Silence and Laughter!

The silence of intense concentration, gales of laughter, or serious art talk, that was it!

The days spent on Sullivan's Island with my 11 new friends were as remarkable as any I have ever spent. I'm still reveling in the conversations we had and reliving the periods of intense silent concentration as we painted side-by-side in the house, in the gardens, on the beaches, sidewalks and cemeteries of Charleston. It was a silence accentuated by the rolling surf outside and a delicious oil paint scent in the air. It was a silence punctuated by howls of laughter as we got punch drunk on the sheer joy of it all!

I'm home from my trip to Charleston, SC, for the Women Painting Women opening at Robert Lange Studios AND the inaugural WPW on Expedition on Sullivan's Island AND my two-day workshop at Gadsden Museum of Art. Whew!

More about the Expedition later, but first came a Thursday night preview of the show and a party for the artists at the gallery director, Carrie's home on South Battery Drive. As gallery co-owner Megan Lange said it so well "Charleston will take care of ya". I'll let the photos tell the story.

 

 
The Friday WPW show opening was a jam-packed, shoulder-to-shoulder great reception! The show will be up through the end of November.

My daughter and model for "Voice of the Tiger" came to the reception,

(along with her new pink hair). 

Next came the after party.

Me with the Women Painting Women Website visionaries,

Diane Feissel, Sadie Valeri and Alia El-Bermani.

Here's a video of a walk through of the entire show posted by Robert Lange Studios.

If you're like us and can't get enough of the WPW show here are links for Diane Feissel's blog, that has many links to other artist's work and Sadie Valeri's blog, (who needed less sleep than I did and blogged the entire trip daily, well worth the read!) and the blogs of Linda Tracey Brandon, Alia El-Bermani, Mia Bergeron and Alex Tyng!

Here's a link to a wonderful blog, Underpaintings about all things art by Matthew Innis, read his take on gender specific shows. 

I'm not ready to leave this subject and will soon do another post about the Expedition and working plein air...but for now I must go paint!

I Should'a Been Lifting Weights!

I'm packing for the Women Painting Women on Expedition, the plein air painting part. I've never done it before so even deciding what to take has been a challenge! I'm planning on blogging the trip as possible so thought I'd share this great tip from Alexandra Tyng for a wet canvas carrier, push pins and foam core, brilliant!

The 8x10 gessobord panels are taped to the foam core with Scotch packing tape doubled up on the back, foam core cut to the right size to barely fit in the plastic box. Each box holds 4 panels, I figure I'll carry one and leave one at the house.

Here's my french easel, stool, umbrella (doesn't fold up now I know why it was only $20 off the internet) and other misc stuff! Just realized this picture doesn't include my camera. Let's hope we get to park near the parks...

 

I've been exercising my quick oil sketch muscles instead of lifting weights. Here is a 1 hour sketch from last night's drawing group, X's 8 here in Birmingham. This is my pixie-esque daughter-in-law Amy in her Renaissance costume.

Charleston here we come!

Amy Mercer on the Women Painting Women Show!

See Amy Mercer's full article in the Charleston City Paper about the Women Painting Women show at Robert Lange Studios in Charleston, SC.

Analyze Art by looking at Intensity, Complexity and Unity

I was recently contacted by Emily Tenenbaum, a Savannah College of Art & Design painting student because she was doing a paper about my work for her Color and The Painted Image class, analyzing it for "Intensity, Complexity and Unity".  I also enjoyed seeing Emily's work, here is one of her paintings. Nice to meet you Emily-Best wishes for a wonderful painting career! Here is her essay reprinted with permission.

"My Boobs Look Way Too Small in This Dress" by Emily Tenenbaum

Terry Strickland Introduction
by: Emily Tenenbaum
Terry Strickland’s energetic paintings are important additions to Contemporary Art and Realism. Her paintings provide an important female perspective not only with her narrative content, but also by incorporating strong metaphors and symbolism. Her intensity derives not only from her execution, but also by addressing the traditional themes of life, death, and love.   The work has historical ties to literature and also some of the influence of masterful figurative painters such as Titian and Ingres. Strickland’s paintings reinvent subjects like the reclining nude, aspects of magic realism, and even the depiction of superheroes.

Surprisingly, Strickland does not have as much  notoriety as some of her other female contemporaries, yet she continues to excel especially with her upcoming show “Women Painting Women”.  She also has been a part of other feminist painting projects. Sadie Valeri, a San Francisco artist and teacher created the Women Painting Women blog to highlight the work of living, realist women painters who use the female subject in their paintings. They've listed over 300 artists and can now be found on facebook as well.

Women Painting Women & Robert Lange Studios in the press!

 I just got my American Art Collector for November, It's so exciting to see the article about the Women Painting Women Show at Robert Lange Studios in Charleston, SC. Counting the days to the opening Nov 5, and a chance to meet many of these artists.

 

 

 

 

Charleston Art Magazine

Gadsden Museum of Art, Gadsden, Alabama

My work will be on display November-December 2010, the museum's 2010 Alabama's Finest Artists Series solo show. Last Friday, the museum gallery director, Steve Temple and I delivered 36 paintings, oil sketches and drawings to the museum. It was work from 2001- 2010, sort of a mini retrospective. I call the show "Myth and Magic in the Modern World".

 The postcard design is by Dan Hampton, museum graphic designer. I have a gallery talk on Dec 12  about my work and will do a two day workshop on November 13, and 14. The class consists of two stand-alone workshops that complement each other. Class size is limited to 12. Each day is a complete workshop and may be taken singly or together. 

“It’s All Relative!” Sat, Nov. 13, 2010, 10am-5pm
Learn to see and paint correct value AND temperature, the often overlooked 4th property of color.  You’ll create a limited palette painting incorporating the principles as you go. Once you learn to see this way your painting will be changed forever-it really is all relative! 

“So Many Colors!” Sun, Nov. 14, 2010, 1-6pm
A methodical and rational way to organize a palette and mix true colors that cuts though the confusion! Why reinvent the wheel when you can explore traditional painting methods from beginning to end? I will share my painting method condensed from 30 years experience for you.

Other points covered in both workshops:
~Using edge control
~transparency vs opacity
~learning to see reflected light

$95 per day or $175 for  both days. $50 deposit to hold your place.
Contact Gadsden Museum of Art to register (256) 546-7365.
Here's a short video I made of for the Museum about the work.

Work Drop-Off at Robert Lange Studios

Last Friday I dropped off "Voice of the Tiger" and "Fast Lane" to Robert Lange Studios in Charleston, SC, for the Women Painting Women Show.

It was exciting to meet Robert and Megan and see their spectacular gallery and their beautiful work. What's more there were quite a few paintings already delivered for the show so we had a preview of some of the work that will be on display next month. As usual the work is even more fabulous in person!

 Robert and Megan being very patient with my picture taking.

The gallery is in a very charming area of downtown that will be fun to explore when I go back for the opening Nov 5.

The gallery has a webcam and will be broadcasting during the opening. If you go to the RLS website and to the "News & More" tab it will take you to another page where you can choose "Webcam" to join us virtually.

To see previous posts about the Women Painting Women Show click here.

Women Painting Women in the press.

Excitement is really starting to build, press and blogs are being posted and printed everywhere about the upcoming show at Robert Lange Studios in Charleston, Opening November 5, 2010, 5:30-8:30 pm.

Check out The Digital Charleston, an article "Robert Lange gives it up for the ladies" and here's the cover for the Charleston Art Magazine.

Here are a few blogs by artists in the show to check out: Sadie Valerie,  Diane Feissel, Sara Scribner, Amy Lind, Candice Bohannon, Ali El-Bermani

Here's a sneak peek at the Women Painting Women show at Robert Lange Studios.

Women Painting Women on Expedition!

I'm thrilled to announce that I'll be joining eleven Women Painting Women artists in November 2010 on Sullivan's Island for a week of painting the figure, the city and the beautiful marshes and beaches surrounding Charleston, South Carolina. 

This will be a fun and challenging experience for me since I've never painted en plein air.

And it gets even better...this painting expedition will be followed by a collective exhibition of work completed during – and inspired by – the trip in March 2011 at Notion Fine Art in Laguna Beach, California. 

This painting retreat and the subsequent group exhibition are part of Women Painting Women's initiative to build community and visibility for contemporary women painters. 

Other artists on the retreat and a few examples of their work:
Alexandra Tyng – Narberth, PA, here's Alexandra's blog post about the show.

Alia El-Bermani – Cary, NC, here's Alia's blog post about the show.

Catherine Prescott – Harrisburg, PA

Cindy Procious – Chattanooga, TN

Diane Feissel – Philadelphia, PA

 Linda Tracey Brandon – Phoenix, AZ

Mia Bergeron – Chattanooga, TN 

 Rachel Constantine – Philadelphia, PA,

Sadie Valeri – San Francisco, CA, Here's Sadie's blog post about the show. 

Stefani Tewes–Laguna Beach, CA               
Katherine Stone – Toronto, Ontario 
  
See my previous posts about the WPW show as we are affectionately calling it.          

The Elements Series

I've done a series of the four elements. Each one is represented by a female figure from Greek mythology. The idea of essential elements is found in many cultures and intrigued me. They are considered natural observations of the phases of matter. The paintings are oil on canvas over panel and 16x16 inches.

The first is "Gaea", the primal Greek goddess personifying earth, the Greek version of Mother Nature. She's a deity of the ancient Greek pantheon and considered a Mother Titan. I wanted her tied to the earth and was inspired for this one by driving through farming communities of the south.

Next is "Hestia", Greek goddess of hearth and home, keeper of the sacred flame. The hearth fire of a Greek or a Roman household was not allowed to go out, unless it was ritually extinguished and ritually renewed, accompanied by impressive rights of completion, purification and renewal. I liked the idea of an eternal flame, so she became my representative of fire. 

When thinking of the element of air I thought of the powerful forces of nature. "Cardea" is a goddess of health, doorways and hinges also associated with wind. Ovid said of Cardea, "Her power is to open what is shut; to shut what is open." We are not in Kansas anymore...

"Tethys", daughter of Uranus and Gaea was an archaic Titaness and aquatic sea goddess. She was mother of the chief rivers of the world known to the Greeks.

Other paintings in my Fairy Tales, Myths, Legends and Literature inspired series can be found here.