Circling Around Kandinsky

The Guggenheim/NYC has a retrospective of Wassily Kandinsky through January 2010. This all encompassing exhibition is an abstract lover's dream: Kandinsky's artistic evolution and development are on display from the lower levels of the Guggenheim to the top, with 100+ large format paintings and 60 works on Paper exhibited.
I found myself as enamored of the building, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1959, as the paintings circling around and around its many levels. The Guggenheim is an interactive work of Art, with museum goers participating by viewing all that is before them. We were, literally, inside Art looking at Art, very odd.



I took many photos of the museum, inside and out, its spirals, curves, and angles. It's my kind of building--a little off, maybe a fantasy--that makes viewers think. What IS going on here? When Wright molded form to function that became this museum, what inspired him? How does this building reflect the organic?

Early on, Kandinsky, too, molded form and function through bold colors and his exaggerated objects. He believed Art should provoke a psychic/spiritual connection in viewers. Later in his career, Kandinsky's work became non-objective. Kandinsky's Concerning the Spiritual in Art, details his theory of Art.

I am most drawn to Kandinsky's earlier paintings, with primary colors and identifiable landscapes. The colors are similar to ones used in my own paintings, quite comforting, that I'm not alone in re-creating this world.

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Pilgrimage

This Thanksgiving Day I count the great blessing of the Georgia O'Keeffe Abstraction Exhibit at the Whitney Museum in NYC. Last Sunday afternoon I roamed the O'Keeffe galleries--often in tears--amazed and overwhelmed by the 120+ paintings on display.

On our drive to NYC, I voiced my great desire to Cherrie that my favorite painting, "59th Street Studio," (1919) might be included in the show. I have only seen this painting in O'Keeffe's Catalogue Raisonne, only imagined its true size--and effect on the viewer. The charcoal and watercolor galleries held early works that hinted of what would come from O'Keeffe. Paintings from 1917-19 revealed the depth of her genius.
I saw it from afar, and was so EXCITED! I worked my way through the gallery in chronological order, like a child opening the small gifts first on xmas morning to get to the last giant box. The pastel, "Blue Flower," with its intensity reminded me of a blue flame pilot light, delighted me yet again. Then I was face to face with a painting I never thought I'd see. "59th Street Studio" has been in a private collection, never exhibited, for decades. Maybe because this show was in NYC, the city of birth for this painting, the owners allowed it to be included?
With the gallery docent free, just for a minute, Cher photographed me with my favorite painting (NO Flash! Don't worry).


Today I give thanks for Georgia O'Keeffe's grand vision, for her perseverance, for her determination to have her say--and for sharing her art with the world.

Whirling Along

My art group meets monthly, with a theme word to guide our efforts. September's word was "flight," followed by "impermanence" in October. I saw images of leaves for each word. Leaves certainly are in flight in Fall and do represent impermanence. I decided the heft of late fall, with winter looming, should be implied in the painting also.

I spent 10 minutes of a woods walk standing in a maple, beech, birch forest watching leaves fall. "Fresh" leaves were lifted by the wind, wandered about aimlessly in air before landing silently. Mature leaves with curled edges were whirling dervishes, spinning in circles with their stems straight up, acting as a rudder of sorts. This was the first time I had truly witnessed leaves falling. Such a gift! My original plan was to overwhelm the viewer with large, falling leaves. This early image has a large beech leaf in the upper left corner, which grows smaller in the end.

Oaks are such powerful trees. With Vermont's warmer winters, oaks may overtake maples. Creating the large oak leaves was easier than creating the maple. Oaks are definite and powerful. They don't try to be more than they are. Oaks are the late show, not fashionable like maples, but worth a look. Maples are three or four ideas at once. Maples are like me some days: Working in three or four rooms at once, very scattered. So I struggled a bit to finish the maple leaf.


The finished painting, Leaf Whirl, hints at distance between the leaves. Some are higher up and tumbling. Others are in your face. The sky is uncertain:
November in Vermont is much like Leaf Whirl. Clouds with hints of blue. Swirling winds. Morning frost followed by bright sunlight.

Mugged

VPR's fall fund raising drive is on and I've heard my name twice, which surprised me, but shouldn't. Ty Robertson contacted me in September about converting my vertical painting, "Home," to a horizontal to be used as the Fall Artist mug for the Member drive.

Ty found my work through the Vermont Crafts Council website. An image on the VCC site led to my site (JayneShoupStudio.com) led to "Home,"

which morphed into "Warm Hearts Warm Homes."

I had fun designing the mug panel, playing around with small sketches that were taped to mugs, trying to determine the most effective placement for the image. I had to consider right- and left-handed mug owners. All would want an inviting view with coffee, tea, chai enroute to the lips each morning. Here is my value drawing, which started out very small, 2.875" X 7.875" to fit on the mug. After four versions, the house had moved right, and the image was equally visible from either side.



Once I settled on the design, the painting was easy. I used the colors of "Home" in "Warm Hearts." I did not want a complex, difficult to reproduce color scheme for the mug. However, my use of triadic, non-primary colors (three colors spaced equally apart on the color wheel) provided some challenges in reproduction anyway.

With cold temperatures arriving, I've begun to move wood inside our garage storage bin. When I was younger, wood stacking was a chore, but now it's more like meditation. I've thought of those who will struggle to pay heating bills this winter. I am so very fortunate to live in an old, but well insulated home, and to have paid for our wood supply.

Many thanks to Chittenden Bank which is donating funds to the Share Heat program during VPR's member drive this fall. A good corporate partner. All who can, must help those struggling to stay warm. May we all be warmed by generosity-- on the giving and receiving end.

Eyes Above

I completed a painting on a day when unexpected visitors came to my studio. They had picked up my rack card at the Williston Tourist Center on I-89 and came straight to visit. Lucy and Bruce are from Toronto. She is a glass artist (LucyRoussel.com), likes to look at other's work. Anyway, they wondered how I get from point A to point B, so here's a chronicle of my latest painting, "Eyes Above." This painting was inspired by a steeple in Hillsboro, NH, where I enjoyed Schneitzelfest with friends last month.

I usually do a series of thumbnail drawings, using the actual scene or a photo as a jumping off point. Once I begin to draw the same thing over and over, without changing much or leaving out more detail, I am am ready to consider colors for the painting.




I am exploring triadic color combinations lately, and I thought turquoise would be a perfect dominant color in the large expanse of sky. I built off of it for the other colors. I wanted to include fall foliage, since that is New England now. This is my color swatch.


Once I've tried some colors together and began to "see" where I was going, I did a 4" X 4" study--my color proof--to find out if the colors I've chosen will work together when they are larger shapes. In this study, the steeple roof seemed too bland. I adjusted to a copper top, in the end.





After the color proof, I draw an outline of the major objects with a light color pastel pencil onto Magnani Velata Handmade paper. It's 100% cotton, a lovely surface to work on, holds pastel well. A tip from the Canadian artist Brittani Faulkes (BrittaniFaulkes.com) is to work from top to bottom to avoid dust contamination on the surface below. All the colors are brighter because of this. The image below shows part of my underdrawing, plus the turquoise sky--I hope it shows on all monitors as turquoise--and the early copper steeple color.



I'm happy with "Eyes Above" because the colors work, the piece is simple, the subtle message of what steeples were all about with God in heaven and all of that is implied. Most like to think something/one watches from above or beyond. Eyes Above is my attempt at a cheerful rendition of grace/compassion.

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Eyes Above, 16" X 20"
To purchase, contact jayshoup@gmail.com

Negative Space

I am captivated by a giant sunflower in our garden. Each morning it emerges from darkness or thick fog with reverence and contemplation. Decades ago, in the church of my youth, Acolytes lit candles with a similar solemnity. In preparation for the painting-to-be, "Acolyte," I did a charcoal. Charcoal has much to teach us. Black and grey shades refuse to hide emotion. Negative space is center stage. Honesty shines.