The answer was... a phone call!

Looks like I'll be hiking in the desert later this summer! I came into work the day after I wrote the last post to find a message on my phone telling me I had been chosen as one of the artists-in-residence in the Petrified National Forest in Arizona!

In 2004 my husband and I made the typical tourist stop at the park while exploring the southwest. We had just enough time to check out some petrified logs, petroglyphs and the incredible painted desert before being chased off the joint by an aggressive dust devil.  This time I'll get to live for two weeks in one of these lovely adobe houses near the historic Painted Desert Inn, which has not functioned as an inn since the 70's, but is open to the public and is a fascinating historic building. 

I'm hoping to post journal entries daily from the park, since I believe I can get internet access but I don't know that my journal can compete with the one I discovered by a previous artist in residence, June Underwood. So thank you June for giving me a glimpse of what I can anticipate during my weeks there.

Now I'm only waiting to hear from the other residency I've applied for in the Ford's Terror Wilderness area of the Tongass National Forest in Juneau, Alaska. I usually don't attempt two residencies in a summer but this one sounds too cool to resist. The artist actually travels into the wilderness, via kayak, small boat or even sea plane with a ranger for 10 days, then pitches camp on a glacier. So wish me luck on that one too, I should know in a week or two!

How I would like to spend my summer vacation

Will I be hiking over a glacier, or over hot desert sand this summer? Or both? Or just over the same little streets of Providence? And when will I know? Will I get an email, a phone call, or an envelope in my mailbox? These are the questions I think of as I look out my grimy work window to the wall of buildings across the street,  grateful for the little sliver of sky I can see.

I've applied for two residencies this summer, both should be letting me know any day now.  In the meantime I've been organizing an artist team to explore a little piece of our very own environment. The area we are exploring is not the vast open space of the west, but a little plot of land near the reservoir—from the birds in the sky to the microscopic, bugs and fungus, leaves and amphibians. For the second year, artists are joining the Natural History Survey's Bioblitz. It's a great reminder that you don't have to travel great distances to be awed by nature. There are amazing things going on, literally, in your own backyard. If you think that sounds cool, check out the facebook page and join us!

Plucked Squab

 

I have to confess I'm not much of an art collector, hypocritical as that may seem. Most of what I have on my walls in my 1920's house are doors and windows but I do have room for this gem by my vintage art supply benefactor Louise Marianetti. It's an oil/paper painting about 8x15 inches and is called "Plucked Squab". Just the title alone was worth the price, and I can't wait to get it framed and on my wall.

Pomegranate from the past

 

I've had a box of old slides scanned in recently and it's fun to see what was in the mix. It also gives me material to post when I'm too busy or lazy to come up with fresh new content and my blog starts nagging at me. This painting was about 3x4 feet and was done way back in my RISD days. I have no idea what happened to it...hard to think I could lose one that size!

Posterized

 

This is the poster I designed for this month's Gallery Night Providence. I've got nothing to show in that fair city right now but I am showing 3 paintings in Warren at Imago Gallery, and one in Newport at the Newport Art Museum.

George Tooker - Egg Tempera artist extrodinaire

Just when I discover egg tempera, we perhaps our best modern egg tempera artist, George Tooker, who died last Sunday at the age of 90. I've always loved his work, and watching this 3-part video makes me realize he was as wonderful as his paintings. Check out his egg tempera set-up, and his work, which will give you chills.