All Girls, No Boys in Our Town

I hate having a post without an illustration, but the summer has not been a good one for creativity time.  It's been a good summer, don't get me wrong. But the basement studio has not been used to the best purposes in recent months: more often a dormitory for extra cats than an artistic haven. Oh well. Winter seems to be my creative season. And, sorry all:  winter IS on its way!

I am feeling more encouraged, actually,  about my art.  The Sisters of the Brush will have our third exhibit at Lawrence Street Gallery, which begins in September. Each of us will have about 6 works in the show, and we hope to manage some note cards as well.   For more information about the reception, check out the Sisters of the Brush web site.Maybe you've received a postcard from one of us or from Lawrence Street Gallery. If you didn't, and wish you did, be sure to find our contact-us page and let us know!

Also I'm very pleased to have had two paintings accepted into the Our Town exhibit that's held every year at the Birmingham Community House in October.  Always a pleasure to have been selected, because the artists are invited, (free!) to the opening reception which is QUITE a shindig.  Okay, it's also terrific artwork and a lovely venue too.

It's not been my best  year for success with submissions, so having a couple coming up is reassuring. The problem now is, the BSWP (Birmingham Society of Women Painters) annual exhibit is also coming up.   The work entered in this juried exhibit is always quite strong - I've been VERY lucky to have had artwork accepted both of the first two years I entered, and also was awarded honorable mentions each time. HOWEVER - I just don't know what work I have right now that I feel honors the high standards of this group.  Of my current work, the best are already committed to "All Girls, No Boys" and to Our Town.  Can I create something new of  adequate caliber, in only a few weeks?  Unlikely.  Maybe that will have to be next year.

Lost in Space and Line

I need a better path back from these ‘dry spells’ when art takes a back seat for too long.   I haven’t touched brush to paper in about a month, and the passion driving the two unfinished paintings in the studio has dissipated. 

I’ve mentally written 2 or 3 or 4 blog entries, though, often in the middle of the night.  Somehow I have to turn those ideas into something like a project, involving paper, ink, paint!

Simba

COLOR – Thought - and read - a lot about this recently.  What colors make my ‘heart sing’?  (That’s Pat M’s expression, and what a good one for evaluating art). Usually, although often I don’t much LIKE abstracts (please don’t spread that around, it’s my guilty secret), the paintings with singing color are just that: perhaps because the abstract artist can abandon local color.  When I’ve frozen in front of a painting for its color, it’s often abstract, with acres of neutrals/grays/muds, and a jewel of a spot with a BIT of glorious, pure color.  How can I figure out how to achieve this when my subject is, so often, flowers?

LINE and DRAWING – recent success with a ball point pen: successful both in the result on paper ( a good likeness of a friend’s cat which I have failed to capture with several attempts painting), and more success in that I was in that wonderful zone, when I know I’m spending my time in the Right Way.

But – what to do next with all this in mind? It’s a puzzlement!

Just found out, I can draw dogs too!

My role with PAAW (Pet Adoption Alternative of Warren) has become quite creative.  One function that seems to becoming my own is the generation of thank you notes – plain yet personalized in many cases, but handmade and unique when a contributor goes above and beyond.        

Just recently a good friend to PAAW, we’ll just call her Jenny,  contributed the princely sum of $1000, to pay for surgery for Shatzi.   Here’s my drawing of Shatzi, done while I was attempting to create a card that could adequately express our gratitude for such a gift.  Not possible, but I tried.                   

Let me have Shatzi speak for herself:

   

“Hi! My name is Shatzi! And I am a super sweet and lovable Shih Tzu who was recently rescued by PAAW! I came into the rescue in bad shape, having been neglected by my previous owner who used to feed me Cheerios for dinner and didn't take very good care of me. Prior to my rescue, I was hit by a car and my leg was badly broken. My owner said he was going to take me into have me euthanized and threatened to just "take me in the back and shoot me", because he didn't love me enough to have my leg fixed and give me the care I needed. I was very sad and was in a lot of pain, and was wishing someone would come and help me!

Lucky for me, my neighbor knew one of the volunteers from PAAW, and she jumped in to save me right away! She picked me up and took me to the vet, and my leg was fixed up in a jiffy! I am in foster care now, and have pins in my leg and a big cone on my head while I recover. But my surgery was very expensive, and I still have other work that needs to be done, including my neuter and some badly needed dental work! :0 PAAW desperately needs help to cover my expenses and continue to give me the special care that I need! If you can find it in your heart, please donate today! Thanks for your support! xoxo  Shatzi”

Please note that Shatzi will be available for adoption soon. If you are interested in giving her a GOOD home, contact PAAW through their website, and fill out an adoption application.

Kingsford has become Bubastis

Some of you have asked for further information about Kingsford the Short-Tail cat.  Well, he's not our baby anymore.  But I just got an update from his new partner in life, KB.  I will include her words here - obviously we are pretty thrilled at just how lucky Kingsford has been.

"I ended up re-naming him after all. His name is now Bubastis. It was an ancient Egyptian city, the largest dedicated to the worship of Bast (the Egyptian cat goddess) and cats in general. The name is also referenced in one of my favorite graphic novels. One of the characters lives in solitude, his only companion his lynx named Bubastis. I figured, since he's missing a great portion of his tail, he looks a bit like a lynx, and the name seemed fitting. I call him Bubs for short. 

He and I have become quite a couple. As I'm often out and about, I've taken to bringing him with me. He even walks on a leash! People generally seem to be pretty impressed with him. He's so fearless and very talkative. He's managed to convince three of my friends that have always been "dog people", that cats can be awesome too."

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?