umbrella
New York City…
…is crazy hot. As is the entire eastern coast right now, but New York is dirty hot. My friend said it felt like the heat sat on top of you, and it does, like a gross thermal blanket that only comes off when you duck into a shop with air conditioning. Other than that: this city is AMAZING. It’s my third time here, and after the 3rd date I’m dangerously in love with all the art, music, architecture and promises in this incredible place. Today is my birthday, and my first day of school: I usually loathe both, but today I find myself excited and optimistic instead. I have an address here, after a grueling 3 day search in sweltering heat and an intense paranoia of bedbugs, I have a beautiful apartment, and I now have my very first cell phone (I sent my first ever text message yesterday, what a feat!), so it feels like the first difficult tasks have been accomplished.
Next comes the show! Above is an image of the paintings set up side by side-the gallery installation will differ slightly, but it gives you a better idea of their natural progression, relationships between the paintings, and their presence as a whole. It seems a shame to sell them individually: my dream is to find a buyer to purchase them as a single piece.
There is so much to say about this experience, but for now I’ll just say I was way overdue for an adventure, and so far, New York has delivered. 
Cloud #46
Cloud #46 18″ x 18″ Oil on Beechwood, 2010
Thanks to everyone who came out last night to our studio show-it was a great success!
Cloud #45
Cloud #45 18″ x 24″ Oil on Wood, 2010
I finished my very last cloud yesterday. I was worried that it might feel a bit anti-climatic, but it was actually the opposite. There’s a big grin on my face and I feel about a hundred pounds lighter. Now there’s just the daunting task of transporting 17 paintings into the USA…
Cloud # 44
Cloud #44 18″ x 24″ Oil on Wood, 2010
Just a reminder about tomorrow night’s exhibit in the upper level studios of Granville campus! Check the events page for complete information-hope to see you there!
Cloud #43
Cloud #43 18″ x 24″ Oil on Wood, 2010
I’m soooo close to the finish line, and very, very excited to photograph these paintings together…
Cloud #42
Cloud #42 18″ x 24″ Oil on Beechwood, 2010
Several people around the school have called me a “machine.” Is that good or bad? I haven’t taken a day off in nearly 2 months… What summer?
Casualties of War
There are a million critters in the studio: if you hold still and don’t move your feet for about two minutes, the mice come out. Last week I discovered that a fellow artist left a loaf of white bread and an entire bucket of peaches in their cabinet for weeks-probably not good for a school with a mouse problem. The windows of the studio stay open for fresh air, and insects of all variety are zooming around the room, and they usually opt for wet paintings as a landing area. When you try picking a dead bug out of a painting, it turns into a tiny snowball that you have to roll over the edge to remove, and it leaves a little black trail of fallen-off bug parts. Not good. This one died by cadmium red light.
Cloud #41
Cloud #41 18″ x 24″ Oil on Wood, 2010
Summer is quickly drawing to a close, and I can’t say I’ve ever spent this much time in the studio. I’m often there by 10am and head home after midnight, and there have been more than a few vending machine dinners…
Cloud #40
Some news! Summer studio students at NSCAD have organized an exhibit of works produced over the past few months. On Wednesday, August 18th, the public is invited to explore NSCAD’s painting studios at the Granville campus and see what people have been up to all summer. The opening begins at 5pm, there will be refreshments and lots of beautiful, stimulating, challenging art to see. I really encourage people to come and see how diverse the work is, and meet the great people behind it. Plus, the campus building is a really neat old labyrinth of studios and is super fun to explore. Hope to see you there!
Cloud #39
Cloud #39 16″ x 20″ Oil on Beechwood, 2010
I’m starting to feel a bit like a cloud-painting machine. This could be good or bad.
Cloud #38
Cloud #38 16″ x 20″ Oil on Beechwood, 2010
It is sticky and icky outside: the humidity makes for a challenging work week, I must say. To help beat the heat, I took a magical day off yesterday for the first time in a while, and had one of those beautiful evenings with a friend, a bottle of juicy merlot and some seriously stimulating conversation.
This cloud marks a subtle shift, a direction more oriented toward nebula as the series progresses. I am quite excited by the new possibilities they present…and does anyone know the plural form of nebula? I am very tempted to stick an “i” on the end like octopi and cacti…
Cloud #37
Cloud #37 16″ x 20″ Oil on Beechwood, 2010
It is, as they say, crunch time. I haven’t worked this hard since I was ten and my father made me drag logs through the woods in exchange for a barbecued hot dog.
Categories
Archives
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007


