Silent Nights painting are lovely. This is a fairly quick painting done tonight. I’m into doing studies. I’m learning a lot more about subtle light lovingly being applied to the figure by using it sparingly and mixing a lot of payne’s gray in to darker blues. It helped give this painting a subtle subdued and moody feel. But it feels peaceful as well.

This is a very quick sketch sent out to a woman who wants to do a commission of her and her sister holding their mother in water.  I am trying to align her ideas into a physical picture and it’s a very loose process in the beginning.

I’m glad to be able to take the experience of being in water in painting to a more personal level in this little piece. This will be a painting eventually. I’m glad that Vee talked to me a little about the way in which her mother passed so beautifully and how her and her sister held and supported each other in the process.

Thanks V.

I felt, be light child. The one’s who did not nurture you the way you need, might never. But there are others that when you are being vulnerable and turn to grieve, are there to meet you tenderly. And for a moment tonight I felt the weight slip off my neck. I let my grief dissolve be broken by love.

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I went to grab some breakfast today from the Cup N Top on Main St. Florence before heading over to my studio space a little down the road. The usual breakfast burrito and “biggest latte you got.” I got to joking around with Craig and Tracy Jean about some somewhat serious things. Strangely, a backpack had been placed somewhere beside the side door of the building, so the entire road parallel to the Cup N Top was shut down for security. A half a dozen police cars and fire engines silently flicked their lights round and round. Their drivers were huddled outside of the Florence Hardware store.

“What a world we live in,” Tracy Jean says behind her big smile. She handed me my burrito and we made some more jokes about how to detain a bomb with a robot. Morbid, I know.

I went to sit down to wait for my big ol’ Latte to be finished up by Craig as he multi-tasked ringing someone up and frothing some whole milk ( also behind a lovely smile). I get comfortable at the bar to wait and hang out and resting beside me was the Pioneer, a Western Mass Valley publication. It has such smart design layout and is a beautiful insightful spread about the local people and their events and projects.

I flipped casually through the pages, and suddenly, I found one of my paintings, hogging a whole page all it’s own. I just felt a surge of surprise and glee.

Then I flipped through more of the pages. Here, Julia Handshuh and Andrew Huckins talk about their design dreams for the Railroad Salvage Annex, a 10,000 square foot building. There have been many complications along the way for them to actualize their determined efforts of creating a space of creative sustainable local economy. It has been quite a journey for them. However, their efforts, though they seem to be teetering, are not in vain. To me they confirm something about this place, the Valley, in which the individuals are creative, innovative, and inspiring.

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A few more pages in I find my friends, Haley Morgan and Eric Hnatow spread out in subtle glass on the front porch of their home in Northampton. “Homebody Gets out of the House.” When I first met Haley we were working at the Green Bean on Downtown Main St. Noho. Today, she and Eric are touring the United States bumping their fun, fresh beats and tunes in different venues. They’ve transformed inspirations and ideas into a real live breathing band that rocks.

Homies at their Home, Story and Photos by Ellie Rulon-Miller

And still there’s more familiar people and their outstanding projects. Popcorn Noir, which just co-hosted with this amazing rad woman, Michelle Marchese, a lovely evening of short movies with people playing instruments to them. (One of mine was played as well...see here). Kamil Peters an artist who forges steel had a short story about his background and work. In an excerpt he states, ” Now that I have a kid, I feel that the best thing I can do is show him that I fought to live my dream and be that example to him rather than show him that I’m willing to settle and be afraid of what’s going on in the world.”

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By Danielle Desjardins. Photos by Justin Surgent

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I grab my latte from Craig, and wave goodbye. Sincerely, infused with something more than caffeine at this point. The police sirens are still trying to figure out the backpack. I step to the corner and head to my car, just smiling. Touched gently at the heart and smiling. I have found a place I belong. I feel like the creative spirit is alive. There is struggling, reassessing, and sadness when we have to be wary of violent outbursts that threaten our existence. But today, this morning, I could not ignore how precious this place I exist in is and the people that make it so. What a world we live in.

Current Showings of new Paintings : April 15th- May 20th 2013

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Josh contacted me yesterday to ask if I could paint him some swimming jellyfish on the repurposed windows and get it to him before next Wednesday. I was more than happy to oblige.

What was funny to me was that his wife had contacted me a week before to commission her own little piece too, so she’ll be double surprised when both come home to her next week.  sweet.  It’s kind of like a double rainbow.

I have few more details to add to the piece and another layer of resin, but this is going to be a lovely eternal aquarium of nettle jellyfish.

“New York Minute | Cecily Brown” with Derek Peck
AnOther, September 14, 2012

Brown is one of my most absolute inspirations for art and painting.  The paint is lavish, provocative and energetic.  The figures come in and out of focus of the color and composition. The work is just moving to me.  If you don’t know her work, have a look. She is a painter’s painter.

Exploiting the Mundane

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Keeping a daily practice is important for an artist to maintain.  This means if even for an hour a day, sit down and just draw, paint, and relax.  This method has really helped me to enjoy running back to my studio daily to keep playing with my medium.

Tickled Light 22″ x 24″, Acrylic and Resin on Canvas

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Often it’s good to add research to you topic.  What are ways this has been depicted? What  color combinations am I not considering.  What’s fun?  Try get inspired to do some problem solving studies where you don’t get too caught up in your brain with the gear running.  I really love going to The Jealous Curator to look at what other artists are doing.  This site is an amazing place to look around and read about things I didn’t know are going on out there in other art realms.

For me this week I suddenly realized there was a depth I wasn’t getting to with the colors I was using in the skin of my figures as the light dances across the surface of water.  I got really inspired by the idea of not revealing everything to the viewer.  This meant fading some things into the background and adding some of the creatures of the water to interact with the figures.

Traveling and taking pictures has also been a great help to my daily work. Recently, I went on a 7 day sailing trip to the  Florida Keyes to enjoy the sun, but also study the interaction of figures in the coral reefs.

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Granted, the reefs are deteriorating.  This is undeniable when you witness the dead coral littering the grounds.  Still, the hundreds of little fish swimming and stirring all around you in a deep cool ocean is inspiring.  I spent hours trying to hold my breathe and search out the small caverns of the reefs to spy on the local creatures.  Exploring the cool depths really helped me to remember to incorporate the native underwater life into my paintings because it is part of what I love about being in the water.  The ever evolving, colorful, flora and species that inhabit the ocean are astounding to witness and for a moment be a part of.

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Untitled, 24″ x 24″ x 2″ Acrylic on Woodboard Panel

I think it’s helping me to do this daily work and I am thrilled to see what the people around me are doing do with their creative business practices.

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– William Butler Yeats

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