Big Reveal

 Greetings All -

I promised those of you who attended my final Stuhr Museum demonstration that I would post the finished painting from that event.

In my studio, all alone with myself, my mind is completely engaged in the work of my hand, analyzing color and value immediately as it is applied. I can mumble and talk to myself without the burden of actually making sense. I get to wear comfy clothes. Distractions are at a minimum.

Demos are different.

Those of you who have taken on the role of painting demonstrator and lived to tell about it understand that its a challenge to focus both on the creative act and the conversational element.

Its a bit unnerving to know there are people behind me watching my every move. I felt a tremendous urge to be good, really good at what I do. I was also acutely aware of the fact that I needed a haircut and that my cowlick was unusually rowdy that morning. The cute top I chose to wear felt funny on my neck; the bowl of chocolate covered pomegranates nearby whispered my name repeatedly. 

For those of you who weren't there, this is where we ended up after nearly 3 hours of painting, laughing, conversing and nibbling some delicious snacks.

 It's a fairly decent start but needs lots of help.  After considerable thought, I swept off a few overworked areas and gave the entire piece a spray of workable fixative.  My plan was to darken the darks without adding more pastel, which the fixative does, and re-work some areas that felt clumsy.

...several hours later I'm calling it done. This part of the process takes time, and it's time mostly spent making a mark, pondering, making another mark, and pondering that. There's probably more thinking than painting going on. Which, during a demo, can be dull as toast, and why many paintings don't get finished during these events. 

( closeup ) 

To see paintings that are actually finished and framed, stop by Stuhr Museum, in Grand Island, Ne.  Land Marks and Wings Over the Platte are on view during regular business hours until then.  Consider coming to the closing reception on April 1st from 2 to 4, just to say hello. It'd be great to see you there, and I'm fairly certain that my cowlick will be under control.

Land Marks and other Events

What a weekend!

As you recall, the festivities began with the opening reception for the “Wings Over the Platte” Juried Exhibition and Sale, and my Featured Artist Exhibit, “Land Marks”.

Stuhr Museum knows how to treat a crowd. Chocolate was flowing, roses were given out and the exhibit was beautifully hung.  Congratulations to those artists who won awards at the "Wings" exhibit.  There was so much beautiful art expressing a deep appreciation of the Platte River and the wildlife that inhabits this area.

Thanks to all the patrons who came out to greet me and purchase paintings. I’m still grinning like a nut. 

A sampling of the evening ...

The central display room of the Stuhr Building is elegant.  The "Wings Over the Platte" exhibit is hung in this room.

Just in case you weren't sure where you were ...

A few quiet moments before the crowds rolled in...

 Sharing a laugh with fellow artists Sheila and Jane...

crowds were substantial, and very appreciative...

Huge thanks to Lynn, good friend and reception photographer...

Four paintings so far have found new homes with lovely people. I can’t tell you how really happy I am about that. Knowing my work is appreciated and will be taken care of means a lot.

In addition to reveling in friendships new and old at Stuhr, I enjoyed a quick trip out to San Francisco to share in a wedding celebration between two very wonderful people.

I was a tourist of the first order, going so far as to make a dash out on the beach to stick my hand in the ocean despite chilly 45 mph winds and a raging surf. I may have even made squealing sounds as the tide rushed in and I rushed away to avoid getting soaked. I walked around with my neck craned and my mouth wide open absolutely enjoying every aspect of our tour of the city.

So, that was my weekend. What did you do?

Land Mark Event

Greetings Dear Reader-

The countdown has begun.

What seems like an eternity ago, I was selected to be the Featured Artist at Wings Over the Platte, a juried art exhibit and sale at Stuhr Museum in Grand Island, Nebraska, dedicated to sharing the wildlife and rich environs of the Platte River which threads its way through Nebraska.

©2011 Patricia Scarborough  Windswept  9x12 pastel

So, right off the bat, let me tell you that my pastel painting, "Windswept", was selected to be a part of the juried exhibit. Additionally I will be sharing over 30 paintings in my featured show, "Land Marks".  Pretty heady stuff.

Thanks to the good folks at www.platteriver.unk.edu for the photograph

The Platte is a particulary beautiful river, "one mile wide and one mile deep", so we Nebraskan's say. Then we wink and add with a smile, "it's just that it's filled with sand".  Currents of the river braid themselves through and around rich agricultural land, providing water and food for an amazing array of wildlife.  Literally millions of birds will settle for several weeks in the safety of shallow water on their migratory journey, saving strength and gaining reserves for the long trek home.

Especially fascinating are the Sandhill cranes.  Numbering in the hundreds of thousands, these magnificent birds fill the air with their strange trumpeting, and delight viewers with their amazing dance moves.  Many sites up and down the river celebrate their return, including Stuhr Museum.

In just a few more days "Wings Over the Platte", and my exhibit, "Land Marks", will open to the public.  I have spent the last year painting with this day in mind. Ready or not, here I go.

Just for fun, here are some tidbits to tempt you.

©2011 Patricia Scarborough  Broken Tree Line 9x12 pastel 

 ©2011 Patricia Scarborough  Early Morning Spring 6x9 pastel

©2011 Patricia Scarborough  Platte River Recharge  9x12 oil

"Land Marks", and "Wings Over the Platte" open with a reception and chocolate bar for Stuhr members this Thursday, February 16th from 6 - 8 pm.    Another reception open to the public will be held on the last day of the show, Sunday April 1st from 2-4:00 pm.

Please come say hello!

The good folks at Stuhr are also working with Nebraska Nature Center to host other crane watching activities and art-related events. I've got the details listed in the side bar.  Special thanks to Nebraska Arts Council for helping to fund these activities. 

Stuhr hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, 12:00 to 5:00 pm on Sunday.

Grab a jacket, your binoculars and camera, and come on out to central Nebraska and witness one of nature's great events, then take a break and stop by Stuhr Museum to see how artists respond. 

See you on the river!

(Next week I'll be posting late. It's going to be a fun-filled, bizzy bizzy weekend, but I really really want to post photos of the chocolate bar and opening reception. Look for my post on Tuesday!)

Same Thing Only Different

Back when I was in 3^rd grade we were initiated into the world of maps and geography. It was year to study the Fifty Nifty Yoo-nited States.  On a map pulled down like a heavy window shade our teacher would reveal our country to us in rainbow of hues; Nebraska was green, South Dakota was pretty pink,Iowa daffodil yellow.

As a  child who relied on adults for most of my information about the world, you can imagine my surprise to find out, as a 4^th grader crossing the Mighty Missouri into Iowa on vacation, that the Missouri River was not bright blue nor very mighty, and Iowa was not, in fact, a pretty shade of yellow.

I felt a little of that even last week as Handsome Husband and I jetted across the central United States on our way to a conference in Phoenix, Az. As we flew thousands of feet above the earth I looked vainly for those large black dots indicating cities, the dotted and dashed lines showing boundaries, and yes, the subtle but sure colors that would differentiate Nebraska, Colorado, and Arizona. It’s a concept that gets filed with the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus and the Hairy Scratch, which is to say that some of us agree not to talk about it in the presence of others, but we know inside it’s real.

While HH was busy at his conference I walked the downtown Phoenix area and marveled at how beautiful that part of the city was. Together  we enjoyed browsing through  Scottsdale galleries filled with stunning landscapes, abstracts and sculptures.  We were both delighted at the color and vibrant brushwork of a collection of Russian Impressionist paintings, and equally intrigued in how current artists view our modern world.

Of course, we managed to do a bit of tourist-y sightseeing as well...

In the land of summer all year long the contrast between metropolitan living and my hometown was vast. Our hotel probably employed more people than populate our entire community.
Yet there were some amazing similarities...

Both Arizona and Nebraska have lovely trees...

. . . both Phoenix and Geneva have government buildings...

 

                                                                         

 ... both places have nice paths and roadways ...

... we've got rivers ... so do they...

... and artists the world over find ways to share their artistic endeavors ...

It was good to get away, and equally good to come home.  Since returning I've been putting the finishing touches on a few paintings before packing them up for my upcoming exhibit. 

I'll be the featured artist at Stuhr Museum in Grand Island, Ne. during the museum's annual Wings Over the Platte Juried Art Exhibit.  My exhibit is titled Land Marks, a reference to both the method of creating a landscape as well as the natural features unique to the Platte River Valley.  

All of this coincides with the highly anticipated return of the sandhill cranes on their migratory path this spring. This event brings people from all over the world to witness the incredible spectacle of hundreds of thousands of sandhill cranes funneling themselves through this vital area of the Platte River. 

Wings Over the Platte and my exhibit, Land Marks, open Thursday February 16th and will be available until Sunday, April 1st.

Your call to action?  Head out to the Grand Island Ne. area, watch cranes , hear their amazing warbling and enjoy their dance. Then scoot over to Stuhr Museum and see how artists from across the country, interpret the Platte River Valley in a variety of media.

Arizona can't match that. 

Lightbulbs and Fond Memories

In one month I deliver paintings to Stuhr Museum in Grand Island for my  upcoming solo show to be held in conjunction with the annual Wings Over thePlatte juried exhibition.  All of this celebrates the annual  sandhills crane migration through our state. 

In addition to the work, I’ll need a mailing list, an inventory list and of course, The Artist’s Statement. Cue the scary music. Haul out the dictionary. This will take some time.

 The theme of this exhibit is the Platte River Valley, its environs and the wildlife that inhabit this ecologically valuable area.  As the Featured Artist I get top billing, which means I’ve got to have a killer statement.

So here I sit, toiling away trying to understand and validate my continuing love affair with landscapes and most especially trees. In the spirit of all I learned in art school I’m using language like juxtapose, elicit and ethereal, balancing those words with some  philosophy that would give this collection of paintings a deeper validation as art. Spelled with a capital “A”, spoken in whispered tones with a tight jaw: A-h-h-t.  

This morning, after 30 years of writing statements, after a jillion words and hundreds of pages of baloney , a lightbulb went on.

 Trees and tangles of bushes and the hollows in between are a major part of who I am today. In painting them I get to revisit my glory days.

©2010 Patricia Scarborough  Thicket  12 x 12 oil

Back then I was a cowboy on a fast horse,  being bucked off or leaping over obstacles only a daring rider on a masterful beast would dare to attempt, all under the canopy of trees in our backyard.

 I, along with my siblings and various neighborhood kids, climbed high into the branches topping our yard, Sherpa’s on a path into Valhalla. We flung ourselves off the first heavy bough Tarzan-style not realizing that the ape-man was a fiction and that Johnny Weissmuller had a net.  It might not have mattered if we had.  We were heroes in the making.  Really awesome ones at that. 

Trees and bushes in our neighborhood provided us with a backdrop of intense imaginative play.  We were pioneers and pirates and international spies chasing and being chased, fighting over who got to be the Mom, the Dad and the baby; the outcast, the hero. Freud’s laboratory tucked into the hedges of my own neighborhood.

©2010 Patricia Scarborough  November  9 x 12 oil

The sky of my youth was divided by branches and sprigs. I see that now in many of my paintings.  Funny how I’m just now realizing that. 

How that translates into a statement for an art exhibit I have no idea. The grown up part of me gets to wrestle with that. The fact that I was once a rodeo queen with ties to an international syndicate who routinely saved damsels from distress and escaped certain capture by leaping out of trees will most likely be left out.  Even if it’s the truth.

©2010 Patricia Scarborough If I Were There   8 x 10 pastel

With effort and a thesaurus I'll create a document explaining my collection of paintings with grown up words, knowing all the while there's a little kid lurking behind the shrubs, looking for a steed on which to gallop into the sunset.

Ninety-Eight and Counting

Before I forget (again), you're invited to my solo exhibition titled "One Square Mile" at The Burkholder Project in Lincoln, Ne. It's a collection of paintings based on a single square mile north of my town. I'm pretty pleased with the work, and I think you will be as well. Come hang out with me Friday, March 5th from 7-9 pm for the opening reception.

@ 2010 P Scarborough, Sunflowers, 12x12 oil

Also, before I forget (again), I wanted to brag a bit. I received Best of Show at the annual Wings Over the Platte Exhibition at Stuhr Museum in Grand Island, Ne. Based on the "competition", it's a pretty big deal to get noticed. I am pleased and honored.

@2010 P Scarborough Platte River Spring 11 x 14 Pastel

I just realized that I've made nearly 100 posts. O n e H u n d r e d.
W o w.
Gosh, don't you think I should do something really cool to mark this occasion?
In two weeks, I will post my 100th missive. To tempt you to attend the party, I'm gonna give away treats.
If you, Dear Reader, post a comment, any comment, I'll put your name into my special hat. On the evening of my 100th post, I'll draw a name from said special hat. The owner of said name shall become the new owner of a painting by ... drum roll please ... Patricia Scarborough herself!!
It'll be an oil. Probably 5x7, or 8x10-ish. Probably pretty wonderful, no doubt.
So, I'll see you Friday night? And I look forward to hearing from you soon.

And the Winner Is...

Well lah - dee - dah!

We started our Valentine's Day celebrating with a nice surprise at Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer's "Wings Over the Platte" opening reception. Well, two surprises actually.

The first was seeing a Merit Award certificate next to my pastel piece, "March Migration", @2009. There were 66 pieces of art in the exhibit, and it's rewarding to know you stand out just a bit.
(Special thanks to Grammy , who reminded me of the deadline and encouraged me to send in the application, and for framing the piece so beautifully.)

We celebrated by making a bee line to the chocolate bar. In an effort to pile high my too-small plate with chocoate goodies (hey, I got an award, y'know) I received my second surprise of the eveing when I dumped a cup of hot chocolate down the front of my lovely white sweater. It's hard to act suave and sophisticated with a soggy brown splotch spreading over one's ... er ... front while watching my hard won goodies roll under the table. Lucky for me I had my jacket hung over my arm and was able to sashay out the door with no one being the wiser. Well, until now. Keep that little secret under your hat, will ya?

How did you celebrate Valentine's Day?

One Hundred Daze

I'm really excited about a new venture with my Canadian friend, Mavis. We're embarking on a painting adventure that may prove to be pretty exciting. Daily paintings are quite the rage these days. We're jumping on that band wagon, with a bit of a twist. We've agreed to paint 100 paintings in 100 days, starting March 1st.


Our theme is "Off the Road". It's not a requirement, but our paintings will have a common thread, some connection to that part of our world that is just "off the road".


This is a preview of Mavis' beautiful daily drawings . To see more of what she's been up to, find her blog at Emotionally Impelled.




The plan is for us to combine our paintings into a "Best of" exhibit. They'll be available for, you guessed it, $100 each. Look for our 100x100x100's exhibit sometime in July.



In the meantime, stop by Stuhr Museum in Grand Island, Nebraska in February. My pastel painting, "March Migration", was accepted into the prestigious "Wings Over the Platte" exhibit which has been held at the museum for over 20 years.

This exhibit is held in conjunction with the annual sandhill crane migration. Seeing these cranes by the thousands on the wide still waters of the Platte river is amazing, and worth the trip to witness.

The year is just beginning and we're off to an exciting start. What are you up to?