In the fall of 2018, The College of William & Mary in Virginia, my alma mater, invited me to give a talk during the “100 Years of Women” anniversary exhibit. The talk was part of the Department of Art and Art History’s Alumni Speaker Series. It was a humbling experience to give a talk in the very lecture hall where I took my first art history survey class as a freshman in 1998.
I spoke about how motherhood spurred me to get serious about my art practice, how spending time in the outdoors fuels me and my work, my art-making process, some of the stories behind my work, and why art matters. Watch the talk below.
On November 14th, 2018, I started folding 1200 birds for Paper Mountain. Well I actually started earlier, but all the birds I folded before then didn’t make the cut. I was testing out papers, and didn’t find the right combination of size and weight until the middle of November. So from mid November until February 12th, I folded birds every single day without fail (except for 3 days spent painting at a workshop). In this video, I am folding the last of the 1200 birds. As soon as I folded that last bird, I felt a tinge of nostalgia. I really enjoyed my daily folding (typically 1-2 hours per day).
From March 9-14, I’ll be installing Paper Mountain and Sky Project at Elder Gallery of Contemporary Art in Charlotte, NC. The exhibit opens on March 15th. I’m still raising money to make this project happen, and I’d love it if you would contribute and be a part of this big undertaking. Thanks to everyone who has already contributed to the project!
Please forward and share this with all your friends!
Note: The video is sped up 2x and it’s set to Ella Fitzgerald’s “A-Tisket, A-Tasket.”
I spent a week in July in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Each morning, I woke up early and painted the landscape of fields, farmland, forests, earth, and sky.
Although you may be more familiar with my abstract work, painting and drawing from life are an important part of my practice as an artist. Observing the effects of light on color and shape, and translating that into paint keeps my eyes and hand sharp. These images work themselves into my abstract pieces as well – a memory of a particular color or shadow or shape – all these elements play into my abstract paintings.
Each 7.5 x 10.75 inch painting is oil on wood panel and is available for $550 including shipping to the US. $650 includes shipping anywhere else in the world.
If you’d like to purchase one of these paintings for your collection or to share with a friend, click on the images below to visit the gallery shop.
“Wednesday Morning, Valley Road”, oil on wood panel, 7.5 x 10.75 inches, 2018 – This painting is SOLD “Tuesday Morning, Roush Road”, oil on wood panel, 7.5 x 10.75 inches, 2018 “Thursday Morning, Beagle Road”, oil on wood panel, 7.5 x 10.75 inches, 2018 “Sunday Morning, Beagle Road”, oil on wood panel, 7.5 x 10.75 inches, 2018 “Monday Morning, Roush Road”, oil on wood panel, 7.5 x 10.75 inches, 2018 “Saturday Morning, Meadow Lane”, oil on wood panel, 7.5 x 10.75 inches, 2018 “Friday Morning, Deodate and Old Hershey”, oil on wood panel, 7.5 x 10.75 inches, 2018
Enjoy this little stop motion video showing all the materials I bring with me for oil painting on the road. This is my pochade box, or a minimalist’s kit for painting when traveling.
Want to learn more about how to make a pochade box? Check out this blog post where I share a brief history of these little portable painting kits, how I made mine, and what I take with me on the road.
Antiquity Hill 2, oil on panel, 7.5 x 10.75 inches
Next week I am headed to Pennsylvania Dutch Country for a week with family. During that time I will make a painting of the landscape each day. Plein Air painting, or translated from French, simply painting outside, was popularized by the 19th century Impressionists and made possible by advances in painting technology such as paint in tubes. Before this, artists ground their paint by hand and stored them in little sacks made of pig bladders!
Although you may be more familiar with my abstract work, painting and drawing from life are an important part of my practice as an artist. Observing the effects of light on color and shape, and translating that into paint keeps my eyes and hand sharp. These images work themselves into my abstract pieces as well – a memory of a particular color or shadow or shape – all these elements play into my abstract paintings.
I am offering each of these plein air paintings during a pre-sale this week July 2-8.
Each of these five artworks will be painted with oil on wood panel, 7.5 x 10.75 inches, and priced at $550. This will include taxes and free shipping to anywhere in the world. Because of oil paint’s long drying time, these paintings will be shipped in September. This way your painting will arrive in tip-top condition.
Note: After this pre-order period, shipping outside of the United States will add $100 to the price of these paintings.
If you know someone who may be interested in claiming one of these special paintings, please share this post with them.
What to see how I keep painting on the road? Here’s a little video I made to share my kit for painting in the outdoors. It’s a minimalist’s setup for oil painting when you have little space.
The Story of Antiquity Hill I painted Antiquity Hill 2, the painting at the top of this post, in 2014. I used to ride my bike to a nearby field to paint there. It was a vast space and there were just a few houses on the land at first. I’m sure you can guess what happened as time went on. The tree line receded, more houses were built, and eventually a shopping center went up. The field disappeared. This painting is a love letter to that field.
In this video I share a box of drawings and paintings I made while living in Australia in the time after I had a baby. I talk about how making drawings and paintings daily helped me get back on my feet at the start of motherhood. I also talk about continuing to make work with limited time, space, and materials.
“Wednesday Morning, Valley Road”, oil on wood panel, 7.5 x 10.75 inches, 2018 – This painting is SOLD
Antiquity Hill 2, oil on panel, 7.5 x 10.75 inches
