Heaven Help Me...

Horizon Lines (Six), 2008, Oil on Panel, 4X6

The other day I saw the video for "I Kissed a Girl" and it was the first time I had heard the song in its entirety. And because I am a visual type of girl, seeing the video clinched it-I had the song in my head for days.

So I finally broke down and bought the song from iTunes. Even my tween girls don't know what to think about that. THEY know it's a cheesy song.

PS. But I secretly think it's a good rocking tune, kind of Joan Jett-ish and I totally sing along when it comes on. Nothing wrong with some girl on girl either.

A Little Show

Horizon Lines (Fifteen), 2008, Oil on Panel, 3x5 (that's inches)

Well, as I mentioned in the last post, I have been finishing up work for a local show, which opens tonight. Smithy-Pioneer Gallery, Cooperstown, NY, 5-7pm just in case anyone wants to come by.

When I was first asked to do a solo this summer (in April) I had planned to continue with the small figures that I had done in Vermont last February. I even ordered small panels and everything. But then I got the new studio, and the upheaval of all that plus the other work I had going, made it really difficult to sit down and focus on them. So I decided to pursue another obsession I have had lately: the horizon line. I have been intrigued with a very simple horizontal line and then adding a few details, like telephone lines or a single tree or whatever. Mostly phone poles actually, because I have been a bit obsessed with them too. Have I mentioned before that I have a tendency towards obsessive behavior? Heh.

So I banged out about 37 paintings in the last few weeks, but don't get too crazy when you hear that. Most of the pieces are very small, 6x8, 6x6 and even 3x5 and 4x4, so they didn't take long. I also did several larger ones for some balance. I am very happy with the work and having to work so quickly was a good way to get acclimated to my new work space. Which is great, by the way.

I hung the show on Friday (this gallery is a nonprofit and so is more along the lines of a do-it-yourself kind of place, in fact I have to go make some cookies to bring to the reception) and it looks pretty good. I will take some photos tonight at the opening, I promise! and post them tomorrow.

Wow!

Feelgood, 2008, Oil on Panel, 9x9

Sorry for my absence here-it was out of my control unfortunately, but good timing nonetheless.

On Monday evening our satellite stopped working which meant no access to the internet. This happens occasionally and is sometimes weather related, and sometimes not. This time it wasn't. Doug got up on the roof to try and readjust it (if we call for a service crew to do it, they can't usually get here for at least a week) like he has done many times before. But this time he just couldn't get it working. Then he was in NYC for two days and on Thursday when he came back he tried again. After a few conversations with a service guy in India (what?) and a few more trips up and down the ladder (Doug, not me) we got a good number and viola, we are connected again.

While it was irritating to not be online, it was also kind of nice in a retro 20th century kind of way. It took me about a day and a half to stop feeling the urge to check my emails every hour or so. And I got so much work done! I spent most of Tuesday painting the last bit of my studio-the stairwell:


Pretty snappy, huh?

And the last few days were spent finishing up 37 very small paintings for the local show, which I hung today. I am sure that I got much more sleep this week getting ready for that than I would have otherwise. And wow, did I do a lot of reading! Finished a book and got pretty far into a new one.

But I missed reading blogs, missed my emails and I can't believe that I missed the big news about Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck. Dang.

Anyway. Good to be back in the loop and I will start posting regularly again on Monday. A lot has been going on, yet now that I have finished up for this show (the last one that I have planned for the rest of the year, although I suppose a few things may come up) I have nothing urgent to do.

Now I am gonna enjoy the rest of the summer, relax a bit and maybe even get a tan. Well enough to take edge off at least. Heh.

Chuck Connelly (Edited 7/18/08)

Dandelions Forever, 2008, Oil on Panel, 9x9

Last night Doug and I watched this documentary about Chuck Connelly. I had learned about it a few weeks ago from a post at Edward Winkleman's blog and also Doug knew Chuck Connelly in college, they were at Tyler at the same time. So we were really looking forward to seeing it.

While nearly all the criticism I have read about the actual documentary was valid, we were engrossed by it and stayed up talking about Chuck, his art and art in general until midnight. It was sad to see a man so messed up, but yet, even though his career has been in the toilet for almost 20 years (it has been revived lately) what I found to be so awesome is that despite his alcoholism, anger, hatred towards the art world/dealers/other artists and well just about everyone and everything, he kept painting. It didn't matter that he wasn't selling them, or that he had lost all of the momentum he had had, or that he was a wreck, poor and destitute, he still painted. He made thousands of paintings because he wanted to, or maybe it's all he could do. But whatever the reason I admire him for continuing on. I am not so sure I would have had the same resolve and probably would have moved on to something else.

And while he clearly did not handle his gallery relations well at all, I have to say that I don't exactly disagree with many of his opinions about the NY art scene. I would not be happy with a dealer buying a painting of mine for $500 and then turning around and selling it for $10,000 and keeping the profit either. Not that I am even close to THAT art world though.

Anyway, I totally loved seeing a profile on a true painter and even though Chuck Connelly is NOT a person I would like to be around, I truly respect his work and his determination.

Since we do like to buy art now and then, and after seeing the show I rally liked his work even more, I visited DFN Gallery's website to see what was available. He currently has a solo show on display, which just so happens to coincide with the documentary. I emailed to ask the prices on the three paintings that we liked and they were all in the $35,000 dollar range. Oops! Not good for us, quite a bit out of our range, but good for Chuck Connelly. That is, if they sell more than just a few....

Photo Tour

Ok, I tried to set this up like a tour. I would have done it on video but that is well beyond my capabilities. Maybe my 13 year old son can help me with that another time. Heh.

So here is the door to my new studio:

It was green and is now primed. Sort of. I still have to finish painting the door and the stairwell. I am waiting until the rest of the stuff is up there (still waiting for my work table and still have to carry many boxes up to put into the storage spaces).

Steps (duh):
And this is what you see when you come up the stairs. I can't say that my heart doesn't jump just a little bit when I see all this.
My art books fit perfectly in the bookshelf. The flat file drawers are still empty but only because I haven't yet had time to carry up all of my drawing pads. I covered the tabletop with a painting drop cloth, the white kind with plastic under some sort of absorbent surface-which is perfect for putting out all of my messy paint tubes. The tabletop easels are handy for stacking the work I am currently doing (small paintings for an upcoming show called Horizon Lines-cute, huh?).
Behind the flat file are four bookcases used to store supplies that I need fairly often. Also my stereo (VERY important equipment) is on one shelf as well as my paint brushes. This space is very low to access and I am getting pretty good at walking in and backing out while bent over.
On the same wall on the other side of the door to the storage space is a steel dental cabinet that we bought when we lived in Utah. It weighs about 9000 pounds and on Monday night while I was out for about an hour picking up the kids, Doug and our older son carried it up. I suspect that they specifically waited until I was out so they wouldn't have to hear me tell them how to fit it up the stairs (come to think of it they carried the flat files up while I was out too. Hmmm). Anyway, this cabinet is great for storage - I keep drawing supplies in the drawers and still life objects and other junk in the middle.

This is my second easel, the one that handles the overflow. And behind it is my spin bike. I debated about putting that in my studio, because I really didn't want the space to get cluttered. But I also want to use it. It has been in our bedroom for the last few months and was becoming a pretty convenient clothes hanger. So I put it in front of the windows and if I want more room in that area I can move it back into the knee wall space.
It turns out that behind my number one easel is the perfect spot to photograph my work. I am relieved about this because I was NOT looking forward to lugging all my finished paintings two flights down to photograph them, then dragging them back up to finish the cradles, and store and/or pack them. A little crowded back there but again I can move things off to the edge of the room if I need to.
And on the north wall I decided to hang up the paintings that I have done over the years, the ones I have kept. Well, actually they are the ones that I like that have never sold. I am sure you understand the distinction.
I painted Bette in college 23 years ago and she is always in whatever space I work in. And the thing to the right is a photograph of my Girl Scout troop in 1974 decoupaged to a block of wood. I think that 70's decoupage may have been underrated and I view this piece as good luck too.
At first I had planned to set up my computer and desk in this spot. But then one of my girls commented that if my computer was upstairs they would never see me again. I thought she might be right so I am going to keep my office downstairs, at least for now. I am good with that decision because I can now use this as a dedicated spot for drawing. Yayy!
Turns out that the ledge is going to be very handy for storing the large paintings that I DON'T want to keep, have NOT sold and that don't FIT anywhere else.
And Katherine, behind the stair rail is the reading chair AND ottoman that was also tucked into a corner in my old studio. This was a real challenge to get upstairs. My son and I did it (Doug was out of town and I just couldn't wait for him to get back to do it) and the only way to get it into the stairwell was to remove the door. Turns out I can actually do that if I want to, but don't tell Doug or I'll have to always do it myself. Heh.

The south wall, overlooking our front yard. This was the only place where we could put up my drying/display ledges. I will have to get creative as to where I will set out wet paintings-in my old studio I had six of these rails up. I don't plan to hang anything else on this wall though, I like its graphic quality and again, am trying not to get too cluttered. Yet.
And this is a shot of the corner (directly across from the chair) where all of my wood panels are stored. I happen to have a lot of them right now, and it does look a bit like an art supply store. But I like having enough on hand, it gives me some good motivation wondering what will ever I paint on all of them.
This is a good long shot of the whole space.

Getting There

It's been tough living here lately. Every time I go upstairs I take an item that needs to go up into the attic studio. The girls are wearing out the stairs taking things both up and down. And Doug and our oldest son have been carrying the heaviest and bulkiest things up to the attic. This is my handy dandy cabinet built by our friend/contractor so that I could have a presentable place to store finished work. I have been using it in my office downstairs for the last several years, but have had to keep it covered so the cats would stay out of it. It also ended up being a good spot to stack unprepared panels. But now! It just gets to sit in my new studio, uncovered and for now fairly unencumbered. Here's a shot of Doug bringing it up the steps. They had to remove the attic door to get it through the opening.

And here is the cabinet in place.

The Best Gallery Director Ever donated a flat file/tabletop/bookshelf to the cause. (Thank you!) Believe it or not the boys got it upstairs, but only because Doug pried the tabletop off of the top flat file. Luckily the two file cabinets were NOT gorilla glued together as well. I am beyond excited to have a flat file, it's been on my wish list for years. And of course the whole thing will surely get much use.


I have been working in the new studio, getting ready for an upcoming show. Even though I would have liked to take a break while moving my studio, having to keep working has been very helpful. I am able to get a sense of where I want to put things and as I gradually am moving more supplies in I kind of already know where they should go.

This side will have a big work table that I will mostly use to prep panels. I have two 55x38 tabletops with bookcases below on order and they should be coming next week. Until then I have been making do on two card tables. Luckily, most of the paintings for the show are 6x8 and smaller.


PS. I took these pictures on a day that seems an eternity ago: Monday June 30. I have been a busy bee since then though and the whole place looks different again. I am off right now to take more pictures and I will put them up tomorrow.

Studio Lights

Communications, 2008, Oil on Panel, 18x24

So the lighting in my new studio is about a million times better than any studio space or room that I have ever worked in. In fact I don't recall ever having worked in a room with much if any good natural light (certainly no north light) and so over the years I have gotten quite used to working in a pool of light. And at this point I prefer it. Using lamps creates a stable light, one that I can depend on at any time of the day or night.

But now I have north light! Since I am not sure what to expect with that though, I decided to just go ahead and do my usual set up. I have three lights clamped to my easel. One is just a 60w bulb in one of those crappy metal lamp fixtures from the hardware store (I have a bunch of those, they come in handy). The middle one is a clamp on desk light, also 60w. The halogen light is my favorite. It's easily adjustable and I like the intense and warm color of the light from it, although having another bulb to even it out is important. I used to have a stronger halogen light but the switch broke on it and when I went to buy another one, I found that all of the halogen light were of a lower wattage. The new one is 100w and I think my old one was at least 150w. With the higher wattage halogen, I only needed one other lamp, but after I got the new one I had to had a third light to compensate.





I have another clamp light on my other easel, which is the one I used for larger panels in my old studio. Now that I have so much more room around my easels though, I don't know if I will do much painting at the second easel. But if I do, I have a bunch of extra clamp on lights and a good light stand.



The fixtures in the attic itself are fairly minimal. We put up two track lights, each with four lights. At first we put in halogen bulbs but I found the spotlight effect to be irritating. So I stood up on a too short step ladder the other day and put in 60w bulbs, which do a much better job of providing overall light in the room.


The south end of the attic is quite a bit darker than the north end. Mostly because of the historically accurate, yet small and impractical oval window that has a louvered exterior. Luckily though, I have a handy dandy floor lamp (you can see it in the photo above) that I picked up at a yard sale for five bucks a few years ago. It can take a 300w bulb which really lit up my old studio downstairs and now it is great for the dark side of my new studio. I won't need that lamp on when I work at my easels, but it will be good for when I have to prep panels on the south end of the room.

I know that I really should be using energy efficient bulbs, but I gotta say that I really hate the color of their light! We put one into a few of our can lights in the kitchen and their cool light on my nice cozy warm yellow walls bothered me so much that I finally changed them. So I will use the incandescent bulbs for as long as possible and I may even stockpile a few thousand. I keep hearing that they may soon be extinct and that we will have to use the fluorescent energy savers.

Anyhoo.

No great words of lighting advice here, I am afraid. I like my lighting, but would never recommend this wacky set up to anyone. I suppose I will change things up at some point and it won't be the end of the world. For now though, I do not plan on messing up what has worked for me so far.

More about moving into the attic tomorrow. It is filling up!

More With the Garden

I know that I always say this but this time it's really true. I have been so busy. Not just my regular plain old busy, but crazy, mind-numbingly busy. The last four days have gone by in a whirlwind and thinking back, I am not even sure that they really even happened.

I won't bore you with the details, but I will say that it involved much kid stuff, new studio organization, painting (walls AND landscapes), gardening and true torture: paperwork. Ack!!

Today got off to an even more hectic start. After not having near enough sleep I woke up at 5:30AM and decided that I really had to get out to the garden and finish putting down the weed barriers. We had literally forced our kids to pull out weeds on Sunday (O, the horror on their faces! It was GREAT!) and I realized that I better get everything covered before the next batch showed up. So I spent four hours covering the sides of the beds with newspaper and then laying down the weed barrier. I also carried 9000 armfuls of rotting grass clippings (didn't feel like dealing with the wheelbarrow) and covered the beds to deter more weed growth. For awhile anyway.

I spent the rest of the day driving back and forth to town, taking the kids to various appointments then when I got back home I realized I still had to rinse off the lettuce that I had picked this morning. Two garbage bags full. Good grief. Why did I plant so much? I am one step away from opening up a roadside vegetable stand.

Tomorrow should be a bit more relaxed. I will put up some new pictures of my studio. It's looking good!

Here are a few shots of the garden today. Strawberry bed and sugar peas in the first photo. We are about a week away from eating more peas than anyone could ever want.

The potatoes are in the foreground. They look crazy and I am a little afraid of them. I am not even kidding here, they have grown at least two feet in the last week. Four beds of tomatoes are behind them. Again, what was I thinking planting so many?!

Here is a good image of the paths. The next step is to fill them with wood mulch. Hopefully we will get that done THIS summer.


And now I am off to stare blankly at the TV until I fall into a blissful sleep.

A Tale of Two Eggs

I found these two eggs in the hen house, on the same day and in the same nest.

I wonder if these chickens feel any egg envy?

The blue one (I know it looks white in the photo, but it is actually light blue) feels like a baseball in my hand, while the small egg felt small and hard, like a rock.

I cracked them open and was not surprised to get a double yolk in the big one which turned into a great omelet. One of my Araucana chickens lays those big ones once or twice a week or so and all I can say about that is ouch.


But I don't see such small eggs very often and it was interesting to see what was inside of this one. Not much of a yolk as you can see, but Penny thought it tasted just fine, though. She is the happy recipient of our "odd" eggs.

Ta-Daaa!

So here it is - a shot of the painting area of my new studio. These are just my basic supplies as I am still trying to finish up painting the trim before I really junk the place up.

I did a whole batch of underpaintings on Monday up there and it was lovely. The work didn't seem to be affected by the move (yet) but it did take some time to settle in a bit. I spent a lot of time moving things around, getting the placement of the easels and tables just right and especially adjusting the lamps over my easel (mainly I paint at the one on the left). It was difficult to get them in the right place because of the sloped ceiling, which I almost immediately dented with the halogen lamp.

I suspect I will be moving things around quite a bit more before things feel right.

One thing that is right is the color. While I appreciate the clean look of a white studio, it is not for me. I like to feel all cozy and tucked in when I am in my studio, and actually in any room that I am in in my house (none of which have white walls) and white walls just don't do that for me. But since most of the studio walls are actually the sloped ceiling, and because of the limited natural light I decided to paint the ceiling an off white; the same creamy white color (Aspic from Sherwin Williams) that we used on all of the trim in the house, as well as the ceiling in our bedroom, which is very similar to the studio. But then I had to contend with the short knee walls. I considered painting them Aspic too, but then well, the room would have seemed white. After collecting a ton of paint chips, I finally settled on a dark color called Peppercorn from Sherwin Williams. Even though it is pretty intense, it is actually a pretty neutral color, not exactly blue or green or brown and not too cool or too warm. Neutral. I also hoped that by just using it on the side walls that it would help to make the room seem a bit more spacious.

Even though I was sure about this color, I have to admit to being a bit nervous when I painted the first wall section. If I was wrong about it, it would be a real pain in the neck to change! Luckily, though by the time I was about halfway done with the first side, I was liking it and when it was finished I REALLY liked it. Phew.

After all that drama however, it probably won't really matter what color I decided on. I am pretty sure that soon I will have a lot of crap lining those walls and I'll never see Peppercorn again.

Jim, the floor guy came last week and sanded and polyurethaned the floors over the course of several days. As we suspected, the floors were the same wood that is in much of the rest of our house; pumpkin pine. No stain necessary, the warm orange of the wood was enough color for me and really contrasts perfectly with the wall colors. I am giddy about how beautiful the floor is. I will even admit to rolling around on it a few times. Heh. (actually I am not kidding)

The beams are amazing, even if they are kind of in the way and it hurts a lot to bump into them. Jim said he has seen only one other house in the area with this sort of diagonal structure. Our house is over 200 years old and is pretty dang plumb all things considered and these beams have a lot to do with that. They are connected to each other with pegs, not nails and you can see the hatchet marks where they were cut. As soon as I finish up the walls, I am going to give the beams a good coat of tung oil. I think they deserve it after all their hard work.


So there you go. This project cost twice as much as we expected, but I think it will be worth it. I am pretty sure that there will be some good art made up there.

Here are some pictures of the progress.

Painting the walls:


At first I was deathly afraid of walking out on this 2 foot wide ledge in order to paint the wall and ceiling. I was afraid that I would lose my balance, hit the stairs and break something. But by the first coat of Peppercorn on the wall I was practically bustin' some Coyote Ugly moves out there and feeling pretty pleased with myself.


Finished stairs and studio floor:

Still have to finish painting the trim and railing, but I also have a temporary table set up to prep a few panels 'cause I have a show in July to prepare for:

So-o-o, watchya think?