the listed still life

This picture is borrowed from over on the other side of the Memphis art blogosphere at Listwork, where Elizabeth Alley broke down the still life painting she did in my class at Flicker Street Studio.  Her choice of the pignose amp, the old Jergens bottle and the shaker made for nice circles!  



looking down at the afternoon rock show



I'm working on a paintning with varying tones of white.  As I was putting away the dishes I came across this example.

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popping up

Yellow is showing up a lot lately, as is the square inside the rectangle.  

I've never actually watched this program, but I'm beginning to believe these characters are in my subconscious mind, frolicking in the meadow and making those funny squeaky noises.

scribbling

This drawing is from a lifetime ago when I was a receptionist in Chicago.  I drew a lot answering phones at that job.


We all have a unique doodle.  Mine is very Miroesque I think.  I've made hundreds of drawings since this one so in some ways my skill level has improved, but there's a looseness to these marks I want back.  Life can tighten things up.  


A few years ago I had a long conversation about a group of paintings and drawings my photographer friend had just shot.   He said something that has stayed in the forefront of my process ever since - "You should pull more of your drawing marks into your paintings."  It's  easy to become constricted while painting and forget that really it's just drawing.  Looking at Cy Twombly helps too.  

                                

   (Image pulled from poster for show from Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne - no title)

scheming color

                                                                                   (from the sartorialist)
This is a gutsy gal with some real chutzpah. 

Fashion is a treasure trove of color schemes.  This combination of yellow, green, black and flesh tones with vertical punchy splashes of pinks, whites and oranges in the background will undoubtedly work it's way into a painting. 

I wonder how many paintings around the world The Sartorialist has inspired? 

(Long live the 18 miles of books at The Strand.)

summer's officially over...

                                                    (Asheville, NC pool side.)

... and what a summer it was.  The weather was extremely harsh with many days over 100 and barely any rain.  The weeks of poor air quality seemed to wear the whole city out.  But when I look back on the summer of 2010 I won't think so much about the heat. I'll remember the color studies and collaborations I worked on in the studio, the new teaching gig and all the walking in North Carolina and Connecticut.  


I also honed a very useful skill this summer: how to properly use a hoe!  I learned that and so much more about growing food at the weekly early morning gardening sessions in the Orange Mound/Grow Memphis garden with Josephine.  ( As she likes to say, "I know it's going to be a good day when it starts with my hands in dirt.")     


So despite the crazy heat this was a great summer. The most wonderful day of all though was back in June when I  trekked out to the suburbs with my two good friends to the JCC water park.  Kellie  and I giggled our way down the two twisty slides over and over again and then took turns pushing her beautiful mom Duane around the lazy river.  After a few hours of sun and play we had the post-swim munchies, so we sat in lawn chairs in our wet bathing suits and ate sandwiches and french fries from the snack bar.  


That day was the best day.  

riff on a box of rags

a box of rags