Present day fun, plus a blast from the past

So this is a bit of a shameless plug for my husband Dave's band, "The Unknown Favorites", which was featured on "Virginia Currents" last week. The show is produced by our local Public Television station here in Richmond, WCVE. What my blog readers may not know is that I also appeared on Viginia Currents about 10 years ago, when I was still doing my large figurative paintings, and the producers included a clip of that show within the feature about the band. I had no idea they were going to air the clip of my segment when I tuned in to watch the band. It had been quite a while since I'd seen it, and it was fun to see it again, and to see my humble (and dark!) little backyard studio that I was working in at the time. One thing I remember is that I was very nervous, and had at times found myself struggling for the right words to express myself. So that's my disclaimer! I had only just started painting landscapes at that time, and while the focus was on my figurative paintings, they show a few of those early pieces on the segment as well. The landscapes definitely were not my forte back then. Just goes to show that if you apply yourself and work hard at your craft, you can improve (at least, I hope I think I've improved. I hope you think so too!)

Here's  the video. The band shows up about 13 1/2 minutes into the show (after the Economist).

Virginia Currents #2013 from Community Idea Stations on Vimeo.

Here's a direct link, in case you can't see the video above: http://ideastations.org/node/7526

Small figure studies

I haven't written in a while about my return back to the exploration of the figure, but it has been going relatively well. The weekly class I've taken with Robert Liberace has been wonderful, but I must say that the 1.5 + hour commute (each way) has been a little bit of a challenge, and unfortunately I had to miss a class or two in the semester because my car broke down. (That's one of the drawbacks of taking an out of town class--you can't exactly catch a ride if your transportation source goes south!) So while I've felt a little bit disjointed with my schedule glitch, what I've also discovered is that my time in class flies by very quickly, and that my execution with drawing the figure from life is still relatively slow.

Rob did some amazing demonstrations during the course of each class, and I often felt torn about whether I should watch the demos for the duration or work on my own drawings. I tried to acheive a balance of the two as best I could, but since my time with Rob was rather limited (and I can hang out with myself most any time), watching Rob's demos often won out. As a result I've ended up with rather a lot of "beginnings," and nothing from this class really has the feeling of a finished work.

But that is the nature of  learning, I think. And whenever  I teach my own workshops I always try to emphasize to students that in a learning environment, the goal of finishing or making a "framable product" should be subordinate to learning and experiementation.

I took a decent amount of figure drawing in college, so I don't consider myself to be a novice. But I'll say without equivocation that this class was definitely experimental for me. In fact, since it's been such a long time since I've done much if any life drawing, in hindsight I might have been slightly cavalier by signing up for this class. Rob has a lot of devoted followers and it became clear to me early on that many of his students (talented in their own right and some also teachers themselves) were quite familiar both with Rob's teachings and with life drawing in general.

I probably would have done well to have first gained a level of comfort by taking an entire semester of a more basic class in just one or two drawing mediums-- charcoal and chalk, for instance-- to really develop my drawing.  The class was called something like "exploring the figure," which is a hint that it was the next stage beyond just fundamentals. And while all along the way we learned about correct proportion and developing mass and form, there was a little more emphasis in this class on exploring different mediums from drawing to painting, which added a whole new level of learning to an already complicated subject.

But neither my car breakdowns nor my cavalier course selection was enough to detract from the class as a whole, thanks wholly to the instructor. I found Rob to be an incredibly energetic, enthusiastic, and helpful instructor. Most of all I found him to be so very inspirational. Beyond his masterful technical acuity, he displays an incredibly beautiful sensitivity and true artistry in his work. So in many ways,  I am glad to have taken this particular class; because not only did it enable me to see the range he is able to acheive in his own work, but I also could see hints and clues about what is possible for myself.

*Note, scattered throughout this post are a few of my studies from the class. All are pretty small--ranging from 4x6" to 8x10". The small gestural studies (short poses from 3 to 7 minutes) were done in sepia ink. The two subsequent pieces were watercolor, and the final piece was a grisaille on linen, done on the last day of class.

New Richmond Gallery: Metrospace Gallery

Last Friday evening I had the opportunity to hang some of my figurative paintings at the soft-opening of a new gallery on Broad Street. My work hung on one wall and the other wall displayed the abstract paintings of Will Turner (alas, no link provided because his website isn't finished yet.) For those who are familiar with my landscape paintings, you will see that, aside from my love of vibrant color, my figurative paintings seem quite a departure. Below are the paintings included in this show. These are large works focusing on women, with strong psychological and narrative content. While I am steadily continuing to develop and grow as a landscape painter, I will also be developing some new works more closely aligned with these large figure paintings, perhaps moving away from the narrative and further into abstraction. We will see! For more information on these paintings please contact me.

Regarding Metro Space Gallery: This is a huge new gallery and event space located in the heart of the downtown First Fridays Art Walk. It isn't quite finished yet (they are finishing the floors today as I write this) but even in its austere state it is a beautiful new space. The gallery is located at 119 W. Broad Street, right next door to Metro Sound and Music (same owner). I am not a gallery spokesperson, but from what I could gather, I believe they are on target to open in September if not before.

Update 7/25/07: The paintings of mine that hung in this exhibition are now on display at Plant Zero in the exhibition hall near the event space. :-)

From figures to landscapes (and back again?)

From time to time I receive wonderful messages from students who have chosen my work as a focus for their school projects. Here is a recent message I received. My answer follows: I wanted to ask if you could tell me about yourself and your paintings. I am studying A-levels and I am doing a critical study on you. Could you please let me know how you got into drawing landscapes. I would appreciate it.

Thank you so much for your interest in my artwork! As to your question: In college and for some time thereafter I was developing a body of work that focused on the human figure. These paintings were heavily influenced by a number of sources in art history-- Frida Kahlo, Gustav Klimt, and the early renaissance paintings I had seen in Italy and the Netherlands:

One of my favorites from this period "Faith", Oil on Canvas (sold)

So how did I go from that to landscape? Well, in college I held a double major of study in both painting and art history, so I was a lover of art of many different styles and from many different periods in history. I loved the impressionists and the post impressionists but impressionist landscape paintings were not much favored with my professors at the time. Professors at my school were much more attuned to paintings of either a nonobjective nature, or figurative paintings with deep psychological impact. So I developed the figurative paintings as my "serious body of work" and only dabbled in landscapes every now and then.   But eventually I found myself struggling more and more with the figure paintings. They were very large and some of them were filled with a lot of angst. One painting took weeks to complete. Emotionally they were often quite draining and my inspiration was slowing down. When my father died of pancreatic cancer all of the work I had been doing on those  paintings came to a complete halt. I began to question a lot of things, including whether I would ever do another painting. My heart just wasn't in it.   My husband naturally knew of my struggles and, knowing how much I had loved the landscapes of Monet, Sisley and many other impressionist painters, he bought me my very first outdoor easel. He also signed me up for a painting class so I could learn to paint on location outdoors. I loved it from the moment I tried it. I began painting again, and I finally allowed myself to follow my bliss and paint the landscape. After the death of my father I really wanted to do things that were more life affirming, that filled me with joy. I realized life is indeed so very short and I wanted to celebrate it in a way that had meaning for ME, without worrying about whether others found it artistically "important".   Painting the landscape was one of the ways I could honor that desire, and I have been painting them ever since. Nowadays I also enjoy experimenting with other kinds of painting, including abstraction, and sometimes even the human figure again. I believe that an artist has the right to explore it all, if that is her desire.   I hope this helps you with your project!