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.

clarkeAHHT product!

Beacon Marine by clarkeAHHT
Shop for a different button design

Finally! set up the clarkeAHHT shop on zazzle.com. It's an image licensing site with tons of product. still playing around with the options for my images. so far i like the idea of pin badges and refrigerator magnets. not so sure about the posters, image size, etc.

stay tuned. this badge is made from a detail of an oil painting of the beacon marine that i found in the archives.

best,

deb.

answers to a few blogging questions

A young friend recently asked me about starting a blog:

1: wordpress? blogger? why?

i use blogger and wordpress. this nest is my blogspot. my wordpress is somethingsketchy.wordpress.com.

i find wordpress a bit clunky and i have been having issues getting my photos to post from my flickr site, as well as from my computer. sometimes blogger is cranky...so i went back to the basic uploader. my suggestion: use the site with the editor that is the easiest for you to use.

i continue this debbieclarke blog, because it is a commitment i made to myself when i started it. a public blog to post art, art thought, engage folk's imagination, share my journey and keep customers up-to-date with any commissions that i may be working on. maybe make a bit of money along the way (NOT) through ads on my site. the monetary benefit dreams have been left long behind. now the only focus is art: what i'm working on, what i'm thinking about, work i am looking at, art materials/process and answering questions along the way. i am surprised by the growing audience of like minded folk that continue this journey with me. thank you for your company! your presence inspires me to put my best foot forward.

2: How do you get people to read/look at your blog?

good question...i'm still trying to figure this one out.

my suggestion is to first figure out your personal objective.

fame? fortune?

set your blog up first. get used to working with it. develop your focus. then let's talk about seo (search engine optimization).

i am not a professional blogger. i am a professional artist using blogger to enrich my art experience...in fact, i think of my blog as an art-in-progress, as varied and colorful as my experience.

following is a site to a pro blogger that has lots of great information. i refer to it frequently as i redesign this nest of mine. have you noticed the judicious use of orange?

the link doesn't allow a share here. it is onecoolsite.com. put onecoolsite in a google search and you will find it. it is a wordpress site.

best,
deb.

ps: if you view this blog regularly and would like to share your thoughts about why and other observations, let me know. and any thoughts about the design of this blog is greatly appreciated.

from the archives: 4 Stand

4 Stand with details. oil on canvas. circa 2003/4/5? looking at the inter-shapes. may redefine. faces? don't know. the line work interests me.

work in progress?

in process?

it's not signed so it must be unfinished.

best,

deb.

from the archives: Model in the Studio copyright 1997

I think this is Brenda Tredwell. She was my model and studio assistant for several years. This drawing is turpentine wash on acid free paper. Use blotter paper or absorbant cardboard as a palette, this will reduce the linseed oil. The reverse of this drawing has one small bleedthrough, with no sign of decomp. This drawing pleases me.

Brenda grew up on Monhegan. Her hair flames. She calls herself a rock rat. She modeled for Jamie Wyeth. I recognized her knees and hair that matched the color of Jamie's 'burn barrel'.

enjoy.

deb.

My Good Workspace January 24, 2011

reviewing old work, showing some current work, getting ready to do some new work. will stretch canvas soon. will show some work soon on main street in a very prominent window location. stay tuned for details. will photo work soon to send to a jury show. busy, busy, busy. and right on track.

slideshow of my good work space

this is my kitchen studio, with some works-in-progress.

what does your workspace look like?  would love to see your artist studio pics!

best,
deb.

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.

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.

Intershell Seafood, oil on canvas $275

This is a quick study that I painted during a Sunday morning painting class this past summer.  They hadn't started to set the staging for Fiesta, so this must have been painted in early June.

The painting has been donated to raise funds for my friend Jim and his wife.  Jim ran Jim's Frame Shop for years.  He was my framer.  Their handicapped van rusted out and they are now stuck without transportation.  The community is raising funds to help them get a new van.  This painting is at Stuff on Main Street in Gloucester.  All funds from the sale of this painting goes towards the fund to buy the van.

best,

deb

last summer morning 2010

someday i should learn to paint like this.  for now, the camera does the work.

best,

deb

Happy Fall!

Introducing Something Sketchy!

You can follow the progress of a few intrepid sketchbook friends

complete sketchbooks for 

sketchbookproject

(if you wish to participate, you must order your sketchbook by October 31st.  return the book by mid-january.  first stop:  Space, Portland Maine in March!)

  

Something Sketchy, gloucester massachusetts
 is the blog we have created to document our progress.  we invite you to follow us, and our sketchbooks as the work gets created, then sent off on a road tour with 17,000+ other sketchbooks.  you don't have to be an artist to participate.  all you have to do is complete and return the sketchbook.  the image above is from my spiral bound collection.  clickie, clickie...

Progress report: If their mothers knew

grid with thoughts of Poussin's triangular composition.

foiled comp

white aluminum foiled comp

the gilder's oil failed. good, now i can take some chances.

if it's going to fail, might as well do it brilliantly.

now i'm scraping back through the layers.

best,

\deb

ps:  there is a big cruise ship anchored just inside the breakwater.  lots of shuttles flying back and forth.  it's going to be a busy day at bananas.  almost 3000 peeps on the ship including crew.  goodmorninggloucester.com is sure to have plenty of updates to keep you all informed.

"Sarto shoes, a drawing"

"Sarto shoes, a drawing" copyright clarke 2010, gloucester ma, mixed media on canvas 24x24", a detail

"Sarto shoes, a drawing"

c'est finis.

in which i delete all of Ingres' qualifiers

"There is only one art."

Ingres redacted.
debbie clarke
copyright 2010 glouceste rma.

"Two Faced"

My friend Paul Frontiero makes 'Rock Art'.  He draws on rocks, then leaves the drawings somewhere on Cape Ann.  He uploads images and clues to goodmorninggloucester.com with a request that the finder of his drawing report the find to him via email.  sometimes he receives pictures of the folk making the find.  

Paul encouraged me to draw on some rocks.  I came up with "Rock Heads".    it is small.  i incorporated my copyright and email address into the design.  now, what to do with this rock?  it fits in the palm of my hand.  ideas are welcomed.

The WIP: shoes

this morning's work, and the light changes.  i plan to document this work through completion. or not.  is any work ever complete?  my interest lies with the arrested hand.  how do we know when to stop?  when to continue?  at some point a sense arrives, it is done.  

best, deb

I dont have a' Thousand Words'

Straight out of the camera.  I was so focused on the sign, I didn't see him.  I hope he doesn't mind, I think this is a terrific pic of a working man on a hot summer day.

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres 1788-1867

Ingres is part of my foundation and "Artists on Art" is studio companion of 30+ years.

"If I were asked to put up a sign over my door I should inscribe it:  School for Drawing, and I am sure that I should bring forth painters."

My art school was "Debbie Clarke's School for Drawing" following Ingres advice.  The interesting thing is that some painters were drawn forth.  BUT most of my students ended up being sculptors, designers, video/performance artists, ephemerists, collagists, etc.  hmmm.  I should have just named it Debbie Clarke's school for art.  because that is what I drew forth:  artists.  and when my students would tell me that they were there to become artists, I always told them that it was beyond my ability to create artists or teach them how to make 'art'.  all i could do was to teach them how to see as an artist, how to think as an artist, how to use materials.  the foundation was always drawing.

now, I am not a sculptor; but, i learned to see space through the eyes of a sculptor.  Andy MacMillan.  He gave me "B's".  His classes always challenged me to 'look', 'look', 'look'.  and for every 'look' there was always another way of 'looking' at the space, the figure, the picture plane completely contrary to the first look.  I would get confused.  Finally I confessed in frustration "What am I looking for?"  and Andy simply said "Anything."  and he held my gaze for 30 seconds and moved on.  he was one of my best teachers.  when I teach figure drawing, I lean into Andy's guiding words.

heh...and I thought I didn't get it or him.  He was right and i am so blessed to have had him for a teacher.  his teaching was as hard and durable as the granite this island is built upon.

By-the-way Andy studied with George Demetrios, right here in Folly Cove.  I had to go to Boston to The Art Institute of Boston to meet Demetrios' approach to seeing through Andy's classes.

sleep well Andy.  there are many deft eyes and hands as a result of your constancy.

best,

deb.

Art for Sale: Beacon Marine

Beacon Marine viewed from Rocky Neck.  This is an oil painting of the view from our old apartment on Rocky Neck.  The apartment was smaller than this one, but i sure got a lot of painting done in that space.  My struggle was to get the color, activate the picture plane and make the 'box' of the building.  The box is successful.  It was a real struggle to understand the activity below the doc and putting the boats on the plane of the water.  The painting is oil on canvas 24x30".  $375.  copyright Clarke 2007 

(wow, seems like just yesterday)

best,

deb

inquiries about this painting and others always welcomed.