Oh- Yves Klein, how I love thee...

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/38964/blue-streak-the-bravely-conceptual-yves-klein-stars-in-a/

reaccuring themes 1

Often in my work there are titles/ideas that appear in my work repeatedly.
This is evidenced by a title followed by a "No.".
I thought it might be interesting to write about why i'm so fascinated by these certain things in my work.
To start off- i'm going to talk about a more recent theme...

"Nocturne"

The Merriam Webster online dictionary defines Nocturne as...

"Definition of NOCTURNE

 a work of art dealing with evening or night; especially: a dreamy pensive composition for the piano —

Origin of NOCTURNE

French, adjective, nocturnal, from Latin nocturnus

First Known Use: 1814"

 

(a simple definition in my terms- "ode to the night")

 

I have always been a night owl.  I work at night at a bar and i find i'm most creative after 10pm.  Since Annaleah was born, i have almost always only been able to work late into the night while she sleeps.  I saw that this started to come through in my work- dark paintings with diffused passages of light and color...

which inspired 2 paintings thus far to be titled "Nocturne".

 

"Nocturne"

2012

 



 

"Nocturne No.2"

2012

 

 

Being that my schedule will most likely remain unchanged, i would expect that this will continue to be a reoccurring theme in my work.

 

 

Thankful

I would like to thank all of the wonderful people you have supported my work over the years.

I am truly humbled and blessed. 

Your encouragement and support helps me to keep doing it.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

anyone and noone...

While on a choir trip in seventh grade i became very ill.  i believe i fainted during the performance. (so embarrassing!).  i remember being on the bus as the rest of  my class was continuing to enjoy themselves and grabbing any abandoned jacket around me to keep me warm.  when i got back to the school, they took me right to the nurse's office and let me rest.  a little while later she woke me up and took my temperature. i was feeling a little better. my temperature was 103.9.
i don't remember much after that... i was in a sort of zombie state for about 5 months. i remember trying to understand what was happening on a TV show and being confounded. i remember needles and lots of doctors appointments in blurs that don't add up to anything of substance.  i remember my mom being terribly worried. i was always cold and i didn't really want move or eat. if i did so it was to please my poor mom.
somewhere the chains of doctors appointments lead us to the neurology department of CHOP. i don't know the doctor's name, but i wish i did.  he discovered that there had been a virus attacking my brain. (why did/ does that happen? i have no idea!) and he said that it seemed to be leaving my system.  i kind of remember trying hard to  tune in at this point.  he said my name. i tried to look up. he locked eyes with me, put his hands on my shoulders and said something to this effect-
"Erica, the virus is leaving your system, but you still have to fight it.  you're not going to be ok unless you fight it. you have to come back now. do you understand me?"

i did.

something funny happened to me while i was in my hibernated state.  i always enjoyed drawing and writing before, but not nearly as much as performing. i was determined to wind up on Broadway.
when i came out of hibernation all i wanted to do was draw/paint/write.  i still get stage fright to this day.  i became much more introverted.

as i started 8th grade i had to find myself in a whole new way. not that i really had my identity all figured out in 7the grade, but a lot of what i did know about myself had changed while my brain was on vacation. 

my english teacher gave us an assignment to research american poets.  on that list was E.E.Cummings.  i was drawn to the name and started reading his work. it was confounding. i loved it. that time i spent in the library pouring myself over his poems in solitude was such a wonderful break from the chaos i found in the rest of the school. who was cool or not. who was pretty or not. who was the loudest... what is the name of that person that i've gone to school with for the past 8 years...

in particular i fell in love with poem below.  and i continue to love it.

anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn't he danced his did

Women and men(both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn't they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain

children guessed(but only a few
and down they forgot as up they grew
autumn winter spring summer)
that noone loved him more by more

when by now and tree by leaf
she laughed his joy she cried his grief
bird by snow and stir by still
anyone's any was all to her

someones married their everyones
laughed their cryings and did their dance
(sleep wake hope and then)they
said their nevers they slept their dream

stars rain sun moon
(and only the snow can begin to explain
how children are apt to forget to remember
with up so floating many bells down)

one day anyone died i guess
(and noone stooped to kiss his face)
busy folk buried them side by side
little by little and was by was

all by all and deep by deep
and more by more they dream their sleep
noone and anyone earth by april
wish by spirit and if by yes.

Women and men(both dong and ding)
summer autumn winter spring
reaped their sowing and went their came
sun moon stars rain

by, E. E. Cummings

thus far i have only ever created one piece in it's honor, but i'm sure that will change.

"Anyone"

in retrospect, i am grateful for this experience because it is a part of what brought me to where i am.
i believe that everything happens for a reason.  at the time i'm sure that i would not have been so insightful.  but if this experience didn't happen to me would i be a painter? or would i be a sub par overly ambitious broadway hopeful...
if nothing else, in the face of any hardships or regrets i might have had in my life- if those things are what brought me to this point- especially being the mama to Annaleah, then i wouldn't dare change a thing!

busted organ

busted organ out by the trash in west chester... i love you.

What an amazing woman!

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart. "
Helen Keller

Annapolis

"Rapt" in the "Strokes of Genius" exhibition at the Maryland Federation of Art in Annapolis, MD.

A rather humbling exhibition title to be involved in!

Horrace Pippin

"Pippin's artistic talent appeared early; as a ten-year-old he won a box of crayons in an art contest. 'When I was a boy I loved to make pictures,' he later wrote, but it was the war 'that brought out all the art in me. . . . I can never forget suffering and I will never forget sunsets. So I came home with all of it in my mind and I paint from it today. ' Most of Pippin's earliest work is lost. Only one sketchbook remains from his numerous wartime drawings, which may be examined in his papers at the Archives of American Art in Washington, D. C."


Shame on me for not noticing it sooner! The person talked about in the above quote lived a stone's throw from my studio. I finally discovered this when I went to paint "Ode to West Chester" about a year and a half ago. I aimed to feature text from particularly moving historical placards in my town- only to find that one of the most poignant was so close all along. Please read about this great man and artist here:
http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-1A0
(quote from http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-1A0)

along the way...

photos of things that i've stumbled upon that inspire me right now in their own way....

 

this week's events

 

 

also...

 

 

"Strokes of Genius"

The Maryland Federation of Art

The Circle Gallery

Exhibition runs 11/1-11/24

Reception is this Sunday, November 11th 3pm-6pm

18 State Circle, Annapolis, Maryland, 21401

 

Please note, that it is a honor to be included in the exhibition, but i only have one piece there.

"Rapt" is included in this exhibition.

 

 

 

 

On a lighter note- my precious one..