Gesundheit

Like most of us, I hail from European stock. A large helping of Scottish, some Brit, a lot of German and a smattering of French. 

In order to get in touch with my Continental side I’m going to do like all good Europeans do. I’m going on holiday.

No, sorry, that does not include actually taking time off to go to Europe.  What I mean is that in Europe, most people take weeks and weeks away from their usual daily tasks and head up to the hills, off to the beach, down to the moors. It's time away to recharge and prepare for the rest of the year's work.

I’m taking August off. I’m going to give myself – and you – a break from showing up here regularly. I’m scheduling a season of not scheduling. It’s been four years of weekly visits and quite honestly, I can’t think of anyone, outside of Handsome Husband, that I’d want to hang out with once a week for four years. Not even me.

It’s not that I’m burned out, although I am a bit tired and the ideas aren’t coming as quickly as they have in the past. It’s not a case of sloth, my blogging muscles are in pretty good shape. I’ve got lots of ideas floating through the synapses of my brain during the course of the day, but lately it’s been like butterfly hunting; what I’m after is there, getting hold of it is something else entirely.

©2012 Patricia Scarborough  Fullness of Summer  30 x 40 

No words necessary

I’m letting my brain off the hook for being responsible for snagging these delicate flighty creatures and keeping hold of them.

I’ll still be painting for sure, I’m just not going to write about it. It’ll be a lovely change of pace so that come September, like my relatives across the pond, I will come back refreshed and ready to resume life as we know it.

Au revoir dear friends, and adieu. Sealbh and gesundheit!

I'll see you in September!

I Been Robbed

I have been burgled.

Thieves have struck Scarborough Acres.  One day all was well, the next - ‘poof’ - the goods were gone.  By the light of a waning moon burglars had not simply left their mark, they had taken it with them, along with my stuff.

Gone, split, disappeared, with no hope of a return.  All that was left were a few tangled wisps of gold mixed with shards and splinters.

I’ve seen the culprits. They’ve been hanging around, always on the lookout for something they can get away with. They’ve been getting bolder lately, standing out in the open, watching. We certainly didn’t expect this.

This was bold and brazen. This was in your face.  This was eat the fat blossom right off the top of the sunflower stalk and sprinkle what was left at the base just to let me know he/she/it could.

I plant sunflowers every year. Local farmers are baffled by my insistence on planting these – in their opinions - giant weeds. Our rural friends spend a great deal of time and energy ridding their fields of these golden giants and can’t understand why someone would purposefully plant a garden full. (I plant milkweed too. Gotta feed the butterflies.) Me, I love watching them grow from gangly youngsters to towering kings of all they survey. It’s a pleasure to be greeted each morning with such wide open delight circled in a tousled amber crown.

Not this year, however.  Under cover of darkness, a thief or thieves actually removed the heads of nearly my entire crop. Evidently dessert was not on the menu, the only tops left are hardly a mouthful, even for a small, hungry creature of the night.

The thing is, it didn’t need to happen. I’d have shared. The plan has always been to grow a batch of big fat sunflowers, then enjoy a plein air painting extravaganza  just a few steps from my back door.  When I had my fill of painting golden halos against blue skies and the heads began to droop I would have stepped aside and welcomed any number of birds or squirrels, which ever got there first.

2010 Patricia Scarborough Square 16 - Sunflowers  Private Collection

2011 Patricia Scarborough  Salute!  Available at Graham Gallery

Someone cut in line, and now I’ve been robbed, raided, bamboozled even. (Maybe not bamboozled. I just like the word.)  There goes the neighborhood. If I want to go on my usual August sunflower painting jag I'm going to have to go hunting for them far beyond the comfort of my yard.

Looking for sunflowers for 2012

While you're waiting for my sunflower paintings from the summer of 2012, stop by The Burkholder Project in Lincoln, Ne. You've got 2 more weeks to see "Common Ground" featuring your intrepid sunflower painter and ceramic artist Sharon Ohmberger. It's worth a peak. Quick! Before it's gone!

No Excuses

Greetings All -

Those of you who have been paying attention know that I have been adding to this blog weekly for the last 4-plus years. 

I brag (warn?) my readers that a post goes up every Sunday by 9 pm whether I have anything to say or not.

This week is one of those "not" weeks.

The dog ate my homework.

My computer caught a virus.

The dog ate my computer - and then caught a virus.

I took my dog to the computer store and my computer to the vet. Both were closed for the weekend.

The sun was in my eyes.

My alarm clock didn't go off.

I got called for jury duty.

My boat has a leak.

I forgot what day it was.

Whatever the reason, I'll do better next week, I promise. Until then, cool off with a trip to The Burkholder Project and enjoy Sharon Ohmberger's beautiful ceramic pieces and my new oil and pastel paintings in the Main Gallery, or sneak on back to the Outback Gallery and see what Susan Hart has been up to, or Duane Adams upstairs, or slide downstairs to the Sampler Gallery. That ought to keep you busy for a week.

Until next Sunday -

Hot Times

I'm a hotty.

I'm no math major, but if it's 98 degrees on Monday, 100 degrees on Tuesday, 104 on Wednesday, 98 Thursday and 106 on Friday, that makes it over 500 degrees on the streets of Lincoln by the time The Burkholder Project opened the doors for the First Friday Art Walk and opening reception for new July exhibits. 

The always cool Anne Burkholder at her post greeting visitors

Despite record high temps all week, the Historic Haymarket District in Lincoln, Ne was a hive of activity Friday evening. Over 600 art-loving people stopped in to the cool hallways offered by The Burkholder Project to enjoy the snacks, the air conditioning, and hopefully check out some pretty terrific art. 

©2012 Patricia Scarborough  Meander  12 x 16 oil

In addition to  ceramic artist extraordinaire Sharon Ohmberger and I, who are sharing space in the main gallery,  Susan Hart opened a new exhibit of gorgeous mixed media art in the Outback Gallery and Duane Adams  shared a new body of work upstairs in the Skylight Gallery. It was worth a little perspiration to see the fantastic creative endeavors of these artists.

Sharon Ohmberger is pleased to see you!

I personally want to thank each and every sweaty body who walked in the front door of The Burkholder Project.  I salute you with a glass of ice chips for your dedication to the fine art scene in Lincoln.

Awesome crowds



Many thanks also to Uncle Brother and Aunt Sis for coming up to share the experience with us, and to Brian Scarborough for taking time away from preparations for his soon-to-be-released original CD "Second Storm" to hang out with us. Big hugs to Andy for making time for me as well.

©2012 Patricia Scarborough Turkey Creek in August 12 x 18 pastel

Grab your flip flops, shades and parasol and chill out at The Burkholder Project this month with a refreshing exhibit of Scarborough oils and pastels. 

Handsome Husband and Uncle Brother playing it cool.

See What I See

This weekend I’m in the final stages of preparation for an exhibit with ceramic artist Sharon Ohmberger at The Burkholder Project.  

One of the little pleasures I allow myself when preparing for an exhibit is to haul all the potential artwork into one room and spread it out. Every piece is all spiffed up and rubbing elbows with its neighbor like kin a holiday family photo.

This is the time Handsome Husband and I take stock of my latest efforts. Today, popping up all over my living room like happy sunflowers are 20 paintings that – if I must say so myself – look pretty darned good. 

©2012 Patricia Scarborough Hayfields, Looking Back  11 x 14 oil

The last couple of years I’ve had a steady pace of exhibiting; some group shows, a few juried, even a couple of solo exhibits. The only way to pull that off is to paint – a lot. And I’m telling you, you can’t show up at an easel that many times and not come away with something.

What I’ve come away with is a different, fresh way of interpreting what I’ve been painting for a couple of decades. Not to worry, I’m still very much a landscape painter, and there’s no doubt these are landscape paintings. It’s that I come to them with a clearer understanding of what I want to show you when I look over the hills and fields of south central Nebraska.

©2012 Patricia Scarborough  Meander  12 x 16 oil

Come see for yourself. I’m happy to invite you to The Burkholder Project, 719 P St in Lincoln, Ne to see this exhibit, which will hang from July 2 through the 31^st.  If you're feeling cooped up, join us for Lincoln’s First Friday Art Walk from 7 – 9pm.  the Haymarket District is a great place to spend a Friday evening. It might be toasty, the weather's been fierce lately, but you can slip across the street for a cool drink or an ice cream and hang out with other art lovers.

Come see what I see.