"Bleached" In Progress

September 5, 2017

What a beautiful summer/fall day here in NYC! Ean and I took a shady walk up Central Park West with my Aunt Laurie, stopping in our favorite coffee bean store for a bag of the requisite pumpkin spice beans and looking in on the baby boutiques for fall and winter clothes.

This week I'm looking forward to...(1) getting out of the house more and taking some walks, (2) as well as finishing up my Fall 2017 Collection of paintings entitled "Bleached" and inspired by my travels in Arizona and New Mexico.

Thanks for all the positive feedback on last week's Inspiration Blog ~ I loved hearing from you about what you found interesting or cool!

This week, as I've started actually painting, I'm getting inspired by these wedding and photo booth backdrops I've painted.

(PS These are SO FUN to paint and make really unique wedding/party decor - and a cool keepsake - so keep me in mind if you or someone you know is party planning :D )

I love the abstract water-colory look (even though they're all acrylic) and the gold accents.

I'm going to marry the approach and brushstrokes of the large backdrops with the colors of my Southwest inspiration to create this Fall 2017 Collection. And since I've been experimenting more and more with the heavy and aggressive marks of the palette knife, I'll of course be incorporating that technique too.

Below I'm sharing a few "in progress" behind the scenes shots of what I'm working on:

Stay tuned for how these and the rest turn out....and I'd love to know what you think so far!

Hannah

Loving The Southwest In The Fall...Get Inspired!

August 30, 2017

I'm back!! Well kind of...

I'm still 100% in the new mommy fog, loving time spent nestling with baby Ean who turned 1 month on August 28th. But in the wee hours of morning, feeding Ean silently in the dark, about to fall back asleep myself, I saw behind my eyelids the paintings I need to create.

After our babymoon to Arizona this spring and two prior trips to the Southwest (New Mexico in 2015 and Arizona in 2016...such a lovely warm, Zika-free vacation area), I had known I wanted to paint the arid but also surprisingly lush environment there.

What struck me most about our most recent trip was the air. How it created a bit of a film. The word that immediately came to mind as we were in the cab from the airport to the hotel was "Bleached".

The sand, the very pale blue sky, the spiky palm leaves - washed out green - and the pink, purple and green cactus clusters. The sunsets were soft yellows and greys, not vibrant rainbows of color.

But then I started noticing the flowers - not big, but bright! Orange, red, purple, yellow. Drops of color strewn across twiggy branches.

In the early morning of that baby meditation, I saw the combinations of colors I wanted to pull together to create this Fall 2017 "Bleached" Collection of paintings. I also saw how I wanted to movement of the brush to feel - how the composition would come together.

For now I'll share some of my inspiration photos. I look forward to putting brush to canvas and sharing some "in process" work in the coming weeks. Forgive me if I'm slightly MIA, I'm preoccupied enjoying this baby oasis.

Arts Letters & Numbers ~ Wrapping It All Up

May 16, 2017

As I look back at my time at Arts Letters & Numbers, I needed this week away from normal life to expand my horizons both literally and figuratively. Feeling a bit cooped up in NYC, but being totally unaware of the fact, it was lovely to get into the space of Upstate New York countryside and meet new people and discuss new ideas.

Look how beautiful these organic eggs are ~ I've never seen naturally green, blue and pink ones before!

While it took me a while to find a groove with the outcomes of my paintings, the Arts Letters & Numbers residency allowed me the room to follow my circling trains of thought, explore painting processes and stretch my expectations for myself.

I've come away a bit calmer and assured that if I follow my instinct, it doesn't really matter what the outcome is because the larger connection between seemingly dissonant ideas is me.

On Sunday, I revealed my paintings for my fellow residents for their feedback and critique. And here's what I learned:

1. It's scary to put yourself out there to be judged. I was shaky trying to express my thoughts.

2. What people see in my work is how it makes them feel first and my messaging second. This was good news because it's what I'm going for!

3. They helped me to crystalize the words to say that this collection is about my emotions as they relate to the changing world as modeled through landscape. They are introspective, but not serene.

4. I've finalized the idea that this collection is "Nature, Muted" not the other way around. Because it's more than just neutral abstract landscapes. These paintings encapsulate my anxiety around not being able to fully see the landscape as societal trends are indifferent to its destruction. In this way, nature is itself muted, in that we can't hear it; and some don't want to hear it and are't interested in its preservation.

But while all of that seems heavy, the paintings themselves can be seen as sending that emotional message, or they can be something benign to behold. As always, I invite others' interpretations and emotions to surface about my work.

"Nature, Muted" paintings will be for sale on Wednesday June 14th (Flag Day!)

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