The Studios of Stacey Kirby

This month I find myself revisited by certain thoughts, over and over again.

“Each project teaches something new.” This line can be reassuring and also intimidating. When I find myself ignorant of any aspect of a project, I remind myself that each mural presents different problems to solve, guaranteed. There’s no way you can be prepared for everything life throws at you. Deal with it all as best you can, use your innate skills to solve whatever problems come your way, and remember for the future.  Have faith that, if nothing else, you will learn something. It also means that no matter how many murals I do, no matter how many situations I’m prepared to deal with, there will always be a new and surprising challenge waiting somewhere in the future. Scary? Maybe a little. But definitely exciting.

“You reap what you sow.”A simple straightforward decorative mural, done well, is a satisfying accomplishment. But a community mural installation that increases tourism and bolsters the economy is even better. One of them takes a little more effort, time and energy then the other and sometimes it may seem like the end will never be in sight.  But if you let yourself get scared off by the big ones, if you never give yourself the opportunity to prove that you can handle it, you’ll never enjoy the accomplishment and the rewards that come with tackling an ambitious project and seeing it through to success. Personally, I like a good mix of simple and ambitious.  I love to concoct big convoluted projects like ToH, and the straightforward portrait or observational drawing is a wonderful refreshing break now and then.

“If only I would just sit down and paint.” Ah, procrastination. I have an ungodly amount of painting to do in the next month. But lately it seems that the amount of work piling up in the studio inspires the same level of procrastination. Are there any other painters out there feeling the same thing? How do you get yourself into the studio on those days where even the vaccuumm is more enticing then a paintbrush? Regardless of the fact that painting is usually the very best thing for my own personal well being, sometimes I just can’t do it. The life of a creative professional!

On that note, I’d better get back to work!

Two hundred years ago, my hometown of Gaines was founded. At the time, it was probably little more then a narrow log road through the wilderness, maybe with a general store and a tavern thrown in amongst the scattering of churches and log cabins. Before the canal, Ridge Rd was one of the few tracts through the tractless, and before white settlers it was an Indian trail. For WNY it doesn’t get any more historical then that!

If you’re interested in some bona fide facts from a knowledgeable person (unlike the above paragraph – we’ll call that a bunch of educated guesses) then you should definitely stop by the Gaines Bicentennial Festivities. For such a little town, there’s an impressive amount of stuff going on. Starting with a Pancake Breakfast at 7am, followed by a pretty fantastic parade (my family has a float!), Quilt Show, Car Show, food and the annual Old Timer’s Day at the Cobblestone Museum (which has many activities unto itself) followed by an outdoor movie and then fireworks at 8.

And of course there is the FINE ART SHOW! This is where I will be with the usual ToH setup: a finished panel, and an in progress-panel with brochures and question answering! At least ten other members of the Artist’s Alliance will be there with their work.  It will be a great day, and the weatherman promises just a light sprinkle in the morning with sun in the afternoon. Don’t miss it! You’ll have to wait another two hundred years for the next one.

Stumbling across an online reference to the studio or ToH is always a fun surprise . Here is an article from the Batavia Daily News that I found today. Virgina Kropf stopped by to interview me just after I began to really get into the painting. At the time, I wasn’t very confident a that I was making a lot of sense – whenever my braincells are preoccupied with 500 shades of green, it can be challenging to put intelligent sentences together! But thankfully Virginia interpreted everything well, with the help of a brochure.

I actually found this article as I was looking for a different one from the Batavia Daily News. Several weeks ago I met a reporter to talk about ToH and I have yet to see it. I’m pretty sure I sounded a lot less paint-addled that day, so it must have been a good one!

Someday soon I will put together a better post about the fair. It was a lot of fun, and I have a few drawings to share as well as the progress I made on the map panel shown in the article.  Now I’d better get to work, I have a lot of painting to do today!

July has been an exciting month for Treasures of Holley. New partnerships have formed, events scheduled, and the painting progresses!

Theresa Fischette of White Light Communications is donating her time and services to promote ToH. Already we’ve moved forward 100% by scheduling events, soon to be published in fliers and online. Theresa also included a great article in Holley’s community newsletter the Saltport Press, copies of which are available at many locations throughout the village. This first article summarized ToH very nicely and will be followed by eight more, each focusing on a different panel of the mural. I’m grateful for these excellent opportunities to share information with the Holley community. So often I’m locked in the studio absorbed in painting, and important details like this get over looked. Without Theresa’s help, the going would be much slower!

The actual walking tour itself is a pretty big undertaking too, and I’ve been wondering how I would find the time to put that part of the project together. Serendipitously, I struck up a conversation about the treasure hunt with Debra Day of Maple Grove Farms. Several days later found us navigating the route with her friend Susan Colby. It turns out the pair have a talent for scavenger hunts and riddles, and they will be composing the first treasure map for treasures of Holley.

As we get closer to the installation date, I meet more and more people that are excited about this project and eager to be involved. Everyone’s help is appreciated, there is so much to do! I look forward to discovering the different ways that we can all contribute to the success of  Treasuers of Holley.

Today from 11am -4pm I’ll be working on a Treasures of Holley mural panel at Tillman’s Historic Village Inn, north of Albion on Rt 98.

Tillman’s was generous enough to invite members of the AAOC to exhibit their work every last Sunday of the month. I think it’s a brilliant idea – we appreciate any opportunity to show the community that we’re here, talented and motivated! The arts are alive and well in Orleans County. And of course the restaurant, well known for excellent prime rib dinners, will benefit by association with a high quality arts organization.

And of course the exposure for Treasures of Holley is great too – I hope to give out stacks of brochures!