Her Shape Too (23k gold leaf and chalk on panel)

just finished. 12x12" panel
under 2 light sources, without flash:



with flash:

Composition Leaf Sculptured drawing (her shape present state)

This is the present state of the drawing known as "her shape". The canvas is resized 22x22". This jpeg taken under natural light and a long exposure. The values are close in pink and gold hues.

same work under flash reveals the subtle modelling of the underlayers and the burnishing tool marks.

detail, raised the contrast and brightness to reveal yet another view of the ever-changing surface. these foil works seem to continually change as the light plays upon the surface. sometimes sculptural, sometimes flat, sometimes blindingly bright.





and one more to show the everchanging light and surface. the painting goes from gold to pink to green, to blue, it all depends on the surroundings.

23K highlight is all that is needed before signature.


as always,
continue to do that which gives you and others some joy.
deb.

blogs i follow and if you are reading me...

i have just discovered the blogs i am following link. now, i just might be able to stay up-to-date with folk without having to jump all over the place. i know, i can use my bookmarks and other links, but it is so much easier having it all in one place. this is a feature that i really like. maybe i will start writing and following more. it brings 'community', something i have been missing here, but have always appreciated about livejournal (9 years writing over there). the first blog i have added is Kathleen Valentine's www.parlezmoiblog.blogspot.com. we have been internet 'friends' for 10 years or more. amazing. she is an accomplished writer, designer and knitter extraordinaire.

anyway, if you have stopped by, please say hi and tell me a bit about why you are here, and if there is anything you would like me to post about, well, just let me know.

as always,
do what gives you and maybe a few others some joy in this bright, sometimes dreary world.
deb.

EB[s 25th Birthday. Cambridge 2008

retinal memory and seeing Reubens again
we had a fun time touring the highlights of the harvard three lots of little gilded bronze buddha's to delight these eyes klimt and the saturated canvas jaspar johns 'dutch wife' did not excite me as much as it did in the savarin can days of discovery redacted to david: it didn't excite me. the surface reminded me of a group jerk off in carefully measured spews. this morning i crack myself up. dutch wife, glory hole, body pillow, spew...hehehehehe i got it right yesterday i could not remember, kept telling, redacting the painting, it's a, what do you call it? it tells a story...? a literar? no, narrative, YES! and thank you eb for filling in the blank and this morning i tell myself i need more intellectual stimulation meatier conversations living lightly on the surface and only diving down deep in paint time and yesterday i showed eb the reubens, three panels. he is my favorite a better draughtsman than michelangelo have you ever seen the displaced sizes and drives of some of those figures on the sistine's ceiling? and yesterday i said: the paint is so thin my memory of thirty years is of juicier surfaces it is the thin layers which allow a painting on linen to survive for centuries cezanne was thin van gogh surface not as fat as remembered and his canvas of acid green now under glass. could not smell the man i smelled at23 when my eyes were bright and i thought i danced with those guys an afternoon lament to eb my surfaces are just crusty and dense and why because i keep changing my mind oh there were the florentines, the venetians, and the siennese panels side-by-side i could tell the different schools the coloration and how many layers of egg tempera, many many, and here painted upon the leaf by a lesser painter than botticelli re-telling the humours of spring

EB's 25th Birthday yesterday! with left over candles from a b'day long ago

PWA: Emily Sinagra's "Dory Project" at the Intershell cement bldg.

Emily's dad wrote a story The Wharf Rat's Tale. Emily received a Searts grant under the Partner with an Artist program. The kids transformed the cement block building into a graffiti filled building with images, words of the present, past and future. what will they take from yesterday and today that they will find in their 'dory' when they set off from gloucester into their future?

oh, and debbie clarke artwork provided some visuals to the story installation. the kids took off with the 'reflective' stuff and even painted on the windows (inspired, i trust, by my glass work).

fun was had by one and all, but i had to miss the party. i was working girl down at banana's the day and night of the event.

Work in Progress: Madame B. stage 2 and 3

Above is stage 2. the canvas is 30x32, mixed media with aluminum leaf, oil, egg tempera, chalk. this has been in the works for 2 years. I pulled it from the racks a month ago and started to rework it. Below is stage 3, as of yesterday afternoon. The values are very close, so i had to up the contrast and intensity, so that it would photograph. The work needs to be removed from the stretchers and re-stretched or placed on a board. The painting has been sanded and re-colored, the drawing refined. I am 'in-between' looking within, trying to determine if gold should be introduced.

My posts will continue to be intermittent. No internet at home, trying to live within a very tight budget. Until the next time the signal gods grant me some air time, dream some, write some, look some, paint or doodle or google or whatever fills you with joy, do it.

deb.

drawing: cripple cove boats

drawing: 'cripple cove boats' 9x18"

copyright debbie clarke, gloucester ma 2008

egg tempera and metal gild on distressed linen

work in progress: drawing for 'her shape too'

drawing for 'her shape' 12x12"
copyright debbie clarke gloucester ma 2008
sanford sharpie and dale & rowney egg tempera on panel

Work in Progress: Her shape

"her shape" 30x30"
copyright debbie clarke gloucester ma 2008
m/m: oil, chalk, foil, egg glue on canvas to be applied to panel.

Little Mako in the foreground

what goes on inside the white tent on the dock? that is the dock, right? and the pier is fixed?

and what is the name of the cobalt blue boat that ties up just beyond the Grand Isle? it never stays in port long and when i finally had my camera for a pic, off it went. what does it fish?

Last night I said: Hey Look!

to which David said: Capt Joe isn't having a carnival. It's the reflection of the harbor lights on the truck!

The Trapper John, signed

It must be done; I signed it yesterday and put the painting in the stacks.
"The Trapper John" 30x32"
copyright debbie clarke 2008
egg tempera, chalk and metal leaf on canvas.

portfolio selection: drawing, 10x10"

towards the budder room

one of my high school friends had lived in Nepal, family attached to the embassy. one of the rooms in her home was dominated by a twenty foot budda. she always referred to it as the budd"ah" room. i thought she meant butter. we sat for long periods caught between the feet of the budd"ah" and the sands of the essex river bay.

June said: You gotta see this artist's house!

it is so inspiring!

i replied.

and i should have shown them that one.
and elizabeth said i should hang that one.

David said: Why didn't you show them this one?

...oh, he means the one on the right.

Progress Report: New Work, 1st and 2nd light

"Jahna's Chicken" 10x10"
egg tempera and silver leaf on panel
copyright debbie clarke 2008

"Elizabeth's Cardinal" 10x10"
egg tempera and silver leaf on panel
copyright debbie clarke 2008

Progress Report: The Trapper John and The Dog & I drawing

This drawing is done. needs to be sealed. then the final light will be applied. stay tuned.
"Trapper John and The Dog & I" 30x32" copyright debbie clarke 2008, gloucester ma. chalk, aluminum leaf, wax, sharpie on canvas.