Turns out there is a contest on the Sharpie site!

Vote for me in this contest!

Submit entry

Contest details

but, you can't vote for me. i'm not a college student, unless there is another contest that i am unaware of. have decided it is a poorly designed site. especially when it comes to contests, and if it is not a contest, i should not have vote for me promotional buttons under my images.

whatever.

Magnolia MA

This painting was a demonstration for a painting class I held at the Magnolia landing a few summers ago. It is oil on canvas, 32x40".  I turned the canvas over last night and scrawled on the back is my copyright and next to that $850.  I like numbers that add up to 13 and reduce to 4.   

I will be posting work that is available for purchase. what would you like to see?  oils? landscapes? figures? mixed media?  reverse glass?  

my work on the sharpie gallery

debclarke glosta on the Sharpie Gallery. if this is a contest, what do we win?

i like the way the page looks when one looks at the view of all of my images.  i will put more images up.  i just can't figure out what the contest is.  and what does one win.  all i've noticed is that i give away a lot of rights, and sharpie gets all the bennies without having to give me credit.  okay, i understand this.  but, what is the contest?  and what is the prize?  can anyone tell me?  do you even bother to click through to the linked site?  if so, why?

best,
deb.

lookin' for some contact here.  hello? hello? hellooooooooooooooooutthere................

goodmorning gloucester

Deb Clarke represents!

the link above points to a post about me by my friend Paul, the Cape Ann Painter whose website is http://www.capeannpainter.blogspot.com.  Paul is the instigator of my regular postings to goodmorninggloucester.

check out Paul's blog and goodmorninggloucester for directions to finding Paul's "Art Rocks".  He regularly draws (with a Sharpie! marker) on the cobbled rocks of Cape Ann and leaves them for folk to find, along with info to contact him should they be found.  I've encouraged him to upload his pics of his sharpie art to the sharpie showcase that i am represented in.

best,
deb.

ps:  I'm still working on the portrait of Paul and I found out he lost his favorite hat.  I'm encouraging him to allow me to paint a fish on his new cap.  To illustrate the idea, i used the unfinished verre eglomise portrait to demonstrate an it.  Paul likes the fish on the cap (maybe not the one he will get to replace his lost cap) but he likes it in the painting, so i will incorporate the fish into the back panel of his portrait.

One of my drawings of Captain Joe's!

My drawing of Captain Joe's!

awesome.  it is one of my favorite mixed media drawings.  visit the site.  register, upload or vote. whatever.  this is just AWESOME!

Sunday Morning Cripple Cove view

This morning we held our painting class in my backyard.  we reviewed some work, then the students painted. i drew with my new sharpies.  this is the view toward the State Fish Pier with the towers of Our Lady of Good Vogaye on the upper right and the Marchant Street "Tower House" on the upper left.  I have since added aluminum leaf to the drawing to help define some of the shapes.  will post follow-up.  gorgeous day here on the cove, on shore breeze and the air is dry!  YES!

later,

deb.

Not Art

the evidence of failure.  and potential.

Artist on Art

Debbie Clarke on Debbie Clarke

the wip: moving waterfall with water gilded silver on the front surface.

Artist on Slideshow

hello, i'm lost in my computer slideshow of boats at the dock.

it continues to change.

very good.

work in progress: "Waldorf" new wharf pottery, england

fresh Plaster of Paris with the Green Family shards. 

it is a messy business that i do.

close-up of the shards. surprise, surprise, they stand!

and here's the thematic line-up.
the plaster is mixed with acrylic gesso.
 so, it should be a bit sturdy.
  will coat with gelatin or egg glue.  maybe egg tempera? 

art/not art?  these shards were dug up in the Green family yard.  obviously broken dishes, tossed a bit too far from the water to become beach glass (blue and white pottery shards 'willowware' were my favorite pickings from Pavilion Beach).
is this 'something we keep'?

best,

deb.

feetish

an old demo. i like this sharpie drawing on canvas. has anyone seen the new sharpie ads on tv? i'm sure my use of sharpies has made the art world aware of their great uses. i think they should use some of my work in their ads. put in a word for me OKAY. it's Sanford Sharpie. and i am deb clarke of glosta ma.

water gild in glass

and this is the fresh, set silver leaf on the front of the lighted waterfall picture.  i made a video of the process, but other than the good laugh, way too garbled to publish.  the mirror has set up, 2 days drying.  will show progress, need to burnish, carve the silver, maybe add more leaf.

1997 income projections

times have changed dramatically in these 13 years.  i have no major studio expenses now, and have limited teaching time.  i was teaching a lot, producing a lot and had commissions.  i made a very small profit last year, this year?  i want to get rid of my inventory.  need a serious studio/sidewalk sale.  will see.

best,

deb.

There's a good laugh in here!

the audio has a lot of garble. i'm blabbing and there's lots of background sound. if you can, wait for the laugh, it is priceless.

best,
deb

Art Not Art

A few years ago I found a dozen of these handblown glass panels at the building center.  i incorporated them into wax/gild wire creations.  the heat of this summer has melted the wax and most of the cold leaf is now buried in the wax.  i like playing around with the idea of what is art, is it the making of something intentional?  my intent here was to show off the beauty of the materials.  

it's summertime, so here's a pic of my garden, which is coming in later than other gardens around here.  must be the shade from the oak.

It's summer time, so i'm doing my summertime thing

It's summertime and I'm not doing a lot of painting.  hot, humid, is understated.  this is turning into a summer of old friends.  following is a pic of me and my 8th grade girlfriends at the Madfish Grill on Rocky Neck last Sunday.  5 of us are within a 50 mile radius of Essex, one returns regularly from Alaska for a Cape Ann summer.  we haven't all been together for a long time, and we picked up just as then, as friends.

following is my dearest friend Laurie.  she is a bluegrass singer/musician/gardener extraordinaire.  we have been close friends since our 17th year.  love this woman. love her family.  if you want to buy her music, she is on cd baby.  Laurie Keefe.  her bluegrass band is "Old Cold Tater".  when i first heard music in her house, i knew i always had to have music in my life, and musicians in my home.  and that is the way it is.  

and following is the Mill River, with a turning tide.  Laurie swam, I waded, we talked.  and wished the guy in the kayak would have shut up.

my posts will be sporadic.  i am researching family history, trying to decide whether to write it or paint/sculpt it.  and i'm researching portland cement applications.  i have a bunch of 19th/18th century porcelain and glass bottles.  and i want to cast some leaves. 

enjoy your summer.  summer on cape ann is a jewel, i must enjoy it.  and I will go to the Beauport Museum this summer!  Do you know I have never been there.

oh, one more thing, i'm still working at bananas, following is my eb keeping me in line on a very busy hot, humid, understated Fiesta Friday.  Viva San Pietro!

best,

deb

Art Not Art

the last of the slideshow with transposed colors.  this one is my favorite.

Art Not Art

and another from the slideshow.  this one is a crop of another angle.

Art Not Art

another blip in the slideshow with an interesting transposition of color. these images are more interesting to me than the actual painting. maybe i will use these ideas for new work, maybe not.

Art Not Art

This is a pic of a painting of capt joes, that is on my screen saver slide show. this image exists no where except on my computer, and the original pic has reverse values.   from obtuse angles, i see something else. this image above,  that is a resident file on my harddrive, shared here.  i have been tempted to paint it; but, why?  the image pleases me.  what happens when something is closely observed?  it changes.  

"Take an object, do something to it, do something else to it."  Jasper Johns

Art Not Art

a digital pic of my screen saver, which is a slideshow of my digital pics.  the original image refers to capt joe's.  goodmorninggloucester!

Art Not Art

This is a photo of my screen saver.  My screen saver is a slideshow of my digital photographs.  This photo that you see on my screen saver exists no where, except as a resident file in my computer, and now it is shared here.  The original photo is of the steps to my yard with the gardens cool in green.  The colors that are on the computer screen, appear as other colors when the screen is viewed from an obtuse angle.  

Art, not Art?

i use plastic packaging as a palette.  i rarely throw them away.  above is the inside, below is the outside.

it self hangs.   keep it, throw it away? can it go in the recycling bin?

if their mothers only knew, maybe they do

if their mothers only knew, maybe they do
Originally uploaded by debclarke art

this is the wip: formerly known as the ones who would steal. the figures are all glosta gals that i have known over the years. i'm working from my imagination and have scratched off most of the burnt sienna drawing. i'm keeping this in a drawing state for as long as i can. my internal landmarks are isabel bishop's standing figures, giacometti and edwin dickensen. still working out the space.
the space is bananas vintage store on main street in gloucester ma.

best,
deb

If You Steal, you should be aware of this!

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/06/21/nyregion/1247467968381/if-you-steal-pose-and-then-pay-up.html#

a friend sent me this link in response to my wip 'those that steal'.  public shaming.   a minister i know gave a sermon a while back that perhaps a pillory and public shaming is where we can regain some of our power and encourage others to the best in themselves. 

i don't know.

i'll just paint.  and if someone thinks they see themselves in the painting, well, sobeit.

amen,
deb.

the wip: ones that steal

This is what got started on the white angst last night (in between sorting my business papers for my accountant).  My first impulse was to make another landscape attempt, but these chicks kept imposing their images on me.  I have worked in retail off and on for years.  I have had artwork stolen from a cooperative store, caught tweens stealing soaps, caught/suspected chicks of stealing tank tops and camisoles, found evidence that jewelry walked out on someone's wrist, and when i was a child and early teen i stole a pack of chewing gum (guilt made me return it with a confession to Mr. Chatter) and an eyeliner (my friends forced me to return it to woolworth's, although they kept their loot).  another friend was a chronic klepto for a few of her teen years.  so, these standing chicks are the whole lot, including me.  at first there was a lot of anger directed at these women, until i remembered my own experience.  i trust i might develop some compassion as this painting develops and my disappointment in some of these once well liked customers will stay on the canvas and get out from under my skin.

38x42" oil on canvas.

best,

deb.

when we lived on the river

when we lived on the river
Originally uploaded by debclarke art

10x10" m/m construction

it is still tacky, i could add more leaf. this tack is from oil put on it in 2006. some works take a long time to dry.

put this in the wip pile.

100 square inches of the studio floor

10 square inches of the studio floor
Originally uploaded by debclarke art

painting of the studio floor. 10x10" m/m
copyright clarke 2006
gloucester ma

screen 1 and 2

screen 1 and 2
Originally uploaded by debclarke art

after the 200+/- of 2003/05 the reconstructions began. these are screened constructions. these works give me peace.

2, 8x8" m/m constructions with screen

copyright clarke 2006

out of storage

this box was full of 10x10's and 12x12's destined for the attic.  last night i kept hearing nails being tapped into the upstairs walls.  david was hanging my work!  these small paintings are from a 2 year series documenting the years 2003-2005.  these were the transitional years of loss and rebuilding, which included 2 moves within one year.   during the packing up, selling, moving i continued to paint everyday.  and by the end of the 2 years, i had turned on the work of my grief by distressing the work with handwashing, ironing, sanding, cutting, tearing, re-stretching, trying to erase what had happened.  and i discovered one can never completely erase a painting.  all i did was to change the work to a new state, sort of the bare essentials of materials.  a document of where i had been.

what drove this?  i remembered the chapel in the friari in venice.  a pre-gothic fresco, exposed after several hundred years protected behind an ornamental ceiling, disappeared within months of its exposure to 20th century weather/pollutants.  crystalline, salty brilliance glistened from that dome when i was there.  there was absolutely no trace of the fresco documented in the photos along the walls, and yet, a whitely brilliant energy emanated from the blank frescoed ceiling above.  this was the most profoundly spiritual work that i saw in all of venice.  this is the memory that still holds.  my attempt to recreate this experience in my art is on these 200+/- panels.   they look good on the walls.  here is a red one that i tried to 'cover up'. 

following is another red erasure.  this one was gold leaf and egg tempera with oil.  now, it's pigment, ground, support.  david hung this one under the skylight and right next to the toilet.

the following is now installed next to the shower.  it will be interesting to see how these works hold up to the 21st century environment of gloucester harbor, as they are, they appear to be exactly as they were the day i stopped working on them. 

Herb and Dorothy Trailer

Watched this documentary on PBS last night and decided that if they could fit over 4000 pieces of original art in their New York City apartment, I have plenty of room in mine for my extensive collection.  I have never met collectors like the Vogels.  The Vogels really got to know the artists, the artists' process, and really supported the artists at critical times in their career. 

There are a few collectors of my work that have more than one of my works, but there are no collectors as intimately familiar with my work as the Vogels.  My paintings have sold one at a time, with very few repeats.  Why?  because most of my sales have been commissioned for the space over the couch, the sideboard, the bed.  The biggest impact this video had on me is that it gave me great courage to continue and helped me to see some of my 'hidden work' as valiid.  So, I won't throw it out.  I will look at my art hiccups, see the value and remember that there is more to painting and making art than making pretty pictures. 

I kept thinking about the following stage of a current painting and now wish that I had stayed with this longer.  It has the grit with a sort of punch to my gut that leaves a retinal memory and a hint that 'onward' is 'this way'

38x42" freshly stretched and primed

100_3330
Originally uploaded by debclarke art

and i will start. in a bit. i pick up the pen, the brush. i start and stop before the canvas. i should make a 1:2:3 medium. i start to do so. then i grab the marker to start. then i stop. rain. put the canvas inside. i'm drawing on stonehenge with gesso and chalk. i will start soon.

Painting in the Rain

This is yesterday's working conditions.  Today is another story.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday's work-in-progress

before

and after

i've been working in the fog a mist.  media:  oil and chalk, size 16x20".

this is the same painting that is in the lower left of this blog's header.  the paint wasn't drying, so i scraped it, rubbed it down with turp and started again, and started again, and started again and will continue tomorrow.

Bonnard: The Almond Tree in Flower

Bonnard claimed his paintings were never finished.  This painting of the almond tree was last worked upon a week before his death.  I chose this painting from the end of his life because it carries all of the hallmarks of his journey, the colors painted from drawings, sometimes photographs withcolor notes, and his instruction that there should be nothing in the center of a painting.  He preferred the periphery, out of the corner of the eye.  he may have wanted nothing in the center of his paintings, and yet, as a mandala one's eye tends to move from the outer to the inner sanctum and then fully enlightened one makes the journey out of the mandala to the outer boundaries.  He never pre-determined the size of his work, and enjoyed painting on the linen/canvas stretched on the wall, cutting the painting to the appropriate size once he knew the confines of his picture plane.

I look at his work because he also freed his paintings from the limitiations of light by illuminating his paintings through his color preferences and bold shapes.  if you scan a quick inventory of his work, you will always note where his eye/hand moved through the center of his picture plane. 

and somewhere i have a stockpile of small 3x5" spiral bound drawing books, full of contour shape drawings filled in with color notes:  burnt sienna, yellow ochre, blue violet, thalo green light, etc.  I think it would be well worth my while to resurrect those drawings and put my color notes to the test of canvas.

best, deb.

Paul Cezanne

Paul Cezanne

"Road before the Mountains, Sainte-Victoire"

The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

Just made the decision to keep my financial life simple and not take on the added weight of paying for a studio.  Perhaps later in the year.  For now, the outdoors will be my studio and I will be companioned by my trusted guides:  Cezanne, Degas, Pisarro, Van Gogh, Diebenkorn, Thiebaud, Hawthorne, Hockney, Nell Blaine, Jankowski, Kline, Balthus, Bonnard and Joan Mitchell.  what?  no Monet?  no Monet:  his color is too sweet, his surfaces dense and no speed of the brush.  

Monday May 31, 2010

Yesterday's efforts with some understanding.

The view toward the State Fish Pier with Canadian woodsmoke.

this is the source for the 30x30 oil that I started yesterday. 

I'm very interested in the dot I placed in the center of the painting

 and the way the space pops and bends.