A New Song

A New Song
watercolor with gold leaf
18” x 24”

This painting will be part of the 2022 SPARK Invitational Exhibit in the West Gallery of Public Works Arts Center in Summerville, South Carolina September 23 - November 5, 2022.

It is a visual and personal reflection; representing all 2020 until this moment has held for me.

I want to describe all the minutia. The cracks and the solid ground. Grief and joy juxtaposed.

My observation of an approaching crescendo began on March 13, 2020. The word of the day in my German classroom was Hamsterkauf, describing the global hoarding of toilet paper which was underway.

By Monday, schools closed and virtual teaching began: as did an onslaught of polarizing opinions, politics, loss, fear, hot tempers, and uncharted waters to navigate through. And I learned, humanity is a fragile thing in a time of sound and fury. Tender in a forest of clanging and discordant words.

How long to sing this song?

from Start to Finish: 2021

2021 was a year of much work; yet it felt there was little to show. As the year wanes, I celebrate hidden processes. Quietly seeing things move from start to finish. Sometimes taking longer than expected but moving forward nonetheless.

This portrait is of local artist Robert Garey. This version is painted on Arches cold pressed watercolor paper. A second unfinished and hidden version, painted on Arches hot pressed watercolor paper, sits in my studio. I chose this subject matter to compare the watercolor surfaces in regards to ability to capture details. The lettering, glasses and ring particularly.

When I look at a finished painting, I see all my personal musings of a time as I worked. These paintings consist of more than pigment to me. For me this one, holds a portion of the fatigue and slowness, I felt moving through 2021. I painted slower, searched for the little details and read more. Some years are for hidden work, others are for the visible.

Selfie of the Artist
watercolor on paper

The quote below I read in September and “tend to your own knitting” was my quiet anchor as I navigated through the waves of 2021. Wishing you all a 2022 that ministers to you. Be your knitting hidden or seen.

“So tend to your knitting. You’ve got your hands full just taking care of your own life before God. Forget about deciding what’s right for each other. Here’s what you need to be concerned about: that you don’t get in the way of someone else, making life more difficult than it already is. ”

— Paul to the people of Rome as found in The Message translation by Eugene Peterson

Living Next Door to Alice

I need to talk about Alice.

The above book was gifted to me. I completed it last week. It chronicles the biography of a female watercolorist who lived independently and earned her keep through watercolor during a time when this wasn’t the norm. She elevated watercolor and, using it, shared with others stories of the time and place in which she lived. Her life story reached into others and left its mark through her mentorship and generosity.

“A shadow is not dull gray. It has reflections of the colours all around and it has light within the shade. Open your eyes to the life in a shadow.”

— Alice Ravenel Huger Smith in a letter to Talulah McInvaill

Following reading the book, I listened to a conversation about it Walter Edgar held with South Carolina artist Jonathon Green. And I want to say, Mr. Green described the creative process and watercolor in a way that I so appreciate. Few know and understand the medium. “It can be unforgiving,” Green states. That is so true and a watercolorist knows the sinking feel when you know you’ve passed the point of no return. Watercolor painting is a delicate timed dance between the paper, the water, and paint. Alice was skilled in this. She painted “what she knew”. A confidence in the artist emerges when they are true to themselves and in my opinion Alice did that.

Her work explores the natural and historical environment in which she grew up. Coincidentally as I was reading this book, I learned more about the Charleston Rice Plantations through Episode 2 of Netflix’s High on the Hog. Smith chronicled the experiences of the enslaved in the Charleston area working these plantations. Some say these paintings are romanticized, others say they hold empathy and dignity. I believe the impression is left to the viewer.

As an artist, she documented her world as she saw and experienced it. In a world of Insta-artists, I am inspired by those who sought to learn mastery in painting as opposed to marketing. While she had her fair share of early work in promoting her paintings. her steadfast commitment to “water-colour” (as she penned it) itself leaves me feeling that there is not enough time to learn all I wish.

An exhibition featuring the work of Alice Smith at the Florence County Museum is on view through December 5, 2021.

I thank Alice for her artistic honesty and generosity.

P.S. Blog Title is a nod to a little song by Smokie that some may recognize from any German fest ever attended. So since I didn’t visit any this summer I though we’d enjoy a little Ohrwurm today. You’re welcome ;-).

Why Dead Birds?

Five years ago, a yellow shafted northern flicker flew against the reflection of a building. I studied its markings and painted the macabre.

Most people know the check in one’s spirit that occurs upon finding a bird bereft of life. It isn’t quite right to see something which should be inflight asleep.

In a time before cameras, Audubon shot and killed the birds he painted and studied. And now those deaths on paper are coveted collections. Audubon himself took no pleasure in these killings and said, "The moment a bird was dead, no matter how beautiful it had been in life, the pleasure of possession became blunted for me." (Ornithological Biography, Volume 1)

Death is not foreign to me. I have known it as a reality. Life holds sorrows that sometimes come too early. And they shape us. Truly each encounter is significant and holds meaning. These experiences have taught me that death and grief are not an end but rather a tender step forward.

Through these fallen wings, I observe, learn and am able to speak.

P.S. Bird strikes are a very real issue impacting our planet’s bird population.

Weltschmerz

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As the pandemic weeks have continued on, I intentionally chose a background in which I could lose myself in, silence the rhetoric and find a quiet space.

The grief I have felt is laced into this one. It is easier to paint than to find the words to describe the paralysis and deep sadness I have felt. Almost, as if stuck on a dilapidated fence observing a destructive political garden party.

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On Display

Two local venues have a few paintings of mine on display this month! :-)

(Image taken from ArtFields® Instagram post)

The TRAX Visual Art Center is hosting Pause | Connect through November 14. I am honored to be included in this exhibition of local artists (Jennifer Altman, Jan Chenoweth, Colleen Critcher, Lynda English, Patz Fowle, Mike Fowle, Symon Gibson, Douglas Gray, Roger Halligan, Ashley Hamilton, Uschi Jeffcoat, Cornelia Joyner, Mary Ellen Judge, Milton Miles, Sarah Helen Mishoe, Julie Mixon, Tiffany Thomas, and Kimberly Washburn)!

If you live locally, I hope you will make time to visit and support these artists.

Seeing this exhibit in person is a completely different experience than seeing the images online.

The gallery is located at 122 Sauls Street, Lake City, SC. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday 11am-5pm.

My painting Vainglory, next to the work of Jennifer Altman at the Trax Visual Art Center

Bean Bar is a local coffee shop which opened in July. I am pleased to be their artist of the month during October and part of welcoming their small business to our community. Check out their website to learn what they are all about. (https://www.beanbarsc.com/ ) I appreciate the incredible attention to detail they demonstrate.

Selecting works for Bean Bar was a journey down memory lane. While some pieces are current there are a few included from the moments where I first encountered watercolor. Looking back, it is the medium which has given my paintings a voice.

A few are available on my website for sale. Bean Bar is open Monday-Saturday 7am to 6pm. If coffee is your language, you will not be disappointed by a visit. (Not to mention, you will be supporting a small business during some unusual times!)

Both venues adhere to current safety protocols and request that you wear a mask when visiting.

Providence

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“There is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, ‘tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come - the readiness is all.”

— Shakespeare, Hamlet

This quotation spoken by Hamlet created a new interest in the play for me. So, I watched an excellent BBC version featuring David Tennant as Hamlet last week in order to fully grasp the weight of these words. The green hardback covered Shakespeare Collection of plays which belonged to my parents was pulled off the shelf so I could read along as I watched.

The endeavor reminded me of listening to those records with story books, with the chime to turn the page. However, the Royal Shakespeare Company Production’s scenes did not follow the scenes directly, so there was much searching and page turning taking place on my part. But I loved it.

In high school I did a research paper on the messages of the birds in Macbeth. Funny, the way these birds appeared in my younger years.

In Hamlet some say through this statement he is nodding to Chapter 10 in the gospel of Matthew. He has moved from, “To Be or Not to Be” into an acceptance that some things are beyond control.

I see parallels in my world. Less than 6 months ago, I lived in a time and land of infinitives. To assume. To expect. To take. To be. To have. To do. To see. To travel. To go.

Barriers have fallen around the infinitives. A strangely constrained place of uncertainty has entered the scene which places us all under the wings of providence.

A few notes on the process behind this painting follow:

This 6” x 6”l painting was painted on aquabord. A monochromatic underpainting was applied. The decision to apply the cast shadow was made using tracing paper.

Color was then added, followed by wax medium. I love the texture found in the wax medium on the final piece. It is difficult to photograph and give this finished little bird justice so I have included a video of the process.

Applying wax medium over small watercolor on aquabord

Study of Christina

watercolor with gold leaf
10” x 8” on paper

Charity currently wears a scarf or a mask, considering the well being of others. It works in isolation yet extends kindness as it hopes to protect.

This is an image of my sister, taken April of 2020. It is a study in monochromatic underpainting of watercolor within portraiture. I plan to create a larger scale version of it. It feels incredibly iconic to me and has a zeitgeist feel.

Christina lives in New York City. I live in South Carolina and my other sister in North Carolina. We are experiencing opposite ends of a pandemic’s spectrum. The differences are vast yet still linked.

UPDATE August 10, 2020
Below is the final painting completed from the study described in this blog post.

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Zeitgeist
watercolor with gold leaf
22” x 15”