A number of people have told me that they miss my blog. I miss it too. I loved getting notes from my readers. It provided some balance to the solitude of the studio and helped me to feel I was part of something more real than my visions of paintings.
But it was not a mistake to stop that Friday morning dedication to words. The (almost) total attention of my old age energies on painting is yielding a fine return. There is an image in my mind’s eye that eludes me. Courage is required because every time the work morphs into something simpler I imagine my audience leaning away. I need that audience. I need the sales and want the applause. But as I have heard said (somewhat altered here) “The artist is her own harshest critic” the work is never quite as strong as it could be. I can do better.
So now I have forty-two paintings in progress. They are, as usual, made of papers that I paint and then assemble into paintings. At this point they are pinned to boards and I am refining them by moving pieces around and substituting one element for another. The easiest and most enjoyable part of this process is the beginning: painting the paper. The hardest: the final mounting onto canvas. And what I am doing now falls somewhere in the middle. This is where the effort to make something that I will consider well resolved becomes the focus and when it happens, is hugely rewarding.
So, the above is just to let you know that I am still above ground. What follows is a kind of newsletter that some of you might already have received via you ordinary email. No matter - I have read that repeating information makes good advertising.
News and announcements:
I will be hosting an open studio, along with many other Humboldt County artists on the first two weekends of June. Please mark it on your calendars and pay me a visit.
North Coast Open Studios
Two Weekends: June 1-2 and June 8-9, 2013
11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
2320 Albee Street
Eureka, CA
707-442-2479
If you send me an email address (for those not already on my email mailing list), I will send you a reminder when the date is closer.
More news:
I will be giving another workshop, this time it will be the first three Saturday mornings of September. It will be about using acrylics (“To Make Color Sing”) with some emphasis on mixed media. It went well last time, exhausted me but I enjoyed every minute of it. There was a great group of participants from people who had never held a paintbrush to accomplished artists. And somehow it worked. Therefore, worth doing again.
Here’s some old news: I was the happy recipient of the Victor Jacoby Grant in December of last year. And the year before, I received the Ingrid Nickelsen Award. This influx of cash has allowed me to put aside the urgency about marketing and to be able to work at whatever pace the work requires. I have been able to study and refine the paintings in progress now without having to judge anything finished before I believe it can get no better. This is luxury for which I am deeply grateful.
For the last piece of news, I have been juried in to have a show at Humboldt State University’s First Street Gallery for July - August of 2014, when I will be eighty years old. Who knew that old age could be so good? The last show I had with this gallery (in 2008) was a wonderful experience. The young people who intern in the space, students from the university’s Art Museum and Gallery Practices program, proved to be competent and delightful assistants and the show was arranged and hung and supported by their efforts better than I could have dreamed.
I once lived in the hills outside of Caracas in Venezuela; this was a long time ago. My isolation there was complete. I had no car, no phone and no neighbors near enough to see or talk to. My husband was gone all day and often was away for several days at a time. I remember that one day, as a treat, we left the kids with friends in Caracas and attended some kind of party. And, embarrassing to remember, I couldn’t shut up. Words just poured out of me. I am reminded of this now because after being deprived of my blog for so long, I could go on and on here. My warmest regards to my readers. I miss you, too.
The image attached here is of one of the new pieces, still pinned to board and ready to be mounted on canvas.
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