she paints; she is a painter

In the previous post I told you about how both Gallery 888 and its owner, Liz Russ, came into my life, so you would understand the unique constellation of events that allowed me to have my first show in the venue of my fantasy.

The Making of an Art Show:

The idea: Every person who paints, and I’m not saying every painter here, I’m saying every person who paints, dreams to some extent of having a public showing of his art. (This thought will have to be expanded in another forum, as it is the main subject of this blog!.) So, when the opportunity was presented to me by Liz  in the summer of 2002, “no” was not an option, scary as it may have been. The proposition was to be a two person show with Liz, which in her infinite generosity meant sharing not only wall space but also expenses, with the added value of  expert tutelage in the art of mounting a show.

The Date: Slated for the late spring of 2003, a prime time in the art world in Toronto  … wedged in between great spring weather and the mass exodus of those people with summer cottages.

What to show, what to paint: To start with I had a stack of watercolor paintings to choose from. Nevertheless, a show should be about something. That summer I made several little paintings from my sister-in-law’s cottage at Balfour Beach on Lake Simcoe, Ontario. These images are nostalgic reminders of the ephemera of summer: the shoe drying in the sun, the flashlight waiting for night, and the children’s furniture just vacated.

(Click to enlarge)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Publicity: By late summer the general details of the show had to be ready for the spring. A title had to be chosen as well as images for the show card and the gallery website   (http://www.gallery888.com/030528.html) even though the show was still 7 months away with ample time to paint! Liz gave me creative freedom to decide these things. Along the summer nostalgia theme, the title: Á la recherche du temps perdu seemed to work, without necessarily making reference to Proust. To represent the “file” of favorite paintings, I chose the ” Just Bananas” and the “Nude Reclining”. (As you see in the show card above, along with Liz’s Chair Series.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Mill Creek Series: In the fall of 2002 sad events dictated my staying in my home town of Portland, Maine for extended periods. My mother underwent a surgery that left her compromised with many complications. During this time, I stayed by myself in her apartment in South Portland, near Mill Creek Park, which was situated on the edge of the tide pools overlooking Portland Harbor. We, my brothers and sisters and I, all loved this apartment. Many hours had been spent watching the grand ferries to and from Nova Scotia pass within our view, with the city lights of Portland in the background. Just watching the tide itself was mesmerizing. And, the best was sleeping with the windows open that let in the comforting salt air. Several times a day I would walk across a small bridge  that allowed the tide to pass under the road. This penetrating view and the attending emotions  caused “Mill Creek Summer” to become the defining image of this place and the showpiece of my first art show:

 

(Because I was so emotionally attached to this painting, the purchaser allowed me to make a giclée reproduction. This is a costly method of digitalized matching of colors which renders a very faithful reproduction, done by Toronto Image Works. This lab does reproductions of master works for the Art Gallery of Ontario.)  Other pieces in this series:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Click to enlarge)

 

Other pieces in the show were chosen to feature somewhat the range of subject matter and styles in which I was working. Some paintings are very “tight” and others, the more successful ones, are rather “loose”.  A good watercolor is almost a precious thing. When the artist wants “white” in the composition, the white of the paper must be left! One can not add white as in acrylic and oil paintings. Also, once the paint is on the paper it can not be removed (except in very limited situations), so what you are seeing is a very direct contact of the paint with the paper. The result is ideally crisp and fresh. The paintings in the following gallery can be clicked to enlarge them.