The Studios of Stacey Kirby

The GVPAP show opening at the Genessee Country Village and Museum will take place on May 10th from 4-6 pm. There are directions on the museum’s website (along with lots of other information about GCVM). GVPAP has provided an impressive array of paintings. The range of style and subject is always refreshing, the skill of the painters impressive.

If you can’t make it to the opening, the show will be up in the Wehle Gallery until October. It’s worth a trip - the museum is a beautiful place just to walk around and enjoy the outdoors. And of course there are all of the educational exhibits, reenactors, architecture, etc. As I was purusing their calender, I noticed they’re having a wildflower sale on the 10th too! What more can you ask for? History, nature, art, a little exercise, and native plants.

Happily, four of my paintings were accepted. Entering my paintings into a juried show definitely has an element of stress to it. There are just so many little details to remember! And if you forget something, then it’s that much work wasted. It certainly is a relief to have the entire process over with, and the satisfaction of knowing my work will be seen by such a wide audience is worth a little stress.

The photo above was taken at the museum, after all of the paintings were checked in. I volunteered to help with that process, and it certainly was interesting. I’ve never really thought about what artwork goes through when it arrives at a museum or gallery, so I definitely learned something. Every painting was carefully wrapped in bubbles for the trip, so unwrapping each one was a task in itself. All information was documented for each piece (artist, title, dimensions, and condition) then it was photographed, rewrapped and returned to a box for safe keeping until it was time to display it. We all wore gloves, and each painting was handled with the utmost care and respect. It took about 10 of us most of a day to get through all of the paintings.

About ten days ago a gigantic box came in the mail, all the way from Florida. It was full of glorious gold frames, destined to compliment my plein air paintings. I immediately set to work matching frame to painting and had intentions of photographing the results to post here….But never got around to it until they were all boxed up, ready for the trip into Rochester tomorrow. All but two fit so neatly into a large box, but the 36″ painting needed it’s own contraption. The contrast of cardboard and duct tape portfolio to gold frame is just… delightful.

I’ve always been perfectly satisfied to hang up unframed panels and canvases. (Honestly, I still prefer to hang my artwork that way. The composition was not designed with a frame, so it makes more sense, to me, without it.) There’s no doubt that these frames will meet the standards of the Genesee Country Village & Museum. In any case, the frames are beautiful. So perfectly square and softly golden. I would almost hang them on the wall by themselves…

My subconscious is also entertaining me. I had one lonely painting left on the wall, so I snapped a shot as an example of the frames… when I noticed that this piece was in fact a show entry. I had packed up the other half of the diptych by mistake. Since they were both from the same scene, it wouldn’t have made much difference, but I do like this painting better so I’m glad I noticed.

This show is quite an event! There will be 310 paintings to jury, I think 100 will be accepted. An article is featured in American Artist. Wish me luck, I hope I get a couple in!

What could be better then painting to The Decemberists? Maybe the Decemberists followed by Flogging Molly and Iron & Wine. I’ve recently found Jango.com and I’m having a grand time learning about new bands that I like, the names of bands I’ve always liked, and bands that I know. Music takes painting from the level of enjoyable right up to great fun.

The light is a little low, I will have to post a less grainy one of this painting later on. Oh, if you’re interested, it’s a painting of a cobblestone schoolhouse not to far from my house. There is a photo here of the front of the schoolhouse (my painting is of the back). Just click on buildings, and then the schoolhouse. The Cobblestone Museum Society has lots of interesting information on this unique building material.

I’m so very nearly finished touching up these plein aire paintings I can taste it! Or is that a stray stroke of cadmium yellow?

This spring the Genesee Valley Plein Air Painters have been granted a unique and interesting opportunity. A combined exhibition of 19th cen. plein air paintings, and paintings produced by members of GVPAP, will appear in the Wehle Gallery at the Genesee Country Village and Museum from May 10th to October 31st. The theme is country life in Genesee County, with the idea of drawing a comparison between the historical and modern day life of this region. Please read all of the details here.

For my paintings to have a chance at hanging in such a beautiful, professional gallery is thrilling for an amateur plein air painter like me. I remember walking through that gallery as a kid, awed by the quiet dimness ensconcing beautiful works of gilt-framed art. Just think, I’m about to place an order for my own gold frames! I hope one of my paintings gets in. I think this scene from Albion of the barge canal has a good shot.

For the past two weeks I’ve spent a lot of extra time with my oils, trying to get a small collection of paintings ready to be juried. In the past it’s been a real challenge for me to ‘finish’ my plein airs. They seemed to exist so much in the spontaneous ephemeral moment of outdoors creation that to edit them in the studio was to create a completely different painting…. I’m beginning to get over my obsession with that idea. After touching up three or four, I’ve definitely noticed improvements and these changes don’t alter the original experience. The lively character of a plein air painting is not dampened by painting out little bits of white canvas that I missed, 0r adjusting a little bit of contrast. I think they’ll be ok. In fact, they really do look better.

Thanks to Jolene for sending me feedback and a photo of the canvas sticker she received for being the first to respond with the correct answer! Jolene chose a yellow swallowtail butterfly canvas sticker.

“The girls helped me decide that it should be flying away from the doorway, not toward it. It went up so easily! I applied the glue with a brush (careful to coat the edges) and it’s smooth and up there perfectly. Thanks again, it’s a really unique/accessible/beautiful way to have art in one’s home, I wish you the best with them! - Jolene”

I snatched up an opportunity to paint outdoors in comfort yesterday. The temperatures were above sixty and it was the first time I’ve painted without a jacket (or two) in a long time. A field of winter wheat north of my house was backed by an interesting bank of clouds while the sun shone out of a blue sky above me. This is actually a common occurrence where I live. Directly west is the Niagara Peninsula, a bridge of land between two great lakes. Large bodies of moisture (clouds!) will billow off Lake Ontario to the north and Erie to the south while overhead the sky is blue. Very neat.

As for the painting…I think I like it. It hasn’t been around long enough for me to be sure, but I think I do. The composition is very simple, with undulating lines divided by the rough treeline. It’s always nice when the landscape provides such rich golds, blues and reds - I think that’s my favorite part.

(Please click for a larger image)

The painting is (nearly) finished! …. almost…I think. I’ve had this nagging feeling that The Messenger is missing something… some interesting little accessory for the fantasy story we see unfolding here. A mossy sword? Rhunes inscribed in the stone? I’m just not sure. If any of my readers have an idea, throw em at me! I’d love it. In any case, I feel pretty certain that I’ll be posting the really finished version of this painting in two weeks or so.

Sometimes when you’ve spent this much time on a painting, you loose perspective and it’s best to put it away for a little while. When you take it out a week or so later, errors (or the lack of errors, always a hope) suddenly seem obvious. The other piano in the closet is failing to see when good enough is good enough. I know a lot of painters have this problem. A painting just never feels done.

I think that since art is a reflection of the artist, then it makes sense that a painting would never be done. When is a person done? We’re constantly growing, changing our outlook on the world, as we absorb new input. This is why you have to put the paintbrush down, even though you know you could go on. And on and on. Accept it as a reflection of where you are at the moment, and that is what the painting will be. Content.

Well, the painting I mentioned earlier isn’t finished. Normally I would be bothered by going over a deadline, but since it’s my own invented deadline, I won’t be too hard on myself! I’ve been enjoying the process of creating this painting a lot. It’s had a slow, meandering development as I added different elements that I thought would be interesting. At the moment, the majority of the painting is finished. All of the characters are in place. I just need to tweak a few little details that I’m sure nobody else would notice, and figure out a way to finish the edges of the canvas.

Everything comes in it’s own time - last September I was so frustrated by a lack of information on the benfits of public art, and accounts of existing installations. In the past couple of weeks, I’ve stumbled across plenty of information as I wandered around the web. This handful of knock-your-socks-off, intelligent, beautiful projects will give me and you food for thought for weeks to come.

Shared Vision : If you’re looking for top-knotch painting paired with vast, complex concepts, and community involvement in the arts, this is the place. If you’re not looking for any of that stuff, you should be, so check em out anyway.

Sussex, Canada : (thanks to Kim for the link) Sussex has painted the town with history - in a really stunning way.

What’s happening in the studio…? For a while now, I’ve been planning to develop a line of ready-to-go products. Wall hangings (or tapestries), canvas sticker sets, folding screens … I have a pile of sketches ready to be transformed into paintings! Over the past week or so, I finally had a chance to get started on the wall hangings. I can’t wait to post photos, I’m very excited to share the results of getting back to the drawing board! I should have the painting finished by next Monday. For now, here are descriptions of new products available (samples will be posted soon):

Wall Hangings - A rectangular, hand-painted canvas with finished edges, ready to be hung on a decorative rod, much like medieval tapestries were displayed hundreds of years ago. Available in a variety of sizes, from 1′ x 2′ to 6′ x 8′.

Canvas Sticker Sets - Small murals painted on canvas, ranging in size from 4″ to 12″ in diameter. These murals can be ordered and shipped to any location for self-installation. The set includes everything needed to hang(glue) the canvas on the wall: glue, mural, and brush!

Folding Screens - Another decorative tradition, these wooden screens are available as three or four hinged panels, hand painted in the studio. Panels are each 14″ x 36″ or 40″ x 60″ approximately.