My profile on artist William Shattuck

Here is the latest installment of my In The Studio series, this time on the amazing painter William Shattuck. This piece was published in today's edition of the New Bedford Standard-Times.

To see more of Bill's work, visit his gallery here.

Moving right along

Here's another new painting, made over the last two days, along the same lines (so to speak) as the one I showed in my last blog entry. Not at all sure where this is going, but I'm having fun making a mess and working "full out."



Here's a full shot of the piece I showed in the last blog entry, with another layer applied to it. (Excuse terrible quality; it would take a real pro to light this well.) Again, not sure what either of these paintings are about or where they're coming from. I've grown used to knowing what I'm painting and why. I really sense I'm feeling my way in the dark with these.

Pushing a few elements

Here's a closeup of the latest painting in a new series I've started working on. Actually, it's a continued reworking of certain elements I've been using for a while -- yellow and white loops on a brown background -- and I'm currently experimenting with new combinations of these selected ingredients. The actual painting is 50" high by 30" wide.

Spring nativity

My husband Kevin took this delightful picture of the baby lamb and proud Mom that we saw at Old Sturbridge Village today. More of Kevin's photos can be seen here.

You can tell by my rosy cheeks that it was COLD and WINDY today! But that's spring in New England. Suddenly it will jump into the 70s, and we'll be wondering what happened as we change from down jackets into our T-shirts.

Welcome, Spring!

Much as we New Englanders love to complain about our lack of a real spring season, there's something about this time of year that I find very exciting. It isn't quite winter any more; even though it's cold and sometimes still snows, the snow melts away fast. It isn't quite spring yet, even though the buds are JUST about ready to pop. It's an in-between time, when we can feel that energy waiting in nature, waiting to spring, waiting to explode. It's like the runners at the starting line, waiting for the gun to go off.

That anticipation can be felt in every area of our lives at this time of year. During the winter, we have had the dark, quiet time to dream our dreams and lay our plans. Once the longer days and warmth return, it's time to put them into action, and there's a thrill in imagining how these experiences will finally play out, either soon, or by summer's end, or by year's end.

I find this time of year so stimulating that I've often interpreted it in various works of art over the years. Above is a painting I made, titled "Thaw," just before I finished graduate school in 1997. It was acrylic, oil stick and fabric collage on canvas, approximately 60" tall by 45" wide.

I loved this piece because even non-abstract-art fans admired it when it was displayed at my graduate school thesis exhibition (and later in a solo show at Facets Gallery in Fall River, Mass.). Even though there are no directly recognizable objects in it, many viewers told me they got that impression of melting snow making way for green, which was exactly what I had hoped to convey.

Now for something completely different

I wanted to make a work of art that was a change of pace, so when I read about a juried show of unusual portraits of political figures, I decided to try my hand.

I made the collage above, titled "Promises, Promises," 20 inches square, made up of Xeroxed images of all 43 American presidents' mouths. I was interested in the abstract shapes that mouths make, and the idea that the identity of such world-famous figures could be made mysterious in an unexpected context. I was also (perhaps influenced by the current election) thinking of all the campaign promises that flowed from those 43 mouths in their day. Even the sincerest, best-intentioned politician will say whatever is necessary to get elected.

Despite the complicated lives of each of these men, and their varied public reputations whether deserved or not, they are all "equals" as pictures on this canvas. Here they are simply a group of people who were born, did their best during the brief time they had, and (except for four) died.

I also thought the trends were interesting. Apparently it wasn't considered "presidential" to smile for a while. Gerald Ford started something; from his portrait on, they all flashed their teeth. And the beards are a trip! For some years there, our presidents were some messy soup-eaters.

So now I'll try entering this piece in the show and see what happens. Whatever the outcome, I had fun with my little sideline project.

Kick up your heels

Here's another drawing I made as an example for my teen fashion illustration class at the Danforth Museum School. It's such a fun class!!! I'm hoping to offer fashion illustration as a week-long teen workshop over the summer.

I took a workshop like that myself during the summer of my junior/senior year in high school, at the School of Fashion Design in Boston, and it was a real breakthrough experience for me. I really found my identity through that class -- color, drawing, playing with design. From then on, the only thing I ever wanted to do was draw pictures of clothes.

Same thing happens in my Saturday morning class this semester. I sit down with my students, we start drawing fashion models in cool clothes, talk about "Project Runway" and their favorite singers and movies while we draw, and in the blink of an eye, it's time to go home. Sigh. Too much fun!

Reconfigurations

I've been playing around with older pieces that weren't working for me, cutting them into smaller shapes and combining them. They seem to work better in these new reconfigurations; a bit more complex visually than they were alone, but still harmonious.

These are ten inches square, made of acrylic and ink on canvas.

A groovy reception

Had fun at the opening reception tonight for the group show I'm in at Bunker Hill Community College, titled "Women of the Cloth." My friend (also an artist in the show) Jeanne Williamson took this photo of me, in front of my painting "Winter," with her iPhone. Thanks, Jeanne!

This is a wonderful show, featuring works by 46 women artists who work with textiles, fabrics and fibers. It's on display until April 18. For more information, click here.

New blue

Here's a new finished piece, made up of those circles I wrote about last time. (Excuse tilted image. Hey, I'm getting better -- at least this time my picture didn't have the cat blocking the painting.) The size is 40" square.



Here's a detail picture of this painting:



Good news -- I've been invited to participate in a three-person show at a Boston-area college later this year/early next year. Details are still in the works, but I'm all excited about the opportunity! Sometimes pleasant anticipation is as thrilling as the actual experience.

Book 'im, Danno

With all the snow piling up outside, my Saturday classes were canceled. So I spent some time cutting out a bunch of these circles (shown in photo above) to collage onto a new painting, while watching "Hawaii Five-0" on DVD with my husband.

What can I say? We're children of the '70s.

The finished painting will be 40 inches square, so there were about 120 circles to cut out.