This is a small piece I have worked on for several days along with one other. I have been caught between the transparency of encaustic and the painterliness of oil paint sticks. So trying to combine the two methods. The difficult part is waiting in between layers of wax so the paint sticks can dry. I returned to the old tried and true landscape. My objective is to simplify and abstract. Embedded in the wax is my usual bits and pieces of music scores, poetry and and hand writing. I may have to stay way from imagery all together to make these work.
It has been a wonderful summer filled with great weather, many visitors especially with Agnes who was here for 3 weeks. Annually we share an old fashioned summer with tad poles, walks, swims and lots of sunshine. Little or no electronic devices. Just an occasional movie in the evening.
There was an undercurrent for me that ran through the entire summer. For the first time in probably 40 years, I did not miss painting. As I have said to several friends, all I wanted to do was sit and smell the flowers. A short version of what Ferdinand the Bull said when he explained why he did not want to fight in the bull ring. I reached a point in my many years of painting that I was so tired of the competition, countless deadlines and an overall malaise wondering what it was all about. It was really the first time I doubted the whole thing called ‘the art world’. Had it lost it’s meaning for me? I was so committed and driven for so many decades. And now the overwhelming focus on $$$ just seemed to ruin everything. of course, I always loved making the money. Something I never thought I would achieve and when I did, it felt so satisfying. But now the big guys in the art world and all the auctions and the Basel whatevers all over the world, seem to have taken the meaning out of it all. So I found myself pulling back and out of the entire rat race. However, after smelling the flowers for a long time this summer, I knew I was not complete without the work I have been doing for so many years. Art is my anchor. I need to return to my job but with a new focus. Firstly, I do not need the $$$, those chains of gold, so set that aside and do what I want to do. Build a body of work that has consistency. Next show is in 2016 and no commercial pressures and they want large pieces. So I will focus on the Black Dress and the family of series. Might even dare to try to incorporate the figure.
Years ago I asked my friend Betty Morison why she chose the painting she did from my show at So VT Art Assoc. She replied that the one she took reminded her of her childhood summers when the sun shined every day in her memories. This early summer has been like that. One gorgeous day after the next. It is hard to make myself enter the studio. I want to wander around my gardens soaking up the dry sunny air and contemplating the growth of the flowers and vegetables. Every one is commenting on the growth of the rhododendron and mountain laurel. Maybe is was the heavy blanket of snow that kept their roots protected. And the peonies are the largest I have ever had. I know the hot weather will be upon us soon and things will not be as lush as they are now so I am savoring every moment.
In the meantime, as I while away the hours, I am contemplating where I go with my series. Do I stay with the dresses, find new ones, repaint the existing ones? The visitors from AVA Gallery who came by last week for a studio visit, were much impressed by the dresses and the quiet white paintings I did last winter in Naples. I will not show with AVA until 2016 so I definitely have time to make those decisions.
This morning I finished the third of my Dance Me to the End of Love series. Another 60 x 30 inch piece. Several days ago I thought I was nearly done but then I brought the original dress out and saw that what I had done was just a big blob of white instead of having any of the true character of the dress. The beauty of wax is to keep adding and erasing layers and it only makes the piece better. I look forward to getting the first two works back from the photographer in order to see what is best. Now I am not sure where this leads me. Am I going to continue in the dress series or return to other subjects? Meanwhile, I am hoping two of these will be accepted into the Fitchburg Regional Show. I have never applied before and have no idea what they like. Most institutions are looking for originality these days. They seem to have moved away from representational work unless it is unusual in some way. The mice ate away the bottom of the dress while it was stored in the attic which is why it has the long tendrils. I found the dress so evocative . There was no way I could reproduce the extraordinary lace but I did place a couple of pieces of it in the wax.
The black image transfers are of my own poppies taken during the past few years. I thought the color black instead of red added to the oldness of the piece. Wedding dresses are symbolic of beginnings. Black poppies symbolize the end. The dress is also symbolic of wishes and desires. The rest is up to interpretations by the viewer.
This third painting is the last of this series of ‘Dance Me To The End of Love’. Where I go from here I am not sure.
Two of these dresses were given to me. The third one I purchased and wore several times. The most extraordinary one for me was the wedding dress. It had been in an attic for years and the mice had eaten the satin part at the bottom of the dress. Amazingly they did not eat the lace which has to be Italian it is so ornate. What remained was twisted into long tendrils. On this panel I smoothed the areas around the dress and let the dress become more three dimensional. This image I took myself which does not begin to capture the detail. Next week I will take it to my fabulous photographer who does an amazing job lighting my work so the surface details pop.
Wedding dresses can be symbolic of so many things like beginnings, hopes and desires. A dress in this condition can be symbolic of the reverse, the negative, the failures, endings, forgotten hopes and disappointments. 
Like the other two pieces, this is 60 x 30 inches on panel. There is something about working this large that allows one to engage with the piece physically.
I have almost finished the third painting in my series that I started 4 years ago for my show at Exeter Academy. I pulled the three panels out of the basement last week and saw how incomplete they were. I guess, having done a lot more with wax the past 4 years, I saw where I could take them now. Two weeks later I am much more satisfied with them. More of a story and more energy, more painterly. The third one is the wedding dress. About 10 years ago my friend Deborah was cleaning out her parents’ house when she found two old dresses from the early 1900’s and possibly from Italy as they were ex-patriots. The black one is mostly netting material and the wedding dress had the most amazing lace one could ever imagine which is another reason to believe it is from Italy. The mice had eaten the bottom of the dress which was satin causing the fabric to turn into long tendrils. I thought it so symbolic of the fleeting frailty of life. And wedding dresses are so symbolic of all the hopes, dreams and wishes of young women most of which are to fade away just like these dresses. When I was working on the dresses for the Exeter show, I was with Russell and we were deeply in the throes of a great love. I had the radio on and Madelaine Peyroux was singing Dance Me to the End of Love which Billy Holliday had also sung. I thought it the perfect title for the dress series.
The black dress and the orange spring dress are both finished. I am still tweaking the wedding dress.
Is this title a reflection of how I feel about nature? I call this new body of work my white on white stage. Unfortunately it did not get me into a gallery in Naples. The owners were very enthusiastic about what I presented to them but when they called me their verdict was that their clients really like bright colors. And that is what you mostly see in FL in all the galleries. They were gracious enough to say that they had tried to educate their clients but to no avail. Maybe I will find another outlet. But I did have a wonderful two months in my little bungalow working on the porch almost daily. The weather was wonderful this year even warming up the gulf enough to swim in. It was hard coming home when I knew there was much snow still on the ground. But I had to take down the show at Lawrence Academy and deliver some of it to Stowe. Three days later I drove back up 89 for the opening which was one of the best I have ever attended there. It was the largest crowd they had ever had. I think people wanted go anywhere just to get to the end of this endless winter. There was definitely a festive air. I spent the night with the gallery owners who know how to throw a good party. Two of the other guests were people who had taken a year to pay for one of my paintings they had purchased from my solo show last year. He does monumental marble sculptures that sell all over the world and she is a dressage rider. I think the greatest compliment is when another artist buys an artist’s work. Since they live in Burlington, I hope I will see them again.
Spring is so slow to arrive. I have been home for two weeks. I just had to get outside today even though there is still at least a foot of snow in areas around the house. So I went out with my clippers and tried to do some gardening…..dead heading of last year’s plants. My cat Rumi was so happy to have company outside. There is still no aroma of earth but that may come in another week. At least we were outside.
Friday night I go to the Currier for their first auction in 10 years. One of my paintings will be sold….or so I hope. Rather nerve wracking to be in the audience while it is happening. How on earth did I ever get myself into this?! Well, I hope it sells and they make some money for their education program.
And soon I must get back to work. It’s hard with my kitchen totally gone and the house in disarray. When the dust settles, literally, I will settle into the studio and get back to Sensitive Silence. When I am outside gardening, I do feel the presence of nature in its own silent way.
My studio equipment was sent off last week in my little blue car on a great big truck. I follow it day after tomorrow and pick it up in St. Petersburg. After a day or so, I will drive on down to Naples and open up my shabby chic bungalow. I will be thrilled to get back to work. It is ever so pleasant to work there as I am on the porch in my jungle. I can hear the birds and feel the warm breezes. Today it is 4 below zero on my hill. Time to migrate!
The show went up smoothly at Lawrence Academy just after New Years. But it was a disappointing opening. They scheduled the opening the night of the school dance so there were no students at all. About 10 friends showed up as the weather was dreadful. Oh well, at least the new work is hanging in a lovely large space for two months rather than hanging in the studio. As soon as I remove the work, I will drive it to Stowe VT for the Spring show which opens on the 22nd of March.
‘Sensitive Illusions’ show was hung this morning at lawrence Academy, Groton MA. The space is large, filled with light and airy. Large floor to ceiling glass windows grace the room. The fifteen paintings I hung all looked good. Nothing was crowded. I had at least 5 recent series represented so I hung them on separate walls. I used my usual signage of poetry and favorite sayings. It’s a nice way to start out the new year and my gallery in Stowe VT is already excited about the new work and waiting for it when to show comes down mid March. Seeing the new work hanging in a clean, uncluttered gallery space, makes me appreciate the work I have been doing recently all the more.
I continue to experiment with my surfaces. Looking to achieve the look of an old wall or fresco with a very simple image. And my usual scribbles like a lost language. Opening is Friday 4 to 6 but that often seems like an after thought to me after all the work. However, it’s nice to share and hear peoples’ reaction to my progress….hopefully positive. Happy New Year!
Sensitive Illusions is the title for my upcoming show at Lawrence Academy in Groton. It has been a struggle to complete work in a short space of time. Working smaller this year in order to get more control of the medium. After two years of Sensitive Chaos, I decided to remove the chaos. I felt the paintings were becoming too frenetic. It’s a fine line I walk between wanting to express energy and wanting to express the quieter side of myself and nature. Hoping eventually to be able to do the same in the larger scale I like to work in. This one is Poppy Pod, 12 x 12 inches. I used an image transfer and after layers of clear encaustic medium over the image, I enhanced it with some very thin washes of oil stick. The old rule applies….Less is more.