It’s hard to believe that the year 2020 will be here in mere hours. I still remember sitting with my friends in my grade school’s library and discussing plans for an elaborate party for the (then futuristic) year 1999. I find myself murmuring things like, “Where does the time go” and “It feels like just yesterday…” – the same things said by “old people” from my youth.
Those moments of realization make it all the more sad (and more than a little scary) to think about time lost. The past few years were especially difficult and so much valuable time to work and create was lost. It’s a story that is far too involved to tell in a blog (& far too grim for a day of celebration) but, in short, my studio and home of fifteen years became an unusable nightmare just as I felt I was hitting a stride in my painting career. For an artist there are few things more heartbreaking. That is a large reason why I’ve not blogged in a long while and why you’ve not seen too many new paintings from me during that span, but now I will focus on the good – nay, great! I am filled with gratitude as I sit here in my new studio which I adore and I feel like I should get one more blog in for the decade – just under the wire.
Many of the things that I wanted to accomplish are, as yet, unfinished. I’m sure a lot of people can relate to that feeling. I’ve only just been able to begin painting again so I don’t have a new, complete work to share with you as my “last painting of the decade.” With that in mind I’ve decided to share a painting that is largely unfinished and is part of a work that I have been contemplating for decades. It is a painting just for me, a labor of love which is slowly being built from memories. You can see some areas are at a higher degree of finish and other areas are no more than block-ins, such as the upper hand and some of the toys. It may never be complete and other versions will likely be started. (I must apologize for the so-so photo. It’s a blurry phone shot and my attempts of removing the glare in Photoshop did it no real favors. Though it is good enough for this purpose, I think.)
It had previously taken me a long time to begin the small portrait of Viviann (pictured here) as I had no good photo reference (just a tiny pixelated digital image) and I feared that memories wouldn’t be enough – but in the end, I was able to create the painting I was very happy with.
Viviann – 9×6 inches
This little portrait became the study for the work in progress I share with you now. In the new work there is minor facial variation trying to create a hint of a smile and give her a serene appearance. Every item in the painting represents a small portion of something larger and many of the items hold a specific memory for me.
Here is Saint Viviann of Surf City as the painting currently looks.
Saint Viviann of Surf City (Work in Progress) 30×24″ – Oil on linen mounted on board.
The pumpkins represent the collection of ceramic jack o’lanterns that grinned down festively from a high shelf in her kitchen, four of which are now in my kitchen. She had a vast and dazzling collection of tin toys and wooden, stringed puppets (or “jumpy dolls”, as she called them) and she started my collections of both. My collection of tin toys now lines my studio shelves, the doll she is holding in the image is the sole remaining jumpy doll in my collection, the others, unfortunately, lost in a move. A tin sign featuring a California fruit crate label for Top Flight Citrus – she didn’t have this particular sign, but I chose to use this one as a nod to her daughter, Susan, who had her pilot’s license and of whom she was so proud. The philodendron plant in the upper left corner represents a plant Viviann had rescued from the garbage. The grateful, happy plant proceeded to grow so long that it stretched around the entirety of her living room. Her book of Longfellow poetry and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn sit behind her and random, whimsical beads and ribbons serve as bookmarks and adorn various surfaces. The turquoise rings she is wearing were made for her by her adorable husband, Warren. I have those rings now. Her earrings and bracelet are blue cloisonné from her daughter. Just some of the homages to her beloved Huntington Beach and Southern California: Orange trees, California poppies, pieces of Bauer pottery, 1960’s surfing sign from “Surf City”, and the background is a borrowed from an illustration in the style of the Arts and Crafts movement but melded into an amalgamation of California and New York’s Hudson Valley where I now live – memories layering together with my present day landscapes.
It is a tall order, but I’m endeavoring to create a painting of how it felt to visit Viviann in her magical, seaside world of vintage beauty and sweet nostalgia. Those visits were saving graces during my childhood.
As I think about New Years Eves past, I remember being about seven years old and excited to ring in the new year in Huntington Beach. Viviann gave me old fashioned, tin noise makers (the use of which I did not limit to midnight) and when the clock struck 12:00 we went outside and she banged a pot with a wooden spoon and called out, “Happy New Year” into the damp ocean air and people somewhere nearby banged on pots and shouted New Year greetings back. At midnight, know that I am calling out a Happy New Year to you all and hoping that Viviann can hear, too.
I am ready to say goodbye to 2019 and usher in a new year. I’m so excited to began to work in my new studio on the paintings I have planned. All the ideas that have been piling up are vying for their place in my production line. I hope you all have things that you are excited to begin as well!
Wishing you all a blessed new year in which all your dreams are realized!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Hit the Canvas 