A HOT summer for artistic pursuits

About this heat, all I can say is, thank goodness my studio is in the cool basement.

A VERY active summer for art so far this year.  The Sisters of the Brush have had our work displayed for the past month at the Bean and Leaf coffee shop in Rochester. That display comes down tomorrow, but instead,  a NEW exhibit goes up at the Fieldstone Winery.  This neat place   has an agreement with the Firebrick Studio and Gallery to hang artwork and hold (wine-tasting!) receptions as well, and the SOBs were invited to fill in for the month of July.  Note that the (wine-tasting!) reception for our group will be held on Friday, July 20^th, from 6 – 9 pm. It is hoped  (by every business on Main Street!) that by then the road construction that has brought the town of Rochester to its knees will be ending.  In any case you need to check out both the Firebrick Gallery (great artwork and gifts) and the Fieldstone Winery (excellent wine, and so much fun to make and bottle your own!)

Iris Tapestry I  (watercolor) - 11 x 14 framed.

These are my paintings that were hanging at the Bean and Leaf. The "tapestry" behind the iris blossom is invented of course, but even so required some inspiration - can you detect what inspired that pattern?

The cat in the next painting is my mother-in-law's Archie, named after her late husband.  Archie turned out to be a girl, but kept her name so that Irene would have someone by that name to talk to all day.  The pearls are NOT really hers.  And they are NOT really pearls, either, but that's another story.
I do hope you will be able to come by Fieldstone Winery to see which  paintings will be hanging there: I might post them here AFTER the show comes down.

My very newest paintings  –  NINE pieces finished in the past few months! -  are currently being photographed by Eric Law.   One or more may get entered in the Our Town competition, and others will be  getting  framed and ready for the Sisters of the Brush exhibit to be held at Lawrence St Gallery in September.  The reception for that event will be held on Thursday, September 6^th,  from 6 – 9pm. We are certainly hoping to see many of our friends there!

It's Mine Now (watercolor on gesso) - 12 x 17 framed.

Back to ART, thank goodness.

Getting my money’s worth

I’m tempted to name this painting that way.

It seems like the majority of the artists I know say that “it’s about the process” – that they do their art for the enjoyment of the making.  Being in the moment, not planning, not finishing, not framing and selling: we mostly enjoy the PAINTING.  That being said, this sheet of watercolor paper has paid for itself in the hours of enjoyment I’ve reaped, regardless of the result.

 I painted the marigold blossoms on a full sheet but wasn’t happy with the “end” result.  I taped it to the studio wall to alternately study and ignore.  Shortly I decided it was a failure, which opened me up to a myriad of possibilities – that’s often when I get the happiest and most creative.

I took it to the laundry tub and SCRUBBED it, and folded it and wrinkled it and spread it out and dried it.  I had shadows left, warm colors, very subtle.  Taped it back to the wall to study and/or ignore for some weeks.

 Then, having returned from Judy Morris’s workshop at Kanuga feeling justified in my constant cravings for pattern, I just started in.  Every time I returned to the studio, I mixed up another analogous color and added another pattern area.  I visited the whole surface, breaking up areas, pulling other areas together with similar colors or patterns.  Not thinking, just reacting and wielding a brush.  All in all,  I’ve spent more enjoyable hours over this piece of paper than I can remember on any other.  Got my money’s worth: way cheaper than a round of golf or a movie or even a bestseller book.  And it may not even be done yet. Any opinions on that?

EPILOGUE - the story of Kingsford

A happy ending for a cat who must be in seventh heaven right about now.

First, big thanks to friend Kristen – one of the Sisters of the Brush -  who told her friends/colleagues who told THEIR friends/colleagues, all via email, blog, and Facebook, all about Kingsford’s dilemma.     We had someone interested in adopting him even before his sutures came out!

 KB submitted an application (online) to PAAW, and passed the approval process with flying colors.  Shortly after that,  KB came by to meet Kingsford in person, and we all agreed they were an extremely compatible couple.    Once Kingsford’s sutures had been removed (he also needed to be “chipped” for identification),  we monitored him for a couple of days to be sure he wasn’t chewing the end of his tail.  Feeling that he was fully recovered (except for needing some fur on his “wrists” and tail) we arranged for  KB to came back over Saturday morning.  We finalized the adoption, gave Kingsford a big hug, and waved goodbye as KB took him to his new forever home.

Honestly, he was the sweetest cat, but we are not missing his company much at all.  We are glad to have our sunroom back in normal use, I especially appreciate having my studio ready for the coming week, and we will NEVER miss those middle of the night or early morning sessions when Kingsford would cry or try to dig through the glass sunroom door with his declawed paws.   Lew is also pretty happy to have the sunroom back: it’s really the only sunshine-basking place  in the house, which he had given up (note to Lew: Shasta has given the sunroom up to YOU, and I don’t recall you thanking her for that).

The only conclusions to the story which we are still missing are whether Kingsford will have a new name of his very own (after all, he was only “Kingsford” for the month he was with us), and we want to see pictures of him when his cute waggy tail has regrown its fur.  Are you reading this, KB?