Hats and Woman in the Mirror

A few weeks ago I photographed a most lovely lady.  (But then, if you've read this blog more than once before, you probably know that I think all my "ladies" are lovely!)  We had an interesting quandary - she was completely willing to show her face and have us all know who she is, but her company has a "morals clause" which states that she may be fired if she does anything which might embarrass the company.  She had some concerns that appearing nude in paintings might be construed to be embarrassing for the company so she chose to have me photograph her "faceless".  What a shame!  She's quite wonderful looking!

Despite that restriction, or perhaps because of it (restrictions are something to push against so often create situations I wouldn't have considered before, and thus very interesting pictures), we got some wonderful pictures.  She brought some fabulous hats with huge brims which were made by Ignatius Hats from Petersburg, VA.  The hat to the right is by them - don't you just LOVE IT??!!  The two she had were amazing - perfect for wearing to the races which is exactly what she got them for.  They were great for these photos too - they cover her face but leave her looking coy or playful or demure or mysterious (depending on the particular picture).  I plan to begin that picture next.

The one I did first is of her torso in the mirror with strong light thrown across her belly.  I love the drama of the shadows and the light and the startling element of her blond white hair.  The piece is 16"x20", unusually small for me, but I didn't have a larger canvas ready to go at the time because Chris, bless him, was hard at work on his masterpiece, the frame for "Don't Mess With Me".  This piece is called "Woman in the Mirror."

A while ago, I created the painting "Don't Mess with Me!"  I finished it in mid-Oct, then showed it in November's version of Sacred Flesh.  During the next month, I used up 4 6"x6" canvases I had just because I had them.  I painted vegetables on them with fun patterns in the background.  I had so much fun doing them!

When Chris saw them lying next to Don't Mess with Me! he held them up by her side and said, "I should make a frame for this piece that can hold all these pieces right next to it!"  When I agreed, his project for the next two months was born!  Last night he finished the final coat of paint after so much tender effort working on this gorgeous thing!  It's a very complex frame - he had to create the inside plus all the small outer frames.  First he built a tic-tac-toe framework, then the outer frame, then the inner cross pieces.  He had to do all kinds of fancy woodworking to connect the pieces - different kinds of joins, etc.  He had never done any of these things before!  The first one he made wasn't precise enough, so he started all over.  He's so careful and exacting - great qualities in a framer - and a husband - I am very blessed.

After sanding it for several days (necessitating a new sander, of course!), it was smooth as a baby's butt, finally ready to paint.  He put on a coat of primer then the paint we'd bought - but it was too light and too blue - so I mixed in some black paint, and the next coat was just right.

We haven't attached the painting permanently yet, so there's too much space at the top, and we're going to put a piece of black matboard on the back so you don't see the wall behind the piece, but otherwise it's finished.  I'm so excited!  I love Chris's concept, and I think it ended up looking really powerful!  It's a fun, fun piece!

good work day

I'm really enjoying having so much time to focus on creating art and finding places to show it.  I wake up in the morning ready and raring to go (quite a change for me, as people who know me will attest to!), full of things I want to do all day.  I feel completely focused almost all the time whether I'm painting, blogging, writing emails, advertising my classes, setting up exhibitions, writing my book, or whatever else has arisen to do.  Each day is new and different and exciting and full of joy.

Today, for example, I had an 8 AM appointment with Larkin Garbee, the owner of James River Tile.  Larkin saw Sacred Flesh and immediately started thinking about how she could help others see it too.  She has invited me to hang it at her company's showroom (a very cool place with amazing tiles all over the walls - check it out!) and is planning a black tie dinner for Valentine's Day, to be entitled Love Your Body, to showcase it.  We met today so I could see her space and to discuss more details of the dinner.  It's amazing to collaborate with others about things - so many great ideas get generated, ones I never could have come up with on my own!

After meeting with Larkin, I went and took down an exhibit I'd had at the Central Virginia Legal Aid building.  They had asked for an artist to show his/her work there to help brighten up their offices, so I put some of my fruits there in June.  I'm glad to have gotten them back home - Larkin would like me to show those at her place too.

At 10, I went to Johnston Willis Hospital to meet with a woman about having my students have an art show in their cafeteria.  They have a beautiful space which was carefully designed for art displays and are looking for folks to show there.  One of my students works there and told me about the opportunity.  I've arranged for them to show in April.  I think it'll be very exciting - it'll be a juried show with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place ribbons.  For many of the students, it will be their first opportunity to show their work in public!  We're planning to have a small reception in their honor as well.

After meeting at the hospital, I came back home and did some office work - emails, etc., then finally got into the studio at 1:30.  I spent the afternoon painting the small 6"x6" canvases to go around Don't Mess with Me.  I have finished 15 of them, I think - 5 more to go!  It's quite a process!  Today I painted some garlic, a seashell, a wooden puzzle, and finished an apple and some broccoli from yesterday.  Unfortunately I can't show you how they look yet because my camera is at the shop for repairs.  Hopefully I'll hear tomorrow what's up with it and how much it'll cost to fix.

This evening I've spent more time painting the small canvases, printing up tags for a show, sending my resume and artist statement and list of pieces out to the curator for a show.  In a few minutes I have to go organize the pieces for that show so I can take them to be hung tomorrow.  It's a lot of work keeping track of all this, but it's so much fun!

While I'm working out in the studio, Chris has been in the wood shop the last few weeks working on a very elaborate frame for Don't Mess with Me.  It has one 18" opening plus 20 6" openings surrounding the central one.  He thought he was almost finished, but when he went to put it together, he found things didn't fit right.  He said  he's learned a lot from his first attempt and will be able to do it more quickly this time around.  I would be so frustrated I would screech with fury, but he is so patient and persistent, he seems OK with starting all over from scratch.  Good thing it's him and not me!  I feel incredibly blessed to have his support and help in my art.  I couldn't do it all without him.  He is an amazing man and a real blessing.

Don't Mess with Me - enhanced

 The last week or so I've been working on a series of small paintings, 6"x6", of fruits and vegetables with patterns in the background.  I originally started painting them because I had 4 small canvases and wanted to do something fun and simple one day.

When Chris came out and took a look at them, he hung them up next to Don't Mess with Me which also has a strong pattern in the background and suggested that I surround the canvas with 20 small canvases like that with fun and funky patterns.  The model's expression is so strong that she still dominates the scene, but the fruits and vegetables give the viewer LOTS to look at and delight in. 

Today we talked bout how to build the frame and think we'll make it like a shelf into which the small canvases slide.  We may leave a few of the openings empty for the purchaser to fill him/herself, or maybe we'll put real fruit into it.  It's very fun playing with the ideas for it.

 

The picture here gives an idea of sort of how it might look, but I've only done 11 small canvases so used some of them twice in this image.  I wanted to be able to see how I like it to see if it it needs tweaking or not.  This version of it will be 45.5"x45.5" when finished.

Chris is going to have to develop some more woodworking skills to create the frame for it!  I also figure I could sell the smaller fruits separately during a show if anyone were interested.  I think it's always wise to have some smaller works available for purchase.

This piece is quite different from anything else I've done, and I don't really think it's the start of a new direction, but it's very fun playing with a new idea and taking it to its (natural?) conclusion.  It's wonderful brainstorming with Chris and see where our combined imaginations take us.

hanging the show

I'm guessing some of you haven't given much thought to how an art show at a gallery happens, so I thought you might be interested to learn a bit about it.

Yesterday Chris and I re-hung Sacred Flesh at the Visual Art Studio here in Richmond.  I had a showing of it in October, but, because I have a lot of paintings, we decided to put new pieces in for this month's opening/exhibition. 

This past week I took some time to try to arrange the paintings on the virtual walls I created in Adobe Photoshop so I would know which paintings to take and, perhaps, how I would hang them.  I also typed up the models' stories and printed them out so I'd have them ready for the show.  Still to come, I need to send the gallery owner, Anne, an Excel file with titles, mediums, and prices in it so she can print out the labels.

At 2 PM we began loading the minivan with canvases then went to the gallery to show my brother-in-law the exhibition.  (He was in town for a mere 23 hours, so we had lots to cram into such a small amount of time!  What a joy to see him!)  After he left, we loaded a few paintings into the minivan then headed back home to get the rest of the paintings, the computer, and the tool box with hammers, hooks, nails, tape measure, level, etc.

Returning to the gallery around 3:45, we unloaded the car then began what turned out to be the most difficult part of the process - figuring out where everything should go.  I think it's exceedingly important to place the works well so the viewers get led around the room in an interesting way.  I also want the pieces to relate to each other in terms of color/size/subject matter/scale or any of several other ways.  The schematic I had developed in Photoshop was a good place to start, but what we ended up with was NOT what I'd designed there!  We had to work around windows and heat returns and thermostats and light switches and all sorts of things like that.  Being there is the only real way to be able to set up a show.

The left wall was the hardest to hang because there are two windows which we covered with cardboard and sheets then hung the pieces using fishing line from hooks in the ceiling - not quite the safest-feeling way to do it, but so far it's worked.

Another challenge to this month's show was that we decided to group the pieces a bit more tightly and to double-hang some.  It took some time to figure out at attractive grouping of the pieces.  I ended up feeling delighted at the groupings and how handsome they look.  This image of them doesn't really do it justice because they're not laid out just quite accurately, but it'll give you a feel for it until you can come see for yourself!

After we got things laid out and the first part of the above wall hung, I was out of energy, so we walked down to a restaurant for some restorative repast.  That was very helpful - it is Restaurant Week in Richmond, so many of the best restaurants in town are offering a $25.02 three course menu with $2.10 of each meal going to the Food Bank.  Nice!  We weren't hungry enough to go for that, but we profited from their outstanding offerings and enjoyed our meals greatly.

Then back to it...  The front wall, the one you see when you enter the gallery, was next.  There were light switches and a telephone jack and wall outlet plus the lettering to work around on that wall, but I think we came up with a terrific design.  I love it that people see Frances' Joyful, Joyful when they walk in, flanked by new life in Lolly's Pregnant and Waiting, all accompanied by Lara, a woman who's inbetween the two women in terms of age and where she is in her life.  Chris framed Lolly's Pregnant for me this week, and it looks amazing.  I'm thrilled with how beautifully it turned out.

The right wall was next.  There we were working with a heat return and a window as well as a very small space to the left of the return.  There is a nice stretch of open wall between the return and the window, though, so I made the most of it!  I had planned to put another painting in there as well, but Chris felt it was too crowded with so many paintings, and I had to agree (even though I didn't want to!), so we took one out and allowed the pieces some breathing room.  Several of these pieces (Mother and Daughter Jocks Bound by Caution, Yes, this is me, and Sleek Back, Saucy Shadow) were in the show last month, but the rest are new this time around.  The one to the left of the Jocks, Classical Beauty is brand new.  I just finished it last week! 

The only other space we had to fill was the front window which I don't have a picture of, but I put Woman in a Chair and Don't Mess with Me! in there.  I really wanted to put Don't Mess with Me! in the gallery itself, because I don't think people take the time to really examine the window pieces as much as they do the wall pieces, but it just didn't fit color-wise.  The colors in it are so different than the others that it really  needed its own environment.  I figure both of those pieces will also do a great job attracting folks to the show (unless Don't Mess with Me! scares them with her look!)

After all that, we were DONE!  In more ways than one!  We got home at 9:30 PM, ready for relaxation and rest.  Of course, I didn't quite give it to myself - instead, I wrote emails to the models to let them know which pieces are in the show so they'll know if their piece(s) is/are in it, then sent out an invitation to people about the show.  There's a lot to do to launch a show, so much that the viewers don't realize, which goes into making it a beautiful, interesting, intriguing experience for each person who walks into the gallery. 

Sometimes I wish being an artist were only about painting and drawing, but I think that's nothing more than a fantasy.  I realize I also like the marketing efforts which go into it as well as the public aspects of talking about my work and having shows.  It felt very satisfying, too, to have created a beautiful space last night.  I'm happy with how the pieces look all hanging together.  It's great having the women on display for all to see.

Thanks to each of you for helping me realize my vocation of being an artist.  I am grateful to you each and every day.

Susan

Crazy busy day, and "Don't mess with me!"

"Don't Mess With Me!"



Closeup of necklace



Way too tired to write anything of note tonight, but I wanted to post these pictures of "Don't Mess with Me!" as she is now.  I worked on the necklace a lot the other day.

Today I tutored, took the catalogue files back to the printer once I'd re-worked almost all of them, tutored some more, worked on an application for a grant which is due TOMORROW!, visited with my lovely daughter who just got home for a couple of weeks before a year in Germany then worked on the grant application some more.  I'm not quite done and it has to be postmarked the 15th.  I have an appointment tomorrow at 7 AM to go over the contract for the publishing company tomorrow, then, at 9, an appointment to get my work scanned for said publishing company.  9:30 or 10 will find me picking up art a friend was kind enough to transport here from NC.  After that it's back to the printer to OK the proof (hopefully!) so the catalogue can be printed.  I think I'll take a nap after that.  Then I'll have to print out the grant application and double-check it before I put it in the mail with best wishes for a bon voyage and successful application.  Then there's laundry to do, meals to cook, cats to care for, and maybe, just maybe, a painting to work on somewhere in there!

To anyone who thinks all artists do is sit in their studio and play, they can read this blog and revise their picture just a tiny bit!  Sometimes it's quite a lot of work too!  It's all good - just a bit much at times when everything needs to be done at once.

Off to bed.  It's almost 1 AM.  5:45 is going to come VERY early!

"Don't Mess with Me!"

My newest piece is called "Don't Mess with Me!" because of the intimidating expression on the model's face.  She is powerfully present, staring straight into the camera.  She's wearing a large, dominant turquoise and silver necklace which her grandmother gave her.  I am pretty much done with her body, face, and the background, but the necklace is taking me some time to paint.  It's challenging to paint tarnished silver with detailed metalwork on it. 

Below you can see a close up of the necklace with some of the medalions painted and some unpainted still.

I spent 2-3 hours on it a couple of days ago during a break in tutoring and was only able to get 2 1/2 pieces of it done.  I have seven more to go, so I guess I'll need a full day to finish them up.  I hope to do a piece or two in a few minutes once I finish writing this blog.  It's interesting trying to create a texture and a finish I haven't done before.  As with everything else, though, I'm finding the trick is to look at what I see and paint exactly what I see, color, shape, line, value, then it will look like what I see.  That seems to be the whole trick to painting realistically.  Accurate representation of what you see in front of you. 

Patterns and "Don't Mess with Me!"

I had a very fun day in the studio today after being at the Monster Drawing Rally yesterday.  I wanted to try everything I'd seen done there - using compressed charcoal, oil sticks, house paint, etc., etc.  In the end, I didn't have any compressed charcoal so couldn't use it and didn't think about the house paint, but I did find an oil stick I'd bought long ago and did use it.  I also combined pastels and oil paints with the oil stick on both sanded paper (which I usually use with pastels) and canvas (which I usually only use with oils).  It was fun to experiment.  The picture on the right is called Aapples and a Tomato.  I had a lot of fun creating the pattern in the background.  I love doing these kinds of patterns.  A long time ago, the first time Dylan was in the hospital, so 8 years ago, I'd come home from the night there and do a small watercolor of a piece of fruit and put patterns in the background.  (The pumpkin is an example of one of them.)  I guess I'm coming back around to that now with oils and pastels.  The oil stick really helps because it gives me an easy way to draw the lines.  I have trouble doing them with either pastels (too thick) or a brush (too soft).

After I painted the apples and tomato, I found some small canvases (I think they're 6" square x 1.5" deep) which I painted a couple more pictures on.  First Polka dotted peach then Apple on a Tablecloth.  I left the apple uncropped to make it possible to see how deep the canvas is.

These pictures and the fun I had doing them gave me the courage to finally, finally, finally put a pattern into a portrait as I'm painting it.  I have to admit, I had a really good time doing the pattern.  I don't know why I like them so much, but I certainly know that I do!

Here's the start of the portrait.  The woman is wearing the most beautiful turquoise necklace which is an heirloom from her grandmother.  I had no idea how difficult it would be to paint.  I am aware that the necklace will certainly take longer to paint than anything else!  But it'll be fun and look very cool when it's finished, so I'm looking forward to continuing the challenge.

I love the expression on this woman's face.  It isn't that evident from this photograph, but I call it Don't Mess With Me.  It's a perfect one for me to be doing right now because that's my attitude these days!  Don't mess with me!  I can't wait to get back to it tomorrow, but I'm too tired tonight after 3 hours of painting the necklace and pattern to do anymore.  I was starting to get sloppy so it's time to quit!