chef

About my art exhibit opening but mostly about books

A Creative Life, art exhibit, art gallery, artist book, artistic inspirations, books, Figures Of Speech, fine art, mental health

My exhibit Figures Of Speech went very well! Lots of people came! So many came that I hid in the kitchen watching the winery chef do her magic! Of course I talked to lots of people and gave art tours so when I say “I hid in the kitchen” that was where I chose to sit, whenever I sat, with my wife, our Fairy Goddaughter and one of our Fairy Goddaughter’s friends who we’ve now adopted. Come to one of my exhibits, stay that long and presto you’re family now!! 🤣

Anyhoo, the chef made a watermelon spinach salad that was incredibly yummy! And yes, I brought a sketchbook and pens with me…

The chef surprised and delighted me with some strawberries (one of my favorites) and some chocolate!!

The chef made apple pork burgers with a brie sauce that I started eating before remembering to take a photo.

There was very good live music too… this was what the winery said about the food and music! 👇

I wrote more generally about how my exhibit went on my Substack newsletter and included an ebook of my entire exhibit here 👇 https://sueclancy.substack.com/p/figures-of-speech-ebook

I was particularly excited that a poet based in the UK wrote poetry inspired by my doodlebug artwork for my exhibit: https://ivyroseopal.substack.com/p/prompt-4-doodlebugs

After my exhibit was over I spent the weekend resting and catching up on blogs like this one by Liz Gauffreau where she reviewed a book by Steven Baird. https://lizgauffreau.com/2023/05/31/bookreview-asunder-baby-by-steven-baird/

I also read my friend Bernadette’s blog… and Audrey’s blog… and Laura’s blog…and Sherri’s blog…as well as several other blogs… it was so good to catch up with friends!!

I spent the rest of the weekend binge reading printed books! It looked like this…

…the studio supervisor dachshund alternated between sunny spots from which to survey his kingdom and his cushy L.L. Bean patio bed throne beside our chairs.

I’m still reading this nonfiction book even after the weekend…

…but I blasted through the following titles and I highly recommend all of them!

This one was a very good ebook I got from the library. 👇

Yes, I’m like this about reading! 👇

I hope your weekend was equally pleasant!!

See you next Monday!

Dear Readers on view and my art opening jitters remedy

A Creative Life, art exhibit, Books In Art, business of art, dog portrait, Dogs in Art, drinks in art, food in art, public art, reading in art, Sustainable creativity, words and pictures

All of the 28 artworks for my Dear Readers exhibit have been delivered to Burnt Bridge Cellars now – and hung. Over on my Instagram page you can see a fun pic of the curator looking at a table full of my artwork deciding what art goes where.  Here, just above the wine taps the winery uses to fill wine growlers, is the perfect place where the curator chose to hang my painting “Party Pointers”:

PartyPointersOverTapsI’ll try to post other views of the exhibit – most likely on Instagram – but don’t hold your breath for many more posts from me about Dear Readers – because I’ll be getting started on my tried and true opening party jitters remedy: getting on with other art projects.

Too often, early on in my art career, I had the “what if I throw a party and nobody comes” jitters during the week between art delivery and the opening party. That wasn’t helpful. Quickly I learned that starting on new artwork well before the official opening  for an exhibition is the best exhibit-opening-jitters and general exhibit-up-and-running-I-feel-naked-now remedy. My blog posts, from here on, are likely to reflect new projects I’m working on.  For additional views and information about my Dear Readers exhibit – which will run from June through the end of July – please watch the various Burnt Bridge Cellars social media pages.

Now that the Dear Readers exhibit is hung all that needs to be done, from my point of view, is to do laundry, dress reasonably and show up at the opening party June 7th. More details about the opening party, including the chef’s menu here.  So I’m focusing now on sharpening pencils, taking inventory of the art supplies, looking at my sketchbooks and starting new things.

Thank you again for all of your support and encouragement as I have worked on my Dear Readers exhibit!

 

purrameters of pie

A Creative Life, animals in art, artistic inspirations, cat portrait, Cats in art, Narrative Art

Finished the artwork and titled it: “Purrameters of Pie”.  I decided on that title because (as my last blog post said here) I was thinking of all the various sizes of sweet or savory pies available here in the Pacific Northwest. And the tabby cat’s towel protected paws encircle the just-out-of-the-oven pie…

PurrametersOfPie72

purrfecting pie

A Creative Life, art techniques, artistic inspirations, cat portrait, Cats in art, kitchen art

I’ve noticed in my travels around the Pacific Northwest that you can get savory or sweet hand pies to-go from food carts, a medium sized “personal pie” in restaurants, a slice of pie, a whole pie or a serve-yourself-family-style pie. I’ve also heard from several sources that a flaky pie crust is hard to make from scratch.

I’m currently discovering that it’s also a challenge to paint a flaky pie crust.  Here’s a picture of me working at it:

SueWorksPurrametersOfPie1b72

I’m using a “color shaper”, a rubber wedge shaped brush, to remove the top layer of color to reveal the color underneath. An attempt to make the pie in my painting look like a browned pie crust top that has cracked to show the yummy goodness inside.

I’ll keep working on this piece but first I’ll let it dry a bit and go have some dinner… for some reason I’m hungry.

more from time tavern

A Creative Life, artist book, sketchbook, The Sketchbook Project, visual story

I’ve been very busy lately on several major projects that I can’t talk about publicly yet. Which is why you’ve not seen much of me online. I have managed to squeeze in a bit of work, 5 minutes here or there, on my sketchbook for the Brooklyn Art Library’s Sketchbook Project. I’m still thinking the title of my sketchbook is “Time Tavern”.

Anyway, below are pics of what I’ve gotten done.

And yes, when I can I’ll post about the projects that I can’t talk about yet.

time tavern sketchbook progress

A Creative Life, artist book, sketchbook, The Sketchbook Project, visual story

The sketchbook I’m working on for the Brooklyn Art Library’s Sketchbook Project now has a name, a working title: “Time Tavern”.  As you can see from previous posts I’m thinking about time – and uses of time in cooking, food service, music and in telling wordless visual stories.

When I began this project I’d thought “Time Tavern” would be the title but I held off declaring it until I’d drawn a few pages.  Things sometimes change as a drawing progresses – particularly when I’m working on a wordless visual story.

In my earlier posts (see below for links) I’d shown close-ups of musicians and a chef at work. I’d also shown a birthday party in progress.  These 3 story strands are main ones – but they also need context in order to become a story.  The association or juxtaposition of images – and the sequence of them – is how I’m crafting my tale visually rather than by written words in a row.

The issue is how to do the same things writers who use written words do – plot movement, foreshadowing and character development – but in my case how to do those using only visual imagery.

As part of my original planning for this story I created a “layout” of the “Time Tavern” the pub setting where my story takes place.  This layout is part of my story strand weaving strategy.  Here you see my architectural layout:

TimeTavernLayout72

This architectural drawing won’t be included in my sketchbook – that’s just to help me organize my story.  The book to the side in the above photo is included as it shows me referring to my architectural drawing during work on that sketchbook page.

Below is one of the first setting drawings within my “Time Tavern” sketchbook – it shows the chef looking at his recipe cards. In the background you see the bartender looking at her recipe cards. You also see a bit of the stage area the musicians will use.  Perhaps you can see how I’ll be using my setting drawings as story context – and foreshadowing?

TimeTavernSettingView172

I’m sure you’ll also note the large clocks in my settings – I’m using those as a story device to show the progression of time…

TimeTavernSetting72

Lots more to work to do…

My past posts regarding this project (so you can follow my progress) are here:  https://sueclancy.com/2017/08/10/sketchbook-project-progress/    https://sueclancy.com/2017/08/14/story-strands-in-my-sketchbook-project/  https://sueclancy.com/2017/08/16/sketchbook-progress-time/

General info about the Sketchbook Project is here: https://www.sketchbookproject.com/

sketchbook progress time

A Creative Life, artist book, sketchbook, The Sketchbook Project

More progress in my sketchbook for the Brooklyn Art Library’s Sketchbook Project. As per my recent reading I’ve been thinking about time… and how food and music utilizes time.  So does sequential visual art. Anyway here’s some photos of my progress – and yes, I’m indulging by drawing some of my favorite recipes (for drinks and soup) as well as drawing metaphoric portraits of some of my favorite local musicians.

Here’s a link to the last post about this project (so you can follow my progress): https://sueclancy.com/2017/08/14/story-strands-in-my-sketchbook-project/

And here’s a post listing the books I’m currently reading (that I alluded to above): https://sueclancy.com/2017/08/07/reading-books-making-art-eating-popcorn/

more wine and other wonders

art exhibit, fine art

Another party, um I mean art opening, at Burnt Bridge Cellars! July 3rd from 4 to 9 pm – there will be live music, art and a chef creating 4 or so Greek dishes and, since this art exhibit is in a winery it goes without saying that there will be wine!!! Here’s one of my handmade paper collage artworks at the exhibit:

MassiveMastiffMunching72