Loved & Observed

 

I Will by Kristy Gordon, Taste by Julie Elizabeth Brady and To Wash the Spot To Burn the Snare by Holly Ann Scoggins

I am honored to have a work included in an exhibition titled "Loved and Observed" at Hersh Fine Art in Glen Cove, NY which was curated by artists Manu Saluja and Diana Corvelle.  This exhibition, which features portraits by 23 artists, runs June 21 - August 12, 2014.  I hope you will join me on Long Island for the Opening Reception June 28th from 6-9pm.

Cary Ann, oil on panel, 18" x 14"

You may read a bit more about this exhibition on Diana Corvelle's website and while there make sure to peruse her beautiful and unique works, by clicking here.  

Hersh Fine Art

14A Glen Street

Glen Cove, NY

516-590-4324

info@liafa.com

Intro to Oils Class

Dark Cherries, oil on panel, 5" x 7" - currently available at Haynes Galleries

Are you interested in learning the basics of oil painting and safe studio practices? Intro to Oils is an introductory course which will cover the basic topics of oil painting while also reviewing drawing fundamentals. We will explore painting materials and techniques, basic color theory and color mixing, as well as the interaction of visual elements and various approaches to painting. Using simple still life set-ups, we will explore concepts of value and tone and color relationships. Join me at Artspace Monday nights starting June 2nd!

Intro to Oils
Mondays, June 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30
6:30-9:30pm

Tuition: $180 members/$200 non-members

More information and registration at: http://artspacenc.org/classes-education/adult 

Artspace

201 East Davie Street, 

Raleigh, NC

919.821.2787

 

Celebrating the Portrait as Art

I am honored to have two works included in Haynes Galleries "Celebrating the Portrait as Art" exhibit which is a diverse, well-curated collection of works by some of today’s most exciting contemporary Realists. The exhibit will be on view from April 18 - May 24 at Haynes Galleries, on the Music Row Roundabout. An opening reception will take place (tomorrow!) on Friday, April 18 from 5 -7:30 p.m.  This is shaping up to be a 'must see' exhibition of the year!  To read more on the exhibition click here.  The following are the two paintings that I have included.  Thank you Haynes Galleries!

 

Allison at Mirror, oil on panel, 26" x 16"

 Kitchen Window, oil on panel, 48" x 36"

Haynes Galleries
1600 Division Street. Suite 140
Nashville, Tennessee 37203
www.haynesgalleries.com

Face Off Update

 

Wow!  What a fun weekend in Charleston I had.  Thank you to Principle Gallery Charleston for hosting such a great event and giving me an excuse to play in your fair city.  Here are a few images from the event and then a quick timelapse video of my painting from that night.

Face Off Artists: me, Terry Strickland, & Rachel Constantine

 

   

 

My finished painting of Nicole, 3 hours later.

 

Face Off - Principle Gallery Charleston

I am so excited to have been invited to participate in this year's "Face Off" event at Principle Gallery, Charleston.  I will paint the portrait of a live model along side fellow artists Rachel Constantine and Terry Strickland.  The fun begins from 5-8pm on Friday April 4th.  It should be a fun event.  I hope you can join us.

In the meantime, I've been trying to warm up my alla prima muscles.  Here are a few examples of recent 3 hour portrait sessions. 

 

Jenny, oil on panel, 20" x 16"

 

As He Worked, oil on panel, 12" x 9"

Principle Gallery - Charleston

125 Meeting Street

Charleston SC 29401

art@principlecharleston.com

843.727.4500

Sienna As Archer

Sienna as Archer, oil on panel, 48" x 36", 2014

Life and art are inseparable for artists.  Everything we do in our daily lives has the potential to become fodder for our work.  And the work in turn, feeds our life with rich appreciation for the simple acts and moments that could otherwise be overlooked.  Lately, I've noticed my children are growing like weeds right before my eyes.  I can feel their youth slipping towards responsibility and seriousness.  This has become particularly poignant for me with my daughter as she approaches her next birthday, which will place her firmly in the double digits club.  There is a risk in painting children, maybe especially for women artists; artists who are mothers.  So much of history has told us that this is a 'sentimental' act, and that that word itself is a dirty word which you wouldn't want associated with our serious work.  But there is a bounty to explore in that moment of a child's life which is fixed between the abundance of imaginative play of youth and the growing pressures of age; right before the storm of adulthood.  I am compelled to capture that mix of tides that I am living with, that I am responsible for raising well.   

 While my daughter posed for this painting over several sessions, I noticed a shift in her.  When I first asked her to hold the bow, she pulled the string and it was... almost right - but there was an apologetic tone to her stance.  Her feet were planted awkwardly near each other, her grip light and unsteady.  I was asking my pink loving, pacifist daughter to hold a weapon - and this was not natural for her.  It took much coaching, and honestly I think I had to make her mad at me, before she really took the pose with any believability.  I think by then she wished I had loaded the bow with more than a suction cup toy arrow, because now she was happy to aim directly at me.  The next time she took the pose, her elbow straightened a bit more, her wrist more naturally aligned with greater strength.  And then as the painting developed and she got to see herself as this strong and cunning girl, I noticed she began to stand taller too.  What I suddenly realized one day while standing infront of this life size painting of my daughter, is that this painting was helping me parent better.  I was showing my daughter how to be empowered.  How to embrace her inner strength and not be apologetic to share that with the world.  

Life and art are inseparable.    
    

 

And here is a picture and a related post of this same girl, just several years younger.

The Artist's Magazine - April 2014

As you may know I am one of the co-founders of the blog Women Painting Women.  We have been working since March of 2009 to create an online resource that highlights the incredible work of some of today's best figurative painters (that just happen to be women).  We have also worked tirelessly to organize multiple exhibitions to further gain exposure for these artists.  Women Painting Women begs us to question whether women see and therefore paint the female figure differently than has been been traditionally represented through out history.  Can women be represented as more than mere passive subjects, icons of beauty?  There has been a wonderful article written by Louise Hafesh in the April 2014 edition of The Artist's Magazine on the history and development of Women Painting Women.  I am honored to have both my efforts towards WPW's goals, as well as my own work featured in this eight page article.  Make sure you pick up your copy at a newsstand or bookstore near you.  I've also heard digital copies are also available thru an online subscription.  More info on The Artist's Magazine can be found at www.artistsmagazine.com    

Paintings by Alexandra Tyng, Zoey Frank and Ellen Eagle are but a few of the great works shared in this expansive article.  I am honored that the editors chose to share my painting Rising Tide as well.  More on the thoughts that went into that painting can be read on this blog just a few posts down, or by clicking here.  Many thanks to writer Louise Hafesh and also to all the fine folks at The Artist's Magazine.  Thank you for the great support!

Upcoming Class - Focus on Figure Drawing

  

ink and white chalk, 10" x 8"

I am looking forward to teaching again at Artspace this Spring.  We will start with a "Focus on Figure Drawing".    

Working from a live model, you will develop an understanding of proper proportions, structure and basic anatomy of the human figure. We will use a variety of short gesture poses and work toward longer sustained poses using a variety of drawing mediums. Basic principles of drawing will be discussed to explore the use of line variation, and methods of blocking in volumetric forms to represent the expressive qualities of the human figure. This class will strengthen your drawing ability whether you are an absolute beginner or advanced student. Supply list provided upon registration.

Thursdays, March 20, 27, April 3, 10 & 17 
6-9pm
Tuition: $180 members/$200
REGISTER HERE

charcoal on grey paper, 24" x 18"

conte on watercolor toned paper, 17.5 x 11.5

pastel on paper, 24" x 18"

I hope to see you in the class.  It should be a fun and informative five classes.  Please sign up early by either calling or using the link above.  Happy drawing!

Artspace

201 E. Davie St

Raleigh, NC  

919-821-2787

www.artspacenc.org

Insects

Throughout my career there have been a few subjects that I continually am drawn to paint.  Of course the figure is my main love, but then too I am nearly equally drawn to nature.  I've had an on going series of paintings of dead birds that was started while still in college, though my fascination with birds likely started at a much younger age.  My childhood best friend's father was the director of the Massachusetts Audubon Society. Nearly every weekend was spent on some bird count our nature hunt.  But right now, I seem to have reconnected with insects.  Here are a few small, recent, little buggers for your viewing pleasure.

Cicada Killer, oil on panel, 5" x 5"

Progress Shots of Bumblebee:

Bumblebee, oil on panel, 5" x 5"

I have one more insect related painting that I just completed.  The paint has dried dull in some areas and needs varnish to even it out.  So until I can get a good final image, here are just a few progress snapshots of my painting titled Orchestrate Change which features a cocoon, likely of a Polyphemus Moth .

 

  

Orchestrate Change, oil on panel, 6" x 18"

Outside the Box Award

I am honored to share that the Portrait Society of America has given my painting Rising Tide a 6th Merit Award for the Outside the Box category for their annual Member's Only Competition.  Thank you Portrait Society for the recognition!

Rising Tide, oil on panel, 34" x 54", 2013

Rising Tide - Infringement and Evolution of an Idea

Have you ever had an idea just hit you?  For me, it seems to happen while in the car (or less conveniently, right before I am about to fall asleep).  I really enjoy long road trips because of this phenomenon.  I find my mind is focused yet wandering freely.  This spring, I had one of those long road trips to head up north to help my mother through a surgery.  I was looking forward to the time alone on the road as I was hoping for a few good ideas to rise to the top.  And indeed many ideas came.  One in fact hit me so viscerally, I found my cheeks wet with tears, so moved by the image in my own head.  

You see, not only was I trying to sort out ideas for potential works of art, but also my mind was trying to sort out general life stuff too.  I have a friend, who at the time was in such a deep, dark, depressive place.  I had been watching her sink further and further into this pit and I felt powerless - I very much wished I could save her.  But I realized in that solitary moment, speeding along the freeway, that everything that I had been doing, that I thought was helping may have actually been enabling the depression further.  In that moment, I realized that she herself must first want to stop the sinking.  It was a hard realization because in a sense it meant that I was letting go.  And what if she just free-fell further?  With all those thoughts came an image.  An image so strong, so powerful and so clear.  I felt so much relief in that image.  It so well articulated the conundrum in which I found myself.  Later I was so proud of this image, this flash in my mind's eye, that I started to describe it to artist friends.  They agreed that it was a very powerful image and would make a hell of a painting.  I couldn't wait to get to the studio, to hire models and get moving on the painting before that flash faded.

I spent several weeks with two hired models (a splurge!), working out compositional drawings and starting the underpainting for what was going to be a break through piece for me.  I had so much energy and enthusiasm.  And it was going well.  Surprisingly, the image with difficult poses was actually physically possible for the models to hold and it was all coming together.  I decided this painting would be one that I would include in an important exhibition whose deadline was fast approaching.  At this time, I was also teaching two workshops which needed my attention. I begrudgingly took time away from the easel, looking though all my teaching materials, trying to organize hand outs for the students when in the back of one of my binders I saw an image.  It was my image... but wait... how?... wait no... that's not my paint.  What the hell?!  Oh no.  

Back when I was a student myself, one of my professors had recommended that I look at an artist's work and she handed me a printout of one of the artist's paintings.  I hadn't seen that image for fifteen years, and yet here my brain had leached it out and let me believe it was my own this whole time?!  I instantly hated myself.  But I still loved the image.  The peace that it had brought me in dealing with my friend was so palpable.  After much wrestling and yes, more crying, it became clear that I couldn't continue with the painting.  I tortured myself - questing all that I am, spiraling into my own depths.  But my response to my friend's situation was still an honest jumping off point.  I could still use those feelings as a place to find a new image.  It was heartbreaking to give up on this thing that had become so real, so empowering for me but it was so very necessary to let it go, lest I perpetually hate myself and this work. 

I took a break from the models and went back to writing and sketching to gather my thoughts.  From this kernel of an idea, came what I hope is an even more potent image.  More potent perhaps because it includes only one figure.  I realized that the other figure (that was to symbolize myself in the relationship) was not necessary and in fact may have been muddying up the idea by adding an element of my own hero complex or narcissism at the least.  Also water crept into this new image as a force of both benevolence as well as potential harm.  I loved that duality.  This painting came fast, on it's own new and bigger, untainted panel.  I re-hired one of the original models and worked it all out in about three weeks.  

Rising Tide depicts a woman lying on her back in shallow water.  She is at that moment of choice.  Is she going to pull on the red cloth (which comes in from an unknown source at the top) to be able to easily rise out of the waters?  Will she let the tide slowly rise to consume her, or will she simply let go?  I also had the aphorism "A rising tide lifts all boats" in mind while working on this painting.  I find this aphorism very apt since this painting was going into this year's Women Painting Women exhibition at Principle Gallery.  I do believe that all the efforts that we have been making through Women Painting Women has had a great impact - in a sense raising the awareness for all great figurative painting and certainly raising the level of recognition for women figurative painters.         

Rising Tide, oil on panel, 34" x 54" 2013

Rising Tide, detail

This painting was featured on the cover of the WPW: (R)evolution exhibition catalog which can be purchased HERE.  Thank you to Matter Deep Publishing for the honor! 

Chase vs Sargent

 

A wonderful corner of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 
Recently, I was able to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.  If you haven't yet seen the new American wing, you really need to make the trip.  It's well worth the effort.  While there, I took a moment to sit in front of two favorite artists' works that happened to be displayed side by side - William Merritt Chase's Lady in Black and John Singer Sargent's famous Madame Gautreau.  


As they are hung right next to each other it's hard not to make comparisons.  Even the wall placard notes how Chase's composition seems to quote Sargent's, perhaps especially with the placement of the table.  I sat there for quite sometime doing a thumbnail sketch of the beautiful Lady In Black.  As I drew, I found more and more points of comparison.  Now, it is not my intention to upset any Sargent fans. I am indeed quite a fan myself - but I have to say in my humble opinion, the Chase painting is the more interesting portrait.  Madame X has become such an icon for artists in realist art circles, so perhaps my favoring Chase's work has more to do with my propensity to root for the seeming underdog?  I'm not sure, but I will try to remain as objective as possible.

 

John Singer Sargent, Madame Gautreau (aka Madame X), oil on canvas, 82 1/8 x 43 1/4 in, 1883-84

Sargent's painting of Madame X,  with her pinched waist, evening attire and averted gaze, doesn't allow us to witness her full personality.  We surely understand her status in life, but beyond that not much else is offered.  (I must note that as a figurative artist I totally understand his choice in painting her head turned to the side.  Who wouldn't want to paint that stunning profile?!  This perhaps accounts for the averted gaze).  We instead are shown the pomp and circumstance of an elite's commissioned portrait.  Even Mme X's feet are softly absorbed into shadow, further obscuring personal identity.  Because of this, I find the Chase work a more honest and to my contemporary taste, a more appealing depiction.  In Lady in Black we are presented with a woman (Ms. Marietta Benedict Cotton) who is more humble in her attire and confronting with her gaze.  She stands solidly grounded with one foot in light.  There is little apprehension or coyness to her gaze.  Though her gown is surely not today's casual, it does seem more reserved or down to earth.  Even the polish of her skin is not overly smooth, soft or pasty as Mme. X's seems.  The paint itself has more action, more color, and is overall more interesting.

 

William Merritt Chase, Lady in Black, oil on canvas, 74 1/4 x 36 5/16 in, 1888

Perhaps, the Chase work resonates because it is more approachable, more easily accessible, depicting a class that I am closer to understanding.  Or perhaps its more that I enjoy seeing a portrait that shows more of the character of an individual, not just the surface characteristics.  My husband argues that because of the averted gaze, the Mme. X painting is more enigmatic, is more open to being read as story.  While the first one reads as an honest depiction of an individual.  His point is well taken here.  I understand neither is wrong or makes for lesser of a painting.

Placed together, these two paintings evoke much thought and emotion. I look forward to returning to visit these two wonderful paintings again soon.  Let me know what you think?  Do you favor one more than another?

 

Here's the little sketch I did with a few random notes that I jotted down as well:

-note that there are more reds in the flesh of "Lady" 

-note the balance of edges up and down the figure:

left shoulder has soft edge - right shoulder hard

left sleeve hard edge - right sleeve soft

-note that the perspective of the table is off, but less awkward than the table leg meeting up with the corner of the composition in the Mme. X painting. 

Thanks for having a read.