Friday, October 29, 2010

Marilyn


Marilyn and I have been friends since our art school days.  in later life we shared studio space in magnolia.  she is a very powerful draughtman/painter.  she studied at mass art and at the kansas city institute of art.  i drew this small gilded drawing last winter when she visited me.  she told me that she sees her mother in this drawing.  

i offer up this etheral photo as a prayer for the health and healing of my friend and her family as she undergoes treatments for a brain tumor (the same type of tumor ted kennedy had).  

may all be well and may all be well and all is well, say the bells.

deb.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Gloucester, MA - Mayors' Arts Challenge



click 'like' on the video to help Gloucester win a Mass Cultural Council award. The deadline for voting is tomorrow 10/26/10. our mayor's video is one of 16 being considered for an award, and the video is beautiful.

best and thanks for the support,
deb

The Big Fish




This is The Big Fish (a blue faced cichlid we named 'fat boy') that hangs in our long narrow hallway.  The painting is oil with mixed media on linen, painted in 1995.  We had a 35 gallon fish tank.  This Big Boy ate every other fish in the tank, including several crayfish, then grew to an amazing size.  sometimes i think to sell this, several people have 'tried it out' on their wall, for a few years it was displayed at The Bookstore on Main Street in Gloucester.  Now, I say hello to Fat Boy everytime i hang a coat, store a painting, or head to the downstairs laundry.  

best,
deb.

Sunday, October 24, 2010


if their mothers only knew
mixed media drawing on canvas
38x42"
copyright 2010 gloucester ma
debbie clarke

i'm drawing, i'm writing, i'm sorting, i'm re-thinking my online activities. i finished this a few weeks ago.  just turned it to the wall and forgot it.  we put it on the living room wall friday night.  i think it works. this drawing started as a painting on the big white canvas on June 19, 2010.  4 months in the works, not counting preparation of the ground and the contemplation of the big white surface.  the intent was to expose young kleptomaniacs, it turned out to be another story about time, place, and intergenerational history.

best and onward
deb.

Monday, October 4, 2010

It's AHHT!


100_4093
Originally uploaded by debclarke art
light art! every once in a while my work catches me off guard with an inner certainty that i am on the right path. the sun hit this painting yesterday. that 'light patch' is flattened out in this image. the reality of the reflected light is that it existed in space, sort of like a hologram. damn, if i could paint like that, but i don't know how to...yet.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

my good workspace too


100_4083
Originally uploaded by debclarke art
just another view this october saturday with a view to some of my constant companions.

best and more,
deb.

my good workspace


100_4084
Originally uploaded by debclarke art
saturday october 2, 2010

spiral bound


spiral bound
Originally uploaded by debclarke art
this is another teaching sketch. lesson: the portrait.  the page starts with one shape, then two, then three, etc.

what interests me about this pic is the line drawing on the right created by the wires, my glasses, etc. says so much.

it says love. xox.

best and more,
deb.

sketchbkcrow


sketchbkcrow
Originally uploaded by debclarke art
from the eleven year sketchbook. i was definitely drawing crows. the transfer page shows intimations of a figure. i kept trying to identify this drawing as figure anatomy, and i couldn't find the reference, then, duh, i drew crows frequently when we lived in the treetop apartment.

The Sketchbook


The Sketchbook
Originally uploaded by debclarke art
The first pages of the sketchbook and the pages are already falling out of the binding.

and what does this have to do with the theme "down your street"? don't know. yet.

best,
deb.

Friday, October 1, 2010

sketchbkteaching


sketchbkteaching
Originally uploaded by debclarke art
This is a sketch found in an old spiralbound sketchbook. The sketch was a demonstration for a figure drawing class. My studio was very public, so we always worked with the clothed figure and i taught how to 'see' through the surface to the form. here i must have been showing the biggest shape of the gesture with counterbalance of the longest line.   visually pleasing to me is the movement of fingerprints from the right picture plane through the form and behind the descending lines on the left lower picture plane.  yes.  this is when Sue Anne modelled for us.

or,

i was drawing a crow. more on that later.

this search through old sketchbooks is part of my preparation for The Sketchbook Project (you can see more about this on our blog: www.somethingsketchy.wordpress.com). Starting on The Sketchbook is difficult. My real sketchbooks are a jumble of visuals, shopping list, notes to family, phone msg, research, etc. The sketchbook imaged here covers years 1998-2010. it's non-sequential and it is not full. sometimes i need a smaller or larger page. sometimes i need a sketchbook right now, and grab whatever is close to hand.

more and best, later.
deb.