrinthine halls and stairways away from all the action, I will be hanging my works in the collective gallery space and surrounding halls.

Hope to see you there!

Happy Winter Solstice!

December Sun
2013
16x20
oil on canvas



Here in New England, and probably much of the US, it has been feeling like winter for a while, but today it the astronomical start to the winter.

So cheers to all!  May you find a gift in long nights and fleeting hours of daylight.

Perhaps it means extra snuggling or snoozing, or some time for quite and introspection.

Thanks to those who posted or wrote me about this blog.
The conclusion I have reached is that it is okay for me to post on an "as needed" basis, I don't need to keep to a schedule with my posts.

I may have some shows in the New Year, so check back for details.

Peace to All.

Something About the Sea
2013
44x48
oil on canvas



I have been getting some (not enough) painting done in my new digs, but I really have not yet found the right spot to photograph work.

It is a struggle to get the colors to read right.

I am also questioning if it is time for me to consciously lay this blog to rest.

I've been ignoring it like a houseplant that you secretly wish would die.   Tell me I'm not the only person who has ever done that!  Anyway, to do a blog well does take a fair amount of time, and I'm not sure if the rewards are still there for me.

Vermont HIllside
2013
12x12
oil

Shamefully, the only painting I got done this summer was during a course I took in Vermont in July.

This is one I did on the first day.

I have received some criticism on it, which is fine, but I still like it.

The class I took was called Space, Light, and Visual Order, and I think this little painting has those elements.

I got a lot out of this intensive week with Yuan Zuo, but I can tell you this:  he does not like the palette knife and I do!

Take the Path By the Big Tree
2013
16x20
oil on canvas


Well.  That was a long five weeks!

This is one of the few paintings I made in this otherwise busy summer.

Frankly, it is a tad garish and I don't think too many people like it, but I do and apparently Elizabeth Geller from the deCordova Museum liked it enough to include it in the Post Road Landscape Show.

In the same show is an innovative and mesmerizingly beautiful piece by my friend, Mark Spencer.
He has created a digitally generated video that evokes a sense of landscape without being explicit about location.  It is magic.

Show opens Saturday, Sept. 7th, 2013 3:00-5:30 p.m.
1 Boston Post Road East, Marlborough, MA
show closes Sept. 25th

P.s.:  You've gotta click on the image to the feel of it.... it has gobs of yummy paint!

See You

(detail)
2013
oil on canvas






See you back here in a little while; probably something like 5 weeks.
There are a lot of changes, good and happy changes, swirling around for me right now, so I need to direct my energies towards that.

Please do check back with Room E Studio later this summer!

Untitled
2013
20x16
oil on canvas













I wish I could say this was a big piece, you know 72x57 or something, but I can't, at least not truthfully.

This came out of my "paint over"pile of canvases.
It was from a life drawing group years ago.

As if life drawing and painting isn't contrived enough, they had a belly dancer come in and sit (there is irony here) in full costume.
As  recall, she had a blue outfit on.

Rather than try to paint out the original bit, I prefer to riff off of what is there.

There are some more subtle colorations than this photo shows.  I may try to shoot it again

Diptych

The Afterlife of Clouds
2013
36x48
acrylic on canvas




Historically, diptychs were two equal, hinged panels most frequently for Christian imagery.

Royalty  sometimes had portraits of husband and wife painted in this manner.

In contemporary art, the hinge has become optional, and the panels are not always the same size.
What they share with their predecessors is that while there is a thematic and visual relationship, each panel can stand on its own as a painting.

In other words, putting two canvases next to each other and painting one big painting on them does not automatically make a diptych.

This was my first try at this format.  It was a good challenge!

Paper pieces, pieces of paper

Untitled
2013
10x7
mixed media
monotype

Forces at Play
2013
20x16
oil on panel






Everytime I work on a panel I realize how much I prefer them to canvas,

 but to paint panels the size I prefer (larger than this) they are going to get both expensive and heavy!

The solid support does work better from me, though, given how I like to work the surface.

I used a new (to me) medium with this piece:
a gel medium which keeps the body of the oils nice and thick, but has great translucency and is glossier than the cold wax.

The Bather: a skinny-dipper by another name

Skinny-dipper (The Bather)
2013
44x48
oil on canvas

My take on "The Bather".
Here, the figure, the environment and the activity all merge into one visual expression.

As is fairly typical for me, I am more interested in conveying the full sensory experience from my  memory (or imagination) than from observation at the time of painting.

This allows me to be more fully present in the landscape, and therefore keenly aware of it, and equally aware and present as I paint.  This kind of focus works well for me.

Cezanne's masterpiece, The Bather 1885

Interesting note:
Cezanne painted this from a photograph of a model in a studio.

The Found Journal Series Continues

Controlled, Retrolled,
Overtolled, and Patrolled
2013
30x40
Acrylic on canvas

Water Into Wine

Water Into Wine
2013
14x10
Monotype

I Should Be Excited....

For Joan
2013
18x13
mixed media on paper












I should be excited, but I am not.

My painting, Sutured, was accepted by Katherine French into the "Community of Artists" show at the Danforth Museum, but something about the whole experience has left me feeling a little empty.

Maybe I need a break from all these juried shows.

Anywhoooo,
this piece here I did after a wonderful workshop taught by Randy LeSage at the Worcester Art Museum.  We spent a day looking into the life (whooo-ee) and work of Joan Mitchell.

I was previously unaware of her as a printmaker, so that was interesting.

This work is a monotype that I worked into with pastels.

Getting the Life in Still life

Things on a Shelf
2013
9x12
oil on canvas

Right out of the gate, I will tell you that I don't get too turned on over still life painting.

Even if I think I am going to approach one from an abstract sensibility, I find I quickly succumb to what I call the tyranny of things.

The vase, the lamp or whatever looms large in my mind and bullies me into trying to illustrate it.

I started this at my friend, Ann Hick's home, when I few of us had gotten together to paint.  The day was fun, but my results were quite tight and uninteresting to me.

Weeks later, back at my studio, with the specifics of the objects blurry in my memory, I finally pushed it to a point that is satisfying.

The tyrant ultimately loosened his grip, and I was able to get to the life in this still life.

Torii
2013
7x7
monotype on rice paper











Torii are those iconic Japanese gates that were originally put at Shinto shrines to demarcate the boundary between the sacred and profane worlds.

Right now I seem to be turning over in my mind the concept of change, transition.

Whether it be in space or time, there is something magic about the moment the shift occurs when one moment you're in one season or world or state of mind, and the next, you are completely in another.

Forsythia
2013
60x20
oil on canvas












Don't misunderstand, I don't think Forsythia are particularly gorgeous shrubs, but they are so very emblematic of Spring, at least here in New England.

One minute the world is very grey, roadsides are downing in road sand and freshly revealed trash, and the next, the Forsythia burst on the scene with their brash, assertive yellow sprays of blossoms.

By the time their flowers have faded, the landscape is fully roused from its winter slumber, and everything is growing, greening, blooming at a manic pace.

New Landscape

March Wind Across the Hills
2013
15x45
oil on canvas



This piece is about transition and movement.

The hills of Central Massachusetts in March are lit by the much stronger spring sunlight, animated by the still chilly and wild North wind, and colored by dry grasses, patches of lingering snow, and low areas of rich mud.
Green growth has not yet begun to push, but you know it is there, just below the surface.
In a few warm days the whole scene changes, like when The Wizard of Oz goes to color.

So, yes, it is a landscape, but really, it is a lifescape:  transition and movement.

The Journal Series Continues

You Gonna Tell Me
What Control Device I Must Develop To Be A Human?
2013
acrylic
36x36


I am still working away at this found journal series.

See the explanation back on Jan 17, 2013 if you don't know what I am referring to.

 I intersperse this work with oil painting and printmaking because it is so intense and emotionally draining.  Very rewarding, though.

2013
13x10
monotype with oil pastel
















I really enjoy this process of press-free printmaking.
As a matter of fact, I went out and picked up a jar of the oil-based ink in sepia, just like we used in class so I could do more on my own.

Mmm.... More Mixed Media

Sleep Cycle
2013
12x18
monotype with mixed media


This is a monotype print on paper that I later drew and painted into using acrylics, charcoal, pastel and conte crayon.
I love the layering of processes.