It’s been a little while since I have posted an update on the progress of the Pismo Series… and the reason for that is, quite frankly, since my return from my artist retreat in August, there really hasn’t been much progress.

I have experienced several health issues over the past couple of months that have prevented me from spending time in the studio… which, as you can imagine, has been a real issue for me.

I am happy to say, that there has – at last – been enough improvement in regards to my health that I have finally been able to start spending time in my studio again.

For the past two weeks, I have been able to start spending gradually increased time in the studio, first by determining which letters have been completed: A, C, L, R, T (final touches were completed on 10/31/2019) and V.

Of the Pismo pictures I have started during my vacation at Harveys Lake and the Artist retreat this summer, I have decided to re-do most of them. So I can honestly say that only my re-do of Pismo 5 (E) will continue to be worked on, which leaves 19 Pismo Series pictures to prep and complete.

So, at the end of last week, I started prepping enough paper to complete the series. The paper comes in a 30×22 sheet and it needs to be trimmed down to 20×20. Then I penciled in the borders and added the letters. Once all 19 pieces were completed, I spent the last couple of days inking the letters and filling in the borders (Basil was so happy that I am able to work in the studio once again):

 

I have a couple of ideas on how to solve the design problems that I have been experiencing over the past year and am hoping that this new inspiration is the answer that I have been looking for and that from this point, the project will be not only back on track, but progresses much more smoother going forward. Just because I have not been able to work in the studio, it doesn’t mean that any internal work on the project has stalled 🙂

For the rest of this week, I will be experimenting with these new ideas and am hoping that I will have more to share soon!

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

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The sixth artist that will be highlighted is: ALICE NEEL:

According to her Wikipedia page: Alice Neel(January 28, 1900 – October 13, 1984) was an American visual artist, who was known for her portraits depicting friends, family, lovers, poets, artists, and strangers. Her paintings have an expressionistic use of line and color, psychological acumen, and emotional intensity. Neel was called “one of the greatest portrait artists of the 20th century” by Barry Walker, curator of modern and contemporary art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

To learn more about Alice, please check out the rest of her Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Neel

You can also explore Alice’s website at: http://www.aliceneel.com/home

There is a documentary film of Alice that you can check out:

 

 

There is also a biography of Alice: “Alice Neel: The Art of Not Sitting Pretty” (2010) by Phoebe Hoban.

 

 

 

 

Please check out some of Alice’s work below: 

 

 

Please check out the White Rooster Studio Facebook page during the month of November for more photos of Alice and images of her work.

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
• You can also follow White Rooster Studio by using the direct links from the blog’s headers. For FB, please click on the FB button, and if you click on VIDA COLLECTION or ETSY SHOP you will be directed to those sites immediately.
• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

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Copyright @2019 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.

 

 

 

 

As we are coming to the end of the leaf-peeping season, we decided to take advantage of the bright sunshine yesterday and take Basil to Miller State Park in Peterborough, NH and check out the view from the summit.

We had taken Basil to the park during the summer, but he had never been leaf-peeping, so he was excited to see all the colors:

The colors were a little muted the higher we traveled up the auto-road, but there was still enough color to make the trip worth it. The park was VERY busy and we were worried that there wouldn’t be any parking spots left at the summit, but we were extremely lucky and found a spot with this amazing view:

Basil was keen on visiting the Raptor Observatory again – he really wanted to see an eagle… but, we had just missed the bald-eagle sighting earlier that morning 😦 We did have a chance to see some ravens, so maybe next time we will have better luck.

Basil loved the pops of red color still on the bushes:

And we lingered a bit to enjoy the views from the Raptor Observatory:

Basil loved just sitting on the warm rocks, listening to the team stationed at the observatory talk about their job recording the bird sightings and tracking their migration:

The raptor team will be at the park until November, so if you are interested in checking out the summit – and, hopefully, seeing about some amazing birds – they are more than happy to answer your questions and give you some viewing tips.

Looking forward to the next adventure!

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
• You can also follow White Rooster Studio by using the direct links from the blog’s headers. For FB, please click on the FB button, and if you click on VIDA COLLECTION or ETSY SHOP you will be directed to those sites immediately.
• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

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The fifth artist that will be highlighted is: LEE KRASNER:

According to her Wikipedia page: “Lenore “Lee” Krasner (October 27, 1908 – June 19, 1984) was an American abstract expressionist painter, with a strong specialty in collage, who was married to Jackson Pollock. This somewhat overshadowed her contribution at the time, though there was much cross-pollination between their two styles.”

To learn more about Lee, please check out the rest of her Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Krasner

Lee’s story is closely entwined with Jackson Pollock’s, so quite a lot of information about her… also includes Pollock. It would be remiss to neglect to mention their bond and the influence that they had on each other and their work:

The home that Lee and Jackson shared in Springs, NY  is now known as the  Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center and is open to tour and for exhibitions:

You can also check out the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, whose mission is: “providing financial assistance to individual visual artists of established ability through the generosity of the late Lee Krasner, one of the leading abstract expressionist painters and the widow of Jackson Pollock.” For more information about their work and applying for grants, please visit: http://pkf.org/

You are all probably tired of me mentioning “Ninth Street Women”, but I hope you will check it out. Lee is featured prominently and gets the recognition I feel that she deserves. Please also check out her biography:

 

Most of us are familiar with the Ed Harris film “Pollock” and if you haven’t seen it lately, it is worth another viewing:

I know that the film is primarily about Pollock, but you can’t have Pollock and his breakthrough without Lee.

 

Samples of Lee’s mosaic tables:

Please check out the White Rooster Studio Facebook page during the month of October for more photos of Lee and images of her work.

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
• You can also follow White Rooster Studio by using the direct links from the blog’s headers. For FB, please click on the FB button, and if you click on VIDA COLLECTION or ETSY SHOP you will be directed to those sites immediately.
• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

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Last Friday we traveled to the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA to see the Renoir and Ida O’Keeffe exhibits on view. It was Basil’s first visit to the Clark and he couldn’t wait to check it all out!

First stop at the Clark was “Renoir: The Body, The Senses” – this exhibit will be on view until September 22nd, so if you are in the area and would love to view the show you still have couple of more days. I loved seeing the evolution of Renoir’s exploration of the human body over the course of his career and the opportunity to view some of his pictures that I had only seen reproductions of was amazing. Being able to get up close and actually see the brushstrokes and how the picture was constructed aided my understanding of Renoir’s work.

Please check out some of the image highlights at https://www.clarkart.edu/Mini-Sites/Renoir/Image-Gallery. The Clark’s website also has a lot of great information to check out in addition to the images, so if you have some time, please check out the additional links.

Of course I couldn’t resist walking past the reduced book table at the gift shop, so it really wasn’t any surprise that I walked out with a couple of new books:

And, of course, the “Renoir’s Dancer” book proved too “shiny” to resist… so much so, that I put the Isamu Noguchi biography I had been reading aside to start it, and now I can’t put it down!

Next stop was “Ida O’Keeffe: Escaping Georgia’s Shadow”… I only wish that there were more of Ida’s work on view as I completely feel in love with her Highland Lighthouse Series: https://www.clarkart.edu/Mini-Sites/Ida-O-Keeffe/Image-Gallery

Unfortunately, there is not a lot of information online about Ida, just a short Wikipedia entry, no written biography, just a tiny catalog of the exhibition (see left):

I certainly hope that Ida will receive more recognition soon and that someone writes a biography so we learn more about her and her work.

Before leaving the Clark, we sat in the sun and enjoyed the view at the water installation:

We then headed into North Adams in search of sandwiches so we could enjoy our lunch at the Natural Bridge State Park:

After touring the state park, we headed back east along Route 2 and stopped at an overlook so Basil can check out the valley:

We’ll be keeping a eye out for upcoming exhibits at the Clark and are looking forward to our next adventure!

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
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• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

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Copyright @2019 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.

The fourth artist that will be highlighted is: SARI DIENES:

I will admit, when I began this project, I had no idea who Sari Dienes was… but anyone who looks this happy and confident is someone I want to learn more about!

 Honestly, it is a complete shame that more people aren’t aware of her and her work.

According to her Wikipedia page: “Sari Dienes (8 October 1898 – 25 May 1992) was a Hungarian-born American artist. During a career spanning six decades she worked in a wide range of media, creating paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, ceramics, textile designs, sets and costumes for theatre and dance, sound-art installations, mixed-media environments, music and performance art. Her large-scale ‘Sidewalk Rubbings’ of 1953–55 – bold, graphic, geometrical compositions, combining rubbings of manhole covers, subway gratings and other elements of the urban streetscape – signaled a move away from the gestural mark making of Abstract Expressionism towards the indexical appropriation of the environment that would be further developed in Pop art, and exerted a significant influence on Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns.”

To read more about Sari, please check out her Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sari_Dienes

You can also learn more about Sari at the Sari Dienes Foundation: http://saridienes.org and at The Drawing Center: http://www.drawingcenter.org/en/drawingcenter/5/exhibitions/9/upcoming/811/sari-dienes

Unfortunately, I was unable to locate a biography for Sari, but I did locate this video of Sari creating one of her snow paintings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6CEU2WASWc

Here are some images of Sari at work:

I won’t pretend that I am not disappointed about the lack of information about Sari… but this only makes me more determined than ever to make sure these artists are not forgotten and that their work is still being shown.

Please check out the White Rooster Studio Facebook page during the month of September for more photos of Sari and images of her work.

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
• You can also follow White Rooster Studio by using the direct links from the blog’s headers. For FB, please click on the FB button, and if you click on VIDA COLLECTION or ETSY SHOP you will be directed to those sites immediately.
• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

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Copyright @2019 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.

 

Yesterday we took Basil to Willard Brook State Forest for the afternoon. We had been there before with Basil and we were all looking forward to a sunny afternoon by the brook to work on projects… unfortunately, when we arrived at the park, we realized that somewhere along the way, Basil had had an accident:

Yep, somewhere between home and the park, Basil lost his foot 😦

Happily, we were able to locate his foot and we were still able to enjoy the afternoon.

I was able to get Pismo 12 (L) to a point where I believe that I can officially call it completed:

I do think that there is something “missing” from Pismo 20 (T), but I am sure that I will be able to figure it out this week:

Basil was still able to offer assistance despite his injury:

This morning, we were able to perform minor surgery on Basil and he is now – awkwardly – recovering: 

©Jenn White, Basil Recovery 1 & 2. Photograph.

Basil isn’t a young mannequin anymore, I realized on the way home yesterday that he must be about 17 years old by now. Not sure how what that translates to mannequin years, but I am going to keep a watch out for him from now on.

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
• You can also follow White Rooster Studio by using the direct links from the blog’s headers. For FB, please click on the FB button, and if you click on VIDA COLLECTION or ETSY SHOP you will be directed to those sites immediately.
• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

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Copyright @2019 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.