Mary Elizabeth Kimbrough Painting A Day

Pretty and Aggressive and Rejection

2015-04-29T09:48:00.001-07:00

Another piece I worked on while I could not blog is this one. It is on linen and I love to work on linen. Somehow the color and texture make the paint brighter. So I had just began putting down washes and spraying them down with a mixture of water and denatured alcohol, and watching them run. I did some stenciling, too, and let it rest.

One lovely Tuesday afternoon I went out to my friend's place in the country to paint. She had a group of people there for a workshop, so I shared some texture information with them, stayed, painting in the outdoor studio all afternoon. This canvas was empty so I just put images on it and kept going. I was working with the Inktense Blocks and paint and spraying down with the alcohol and water mixture.

The finished piece is pleasing to me because it has sickeningly sweet colors that are balanced by aggressive line and shadow.

So this is a smallish painting, 16x24, and if you are interested, message me.

Meanwhile I drove my fish picture (pride

goeth before a fall and I fell) to be juried for a show. I was rejected very quickly, and I felt bad. Of course I should not feel bad but for a moment I did. Its part of the game I am in however, and I must accept it. Just really pleased with the fish! How did the juror not see its beauty?

Rejection is the hardest thing for me. Not just in my work but in life. I have to find my own place in the art community here, and it has forever eluded me. The lesson being maybe I need a bigger community!

Fish On A Dish

2015-04-24T09:35:00.004-07:00

The evolution of my fish painting, which I did all in one rainy day in April. Paper surfaces react so differently from canvas, and I love working on paper. This is a 300 pound, cold press, watercolor paper, that I pretreated with crackle paste, and gesso. The image was made with Inktense color blocks, and Golden QOR watercolors. There is some stenciling (red dots), sgraffito, sanding, oh and watercolor paint that has been sprayed with denatured alcohol..enough with the techniques already! Fish are so much fun to paint because the surface is so reflective and colorful. I tried to juxtapose reflective objects, the fish and the candalabra, here. Hoping that this piece is juried into a show that is coming up...and Ashland Gallery framed it beautifully for me. Be Well! XOXO MEK...and happy weekend!

Florida Peacock

2015-04-23T15:05:00.001-07:00

Florida Peacock is small 8x8, mixed media on cradled board. Its name comes from the terrific peacock label that is collaged into the center plus the yellow shape on the bottom right, which looks like Florida. Im working on small, painterly, abstract pieces right now because I have never done any abstractions and, for the first time in my life, I am more interested in paint than image. It is strange to be liberated from the image, and by no means do I plan to stop painting stuff. But this is fun right now...very zen...I work on about 6 minis at once...Henry Ford style...and it takes me out of my world. Glad to be blogging again. I've missed it. XOXO MEK.

Finito! Fini! Termini!

2015-03-09T08:33:00.001-07:00

Done with the big Amaryllis, which is a 40x40 mixed media on canvas piece. I activated it a little more, to create movement and excitement....and now it is ready for its debut at Ashland Gallery. I will deliver it tomorrow. I'm happy with it due to its lively nature and bright, bold colors. As a sideline I painted a small work on paper of the pink Amaryllis that I also have at home. It is wrapped in some festive sparkly ribbon, and it looks like a party hence its title "Party Time." I got some paper that is designated for acrylic paint, and I gessoed it, and used washes of paint plus old map cuttings to make this one. Oh dear the washes are so much fun to do, and I am again reminded of how much fun it is to use acrylic paint, as it is so versatile. Play around with your materials because that is how you learn. And do not be fearful because you must make mistakes to learn, too.

Spent a glorious weekend having too much fun...at Red or White on Friday night, in the studio on Saturday, and at Callaghans and The Frog Pond at Blue Moon Farm on Sunday. A little bit bushed this morning but it sure was worth it. Happy daylight savings time to all. I bet you are yawning a bit the a.m. as well...cheers! xoxo MEK.

Trite, Overdone, And Low on Content

2015-03-03T08:00:00.001-08:00

I love to paint flowers even tho I know they are low on the scale of painting subjects. Trite, overdone, low on content well all of that is true, but I like to think my flowers are more than that. I will paint them sometimes with other objects, but lately I'm being loosey goosey and just making big, pretty, flower pictures. Working on this large Amaryllis right now because what else blooms this time of year that is worth painting? I tend to work with dramatic blossoms, rarely anything that is small, unassuming, or ordinary. I love a big, bold, aggressive flower. This one has a way to go. I am having so much fun painting big...pure pleasure y'all. Moving my arms around and standing up while I work, making big gestural marks, its great wintertime fun. I am thinking that by next month we will have some local lovelies to paint...in the meantime I cannot complain! Happy Tuesday...Ive got a bridge game, dinner with friends, and already taught a painting class that I love,,,enjoy from MEK.

Have a Seat in the South

2015-02-23T12:21:00.000-08:00

Not so long ago I sat at a table with a woman from the Northeast, who currently lives in the Southeast. She was disdainful of the south, for the obvious reasons, and made it clear to me. I responded with a list of all southerners who have contributed to the USA. Her comments got me to thinking about all of those who I am proud of from this region. As a response I am working on a series of chair pictures, smallish ones, for some of those I want to honor. I love working on these little paintings because I can work on them in a series, picking up one for a few minutes, and another while the previous one dries.

This one salutes Tennessee Williams, whose plays are so over the top, so dramatic, poignant, truthful, of a time and place, and of course wonderfully entertaining. Williams was a character, an old timey southerner who was irreverent, talented, and self destructive. Is it true that his death was the result of choking on a prescription bottle cap? Anyhow I admire him, and love knowing (because I read a biography of Gore Vidal) that GV referred to Williams as "the Glorious Bird." So this is his chair, classical, with a Gothic element, colorful, decadent, but with letters and language featured. 9x12 on cradled board, mixed media with acrylic. Happy Monday from MEK.

Fat Tuesday Tidings

2015-02-18T08:13:00.000-08:00

Actually today is Ash Wednesday, the day that follows Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday or Carnival...whatever you call it. All the wackiness is over, and it is time to get down to the business of salvation and penitence. Whether you believe or not, there is something to be said for blowing it out Mardi Gras style before you start behaving. If you study about Carnival you will discover that it is an ancient celebration, goes as far back as the Romans, pagans! OMG! The upside down nature of Carnival lets anyone and everyone be royal, and should serve to humble actual royals. Carnival comes at exactly the right time, too. The ancients understood that we need to get through winter without giving up or getting down, and this party does the trick. I always felt so bad for those that did not celebrate Mardi Gras, because it gives the year an extra boost when we need it most. Here in Mobile our last parade is the Order Of Myths, and its emblem float features Folly chasing Death around the broken column. It is a wonderful image, captured here by my friend Carmen Kearley Miller. Adios Mardi Gras see you next year! XOXO MEK.

Is Painting Relaxing?

2015-02-02T08:50:00.000-08:00

So a friend asked me recently if painting was relaxing, and I have been thinking about that ever since. I don't paint to relax that is certain. When I was answering the question the first think I said was it is what I do, and then I like to make money from it and to keep my career going, and all of those statements are true. But relaxing? It is not like sitting on the beach reading, or floating in the Gulf of Mexico, both are activities that I find relaxing. Painting does, however, take me away from the everydayness of life, the repetition of getting up, going to work, teaching, etc...because it is completely different from most other activities. It engages my brain and my body, and makes me solve problems that are unlike daily problems. I like to paint every day, even if it is only for 30 minutes, because for me it is more of a release from the day to day than a relaxing activity. So how about you? Is your art practice relaxing? And how do you feel about that query? Would you ever ask someone who sells real estate if their job was relaxing? It speaks to the way artists are perceived in the world we live in, that our work is often not seen as work, but fun. If you are a dabbler, a hobbyist, or somebody who likes to paint and drink wine simultaneously, you may find painting relaxing. If it is your vocation, it probably makes you happy to paint (it makes me happy for sure), Something to contemplate....Great weekend folks. Mardi Gras has begun in earnest, and I went to a masquerade ball at a lovely home in the DeTonti Square area of my town. Great fun and fabulous costumes! Finished two paintings this weekend, both of the same set up, different sizes, gallery bound this week.

National Pie Day

2015-01-23T08:35:00.000-08:00

My artist friend Lucy Hunnicutt shared a post this morning informing me that it is National Pie Day! Hell yeah lets all celebrate pastry. Here is a little cherry pie (my very favorite) painting I did a few years back...for you viewing pleasure, and a quick and easy and really great recipe for pie!!! Um might have some pie and coffee at 4 this afternoon. Who is with me?

Fruit Pie Recipe

2 pie crusts one for the top and one for the bottom

4 cups of fruit I like to mix whatever is in season

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup of sugar

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Mix all ingredients together. Put crust in pie pan, then fill with the mixed ingredients. Place the other crust on top. Slit the top crust a few times. Bake at 400 until brownish and bubbly. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream. This will make you happy. Happy Friday! Cheers from MEK.

An Artist I Never Heard Of

2015-01-22T08:34:00.000-08:00

http://www.dcmooregallery.com/artists/jane-wilson/biography/8#11

I am one of those people who loves to read obituaries, and I found one for Jane Wilson in the NY Times yesterday. Wilson was associated with the 1950s New York scene, and she was originally from Iowa. Iowa was on my mind because: a. Girls new season is partially set in Iowa, and b. Joni Ernst Iowa senator did the Republican response(can you say bread bags) to the SOTU address night before last, and c. I was thinking about how my first job interview, where I was the runner up for a job, was in Davenport, Iowa. Anyway this woman's work was intriguing because although she spent a great deal of her life in NYC, she really painted the space she grew up in. Her paintings are beautiful and made me think of Susan Downing's grand works featuring big skies over the Gulf Coast. The colors are rich and beautifully laid down, so that I see Wilson using the sky as a jumping off point for her own ideas about paint. Many people these days paint sort of like this, but do not do it well, so her work is refreshing for me.

Wilson seemed to have lived a fairly normal life, which is what most artists do. All of us are not crazy and nutty, going around in a fog. Really in order to do this work, which is solitary but so very much fun, one has to be motivated, organized, and hard working. Any artist that does not possess these characteristics is going to produce very little. Here is a beautiful piece by Wilson. Is it water or landscape? Does it even matter? It evokes a moment in time, a breeze, the sun shining on a place and creating glowing color. Lovely especially in the gray of January.

P.S. I just delivered some new work to Ashland Gallery in Mobile, Alabama, in fact it is right in my neighborhood! Give it a look see. And I spent another beautiful weekend at the 30A Songwriter Festival with friends, one of whom is a fantastic painter. Susan Godwin website. I saw many old friends, met up with my cousins, laughed so much with my friends and family...ate well, stayed up late, enjoyed so much music, too. Hope your 2015 is off to a good start . Im back in the studio, and so glad to be there. Be well from MEK.

Reflections

2014-12-11T08:09:00.000-08:00

No not in that goofy "reflections" of the past or my emotions or any of that...just painting reflections, which, when I finished this, I determined that was the subject.

This is my mantle with a candelabra from my grandmother's house. It is one of my favorite objects. The maraca is a favor from a friend's Mexican themed wedding party. Megan Gulland made the ceramic cherry sculpture...another treasured object, and Janice Kluge made the red bird. The colors here please me, and the reflections! The way the light moves around the scene gives it life. It is fairly large, with a bunch of texture. You can see it, and buy it, at Lyons Share Gallery in Fairhope after today. Happy December 11...Christmas is almost here. You can purchase small nativity paintings at gifting prices at Lyons Share in Fairhope and at Ashland Gallery in midtown Mobile. Be well...xoxo MEK.

2014-10-21T17:11:00.001-07:00

The cotton painting is now finished. I enjoyed painting the white blossoms of cotton a great deal because you can do so much with it: make it thick with paint or thin, scratch in it, make is shiny, and the stalks that support it create a design to hang the whole composition on. I am painting more cotton pictures...it is rich with possibility.

The colors are intense here, and in the fall that is the way. Before winter arrives nature works so hard to get us to look. Again these are Cathy's persimmons, some pomegranates, three leftover sunflowers, and of course the cotton. Well it was a fun exercise. I hope you enjoy it. Happy Tuesday, cheers from MEK.

Chair Number 2

2014-10-20T06:29:00.003-07:00

Completed this last night as I was up late and feeling frisky. I have been going back and forth on this one and another canvas painting of cotton. Back and forth is how I like to do it because you can let it dry while you work on the other one...and it is so much fun to have two pictures going at once!

This is a full sheet of 300 lb Arches watercolor paper, which has a very absorbent surface with a bit of texture. Absorbent paper works best for me because I load on the paint every time. When I finish it has the quality of a textile .
I do love 300 lb cold press paper. I used fluid acrylics, inktense blocks, graphite, charcoal, some stenciling, but no collage at all. I am entering this in a juried show far away so we will see how it does.

And why chairs? Long ago I painted a series of outdoor chairs and barbecue grills and I just might make a few more of those before this chair series is over, but I do love the chair as substitute for the body, and the style of chair as a mark of aspiration. Furniture is telling about one's class, and how one wants to be perceived. I look at home decorating magazines quite a bit, and am fascinated by how much dough some folks have to decorate. I inherited a bunch of furniture from dead relatives, and I still use most of it. Not being in the money, it never occurred to me to go out and get new furniture. Now that I am a bit more prosperous I am much more aware of how people advertise themselves through their possessions, myself included! Anyway I have stuck the apple image in both chair pictures because the wood of the chair makes me think of a tree and then the apple fits. And always the garden of Eden is in the back of my mind! Upward mobility and all that...but of course just the fun of making this object look 3D and alive.

Well I hope your Monday is stellar! XOXO, MEK.

Graphic

2014-10-18T13:01:00.001-07:00

I once studied to be a graphic designer, and at that time, everything was done by hand. I had trouble making everything perfect, which made me very nervous, and I switched my major to fine art. However I retain a great love for a graphic look, and I try to include that in my work.

Two artists that are masters at this are Jasper Johns and Jim Dine. I look at their works often, and with admiration.

My first chair was completed a few weeks back, got accepted into a show, and sold right away. This is the beginning of the second in a series, "Chairs," which I hope I get to show as a group sometime. Inspiration for the chairs comes out of my interest in interiors, plus the books I collect about furniture. This chair is French, and I made the upholstery red because I am thinking about adding color to the series. So you might get red chair, blue chair, green chair, etc....but I am not sure about the color part yet. These are on paper, 300 lb cold press watercolor paper, my favorite kind. I have worked a bit so far with graphite (woodless pencils), paint, and inktense sticks. These sticks are a grand new discovery for me. The colors are, as advertised, intense, and the marks show up beautifully. I hope to finish this one tomorrow. Happy Saturday from MEK.

Augusta's Factory

2014-10-15T08:49:00.001-07:00

An artist friend, Augusta Wilson, shared this photo of her studio on Facebook. The first thing I thought about was the Ben Folds song, Jackson Cannery, which I used to listen to incessantly while working . " I'm a factory" used to run through my head while I made many multiple nativity scenes back in the day.

In fact Augusta used to work on my nativities many years ago when she was a school girl. Now she is a grown up woman, with a husband and a baby, plus a thriving career as a painter. I really love her work, and her ability to market it. You will see her marketing skills when you click on the link to her website. Look at those colors! The gestures we see are marvelous! And so, so many combinations. One gets the actual feel of the time in her studio, that she is moving from one work to another and back again. She is really making the most of her time and energy, which is paramount if you are going to produce a cohesive body of work with any regularity! I am starting several new pieces this afternoon, and I plan to collect some small canvases so I can make my own factory.

People really do not see painting as work, which is a shame as it is actually hard work. If you are doing it right, at the end of the day you should be mentally and physically tired, but satisfied. No good painter is successful without hard work. As my mother always told me "elbow grease will get you everywhere." Be well. Work hard. XO, MEK.

Sanctuary

2014-10-14T08:21:00.000-07:00

Sanctuary is what the Frog Pond at Blue Moon Farm has become for me. The place lifts my spirits, provides community, relieves stress, and just plain makes me happy. Sunday I decided at the last minute to head to Silverhill, all by myself, for a show featuring Scott Boyer. He is somewhat legendary, so I thought I should make the effort.

I have been painting like a house on fire lately, plus working hard at my day job, and the social life this time of year is frenetic, to say the least. Naturally I have been burning the candle at both ends. I learned long ago that to live this life I have to avoid substances that impede my umm energy? I don't drink much and I try to eat healthy and sleep 8 hours, but lately that has been challenging.

So my trip to the pond could be seen as ill advised. It was instead the best possible thing I could have done. I got to see my brother, who was not on the bill that day but just sitting in and playing as a side man. His friend, Dave Zobl, from Nashville was there too, and it was great to meet him. My wonderful friend Melanie, now studying film in the Crescent City stopped by, and the regulars were there, too. Glenda had been at the Paul McCartney show in NOLA the night before, but she made it. Simone was on the front row, and she took the fantastic photographs I am showing you today. Jeff and Suzanne, who work even harder than me at having fun, were there. Cathy and Kathleen, Cheryl and her brother (newbies!), Kathy Sherrod and her husband, Leslie with her jellies and compotes for sale, Ragan on her own!, Chad, the Hula Hoop guy, Cathe Steele's mama,Mollie and Richard, oh and Frank Buckner all the way from Camden, I am sure that I am leaving somebody out but the point is...how terrific is it to have a place to go, where you can hear the prettiest, sweetest, rocking est, funniest, happy making music while at the same time you are in the company of a bunch of interesting, vital, kind, and generous folks. Well the show did not disappoint. Grayson and Corky were fantastic as usual. It was great to see Rick Carter again after many years. Scott Boyer and his sidekick on the keyboard, N.C. Thurman, were fantastic. Robert Sully played and sang, too. I could see my brother up there having so much fun playing with these guys. Scott Boyer's most famous song is Please Be With Me, recorded by people like Eric Clapton and Duane Allman. We all know it. It brings up a time and place that is passed, but can be revisited every time we hear it. Like they say "its not the singer its the song," but in this case it was the singer, the song,the players, and the audience. Thanks for all the music. It fuels my own work, and I envy the fact that musicians work together. Well enjoy Simone Lipscomb's gorgeous photographs. Find yourself a sanctuary because we all need one! Cheers from MEK on a pretty gorgeous Tuesday.

The Past and the Present

2014-10-12T19:07:00.000-07:00

A busy and rich 48 hours have passed. I was enthralled by most everything I did this weekend, even sleeping...

So Friday night was the Art Walk, and the opening of the Water Color and Graphic Arts Society's fall show, held at the lovely Urban Emporium in downtown Mobile. I had a piece in the show but it sold before the show went up! Still it was great to see so many good friends win prizes. Thanks to Monique Boudreaux McFarland and Ainsley McNeeley for getting the show together. They did a wonderful job. Stop by the Urban Emporium, see the show and do some shopping.

Saturday morning the market downtown started up. It will be there every Saturday until Thanksgiving. I got gorgeous flowers and produce, saw friends and neighbors, and appreciated our downtown.

Watched the Auburn game with my pals yesterday afternoon, which was great fun even tho my team got beat. My prediction: State will win it all this year.

Then out to dinner with Claire, Ardith and Bryant. We talked art, thought about putting shows together, forming an organization, etc...SO good to be with other artists who are ambitious and full of ideas. Plus they are all dear friends of long standing.

The past and present part come in when I had an epic dream last night. Here goes...Im lost completely lost in Champaign, Illinois where I attended grad school. I am wandering around disheveled and in a nightgown. I run smack into a friend from that time. She is tall and elongated like a Mannerist madonna, and she really does look down her nose at me...looks right through me. She wears a grown up version of one of my favorite dresses from childhood. Dang! She is apparently one half of a singing duo, the other half is local artist Walter Simon. Next thing I know I am in an apartment in Champaign, and I realize that I have agreed to teach a class there once per week. I will fly there and back weekly and keep my job in Mobile. What? Ardith is in the apartment, just like she is in life...and then into the room comes another grad school "ghost," only he is a 3D sepia drawing, and he asks us if we like his outfit. It is a cowboy outfit, btw. The third occupant of this apartment is a 12 year old genius boy who is in college. He rooms with the others.
So you see the merging of the past and the present. The cowboy in sepia has stuck with me all day long. I am wondering if he is ok.

Today was amazing, too, but I will save that for tomorrow. Be well. Sweet Dreams! MEK.

The Fair

2014-10-09T08:15:00.001-07:00

The Greater Gulf State Fair will be here in Mobile in a couple of weeks. I am honored to have been asked to paint their Oyster for the Oyster Trail here on the Gulf Coast of Alabama. Oysters are a large part of our economy, a food staple here, and frankly a tourist attraction. The nice folks who run this organization are dedicated to promoting our sweet gulf bivalves...and that is how the trail began.

So did you go to the Fair as a kid? Did you take your kids? Do you still go? The Fair was a big part of my childhood because my Daddy was active in the Jaycees, the civic organization that puts on the Fair. Daddy would take me out there with him while the carnies were setting up. I dreamed of being grown up and winning a gold ribbon for a cake! I loved it all, the rides, the shows, the animals, the beekeepers and ant farms,the food, every single thing. The fair in the daytime is so different from the fair at night...daytime is wholesome and child oriented. The nighttime is exciting! What a grand tradition we have here. The fairgrounds are beautifully maintained, and an active part of our community. Back in the day the fair was at Hartwell Field, in downtown Mobile. I remember feeling so special growing up, so proud of my Daddy, for being part of the Fair!

Well my oyster will be installed at the Fairgrounds! I hope you make it to the fair this year...it is something we should all experience. It always makes me feel like a kid again. I never did enter a cake competition but twice in childhood I had my artwork there....bucket list! Have a happy day from MEK.

Gold

2014-10-06T09:06:00.001-07:00

Gold is surely a fall color, and each fall I am compelled to paint a still life. It may be the colors, or that the fruits of the fall are so richly colored, but I do it every year. I am working on my oyster shell, and I have to stop every so often and let it dry a bit. I go to the still life. All you can see is the under paint..raw color for the most part with some layering, and the crackle paste covered over with some neutrals...gray and titan buff. There is something so delightful about reproducing objects from the the 3D world! Why is it so much fun? I don't know but I keep doing it. Kathy McKinney gave me persimmons from her tree, and I had to buy some mums, and pomegranates, but the colors are all so vibrant. Gold seems to be the underlying thematic color, except for one white carnation (there it is on the left the big white blob) that I got at the Frog Pond last weekend. Glenda Campbell hands them out to us when Grayson Capps and Willie Sugarcapps do the song Mancil Adams. Hope you are feeling fine this Monday! Busy week ahead for me....xoxo, MEK.

Title?

2014-10-01T09:11:00.000-07:00

Humm working quite a bit here lately...as if I am on fire..and yes neglecting social life and house cleaning but damn a gal has got to get her real work done! This piece came out of a book I got at the Estate Sale on the beltline, a book about arts and crafts in old Newport. In other words, it is early American stuff, a style I genuinely despise. Maybe it is because everyone had early American stuff when I was little. I developed a distaste for those rugs with a circular woven theme, anything related to a butter churn or spinning wheel, you get the picture. Dont even get me started on quill pens or Colonial Williamsburg. But antiques also represent aspiration, and anyone who is anyone with good taste or DAR membership needs some fine antiques. And I love to make chair images because the chair is just a stand in for a body. So here is this early American chair, stuffed in a corner, with a green cloth underneath...an interior for sure. And why interiors since I have been on them on and off for about one year? I am still trying to figure that out, but I do like representing 3D space in a sort of dreamy way. Interiors allow one to use a great deal of texture, as well, and texture is so much fun to work with. So overhead is a specter like chandelier, somewhat unfinished but giving the picture of a party that is over, and an apple image in the right hand corner. I wanted to collage the apple in. Alas this is destined for a show that allows nothing but the artist's hand so no ephemera allowed. Apples seem so American you know George Washington and Johnny Appleseed and all that...and then there is Eve and her dirty dealings...I thought about this being titled "Paradise Lost," after the neverending Milton text. The apple and chandelier feel like an interior tree to me, so American aspiration comes to mind again. This is 24 x 36 mixed media on paper. Lots of texture. Thanks for looking and reading..XOXO, MEK>

Candelabra

2014-09-26T20:39:00.001-07:00

Candelabra painting is almost ready for its close up. The mirror, which is on the right side of the picture, the big gray area right now, is still a work in progress. I am interested in getting some kind of refection there...because the candle light is ephemeral and hard to catch, at least in a painting! The detail shows the candelabra, which is my favorite item in the painting. It looks shimmery, as if it is quivering...oh that makes me happy.

Life has been so very busy in September...school, social events, and I have missed my painting. Hoping to get some space in my office set up for art making...also trying to buy myself some time in other ways.

Time is such a problem.

Well here it is...should be done by Sunday! Happy weekend from MEK.

MUSIC!

2014-08-20T10:37:00.001-07:00

I am having a busy first week of school but not letting it curtail my love of music.
Very much enjoyed Sunday's L'Arche Mobile benefit, where I saw Rebecca Roubion, Smoking Flowers, Eliot Morris, Willie Sugarcapps. The day was rainy, dreary, humid, you know the kind of day that made you want to stay home and watch Land ifetime TV. I got up though, feeling pretty excited about the music, but first went to a lecture at Dauphinway United Methodist Church . It was a Thomas Cahill talk titled "The Gifts of the Jews," and it was incredible. Cahill talked about the Jews being the first people to envision a future beyond what he called "the wheel," and by the wheel he means the unending life lived by the ancients, a life without changes, a life without possibility of anything new or different. He talked about the Greek temple as a model for this concept, and I thought of how the Romans built those temples all over their world. Infinity as a Greek concept also came to mind. These ancients thought their way was the only way, and they strove to keep it just so. A new religion, Judaism, came along and turned human beings inward, toward education, love, and freedom. In my region of the deep south, settlers who were prosperous built white houses with Greek elements, the Greek Revival style, to imitate the life of the ancients, as did our founders who copied Greek democracy. For me the presence of these white houses in Alabama, although beautiful, historic, and haunting, remind me that our world was dominated by ideas about keeping up facades. These facades were there to keep things in their place...whether it be women, people of color, or ideas that were not descended from the Greeks. My own fascination with the white house comes from that place, although until I heard Cahill's talk, I could not clearly articulate my thoughts.

Then going to hear the music at the Temple downtown (Egyptian Revivalist architecture as Grayson Capps called it) brought it all back. Freedom was on display! The music was fantastic, and I ran into all my music loving pals. Such Sunday afternoon sweetness!

More sweetness last night in the form of a show at Callaghan's Irish Social Club, opened by Caleb Caudle, and then the headliner Justin Townes Earle

. I have heard all about JTE's performances here but had never made it to a show. And you know it was Tuesday night, and everybody was doing the ice bucket challenge, but I just got myself out the door and to the club. Again I was so happy to see my friends. And I loved the show. I saw JTE's daddy Steve Earle years ago in New Orleans, but the son is nothing like the father. He is tall and thin, looks almost like I imagine the unhealthy Hank Williams might have looked. JTE has an androgynous look, too, but he's still sexy. Anyhow his music was grand...a mix of all sorts of genres, country, blues, jazz, ....delivered with a nice dash of sarcasm and wit... his wife and dog in tow. Yeah all the musicians are free, not held captive by the white houses or temples. Robbie Amonett

was there painting on both days...fun to see him and his work. When I left the club last night I was humming the song from Cabaret...what good is sitting alone in your room come hear the music play...yeah! XOXO< MEK.

Life Over Death

2014-08-09T18:12:00.002-07:00

That line is from one of my brother's songs, and it has been said before but it bears repeating. Death has been on my mind because I just finished watching Breaking Bad, a show all about death, but great and thought provoking. You should watch it. And I have been sick with asthma, unable to do anything aside from what I HAVE to do, and thinking about how everyday we lose to sickness is just a waste. I had planned to paint all of this week but alas I was flat on my back, concentrating on my breath. Damn. Lost time.

Went to Camden, Alabama today for a memorial service and lunch to celebrate the life of my friend Vikki's mama. She left us a month ago tomorrow, after a long life. Her death was quick, and to me, merciful. That is the way to go but we don't get to decide how our death will be or when it will come.

Last week a family I know lost 3 people at once, two of them little children, in a car accident. Oh lord how do their loved ones bear it? I'm not here to bring you down tho. I want to lift you up.

And I can because the day in Camden reminded me of the awesomeness of life, and I needed the reminder. Sickness, death, and Breaking Bad had all beat me down this week. Today tho I drove through four gloriously fecund Alabama counties, marveling at the luscious green-ness, listening to great stuff on public radio, and the Best of the Faces when NPR would not come in. I explored an antebellum cemetery in the blazing Alabama sun, met a bunch of new folks, got pleasure from seeing my friends and their joy at my presence. We celebrated a marvelous southern woman of a certain type...glamorous, funny, sassy, smart....with a head for numbers and a taste for tequila!

Coming home I saw old homes, some with historic significance, the gorgeous and wide Alabama and Tombigbee rivers, a vivid late afternoon thunderstorm....and I sit here this evening thinking about the ways we fight death each day...what ever it is you do that makes you feel alive and happy...that is your battle...and if you did it today you won. My friend recently saw a show by the artist Corolla, and she said it made her want to paint so bad, and that if she did not paint we could shoot her! I know what she means, I will paint something any thing tomorrow, and the next day, and on and on and on,

A few images from Camden

Time Out

2014-07-23T08:13:00.002-07:00

Oh my its the end of the semester, always a stressful and busy time. Not much time for me in the studio....but give me a couple of days and I am back at it.

You know I love to cook, however Ive not cooked much lately. Painting takes my free time these days, and I dont really miss cooking just for myself. Family arrived from Tennessee last night tho and I love to cook for the people I love. Really love doing this, having my table surrounded by my folks...sharing some yummy food, sharing stories, simply being together. It is no accident that one of the most holy aspects of Christianity is communion, which reminds us of the Last Supper. Breaking bread together is truly holy, except for when it is horrible. You know what I mean, you see people out at restaurants eating listlessly, no expression on their faces, no conversation. Ugh. Eating is something we have to do to live so seeing it treated so haphazardly is sad. If you have ever read the fantastic book The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen you may recall the wonderful part about "the dinner of revenge," or the part in Mommy Dearest where Christina is made to sit at table for hours as her food congeals in front of her, punished by evil Joan Crawford for being unappreciative. Many painters include food in their work, because it is in fact so very sensual. I follow a gal on Instagram named Lulie Wallace who has been painting set tables with dinner. I love these pictures and may soon try my hand at this genre.

Last night I cooked for my family. We had Cheese Straws made by my Aunt Ann, and they are the best ever, Pimento Cheese made by my cousin Jessica, epic Pimento Cheese, Hot and Hot Fish Club Tomato Salad (the picture shows niece Sadie assembling the salads), Gumbo, and Peach Ice Cream. It was fantastic in every way. I cherish these family meals. Already one component of these parties has gone, my Aunt Liz who cannot come anymore, and my Daddy is not the strong and wonderful presence he once was, but he is still here with us...eating and enjoying us, even drinking toasts. So toast to all of your opportunities to celebrate those you love. And eat well. Do not waste

yourself on bad food...eat healthy and eat happy! xoxo MEK.

Candelabra

2014-07-21T07:33:00.000-07:00

What is the first thing you think of when you hear or see the word candelabra? For me it is Liberace....this object is associated in my mind with that wacky queen, and his love of faux rococo luxury. However in the last few years I have become interested in painting light, no not like Thomas Kincade, and I have explored this through painting a fishbowl over and over, reflections in glass, light fixtures, and now candle light. Light is hard to capture without making it look still and turgid. Movement is paramount. Shimmer is of utmost importance! So here is a detail of the candelabra that occupies the right side of a large painting I am currently working on. This candelabra came from my grandmother's home in Thomasville, Alabama, and it is one of a pair. I am using a technique I learned many years ago from a wonderful painter named Clarence Morgan. He showed me how to put down medium and draw in it with charcoal. This fixes the charcoal under paint, gives the painting a graphic look (that I adore), and records gesture. Try it. Paint some gel medium, matte medium, whatever you like, and draw with charcoal. I like vine charcoal but any type will do. Let it dry and there you are. Hope to update you on this tomorrow. If nothing else, I can talk about my gold dots! It is my Daddy's birthday today...and I want to wish him a happy day. My brother and I both inherited his big, strong hands....which really helps if you are a painter or a guitarist...happy Monday! Cheers from MEK.