Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Snowy January 2010




I was honored to be invited to show my new piece in the current show "Seeing in One" at the Adirondack Artists' Guild Gallery in Saranac Lake. I am experimenting with Lesley Riley's Transfer Artist Paper and used it with a watercolor underpainting for this work. The TAP was perfect for this because I ironed it right on the painted watercolor paper, and it didn't move the paint around at all. There is definitely a learning curve with this material though. For the media I used here, it was too easy to have the ink on the transfer squish out from under the edges of the cut-out image when I pressed too hard with the iron. I'm imagining lots of promising mixed media projects with it though.

Last week I closed NICHE Gallery with feelings of both sadness and excitement. I enjoyed being there so much, but a gallery-keeper I am not. I plan to teach art classes in Valatie (and other places, including Saranac Lake). I also want to develop my own art work and be able to travel (to Panama for month this Spring - look for a link later on to a blog from that trip).

Now I am up in the Frozen North at my little outpost near Saranac Lake for several days - seeing friends, snowshoeing, drawing, working, and pondering. The chickadees, red-breasted nuthatches, and blue jays (previously uncommon in Fernville) have found the suet and seeds I put out on Friday afternoon and zoom around the cabin all day long. Last winter a Northern Shrike sat on a branch just 5 feet from my face at the bedroom window for a look at potential meals. Wondering if it will return. I filled up one of my blue water jugs today when I went to a friend's house for a delicious hot shower. There is something about being completely covered with warm water that is such an unappreciated luxury most of the time... I really manage very well without running water but I won't mind when I have it here - maybe next winter after a new well and an addition. Some lovely frost on the porch window when I arrived:This photo will make a wonderful background for a transfer. Feel free to borrow it.




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