Frazier Park Mural Eye Candy

Frazier Park Mural, 4th Street Tunnel
C. Whitman, P. Rivers and students
Arts and Science Council Grant, 2006

Student David French works on the Frazier Park Mural, 2006

New Portrait

Kelsie, acrylic on canvas, 16 x 20"
Collection of D. A.

Sunrise over Jacobs' Ridge

View from my parents back porch......As Thanksgiving approaches, I'm feeling a little homesick. If you pan to the left of the frame of the photo, you'll see a large, old strip mine.

No Evils, oil and wax on paper, 22x30"

Another of the moth series.

Lover's Eye Ring

"Eye" Miniature, 1790, watercolor on ivory

Unknown British maker, Collection of the Mint Museum of Art

I think this idea is fabulous---carrying a ring with your lover's eye painted on it....not so much for the suggestion, but for the sentiment. According to the Mint, this "vogue was said to have been begun by Mrs. Fitzherbert, the paramour of the man who would one day become King George IV of England." This has always been one of my favorites at the Mint; so tiny it's easy to miss. I couldn't find it on my last visit, so it must be in storage.

Dream Roses, oil and wax on prepared paper
location unkown

Another of the dream series...people often ask me where the rose images come from...so, here's the story: I was in my early twenties and stopped by a friend's party one evening. While there I received some unwanted attention from a man who just happened to be in a wheelchair. The problem wasn't the wheelchair, it was the fact that I just wasn't interested---I was pining for someone else, and, party guy was a sloppy drunk. But, his disability made me treat him differently...rather than brush him off like I wound any other sloppy drunk, I was too nice. I was patient when he tried to trap me in corners; I was patient when he tried to chase me to my car in his wheelchair (kind of humorous now--but frustrating then). No, he never caught me, but I was relentlessly chased. Finally, I escaped. The next day at work, two dozen roses arrived, along with a clear expectation that we were dating. So, what I was reluctant to do the evening before, I was forced to do---sever any expectation on his part. But I was disturbed by my initial reaction...why hadn't I done this (and been ruthless) the evening before? You can do it, and not be heartless. Anyway, I took the roses to my studio and pinned them to the wall--to remind me to be straightforward, etc. As the roses withered, they seemed to draw toward each other and form their own relationships. I began to draw them and consider them personalities. Eventually, they came to represent people in my drawings, and become comments on my own relationships. Dream Roses is one of the first of these images.

Dream Moth

Dream Moth, oil and wax on prepared paper
Collection of P. Kowalok

I read a haunting description of a moth being drawn into a flame in Annie Dillard's Holy the Firm, and moths became a motif for me. The voids in this image are from a dream....I dreamt I was in an desolate landscape; all I could see were these round, earthenware pots jutting up from the land. I spent the entire dream running from pot to pot----looking in and finding nothing.
I used to think about that dream a lot, but now I try not to think of it.

Remembrance of Things Past.......

Dead Flower, oil stick on paper, c. 1990.


While I will admit Proust was tough to plow through in college, and frankly, I didn't make it all the way through at the time, it has managed to stick with me all these years.....

Help save mountain streams!

I received this email about how mining is polluting mountain streams, and I encourage anyone who reads this to follow the link and stop this before it gets any worse!

KFTC ACTION ALERT: October 26, 2007ADD YOUR VOICE TO A GREAT SHOWING IN HAZARDKFTC members made a great showing at the public hearing in Hazard on Wednesday night. They spoke in a loud, unified voice: "Protect Kentucky's streams. Don't eliminate the buffer zone rule that prevents coal mining in streams. Just enforce the law!"Now it is your turn to add your voice to theirs.The coal industry wants to eliminate the rule that prohibits them from mining within 100 feet of a stream, and the U.S. Office of Surface Mining is working to push this change through. In fact, the way OSM is proposing to re-write the rule it would actually encourage mining in streams! All of this is designed to remove any legal or environmental impediment to uncontrolled mountaintop removal mining.At least 135 people attended the hearing in Hazard, the majority to oppose this giveaway to industry. Thirty-four people publicly spoke on the rule change, with 29 supporting KFTC's position that our streams should receive a high level of protection. Our allies in other Appalachian coal states made similar impressive showings at simultaneous hearings in their respective states.

Visit http://www.kftc.org/blog and http://www.kftc.org/streams to read more about the hearing and learn about the issue.Would you submit written comments calling on OSM to abandon this proposed rule change and instead enforce the law to protect our streams? This is an issue that has national implications and we need thousands of comments from Kentucky and the United States.1.

You can go directly to http://www.700mountains.org to send a prepared letter to OSM as well as to your members of Congress. There are also links to this site through the KFTC web pages listed above if you want to learn more about the issue first.2. You can send your comments directly to OSM by regular mail.Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and EnforcementAdministrative RecordRoom 252-SIB1951 Constitution Avenue, NWWashington, DC 20240Reference Docket # 1029-AC04.Comments must be submitted by November 23, 4:30 p.m.

But please don't wait!Thanks for all those who came from across the state to the Hazard hearing. And thank you for helping that call for justice grow louder by submitting your written comments.

----------------------------------------------------------PLAN AHEADPlease plan to come to Frankfort on Thursday, February 14, 2008 for KFTC's "I Love Mountains Rally and Lobby Day." We need a large turnout to convey a strong message that we demand that our mountains, streams, people and heritage be protected.

----------------------------------------------------------MAKE THIS WORK HAPPENWe are in the middle of KFTC's Fall Fundraising Campaign, our most important fundraising drive of the year. Please consider becoming a KFTC member, renewing your membership or making a donation today. You can do so online at: http://www.kftc.org/join-buy-donate. Thanks!Jerry HardtKFTC Communications Director

New York---October 2007

Just a quick recommendation on the Julie Heffernan exhibit currently on view at PPOW in Chelsea. In some ways, it's more of the same...there aren't any real surprises, but since I get a kick out of her work, I'm okay with that. There is some variation on the background---in one a figure looms behind the "self-portrait", which created an interesting juxtipostion. And dang, the girl can paint!

If I remember correctly, this one is titled "Men in Power" and one of the "men" in the little portraits is Condalezza Rice. I got a little chuckle there---in part because I wasn't expecting it.

Mary and I finally took the time, and the long, bumpy bus ride to visit the Cloisters at Fort Thomas Park....and I'm pleased to say it was worth it! The Unicorn Tapestries....just delicious.

The Merode Altarpiece is in a small room, and lordy, what an impact! I think it could hold a room 5 times the size. The color is so intensely beautiful...it's one of those paintings that give you a lump in your throat, and you feel yourself being drawn back to it when you try to move on.

The Age of Rembrandt at the Met was crowded, and a bit of a yawn, as it was primarily work from the Met's own collection. Though it's always a treat to see Vermeer, and I do like Rembrandt, you just couldn't get close to them for the crowds. The new Greek and Roman galleries are very nice, and I'd never gone through the Etruscan gallery before. There was an Ab Ex show that was kind of nice to see, though it was primarily from the permanent collection...but after years of looking at them, I've been taking a break for a few years, and I'm pleased to say I was able to look with fresh eyes. The Neo Rauch (sp?) show---you know, it was charming in it's way, but kind of slip shod in other ways---and I can't remember it very well now that it's been a week ago. But, boy that Merode Altarpiece is probably drowning out those images anyway....

Figure Study; Conte on grey canson paper

This one is about 30x22"...another quick study---about an hour.

I have been very busy with that teaching thing....

I was flipping through some old sketchbooks the other day and found this funky little sketch....I remember thinking when I'd done it that I'd drawn something from my past.....no, I'm not one to really go for reincarnation or anything like that, but if I remember correctly, I had recently read Bruce Chatwin's The Songlines, which is a fabulous little book about remembering and discovering....

And, I was looking through old slides and found this work, which is oil stick on tar paper, done about 20 years ago! It's in the collection of my friend Barry Motes....I think I will post a few older things here and there...looking at them makes my fingers itch to work.....I love the texture and color of this one---I remember the tar paper was lots of fun to work with, and I understand the peice has held up over the past 20 years, which sort of surprises me, I guess.

Portrait of Dr. Tony Zeiss, oil, 16x20"

To be presented to him this morning...this is the secret project of the summer....Zeiss is the president of Central Piedmont Community College. Photo of portrait by Tom Covington.

Portrait of Ed Madden

Oil on canvas, 16x20"

Chinese Mulberry Tree

From my mother's yard...oil on canvas, 5x7"
Collection of Mary Lois Jacobs

New Exhibit and reception

My exhibit is still up at Ross Gallery at CPCC. I believe the hours are 11-3 Monday through Friday. The show runs through August 24, with the reception on August 22, 4-6pm. I hope to see everyone there :-)

Trio of Peppers, oil on canvas, 8x10"

Hmmmm....I like the green pepper and the bottle of
liquin in the back. But the yellow pepper...not so much.

Cannas from my Garden, oil on canvas, 8x10"

I had forgotten how much fun it is to paint glass....

Beautiful Tomato, oil on panel, 5x7"

Beautiful because it's the first one of the season....

Missing Mountains

I just got this book about mountain top removal in Kentucky....wow!

It features writing about the mountains by Appalachian writers such as Wendell Barry. I will post more when I've read the book.

For more info, or to order the book, go to:

Kentuckians for the Commonwealth at http://kftc.org/ It's full of info that will blow your mind.

Busy living

I had the pleasure of company last week and have only stepped into the studio to hide things I didn't know what to do with :-)

But I did convince my nieces to sit for me briefly so I could try out some new Rembrandt pastels....unfortunately when I went outside to take the slides, the lens on my camera fogged up and the images are not very sharp.

They are both such beautiful girls, and I didn't do them justice in the time I had. Lindsay's (three quarter view) is delicate and I like the sketchiness of it, but I think her face is a bit more angular. Gracyn's is like a mug shot! We laughed about this, but as a model, she was a bit unwilling to let her personality come through. Or perhaps the artist is just limited :-) However, there is a likeness there.

Oh my, but I do love those Rembrandt soft pastels! I have never really worked a lot with pastels, but these will make me change my mind...they are like butter, blending so softly and grabbing the paper beautifully. This is a perfect example of how using better and more expensive materials really can make a difference. I have always tended toward materials in the mid-price range because I don't want the materials to become so precious I feel inhibited and unwilling to explore. But, I think I will invest in more and better pastels in the future.

The third picture is an oil sketch (about an hour or so) done several months ago, though I just took a slide.

There really is nothing like the feeling of pushing paint around canvas for me. It has an immediacy that no other medium has...and....I just love the smell.

Mapping a Past...and a future

I have been working on a double secret painting that I may post latter on---when it's at a sharing point.....Today I delivered my work to Ross Gallery for the Mapping the Past exhibit. It is a sort of mini-retrospective of some work done between 1987 and 2006. It has been a strange and interesting ride reviewing all the old work, much of which I had to pull down from attic storage, thinking I would never show them again.

The two larger images on the postcard are older images, while the smaller ones are from the last couple of years. There are three different series in the show, but all the series are somewhat related. The two larger images represent the Underground Landscape series, which was influenced by strip mining in eastern Kentucky. The smaller images are a cross between Underground Landscapes and cellular images---particularly blood cell images relating to lupus or other autoimmunity diseases. Most of these images use oil, wax, sand and enamel on Arches paper or canvas. They are of all different sizes, but many of them are on 40x60" 1114lb. watercolor paper.

There is also another set of images that focus on roses; specifically, roses or flowers that have been given to me. The roses/flowers stand in for people in these images. They are also done on the 40x60" watercolor paper, so these rosebuds are the size of a head or larger. They create an interesting contrast to the landscape and cellular images.

So, I have been feeling no small amount of confusion in the studio in the past few weeks. Suddenly I have the summer to paint a little and nothing is good enough. But, looking at these images in the process of pulling together this show, I realize that there is much more to be said and done here and I think I can do it better than I did in the past. So, I thank Peggy for suggesting the show, and giving me the opportunity to see it all with a more objective eye at a time I really needed to believe in what I'm painting. Now my brain is busy with ideas and my fingers itch to get in there and get to work :-)

Little painting of St. Peter's

Reality check time! Of all the kinds of paintings I make, I suck the most with architectual paintings. Trust me, St. Peter's isn't nearly so crooked as it appears in this little study. I took a snapshot of the dome from the Vatican, while trekking the 19 million miles of hallway galleries to the Sistine Chapel.

I do love Rome, and the Vatican/St. Peter's is achingly lovely. Hmmm, what is most memorable about the Vatican and St. Peter's? Well, several things come to mind....the grounds are gorgeous, for one. The hallway galleries are not that exciting to me, which is a good thing, because the sea of people heading to the Sistine Chapel will sweep you along with them----it's as if they are in a horse race and cannot be distracted from the finish line. The Sistine is breathtaking. Mary pointed out to me that we tourists enter the Sistine with the dammed in Michelangelo's The Last Judgment....haha! So Christ sends the souls of the saved to heaven on the left, and cast the dammed to hell on the right....enter the tourists.

As all the dammed walk in to view the chapel, we hold our possessions and our arms close to our bodies, tilt our heads, and slowly turns circles, mouths agape as we drink in the ceiling. We sort of gently bounce off one another----like a slow motion pinball machine. If I were an installation artist, I would have fun with this imagery :-)

St. Peter's was also stunning....and I was so please I was able to receive communion while there. I wanted to go to the top of the dome, but felt it would take an act of God to get me there.

Little painting of St. Peters is now in private collection.

A flower made of wood

I love the idea that objects can transcend their materials and appear to be something totally different. I guess I get a childish sense of delight from this---and maybe more----an appreciation of mastery, I guess.

My mother gave me a set of whittled flowers last Christmas. I have forgotten the type of wood, but I have divided the group and have placed some in my studio. It seemed a natural thing to paint them with some left over paint on the palette. I like the way it stands tall. I have been wondering about the significance of shadows----like in Limbourg's Book of Hours, they signify a turn from preoccupation of the spiritual self to a consciousness of more earthly things. A cast shadow can tell so much---time of day, type of light---morning, afternoon, etc.

Back to transcending materials...while I appreciate it, I have no desire to create trompe l'oeil paintings. I love the surprises of paint too much to want to have complete control over it. Like when an edge appears unexpectedly. Or when the abstraction of brushstrokes is just pure fun.

I do enjoy painting realistically sometimes...there is a certain magic to making something look real. But it's that sense of play that keeps me coming back to the studio. The idea that I don't know what's going to happen, and sometimes my time there is spent mapping new territory.

Little paintings....

I am suffering from a short attention span, so I have begun working on some little paintings. I have always believed that more headway is made by working through these spells than thinking through them. So, without regard to the possibility that I may paint over them tomorrow...I am painting whatever catches my eye. I have no grand concept to push me in one direction or another....yet.

Chuck Close:"Inspiration is highly overrated. If you sit around and wait for the clouds to part, it’s not liable to ever happen. More often than not work is salvation."

This is a little 5x7" oil of a lovely tree that sits in the sloping front yard of my parents home in eastern Kentucky. I don't do many landscapes anymore, but what fun to push color around this little canvas, keeping things loose and working from dark to light. This afternoon I was listening to NPR do story on coal (link to the story at the bottom of this post), which provides 50% of the energy used in the US. I knew it used to be quite prevalent, but hadn't realized the country was still so dependent on it. There is a movement afoot in the government to make us even more dependent on coal. If this happens, the speaker (whose name I didn't catch), stated that eastern KY would become essentially an industrial wasteland. From my parents home, which sits on top of one of the highest peaks, the evidence of this is already visible. The photo at left is the view from my parents backyard. This section of the strip mine is slowly being reclaimed by vegetation and elk, but it is still an ugly scar on the vista. Twenty years ago I was in grad school in Knoxville, and I would come home to visit and stew over the scar being ripped into the landscape. Yes, I know the miners must feed their families, and the options are not all that plentiful in eastern KY. But, there had to be a better way. There still has to be a better way. In the late 80's I learned that land on many strip mines were not reclaimed after the mining was completed because it was cheaper to pay the fines than to reclaim the land. I don't know if this is still the case...I hope not.

But, what I've always understood is the incredible beauty of this land. It's a quiet, rugged, introspective kind of beauty that may be evident only to those connected to the space. I don't know. I'm not sure how objectively I see it, or if the nostalgia of childhood memories cloud my thinking. And I'm not sure that really matters in the great scheme of things anyway.

NPR Story on our dependence on coal:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11254947