Something Old

I took this figure study out of it's old frame today to reframe it for an upcoming figurative show at Aucocisco Gallery. I will also be showing my new portrait, Greta's Dark Self. This drawing is titled Matthew, and I drew it at a figure study group at The Academy of Carlo Pittore in the late fall of 1988. I chuckle at the word Academy: Carlo's studio was in a dilapidated old chicken barn. Never the less, we worked very hard there! The upcoming show is titled In the Spirit of Carlo Pittore, in honor of Carlo's birthday, May 14th, and a percentage of the proceeds will go to The Pittore Foundation which issues grants to figurative artists. Bowdoinham artist Susie Drucker and I are the curators, and we are both old friends of Carlo, who died in 2005.

Reworking Greta

Or should I say, Re-Greta? :^)

I've been working on finishing this portrait of Greta Bank for an upcoming figurative show, using the photo of Greta as a reference to resolve the drawing. The drawing is roughly textured and layered with paint and drawing media - mostly pastel and colored pencil. I haven't felt this free to work a drawing to this level of finish since working on some of my older self-portraits. It feels quite satisfying to do so. I hope that the composition stays strong and that the piece retains its power without my initial loose and expressive lines...

I rather like this...it reminds me of an early Lucien Freud, or perhaps a Stanley Spencer...

Gwen

Gwen, I
mixed media on Rives BFK, 22" x 30"

Gwen, II

mixed media on Rives BFK, 22" x 30"
Gwen, Imixed media on Rives BFK, 22" x 30"

Two one hour studies of the model who posed for my Mixed Media Portraiture Class yesterday afternoon.

Adam's Portrait

Adam Wriggins at Sixteen, 2012

mixed media on Rives BFK, 22" x 30"

Last Friday I did this portrait of Adam Wriggins in my studio. He sat for about an hour and a half. His Mom, Marian Baker, gave him a gift certificate for this portrait as a Christmas gift. I did portraits of Marian and her older son Dan a couple of years ago out on Little Cranberry Island where they spend their summers, and where my daughter Kaitlyn lives year-round with her husband Cory. My husband and I are heading out there tomorrow to spend a few days enjoying the island in late winter mode!

A Portrait of Tony

Tony at Seventeen, 2012

mixed media on Rives BFK, 22" x 30"

After my experience in the the stone shop, Tony has been on my mind. I have so few photographs of him, and could have sworn that I had given an envelope full of the ones that I do own to my son Eben and his wife. But they said, no, they didn't have them. And when I've searched for them in my albums and boxes and big Rubbermaid bins full of photos, I've had no luck. But one day last week, just before getting ready to leave the house, I felt compelled to look for them once again. I dropped everything and went to the closet in the spare bedroom where I keep all our old photos (this includes my father's massive collection - there are tons...) and like someone acting out a hypnotic command, like a homing pigeon, like an arrow heading for the bull's eye, I mechanically yanked out several of the large bins, took the lid off one, and there they were, the photos I'd not been able to find, including the one at the top of this post, Tony's high school yearbook picture, taken when he was seventeen. I quickly scanned this pile of images and put them in a digital file.

After finishing a commissioned portrait in my studio later that afternoon, after the sitter left, and I was alone in my studio, I felt compelled again - but this time to draw Tony's portrait. I brought up his image on my laptop and enlarged it until he was looking at me, filled my brush with paint and set to work. And while working on it, I cried. Alot.

Something has shifted inside of me this week. Some door in my heart has opened.

This brings to mind one of the last bits of wisdom imparted to me by my grandmother, who lived to be 100.In the final weeks of her life, Gramma took my hand and sandwiched it tightly between both of hers, then looked me in the eyes and pronounced simply, urgently,

"Never hate, Martha. Never hate."

Monday Afternoons at Barnfire Studio

I've filled my first private class, an afterschool drawing class for 8 - 12 year olds, including two of my grandsons. What fun! Have a wonderful weekend, all!

Primer Prime Pics

My daughter-in-law Tracey Miller took these stellar shots of my triptych, A Girl's Primer, on the last day of the exhibit at Aucocisco Gallery. Tracey has an excellent eye and a superb camera - you can really see the details and the surface texture in these images! I'm so grateful to her for travelling to Portland to document my triptych while it was still installed at Aucocisco, which is such a beautiful space.

This group show never did get a formal review, but I received many wonderful and insightful notes, comments and e-mails about A Girl's Primer. One of my favorite remark's came from independent curator and writer Britta Konau:

Saw the Aucocisco show and was really taken by your big drawings. The following names came to my mind while looking: Dix, Klimt, and Chagall. Not bad associations, right?

(Right!)

Sisters Three

Chris Beneman with her daughters Sarah, Kate, and Lisa.

Yesterday afternoon I had the great pleasure of drawing this beautiful trio of sisters, whose Mom wanted to catch them together while they were all home for the holidays, before the older two have to head back out of state and return to school. They sat for about an hour and a half as the sun went down. A triple treat to draw!!!

A Couples Portrait

I started this commissioned couples portrait last weekend. Old friends Pat and Tom Heslin were staying at their weekend home in southern Maine (they live in RI) and drove up the coast in an ice storm Saturday morning to be the first to sit for a portrait in my new studio! Unlike the recent marathon portraits, this piece will be more finished, and will require more time. Ahhh, the luxury of time! There is something freeing and fun about setting a time limit and working fast and furious, and there is something calming and satisfying about taking my time. Both ways of working are valid and yield different results.

Pat and Tom sat for 2 hours, and I took a bunch of pictures as references to work from. I've worked this way before, some examples: here, here, and here...and am becoming more comfortable with relying on my memory and the photos to resolve a portrait. I may ask them to sit one more time, we'll see.

Pat and Tom are going to send me some images to integrate into the portrait - possibly photos of the shore. I have started to sketch in a bouquet that is in my studio, and the horizon over the river out my studio window. This will most likely all get buried. It will all morph and change, and here I offer you a view of the beginnings.

Process, process...