April 5, 2008 Day 351
Last night Adrian and I went to an open house at folk artist Mary Shelley's house/gallery in downtown Ithaca. It was amazing to see so many of her works together, each one strengthening the effect of the others. Mary does relief carvings in wood and then paints them with acrylics. Her subjects are often diners, farming, and other regional subjects from upstate New York. Mary has an impressive resume, with works at the Smithsonian, the Fennimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York, and the National Museum of Women and the Arts in Washington, DC. If you haven't seen her work yet, take a look at her website: Mary Shelley Folk Art.
Going out to see Mary's art rejuvenated me, and I got past yesterday's depression. Today I feel great, especially since I finally got to paint again after a long pause for renovations to my studio.
I worked on the backgrounds of three paintings, but in the third one, I tried a more structured and thoughtful background than I usually make:
Canvas #38 44" x 44"
Before that, I made my drawing for the day with blue/green and purple waves going across the horizontal plane:
Drawing #358 14" x 11"
(Note: There is a gap between the dates I'm writing and posting in order to give me time to get ahead.)
