2010 in 100 words, more or less

I gotta say, this was an excellent year for me personally and professionally!

I dove headfirst into art this year, reorganized and formalized my studio, and by chance scored my first solo show at an upscale restaurant in Nashville for six weeks from late June to Father's Day.  Great timing except Nashville's millenial flood took place the weekend of my scheduled reception.  Most I knew were fortunate and suffered no or minimal losses but many areas were devastated.  My reception ended up closing the show, more or less, but still a nice crowd and healthy sales meant I could claim professional artist status!   At year end, my art is
hanging in several venues in Middle Tennessee and a few more people are puzzled by the name "Moesse."
 
A mid-year turning point meant transitioning from Hazel King's tutelage to more independent study, and the formation of Collaborative Artists Network (Nashville) - www.thecann.org - with fellow painters and dear, dear friends.  A more personal turning point came when I took a stand against a loved one, ending a pattern of enabling.  By year end, I'm glad to say, it was proven to be a good decision for all involved and things are looking up on that front.

A wedding in October was special partly because I got to talk to Canadian superstar Bryan Adams and tell him David and I were married to one of his songs (which I'm sure he hears ALL the time).  What made it stellarly special (my phrase in case ya couldn't tell), was that my dear, great and wonderful brother Barry married the love of his lifetime(s), Gretchen.  I used the plural because, yeah, their spirits have been dancing this love tune for centuries.

Another wedding in November, this time in England, meant a stellar trip across the pond, celebrating the union of two young people, spending great time with David's family, touring the southwest region, and freezing our butts off.  All before jetting back home just in time to beat the U.K. version of Snowpocalypse!  While there, I discovered snoods, Primark's cheap but cozy for a season offerings, and an Indian import store offering huge zippered bags on the cheap to lug home our dirty laundry.

December was a blur with unpacking, preparing and mailing out more than a dozen Christmas parcels to friends and family from afar, a few parties, and yes, prepping for and pulling off a New Year's Day open house. I did little painting, but put at the top of the blog two abstracts that I did that I'm very pleased with. 

In closing, know that I'm eagerly anticipating great things for 2011, for two reasons.  First, I have this weird thing for prime numbers (I think because I was born on the 13th in 1959) and 2011 is about as prime as you can get, baby!  Second, my dark-haired brother was the first newcomer to step foot through the door that day, followed by his male black lab, Nigel.  I'm told Scottish tradition says that if a dark-haired male is the first to cross the threshold New Year's Day, it bodes well for the year.  I'll take all this as a good, hopeful sign for more good things to come. 

Here's hoping you experience all good things for 2011. 
MWS

Process

It's been five days and the leaf prints I have been working on produced some striking results!.  They are really time consuming and unpredictable in their outcome, however.  I will put up an album with final works in the near future but I am unable to replicate in photograph the metallic sheen and luminosity that bounces off some of these gorgeous prints.

While working on these, I definitely made some mechanical errors (like weighting down the prints far too long in too great of heat, producing some fusion of materials that made it impossible to use some of them).  Next time, I'll know to work with fewer sheets, remove the weights quicker, and allow each to dry individually under lighter weights.

Once the prints dried, I sorted them all and pulled out the "frame-worthy ones" which either were prefect as is or required some simple outline work with paints and fine markers to punch them up and make the subject pop.  Final step is selecting mats.  The picture above shows two mats I had on hand and was just tooling around with them to check how they'd work around some prints I had completed. I will need to purchase a mat cutter before too long. Any suggestions readers? 

Back to process:  those prints that aren't deemed "standalone frameworthy," I either incorporate into abstract work, as in the photo to the right, or will use in collage work.  Toward that end, I've been collecting and categorizing scraps, other materials, washi, and other papers. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this weekend is it for collage work. Can't wait!

Fun with color!

I've had this certain, lovely silk scarf for a number of years now.  It's one of my favorites and I can't recall where I got it. What I love about it are the colors - blues, greens, and touches of purple.  It became a source of inspiration for this, my first real abstract painting.

I'd painted one abstract before, a real "strokey" kind of thing with splashes of color laid down by the brush.  Here, though, I wanted to work with blocks of color.  And draw from the inspiration of that lovely scarf.

I worked on this in class and Hazel, in her roundabout way, shared her thoughts on abstracts.  Her teacher, a well-regarded artist and creative director for a number of leading fashion publications, took her to a show one time.  Must've been 40-50 years ago.  She told him someone else she listened to in the art world claimed abstract art would be a flash in the pan and die out soon.  Her mentor (Pops, she calls him), took her to this show of a brilliant abstract artist (sorry, didn't catch the name) and in Hazel's words "tears came into my eyes!"

She said it was the colors that moved her so, but she learned the importance of allowing a color to flow behind another color, to weave in and out as if intertwined.  And as I worked, she reminded me to allow the paint to mix on the canvas, not on the pallet.  I'm so thankful for her little "minuette" lessons.  Before I painted this, I never gave much credence to abstract painting, perceiving it as just paint slapped onto a canvas.  But as I worked, I gave so much thought to each "layer" I added it took more time than many traditional paintings I've done.  I call it "The Produce Aisle" since the bright fuschia/magenta color in the lower right side resembles, to my mind, a watermelon with its repetitive strokes of black erupting from the reds as seeds.

I love this work and enjoy looking at it since there is so much to explore.  I hope you like it too!