Tripping

I've spent the past two days in my studio, pushing and pulling dark and light, and playing with proportions and the placement of images on my triptych. In addition to charcoal, I have started to add some white acrylic - I want my drawings to have the same range of grays and sparkling whites and rich blacks as found in a good old movie.

I stated before that this piece is about the primary three people who raised me - my mother, my father, and my maternal grandmother. These three also happen to be the people closest to me who have died, and while working on the triptych, I have felt their presence quite strongly. At times I find myself weeping, even though I don't feel particularly sad - just overcome with emotion. I've had the sensation that I am loved unconditionally and feel cheered on by all three, as if their spirits have none of the fear or judgement that their human forms may have sometimes harbored about me and my art.

I have been a little concerned that this piece is too personal for anyone else to relate to, then found a great quote this morning:

Women are repeatedly accused of taking things personally. I cannot see any other honest way of taking them. ~ Marya Mannes, American writer b. 1904

(I've been listening to Raising Sand quite a bit in my studio, and yesterday saw the humor in how a song may have subconsciuosly affected my placement of certain images...:^)

Projecting

Playing with the idea that we physically hold memories in our body...

Ashes to Ashes

I love that my show falls at this time of year for celebrating Day of the Dead, and All Souls Day. I felt like a magician of sorts while working on this series of portraits, conjuring up these spirits and faces from the past with my humble pots of soot and powder, and sticks of charcoal and chalk. The perfect mediums for a medium...

This Gent

My camera is still not working, so I can't show you the drawings that I've been creating in my studio these past few weeks. (It actually feels kind of nice to have a break from taking pictures - I get weary from all that documenting! Sometimes memory is the best document...)
This is my latest sitter - my Great Uncle, Joseph Camp. I really like his face...
I will have pics soon, as my show date approaches!

A Glitch

Something's wrong with my camera - I'm unable to download my images. So I can't show you the drawings I've done from these two old photos. But these are the latest ghosts who've come to sit for me in my studio - my Great Aunt Edna Congdon, who died from pneumonia when she was just a teen, and my Great Grandfather Godfrey. Soon as I figure out my camera glitch, I'll post some pictures of the portraits! Having such fun with these!!

Yet Another Ghostly Sitter

I arrive at my studio and look through my on-line album of scanned photos of ancestors, and I ask, Who's next? This fellow called to me yesterday. A great great uncle (I think...) Such an interesting challenge to create a portrait from the zoomed in pixillated image...

Gramma

The start of another friendly ghost, Lillie Congdon, my Gramma.

(I really HAVE to do a portrait of the other woman in that old photo, my Gramma's Aunt Rhody. Fantastic HAT!!)

I always like the initial drawings better than the finished pieces. But for the intent and purpose of this show, these pieces have to hold their power behind old windows, so they are less about the drawing elements, and more about presence and form...

A Paned Foursome

I stayed up late last night to submit on-line (at the very last minute - it was due by midnight) my application to the Portland Museum of Art Biennial. This will be the 5th or 6th time that I've applied. I have never gotten in, and honestly thought that I wouldn't bother this time around. A bit of sour grapes, probably. Or, just dreading rejection, again. Then I caved and submitted these four pieces from my ancestor portrait series, Mything Persons. I had to hustle to take these photos and piece them together in photoshop. Just four images are accepted - I wanted to show the drawings unframed, and also behind the windows, and I wanted to submit four portraits. My challenge was how to do this in four images. My sister suggested that I put them side by side in each of the four images - I called the museum and they said that this was OK and not breaking any rules. So here they are. My problem is that I never feel that what I have to offer is of enough significance to warrant being chosen for this *venerated venue.* I think my work is too trivial, not of universal appeal, not conceptual enough, blah blah blah, ad nauseam. I decided to silence that nasty voice and simply submit what is my most recent work. Take it of leave it, I say!! (But I would be thrilled if they take it...) (and I know I'll be sad and disappointed if they don't...) Who am I kidding? This is always an emotional ordeal!!

I dreamt last night that a woman who was in charge of a biennial (it was not the PMA) chose a pale and delicate pencil drawing of mine - a triptych of sorts - to be in the show. She loved it, and I felt so appreciated, understood, and honored. Who is she? Maybe me. Maybe I need to remember that what I think counts!

So here is my artist statement that I banged out at 11:30pm, just under the wire, without looking back. Ah, the rat...(ha ha ha! Freudian typo!!)...I mean, Ah, the ART scene. Wish me luck!!

Mything Persons is a series of portraits taken from a scanned family photo from the late 19th century. Typically I do my portraits from life, but this photo was so compelling, I had to draw these faces that look familiar yet strange. As I stared at the digital image of this old photograph on my computer screen, and zoomed in on each face, I searched the eyes for clues that link them to my life: Were they happy? What did they eat for breakfast that day? Did the women yearn to be more than wives and mothers? Did they enjoy sex? Were the men kind? What dysfunctional behaviors and what loving habits did they pass on to my generation? They look at us through old windows, holding onto their secrets as they merge with our own reflections.