Traveling: Eating New Orleans

I don't have my cables to connect my camera and upload images- but I must share my appreciation for the neighborhood around my son's new school. He registers today at Loyola. Loyola sits on St Charles Avenue, which is an oak-canopied road with trolley tracks running down the middle. Across the street from the campus is the Audobon park... (and a zoo?) St Charles Avenue is lined with everything from beautiful mansions, elaborate church complexes, taverns and shotgun houses with lively front porches. Everybody is so nice and conversational... from the trolley captain to the hotel desk clerk, to the people at the next table at the restaurant. For dinner last night I had Catfish LaFitte... an oral sensation to die for! Incredible! Kent and I walked half way back to the hotel before catching a trolley car, and we just enjoyed the perfume of blossoms in the air, the hum of insects, the glimpses of the crescent moon through the oak branches, the greetings of other pedestrians, and the architectural beauty of the houses we passed. We are a long way from home, but I feel this is a good place for Kent right now.
If I could have done one painting for my daily painting yesterday, it would have been my thick white china dinner plate... the ochre-orange crusted cat fish drenched in a pale white lumpy sauce garnished with tiny burnt orange deep-fried shrimp, resting on a bed of swirling yellow mashed potatoes and, perched precariously on the upper right edge, a side bowl of dancing black beans garnished with speckled dashes of rice grains and green rings of scallions. The plate would be floating in a dark blue-black sky with oak branches lined in silver and giant velvety white and yellow magnolia blossoms and, of course, a glimpse of the moon through an indigo window of branches. I would paint all this on the airplane ticket and campus map. I would ignore the urge to dwell on my sons eyelashes, his restless legs, his adams apple full of nerves.

Max's birthday

Looking around the house for signs of Max growing up... I found a drawing of him at 7 months old in the laundry room, a portrait of him between his dad and brother over my bed, a painting of him and me on the TV cabinet, and, in the kitchen, this month's calendar page showing him at 13 years old with the dog....

FRAMED prints of original paintings

Here are a couple of my paintings as PRINTS. You can find and order them through Fineartamerica.com
These two samples range from $56 to $79 dollars! What a bargain.

Studio Gift certificates

gift amounts

musing $25.00 shopping $50.00 investing $100.00

Walking on air flag workshops

Walking on Air is a community artists project and collaboration to celebrate the grand opening of The Walkway over the Hudson, a Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial signature event on October 3rd, 2009. The old railroad bridge is transformed into the highest pedestrian walkway in the country. As part of the NY State Parks system, it will connect more than 27 miles of rail trails and river front parks. Fifty towns in Ulster and Dutchess county will be represented, with an emblem and their own 25 processional flags, during the opening ceremony.
HERE IS WHAT I NEED----YOU TO BE INVOLVED!
If you are from Millerton, Amenia, or Northeast and have ideas that might improve the outcome of the project, please feel free to contact me tillystudio@aol.com I’d love to hear from you! The more community involvement, the better the outcome.

The first workshop will be held for anyone at the Indian Rock School pavilion on
Sunday July 12, 1-3:30 pm. That is on Mygatt road, Amenia, The next two workshops will be July 22& 23rd. It will be an all day volunteer drop-in from 10-1pm or from 3-6pm at Tilly’s Studio at the Mansard house on route 22 in Amenia.
The studio is located with the CPA, between the M&T bank and the Presbyterian church.
An August date will be set for workshops hosted at the NECC in Millerton.
RSVP and contact Tilly with your preferred dates.
Deadline for flags is mid September.
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Meanwhile I am off on a trip. Not walking on the airplane wings like you may have thought!

Teenagers needed to express themselves

Do you have a teenager at home or nearby who could use a new form of speaking their mind? Art is a wonderful and harmless way to get personal messages across. Teenagers are the last bastion of honest visionaries... they see through hypocrisy and live in the conflicted time zone between child-like simplicity and adult compromise.
I love working with kids and giving them tools and time honored techniques to finesse their creative voices. In my workshop "Express Yourself" through the Barrett Art Center I will be helping kids look into themselves and discover who they are. We won't be looking long in glass mirrors. Instead we will be looking at ourselves through a variety of ways such as palmistry, and astrology, and Phrenology. The workshop runs in August one weekend- Saturday and Sunday August 15, 16, from 11-3pm at the Merritt Bookstore in Millbrook.
I am also teaching an introduction to the daily Painting exercise- which meets at the same place August 10-12, 10-2pm Email me or click on the links to sign up for the class.
ALSO... in July:
I am honored to be working with 11-14 year olds at the Mill Street Loft's Jr Art Institute in Poughkeepsie this summer. It's an intensive drawing and painting week long program. I will take your child and, with a variety of materials, guide them through processes to strengthen their personal art portfolio.

Half A month of Sundaes and window

Well- some of those ice cream paintings from my Month of Sundaes series are on display at the Merritt bookstore in Millbrook. Tomorrow at 4pm we will have a bunch of food and drinks and I will be glad to talk to you about my daily painting strategies and how you can become a daily painter too! The show is to promote the summer workshop offerings. I will be hosting two workshops in August- one for teenagers (starts late in the day so they can sleep in), and one for all ages.
My work is to the left of the picture. Michael Gellatly who teaches an oil painting workshop, has work hanging to the right. ndp

Two Canoes

While celebrating 22 years married, this painting took me a few days to really attack. 9 x 9 inches paint and headline on panel. This is more than just "two canoes". It is the metaphor used by my husband to describe a perfect marriage- we would float down the rivers of Life side by side, neither leaning or dragging the other one with them. I must confess that there were times that I felt MY canoe had all the kids, their grandpa, the pets, and... and was loaded to near collapse. And his canoe looked roomy as ever! Other times I've watched with flimsy detachment as his canoe foundered in a whirlpool of disaster. I am not sure today if these canoes are grounded or about to be swamped by the next incoming wave. But it doesn't feel good.

Pool Table Pause

6 x 6 inches, acrylic paint and headlines.

I got a bite from an LA gallery- the infusion gallery. But as I read the contract they want me to pay them a fee- about the price of one painting- to be part of their stable for a year. I was excited, then dissappointed, and now- my usual confusion and exhaustion sets in. I think I'll have to contact some of their other artists and see if it has worked for them.
Yesterday I had a pre- summer intensive faculty meeting for the Mill Street Loft. I will be teaching drawing and painting for the jr art institute this summer and it is going to be both challenging and fun.
Today I will take a pause and my son to the shore...
If anyone has heard of the Infusion gallery in LA, CA- good or bad- please let me know. Thanks.

Initiating an escape plan

Cerebral weather... is there such a thing? It's like those times where you can't seem to get a clear handle on your swirling thoughts and bring them to the surface. It's safe to say that I have used a variety of escape routes to circumvent claiming my stake of an uncomfortable situation.
5 x 5 inches panel with professional quality acrylic paint and collage text from the Los Angeles Times.
This is me at about 19 years old.
Today I feel that feeling again. My suitcase has to be bigger. How do you, by the way, fit a 14 year old son?

Daily Painters Birthday Book Give-away

I want to pass on an interesting book created by the artists (me included) behind the successful daily painters movement on the web. It's such fun to see and read about the varied styles, backgrounds and sources of inspiration. My hope is to spread some knowledge about the website www.dailypainters.com and make you look! If this is your birthday month, all you have to do is leave a comment and let me know you would like this book as a gift from me to you. Be the first- I only have one copy that I am willing to part with. Stay inspired!
-Tilly

Money scares, Party dares

6 x 6 and it's all in my head.
This is another one of my birthday memories, but the text has a twist to it that I just couldn't resist. These are, and will be, challenging times for many of us. If we put too much emphasis on money we will surely live in terror. Now is the time to look towards friends, family, loved ones, even pets, for encouragement and peace of heart. There ARE gifts at the edges. Things COULD be worse.

Thank goodness for girlfriends

About 5 x 7 inches, acrylic and collage on wood panel.
The source is a surprise party thrown for my 12th birthday...I hadn't known any of these girls for long, and I am still amazed that they cared enough to do that for me. I had almost forgotten about it. Funny how we remember the traumatic things that happen to us (most of the time) and yet we often completely forget the wonderful expressions of support we have been given.
Today the image is pertinent to me because I know have been leaning on my girlfriends- some of whom I haven't known for a long time. And some, whom I have known longer, have traveled long distances just to say hi and remind me of good times. I feel fortunate that my sisters and my girlfriends are there for me to call upon when I am scared and they will keep me from totally ruining my life. No small request. They have done it before and will do it again. This is my "holding pattern".

Questions for man, child, chicken

9 X 9 INCHES. This painting has been left a little bit more abstract than I intended. The source of inspiration was from a photo taken by me when I was about 32 years old. Here was my life. While I was working on it- and as I reached for the random headline to use with it, I found myself feeling a bit undone. "Gaze into the future". Who is looking- the man- the hen- the photographer? There is poetry in the answer.

I could call this, as I have other paintings  of mine, "Looking forward and looking back". 

Are we where we are supposed to be? I struggle with that question almost every day. Answers come to me and then things change and everything shifts. Why are we given an ability to ponder and wonder? Why can't we be like ants struggling for the cluster until randomly, and blindly, crushed underfoot by a giant being from a parallel universe?  Maybe we are like ants! I ask for some faith, stare at old photos, paint for hours and meanwhile, is that Life that passes me by?

The Graduate

Another milestone
They appear almost every minute these days!

6 x 6 inches

Divine Twist, or Blonde Woman in Denial with Headline

9 x 9 inches, acrylic paint and headline on wood panel.
I really like this one. It has, through the process of becoming a reality, shown me several layers of meaning. The idea started out as a piece to commemorate a year 9 years ago when a relative had to move in with us for over 6 months due to their addiction consequences. I thought it was a horrible thing and my art turned to dark ransom notes and dreadful valentines. But time passed and we all learned so much and, incredibly, looking back I see it was a profound gift to me and my sons. And now- when the chips are down this relative, who is healthy and stronger than ever, is there for me. Divine twists. THAT should be the name.

I am rethinking this idea of selling the individual works for teeny ($48) sums, as a birthday gift... I sort of like these paintings and think the project as a whole might have more value than the individual parts. (nothing is selling anyway- so they might as well be $100 each). I am going to order some prints through my Fine art America account and see how the quality is. Maybe prints can still be priced less, but the whole original collection... now 31... might have to be hung together as one work.

Today I spent the day in training for my role as a town, village, and hamlet representative in a two county wide event this fall. There is to be in October a huge celebration opening an "air" park above the Hudson river in conjunction with the Henry Hudson Fulton Quadrecentenial. As in the past artists have celebrated the river, they are now being called upon to celebrate and "harvest" the grass roots energy of their home towns and direct the community connection on a personal and in a processional way. I have been honored to be chosen to represent Millerton, Amenia and Northeast! this means I must make three individual and unique emblems for the towns as well as host a series of workshops to create 75 cloth flags. The woman behind this celebration plan is an amazing lady named Jeanne Fleming. She directs and creates celebrations for families or for millions such as the Statue of Liberty unveiling, or the annual Greenwich Village halloween parade... She seems awesome and very spiritually connected to the river. What is wild about this project is that it won't be a parade with an audience... it will be a performance with 3500 people taking part! More about this later...

Fortune Cookie Birthday Message

6x 6 inches, paint and headlines on wood panel.

Thirty years ago I celebrated my birthday by cooking an elaborate Chinese meal for a dozen of my friends. I had just finished a cooking course and was the proud recipient of a pair of knives, which I still own today! It was one of my best birthdays. I love the feeling you get when the focus is to give to others.  This year I am not as excited a culinary master, and all I have to offer are my paintings. Soon I will be sending out my "collectors choice birthday offering" newsletter. Give me your email if you want to subscribe to my newsletter.

My youngest graduates out of 8th grade and his school today. I have another meeting with a marriage counselor, dinner (and whine) with one of my sisters. It's a day of changes, pragmatism, courage and divine guidance...

Meanwhile I hope everybody has a fantastic day.

Painting fanatic for birthday

Here are a couple images- of the two paintings I did today and one of the floor in my studio where I am laying out the years... 28 done and only 20 to go....
I think I am, with these two paintings- a "Landscape for the Soul", 6 x 6 inches (SOLD) and "Under the Canon", 9 x 9 inches- finished with the first 10 years of my life... they were gloriously blessed with a richness of soul, magic, a lot of travel, and exposure. A turning point came at about age 10 when my parents split, and we moved to Florida to be near my aunt and cousins. I was angry, confused, and a bit fearful. These last two paintings have to reflect an idyll landscape and the impending feeling of doom that came over the me for a year, briefly.

Beautiful Memories

9 x 9 inches. paint and collage on panel

My earliest happy memories were the mornings in Haiti. Before my eyes even opened I heard the sound of the roosters crowing, the ladies coming down from the mountain sides calling out in song the wares on their heads, and, closer to me, the hum of tropical insects. The woman who took care of me was named Tili and she loved me. When she was around there was sure to be laughter and hugs and treats. My parents and my sisters and I were incredibly blessed with good people. The headline I found for this image seemed different and perfect.

Girl and her dog (best friend)

6 x 6 inches paint and paper collage.
This was my dog Hunter and me in Colorado.
He was like my child before children. I lost him in the break up with my first boyfriend.
Probably too much information...
Could be anyone! Could be any dog!
Look how the dog reaches out to the girl. Such shocking tenderness...