this drawing pleases me.  i should track it down.  mixed media with foil on canvas.

it's snowing today.  these Sarto sandals had a lot of fun in the sun.

best,

stay snug.

will be on a posting binge today.

lots of stuff to share!

deb.

oh, no...muse at play.

above:  judith's pears prior to muse at play

above:  after the muse stepped in it.

 above:  detail of the muse's work..dancing figures, a couple of musicians.

above:  the panel for Judith's Pears with a question?  fireblight?

  note to muse: keep your hands off!  it works the way it is.  (i better sign it before the muse decides to redact the pears.)  i have another 10x40" panel that is fresh and clean.  the muse can get that panel.  and finish the dancing figures.  ugh.  am reminded of writing: sometimes the writer has to run to catch up to the character that has taken over the story.  a completely different story than one was planning to tell. it is a for better/for worst relationship.

best,

with best intentions,

deb.

Here & Now! a historic house 'Revitalization' project

 deb clarke represents at The Sargent House Museum!  Sunday 7/17.

Spent a white hot afternoon working in the gardens of The Sargent House Museum in beautiful downtown Gloucester yesterday.  2 reverse glass paintings in process, 2 drawings.  a ton of photos. the newly painted blue chairs and tables interest me. I will go back later in the summer for another afternoon of painting.  The fish painting is not what I worked on (it is from 1995), it was there as an example of a finished verre eglomise.  will post pics later of what i did, and need to finish.

The Sunday series of "Here & Now" under the direction of Kate Laurel MacIntosh is a 'revitalization' project to draw interest to this historic house, the one time home of Judith Sargent Murray.  Stop by and chat with the artists working on Sunday afternoons in the garden and get $2 off admission to the museum; pay $8 instead of $10.  the museum is raising funds to re-place the Main Street fence with a fence more in keeping with the house.  here's the link to The Sargent House Museum.  the homepage is breathtakingly beautiful.  If you are an artist and would like to work in the gardens this summer, contact Kate Laurel MacIntosh at the museum.

best,

deb

ps:  if you work in the gardens on a bright sunny day, bring a hat, sunscreen, and an umbrella.  there is no afternoon shade.  i hid in the bushes from time-to-time to escape the sun.

faces i remember: new work-in-progress. Marilyn's Drawing Board

mixed media on laminated fiberboard.  a palimpsest.  Marilyn Buckles, an artist friend of blessed memory, gave me this drawing board to work on.  She had used it as a drawing support for several years, then I used it as a drawing/painting support for a decade or so.  Yesterday the memory of the plant series that we worked upon, together/apart led me to consider drawing.  This I did while all of our art conversations, visits flowed through me.  A figure emerged:  Marilyn at 3 and !/2 ' (a glass drawing of Marilyn advancing towards me.  her exact shape drawn upon the front of the glass, the exact size she appeared as i stood 2 feet in front of the glass, while marilyn stood 3 1/2 ' behind it.)  the painting broke.  i kept the shards.  after the memory moved through me, the marsh paintings appeared, dissolved, then the face began to emerge.  Marilyn's remembered words:  it is everything.  it is the surface, it is upon it, it is in it, it is object.  it is just everything.  yellow light fills the south window where we last met. 

best,

deb

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

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.

Building the Empire Show: sneak peek

#24 in progress.  idea for palimpsest in wax on shelf.

Debbie Clarke

The Empire Show

June 2011

Gloucester MA

artists, followers, friends:  do you share your works in progress on-line?  or do you only share completed work?  pros/cons.   

Debbie Clarke June 2011

Building an Empire Show!

Debbie Clarke

June 2011

Gloucester MA

location:  Public 

The box contains 18 completed packing tape and leaf works.  There are enough stretchers to complete 12 more (2down/1 in process).  This is the work that represents my 'winter' work cycle; which is, usually, spent working with paper, wax, gild.  This year packing tape is the newest material to enter the mix.  

This work is rarely shown as it is experimental, the place of dreams, usually on the studio wall until packed away.  This will be a rare light in Gloucester with a glimpse into my winter world where I demand more and more of my materials.  It is challenging to not work with a figurative intent.   When a figure appears, it comes out of the process, as oppossed to imposed upon the surface.

When this cycle is completed I will set up the outside oil studio and continue the black foil series with a focus on the palimpsest.

best,

deb

Art Not Art

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

"French Beauty"

SOLD!

I received an inquiry through a friend of the Goodmorninggloucester blog!  Sold the painting this morning and it will go to its new home this afternoon!  My first sale through my online efforts.  this is awesome!

The Self Portrait

I will start teaching again soon.  Whether folk show up with paint, canvas or rag, they will learn to draw.  Drawing is not passive, it is an active verb.  When we draw we are training our hand to follow our eye, and under the direction of an instructor, we learn how to move the eye.  We learn first 'how to see' spatial relationships and this process of looking, teaches the hand 'to follow'.  (eventually one may get to Joan Mitchell's 'no hands', but that comes much later, maybe years.)  The first lesson for all of my students is the head, through the observation of the self.  The 'self portrait'. 

to paraphrase leonardo 'the face we love the most is our own and we tend to impose our features on the other.' to this i add, first we see our face in the other, and then as artists, we learn to see how unlike ourselves the other is.  when all the brouhaha came out a few years back about The Mona Lisa being a self portrait of Leonardo I cracked up.  Knowing some of his thought, I was not surprised that they were able to find the leonardo's self portrait in the Mona Lisa's face.

I have not drawn an observational self portrait in quite a while.  To draw one is the quickest way I know of to get back into my drawing/teaching mind.  It is an opportunity for me to once again look at myself with no words and make sure my skills are still sharp. 

I took a photo self portrait today to document what I look like to the camera.  I will start the drawing later tonight.  the progress will be documented.

best,

deb

comments, responses, questions, critiques always welcomed.  either here or email to elli01930@yahoo.com

The WIP (work in progress) December 2009

The Big Spender Chorus Line

a glass drawing in progress

verre eglomise, with oil on reverse glass and a mixed media support

24x36"

copyright debbie clarke 2009 gloucester ma

She Defies Her Age

a face i remember, 5x5", oil and metal leaf drawing on panel with sharpie marker.

copyright: clarke 2009 gloucester ma

"Holly"

"Holly" 12x12" incised gold leaf drawing on distressed, partially stretched painting.

copyright 2008 debbie clarke, gloucester ma

from an on-going series: faces i remember.

"Winter Flounder" aka "Flounda"

"Winter Flounder" was created in 1995 for The Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester. The painting is reverse glass with oil and metal foil (aka verre eglomise) with a mixed media canvas support. It is one of 7 paintings on permant exhibition at the entrance to the museum's "Maritime Collection". size 24x36" copyright debbie clarke, magnolia ma 1995.

Gloucester photographer Mike Lafferty took some great pics for the museum and provided me with images. The zoom level really shows off the brush strokes and leaf poking through the layers.

The reference to "Flounda" is to my friend of blessed memory Anthony Orlando. He was an aspiring/very talented cartoonist and artist. The last time I saw him he was 20 years old and battling leukemia. May he rest in peace. most of my work has underlying stories to people, events and seasons of my life. this is just one.

comp4 zinc palimpsest

copyright clarke 2009

molded zinc with metal leaf and sharpie

Comp#2, a palimpsest

10x10x1.5" wax and aluminum leaf on canvas
copyright clarke, gloucester ma 2009

Historic Interpretation: AA BB Chair Reel

Two views, same painting, under different light sources. "The face we love the best" (paraphrase Leonardo) becomes incorporated into the glass artwork, as the viewer can see their own reflection in the glass. The artwork constantly changes.

copyright clarke 2009 gloucester ma

clicking the title will bring one to Peabody Historical show that this work is for. My work will be in part 2 opening in August.

The WIP (work in progress): The Wedding Reel

This is a detail showing the willow ware detail. the glass is backed with a gilded/painted panel. This is my interpretation in response to the collection of The Peabody Historical Society. This year they invited artists to create new work inspired by their historic collection. I have completed one study, and this painting, which is near completion. I have one more idea for the show, then off to the framers. My work will appear in the second have of the show (the first opens this weekend) with an opening in August, showing through September.

clicking the title above will take you to the site of the historicals current exhibitions