Sickness and lace

Check out this article at Utne.com.

Two pieces 12 x 12" each

In an effort to organize some of the larger works I did before entering grad school I have made smaller paintings based on them. I looked at the large panel and focused on an area which had a strong composition. I then created a much smaller piece which pulled directly from that area. The resulting paintings are pictured first with the two original sources below.

My advisor thought

The Two Thieves 22 x 22"

this was finished. I've only worked it for three hours!!! But like he said, "How long does it take to make a painting?" I may make some minor adjustments, but for the moment it is being set aside so I can consider what it needs.

Here is a photo

of a painting I recently completed in the graduate studio. My advisor is encouraging me to rework a few large pieces I started last Spring and Summer and I must say, the results are encouraging. Here is an image of the piece previously, if you don't remember...
I actually cropped the painting using the table saw to cut the bottom 10 inches off both panels. I then worked to organize the space into larger movements of dark and light values. This idea is giving me a flexible framework with which to make paintings. There is a greater freedom to make choices when operating with simple guidelines.

The upcoming painting

workshop at the Brookline Art Center is full. If you weren't able to join us, sign up for the next one in the winter. It runs on Thursday nights from 6:30 to 9:30 pm beginning January 21st and ending February 11th. If you're not in the area, there's still a chance to join us for a Color Workshop at the South Shore Art Center.

Here are photos

of the remaining two drawings in the series of three that includes Spiral. I was focusing on simplifying the imagery and dealing only with the circles that have cropped up in earlier works like Heal/Hunger. I'm trying to convince myself that this is enough.

The other photos

I took this morning are horrific. So I'll leave you with only this one as a hint about what I'm working on in the studio. This is a mixed media piece, ink, graphite, white out, acrylic paint, and conte on cotton rag paper that I've stitched together. It is about 16 x 20". I'm focusing on these circles right now and letting the art be simply about arranging them in and moving them through space. It feels like there's a lot more meaning behind it when I'm engaged in the process of drawing, but I am limiting myself to issues of form and space so that I can better make decisions about what to draw and how.

The Brookline Art Center

workshop has been rescheduled. Classes will now begin on October 15th and run through November 5th. That's four weeks in total and I'm hoping we'll get to some good exercises on seeing and basic composition in that time. If you're free on Thursday nights and looking to learn, join us. Coming up next Friday is the evening dance performance and art exhibit, Circles, tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door, and the show begins at 8pm. If you're in Brighton that night and looking for great art and great dance, come on out.

I found

some very exciting work online today. Check out Marko Velk and Alex Kanevsky.

Grad School...

is beginning. There is a lot going on right now and most of it has to do with orientation and moving (again). The Newton Free Library show came down last Monday. I sold two pieces!!! And got some good positive feedback. Next Thursday I'm part of a group exhibition at UMass in New Bedford where one piece from all the new graduate students will be on display during their AHA! night artwalk. The following weekend it will be up to Boston where I will be showing with Jenna DeLuca and TS Hart at Circles a dance performance at the Boston University Theater. Come out and see the work or stay tuned. There are many more things in the works.

Thanks to everyone

who made it out to Newton last night. It was a mellow turn out with a lot of support coming in via the web or the phone from places out West. Thank you to those well wishers who attended in spirit. Here are some photos of the gallery, the schmoozing and the hanging.

Lisa and Jenna helped me to arrange and hang the show which took six hours on Monday to sort out! Thank you ladies.

These two walls face each other and greet viewers as they enter the library inviting them to come into the gallery to view the rest of the show. I really love how these are arranged. I wouldn't have put this together by myself.

The three photos below are from the interior of the gallery itself. It's a gorgeous space, very large, with picture windows at the far end letting in good natural light. I think we struck just the right balance with this exhibit giving the work ample visual room to breathe.

There was a lot of interest and great feedback. If you haven't had a chance to see the work yet, the show will remain on display until Aug. 30. Click here for hours and directions.

The solo show is up...

and the opening reception is this Thursday.

Flutter, at the Newton Free Library from Aug 4 - 30

Opening reception Thursday from 7 - 8:30pm.

I had help arranging and hanging the show and the input I received has it looking phenomenal. Come check it out.

Member's registration

has begun at the Brookline Art Center. I'll be teaching fall and winter workshops in oil painting Thursdays from 6:30 to 9:30. These are a great introduction to the media and a short time committment. Come join us and sharpen you skills.

Fall classes

are being sorted out at the moment. I just received word that I'll be running a four week color workshop at the South Shore Art Center. The course runs 10 am to 1 pm on Saturday from Oct 17th through November 7th. Students are welcome to work in both oil or acrylic and we will dissect subject matter with my favourite device - color! The workshop is a short four week commitment, reasonably priced, and held in beautiful seaside Cohasset, Massachusetts. Come join us!

The link is posted under the classes and workshops listing on the right and once the Art Center uploads their catalogue, I will link directly to it.

The Brookline Art Center

class is going great. And I'm tinkering with the idea of uploading samples of student work. You can peruse all the great things we do before deciding to come join us! Classes will continue in the fall for a shorter 5 week term.

Check out

the current edition of Artscope for a listing for the upcoming solo show Flutter. There it is...in the back; no further..wait! Oh!...There. (I get excited about the little victories.)

All done

I am going to put this aside for the moment. I'm happy with the developments that occurred since the June critique, and I believe it may be ready for August's show.

Untitled (as of yet) 48 x 36" diptych

Here is what I worked on through the end of May and early June. I finally really sanded down Darwin's finches sending buttons and beads flying from under the undulating power sander. It was sort of gleeful. I laid down a good medium toned gesso and am developing good contrast in this piece right from the start. The starlings were chosen for their notorious ubiquity returning to an idea that I like found in Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek - the darker side of fecundity.

Getting some rust out

This painting came to a screeching halt and was in dire need of feedback which it received today at the Joy St Studio critique. I think I had become too timid; and some of the simple ideas put forward really got me making choices again. I've introduced some larger compositional elements and am working on bringing up the contrast in my palette.

Online advertisement for the Newton Free Library Show

I have been painting in the studio. It's just that so many other things are also happening in my life right now. I did find that the Newton Free Library has posted an image and information for my upcoming solo show in August. Check it out.


Calendar of Events

August 2009 Art Exhibits
GALLERY / AUGUST
Gallery: Flutter by Claudine Metrick, August 4-30Reception Thursday, August 6, 7:00 pm
Image by C. Metrick
Claudine Metrick’s paintings and ink drawings use conventions of both western and eastern sacred art. The Flutter series incorporates images of birds on wood panels with precious materials, including beads and food to evoke opulence and reference avian habits of collecting materials for nidification, and portray bird song either written in longhand notation or translated into visual bytes of Morse Code. Claudine Metrick graduated summa cum laude from Arizona State University with a BFA in painting.