Month: June 2009

Amy’s Nest at 50

8 x 8 Oil/Panel – Sold

This painting was commissioned as a gift for someone’s birthday. The eggs indicating how many children had already left home and the one cracked egg left in the nest is the teenager… about to embark on independence. It was a lovely commission to paint since I had been doing my own nests, with my own symbolism… First Born, Then there were Two and The Complete Set. I guess I should post those too! It’s Monday morning and I am planning on getting some large paintings started this week.

SOFA

Arlene and I went to the SOFA (Sculpture Objects and Functional Art) exhibition this afternoon in Santa Fe. I was so impressed by the high quality of work. There were many pieces that I would have gladly taken home with me had we not been saving up to replace the roof on our house! I particularly loved Jan Hopkins’ pieces using lunaria pods, hydrangea pedals, yellow cedar bark, waxed linen and paper. Exquisitely crafted and so original. Also very much enjoyed seeing Geoffrey Gorman’s wonderfully innovative and humourous sculptures of animals using found objects, wire and cloth.

More Etching stuff…

The tools of the trade…

I have been working on this same plate for weeks… making mistakes and then trying to fix them!

I really think part of the charm of going to etching class is it’s surroundings and old worldliness…. not that I wouldn’t mind a brand spanking new studio with all the appropriate ventilation and light for myself and for Barry of course!

It’s Thursday and that means etching!


Wren – in progress by Lynne Windsor

El Rancho Sunflower – in progress by Barry McCuan

Whoops, I think these are a little out of focus! Will try later to get better images. I love etching, but find it challenging. I work away on one or two etchings for weeks on end. Barry usually has a few going as well, but Arlene, my cousin in law produces two in one day! Hers are usually dry point though, whereas Barry and I do the whole aquatint, acid bath (ferric chloride) thing. Quite often I will end up going too far and have to burnish back to light! We are trying to use less toxic methods, but the results are less guaranteed… or at least for me! Still, it’s a wonderful afternoon and evening and great to socialise with a bunch of artists. It’s a little like going back in time when we go to our class. We use a beautiful old press and it’s in an old adobe building and Eli Levin (aka Jo Basiste) has been creating in Santa Fe for years and years. It’s a real connection with the old Santa Fe that I never knew, back when Canyon Road was a dirt road. (Barry remembers those days too!)