Meet the beetle

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Here's the latest specimen from my entomological illustration class, a Japanese Beetle. Who knew they had little white furry patches on their sides? Not me, till I looked at them through a great little microscope very generously donated to me. It's a little shopworn but does the job of revealing a world that was not really meant to be seen by humans, what with our big clunky eyes and all. And now it seems the lowly Dung Beetle, greatly underestimated it seems, not only probably already checked out the pretty white fur on the Japanese Beetle, but also navigates by the Milky Way, which I usually can't see either! (ok, I'll blame light polution for that one). So, he eats dung—it's probably delicious. Shows how much we know!

Hope...

... tempered by four years of reality. But still hope.

A new start

 

As much as I respect Lucy, I really hope it's not so. I do feel rather hopeful somehow, not that anything out of my control is going to straighten out, but I'm thinking what is in my control (me) might. In order to do that, I need to simplify and focus. Cleaning my studio always helps, but I also need to get rid of the physical clutter around me. So one new year's resolution is to get rid of (at least) one object a day, so by the end of the year I will be down 365 objects I can live without. I'm still working on making my list of other resolutions, one of which won't be to stop procrastinating, but one will probably be to blog more consistently.

And once I wrap up my studio cleaning and organizing, I'll wrap my painting area in plastic to keep the heat in and put brush to canvas for a change! 

Subjects I plan to pursue in 2013

 

MACRO: The most beautiful place in the contiguous United States

MICRO: An ancient fly in amber, a life cut tragically short

Racking my brains

It's kind of weird how I haven't posted in so long. I just lost my blogging impulse, even wondering if I should drop the whole thing.  Then life at my job...well, the less said about that the better. So I look for solace with my imaginary, (and some not so imaginary) friends in blogland. 

And since I'm feeling rusty with posting, I'll just post yet another studio upheaval installment. 

I was very disturbed recently to discover some of my oil painting adorned with little puffs of mildew, probably due to a very humid summer. This made me rethink my painting rack system. I had built a sturdy two tiered rack in the corner but my inventory had outgrown it.

 

Because I don't have time to organize a clearance sale, I have to expand my storage, and also build in some space around my work to keep air circulation going. 

So I took everything out and came up with this ingenious system using wire shelving for the base and another piece on the wall, making nice slots to accommodate wood dividers.  I also offset some wood rails to keep the work from butting right up against the walls.

 

I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out, the only problem is that I still have more work than will fit in the rack. So I will have to build more racks and probably install a dehumidifier.

  

I should also purge some of my old work and studies, but I'm not the kind of artist who builds a bonfire and throws their entire oeuvre on it in a fit of pique. Sounds awfully toxic anyway.

This of course is really cutting into my almost non-existent painting time, but with the holidays upon us it's a losing battle anyway. Looking forward to January!

Denial, Wax and Water...

Toboggan Beach, Alaska  oil/canvas 40x30in

That bridge I was going to cross if I was accepted for a residency at Denali? Well, I probably won't be crossing it this year. I heard the decision much sooner than I expected (which thankfully cuts short the suspense) but unfortunately I was not a finalist. I did, however, make 2nd runner up. The bronze medal, sort of. Which is actually quite flattering considering how few are chosen. And I was very appreciative of the personal note and nice words on my work. So, since I don't imagine two people will be crazy enough to turn down the residency,  I will try again next year, with more Alaska paintings.  And of course, I have the Grand Canyon residency to look forward to, which isn't too shabby!

But coming back down to earth, or as I like to call it, Rhode Island, I have nine paintings from my shoemaker series  in a group show called Knowledge Is Power at the URI Extension campus downtown Providence. Thursday, Oct. 18 *!Gallery Night!* is the opening, from 5 to 9.

Which is probably it for the exhibits for awhile, but I'm glad to have gotten some studio time in recently, especially as it is still warm enough to work without preheating my studio for two hours. The insulation is going up little by little though, and I hope to make workable this winter, as I need to paint like a maniac for about a year for two planned exhibits in the fall of 2013.

I'm also going to heat up the griddle for experimentation in encaustic. I've long been interested in learning the archaic hot wax technique so finally broke down and took a class at RISD. My first piece was, how shall I say it, a total mess, failure—a piece so ugly that passing bees made a wide berth around it and denied any part in supplying the beeswax for the monstrosity. So I have high hopes for the medium. Especially as I am thinking of using it in a multimedia painting with my disappointing piece from a previous glass casting class. I rise to the challenge!

And even more inspiring, with my slick little yellow kayak, just purchased used 2 weeks ago, I can go anywhere and do anything! As long as I have at least 6 inches of water, and no small craft warning. I can even go back to kayaking the fiords of Alaska, if the next application I send out for another Voices of the Wilderness residency is accepted. Just try keeping me out of Alaska!

A Grand surprise!

The letter began as all rejections do,

Dear Artist,
...A thank you for submitting...
....A bit about how many worthy applications were received and how difficult it was to pick just a few...
....An appreciation of the work that went into submitting an application...

"rejected" I muttered to my husband.

But then, in the next sentence, the letter took an unexpected twist. The word "congratulations" jumped out at me and I realized I was accepted as one of the 2013 artists in residence at Grand Canyon National Park!

I had visited the north rim on a tourist-vacation-loop, breezing by Bryce, Zion, North Rim, Canyon de Chelly, Monument Valley and Petrified Forest in two weeks, so as you might imagine didn't really have time to really explore any one of the parks, but this residency allows an artist to stay for 3 weeks in a little cabin 1/4 mile from the North Rim of the canyon.

PHOTO/NPS

Not content with my good fortune, I've also greedily sent out an application, once again, for Denali National Park. How I'll manage it if I get both...well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Since I've been rejected many times from Denali, I certainly am not packing my Xtratufs yet, but if I apply EVERY year they may accept me just to stop the pestering.

Speaking of Xtratufs, I was thrilled that the wilderness rangers I hung out with in Alaska were in RI long enough for us to be able to get together for dinner. One of the Rangers who is also an accomplished clay artist, Barbara Lydon, surprised me with this super cool Xtratuf ceramic vase! It will take an honored place on my mantle to remind me of my good Alaskan friends and my kayaking adventure.

Back on the smaller corner of the planet, I'm in another group show at the URI Feinstein Gallery called Knowledge is Power. I went over the the Shepard Building at lunch to check it out and there is some really interesting work there, it is definitely worth a look

The Opening reception is on Gallery Night,  October 18, from 5-9pm, and it's up until October 31.