Friday, August 30, 2019

The Story of Artist Judy and the Ice Cream

One day last August on Monhegan Island with my dad, we met a friendly outgoing woman—an artist named Judy—who struck up a conversation with us as we walked down the lane and she walked up. She invited me to visit her where she was staying. The following day I ventured back along the route to Lobster Cove to find Alison Hill Studios and reconnect with Judy. We had a grand time talking art for about 45 minutes. Fascinating woman, about 75 y.o. She and I nurtured an ongoing email friendship during the year. At one point this spring she asked if we’d be returning to Monhegan and I told her that if we did it was my fantasy that she and I’d arrange to paint together. She immediately said yes. My dad and I did decide to go to Monhegan again, and Judy and I made plans to spend some time each day painting together.

She stays for three weeks on the island, traveling up from Philly, and ships all her considerable art materials to and from the island. I wrote to ask her what she'd recommend I bring by way of supplies since I'd be carrying them by hand on the ferry with the rest of my luggage. She wrote back, suggested a particular brand, size, and type of paper, said please use any and all supplies I will have, and went on to enumerate all her supplies. 

Whoa! 

In response, I thanked her for her open heart and generosity and asked how I could honor her generosity in return: cold hard cash? a gift of some supplies to greet her when she returns home? some other wish I might fulfill?

She replied immediately: 

cheers, indeed. yes i do have a wish list. and you are going to laugh out loud. i would like you to carry a freezer filled with as much as possible gifford’s peppermint ice cream with chocolate jimmies. it has to be gifford’s or nothing at all. that would so make me happy if you could bring me my most favorite childhood treat. thanks and thanks again.
 
Holy moly! 

She named a few suggested places to try but they weren't on the route we take! So I did a bunch of crazy research, leading to phone numbers no longer in service, stores that have closed, stores that used to carry Gifford's but switched to Hershey, stores that sell Gifford's but not peppermint, etc. My search took me farther and farther away from our Port Clyde ferry slip, meaning more and more hours to keep ice cream from melting. 

Yikes. 

In the end, I connected with Michelle at Sugar Shack in Bethel where my dad lives, and I knew Michelle was my gal. She totally got the mission and became my partner in crime. When I went to Sugar Shack once in Bethel, my order was right there waiting for me. Michelle had frozen it hard for 24 hours at Sugar Shack and even supplied me with freezer packs. I tucked it in my dad's freezer overnight, packed it last minute in a cooler surrounded by ice packs, duct-taped the cooler shut so it wouldn't open when tossed around by those loading the ferry, and crossed my fingers that it would weather the nearly six-hour trip ahead.

Judy met us at the dock on Monhegan and I delivered the goods.

The next morning Judy and I met to paint. Results of ice cream mission: SUCCESS! Judy reported that:

(a) the Gifford's peppermint stick confection was just slightly soft at the very outer edges, and
(b) she indulged in her first serving of delight almost immediately, holding it right under her chin so as to minimize the amount of time and effort needed for each spoonful to get from bowl to mouth!

Judy's painting space and works in progress
Judy's painting space and works in progress
my own work in progress #1, responding to first marks
WIP #2, responding to first marks
WIP #3, responding to first marks

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Landed in a Lively

You may remember that I vacationed on Monhegan Island in Maine a year ago with my dad, that we landed in a lively conversation with a woman we passed on the lane who turned out to be an artist, that she invited me to pop over to her outdoor studio space—which I did.

Just returned from a four-day repeat vacation on Monhegan Island in Maine with my dad during which I spent parts of three mornings on the tarp-covered deck at Alison Hill Studio in magical summer-sunshine-summer-sky-summer-breeze, painting with artist Judy of last year's lively conversation on the lane. The lively conversation continued, and paint started finding its way to paper.

First marks:










Thursday, August 22, 2019

Winging, Wondering

What does it mean to have a painting style?

I don't know.

Accustomed to a Chorus of Meadowlarks Over the Blackjack Hills
4x6" postcard; acrylic, pastel, and collage
abstract
2019

Monday, August 19, 2019

Steadfast

These homesteaders fought long and hard to get and keep a toehold on this patch of land, fending off wreckers, developers, and other bullheaded, short-sighted demolitionists hell-bent on 'progress' and 'improvement.' With patience and the long view they turned the earth, seeded, reseeded, tended, cultivated, and protected, called to steadfast stewardship, never wavering when it appeared that all might have been lost.

Everything There Seemed to Belong Where It Was
4x6" postcard; acrylic, pastel, and collage on drawing paper,
mounted on card stock
abstract landscape
2019

Sunday, August 18, 2019

In Decision

I was in decision—replete with indecision—almost constantly as I painted this postcard, surprised by many choices I made, puzzled more than once by what to do next, making one decision, and another, and yet one more, not knowing when I might feel the little ping of completion, wondering if I'd miss the little ping altogether and barrel along to a place of no return.

What evolved could not have been more unexpected.

Yet I was there every step of the way.

The Decisions Only You Can Make
4x6" postcard; acrylic, pastel, and collage on drawing paper,
mounted on card stock
abstract
2019

Friday, August 16, 2019

Triggers

• text messages that won't send
• stores that don't carry what I'm looking for
• stores that are listed online but which turn out to be permanently closed when I call
• insects landing in the paint I apply to the bulkhead doors which are decidedly awkward to paint
• bills from at&t that are confusing, difficult to decipher, and contain errors

Every Trigger Is a Healing Opportunity
4x6" postcard; acrylic, ink, pastel, and collage on drawing paper,
mounted on card stock
abstract
2019
detail

p.s. scanned (and therefore flat v. curled) image below


Thursday, August 15, 2019

Maker

The maker in me is lively of late.

Yay!

An Anecdote Crafted Out of Nothing
4x6" postcard; acrylic, ink, pastel, and collage on drawing paper,
mounted on card stock
abstract
2019

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Living True

Back to creating my series of Lake Champlain found-composition postcards again today.

Rock that Arrived on the Tide of a Glacier
4x6" postcard; acrylic, ink, pastel, and collage on drawing paper,
mounted on card stock
abstract landscape
2019

Monday, August 12, 2019

Parentheses

I know, I know, you thought I was on a roll with a series of postcards from that 18x24" start done last summer at Lake Champlain.

So did I.

But.

While cleaning my studio, I bumped into an October 2016 mono-stripes exercise I did for a Jane Davies online course while on vacation in West Virginia, and you know how one thing

mono-stripes exercise 2016

leads to another.

I Was Putting Papers Away When the Telephone Rang
4x5" postcard; acrylic, pastels, and collage on card stock
abstract
2019

  

Saturday, August 10, 2019

Portal

Another postcard—second one developed from a section of a larger start painted a year ago June in a cottage on Lake Champlain.

I am slack-jawed in wonder yet again by the mystery of creating a whole world in a plot of real estate that measures no more than four by six inches. I pick up brush, or pencil, or pastel, or collage, and find myself somewhere else entirely, in an expansive realm without boundaries.

Small Acts of Kindness Bond You Over a Lifetime
4x6" postcard; acrylic, ink, oil pastel, and collage on drawing paper, mounted on card stock
abstract landscape
2019

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Hiding in Plain Sight

Pulled out an 18x24" start from my June 2018 Lake Champlain vacation—with brisk lakeshore breezes still embedded in it.

Headed for my paper trimmer.

Cut out a 4x6" patch.

Played around with the found composition.

Postcard!

Can you locate the unimproved 24 square inches of real estate in the original larger piece?

18x24" start
June 2018
Forgiveness Could Be Child's Play If You Knew the Ropes
4x6"; acrylic, ink, oil pastel, and collage on drawing paper
abstract postcard
2019