reading in art

Sock monkey fine art

A Creative Life, artist book, artistic inspirations, Books In Art, Cats in art, comfort food, drinks in art, fine art, food in art, mental health, mundane and magical moments, reading in art, sketchbook, visual story

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…

I’m enjoying depicting in fine art people and pets being cozy and comfortable. That’s part of living well as discussed in my artist book “Dr Bob’s Emotional Repair Program First Aid Kit”.

Yes, I think on this “living well” topic a lot….

P. S. In one of the photos connected to this post you can see my easel and my prepatory sketch for the painting.

Art for the holidays

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I’ve been busy working on fine art commissions which are someone’s holiday gift. So instead of talking about that – below is access to a “Reading All Year” calendar I made, and fun socks and playing cards, bookmarks, puzzles, drink coasters and such…yes, it’s all design play using my own fine art about reading and pets. Art is for making people smile – and I like sharing smiles with fellow book lovers and pet lovers. https://www.zazzle.com/s/sueclancy

https://www.zazzle.com/store/sueclancy/collections

playing cards and pleasures

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For my evening-just-before-bed holiday reading I’m re-reading “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen. Last night I read this:

“Mr. Hurst looked at her with astonishment. “Do you prefer reading to cards?” said he; “that is rather singular.”  “Miss Eliza Bennet,” said Miss Bingley, “despises cards. She is a great reader and has no pleasure in anything else.” “I deserve neither such praise nor such censure,” cried Elizabeth; “I am not a great reader, and I have pleasure in many things.”

I enjoy reading books and I, too, have pleasure in many things. Sitting and playing a card game with my spouse is one of them. Playing cards with friends and family… so many good memories stem from times around the table, after a meal, with decks of cards, drinks and conversation!

So even though my main theme for my Dec. 7th pop-up event at Vintage Books is readers – stocking stuffer gift items on which I’ve put images from my current Readers fine art series – I had to create some playing cards!  Besides a deck of cards will fit into a holiday stocking nicely.

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playing cards with artwork by Clancy

If you’re not able to make it to my pop-up event at Vintage Books you can get some of my playing cards and other items here: https://www.zazzle.com/store/sueclancy

yarns heard around the world

A Creative Life, animals in art, art exhibit, artistic inspirations, creative thinking, Dogs in Art, fine art, magic realism, mundane and magical moments, reading in art, visual thinking

I realized recently that the “bedtime story” ritual, for both children and adults, is nearly universal across cultures. While there is scientific evidence (see links here and here) that reading printed books before bed can help you sleep and provide other benefits – for me it’s plain indulgence.  Naturally bedtime-reading is subject matter for one of my artworks that will be included in an upcoming exhibit in September at Caplan Art Designs:

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Yarns Heard Around The World – by Clancy – 8 x 10 inches – ink, gouache on board

For fun as I created this piece I combined my thoughts about bedtime reading with the concepts of teams and coaches…. counting sheep is a world-wide sport. Right? Lol!

absurd things on rainy days

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For this new painting I’ve combined several thoughts together: rainy day activities, the contrast between rainy Pacific Northwest and the Southwestern (USA) desert region (Arizona), and the Bonneville Dam’s fish ladder. I’ve found the fish ladder fascinating – here’s a video of it – and have done some fun sketching at the Bonneville Dam  trying to capture the patterns I see.

I enjoy the patterns the fish form as they flow by.  I also enjoy the patterns of the needles/leaves on cactus and succulents which seem visually similar, in my eyes, to the “flow” of the fish as seen from various angles.

Yes, I spend a lot of time thinking about visual fractals in general and specifically fractals in nature

Plus the absurdity of comparing fish with cactus tickled my funny bone. At any rate those were some of my thoughts as I created this gouache painting I’ve titled “100 Things To Do On A Rainy Day”.

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“100 Things To Do On A Rainy Day” by Clancy – 11 x 14 inches – ink and gouache on board

pie in the sky

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Been thinking of how people can focus too much on things that are unlikely to happen and forget to see what really is possible – such as enjoying the here-and-now moments. I’ve also thought of related quotes and phrases: “Life is not a dress rehearsal” and “Take tarts when tarts are passed” and “If not now, when?”.  These thoughts baked in my brain pan a while and out came this painting I’ve titled “Pie In The Sky”

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Pie In The Sky – by Clancy – 8 x 10 inches – ink and gouache on board

Dear Readers exhibit prep

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I’ve been busy getting the framing, wiring and labeling done for all of the artwork destined for my “Dear Readers” exhibit that opens June 7th, the first Friday, at Burnt Bridge Cellars. There are 28 new artworks by me for this one-person exhibit – titled “Dear Readers” – this photo only shows a fraction of the artworks, wrapped up, packed in boxes ready to be delivered. Lots more to do!

DearReadersExhibitPacking

I got my frames from a local independent frame shop called Aurora Gallery. Most of the rest of my art supplies came from a local (Portland Or) art supply called Artists And Craftsman.

The exhibit content, of course, came from my mind and personal life. More about that here and in my recent blog posts.

What did I eat and drink while doing all of this work? Well I’ve posted about that over on my Instagram page.

And yes, I carefully save and reuse packing material like you wouldn’t believe.

Or maybe you would.

 

Dear Readers exhibit pun

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Since my upcoming fine art exhibit, opening June 7, at Burnt Bridge Cellars is titled “Dear Readers” and contains nested ideas – for the additional pun of it I’ll have some artist books available. So here’s a pic of a few of the books I’ll have at the exhibit.

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There’s my Dogs and Cats and a Cookbook I illustrated (with Chef Kim Mahan’s recipes). And yes – there’s a little tiny mini-guide to drawing dogs! How’s that for a visual pun in an art exhibit full of paintings of dogs reading?

There are also cats and food depicted in my artwork… and of course books! So my books relate to my artwork which relates to my books…

Basically I’ve had a lot of fun playing with nested ideas!

BTW the “How to Draw Dogs” mini-guide is only available via the Brooklyn Art Library in New York …. except for the few I’ll have in my exhibit in Vancouver WA. 

A link to my Dear Readers exhibit statement that explains my thinking behind this exhibit is here.

More generally about my artist books here.

And now to get back to work framing and labeling everything…

reading and mutts in art

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On one of my walks near the Columbia River I had the pleasure of seeing, then meeting, a mutt. She was a beautiful white and buff longhaired dog, larger than a Labrador, stockier than a Greyhound and hairier than a Golden Retriever. I asked the owner what breed she was and the owner didn’t know. The dog and human had rescued each other. The dog was friendly, beautiful and let me make drawings of her in my sketchbook.

Fast forward to my currently in progress reading and books in art series – and the wonderful mutt I’d met made an appearance:

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“Meditations For The Metrosexual Mutt” by Clancy – 16 x 20 inches – acrylic on cradled board – image copyright 2019

Yes, in “Meditations For The Metrosexual Mutt” I’ve spoofed a famous painting by James Whistler along with two of my own still life paintings. If you look at the titles I’ve used for each of my paintings you’ll get a hint about my theme…

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“Life’s a bowl of cherries, stems pits and all” – by Clancy – 8 x 10 inches – acrylic and gouache on board

The still life, pictured below, is on the deep cradled edge of “Meditations for the Metrosexual Mutt”, where it will only be seen if you’re able to see my work in person.

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“Gala” by Clancy – acrylic and gouache on board

The selection of Whistler’s famous painting to spoof was deliberate as the art history around Whistler’s work is part of my meditation on life, beginnings, origin stories etc.

I imagined that the dog in my painting is reading a book titled “Meditations For The Metrosexual Mutt” – which is why I used that as the title for my work.

As you can tell I’m still thinking about “nesting ideas” and stories within stories…