The Alphapets portrait project this week is brought to you by the letters E, F, G and H. My abecedarian poem to go with these letters and artwork :
Everett often warbles with glee
Farley is so easy to please
Gingerbread loves days when it’s snowed
Henry is sure he’s cracked the code
Here’s the artwork (somewhere on each piece is an alphabetical letter):
I did portraits of a Siamese cat, a poodle, an Alaskan Malamute and a tabby cat. While working I thought of a friends Siamese cat who “sings” constantly and I combined that with a memory of being in college art school which was next door to the music building and often hearing music as I went to class. While working on the poodle I remembered a poodle I knew in the 1970’s and the decor from that era – for some reason poodle haircuts remind me of the 70s. The Alaskan Malamute was inspired by a fairly recent portrait I’d done of a special person’s special dog – and I, too, love seeing snow. I am currently owned by a tabby cat who, I’m fairly sure, has this human figured out (and wrapped around his dew-claw).
All of this artwork was created with ink, gouache and color pencil. I love the forgiveness of gouache, the opacity of it, the buttery-smooth feel of working with it. It brightens my quarantine-days to make these Alphapets pieces – hope it brightens your day to see them.
If you’re just joining us the previous post is here. My Alphapets project is aiming to be both an art exhibit and an artist book. With framing eventually done by Aurora Gallery and Frameshop. https://auroragalleryonline.com/ as part of the Ambassador for Small Frames program. I want to eventually bring them all together in a book – with my abecedarian poem. More of poem will be revealed on each Monday’s post as I get more of the artwork done. More of my artist books are here.
The Alphapets portrait project this week is brought to you by the letters A, B, C and D. My abecedarian poem to go with these letters and artwork :
Alfred enjoys living on a farm.
Boo rarely causes any harm.
Coco dreams of milkshakes galore.
Dabney bursts through every door.
Here’s the artwork (somewhere on each piece is an alphabetical letter):
I did portraits of a cattle dog/blue heeler, tabby cat, Persian cat and a coon hound. While working thought about the outdoors/farmers markets, the sneakiness of some cats I’ve known, cravings for milkshakes and the exuberant bursts of energy dogs can have.
All of this artwork was created with ink, gouache and color pencil.
If you’re just joining us the previous post is here. My Alphapets project is aiming to be both an art exhibit and an artist book. With framing eventually done by Aurora Gallery and Frameshop. https://auroragalleryonline.com/ as part of the Ambassador for Small Frames program. I want to eventually bring them all together in a book – with my abecedarian poem. More of poem will be revealed on each Monday’s post as I get more of the artwork done. More of my artist books are here. Anyway, see you next Monday with more letters…
Yesterday I posted about the free ebook versions of my artist books – for those staying at home. (Thanks for staying home!) Then I strolled down memory lane, thinking of other things I can do to bring a spot of cheer during this time of quarentine.
Last December I did my semi-annual holiday pet portrait project at my local bookstore, Vintage Books, where, nonstop, for 4 hours I drew portraits of people’s pets. The Aurora Gallery and Frame Shop https://auroragalleryonline.com/ was my source for the frames into which I put the just-created pet portraits for people to take home then and there. Here’s an example of a few of my pet portraits in frames.
All told I did over 25 of these pet portraits, people told me, sometimes with tears in their eyes, that they enjoyed my work. The bookstore was happy with event attendance and the little frames sold like ice cream cones on a hot day.
A few days after the December event I went to the Aurora Gallery to pick up a few more frames. While there they half jokingly called me their “Ambassador for Small Frames”.
Suffice it to say that my conclusion, after my memory lane stroll, is that my pet portraits were fun for people to see and get. Perhaps doing more of my dogs and cats will cheer people?
I contacted the Aurora Gallery and asked “what if I took the “Ambassador for Small Frames” thing seriously?”.
The result? Starting next Monday I’ll post here the pet portraits I’ve done over the previous week. (I’m giving myself permission to go at a slower pace than I do during the holiday when I’m trying like heck to fill orders before Dec 25.). The Aurora Gallery will do framing and delivery as desired.
I’m calling this new project “Alphapets” because, as a variation on my usual pet-portraits, I’m adopting the abecedarian poetry form. Each portrait will be named alphabetically – or, in the way a children’s program might say, brought to you by an English alphabetical letter.
When I finish the entire alphabet I hope to do an art exhibit of these miniature portraits. Definitely I plan to make an artist book of them. No matter what eventually happens I’m hoping that seeing the Alphapets as they happen will be cheerful for you.
So… see you here on Mondays? Take care and please stay home, order grocery delivery. ❤
UPDATE: Just after posting this the Governor of Washington has declared a statewide lockdown. So I will proceed with making the Alphapets artwork for the collective cheer there may be in it but the actual framing aspect may be in hold for a bit till things in the world settle.
In times like these we need to do what kindnesses we can for each other so I’ve decided to release my kitchen sketchbook earlier than planned. The title of this new artist book is Favorites So Far – a kitchen sketchbook. Details follow.
I spend most of my time working at home. Now, with coronavirus, more people, especially here in Washington state, are too. Welcome to my world. There’s lots of work but also books, good meals, drinks and snacks.
So perhaps it will be kind to go ahead and share more of how cooking at home fits with my working at home life? Hope so…
I was going to wait until just before my one-person art exhibit in June 2020 to officially debut this memoir cookbook, Favorites So Far, as many of the recipes relate to my artwork. I’ve been dribbling out teaser recipes on my Instagram page especially as they relate to the artwork as I finish the art. My original intention was to build momentum toward my June exhibit, display the artwork at the physical exhibit and have this 48 page sketchbook, itself intended as artwork, available as an accessory to the exhibit. You know, big splash.
But to heck with that. It seems kinder to share this book right now because people gotta eat.
Technically this book, Favorites So Far, is a printed 48 page memoir sketchbook – with my sketches on every page. That a meal could be made from it was just bonus. It’s suposed to be autobiographical amusement. But it really is a practical book, we refer to it for our own meals regularly.
Here’s a photo of the front and back covers of the printed book Favorites So Far:
Recently my co-author, Judy Sullens, and I got to talking: in the best of times what to cook/eat is a question. Door Dash and other innovative food delivery services are super helpful – but people suddenly being at home more… perhaps they’ll find it helpful to hear how a couple of busy creatives who’re not always flush with cash, not always remembering to get stuff at the store, how do they fill their belly’s?
So we decided to release the book now rather than wait. This link to the full color printed book has the entire book as a preview – and you can purchase it there too. https://www.blurb.com/b/9759759-favorites-so-far
The book is set up to be printed, 48 pages, full color, landscape format to showcase the artwork. And, since we’re not waiting to do a big splash at the exhibit, we’ve now set it up so the printed book can be shipped directly to you from the printer.
Perhaps even more helpfully we’ve set it up as an immediately downloadable ebook viewable on any device: Google Android devices, Kindle etc. It’s still 48 pages, full color with all the artwork. You can get the ebook version here. https://www.blurb.com/ebooks/709744-favorites-so-far (preview first 15 pgs)
Speaking of previews here’s some of the pages:
The title page Book info page…. see, drawings on all pages! Introduction page…how this book came to be.
And here are a few of the inner pages so you can see the memoir attributes.
More generally how I handle being a busy artist while not starving: after breakfast, before getting to work in my studio, I cut up veg and etc ingredients and throw them in a pot to slow cook until lunchtime. I work for several hours in my studio, take a short break to stir the pot. Back to work for another hour or so. Then lunch!
This is a pic of my sketchbook that Favorites So Far is a reproduction of – and a pot of just assembled stew:
And, yes, since it’s so near to St. Patrick’s Day I couldn’t resist posting this Irish stew recipe!
Oh, and we showed this sketchbook to a chef friend who said “I love it that a third of the book is cocktails!”
Here, below, are some new sketchbook pages – I’m still thinking towards publishing a version of my sketchbook. I’ve been encouraged to do this by friends who’ve looked at my book, as well as by my followers on social media – thank you all!!! Now without much further typing:
Art studio supervisor Hawkeye carefully examines my cat drawings.The drawing under examination. Art studio supervisor Rusty reacts to the phrase “eating…”
In Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, the (ahem) text, for my recent painting (last post) Vonnegut talks of Tralfamadore another planet where time is viewed panoramically by the Tralfamadorians.
After posting about my painting “Slaughterhouse Chives” some friends said they’d like to see my view of Tralfamadore. So here, below, are several views of my artist book titled “Clancy’s View Of Tralfamadore * a homage to Kurt Vonnegut and other intervals of time”.
Including, (wink) a panoramic photo of the inside contents of my book. The book is 7 inches tall and 4.5 in wide when closed. It opens to span 36 inches. I made this book with ink and gouache on handmade paper.
Front cover Back coverPanoramic view of the contents
In my artwork generally I think about time a lot, about the importance of the present moment, how we create – or curate – our present moments to our good or ill or something between. I think of how books are time capsules, messages from another era, another geographic region, another lived duration.
One of my favorite quotes is from a book called A Sideways Look At Time by Jay Griffiths the quote goes “The French philosopher Henri Bergeson, who greatly influenced Proust, understood the sublime importance of the present moment “time is creation or it is nothing at all” and lived durations are not simply intervals but are the very stuff of reality.”
I put that quote as a long-running phrase across the entire 36 inch accordion format that makes up “Clancy’s View Of Tralfamadore…” Around that phrase I’ve included references to the intervals of lived durations, Vonnegut (of course) and other authors I’ve read recently who’ve passed on to the eternal library in the sky. Also included are meaningful time intervals related to flowers/plants and soup. Each duration mentioned is an important part of this interval I’m living in. (For example; I’m aware that without flowers we wouldn’t have vegetables and other soup ingredients, or paper or…)
And for any extra amusement in it here’s a video of “Clancy’s View Of Tralfamador * a homage to Kurt Vonnegut and other intervals of time”
Video of the one- of-a-kind artist book by Clancy titled “Clancy’s View of Tralfamadore * a homage to Kurt Vonnegut and other intervals of time”
Thank you for sharing this present moment with me.
What’s for dinner? I began keeping a kitchen sketchbook years ago so I could answer that question with a reliably pleasing meal. In a blog post recently I talked of how my kitchen sketchbook, a sketchbook solely devoted to the topic of food, is “feeding” my current fine art series to be exhibited later this year. After posting someone said they’d be interested in my process of ‘kitchen sketchbook keeping’ as they’d like to create such a keepsake for their family. So my process goes like this …
I see a recipe, in a library book, a cookbook I own or online ( I follow some food blogs and Instagram accounts: Food In Books, In Diane’s Kitchen, TikiChefKim ) and I decide to try the recipe. Here’s a cookbook I found in my local library. I looked through it identifying several recipes that look possible.
Often in reading the recipe I realize that it includes an item someone at my table is allergic to, or strongly likes/dislikes, or the recipe includes an ingredient I don’t have in my cabinets. Some adaptions, adjustments, are made. In this case, pictured below, I don’t have Borlotti beans so I substitute Cranberry beans (another Italian dry bean) which I do have. I write my adjustments on my scrap of paper.
And here’s a close up of my writing on the scrap of paper.
Things I’m looking for in a recipe are: easy to make, variable when served as leftovers and yummy for the people at my table. Sometimes it can be a day or two between reading a recipe and doing the actual cooking. Whenever I do start cooking I tweek my notes on my scrap of paper.
The first meal of my Cranberry Beans and Cabbage with Rosemary Breadcrumbs was served alongside sauteed Brussels Sprouts for a vegetarian dinner. It was an easy meal for me, the cook, to prepare: I didn’t have to spend lots of time in the kitchen fussing and could work in my art studio while the beans cooked. The meal, as served, tasted yummy to both me and my spouse. So I saved my scrap of paper with my recipe notes. (If the recipe had been too fussy, or not yummy, the paper scrap would be discarded)
The next day was a busy one so just before lunch I hurridly scooped some leftover Cranberry Beans, Cabbage and Breadcrumbs into individual portion size oven safe dishes, threw a few frozen Itallian meatballs onto the beans, covered each dish with aluminum foil, put them into the oven for 30 mins and returned to my art project. When the timer went off lunch was ready.
Lunch was quite quick, yummy and got high mark’s for its ease and versatility! So the scrap of paper with the recipe got slipped in to its potential spot in my kitchen sketchbook. The next day was similarly hectic so the third re-heat of leftover Cranberry Beans and Cabbage was similar except I put an Itallian sausage in place of the meatballs.
The result was so yummy that this recipe, as adapted, earned “keeper” status, meaning it goes into my kitchen sketchbook.
During the next available 10 minutes I did a short-burst and, all at once, wrote my adapted recipe in pencil in my kitchen sketchbook.
A few days later I spent 5 minutes or so using a Micron ink pen to write over the pencil, tweeking the lettering spacing as I inked.
On still another day during another spare 5 minutes I did more inking, tweeking wording and letter spacing as I went. In the pic below you can see how different the ink work is from the original pencil.
On still another day I snuck in a moment and I erased all of the pencil marks.
Then on successive days as I worked on other art projects whenever I had a bit of color that’d also fit with something on my recipe page I’d take a minute dab the color into my kitchen sketchbook, leave the sketchbook open to dry, then I’d wash out my brush and return to my main art project.
I used color and boldness of ink to indicate ingredients and order of instructions. So in the future I’ll be able to glance through my sketchbook and easily plan dinner!
My kitchen sketchbook is 3.5 x 5 inches when closed and a half inch thick. It’s pages are a lightweight watercolor paper that takes ink and gouache fairly well if I don’t get too vigorous with it.
For my upcoming art exhibits this year, as part of my, ahem, bibliography, I’ve made artistbook copies of my kitchen sketchbook titled “Favorites So Far”. You can get a copy in advance via this link. As published the book is 8 x 10 inches, a bit larger than the original sketchbook.
And now you know how my busy, we don’t want to starve, art studio solves the “what’s for dinner” question.
I’m working towards 3 one-person fine art exhibits this year and I’m using writing techniques to design them. Gathering sources, aka a bibliography, is a starting spot for nonfiction works. So I’m borrowing that concept only I’m creating the books I’ll use as, ahem, source citations.
For example, in my last post I depicted a woman reading and having breakfast. Here is the source for the breakfast within the art… the source is my kitchen sketchbook:
During my exhibits I’ll want to show my sources (like a writer would) so I’ve published a new artist book based on my kitchen sketchbook titled Favorites So Far. The recipes come from both me and my spouse, a kind of memoir sketchbook cookbook… and part of the basis for my fine art. Anyway, here’s a picture of the cover:
That you could make your own meals from this book is a happy bonus…it’s primarily yummy source material!
I’ve been working on a new painting and finished it last night, titling it “A History Of The Sock Monkey”. Here’s an image of it.
“A History Of The Sock Monkey” by Clancy – 7 x 5 inches – ink, gouache and color pencil on 8 ply board.
As I worked on this painting I thought about – and during a work break posted on my Instagram story – a quote by Joseph Campbell that I’d paraphrased in my sketchbook as “We cannot cure the world of sadness but we can choose to live in joy.”
For me part of choosing to live in joy is remembering to enjoy small comforts: hot coffee or tea, breakfast, a good book, a cuddly pet, a warm bathrobe…
