Neighborhood

Neighborhood   oil   20 x 60 x 1.5

is a concept that implies shared space, a sense of community...a connectedness to the world around us.  While it is true that I do not live in a strictly defined neighborhood, preferring to live in a rural area, my sense of neighborhood is still in tact, albeit in a more loosely defined way.  My sense of connection is not so defined by geography, but by interest.  My sense of neighborhood includes all those with whom I interact in my chosen field...artists in my classes, artists within my regional art groups, and those involved in the galleries where I do business.  These are the folks who inspire me, enrich my life, and challenge me to do the best I can.  These are folks whose resolve I so admire.  The network is strong and lively.  Ideas are shared.  There is trust.  A sense of dedication.  A sense of doing something greater than yourself.  As a young student in the late 60's, art seemed a totally frivolous way of spending time,  Now, as an older and wiser person, I realize that art, and living artfully, is a way of life, a way of solving problems, of finding joy in the present.  Art is life affirming. This is my neighborhood.

This painting was inspired by reference photos shot in early spring in the Glen Echo neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio.  My goal was to sublimate individual details in each of the homes while creating rhythm that weaves itself between them.

The Mile High Book Club

Mile High Book Club   oil   24 x 12 x 1.5

is the result of study in my summer drawing class, but, in actuality, has been in my brain for a long while.  My husband and I love to read...and, sometimes, more than one at a time.  As a result, books tend to accumulate...here, there, everywhere.  Our shelves can no longer accommodate the overflow.  Our books rest in stacks surrounding our seating area where we coffee-and-read each morning.  One of the first things we do when we are expecting guests is to re-position, hide and file our stacks. 

In addition, precarious stacks of things reoccur in my work...perhaps an indication and constant reminder of the chaos that needs to be sorted (both material and emotional) in order to facilitate the calm and simplicity that we both desire.

My reference photos were shot on my patio....this smaller work represents approximately 1/3 of my arranged pile.  Passes were made top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top with a particular goal each time.  Relationships became super-important as I tried to establish a bit of back-and-forth rhythm that maintained at least a posture of stability. 

While I am happy and satisfied that one of my long-held ideas was realized, I found that a composition including so many objects severely restrained my need for creativity...just too many masters that needed to be obeyed.

There.  Done. 

(The) Wood Pile

Wood Pile   oil on canvas   60 x 20 x 1.5

has been our best friend here in bitter-cold northeast Ohio this winter.  Throughout the late summer and autumn my husband carefully plans our "stash" and arranges it priority-wise by its seasoned past.  Large stashes of kindling are collected.  Because of our intimacy with our our wood, it became a lovely subject to me.  While, admittedly, painting stacks of things would probably be boring to some painters, I find the rhythms that abound and the individuality of the logs to be interesting and challenging.  "Wood Pile" is a slice of my life.  I offer it up.

Ebb and Flow

Ebb and Flow   oil on canvas   12 x 36 x .75

Painting the incoming surf of the ocean is quite a challenge.  The still life is, well, still.  Models are still for short periods of time...with perhaps a twitch or two, or a relaxation of a limb or two, for the most part.  And, despite the movement of the sun and the interference of clouds, landscapes are generally given to status.  However, the ocean never rests.  Capturing this movement, to me, requires a study of the large rhythm involved, and as much understanding as possible, of an up-and-over movement....similar perhaps to the rise and fall of the folds of a quilt, but far less material.  I was inspired by the rowing paintings of Thomas Eakins, as well as an ocean work by my hero Alex Kanevsky.  This work was painted in a day.  Sure....I was tempted to have another pass, but knew full well that subsequent strokes would only solidify shapes, turning them into cement.  I have held off now for over two weeks and the obsession is now past.  Contemplation is good.

The ocean never sleeps.

Relationships...

That October Feeling   watercolor   12.75 x 9

can be tricky.  The more relationships one has, it seems to me, the more complex life becomes.  The same with paintings.  The more objects in the painting, the more complex the painting of it becomes.  We started out this week in class by piling a large number of organic autumn objects onto a well-lit table.  Gourds.  Pumpkins.  Grasses.  Branches.  Mums.  Squashes.  Even a Caramel Apple.  We are using our handmade cropping windows to find interesting compositions.  Everyone's is different.  In the beginning, we paint each object separately to the best of our abilities.  Then later, we need to contemplate the prioritizing of the elements, and, in turn, to consider the hard and soft edges that support this prioritization.  For me, the relationships of the forms become more important than the objects themselves.  I look for hidden rhythms to carry out my intentions.  Forms become alive, almost like persons who make up a crowd....persons at a party, persons at a meeting.  Persons having a conversation.

Animated objects.  Struggling in relationships.  Mirroring reality.

Change of Rhythm...

Pine   watercolor   9.5 x 7

Life is full of changes in rhythm. I remember when my children were small, I would no sooner get used to one rhythm of naps and developmental hurdles, then it would be replaced by another. Good thing. It helped me to become more fluid. My background in music and dance enables the enhancement of rhythms for me....they are everywhere! No time of year presents a greater change in rhythm than Christmas. We become ever so busy with the shopping, the wrapping, the baking. Even so, I find that this season brings peace to my soul, in that it signals the beginning of winter, the interior season, which provides me with much needed reflection and production. Many rhythms are more visible with a white backdrop of snow......including that of pine trees. Had I been asked to simply draw the pine tree in my brain which is dependent on the tree-icon of a 6-year-old, I wouldn't have noticed the rhythm. Recently we studied trees in painting class.....not groupings, but the personalities of individual trees. It was then that I noticed this branching rhythm. Peace, quiet, visible rhythms, solitude.

Gotta go..........so much to do.

Candace 4...

Candace in Black and White   watercolor   26.75 x 17

This is it. Candace 4 shows my resolution and I am happy/ After doing some value sketches to decide if I might like the addition of a very dark area, I did just that using a blackish-green and dropping in some orange. (Ideally, these invaluable value studies should be done before beginning any painting, but not as probable in demonstration circumstances where time is at a premium and people want to see you paint) The dark at the top helped to devalue the fedora.....a decision had to be made. Dominance for the hat or the boots....not both. I also left some pink patches showing through to mimic the pattern in the coat. I really like the way the boots drop off of the solid color field onto the lightest area. Although I am basically finished, I am still considering the addition of a very light stroke on the left of the the boot on the viewer's left.

There were actually many more passes than four.....I have described here only the four that were more groundbreaking in order to condense this process.