Altered Environments

A River of Falling Stars, 10/7/2012, acrylic and monotype on Arches watercolor paper, 30 x 22

Seriously, I finished painting this one yesterday afternoon. As soon as the paint dried I had to frame it...this painting was one of those that I had started once upon a time, and then gave up on it, tucking it away thinking one day maybe...well, two weeks ago when I was invited to be in a new exhibition as Szozda I pulled it out and slathered it with my favorite near black blue, Payne's gray...the only thing left of the original painting is the moon. Everything else evolved since then...building layers on layers on layers...OMG it's sooooooo gorgeous, and floated in a frame it's stunning!

We delivered the paintings and drawings to the Szozda Gallery today, and saw the preliminary layout...it's always a different experience to see the work in the gallery than at home...

The postcard!

I came down with a cold on Thursday morning, and have finally shook off the worst of it, naturally, in time to go back to work, but of course, I had to push through to get the paintings wired and the drawings framed...in between napping and taking hot baths to feel better. I managed to finish three new paintings to include with the work in progress paintings that I already had finished before...

Where water meets sky...#2, 10/6/2012, acrylic wash, monotype, rice paper on canvas, 24 x 24 inches

Ripple, 10/7/2012, acrylic wash, monotype, rice paper on canvas, 20 x 20 inches

This was the very last painting of the day...yes, this one is named after the Grateful Dead song Ripple...you know, it's whatever is going through my head at the time...it's been a productive and fun time...I always say, if I didn't love what I do, I wouldn't be doing it. I love what I do and I feel very fortunate...

Looking forward to seeing the show up on the walls and looking forward to the reception on Friday night!

Press for the upcoming show at Szozda Gallery...

Thursday, July 14, 2011, "Neighbors", the Post Standard (Syracuse, NY) we got a full page spread featuring three of my paintings, but not all of it fit on my scanner...

...so here's the rest of the piece from Thursday's "Neighbors"

My Fred's painting made it into the "Stars" section of the local Sunday paper

We dropped off our paintings on Sunday and tomorrow the soft opening happens, and then we'll be attending the Third Thursday event at Szozda Gallery, and then the opening reception on Friday night (whew!) It's also going to be in the low to high 90's for the next few days too...oy, I fear that people will wilt and not show up...but it is an air-conditioned gallery, so maybe they'll come for the A/C and snacks! We're very excited...it's going to be a very nice show...

Opening 1/28/2011

 After weeks of preparation the new show is up in our little Moonlighting Gallery...Thursday night we took some of the old and put up the new...this is what it looked like before we left at the end of the night, Suzanne has a way with putting it together...

My wall after hanging on Thursday night

The night before, after the hanging, Ken's newest painting on the easel

A grouping of my paintings in the hallway

Suzanne's wall and Ken's wife, Chris's jewelry tree

Suzanne and Ken's shared wall

Ken's wall

My Fred's wall and Suzanne's furniture...

And so the day of the opening came...I spent the day at work, doing what I do to pay the bills...

A LONNG day at work, pre-opening, my little size 6 1/2 "dogs" were "barking" ...I took a photo of my poor tired feet after a long day cataloging an incoming collection from a donor (I just completed documentation of the 100th piece.) But I gotta tell ya, the Frye's are awesome boots and soooo comfortable.

The NIGHT! It looks so pretty!

Thankfully we missed the coastal storm so the weather was good, we weren't up to our eyeballs in snow (just our knees, right?), what's there, has been there for awhile with a light dusting to make it prettier...

...and the people came, filling the space with excited voices and enthusiasm...I made a "gallery playlist" on my mini and hooked up speakers for cool tunes, Moby, Grouper, Warpaint, Blur, the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, TheWho, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Emily Barker, Florence and the Machine, Groove Armada, Imogen Heap, M83, Mistle Thrush, Artemis, Paul Simon, The Ravonettes, XX, Tracy Bonham, and Metric...just a mix...

Fun was had by all...it's a sweet little space, and we feel so fortunate to have a place to hang our work and to have the chance to invite friends and the community in to visit with us and see what we've been up to lately...everyone we meet loves the concept of "Moonlighting", we're working artists who work day jobs, we pool our resources and follow our bliss...

Progress...

New Moon, 1/24/2010, acrylic, monotype, Hosho paper on canvas, 24 x 8 inches...a pretty little thing...it took some doing.

Bones of the Earth, Ancient Bronze, 1/24/2010, acrylic, monotype, Hosho paper on canvas, 24 x 8 inches. This was originally pink...imagine that? The pink disappeared on it's own, it just didn't seem to want to be on the canvas or the paper...too thinned down I guess...anyway...the corrosion of bronze is a theme I adore...I might go back into it later...

Finding Gold, 1/24/2010, acrylic, monotype, Hosho paper on canvas, 24 x 8 inches...once again I tried to do a yellow painting and found gold instead...


Bones of the Earth, Stone Monolith, 1/24/2010, acrylic, monotype, Hosho paper on canvas, 36 x 12 inches...I think this one is my favorite...I built up the textures using some of my scrap paper that I tore off to make my rough edges...slathered on naples yellow hue for the undercoat and went from there...the blue/green band near the bottom was the last bit I added to it today to finish it off, it pleases me so much I can just about scream!

Yes, I've been a busy girl... well, I started most of these back in December, and today everything came together, finishing touches and whatnot...so, I wasn't like a crazy woman painting until my eyes were bleeding and my hands falling off...or my head popping off my body...no...not quite...tho' I'm going through a bit of pondering about things creative and feeling odd about what I do, feeling overwhelmed at the same time that I feel good...feeling exhausted, yet content...

Sometimes I just don't know the 'why' of it, I just do what I do because I need to do it, I'd be so unhappy if I didn't spend my days working out these images and these thoughts... it just comes, I have to do something with it...I'd be a sorry thing if I didn't.

I just go with it...

Gallery Opening...

This is our wall at the Delavan Art Gallery (pre-view before opening, I didn't take a single picture tonight, I was too busy people watching and chatting!) I'm sure you can pick out my little bits from past posts, they pretty much represent my summer evolution. The four paintings grouped in the lower middle and right are my Fred's (see his Blog "Crux" in the line up on the right!) He sold one early, the little vertical on the left next to my tall skinny vertical (Welsh Slate). It was Th3 in Syracuse tonight...and the opening was very crowded and lovely, we had perfect weather today and tonight, so everyone came out to browse the city's art world...We're both feeling buoyed by the event, it feels good to see our accomplishments on display!