Gallery MAR Studio Visit To See The New Work

My lovely people at Gallery MAR took a drive up to the studio a couple weeks ago to see what I’m working on for my new show. This was right before the leaves started changing and the weather turned, and now the leaves have done their dance of the fall colors and are almost done.

Fall is a bittersweet time, a reflection on all that has come before and anticipation of what is to come. And with our neighborhood motto “Winter is always coming,” we could feel it in the air. I can’t wear flip flops except for in the house now, and I’ve transitioned to my standard boots in the studio.

At the end of July, I started working on my solo show to create around 22 new paintings for this series of work. Anticipating that we had a couple trips this fall, I made sure to schedule in vacation time, and if you look at my Google calendar, you’ll see a mash of color swaths, blocking out time to work on each set of paintings, as well as errands, dinners, falls hikes and rides, time to lounge and read, friends, family, dogs, inevitable delays, and you know, life.

Now I am nearing the end, beginning the final stages of the last few paintings, and prepping for the work of documenting, marketing, sharing, selling. Luckily selling isn’t much my job - I leave that up to the galleries, who gratefully do the work of connecting with clients so I can keep painting. There are some artists who have their own storefronts and can paint and sell at the same time. I don’t think my nervous systems is set up for that kind of multi-tasking.

So, instead, I bring the gallery to me to share the process, the materials, the thinking behind the work, so they can go back and share all that with the clients. Selling the work myself, out of my studio, would be impossible for a lot of reasons - the snow, the access, the space, but mostly the time. Which is all to say how grateful I am to have my galleries, who share my work with the world, which allows me to keep making.

Because that’s my primary goal - to make art. And I can only keep making art, when I get these paintings out of my studio and into other people’s homes. Cause there isn’t enough room to store 80 paintings every year, let alone every year previous. My studio is already getting pretty full with just this show.

I was excited to share some of the thinking behind this new body or work and the combination of both the cold wax and the encaustic works I am creating for the show. This will be my second year of making art in two different mediums, both using beeswax, which I recognize it is a little unique for most artists.

I also got to show them my sketchbook where I have been documenting the studies and ideas behind the work. The sketchbook will be on view for the night of the show opening, Friday November 7th, from 6-9pm. It’s also Live PC Give PC for all of you in town, so please swing by as you shuffle between parties.

If you are interested in seeing the work, when it is first available, please contact Gallery MAR by sending them an email (info@gallerymar.com) to be added to the preview list.

All photos courtesy of Gallery MAR