so many...

So, so many times, I have told myself in a somewhat sheepish voice, "oh, here's the subject for my next blog!" or, "ah, yes! a title!"
Only to fizzle once sitting down at my monitor, never quite getting to the point of articulating my thoughts.

Possible titles you ask? So, so many to name a but a few:
"Liz and Bret's adventure"
"Sabotage of oneself"
"When life goes south"
"My nutalicious life"
"Why people still move to California"

I will wait whilst you ponder....

Times up.

In the last two weeks or so, ahem, since my last post, many many things. Main focus has been L, her brother passing and all the fall out that death of a brother implies. Complicated would be an understatement, but she and dear friend Bret are off to N.Y. where they are headed into the "eye" of sorts of what's being called "Snowmagedden". Funny thing is, only thing worse than Snow magedden: Family Magedden, During a funeral.


The weather here in the beautiful Napa Valley has been beyond lovely. It's been freakish. Yesterday: 80 degrees fahrenheit.
At 10am.
Even in California, although it's true that our brains are half fried from the sun, the love and the weed that that kind of temperature in early February is just plain scary.

So, my mind and my heart are all pulled this way and that. I keep painting, thinking about my dear friends L and B, hoping their trip is not only eventless but that they come back to sunny lovin' California, unharmed, unscathed and feeling groovy.

Couldn't help it, I'm a native after all.

sunny and warmer expected

Napa has been beautiful this last week. Not even the end of January and I'm seeing budding on trees, and gasp, mustard flowering under the grape vines on the many drives up and down valley.

When I first moved here three years ago, the rains fell, day after day. My bank, unfortunately enough, was located 25 minutes up valley in St. Helena, a community as yet undiscovered by me.

What I found was dirt black, gnarly vines, growing from neon yellow fields of grape vines under cool mist colored sky.

Sublime.

Thus began my vineyard paintings, sometimes "realistic" sometimes abstract. (Think vineyards at 60 mph)

Going back up valley a few days ago, the third year of my residing here, the vineyards did not let me down.

This week in the studio: Here's a look at me spackeling then brushing on a layer of gesso on a stretched canvas panel. It's like frosting a really big cake.

This week at the studio

Have logged many hours at the studio this week. In order to sell art, I have to keep a rather large inventory of art at the ready at all times, and this requires me to be painting, researching and creating new work during all of my studio time.
It is time I enjoy immensely.

If I get a call from an interested client, I have to actually have paintings to show.
If I am contacted by a group that wants to show my work at their space, in multiples, I must have available paintings that are ready to go.
If a gallery I show in sells work, I need to have possible replacements and new work available.
I must always have new work in the hopper for upcoming shows, in anticipation of selling.



Indeed, I have about sixty paintings that are farmed out, in production, showing at a gallery or hanging at the studio at any given time.

The images today are paintings in progress. Generally taking two to four weeks or more of time from stretched canvas to the final varnish coat. Two to four paintings are being worked on at various stages.

The business of art is one that like fashion looks like all glamour on the outside, but is very dirty, scruffy, hard work. Much time and energy goes into a finished painting, exhibition, catalog, gallery, installation.

Heads roll, hands wring, teeth gnash, fur flies.

I love a good metaphor.

Oh happy day

Finishing and delivering paintings is the second thing I like to do in the studio. This week was a fruitful one despite my children needing to be occupied on their third week of holiday (curse you unified school district!)



I finished two paintings and delivered each, albeit a wee "damp" shall we say? Not to worry: hang them on the wall and for God's sake, don't walk too closely as you'll brush up against the uh, "yet to fully set" paint. And get it on your clothes. Like (all of) mine.

What with february around the corner, I've been recently notified as to a gallery's upcoming show, themed around none other than "love". So this week, I will put my artists head back to the grindstone and figure out how I can make something that says "love". Birds? Frankly, I'm in more of a crow mood these days. Crows: fighting over a bloody heart?

A student of mine confessed that he found my blog somewhat autobiographical. Too much?
Why do I keep this up if not for putting shocking thoughts out to the universe? Undoubtably for laughs.

Shameless Self Promotion

Indeed.
My paintings are now at the I.Wolk Gallery in St. Helena, California!



For anyone who doesn't know, St. Helena is one of the communities in the Napa Valley, and a very popular area not only for grape growing, but also for the variety of ways in which one can spend their money on Main Street. (Isn't that a nice way to put it?)

But really, it's a lovely town, surrounded by incredible California agriculture, nestled in the valley. The tree lined streets are straight out of any feature on "small town America" or "charming cities" as they are oft sited in the popular media.

But back to me.
So, the large plum painting is being featured in the front window (!) That's 21 square feet of plumalicious goodness. (3x7')
It's an oil painting on canvas with an overlay of gold leaf.



The persimmon painting, measuring 3x6 feet is equally ripe, featured just inside the door above that gorgeous farm house table. See how the ray of light coming down from the heavens is illuminating it?



I love the paintings with the sculpture.
If you're planning a trip or just want to burn time looking, the gallery link is here.

Thanks to my friend K, for generously taking these photos. Todays post would have looked a might different with out them!

This week at the studio

Paintings delivered, projects started, events prepared... It's all good.

It's been busy week at the studio. One in which I could easily say that the hours were simply not enough. Even employing my sitter for two afternoons, when one has clients who want finished work NOW, time can become scarce. And scarce it seems to have become.

Stretched canvas onto, gesso'd and began three paintings this week for a gallery as well as finishing another for same gallery location.

I am able to have my stretcher bars custom built now and with the addition of extra lumber it now has a hefty depth of about 2 and one half inches. Very sexy indeed.

If you paint and stretch your own canvases and especially if you work in large format like I do, you can appreciate a meter square canvas with a two and a half inch depth, can you not?

To that I say, "ooh, la-la"

This saturday is our first "Second Saturday" event in which we will open our doors particularly to the tourists in Napa, staying at the various hotels. Everyone is looking for an alternative to wine tasting and G studio welcomes the opportunity to show a visiting art lover the inside of the artists studio. At work, making art.

I'll post photos next week as I anticipate a robust turn out and a productive afternoon of making and selling art.

Fearless or Ruthless

I am in the middle of reading a book I recently checked out of the local library called: "Cezanne to Picasso, Abroise Vollard, Patron of the Avante-Garde" Rebecca A. Rabinow, Editor, Douglas W. Druik, Ann Dumas, Gloria Groom, Anne Roquebert, and Gary Tinterow.
The current chapter, "Bollard and Degas by Gary Tinterow, with research by Asher E. Miller", is of particular interest to me as I've been thinking quite a bit about how ruthlessness and fearlessness are used by the artist. This particular tome more so about the dealer of art, Abroise Vollard, and his relationships with the prominent figures of the french impressionists movement.

I must add that part of the conversation that I've been having with myself has been about the artists that I consider the game changers of art, not all individuals: the impressionists, Dali, Picasso, and Pollack are some of the last 120 years or so. This comment of course applies to the old masters, but for the point of this blog, I am merely focusing on the more contemporary. Feel free to comment on whom might be added to this list.

I recently watched a DVD about the art of Degas and although a interesting and visually lovely, I was intrigued by a section of the the film that mentioned how Degas had begun a new medium: pastelized monotypes as to generate up to three sellable prints from one original work. The film only touched on this fact and much to my surprise, the book listed above delves much more deeply. I regret that the following is not focused on the dealer Vollard, but rather the Durand-Ruels, also art dealers and promoters, contemporaries of Vollard.

"The Durand-Ruels, both father (Paul) and son (Joseph), had good reason to feel proprietary about Degas. Though they had no contract, their gallery had been the primary-though never exclusive- outlet for the works that degas wished to sell since 1874.
During the 1870's and 1880's Degas wished to sell almost anything he made (with the notable exception of sculpture), and he even developed a new medium, pastelized monotypes, in order to generate up to three works from the same composition and thus increase his salable "articles" as he called his commercial output. He needed the income because in addition to paying for an affluent bachelor's life, three to five nights a week at the opera, models, and a maid, he undertook, with his brother in law Henri Fevre, to redeem the debts accumulated at this father's bank by this profligate brother Rene. It was not uncommon for Degas to send his maid or a porter to Durand-Ruel, pastels in hand, with a note demanding that he dealer hand over 500 francs in cash to the bearer. Degas treated the gallery like his private bank, depositing work and withdrawing cash. He never never shrank from asking Durand-Ruel to pay his bills or to buy something-usually a a work of art- that he wanted."

Fearless? Ruthless? Or something else entirely?

All images shown are by Edgar Degas