What’s new at the studio

I had the pleasure of taking part in an amazing community art project in May, during the quarantine.

The downtown area of Ware, MA has had some bumpy times in the last few years. After a fire displaced several Main Street businesses a few years ago, the buildings remain boarded up.

But right across the street are some bustling art businesses, ClayWorks and ArtWorks, and a community art school up the road called WorkShop13. I mentioned an idea to the Marie Lauderdale, the Executive Director of WorkShop13 – a way to bring some much needed color and interest into the boarded up area. The idea took flight! A series of reproductions of famous paintings ask and answer the question, “Where?” “Ware!” The paintings were created by local artists through Workshop13, and I was thrilled to take part by painting Van Gogh’s “Self Portrait With Grey Felt Hat,” and my daughter Rachel painted Picasso’s “Portrait of Dora Maar.” 

If you’re ever in the area, be sure to stop and stroll by this wonderful installation.

I am reminded with every passing day how very lucky I am. As the world grapples with the frightening spread of disease, I can only take in so much bad news. At some point, I need to escape into my safe place and splash paint around as I hide from the germs. Out of these lemons, I’m making lemonade.

Little House recently hosted the first of a series of monthly art journal workshops, and it was loads of fun! We discussed the basics of art journal creation, and then we focused on techniques to add color and texture to the first several pages of our blank books. We experimented with Gelli plate printing and came up with some beautiful “happy accidents” that we’ll add to our journals, creating the framework on which we’ll build our creative story telling. Stay tuned and watch these masterpieces come to life!