Ghosts of Versailles, continues

I've moved some stuff around, enlarged a few shapes.  got the big brush out yesterday.  today i am glazing with raw sienna.  oil on canvas 24x24"

So what have you been painting lately?  having any more luck than i am?

best and onwards,
deb.

Red Chair, a palimpsest progression

 June 12

June 19

June 20, 2011

Progress report.  This little red chair always gives me a workout; sharing some growing pains. Perspective is a challenge as most of the planes are fairly close to, but not quite parallel to my eye level.  why do i put myself through the struggle of understanding?   to make sure my skills are intact, to go someplace i have not been before, to feel the unfulfilled desire of the visual potential, submersion/merging with  the object of desire,  and then?  eventually an inner sounding of 'it is!' happens.  then i will stop and the work will 'be' of itself.

best,

deb

ps:  no oil paint: chalk, gesso, egg, water, aluminum gild.  

Art Seen on Main Street

Debbie Clarke's leaf work drawings quietly speak for themselves.

the reflection is so strong.  the visual distortions interest me.

best,

deb clarke

foil works on stretchers copyright clarke 2011 gloucester ma

Building the Empire Show: sneak peek 4

putting in my time.  have lost count of work.  wanted to share the work with you under the moment-to-moment light changes.  very plastic.  very bright.  panels to live with and dream into.  the work table is manageable, still can't find the new deck of charcoal.  running out of aluminum leaf.  running out of stretchers.  2 books of genuine silver leaf.  lots of combination leaf, but want to stay away from gold for a bit.  palmisest in process on the shelf.

what do you see when you peek into these works?

best,

deb

ps:  just found 2 fresh rolls of packing tape: 3,871.8".  maybe i'll build some work without stretchers.

Building the Empire Show: sneak peek 3 (work in progress)

there's a lot of light in the kitchen studio.  walked into the room early last evening and was struck by the light of the windows and the taped panels. the panels give the essence of the ever changing light around here.  it bounces off of everything.    there's a new palimpsest on the shelf.  dragged my bathrobe sleeve through the wet grumbacher white this morning.  didn't notice until the damage was done.  also surprised by how tidy the workspace feels, but when i look at this picture, i wonder at the chaos i can tolerate.  

best, deb

Building the Empire Show: sneak peek 2

 newest work:  palimsest.  oil with m/m on panel

 the work wall with drawing

close-up.  the packing tape work has a see through panel.

best,

deb.

From the Archives: "Alberta Hay"

"Alberta Hay" 

rice paper, alberta hay, ink, glass, sealed environment 2007 

Magnolia/Rocky Neck, Gloucester MA

the Alberta Hay bales in front of the Randomarts Magnolia Studio were about to thaw.  i sliced a 4x6x10" leaf from the bale.  sliced the leaf into 8 sections, watered each leaf, added wildflower seed, sealed the environment.  the Alberta Hay produced several generations of midgies, seed sprouted, tiny flowers formed.  two of these works 'lived' in our kitchen, right above our sunny kitchen table.  two sprouted on my friend Karen's wall.  four lived on the installation walls/trees of the 'then' neighborhood art installation.

this is the only evidence left of the event.  the other leaves were opened and used to enrich other gardens.

best,

deb.

This Artist's Journey

Capt Joey of www.goodmorninggloucester.com recently sent me a questionnaire to fill out to be posted on his blog. I gladly obliged. One of the questions was: who is your favorite local artist. My immediate response was 'me'. The more that I thought about my response I realized that there are local painters that I have admired, that have informed and guided my journey as an artist. This post is about my first art teacher Ken Gore. His studio is where I began my long apprenticeship (17 years) to becoming a 'master' artist.

The first Cape Ann artist that I have always admired is landscape painter Ken Gore (1911-1990). Ken was a member of the Northshore Art Association and The Rockport Art Association. He had a studio and gallery on East Main Street across from the The Beacon Marine where he taught painting on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. My father, a student of Ken's, arranged for me to have lessons with Ken. My paintings were not very good, but Ken saw ability in my drawings and encouraged me to seriously pursue art. I was 13.

The photo is Ken's painting "The Willow" that was auctioned through Blackwood March Auctioneers of Essex, MA a few years ago. I chose this painting to accompany this post because of the sheep, as well as his trademark use of the palette knife. Ken told me that when he was first learning to paint he was given a 2" brush to paint and 3 colors: red, yellow, blue and white. The subject? sheep. He could paint them in his sleep. Ken said that anything one could do with a small brush, could be done with a big brush; but, a small brush cannot do the work of a big brush. This advice has guided me through 40 odd years of painting, My preferred brushes are 1-2" bristle chip brushes that can hold alot of paint.

btw: my first lesson was to draw a portrait of another student's husband, then to paint his portrait. the drawing was true to the man's age. the painting made him look so much younger that his wife bought it. i didn't get the money, it was paid to Ken for my very first lesson. In exchange for future lessons, I posed for Ken's classes.

best,

deb.

Artist on Art

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Originally uploaded by debclarke art

that's artist Deb Clarke's reflection on the Randomarts window in beautiful, quiet , Lexington Ave. downtown Magnolia, MA. the artwork is by Deb Clarke, except the crying seagulls; which is a postcard by artist Kate Somers.

reception Sunday December 12. 5-8ish.
drop in and say hello, share some cheer. (usual artist offerings: wine and cheese)

artist in residence Sunday-Monday 1-5/6/7ish throughout December
for private viewing:  978-652-8273

best,
deb.

Nude Painters in Gloucester!

checking out search terms that land on my blog.  this one caught my attention:  nude painters in gloucester ma.  roflmao over this one!  haven't seen any nude painters lately, although i often feel naked when i am painting, have not taken my clothes off to paint in the nude.  yet.  maybe soon.  if i can find a warm private studio.  oh.  i have done some nude self portraits, a long time ago.  i'm so naked in them, they embarrass me.  just a few paintings, a drawing or two, with issues connecting the head to the body.

back to nudes.  if someone wants a nude painting, i can do this.  do i want to?  if the price is right.  i will paint whatever you desire. 

best,
deb.

ps:  today i teach little fingers to fold origami.  then i go to the Randomarts Gallery and put wires on my paintings.  re-hang the show.  going for critical mass.  must remember to leave room for peeps (i have a lot of work to share/unload).  there will be a free pile for those that wish to get something for nothing.

the wip (work-in-progress): self criticism/self doubt

it is still on the easel, right outside our front door, on the deck.  the oil paints, brushes, still in place.  it is setting up.  it won't leave me alone, sitting one step beyond my comfort zone.  potential, possibilities.  i think of my artist friend howard kline in Cambria Califonia building and painting/drawing lobster boats endlessly, joyfully, exhuberantly!  hello howard!  these boats don't come easy. 

i'm interested in the underlying structure of this painting.  perhaps that is why i decided to leave it until today.  this morning david said 'don't throw it away.  leave it.'  so, i look again.  i see a small square 'painting-within-a-painting' in the upper left hand corner that has some possibility.  when i see the whole painting based on this design, i think of jaser johns' flag series with a question:  can the rest of the picture plane be organized into 'strips' of the landscape, with an underlying reference to a flag.  the answer is yes.  ok, other options:

scrape the acid green, get further or closer away from the boats.

or i can try to 'kill the painting'.  paintings do not die easily, and i have already made that one step into beyond known boundaries.  pink.  that is what i keep feeling needs to happen.  how to do it without making the painting 'sweet', and how to make the work unto itself and whole.

for now, i will draw.

best,

deb


ps:  i have had many responses with preferences for the varied states of this painting.  the dry state getting a nod twice for like, one for not.  three yes on the way it is.  and i just started to scrape it.  i worry about the panel being poorly constructed.  i have already gouged into the masonite support.

moving on

for a brief moment i thought to throw this painting away. and i begin the sharpie series. documentation of drawings to appear on a new tab "Sharpie Drawings"