St. Peter's Windows continue

Today I noticed that this warehouse is being re-habbed, or overhauled. There is a dumpster outside these three windows. The windows are getting broken. The dumpster is filling. There is a bus parked outside one of the bay doors. The school bus looks as if it is someone's home. I think this warehouse used to be known as the FBI Bldg. Duh, as a kid I always wondered why our Federal Bureau was in Gloucester. Duh, it was a family logo. I think it was Frontiero Bros. Inc.

UP-DATED: Thank you Joey! This is the former GMF building, next door to the FBI building.



I'm just a Gloucester girl with lots of memory and the desire to document my soujourn here.

I want to produce paintings based on these photos in reverse glass with gold and silver leaf.

I am in need of windows to paint on.

Ferrini, beginning

I've had images stuck in my head of the first time I met Vincent Ferrini, almost 30 years ago at a party in East Gloucester. Two white hands came towards my head followed by a blurry white face with the words 'moon face', then a laugh and he disappeared into the dark. This artwork is the beginning of my attempt to document the various intereactions I had with him.

The painting is an 18x24" piece of glass, drawn on the reverse with white china marker and a Sharpie, then layered with egg glue and silver leaf. The egg glue keeps the silver from turning into a mirror. A mirrored layer will be applied after color is introduced and the shapes are refined.

I received an email yesterday that there is grant money available for 6 artists to do public art works based on Vincent's and/or other Cape Ann poets' writing. One must be a member of SeArts to apply. My work is not based on his writing, it is a visual response to his physical 'i am everything' .

I am not a member of SeArts (tight budget: $45 is food and gas for a few days! ouch!), so I will I not apply for the grant.

I will make the work.

Other images:

Vincent driving his red car to Magnolia (I often found him in front of me when I went to my studio).

Vincent battling dry weeds in a little weedy patch in downtown Gloucester (it no longer exists).

The clearest visions: his hands, hat, sunglasses and a jagged little mouth which he held kind of straight and tense when he spoke.

Flint Public Library

15 children (age 8-15) will learn to draw next week at the Flint Public Library. I will teach them how to see via the drawing of the portrait.
Tomorrow I will go to the Art Supply and purchase 15 set-ups for children, 1 set-up for me:

Set-ups to include:

Masonite Backing Board
Good Quality Drawing Pad
Ebony Pencil
White Rubber Erasers
Clamps

the size will have to be no larger than 18x24, and that might be too big. the room has tables. ugh. am thinking about how the children can spread out to work without keeping us all confined to a very tight cubicle. draw in the hallway? use windows as easels? chair set-ups will be better.

the library is in a cramped temporary location. the new addition is almost complete and the library will return home to its entire collection within the near future.

back to the space constraint,

chairs and hinged lapboards. very inexpensive to construct with tape and masonite boards. very good.

add tape (artist and duct) to list and large drawing pad for me.

4 hours to teach the construction of the head.

I asked the librarian to place 2 objects on her desk: a tennis ball and a square box, with this question:

What shape is the human head?
put the answers in the box.
sort of a guessing game, will read answers at class opening.

Bag Lady

I'm constantly moving stuff, from home to the studio, from the studio to home, from here to work, from here to various house sits. I will be moving my home again, within the month. This will be my 4th move in 5 years. We finished moving the day before EB went away to college. EB will graduate next month from Maine College of Art and return to find her mom in another 'new' homesite. This one will have room for me to move my studio back home. I need private space to work in, and financially it makes sense to pay only one rent, and let the studio and its attendant expenses go. My current studio situation has been cooperative and storefront for more than 10 years; it will be nice to work without other 'eyes' on my work. +I will get to weed out the work.

So, what's in the bags?

upper left: personal stuff: purse, glasses, gloves, etc.
upper right: hand dyed rice paper
midlle right: wet supplies: thinners, paints, etc.
bottom center: the sorted lottery project supplies
middle left: dry supplies, pencils, brushes, supports, silver leaf

Le Beauport: Gloucester MA

Want to see the Gloucester sunset? or sunrise?
Here's the harbor cam (turned off at night)
hurry, hurry, hurry, before you miss the light.

http://www.01930.com

and here's another facing west in Lane's cove:

http://www.lanescove.us/webcam/

the art and artist are one

"Spoons"
this is the reverse of a mirror. i carved through the coating to reveal the metal, then painted with oil. reflection superimposed in photo.

Haskell View

paint
look
change
relate
complicate

knees
ache
from the squat
i use
to get
this view

down this hill
up that one

our lady spires
telephone poles
lines
rigging

killed the color

there are two
no,
there are three:

one night color
with my window
reflection
suggested

second:
black and white
day
no clouds
value, plotting

third
black and white
night harbor

soon i will
go to
the studio
maybe tomorrow.

oh.
i forgot to tell you:
i use acrylic as a meaty watercolor
very good for value studies
i use it as a drawing medium
i do not like acrylic color
and i do not like the way brush strokes flatten out
what i do like
is the easy soap and water clean up.

The St. Peter's windows begin

i'm being lazy and distracting myself with words

i started a drawing
it is a big drawing
the paper is cream stonehenge
i don't have a pencil sharpener
i don't have an eraser
i am at ellen's
i have woodless pencils
i started a big drawing of houses
the view down haskell street,
across the old boley's place,
connolly's fish market
the portagee hill
wall street,
the crow's nest
friend street,
mount vernon street
the boat yard

so many wires
so many telephone poles
so many windows
so many rooftops
so many boats
so many houses
so many rolling paths

choose, choose, choose

my eyes fight me
too much information
simplify simplify

my gut says overload, overload
abort, abort

so why do i feel guilt
and the necessity of going
back downstairs to the window
and figure it out

my kingdom for a sharp blade
and
an eraser, the preference is white.



Mar. 25th, 2008

found some color

duh.
worked with the paint, the ground is too absorbent for this job.
it will work with the window pane projects.
must look for packing tape and set up a grid.
got eggs to make some glazes.
this will size the current 'watercolor'
too much prussian blue
found another package of colors
acrylic, but in fun kid colors
Posted at 04:18 pm

Shalom! Self portraits 3/24/08

Gloucester Windows, St. Peter's Square

Artists Be Aware!

Following is the transcript of an email received through my Saatchi gallery. I suspect this is an attempt to entice me into losing money, that i don't have, through a check cashing scam to buy my art.

The email address of the purported buyor of my work, identified as Christy Lohan:
christy_uandi@yahoo.com

We have received a message from someone interested in your work on the Saatchi Gallery Saleroom. Please login to your Saleroom inbox at: http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/saleroom/login to view this message. HELLO, I AM INTRESTED IN PURSHACING THIS PIECE <3RD EYE>PAYABLE BY A CHECK FROM MY CLIENT IN THE UNITED STATE ,AND I WOULD WANT YOU TO REPLY ME DIRECT COS AM NOT REGISTERED TO THE SITE Thank You Saatchi Gallery Webmaster

I wrote back asking for full details: identify self, identify location, identify US client. This morning I received anothe SHOUTING email, that my contact should be direct, not through Saatchi. I wrote back that I could not do business with them.
I should have SHOUTED.

If they are legitimate buyors, what is all of this cloak and dagger, and why not register with the Saatchi site.

American Artist Self Portrait Competion

Call for artists
deadline: May 1st

self portraits that you assert is a reflection of yourself. click the link for more info. lots of art supplies for prizes, some cash and an opportunity to appear in their hallowed pages.

Sanctuary

this is yesterday's self portrait. today i drew the card of sanctuary within the court of the high priestess. the deep calling of the everyday, a re-connection in right relationship with community. sobeit.

Active Healing free screening

The next free diagnostic screening at Active Healing in Magnolia MA is May 10. Contact office manager Elaine O'Rourke to arrange for an appointment. This screening assessment is for ADHD and other brain developmental issues.

The Heart Mandala

i love this mandala. it has a three dimensional,time quality about it that i find lacking in the verticle charts describing the chakras.

A friend of the Paintbrush Sage asked for a recent self portrait

this is a mirror image. so my left eye is on the right and the right eye is on the left. folk always tell me i get an intense/odd gaze when looking/painting/drawing. my left eye is wide open and my right eye appears to be hazed, looking at something else. a lot of artists say they 'see' differently through each eye. i used to call it the inner/outer gaze. it is evident in lots of artists self portraits and portraits of artists/writers. i think of gertrude stein's droopy eye via picasso, ethel's portrait series of cape ann poets, kathe kollewitz, max beckmann, egon schiele, rembrandt...er, Debbie Clarke!

i perceive spatial relationships with my right eye, i see flatly in a value scale with my left eye. i perceive color in my peripheral vision.

Gloucester Beginnings

i was born on the centennial hill with a view overlooking the high school, the river, the marsh and onwards to the west gloucester hills.


mumu's house. she had the upstairs. various assortments of aunts, uncles, cousins lived downstairs. the front room was only used on the holidays. all other times sheets covered the furniture. the living happened in the kitchen and the dining room. flush toilet. bathing facilities: a round tub on the floor in front of the stove.

Brilliant Idea of the Day!

i want to paint the story of my family and friends on cape ann by painting/photographing various houses of said family and friends, then attach short paragraph to each image. the paintings will reflect the way i 'knew' the house, the photo will show the state of things today, the paragraph will be my sojourn.

PROGRESS REPORT:
location
anna's studio: photoed and up-loaded to lj on 3/11/2008
beacon/centennial hill house: photoed and up-loaded 3/11/2008 blogger & lj
east main street: photoed and up-loaded 3/11/2008 to lj
mumu's house: photoed and up-loaded 3/11/2008 to lj and the magpie nest
pine street: photoed and up-loaded 3/11/2008 to lj
sadler street: photoed and up-loaded 3/11/2008 to lj

TO DO:
location:
alper road: no longer exists, now haven terrace
atlantic street
bass ave
blackburn studio
burned house
capel's
concord st
east gloucester square
haskell street
jebeka lane
katy's house
lexington ave studios
linsky's house
magnolia ave
main street studios
maple rd
marble rd
nana's house
nancy's house
Niemi's friend st, western ave
norman ave
pew court: which no longer exists. contact museum librarian
pigeon cove where mum was born
ramon's
richard's
rio drive
rocky neck
rosie's
sadler street
school street
summer street
the bars
the brick
the cottage
the gas station
the irish mariner
the ramparts
tia's apartments
renee's house
totten lane
uncle moe's house
wittemore house

wow, how many breaths do i have?

Alek Razdan and A Train

Alek is a 15 year old sax sensation. My partner David 'doc' Vincent is the drummer in A Train. They are working on their new CD "Something Different". I just listened to their version of Rahsaan Roland Kirk's "Volunteered Slavery" and it just knocked my socks off. If you like jazz, go take a listen!

Artist on Art: Summer 2005

This digital print is an accident from the summer of 2005. The self portrait painting in the window is what I saw through the lense of my Olympus. The Camedia revealed something else. Manipulated via crop only. There are a few more images in this series. 5x5" prints, archival Epsom inks on acid free paper, mounted on cradled board. limited signed edition $100 each.

Up-coming workshop at the Flint Library

I will offer a two day workshop to older children and teens. We will explore various drawing materials from brush to pencil, charcoal on paper and papercutting.

The Lottery Paperdolls: Pinball Wizard

Re-Purposed spent lottery tickets. free-standing paperdolls. first batch shipped yesterday. second batch ships today. some stand solo within the cello wrap. weight bottom with hairpins.

looking at shadows

my eyes continue to work. i'm looking at shadows. in paint the light is yellow and the shadow is violet. my photo editor is not very sophisticated. may move to a gray value format, much more useful for painting. this photo is useful. sort of primal. the set-up is always there, after dark. the light source is fixed. the model does not move. my $100 camera shows its limitations, the depth of field cannot be finely adjusted. i finally, after 30 odd years, get the depth of field. when painting the eye moves around, the experience is in and out of space. my camera flattens it out. this is okay, because i like the tension between linear surface and a perceived depth, either through perspective, thickness/pressure in the application of the paint, value, hue and intensity. something is forward, because something is behind, and then the ambiquity of visually beside.

all of these last arguments must be left for the time when i have a loaded brush, a canvas, a wash bucket, some soap and water and some good clean lines.

Summer in the Nation's Oldest Working Art Colony

There are lots of live/work gallery spaces available on Rocky Neck in Gloucester MA for the 2008 summer season. click the title link to find out more, there are lots of great pics of available digs. If you want to live and work in a beautiful summer place, this is it. Sales? Some artists sell, some don't. The tourists come here to see the art, so if you have what they want, it is worth it.

I can't afford any of these spaces. I know very few artists that can afford this kind of money for short term space. My studio rent in under $500 a month. It is a shared studio space, and off the beaten path in the Magnolia section of Gloucester. Occassionally the tourists find me, but very few buy. Why? because I don't sell any $25 re-prints of my work. Originals only. and the work in progress is usually not what they are looking for. Seascapes and landscapes capture my interest for short spurts throughout the year,then I go back to what I love. process, not product. Most buyors of art around here don't get that. They want the quaint, the over the couch, art that sits on the wall requiring minimal engagement with the work. When folk visit I use it as an opportunity to educate them about the making of art.

Heh...a few visitors last year got very angry with me because I do not sell prints of my work. One day, perhaps I will. When money is a bit more abundant and not dedicated to paying rent, transportation, art supplies and food.

2006/07 'life on the river' mixed media, egg tempera

http://www.google.com/base/a/3321073/D15893999284168136380

the code above leads one to a description of my first product listed on google base. this will appear for 31 days. then, it will come down. i can post a lot of items. 10 is a good start. looks like i have my work cut out for the weekend.

this is the end of my 6 hours marketing today.
my accomplishments: answered email.
uploaded and later found my product via google web search.
visited lj, made a few comments. (not technically business, although one comment was business related. this comment to [lj user="absolutearts"], and another was in response to a fellow ljr's experience setting up etsy, and another earlier one was about another ljr's comment to my blogspot.

noted: Big Red and Shiny has produced two responses. very good.

a few folk have left through my photobucket.com account. i must reconsider an earlier decision to keep the account private. i can go through and make some albums public. again, something for this weekend, or start tomorrow night.

tomorrow: check in on the youtube developments.

and consider entering a laptop with my website address in a show that has limited wall space, although they want 2d images. thinking, thinking, thinking i am brilliant.

google, google, googling, googling

business update:

my on-line marketing adventures continue through google. today i discovered my old business flagged on google maps, along with the Randomarts Studio (where i still have my studio). i up-dated my listing through the google map with all pertinent details and a picture of one of my fish paintings from the Cape Ann Historical Museum. the new debbie clarke studio flag will appear on the google map in about four weeks. very good.

google then suggested that i list my products in the google base.
i set up the base account.
now i can start listing items that i am selling for free. the listings will appear in google product search, as well as, google web search. the posting of items helps google improve google as it classifies all of the world's resources, including people.

the next step, before i start up-loading my items, is to determine the correct rich text attributes to use. looks like i need to spend some time poking around in the art products to find out how others are describing their work. if i can get it right my reverse glass work should show up along with queries for gold leaf.

i up-dated my artist profile on the blog to include a bit about my art, my inspiration, what i do. and the critical: all of my studio inventory is for sale. and commissions are considered.

i am too pooped right now to do anymore.
i work on my marketing every day (6 hour average). one day i want to get back to painting. but right now i really need to make some money. so, my art is made from whatever is at hand. the camera, the paperdolls.

A few quick oil studies from summer 2007

Looking Towards the Rudder 2007

Beacon Marine across the cove 2007

Magnolia Pier 2007

quoting The Bollenberg

Thursday, February 14, 2008

valentine

this is from a very aged, overly ripened journal that now has a thick layer of mold and teenage angst weighing down its pages. circa 2002, a very fine year. i was 18, and just as bitter then as i am now. how refreshing!

Tuesday, February 12th, 2002

on the thought of roses, flowers, chocolates, love, hearts, cards, bitterness, nausea, and some minor fatigue....

...the day of romance approaches!

one supposed story of valentine speaks of him as a christian doomed to die in a coliseum. before he was sent off to be torn to shreds by lions and gladiators, he wrote a love letter. the catholic church (in conjunction and partnership with hallmark and Trojan condoms) made him a saint, although with a name like "valentine" he most likely was writing to his sweetheart Brutus which is a most uncatholic thing to do and therefore very much to my own approval.

no matter.

this v day im off to baby sit the little boy that puked on me last sunday. after disinfecting myself, i do however intend to twirl around my own bed room in a truly sensational lacey getup while adorned by a beaded crown ive had since the 4th grade and high heels from my 8th grade semi formal...this shall be initiated by the playing of abba's "dancing queen" and other various romantic compilations. possibly some divinyls in the mix as well.

the mere thought of myself doing that is the perfect thing to ruin any passionate and amorous expectations and desires that myself (or other unfortunates reading this entry) have of this day to come. it's a step above drinking alone and sobbing to your cat, but after the imagery presented above, you just might find yourself one rung higher on the proverbial ladder of self deprivation.

drink deeply friends and happy, happy humping.

copyright elizabeth bollenberg, all rights reserved 2008

rich life 2007

Paper Dolls

busy, busy, busy.

The winners are: Latharia, Inner Reflection, Deelight, Susan, September Bird.

Gotta get ready for work now. Will update with more information later today with a big surprise!

Paper Dolls First cut

Francis Bacon Studio, and I thought I made a mess!

Paper Doll Paper

Freshly pressed hand dyed, waxed rice paper, folded, ready to be cut into paper dolls.

One World One Heart Blog giveaway

Update 2/12/2008: I am overwhelmed by the response to this! I have seen so many beautiful blogs by visiting the sites referenced in your comments here. I have learned that I do not know how to respond to individual comments left in my blog. I have entered very few of the giveaways, because I have been downsizing my possessions since my husband died 5 years ago. First our apartment, with all furniture except beds was unloaded. Then I and my daughter (now 24 and in art school, graduating in May if we can keep up finances) moved in with a friend of mine. Moved with this friend two years later to another house and downsized further. Last year I moved into my significant other's apartment (small, small, small) and downsized further. I still have more stuff to unload, including a 40 year inventory of art. SO....do not be offended if I did not enter. There are so many wonderful things out there. The giveaways I entered are for items that, should I win, I know to whom I will give them to.

Drawing time: 11:59 pm 2/13/2008. I will pick winners for original paper dolls.

I will give away as many freehand, freestanding paper dolls as i can by the end of february.
made from hand dyed, waxed rice papers.
paper dolls range in size and format. following are samples from my last giveaway to friends at my LiveJournal.









to receive one, comment here and send pertinent address to elli01930@yahoo.com

Self Portrait at 54

Gone Bananas!

reconsidering diebenkorn

My Rich Life

Above: Debbie gets Diebenkorn
Digi Print FOR SALE




debbie clarke reconsiders diebenkorn. above/below digi prints FOR SALE

my reading list.

Below:There is a Debbie order to this. Coil Head Doll photo byphotographer Cynthia Capone (collection of Debbie Clarke)

Below: Shrine to the Heart of Love, in my bedroom.

FOR SALE: wire drawings on mirror with wax and gilt. HA! We made a 15 minute mad dash through Shambala
in Central Square last Saturday morning. SCORE!

wave of my possessions. paper, wood,hot water bottle

Gilding the 3rd Eye mini

This is the mini or what could be called 'the rush' for the longer Gilding the 3rd Eye.

Gilding the 3rd Eye

another 'short shot' in the 'hands to work' series. this is the long version

hands at work

Another 'Short Shot' is in the works. The short video will show how I apply silver leaf to a panel using acrylic paint and medium.