Retrieving Art and Music

Two Trees In Front, 2007, Oil on Panel, 16x20

Sunday I took a break from working in the garden and drove down to Roxbury. A few weeks ago I received word that the gallery would be closing at the end of November and so I wanted to retrieve my work from their inventory. I have been exhibiting there for almost two years and it was a good experience. I had a three person show and a solo show, plus my work was included in a couple of group shows. Sales were modest, but pretty good considering the gallery is located in such a small community. I found several new collectors (yes I mean you, Brian) and showing there really helped raise my profile in upstate NY. But as I move into galleries in larger cities, it becomes more difficult to continue to sell my work in the smaller areas. So losing this gallery doesn't feel like a bad thing for me, however, it's unfortunate that Roxbury is losing such a good fine arts venue.

The ride home was excellent. It was a nice, sunny day with great light and I stopped several times to take photographs to use as reference for future paintings. And holy cow, my iPod was really throwing out some good songs. At one point it played a string of seven songs, each of which break my heart in totally different ways.

"Jack and Diane" John Mellencamp back when he was John Cougar. Reminds me of high school.

"Martha" Tom Waits. Oh the pain of talking to an old lover!

"Welcome to the Jungle" Guns N'Roses. Gotta love totally raucous noise once in awhile.

"With or Without You" U2. I can't even tell you all how much I loved Bono in the 80's. He was my man, my one true love. I know he would have loved me too if we could have made eye contact, just once...

"Car Wheels on A Gravel Road" Lucinda Williams. Everything that Lucinda sings breaks my heart.

"It Ain't Over Til It's Over" Lenny Kravitz. Love the sound of this one and well, I loved Lenny too. I am very fickle, sorry Bono.

"Hallelujah" Jeff Buckley. Showcases Jeff Buckley's incredible voice and heart and makes me feel sad that he is gone.

Then I skipped a few and came to "Gimme Shelter" by Patti Smith. I had a sore throat trying to keep up with Patti (not possible) by the time I pulled into the driveway.

A very good day.

More Sales

On the Way to Provincetown, 2007, Oil on Panel, 18x24

Thanks everyone, for all of the lovely words of encouragement regarding my recent cluster of sales in NYC. At an art fair no less! I am still a bit loopy about it all. Of course I am aware of the recent trend in art fairs but none of the galleries I have shown with until now, participate in them, so this seems like a good step up for me. And after thinking about it a bit, I am glad I didn't know ahead of time that my work would be there. I would have gotten all stressed about it. Also I would have secretly hoped for much success there which surely would have jinxed it. This way I didn't have a chance to mess it up. Of course the director did say she would include me next year, so I do have a full year now to work myself into a frenzy. Heh.

Anyway, when it rains it pours. I picked up my work from the show at Enderlin Gallery yesterday and also received a check for three of the five pieces that sold. And today's mail bought me a check from the Harrison Gallery for three more sold pieces. I must add here that there should be a place in heaven for gallery directors who pay their artists within days of the sale, as nearly all of mine regularly do.

So this has been a very good month income wise, but believe you me, I have learned from experience to hang on to whatever I can, as next month could just as easily bring me exactly zero dollars.

Reception Recap

Pink Tree Up Front, 2007, Oil on Panel, 16x20

So Saturday was a drop dead gorgeous day. It was difficult to ignore all we had to do in our gardens (weeding! tilling! planting!) and go to the opening reception at Enderlin. However, it's part of the job description and I was looking forward to meeting a few folks.

Right away when we got there I had a nice chat with Brian, who now owns two of my paintings. He reads the blog and has left comments as well. So it was very nice to meet him and as I had suspected, he is a very nice guy.

Roshan, the gallery director, did a beautiful job of hanging the show and I was very pleased with how it looked. She also did something that was new to me. She hung the barns on one side of the space and the landscapes on the other side. I really liked this and thought it was a very effective way to organize the work.

There were quite a few people there and it was a steady stream of visitors throughout the afternoon. Not really crowded, but there were always at least a few people to talk with. Around 4:30, however, it was really quiet and Doug and I were thinking we'd leave a few minutes early. But before we managed to get it together, whammo, all of a sudden there was a whole new roomful of people and it was actually a bit crowded for awhile! We spend quite a bit of time talking to Mike and Bill, who had also previously bought one of my paintings. And it turns out that Doug's and Mike's paths had unknowingly crossed several times over the years, the most recent one being a client whose kitchen had been designed by Mike and who had also bought a fossil mural from Doug. I always love finding those connections.

We left around 6pm and drove to Delhi to have dinner at the Quarter Moon Cafe, a lovely little restaurant with excellent food. Then home, then early to bed because we both planned to get up early and get to work in the gardens!

More on that tomorrow.

Opening at Enderlin Gallery

Wooded Lot, 2007, Oil on Panel, 18x24

So unless you only come here to look at the pictures or you tend to drift off while skimming through my long winded posts, you probably have gathered that I have a show that opens tomorrow.

I am looking forward to the opening although I may be a bit rusty at the social/let's talk about Tracy thing. The last opening I had was in January (with the exception of a local group show) which seems like ancient history already. But I rather like the openings and am getting used to the pressure of the receptions for the solo shows where I am the only draw. That sure can go either way and trust me, I have experienced both. Nothing like standing around an almost empty gallery with a table full of food and hearing an echo when I speak.

However, I don't really think that this one will be like that. I have had a show there before and have come to know a few people in the area. Several people have emailed me to say that they are looking forward to meeting me and hits to my blog are up, as a result of google searches for me and/or Enderlin Gallery (well, in addition to the usual hamster bleeding/lumps/funeral searches, of course).

So if you are anywhere near Roxbury, NY on Saturday from 2-5pm, please stop by the Enderlin Gallery and have a chat with Doug and I. If not, I will fill you in on the details, ad nauseum, next week.

A Near Miss

I rarely show my work in progress, for a couple of reasons. First of all, I don't really like to get feedback while I am working on something-with the exception of when I ask for input from Doug. Secondly, it literally never occurs to me to take a picture before the piece is finished.

But I had an interesting thing happen with a recent piece and I did get some photos along the way. Mostly because I had thought it was finished and then after a few days I ended up reworking it.

And I don't do that very often either, making drastic changes can really result in an overworked look for me and a loss of the transparency of the layers.

The underpainting looked fine (above, top). I have to say that generally, I am pleased with the all of the underpaintings that I do. Once in awhile there is a dud, but even then, changing it in a later stage can be successful. So if I decide to let an underpainting dry, it's going to be a full color painting. Maybe not a good one because there are still plenty of chances to mess it up, but it will at least have a shot.

So anyway, I began to add the color here and after the first session, the foreground was fairly light (no picture of that stage, sorry). The next day, I decided that wasn't working so I darkened it and softened the path (second photo). At this point I thought it was finished.

But I couldn't seem to get myself to photograph it. After looking at the piece for a few days, and talking about it with Doug a bit, I decided to get rid of the hill in the back. Very rarely do I make such a change in composition, especially at this point, but this time I figured what the hell. I didn't think it was really working so there wasn't anything to lose, except that maybe I wouldn't have to drag the dang thing out onto the porch to sand it down if I could get it to work. I made the sky an opaque blue and left a bit of the purple around the trees. When I did that I felt much better about it and then I finally documented the painting (third photo, above). Then I saw the image on the computer I realized that I hadn't gone opaque enough and so I had to paint the sky yet again. grrrr. THEN I took the last photo (below).

I have to admit that I don't always stick with a painting this long. If things aren't moving along I often bail and I have a pile of bad paintings to prove it. But when I still feel some energy about a painting, I will keep going and do what I can to pull it back. It's a nice feeling to be able to do that.

This painting will be included in the show at Enderlin Gallery, that opens this Saturday.

End of Days, 2007, Oil on Panel, 36x36

And so suddenly....

Morning View, 2007, Oil on Panel, 18x24

.....there are only two days left before I have to deliver the work for my solo show at Enderlin Gallery. Two days and five hours, if I were to get up early on Sunday morning. I still need to paint a few of the panel's cradled sides (although thank god, I have kept up with that part and most of them are already painted), sort through everything and decide exactly which pieces will be included. Then I will need to put hangers and bumpers on the backs of those paintings and make sure they are all documented. Plus we have a very busy couple of days full of things that I can't cancel or make Doug do, as he will be gone all day Saturday on a boy scout day hike with our son.

If I make it through the weekend intact, I'll be back on Monday with some good news about a new gallery (for me).

Thanks Folks

Trees Barely There, 2007, Oil on Panel, 8x10

Thanks so much to everyone who sent their good wishes, publicly, privately and telepathically in response to yesterday's post about my mother's cancer. She had the Gamma Knife Radiation yesterday. And by the way, I love the sound of that, Gamma Knife, it's like college sorority and futuristic all at the same time, Gamma Knife, Gamma Knife. I could just say it all day. Anyway, the procedure went fine, she was enjoying the morphine when we spoke last night and she and her husband will be driving back home today (they had to drive several hours to another city to have it done).

Today is the first day of spring break and the kids will be home all next week. Great timing because I am just starting to feel intense pressure to get the work together for my upcoming show at Enderlin Gallery at the end of May. I was hoping to have the work finished at the end of April so that I can take a week or so to visit my mother, before the show opens. So between trying to get a few hours of studio time in here and there, coordinating sleep overs and play dates and possibly tackling spring cleaning, I think that my posts here will be a bit spotty next week. I may put up a few paintings, but won't have much time for writing, I think.

Which is fine, we can all have a break from my constant yammering. Heh.

Evolution and Circularity

Miller's Pond in Winter, 2005, Oil on Panel, 8x8







When I was an art student in Minneapolis and then later in Philadelphia, the instructors often urged and sometimes required us to attend opening receptions at the school's gallery or out in the city's galleries. We'd go, usually in packs, dressed in black, with purple or red or blue hair and body piercings, and smelling of patchouli and probably pot. We'd make a beeline for the free food, ignore the artist (we were way to cool to actually discuss art with the artist), look briefly at the art, and have a fierce discussion about it's relevancy. Then we'd leave and go get drunk/and or stoned at someone's apartment or at a bar. After I had finished school and met Doug in 1988, he and I often went to openings at various galleries in Philly. We usually went with his father who was an artist and graphic designer and he usually knew the artist and many people at the event so we'd spend hours talking and socializing with them. We'd have dinner first, skip the free food and drink wine. Then we'd go home, discuss the show and well, we were newly in love, so I'll just leave it at that...Later on we lived in Utah for a number of years and by that time we were parents. We were deeply involved in the local art scene and still enjoyed attending show openings. We knew everyone and they were a lot of fun. However, since we didn't use sitters much when our kids were babies, we usually carried them along. You just haven't lived until you've tried to discuss the meaning of art with spit up on your shoulder and leaking breasts. We'd be home by 9pm and in bed sleeping by 10pm.

Fast forward a few years and we have a whole new thing going on! We have been lucky enough to find a fabulous sitter, Mary Jo and her miniature schnauzer, Pepper Ann. She is a teacher and a chef and always brings projects for the kids. The kids love her and we are so happy to be able to go away once in awhile. So now that I am showing my work, Doug and I have been able to take short trips to attend my gallery openings. Often we stay overnight, we had a nice stay in Cape Cod last fall and another nice trip to Northampton, MA in December. It's interesting to be on the other side of an opening. I don't drink alcohol anymore so I have a glass of ice water, I don't eat in case I get anything stuck in my teeth or spray food while talking, and I make sure that I have breath mints in my purse. Some things haven't changed-I do still usually wear black, my hair is still red, though a bit toned down, and I still have my nose ring. Doug gets into all kinds of interesting conversations with people about the current quality of art in today's world, while I am usually answering questions like how long does it take to do a painting and where do I get my ideas. What's really fascinating now though, is that at my openings, I see myself at every opening I have ever been to, I am there in the college kids who won't look at me, the earnest young artists and art lovers who want to talk about painting all night and the frazzled parents trying have a night out.

So, tomorrow, Mary Jo is coming and we are off to the Enderlin Gallery in Roxbury, NY. I have a few pieces in a group show called "Snowscapes". I am new to this gallery, the director called me after having seen my work in a show at the Roxbury Arts Group. They have been really enthusiastic about my paintings, and I will be in several exhibitions there this year. I am looking forward to this opening-Roxbury has a really hopping little art scene and there are always very interesting people at the openings. "Miller's Pond in Winter" is in this show-it is a loose interpretation of the pond on our property.

By the way, the opening reception is at the Enderlin Gallery (enderlingallery.com), Main Street, Roxbury, NY, Saturday, February 18, 2-5pm.