The Most Beautiful Baby in the Whole World

My beautiful granddaughter was born at 7:37 last night. She and Mom are fine and doing well. I have been extremely busy getting the house prepared for this new little one and also getting Christmas for the family so I have not been creating much art. I am hoping that things will calm down a bit for the new year and that I will have some time to paint. Happy New Year to All!!!!!

Life Goes On

Breakfast in Bed by Mary Cassatt, 1897


Today is the first real snow of the season and it is beautiful. I live in an area called the "snowbelt". The wind and snow come off of Lake Erie and if the lake is not frozen over (with this warm autumn it will be a while before it freezes) moisture is picked up, changes to snow, and is dumped in a three county area, mine being one. Roads are terrible, schools closed and I just love it!! This weather has given me an opportunity to get back to blogging. I have not been able to blog in a while because, as I hinted to in my last couple of posts, life has changed considerably for me. Thanks Ed, KJ, and Martha for their words of encouragement, they really are very helpful.

I am now able to talk about the twists and turns that have taken place. It all started when my oldest daughter called from college in late September asking for help. One of the things that I always say to my children is, "if you get in trouble call me." Well the first words out of her mouth was that she was in trouble. She told me that she was pregnant and due January 1st. I didn't know if I was going to pass out or get sick, this is not what I wanted for my daugher and it was not anything that I thought would happen to one of my children. Being a single mother, I have always told them that parenting is a two person job, its to hard to do on your own and someone is always on the losing end. I won't go into every detail but I told her that I was very dissappointed but I love her no matter what. She has always been a really good kid and she made a big mistake and is now paying for it. Many conversations have taken place and the bottom line is that she has decided to keep the baby and move back home to finish her degree. So now that I have gone through a huge array of emotions I am now able to accept what is happening and I am looking forward to meeting my first grandchild. I have been to two doctors appointments and have seen the ultrasounds. Both mom and the baby are in good health. She is having a girl and she is just beautiful. It is amazing how good the ultrasound machines are, we could see her little face and so many little details, we even saw her tongue.

I am picking my daughter up this Saturday and moving her back home. She will be back in her old room until the baby is born, which is only 3 weeks away (personally I don't think she is going to make it till then). I am now in the process of converting my studio into a bedroom for her and the baby. Hopefully this will be a temporary solution. I am working with a contractor to add on more bedrooms, but this may take many months. So, until the construction is finished I must change my way of making art. I have started some small canvases, 8x10. I am not use to working so small and they really are not very good, but I am taking this as a challenge. I have also started using my sketchbook and drawing more. I really miss doing life drawing and have started doing some figure work. So as you can read things have changed quite a bit, but now that I have adjusted, life is OK, no note just OK, life is good.

Home Sick

I love this painting, "Smaraged, Red and Germinating Yellow" by Hans Hofman. It hangs in the Cleveland Museum of Art and has been one of my favorites for a long time, like an old friend. Unfortunately most of the museum is closed for renovations right now, so I have not been able to spend time with this piece in over a year. You see, life has recently thrown me a real loop. I'm sure that I will talk about what is going on in later posts, but for now I just can't. I have not been able to paint, read, exercise...etc. I am just kind of numb and I would love to go to the museum and just walk around. I love the quiet, the smell, the sound of shoes against the floors of the museum. Going to the museum has always been a somewhat spiritual experience for me, it is tranquil and stimulating at the same time. I don't have to talk to anyone or do anything other then sit and look at the art. Its a whole different world. I really miss going there. The renovation will not be finished for 5 more years. I am sure that it will be incredible when it is finished, but I miss my time there. I miss seeing the incredible masterpieces in the different galleries, the Carvaggio, the Rodin, the Hopper and the Picasso room. Two weeks ago I went to the Cincinnati Museum of Art. It was very nice and had an incredible Miro but it wasn't the same. I miss my sanctuary.

On to new ventures.

How time flies! I really did mean to post something this week....well you know how it goes, anyway, the show went up, and now, its down. I will be going tonight to pick up the paintings that did not sell and the check for the paintings that did, cha-ching. What a great experience it has been. If any artist in the Cleveland area gets a chance to show a True Art Gallery, I highly recommend it. Joanie and Jim are just wonderful. Mary and I have been invited back, so there may be a part 3 to the "Shari and Mary" exhibition tour.

I'm hoping to start work for the shows in January. I must confess, I still haven't gotten my studio 100% back into shape, like I mentioned in the post only two short weeks ago, boy did I sound determined! I had every intention on getting everything organized, but, as they say, "the road to hell...." Well, today I have no choice but to finish. It is homecoming day today. That may not mean anything to most people in this small town, but for those with teenagers its everything. I will have two daughters going to the dance, so this day will be spent in a mad rush getting the house perfect as well as the hair, nail, makeup, jewelry.......hours and hours spent working, only to have them rush off , POOF, gone in a cloud of powder and perfume. As a mom, I must say, it really is fun, plus by 5:00 tonight my house will be beautiful inside and out.

The painting is "Centralia I", acrylic on canvas, 12"X48". While preparing for this past show I went to the store to get 24"x48" size canvases and found the 12"x48" on sale. I have never worked in this size and thought it would be really interesting to try. I bought two canvases, brought them home and started working right away. I don't know what it is but I felt less restricted using a non-traditional size canvas, free and spontaneous. The paintings came easy and were really fun to paint. Lesson learned: when going crazy preparing for a show, try something unfamiliar, unknown and non-traditional.

Just a quick note

Anthracite
30"x30"
Acrylic on canvas


Good news, I just got a postcard from True Art gallery for their next show, and the owner, Joanie, wrote a quick note telling me that another one of my paintings sold. I am so pleased and coincider this show a great success. Its all been very exciting. I will be visiting my daughter at college this weekend, but plan on being back in the studio on Monday.

Carpe Diem!

The LeHigh
30x30, acrylic on canvas


Things are rolling along rather smoothly, I sold another painting from the show and have two more shows to do in January. The shows are group shows so I will only be putting a few pieces into each show, but hey, its a show, and the pressure is not so intense. I rather enjoy doing large, group shows, it gives me a chance to get to know other artists in the area and to reconnect with friends that I may not have seen in a while.

I am excited to start painting again. I have not set foot into the studio since the opening on Sept. 9th. I retreat after an opening and try to reflect/enjoy what is happening. This time gives me space to analyze the work that I have done and helps to set me onto my next path. So, today will be clean up day in the studio. I would post a picture of the studio,but to tell you the honest truth, its just a wreck and I would be mortified. The last week before the show opened I started teaching and my children went back to school. Life was one, big whirlwind and my studio looks like it. But no more!! (sponges and mops in hand) today I take back my studio and start anew.

The painting posted is a piece that sold from my current show.

Mary, welcome to my world

I've been telling my friend, Mary Weimer Green, how great it has been to blog, no you don't get instant, international fame or have a meteoric rise to the level of artistic genius, but I have met some great artists that have given me insight and inspiration, and posting my paintings has allowed many friends, relatives, strangers, art stalkers, perspective buyers, bored computer geeks (yes, I sometimes fall into this catagory also), to view my work from all over the world. Also, not to mention, the thousands of dollars I am saving on advertising, marketing and therapists.

So, Mary, welcome to my world. Visit her blog, Mary Weimer Green - impressions from the matrix, view her work (which is great), and read her witty repartee.

The Opening

Everything went GREAT last night for the opening at True Art Gallery. The owners, Joanie and Jim, did an incredible job hanging the work, in fact, when I walked in the gallery I was so excited at how the artwork looked that I wasn't watching where I was going and tripped, almost falling on my face, talk about making an entrance (thank God it was before the show opened so the embarassment was kept to a minimum). The evening was phenomenal. There was a nice size crowd, good food and I sold three paintings!!!!



One of the paintings that sold was a piece that consists of 5 small 5"x7" canvases. I usually don't work small, but this summer I found these canvases for $1.oo a piece, I figured I would play around with them in the studio and see what happens. I ended up with 3 pieces for the show. I dropped off all my work on Tuesday and explained how I would like small canvases displayed, well Jim had taken the paintings and put them on a beautiful wood backing, you can see one of them hanging on the back wall in the photo. I was thrilled with how nice they looked.

Mary's work was wonderful. I love the new new direction she is going in with her latest pieces, I can't wait to see more. We had such a good night, Ahhhh all that work and anxiety really paid off.

The countdown begins 3, 2, 1 ...........

I am in the process of putting the final touches on my paintings, varnishing, framing .... I have 2 paintings that I am not 100% happy with, so I will probably be doing some reworking over the weekend, I think. I hesitate to start because the paintings are not bad, I'm 90% satisfied, and whenever I rework one area of a painting I tend to rework the entire painting, also I tend to overpaint in these situations. My fear is that I will really mess it up and run out of time and not have the paintings ready for the show. I have to deliver them on Tuesday. So, I have been "living" with these paintings in my living room hoping that I can look at them long enough to find out EXACTLY what they need, also in hopes of saving myself from endless hours of doing and redoing and redoing and redoing.

I will also be photographing the paintings this weekend, in between going to the Great Geauga County Fair, getting everything ready for school, and trying to instill some obedience into the newest member of our family, Jasper (named after Jasper Johns, one of my favorite artists).He is a dalmation/hound mix that we got from the pound. He is housebroken (thank God!!) and can play a mean game of fetch, but he has chewed up 2 stuffed animals and both of his leashes and he thinks that my white couch is his personal resting area. I know he will be a great addition to the family, but we have some work to do.

Summer's over

Haven't had a lot of time in the studio since Saturday. We had to pack up my oldest daughter for her second year at college. What an undertaking, why did I think that it would be easier the second time around. We still had the mad rush to Wal-mart for those little things that we forgot to get, even though we have had lists going for weeks now. Anyway, I am so glad that she is at a school that she really likes and is inspired to excel this year. She's a smart cookie and has a bright future ahead of her, as a parent, its really exciting to watch. Of course the leaving was emotional, and the 5 hour drive home seemed to take forever, but I am secure with the fact that she is where she is suppose to be, so I am missing her but not sad, which is good.

Her 2 sisters started high school today. They were up at the crack of dawn to do their hair, make up and make sure that they had the right outfit on. It was fun to watch. I know that they will be exhausted when they get home, so to give them a boost I will make the proverbial chocolate chip cookies, something that I have not been able to do for the past 5 years since I usually start teaching the same day they start school. Since I don't even start meetings for another week I will have time do a little baking and finish the last of the paintings for my show.

I am excited for my show and the new school year. Its like a brand new start for the whole family, there is an energy around the house that is refreshing and exhilarating.

MINE: images of descent, again

Yesterday I made many attempts at publishing the information about my upcoming show, but had major technical difficulties. So this is basically a contiuation of the previous entry.

The title of my show is:
MINE: images of descent
new works by Shari Jamieson and Mary Weimer Green
September 9 - October 1, 2006
True Art Gallery
410 East 156th
Cleveland, Ohio 44110
Opening reception is Sept. 9th 6:00-10:00

All are welcome, it should be a really good time. The owners, Joanie and Jim, are great and I know we will have a wonderful opening.

I am really happy with the way this series of work has been coming out. For this show Mary Green and I decided to focus on a word that has many meanings and connotations and then create work from our interpretations. The word that we chose was MINE. Mary's work reflects her spirituality. She took the word as a challenge to what is it that she truly owns? what can she really call "mine"? She realized that it is only her beliefs, her faith, that she can control, she can call her own.



The above print is one of Mary's from 2003. I am really looking forward to seeing her new work. We are good friends and have shown our work together before at the Boot Gallery in Little Italy. We had a great show then, and an incredible opening. Its going to be great to do it again.

For my work I chose to focus on the literal meaning of the word MINE. My mother grew up in a Port Carbon, a small coal mining town in Pennsylvania. As a child my family visited there at least once a year, and I visited regularly once I was on my own. I always enjoyed the visits, seeing my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. I have a lot of family in that area. Two years ago my grandmother passed away and on a summer visit the family had to clean out my grandparents house to sell it. We spent one last night in the living room, going through boxes of pictures and wearing my Mam's hats. It was hard to let go, it was the house that we gathered in for so many years. It seemed to be the anchor for my family. It was from this experience that I drew my inspiration for my work. I asked myself, how did mining effect the towns that grew up around them, like Port Carbon? How did mining effect the people that lived in these towns, like my grandparents, and their descendants, me? These coal mines that seem so distant from my everyday life have had an impact on who I am. This is where my inspiration began.

Mine: images of descent

untitled, acrylic on canvas, 24x48

I have only 4 canvases to finish and I am completely ready for my show.

Riding High

I've been pretty busy lately figuring some things out. One is why did this birthday, and not any others, get to me? Well, I realized that for the past 10 years I have been extremely busy, raising the 5 kids, the divorce, going back to school and getting my degree, starting my artistic career, starting teaching, going back to school again......Every other birthday I've had has been so busy that I didn't feel as though I was aging, just improving. So, with this in mind I decided that the reason I was feeling so bad is because I haven't been improving my life, just running around in circles.

This summer has been hectic with sports, music lessons, taking kids back and forth to work. The only time that I have had for myself is in the studio, and even there is has been stressful trying to get ready for my show in September. Don't get me wrong, I am fortunate to have a studio space in my home, and I love the work and I love being home with my children, its just painting and running the kids around is all I have been doing. A change was much needed so...

My 14 year old asked me if she could start biking. She is my only child that has not been involved with sports, so I though this is a great idea for her to get her active. Five years ago, my sister and I took a biking tour around the Umbrian region of Italy. I loved every minute of it and wanted to start biking when I got home. Well, life got busy and I never followed up on that interest, until now.



This is a picture of the bicycle that I bought for myself and my daughter (no we haven't gotten any spandex shorts). We have been biking and having a great time. We have started out on the biking trails of our local park district, less chance of being seen by anyone until we really know what we are doing, and can pull off wearing those shorts. Its been great, not to many sore muscles and some good conversations with my daughter. Since she is starting high school in a couple of weeks we made a deal, she keeps her grades up and for graduation we could bike around Italy. I even went out and got some language cd's and have been trying to learn Italian on my drives back and forth from picking up and dropping off. So now when things are getting crazy, my daughter and I hop on our bikes and ride away, arrivederci!!!

Officially Old

Inclination part 1,
acylic on canvas,
5x7

Today is my birthday. I never really let birthdays get to me before but for some reason this one has hit me, 45. Usually its the 40th birthday that people dread, but when I was 40 my youngest was only 4 and it didn't bother me at all.

The kids have a nice day for me planned. Today I get to do what ever I want and they clean up and make the meals and tonight a family celebration. So, I probably will be in the studio painting and then relaxing, reading a book on the back deck, a hike in the woods is likely if the tempratures don't get high, a great day, I am very fortunate. I just wish my head wasn't saying, "your officially old now". I guess its time to set some goals for myself and get over this self indugent funk, maybe I'll try to run a marathon!

My Information

the shift,
acrylic on canvas,
18x24

My daughter arrived home safely from her Florida vacation looking like a tanned goddess and sharing stories of her adventures. She will be leaving in 3 weeks to go back to college and I was so glad the she was able to take some time off of work to relax and enjoy herself.

This summer is going by so fast, before I know it my show will be up. I just got an email from the gallery owner asking for information and photos of my work so that they can start sending out postcards and press releases. I still have about 5 more paintings to finish and I am pleased with how the work is going. The show is titled Mine: images of descent. It was tricky trying to come up with a title that encapsulated the essence of both mine and Mary's work. She is a printmaker whose recent work is all about identity. I have chosen to work totally non-objective, but have gotten my inspiration from photos of old coal mines. The painting that is posted is for the show.

Tanned Camera

I want to post pics of my new work. Things have been going great in the studio. I have 4 complete paintings and 3 in the works and I have been sketching out new ideas. My plans were to photograph my paintings and then get them ready for the show. Well, after searching high and low for the camera, going through my "I know I just had it the other day where could it have gone to" moment, I called my daughter. She is with friends vacationing in Florida (thank God for cell phones or I would have spent my day in a tizzy). She didn't think I would mind if she took the camera, AAHHH. I have visions of the camera laying on the beach getting sand all over it and kids with tanned bodies leaping to catch a frisbee, only to land on the camera. Maybe I am over reacting, OK, I am over reacting. She's a good kid, she took my camera to France last year (after giving her the manditory 1 hour lecture on camera care and maintenance, of course) and the camera came back fine. I just get frustrated when my day get rearranged, which is often, no, in fact, its the norm. I just keep waking up thinking that today is the day that all will go as planned. After 19 years of having children around you would think that I would learn.

It's a Scorcher!!!

Well today is suppose to be 90+ degrees. Its on days like this that I just wilt. Unfortunately this is only the first of 7 straight days of this type of weather. Watching the TV this morning, the only relief in sight is the chance that it may fall into the high 80's next Friday, ugh! I guess we will just try to make the best of it. I live in a very small home 980sq. ft. so it doesn't take long to cool off, if I start early, before the sun has been pounding down for hours. I have a one room air conditioner that is in the playroom/studio and then I put a fan facing out of that room into the kitchen and living room. If I keep the fans going and the windows closed it keeps the house about 80 degrees, and it helps cut the humidity (if the kids keep the front door shut).

I am trying to get more painting done before all the kids get up, a never ending stuggle between housework and artwork. We got in late last night, so I am letting them sleep in. We went to the Lake County Captians baseball game and then out for a bite. I highly recommend seeing a minor league team play. The stadium is much smaller, ticket prices are very reasonable, every seat seemed like a good one, and no lines in the bathrooms!! These young players were a joy to watch, even though our team lost, it was extremely entertaining.

New Work

Untitled
Acrylic on Canvas
18"x24"

I have finished 3 paintings and just started 2 more, thouroughly enjoying each one. Ed Makevich has written an excellent post on letting go of the idea of perfection and allowing oneself the freedom of growing through the process, definately worth reading.

Here I go again, and again, and again

What can I say, I changed my mind, yet again. I got three paintings into what I thought would be a series and lost interest. Not just lost interest, but went totally blank, disengaged, zoned out! I got to wrapped up in adding realistic elements to abstract ideas (an idea that has worked for many artists, but not me).

So, here I go again. I sat down with a scrap book that I had made in college, this old book inspires me. I made it when I was trying to figure out what direction I wanted to go with my work. A very wise and extremely talented professor told me to go through a huge stack of art magazines and pull out the paintings that I liked, then divide them into sections, portraits, still lifes, abstracts......the thickest section, by far, was the non-objective section. My book was filled with paintings by Rothko, Frankenthaler, Pollack...etc. What I had found out is that I love non-objective paintings, I love to look at them, I love to make them and, no matter what, it is the type of art the feeds my soul. So this is where I will happily be spending the rest of my summer studio time.

Started working on the paintings for my new series, here is the beginning of one. I still have a few things to work out but am excited at where I am going. I always try to leave somethings up to "fate" because that is where the wonderful, suprises come from. I find that if I over analyze the process and have every detail thought through then I don't have anyroom for the free flow of other concepts to engage, my mind shuts down to other options. So here is to keeping my eyes open and my mind free.

Taking a Break

Just taking a second to check my email and read some blogs. Things are really going well in the studio. I'm at the point where I am sketching out my ideas and, so far, everything is in line with what I envisioned. I love the way the colors are coming together, my heart is pumpin' and I can't help but smile..... ridin' this wave as far as it'll take me!

sz: S - M - L

X Change
acrylic on paper
3 1/2" x 5 1/2"

Everything went well at the gallery, a lot of great wall space. My opening will be on September 9th. I have been working larger then I have in a couple of years. The piece that I have up today was from a series of work that I did for a show in November, space was limited so most of my pieces were small, no larger then 10" x 12". I had some sales but for this show I wanted to go big. There is a whole different energy when you work on a large canvas.

Finding Time

X-it
mixed media
28x48

Today I am supposed to go to a gallery to sign a contract for a show to open at the end of August. I am doing the show with a close friend and we are meeting at the gallery to check out the space, sign the papers, and grab some dinner. We had a show together a couple of years ago and it was a wonderful experience. She is a printmaker and our work really compliments each others. I'll be posting new work as it is produced. My fear is that I will not have as much new work as I would like to. Since school ended on June 8th I swore I would spend at least 3 hours a day in the studio. Well... it was a great idea in concept but in reality life is not cooperating, there is baseball, softball, part-time jobs.....etc. and the grass won't stop growing! Don't get me wrong, I love summer and enjoy doing for my family, its that I need to find that magical balance between taking care of the family and spending time in the studio. It has been very helpful and inspiring reading other blogs of artists who are dealing with the same issues. I think that the answer might be in a little less sleep and a lot more caffeine. Things are quiet now so I better stike while the iron is hot... off to the studio.

New Beginnings

Unknown Suspects
Mixed Media
18x24

Hi, who ever may be out there. I figured I would start this blog as a way of pushing myself toward continual growth, seeing your work on a computer screen gives it a whole new perspective, and also to connect with a larger community of artists and those interested in art. So here goes....

This painting is near and dear to my heart. It was painted after a visit to NYC just 5 days after 9/11. It also was during the creation of this painting that I fell in love with the ever unfolding process of creating a non-objective work. Since then I have been working in this manner and have not looked back. Starting this blog is a new beginning for me and I thought it would be appropriate to share with everyone the piece that started my passion for abstract and non-objective work. Also, its getting close to the 4th of July and with the red, white and blue palette I couldn't resist.