paint failure

the acrlic layer failed. i was able to peel it off to the canvas. it tore the silver leaf. why? i sealed the drawing with egg yolk. egg yolk layers will accept thin oil layers, as well as, additional egg yolk layers. for up to 6 months. acrylic must be kept below the egg yolk layers: fat over lean.

either it's time for me to mix up some egg tempera or pull out the oils. either way it is time to paint. and the failure of these paint layers have a lot of potential.

best,

deb.

Summer Time!

it's official, sometime this afternoon the sun will hit its northern zenith, then start heading south.  the primroses have infiltrated the garden.  i always think of the yellow blaze in my grandmother's garden when these bloom.  the plants in my garden from nana's:  primrose, creeping veronica (some call this a weed), sedum, phlox, bee balm.  all carefully collected, planted and moved from one garden to another over these past 30 years.  the veronica was collected three years ago from a crack in the sidewalk of a house i lived in when i was 20.  noticed that it has vanished from that particular house, it thrives here!

best to you, enjoy your solistice fire!  i sure will.

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.  

Fax Holiday!

My daughter Elizabeth Bollenberg plays in this band.  They are performing tonight at Tommy Doyle's in Harvard Square, Cambridge 9pm

My eb plays the harp and violin.

following is the link if you care to listen.  I think her strings are sweet.

http://faxholiday.bandcamp.com/

best,

deb

Rainy Day Studio

 

this is my little red chair, the subject of many drawings.  sat in it when i was wee,  still use it to sit upon, and observe it through my hands and eyes from time to time.  32x44", a beginning.  greek keys and french curves are my favorite way to travel through complicated visual data. chalk on unprimed canvas.  will add gesso as needed, maybe not, may seal the chalk with egg yolk and move onto another one.  i have plenty of canvas.  if i seal this work, i can take it off the stretcher, roll it up, then stretch another drawing surface.

here's my observational reference.  for many of my training years, i was training my hand to follow my eye.  it has become so intuitive that i now find my hand instructing my eye where to go.  very interesting change of view point.  the drawing becomes a record of my experience of moving through space with eye, hand, body.  an inner sounding happens.

best,
deb

Summer Studio: a beginning

Here's the set-up, palimpsest on gessoed canvas 26x26" .  that's Capt Joe's in the background.  again the geometry confounds me.  thought to give it a try, but...

the light was shining through the canvas.  turned the canvas and did this instead.  says it all. now what do i do?  go find some more stretchers.

have a stretch of good hot summer weather setting in.  better go to the art supply and get some stretchers.

best,
deb.

ps:  there's an intimation of Heasley's house on the upper left.  and how could i ignore that big tree?  easy...i just didn't see it until the end.

variation on a curtain

western window.  cripple cove, glosta ma.  copyright deb clarke 2011 digital print.

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

Joy Dai Buell in The Empire Window

Juni Van Dyke is curating shows in The Empire Windows at 169 Main Street, Gloucester.  Three of the windows are dedicated to the art efforts of the seniors that participate in her art programs at Gloucester's Rose Baker Senior Center.  One window is for invited artists to exhibit for a month and then talk about their work at the center.  May's offering is the work of Gloucester artist, teacher JoiyDai Buell.  Joi's paintings can be viewed 24 hours a day until June 4, and on June 5, I will install my work.

this last painting looks like 'whale's jaw'.

best,

deb.

Seen in Glosta!

5:19 pm today.

Building the Empire Show: sneak peek 7

Transferring Hokkusai 'The  Great Wave".  4 panels complete.  Brother Mike notes the images get very dimensional when the voided space of the 8x8" stretchers is considered during the re-construction.  

copyright debbie clarke 2011

gloucester ma

vinyl transfer, packing tape, aluminum leaf, Kanku dye (non-edible, not for human consumption)

Transferring the Hokkusai

Hokkusai "The Great Wave"  from the 36 views of Mount Fuji.  This image was on my shower curtain.  A few weeks ago I started to 'see things' in the shower curtain.  What I was seeing was the slow dissolution of the vinyl print dripping down the plastic curtain.  It was not The Virgin Mary.  It was not the face of Jesus.  I replaced the shower curtain with a light green leaf printed affair.  the price was right $4 from Bananas.  long/short on the way to becoming a drop cloth I experiemented with lifting the print with clear packing tape.  yes, success.  below is an image of the work table with the transfer in process.  i will use it up, print, plastic, tape and all.  8x8" on stretchers.

best to all,
deb

hello dear readers, friends, followers and transient, random drop-ins to this blog

family matters have caused a hiatus in my updates to this nest; however, the art continues.  my travels bring me to  burlington where my baby brother has just undergone open heart surgery.  he is progressing well and should be out of hospital by monday (fingers crossed).

 i changed his diapers for the first time when i was 4 and he just wee..3days, 3 weeks?  one of my earliest memories is carrying his swaddled body from the center of a military double bed to my mother in the kitchen.  her mouth dropped at my simple words "i was afraid he would fall off the bed".  the next memory is my brother pissing in my mother's face, may have been a few days before or a few days after my intrepid carry.  he is a good man and should heal well.

thank you for sharing your time with me.  i will capture some pics of my art, when i can.  but, i think i will first share some pics of the Indian grocers that i have found in my travels.

eat your fiber, give up the salt. in our family it is genetics.

best to you all.
deb

btw:  know of any good Indian grocers in the Burlington/Woburn MA area?  let me know.  i have time to explore and compare.

Hopskipping through Social Media

If you click the title, it should take you to goodmorninggloucester wherein a discussion about art is going on. 

This all started from my Facebook Friend Paula's link to a video share about art; which I then shared through my  wall.  I then posted the link on Paul Frontiero's Facebook wall, with a suggestion to post it on goodmorninggloucester.  Paul posted the Creature Comfort's video with a question to consider art, thus the discussion thread.  I love the irreverent ending of this video.  

I will now tweet this message.  I don't use twitter often, but would love to see where this post goes. looking forward to seeing where this post gets shared to whether twitter, gmg, facebook, your blog, your friends.


My contribution to the art discussion on goodmorninggloucester is about art as an energy exchange.  This idea was first presented to me through the writings of American artist Audrey Flack.  This little book has been a studio companion for 20 years.  always recommended to my students and artist friends.  She covers vast territory of contemporary art thought, process, the market place, the national juries.  always thought-provoking.  "not everyone can be in New York.  there is a place for regionalism."

more true today, than when American regionalism was the rage.

happy travels post! time for a game of Hop, Skip and Jump!
best, deb.

Building the Empire Show: sneak peek 6, The Last of the Stretchers

'have you done anything?'  'why, yes.  i have drunk all of the rum.'

and i have used all of my stretchers.  now, to take the work off the wall.  a few views of one possibility.  flat, on the wall, and off, free form.  

i have a little over 14,000 inches of packing tape.  50 feet or so of wire.  75 running feet of 5x5" aluminum leaf, a 1/2 pint of gesso.  a pint of matt medium.  10 sticks of chalk.  5 sheets of 30/40 stonehenge.  several hundred feet of rice paper.  a few gallons of wax.  several hundred yards of kodak laminate. 2 square feet of fine genuine silver.  

off the wall.  off the wall.  i have to let go.  sometimes i am a control freak.  

best, 

deb

packing tape art and a word on inspiration.

 reverse, adhesive surface. foil transfer.  2,3" 

 on black background. front, non-adhesive.  'the window'

 on white background. window face. non-adhesive

 detail.  leaf transfer in process.  window side, leaf on reverse.

my rather tidy workspace with work in progress.  expecting studio visits soon.

best,

deb

ps:  where did this packing tape art idea come from?  i use tape for grids.  the tape became more interesting once i started using it to clean up stray leaf droppings.  then i started to transfer the leaf from the tape.  and i had a lot of leaf, and i had broken one too many glass paintings, and i wanted to be tidier, and i wanted to just work with light.  

then, just now, i see the CSI using transfer tape to lift grit, fingerprints, evidence.  love those CSI shows, Criminal Minds disturbs me, so I don't watch.

Easter doings, and Building the Empire Show sneek peek 5

 white eggs dyed orange by putting onion skins and vinegar in the water bath

 this face emerged in the palette knife scraping

 packing tape with paper transfer

 epson print transfer with palette knife scraping 

 palimpsest with aluminum leaf, chalk transfer and kodak laminate

the palimpsest described above with brighter light

highlights from the work last week.  the palimpsest completed yesterday morning.  boiled the eggs yesterday, recipe courtesy of my good friend June, with a nod to her childhood memories. started cooking yesterday am, didn't stop until 6 or so.  hightlights of the efforts:  2 quiche lorraine, 2 sweet potato pies, one roast beef, scalloped potatoes, asparagus and...

Hey EB!  I have your D&G Sunglasses! 

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.