SEEING ART

This is not part of Alpha Gallery's show but one Jon did last summer as a demo.  It is representative of the rich paintings in his show Visionary Botanist at Alpha Gallery

This past Thursday, my husband and I finally got to see Jon Imber's show at the Alpha Gallery: Visionary Botanist.  We ran into artist Ruth Mordecai and her husband on their way to see the same show. Jon's exhibit is breathtaking.  I wished I had seen it earlier in the month so I could go back several times as the show closes April 2nd.

From there we hopped over to Newbury Fine Arts as I was intrigued by a red horse painting in their window.  The work is by Jeffrey Terreson.  (His show just ended March 4th.)  They had a few pieces still up of his horse paintings - even more delicious than the one in the window.  I especially liked Twilight.  He works large: oil, encaustic & mixed media.  The gallery owner is very welcoming and showed us a few other artists - now of interest to me.

We then attended the AD20/21 (Art and Design of the 20th & 21st Century & the Boston Print Fair) gala preview at the Cyclorama.  A festive event of art, food, libations and friends.  It was inspiring to see old master paintings along with fresh voices in the various galleries as part of the Boston Print Fair.  Plus I enjoyed catching up with familiar faces in the art world and the opportunity to meet some more gallery owners and other artists.

Yesterday we were inspired to see the photography show at Albright Art Gallery in Concord, MA.  The ballet & break-dance photos by Jesus Chapa-Malacara are knock-outs, as are the meditative landscapes by Barbara Moody.

One of Pamela Ellis Hawks's cameraless images at Trident Gallery

Gloucester was our next destination to attend Trident Gallery's opening of  Rockport artist Pamela Ellis Hawks in her solo show titled Pale Shadows.  Her series of the cameraless images  of vintage dresses and a hostess apron are hauntingly  provocative.  Towards the end of this reception we learned of another opening featuring John Sarkin's work.  The reception was at Law and Water Gallery just around the corner from Trident. Ken Riaf is the owner of this enchanting space.  Seeing Sarkin's delightful and colorful paintings of succulents was a sweet ending to our gallery tour.

Do catch these inspiring shows!

WORLD PREMIER

This past Sunday we went to Portland, ME to attend the world premier of Jon Imber's film My Left Hand.  It was a packed auditorium (& sold out) for this screening - part of the Maine Jewish Film Festival (MJFF) held at Portland Museum of Art.  The movie is an hour long and a beautiful story of a courageous artist and family battling a horrific disease.

Jon giving a painting demo last summer in Stonington.

Here is a description from the Maine Jewish Film Festival webpage:

Jon Imber's Left Hand (working title)  DOCUMENTARY

Director: Richard Kane / Featuring: Jon Imber, Jill Hoy
2014 USA / English / 60 minutes

A document of this artist's courageous and sometimes darkly humorous response to a death sentence, a diagnosis of ALS. The film traces his life, his career and his adaptations, switching from painting with his right hand to his left, and then to both hands held at his waist as the degenerative condition progresses. Adversity only makes him more determined to paint, and paint he does: more than 100 portraits in a four-month span.

World Premiere

Richard Kane present for q&a following screening

This film will be shown next in Davis Square at the Somerville Theatre on April 26th @ 12:30 PM part of the Boston Film Festival.  I strongly urge everyone to see this movie.

DRINK?

India provided many photo opportunites and I took full advantage shooting over 500 photographs of my trip.  A lot were taken from the bus as we traveled between cities: Dehli, Jaipur & Agra.  This was at a street stand outside one of the Delhi cultural spots we visited. I wasn't tempted to drink but love how the vendor set up his cart.  So appealing visually.  

There is a popular drink in India called a sweet & salty & it is very salty!

NEW HOME

SLIP # 8
acrylic/canvas
18" x 18"

Slip # 8 is the second red dot of my two dot February month (blog post on 3/10/14).  I did not feel comfortable posting the image until the new owners had this in hand.  Today they picked it up at the Flirt show at the Mother Brook Arts & Community Center in Dedham, MA.  (Flirt came down today and more on that in another blog!)

A sale of one's work is very rewarding.  And meeting the new owners is the icing on the cake.   I am very grateful for the opportunity to meet them and for their generous support.

    

STUDIO ASSISTANT

I am back in the studio and have 20 8 x 8 panels to prep for a new series.  They require a few layers of gesso.

After 2 coatings I needed to sand them and was prepared to go outside, wear a mask and sand.  The lack of sun and a warm temperature was a bit of a deterrent to be outside for what I was anticipating a long while.

So my new studio assistant solved the problem of a long afternoon and set me up with a new toy: a drywall vacuum sander with hose. The hose attaches to the dry/wet vacuum sucking up the fine residue and makes a smooth surface very quickly.

Two blocks with clamps at the edge of the table creates a convenient holding area for the panel for easy sanding.

With this assistant I was able to quickly go through the pile of panels, add two more coats of gesso and once dry, begin again.  My studio assistant I can only afford to hire for about 5 minutes on certain days but this little assistant works like a dream.  Both are worth the expense

INDIA TEXTURES

The trees of India provided a lot of inspiration for textures.  Above the leaves hanging down are life size.  In the images below the trees wrap or carve their trunks in fascinating ways.   

The Banyon trees are protected by the government.

INDIA

DELHI

In January I went to India for 16 days with friends.  We traveled from Mumbai to Goa, Delhi, Jaipur, Agra and back to Delhi.  This was an fascinating trip in an amazing country of extreme contrasts (at times side by side): poverty & wealth; beauty & ugliness; lush & stark; open space & over-crowded; noisy & peaceful; wildness & controlled.    

GOA

The overall impression on this land for me was the colors.  The richness of colors in even just a small space made a huge impression. I saw flowers everywhere: carefully arranged or just petals in a large carved marble bowl sitting on the ground.  I learn a lot on the trip which made me realize I have so much more to learn about this country.

AGRA

My visual impressions will be posted on the blog in the days ahead.  I am not sure how this will inspire my art.  Time will tell.

2 DOTS

February 2014 was a 2 dot month!  I sold one of my Black Chemise paintings at the Love Shack show at the Nave Gallery Annex in Somerville.  The show ran from 2/14 - 3/1 and was a fabulous exhibit showing unique work - each with a surprising twist on love!

Black Chemise # 2

The Black Chemise paintings are small works, acrylic on handmade paper mounted on canvas.

A Slip painting  (acrylic/canvas) recently sold too. I will post that one as soon as I deliver the painting to its new home.  You can see more of my slip paintings on my website.  In this body of work I have paintings on canvas and paper.