Today I met with Janet Smith at Sterling Editions to get back the first proofs of some giclees she printed for me. It is so fun to see the images on canvas. The photos come out really nicely on the cloth. I poured some wax on one to see how it would look. The texture of the canvas comes through a bit in solid areas but I think it is ok. I can’t wait to get to the studio tomorrow to see how they look in place.

I also went up to Salt Creek Falls today to take photos. The Rhodedendrons were all in bloom. Beautiful.

This is not Sarah, but a guest blogger. I visited Sarah’s new studio today and saw the two baby swallows in their nest. Their mother kept on flying over to the wetlands and coming back with food. My eyes followed her and the sun shimmered across the reeds and grass. which danced in the wind refracting the light even further. The new studio gives Sarah a lot more room to work. This is a good thing.
Many years ago she had a studio on market Street in San Francisco. The walls were really high and she produced these beautiful metal paintings designed to reflect the light in the most persistant way. We have one of these paintings in our living room and it stands as living proof that if you give Sarah the space, she’ll paint something beautiful to fill it up. I am anticipating the results of this studio. If you are reading this, you know where to come for some previews.

Essentially, I have been contracted to paint a huge piece. It will hang in a semi-public lobby of an apartment building. The final resting place is a 55 foot wall. This project is an artist’s dream. Creating a lot of work and knowing it will be out of the studio the moment it is finished. No storage problem here. One of the really interesting aspects is how differently you think about the piece knowing that it won’t be around, and the different elements that go into the planning. Working in a new way has encouraged me to share the process through writing this blog.

My real studio is a small space. A garage. In fact a single car garage, and not even the whole garage. Of course it does have skylights and wisteria hangs down over the window but it is still a garage. It is cold in the winter and hot in the summer. The air is held tight like a jar with the lid on. It is hard to imagine a large scale work in this small space. The scene clears as one my generous friends, who just happened to have empty warehouse space out in west Eugene, enters and offers to loan me space for the summer. My constraints have been eliminated.

Today I went out to check out the warehouse I’ll be using to create my piece in. All together the space must be at least 2000 square feet. The width is 30 feet. There is one section of uninterupted long wall abutting the short wall that is also 30 feet. More than enough space to view the whole work at once. It was wonderful. I felt days could go by and I wouldn’t notice the time passing while I was there. The studio is on the edge of the wetlands and when I came out I saw a great blue heron flying low over the ponds.

Today a new blog, tomorrow a new studio space. What happens on tuesday?