50th Year as an Artist, 1977-1980

1977 and 1980 were landmark years in my life when I gave birth to my two children. Of course, this enhanced my experience as an artist. This post is timed to celebrate Mother’s Day today. Both of my children were born at home with midwife assistance. The first born, in a remote mountain cabin far from hospitals. Without running water (we had walking water), telephone or electricity. We did have a first of it’s kind solar composting outhouse, luxury.

The second born, in an embassy neighborhood of Washington. We had all the amenities there. However the midwives had an impossible task of parking at 2 am, so they just double parked, ran up the stairwell to find the apartment door open, in case we “couldn’t get to the door.” Second time easier, faster…

Of all my accomplishments, of this I am most proud. That and how well they have grown up.

I notice a couple of things from this view of my studio, that have traveled with me through time with me. I still have the rocking chair that soothed the wee babes. The coca-cola box is like a shrine perfect to store small things. The marbled, colored pencil drawing collage was featured in the the 1971-1973 post. The tiny drawing in the swivel easel on the workbench is a talisman still on my studio shelf. Behind that is the ever-present color chart.

In this period I was still drawing a lot, but also composed many mixed media pieces that combined drawing and magazine scraps. I didn’t have much time, so using found images sped the creative process along.

My focus was shifted towards documenting the babies’ progress in hand made books. This must have been when I commenced to use different colored pencils and pens to mark the change in date or subject. Often my drawings were of or by them.

Also my favorite thing was to make their toys; animals, puppets, pinatas, dolls, games, and costumes. Grand fun!

When I look at the drawing below I think I could have done this recently, same theme coming through of paths, roads, travel, big sky.

Moving to Washington from Boulder was a big deal, just as moving TO Boulder was. The best part was that we were close to my family. This is a sketch of my ever trusty easel that I inherited from my grandfather, who was my first teacher. I wanted to be like him in every way.

One of the most important occasions in my life as an artist was to be one of the first visitors to the Joseph Cornell Study Center at the Smithsonian. The curator, Linda Hartigan showed me his folders of ephemera as he had them arranged in his studio. He has been an enduring muse through my life.

While in Washington I attended evening oil painting classes with Bill Newman at the Corcoran School of Art. I needed a jump start to get back into oil painting, and couldn’t paint in our small apartment. Bill initiated me into the “nit pickers club”, that is the technique of laying glazes of transparent color over imprimatura (monochromatic under-paintings). Not having a degree, it was an honor that he asked be to be his teaching assistant, thereby also helping me with tuition.

 

 

 

Water was a prominent element, which was reflective of the emotional nature of pregnancy, birth and child rearing.

And maybe painting water was prophetic also because the second babe is a water sign. Here, I had imagined him as a dolphin in the womb room, being loved by his sister.

At this time I became appreciative of Mozart, and was commissioned to paint this oil from a sketch of him. Too bad about the glare from the varnish on the image below.

We loved visiting the ocean as much as possible. I would memorize how a scene looked and paint it at home later. For some reason I have never liked hauling art materials around when traveling. I’m the opposite of a plein air painter, preferring to paint from imagination.