"Waiting" and "Access" - 2nd Wednesday in Lent

"Window of Light"

12" x 16"

Mixed Media

Although this looks like a door, it is actually a window slit  high up in the Abbey at Mont St. Michel, Normandy, France.  I was there last May when I took this photograph.  This is one of the photographs that grabbed my attention as I was looking at resource information for my painting series of "Access" during our Lenten Wednesday night "Waiting" worship services. 

I especially liked the warm light against the cold stone, and that was what drew my attention to begin with. When the light comes in, everything changes. Or, put more simply, light changes everything.

Spring is Here!

From My Dock

11" x 14"

Acrylic

We're back to Daylight Savings Time - its the best time of the year weather in Charleston, SC - not too hot, not too cold, thankfully not humid.  This scene makes me want to escape to Edisto where I grew up.  My father gave me a piece of property on Edisto before he died, and while I have no house there and don't know when I will, I'm grateful to have a dock which is about one year old.  It's peaceful and quiet there whether the sun is shining or a storm is brewing. 

"Waiting" and "Access" - 6 Wednesdays in Lent

The Worship Arts Painting Team at St. Andrews Church in Mt. Pleasant was invited to paint at all 6 Wednesday evening services during Lent, and several of us are participating. The theme for this year's Worship Arts Lenten series is "Waiting"- specifically "waiting in the Presence of God" in the service, and as I prepared for the first Wednesday of the series, the word "access" kept flowing through my thoughts.  I decided to work with the theme of "access" for the series, using the visuals of doors, windows, etc. that are symbolic of the openings and opportunities that present themselves in our lives - times where a response from us is called for - do we cross that threshold or does fear, insecurity or timidity cause us to turn and walk away?

The Door of Humble Access

11" x 14"

Acrylic

As I went looking for a visual resource to use, I came across a photograph I had taken 6 years ago, and I immediately knew that this was the door to start with.  It's known as the "door (or gate) of humble access" - it's the entrance that pilgrims use to enter the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem - a low door (replacing a larger, prior opening) to keep invaders from riding their horses into the sanctuary and desecrating the holy place.   The door is so low that I even have to bend to enter (and I'm only about 5' tall).  The door of humble access - it's the right place to begin the journey.

On the Road Again!

The Vintage Sunglass Babes

This picture of Carol Gardner and myself from the 2008 Piccolo Spoleto Outdoor Art Exhibition finds its way into my blog at least once a year.  We found early on that we collected vintage - especially vintage sunglasses.  In fact, our Santa Fe Art Trip Blog was built around this picture.  We both get so busy with life, work and making art - Carol is an art teacher and I do corporate paralegal work - that sometimes we need to a day trip now and then just to catch up with each other.  

Today was one of our art day trips - not to paint but for Carol to jury the Seacoast Artist Guild Spring Art Exhibition in Murrell's Inlet, SC.  I got to go along for the ride and it was really enlightening, after she finished jurying, to pick her brain concerning how she approached the jurying and to get her perspective on the pieces she chose for each award.  There were over 200 pieces and the art was physically divided into 2 categories - Professional and Non-Professional - each category had awards for First, Second, Third and 2 Honorable Mentions, with one top award for Best in Show.  It was a good show, and I was fascinated with watching Carol approach the process from the "other side" - as judge instead of exhibiting artist.  I was especially impressed with Carol's objectivity - instead of responding to pieces that might personally appeal to her, she made a conscious effort to view the pieces on strength, composition, handling of light and color, etc.  It was a great trip - Carol even bought me breakfast and lunch, but she didn't have to bribe me to go - even with having to set my alarm for 5:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning!

Medieval Manuscript Illumination

Gothic Style Border on Vellum

In early July 2010, I went back to college - this time to the College of Charleston for Medieval Manuscript Illumination - what an experience...I graduated in 1975 with a BA in English from USC (without any art courses) so this was my first college art course - it about killed me because a 3-hour course (1/2 Art History, 1/2 Studio Art) was packed, not condensed, into 4 weeks.  And, I had to take it for credit (yikes, dealing with grades again!) because COC frowns on studio art classes being audited.  I don't remember  ever working this hard at USC (maybe because I never went to summer school?) but I absolutely loved every minute of it.  Of course, there were some surprises - like it never occurred to me that I might have to write a term paper (and then found out I had to write FOUR). One night I never even went to sleep, and that's when I really felt like I was back in college.  3 hours of class 2 nights a week - 4 term papers and 4 art projects.  But what a great opportunity!  

The image above was our third project and it was the first one I really got intimately involved in, using resource material from my May trip to Paris and everyone in the class was getting more comfortable with ink and dip pen, gilding, working with natural pigments and egg yolk.  and xacto blades  The only way you can correct a mistake is with a verrrrrry sharp knife.  It's a good thing vellum is substantial...

Anyway, I chose to decorate a border in the early gothic style for a page that might have been from a psalter.  The vine design is from a photograph I had taken of one of the painted side altars in Notre Dame de Paris, and I painted one of the church's gargoyles at the top, outlining everything in black ink with a dip pen.  (I previously found out the hard way on my first project that this can be a disaster if you're not using waterproof ink.) The outline of Notre Dame (ok, it is leaning a little...) is gilded with imitation gold leaf, and working with gold leaf is, to put it mildly, somewhat challenging.  Fortunately, this was my third project in class and I got a lot of practice with the gilding on my second project, which I actually had to do twice (from scratch) because the gold leaf never really adhered well the first time.

I have read, studied, painted and experimented with "Illuminations" ever since the class ended in August - I even rolled out a series for an art show with Artist on Fire called "Beginnings" in December and will post some of those images in the days to come.

I'm Back!

I've been on sabbatical...from blogging, not painting!  Took the time off for several reasons, two of which stem from last summer right after Piccolo Spoleto:

(1) I went Mac and continue to spend a lot of time with the Apple Boys at the downtown Charleston Apple Store learning my MacBook Pro and using Bento to catalogue and track my original artwork, which helps immensely!

(2) I began an intense journey with medieval manuscript illumination (yes, you read that correctly!) - more on that in the next post!