Another Magpie Nest

Back to Work!

2012-03-06T14:36:00.000-05:00

we had an engagement party for my elizabeth and her man joshua a few weeks ago. i had to clear my workspace to make way for the bar. krash/slide and all survived. forgot that all of this work was stored behind/beside/beneath. wonders never cease. back to work, getting ready for my mini residency at The Cape Ann Museum at the end of this month. more details to follow. for now, bringing work to various stages of completion. will demonstrate process, be available to chat with folk.

below are various attempts to photograph the mirrored drawings. the reflection kept getting in the way. i reflected a white showerboard into the mirror, then took an offset pic. what appears as a shadow line is the reflection of the sharpie drawing and gold egg tempera. the box is lined with black velvet and will barely be visible when complete.

Paul with Fish

2012-02-17T08:52:00.001-05:00

Paul, detail.

This is a painting that I started several years ago, and have not finished. The painting is in the attic. why did I stop working on it? I have misplaced the background fish that is the shadow wall for the verre eglomise.

someday I will finish this work. btw: some of the white areas is paint, other white areas is aluminum leaf, other white areas is where the light shows through from behind, other white areas is the surface light reflection.

best

deb.

A face I remember (the in-between)

2012-02-12T17:21:00.000-05:00

the realtime view of the drawing in action. the audio/video is a bit out of sync.

turn the volume down if fingernails on a blackboard bother you. yeah, the sound

is sort of like that. totally unaware of the sound when i was drawing...busy listening

to the inner sounding.

best,

deb.

"A Face I Remember" once again

2012-02-12T15:29:00.002-05:00

erased, scrubbed down, excavated. yes, this is the palimpsest that i have used for the drawings of the prior 2 entries. the image redacted with a different axis. marker and gesso on shower board framed, 11x11".

i think i'm done with this one. will turn it to the wall and tell you in a few days.

best,

deb.

Redacted, erased, covered up. "A Face I Remember"

2012-02-11T09:16:00.000-05:00

"A Face I Remember" redacted, erased, covered with gesso...already to start again...later, after work today.

erased sharpie drawing with gesso on shower board.

The crystalline ceiling of The Friari Chapel where the fresco disappeared, still resonates with me. am also reminded by Audrey Flack that one can never completely erase the work. even if all signs are removed that the hand 'was here' the energy has changed and will continue to resonate.

best,

deb

Another Face I Remember

2012-02-07T17:32:00.003-05:00

another face i remember. a work in progress, or not. sharpie on shower board. 10x10"

best,

deb

My Good Workspace!

2012-02-07T15:55:00.000-05:00

cleaned up the space to make way for verre eglomise and mirror making.

compared to what was here last week, it really is in working order. and yes, i know where the tape is.

best and onward,

deb.

a nice comment from friend Clarity

2012-02-07T09:17:00.000-05:00

found in my drafts. should have published this months ago. the link will take you to the google profile.

A nice comment from virtual friend Clarity

Always have loved your fish paintings. They are...delicious. ;-) and Clarity's work is nourishing and delicious too! we are connected through many on-line followings which has grown out of our initial virtual meetings on livejournal. click the link and check out their work, their world, their books...a real treasure.
best,
deb

'Faces I Remember' new addition

2012-02-05T12:23:00.001-05:00

this is a 12x12" framed hand gilded silver mirror with sharpie and incised drawing. several view with some interesting reflections. and example of the face we love the most. 'fuschia is a hooka!' is a passive agressive response to a woman telling me that this color is not for little girls. it is for hookas! so there. that's an incised drawing from memory of a Rembrandt self portrait. i have to look at the mirror for a very long time before new faces are suggested to me. some of the upper shapes give me torso references...that is another body of work; unless, i decide to integrate them within this work. interesting idea. i wonder if the imposition of my will, will make it 'work'.

best,
deb

Cape Ann Art Haven Buoy!

2012-01-20T08:43:00.000-05:00

i volunteered to do a buoy for the Cape Ann Art Haven fundraiser that will

be held on the 27th at Cruisport Gloucester. finally found some glue strong enough

to hold the madonna and child in the curve of the chopped up buoy. as if i carved the niche just for them!

didn't think i would succeed with this project as i had no designs on this buoy

from the very beginning. all i kept thinking of was how phallic the form is.

i might leave it as is, just sign and date it.

'madonna with child' copyright clarke 2012

gloucester ma

Preserves

2012-01-17T19:17:00.001-05:00

"Copper Paint Manufactory" on left: petroluem based

wax, copper leaf, fish scales, styrofoam particulate sealed

in 3", 3oz jars. copyright clarke 2012

gloucester ma

"LePages Mucilage" on right: petroluem based

wax, aluminum leaf, fish scales, styrofoam particulate sealed

in 3", 3oz jars. copyright clarke 2012

gloucester ma

the paint company is out of business. part of the iconic building is demolished;

building being rehabbed by the Ocean Alliance, a non-profit

the glue company is out of business. the property is now occupied by 2 gated communities.

the prosperity/demise of both companies followed the tides of the Gloucester fishing industry.

the wax is from vigil candles collected from various candlight vigils, services etc held at or in association with the Gloucester Unitarian Universalist church.

the styrofoam particulate is from a styrofoam buoy for The Cape Ann Art Haven's auction January 24th at Cruiseport, Gloucester.

jars: purchased at Ace Hardware, Gloucester Crossing, Gloucester MA

Saatchi Showdown!

2012-01-06T07:55:00.003-05:00

http://www.saatchionline.com/showdown/view/showdown/9/artist/52641

I have entered the Saatchi Collage Showdown. If you have a Saatchi account look for The Fish Eye Bruegel by Debbie Clarke and give it a vote! first round voting ends on the 19th. my little 8x8" is up against 1959 other works. gawd. a snowball in hell. oh, well, i keep trying!

Here's The Fish Eye Bruegel. If you wish to vote and don't have a Saatchi Account, you will have to set one up. It is easy and free!

PICK ME! PICK ME! PICK ME! send this little guy to London!

thank you,
Deb.

hey Picasso!

2012-01-03T18:47:00.003-05:00

'child with thinking cap'

tape transfer ground with metal leaf on stretchers

every-once-in-awhile these funny little line drawings show up in the work. for years these only showed up in my 4x5" sketchbooks. never took them seriously. now, they give me a joy. this reminds me of Picasso's work. just sayin'.

best,

deb

one for the New Year.

2011-12-31T17:00:00.002-05:00

so, i screwed up. couldn't get my images into the right format to submit to the collage show. bummer. so, back to normal now. just carry on, do my work. stop beating myself up because i don't know sh#t about re-sizing images to have the right pixel/image/ppi numbers for the artthingy (an electronic submission thingy used by places for online entries...and this show only accepted online entries! grrrrrrrrrrrr.... DEB! stop biting your cheek!) anyway...here is the portrait redacted in it's present state. will make some gelatin slurry tonight and place a mirrored line drawing on the glass, then glue the whole shebang together.

2012 is already shaping up pretty well for me. In the Current opens on Friday at The Common Street Gallery in Waterville ME with 4 or 5 of my fish works on display. The Cape Ann Museum has a four of the fish paintings that I did for them on exhibit in "The Rule of Four" curated by Martha Oakes. Free to Gloucester residents in January! I will give a gallery talk/demo sometime next spring at the museum.

Have a safe and Happy New Year's Eve everyone. Here's to health and prosperity to you and yours in the New Year! as always, your thoughts, comments are welcomed and thank you for taking some of your time to follow my progress through this blog.

best,

deb.

Some new work, under construction and one completed warthog?

2011-11-27T10:26:00.001-05:00

Above: under construction, showerboard, metal leaf, glass. 22x22, depth variable.

Above: St. Anthony preached and the fish danced, icon in progress.

mixed media with egg tempera.

Above: fish or warthog? mixed media with packing tape, digital photo transfer, kodak holographic mylar.

Above: fish scape, under construction. mixed media with leaf, photo transfer, marker, tape laminate

Above, under construction. face. mixed media with silver leaf, gold dust, egg yolk

Above: ibid, with glass.

question of this state: go back, go forward and use the glass to establish a 2nd work based on the first.

new work is intimated. the portrait redacted, again.

Hey Picasso!

2011-11-21T13:28:00.001-05:00

When I went to the last Picasso show at the MFA, it covered his early years, posters, rose period, blue period. I went in the company of my students. one student was in awe. I forgot I was sizing my self up. very simply I told Fred: this is art student work. exemplary, but student work. the counter posture pose, the underpainting. the classical tradition. the breakthrough in the rose work: he simply left the awkward out-of-relationship drawing of the red chalk cartoon, a first stage on the canvas and moved on. he didn't correct the size of the head...something that would get covered up in subsequent layers; if he had continued to develop the painting.

student Fred strongly disagreed with me. very good.

I had to knock all of the greats off of their pedestals in order to be free of their ghosts and to make way for this Debbie Clarke way of 'ahht'.

best,
and onward. i'm painting.
deb.

St Anthony Preached and the Fish Danced

2011-11-21T10:03:00.001-05:00

2 works, 3 pics. the first is the icon that announced itself yesterday with these words: St. Anthony preached and the fish danced.

The way of the icon is that one listens with an inner voice and writes or translates the prayer through image and color under the direction of the Holy Spirit. I thought I was working on a collage of transferred digital prints. as i was so busy doing what i thought i was doing, the spirit had something else in mind. stepping back from the work, i saw that the icon was completely drawn. the next step was to separate first light, as all is light, there is no darkness. this morning i cleared the work area and asked that the work be blessed, that these hands follow, that this heart listen to the promptings of the spirit.

the following 2 images are of the same painting: merluccius bilinearis (again) first under flash, second under natural life. the glass panel is worked with egg yolk and gold metal pigment. the image that is poking through is my reference material, which may or may not be part of the whole.

best,

and onward.

deb.

ps: today i make egg glue aka 'glair' for adhering leaf to the glass and other panels. will also make gilder's slurry (gelatin) for a few mirrored surface.

2 Plates

2011-11-11T19:02:00.001-05:00

two images constructed from the same visual information. same exposure, different orientation. i'm inclined towards the lower image...Babu The armless, legless, headless goddes is present. another fish scape. I need to find foils to print these images on. any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

best,

deb

Fish Scape!

2011-11-11T08:40:00.001-05:00

approx 6x7". m/m collage: packing tape, transferred digital print, sharpie, copper leaf, silver leaf.
copyright 2011 debbie clarke gloucester ma.

it is a collage, it is a printing plate created for digital scanning. next: printing options?

best,
deb

collage: drawings (wip)

2011-11-07T14:40:00.000-05:00

Today's slideshow is of 2 new works in progress: the first are copper and aluminum leaf on backing board with glass. each panel is 19x20". They are a diptych from my 'night work' series. I painted in the dark of night last summer, outside on the deck. I loaded a 2" chip brush with gilder's slow set oil, guided by the weight of the brush. When the slow set was almost hard the copper and aluminum leaf was applied. this is a self portrait: You, Me and the Fish.

The second part of the slideshow is a mixed media drawing: digital print transfer onto packing tape, gilded, then applied to plastic waffle board. When the drawing is complete, the tape is removed, then adhered to another laminate. This drawing interests me as is. I will leave it alone and start another.

best,
deb

Fresh Fish November 2011

2011-11-06T10:53:00.001-05:00

My Good Workspace aka my kitchen studio with all of the work-in-progress for the fish show and one rainy day verre eglomise (that i have been working on for 2 years). some of the images are blurry. why? because my reading glasses are buried on the work table. the fish images are all fodder for transfer/transformation, and the slideshow pics will be thrown into the printed fodder.

note to self: need epsom ink!

enjoy.
deb.

are you a naked painter?

2011-11-05T09:15:00.000-04:00

I laugh everytime this search term shows up with a landing on my blog: nude painters in gloucester ma.
Do you paint in the nude? I haven't gotten naked to paint in years; however, everytime I place my work before the public I feel naked. exposed. there's an inner cringe of. ohno, here we go again. then wait for the tomatoes and eggs to get thrown.

a runic comment is the most hateful i have ever received: Rubbish from Hell, and other Feminist Bullshit! damn right! made me laugh.

the offer stands: if you desire a painting of a nude figure, I can do this! just let me know what you want.

best,
deb.

ps: Great Name for a Show or an Artist's Group: The Naked Painters.

check out the google query for The Naked Painters (there is a nudist group!)

Google Search 11/5/11 for The Naked Painters

Work-in-progress

2011-11-01T14:24:00.000-04:00

"Spanish Mac" mixed media with glass/foil/packing tape

detail size approx 7x15"

making fish for the 'Fish Show' at The Common Street Gallery in the New Year.

here's the gallery link: The Common Street Gallery, Waterville Maine

other doings: just ordered my sketchbook for the 2012 Sketchbook Project

Sketchbook Project 2012

my theme this year is: Villains and Heroes. last year my theme was 'down your street'. it turned into an 'adhere to me' folio by the time i had fully deassembled/reconstructed the sketchbook. this year's sketchbook should have sturdier paper.

and, i am sending my application for the "Strange Glue, Collage at 100" show at The Cambridge School of Weston. the info follows here. online application only, no entry fee!

The Cambridge School of Weston, call for entries

these doings will keep me busy for a while. still waiting for art folk to share their marketing experiences with me and my readers. yesterday's post has the questions (with my answers).

best,

deb

questions for visual artist friends

2011-10-31T15:51:00.001-04:00

where have you had the most success selling your work?

in a traditional art gallery?

an artist cooperative gallery?

a vanity gallery? (pay for the privilege of exhibition)

a restaurant showing?

on-line marketing efforts?

how much time on a weekly basis do you spend marketing your work?

do you sell prints of your work?

how many on-line sites do you have?

if you donate work to non-profit fundraisers/auctions...have you ever made additional sales?

if you belong to an art association, do you make sales to cover your membership, get referrals?

My answers follow:

I ask this because the traditional route of showing through galleries, responding to calls for artists, etc has not worked for me. I did this in my early career, got some press, got some awards...but the attention was not directed so much to me as a valid artist, the attention went to the 'causes'. social art was (may still be) very big then.

artist cooperative gallery: founding member of Local Colors Artist Cooperative here in Gloucester. member for 8 years...spent most of my time making cards, crafty items to pay the gallery rent, which rarely happened. i started making reverse glass paintings during these years and demonstrated/painted in the window every day for a month...this got me my first big commission 'lucky break'. an art consultant also found me through the cooperative, resulted in a modest sale to a corporation.

vanity gallery: have never done a vanity gallery show. will never pay someone to exhibit my work, unless it is a cooperative gallery.

restaurants: have had shows in restaurants. great openings, the restaurants looked good, no sales. clarification: my first big commission/lucky break was to a restaurant. i received 2 referrals, one turned into my second major commission.

on-line marketing efforts: no sales through print on demand sites. have started to make sales through the web during the past 3 years, and an up-coming gallery show in Maine through facebook connections.

prints of my work? nope.

on-line sites/social networks: 3 photo sites, 4 blogs, 1 journal, facebook, google+, twitter, saatchi, youtube, and 2 print on demand sites. so far facebook, goodmorninggloucester and live journal have produced consistent interest & sales.

non-profit auctions/fundraisers: been there, done that. just kissed the work good-by. no sales, referrals. clarification: i made the paintings of verre eglomise fish at the top of page for The Cape Ann Museum's 'Making Waves' show (it was a show about the fishing industry, the declining fish species, there was data, b&w pics of fishing boats, the fishermen, fishing gear, weight equipment, etc. they needed images of the fish (the life blood of the industry!). i made the paintings, gave them the work; which was on display for about 10 years. i received lots of referrals (mostly for prints, which i do not sell); however, 2 major commissions came out of these referrals.

art associations: none will have me, so i no longer give them my money to review me to tell me no. money is dear and I would rather buy paint and canvas and gold leaf with $40-$50-$100-$150 required to get approved, then get in by paying the dues.

and i rarely respond to calls for entries, but I do like working with those involved in the revitalization of historic places through contemporary art. am thinking it would be cool to do an art revitalization project at The Oak Grove Cemetery. That's where Twachtman and few other noteworthy bones lie.

looking forward to your responses/thoughts.

best,
deb.

Good Saint Anthony come around! We all seem lost and must be found.

Something Fishy!

2011-10-23T12:04:00.001-04:00

working from my imagination.

this is a small reverse glass with oil, marker, copper leaf.

size: 8x10, detail

to the left, 12x12 ". imaginative fish heads: reverse glass with oil, marker,kodak holographic laminate, digi print transfer. this detail does not scan/photo true. the overall tone of the work is silver, not blue. the glass will be offset to allow the layered holograms to 'float'.

I have a lot of work in progress. Today's objective is to cut down the backing boards on some of the larger works that were started a few weeks ago. I can 'see' the pescado, no one else can because they are so undefined. beginning to see fish in everything, pushing me into new directions, new media ideas. this must be what the art folk mean when they talk about 'pushing an idea'. still using leaf, but i'm trying to not be too dependent on it. leaf is very seductive in it's beauty, it needs some grit and structure to hold together as 'ahht'

best,
deb