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Alice and the Frozen Moon

7/31/2023

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"Alice and the Frozen Moon" - oil on Yupo, 22 x 24.  Available here, at Artfinder and at Bluethumb.

​It's dreamy weather
We're on
You waved your crooked wand
Along an icy pond
With a frozen moon
A murder of silhouette
Crows I saw
And the tears on my face
And the skates on the pond
They spell Alice.
 - TOM WAITS, "Alice"


A last moment in Wonderland, where Alice finds herself in a dystopian landscape under a frozen moon.  As always, our Alice is observant, curious, contemplative.  We leave her here now, in solitude, booted and ready to explore other worlds.
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Alice and the Frozen Moon
What has been uncovered while in the rabbit hole?  The many sides of Alice, the peculiarity of life and the nonsense of trying to understand others and their realities, and the many dark shadows surrounding the creation of Alice in the real world.  And as life imitates art, my own plunge into a rabbit hole has revealed nonsensical situations, people and dark shadows as well.

I've got a pile of books in the studio, and I pause to read and reflect while contemplating the paintings in their various stages.  Permission to Feel (recommended by blogger, reader and artist extraordinaire Dotty Seiter) has been a map through some of the more challenging parts of my own Wonderland.  The Book of Delights, by Ross Gay, has me teary and grateful.  Journey of the Heart, by John Welwood, has me nodding and feeling seen in the world of sensitive hearts.  And now, these and others are interwoven here in the studio with Alice and all the symbolism of an extraordinary, timeless story.

Let's head off together, dear reader, on the next adventure now.  TTFN, Alice.  I'm sure we'll be back again. xo

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click on the image to buy the art
About the art:  the inspiration for this piece resulted from a long afternoon with the AI bot and imagining Alice in various unexpected places.  By combining more illustrative concepts with an abstracted background, a forboding, dystopian landscape emerged.

Beginning with a gamsol and paint laden brush, I sketched the basic composition of the piece in loose, watery shapes on yupo, leaving a blank spot for Alice and for the moon to preserve the whites a bit.  Slowly building layers with rubber wedge, paper towel, chopsticks and palette knives, then creating Alice with tiny brushes and hard edges.  As always, resisting the urge to overly define the background shapes and instead focusing on the path of light.  

​It's the final day of A Song For The Hunted.  

​Helaine and I are overwhelmed by and so grateful for all the positivity, support, delight, love, purchases, shares, and comments from all who visited our show.  

Thank you!  


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A Double-Dose of Wonderland

7/24/2023

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Once Upon a Time When You Were Queen
"Once Upon a Time When You Were Queen" - oil on cradled panel, 18 x 24 x 1.  Ready to hang.   Available here, at Artfinder and at Bluethumb.

We've arrived at the penultimate post from Wonderland.  It has been a long adventure down the rabbit hole, where Alice whispered inspiration in the artist's ear while the Queen of Hearts meanly criticized all the work and made impotent threats.  

But you well know, creative humans, how Alice and the Queen are always playing tug of war with our insides, even if they aren't the subject of the creating.

"Every picture tells a story. Sometimes we don’t like the ending. Sometimes we don’t understand it.” - CHESHIRE CAT
Some consider the Cheshire Cat to be Alice's spiritual guide in Wonderland - illuminating, pointing out the mysteries, leading to the answers.    Perhaps as creatives we've got our own flashlight kitties helping us navigate the choppy waters between inspiration and execution (a double entendre there - is execution the process of painting  - or the inner critic's 'off with her head'?)

​If so, this particular cat has been softly purring, languidly pointing and randomly spouting quips that somehow, somehow kept the path cleared from too much debris and allowed the body of work to build and grow.  

​And so, there will be one more, and then off we go to explore...somewhere else.  
"We're All Mad Here" - oil on panel, 16 x 20.  Available here, at Artfinder and at Bluethumb.
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We're All Mad Here

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Where has July gone?

Our celebration of wolves, women and art runs for one more week - A Song For The Hunted ends July 31.

In appreciation of all of you who commented, supported, encouraged, collected and shared our art and stories, all remaining show pieces are now 20% off!  And, as always, domestic shipping is free.

Thank you so much for supporting our annual collaboration!
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1600

7/19/2023

12 Comments

 
There is a rhythm here.  In life and in art.  The art rhythm sounds like this:

inspire inspire inspire
create
look look ponder
create
look look ponder
create
look look SEE
c-o-n-t-e-m-p-l-a-t-e
fuss, fuss, dab
document, photograph
l-i-s-t-e-n
write
post
p-a-u-s-e
and then - inspire inspire inspire again.
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1600 is grin-worthy
Here in the p-a-u-s-e there is a big grin.  In the documenting (a spreadsheet which I have kept for over a decade) I recently typed 1600.  As in 1600 paintings.  One thousand six hundred pieces of art.  And this really means something to me.

When I first began this journey from right-brained banker-type to left-brained creative, a workshop instructor, when asked how to become a good artist, said something like "There is no shortcut to being good.  Paint 400 pieces.  Then you'll be an artist.  Or, at least you'll have some clue about what you're doing.  Four hundred.  There is no other way." (I am paraphrasing for sure, this conversation having taken place looooooong ago).  I sat in that workshop and decided in that moment to paint 400.

At 400 pieces I did have a clue.  At 800 pieces I no longer cared so much what other people thought and became rather fearless.   At around 1200 pieces I sort of lost my way and totally cared about what other people thought and tried to paint for others and questioned everything.   And now, at 1600, I am back to having a clue again and not giving a whip for the thoughts of many (but caring deeply about the thoughts of a vetted few). 

So I am standing here in the pause, looking at this wall of drying paintings, wondering what the next 400 will bring and knowing knowing without a doubt that each of you, dear readers - those who read silently and anonymously, those who read and comment, those who read and share, those who maybe skip reading and go right to the art and those who take that art home with them - you are the melody to this rhythm.  Thank you, thank you.  I am so grateful. xo


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The Time of Year for Storytelling

7/17/2023

4 Comments

 
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The Time of Year for Storytelling
"The Time of Year for Storytelling" - oil on canvas, 26 x 31.5 x .75.  Ready to hang.  Available here, at Artfinder and at Bluethumb.

Our culture doesn’t think storytelling is sacred; we don’t set aside a time of year for it. We don’t hold anything sacred except what organized religion declares to be so. Artists pursue a sacred call, although some would buck and rear at having their work labeled like this. Artists are lucky to have a form in which to express themselves; there is a sacredness about that, and a terrific sense of responsibility. We’ve got to do it right. Why do we have to do it right? Because that’s the whole point: either it’s right or it’s all wrong.
 - URSULA K. LE GUIN
The fairytale characters are leaping off the walls here at Malarkey Central.  The stories are epic and varied and wild.  
Le Guin is speaking right to me with this quote.  I've been pondering the responsibility I have as an artist.

I mean, we want to go into the studio thinking LET THE WILD RUMPUS BEGIN and not worry about what we're saying with our work and why.  But if we want to tell a story - a story that connects with other humans, expands or explains their experiences, delights or sobers or thrills or saddens - then we've got to do it right.  Which brings us 'round to being present with the process.  Following the muse.  Exploring the dark (and light) corners.  Making sense (or nonsense) with the constant thrum underneath of the knowledge that it is sacred.

This piece lingered in the studio.  I didn't know at first what it wanted, what it was saying or why I felt drawn to paint it.  I know now.  It ultimately whispered gently to me, a soft voice among all of the loud ruckus of the other characters on the walls.

The question becomes, what is it whispering to you?

About the art - the AI bot loves when we play with antlered creatures and the style of Edgar Degas.  This means the bot puts antlers on everyone and ultimately tutus as well.  Which is quite entertaining but often downright silly.

Once in a while, though, the images become profoundly moving and bring tears to my eyes, as did the fodder for this piece.

This one was all about resisting the use of color, keeping the creature shadowy within the forest and allowing our dancer to be in a "spotlight" in the painting.  Many layers of glazing in a dance of "pushing back, pulling forward" while keeping things soft.  A final layer of Gamvar gloss over this one gives it a museum feel.  Oh!
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work in process

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​Malarkey Central is now at Bluethumb!

Check out all your favorites at a whole new venue.  Super delighted and STOKED to be part of this online gallery!
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Paradigm Shift

7/10/2023

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"Paradigm Shift" - oil on panel, 16 x 20.  Available here and at Artfinder and Bluethumb.
Time is a cruel master.
No, Time is a thief, and a villain.

~ Alice and her mother describing Time
​
I used to think time was a thief. But you give before you take. Time is a gift. Every minute. Every second.
~ Alice to Time about her changed opinions about him.
We're back in the rabbit hole with Alice today.  And she's quite serious and stern.  Formulating and then reversing her opinions, fiercely defending her right to change her mind about things.
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Paradigm Shift
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And it is important to be able to change our minds (hearts, habits, lives, professions, directions, positions and beliefs).  To be otherwise implies we already know everything and cannot possibly learn something that might make us say "AHA!"  It is an old adage, for sure, but the more I learn, the more I know just how little I know.

And that includes our Alice.  Whose creation story is perhaps laced with unpleasantness and undertones of possible impropriety.  The deeper we go, the more that is revealed.  She feels it, this particular Alice.  She stares us in the eye and demands to be seen.

​About the art - it is surprising just how hard it is to get the AI bot to take Alice seriously.  It wants to imagine her in Disney princess form, though she and her story are much weightier and darker and riddled with...riddles.  After numerous iterations, a few portraits emerged which inspired this piece. 

​This is smooth panel.  The rubber wedge was used to create seamless background so the dark would appear endless. Eschewing texture, this piece uses color variation and glazing to achieve a sense of shadow and fabric.  

To the right is an instagram video my husband stumbled across.  Alice surely belongs in this eerie and peculiar place.

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A Song for the Hunted continues through July 31.  We invite you to stop by, check it out and leave us your thoughts.

One (or more) lucky visitors will receive a little something from us. Hooray!
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Sorrow is the True Wild

7/3/2023

3 Comments

 
"Sorrow is the True Wild" - oil on Yupo, 17 x 24.  Available here and at Artfinder.

Is sorrow the true wild?
And if it is -and if we join them - your wild to mine - what's that?
For joining, too, is a kind of annihilation.
What if we joined our sorrows, I'm saying.
I'm saying: What if that is joy?
- ROSS GAY, The Book of Delights
​
We leave Alice exploring in the background for a bit as we dive into the wild-er-ness.  Wilder than Alice?  Oh, indeed.

This month, mixed-media mosaic artist Helaine Abramson and I explore wolves, women and art in A Song For The Hunted.  When creating a show like this, there are a lot of things that end up on the cutting room floor, as they say.
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Sorrow is the True Wild
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We give ourselves a restricted number of pieces for these shows, but the muse doesn't care for rules or guidelines, so there are stacks of wolves and women who appeared along the way.  And threads of thought and inspiration less explored, like this one - sharing sorrow, joining wilds, creating joy.

If the "wild" is the sorrow and the sorrow is the wolf, then my wolf looms large and feisty behind me.  Hovering, coloring what I see, shadowing.  But that very thing, shared with another, does, indeed create a visceral JOY - a connection unexpected and energetic and healing.  Oh yes. 

About the art:  for this one, I used myself as a model for the AI bot, uploading my own photo and asking for woman and wolf in a sepia-toned sketch.   Six degrees of separation from my photo later, the bot landed on a series of woman and wolf sketches that had my inner muse beaming.

Beginning with a light wash of  thinned oil paint on Yupo and a very sketchy charcoal sketch, slowly adding varied values.  Carving back through the wet paint with chopstick, rubber wedge, paintbrush handles to create a scratch, sketchy textured feel to the paint.  As always, resisting the urge to overly define, letting the wildness remain.

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We've launched softly this month...little fanfare, a few cheeky adverts.  We are so incredibly grateful for the hundreds of you who have already stopped in on opening weekend, left comments on Facebook and Instagram, sent emails and encouragement.

The show is open through July 31.  Pop in as often as you'd like!  And who knows?  One (or more!) visitors and commenters this month may win a little something from us. Woot!  Or should we say "awoooooooooooooo"?
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Here's the blue wild, where
tiny dreamers ride beasts, speak
​ birdsong, hold the moon.

(by poet Mary W. Cox)
​


​Art prints available on request
  • Home
  • ART
  • BLOG
  • Exhibits
    • The Downside of Lycanthropy
    • A Song for the Hunted
    • The Wild God
    • NUDGE - SHOVE
  • BOOKS