The Art…The House

The art…

“hi” from Orange Man! This is the first oil painting that I did as part of the “Inner Child” series. I started sculpting figures out of wax strings as something fun to do with my kids. Then I decided to paint them! After experimenting with several compositional ideas, I stuck them to a white wall in direct sunlight. This produced some amazing shadows! Being an oil painter, I get really excited about unique ways to portray light and shadow. Historically, master painters were measured by their ability to reproduce light. This contemporary, minimalistic way to explore this historical standard is very exciting to me. Since then, I’ve started to think about these painted wax figures as residents of an exciting white world, a literal blank canvas if you will. How would they speak, think, dream and interact? I’ve given them thought bubbles, word bubbles and dreams. Most recently, I’ve dabbled with animation. Please enjoy “Orange Man” as he waves “hi!”

The house…

I mentioned the installation of our glass garage door in my first post and have used it to inform my blog’s title. Here is how it came to be…Our house featured a structurally unsound screened in porch when we bought it. It was built on an unsupported I-beam and cantilevered out from the second floor. We never let the kids go out there and if an adult stood on it, the most common response was “Wow, this is bouncy!” It was also pulling down the roof and was connected to a multi-level landing leading to a rickety staircase. In short, the whole thing needed to be reconfigured and replaced. We decided to turn it into a partially covered deck (fixing the existing sagging roof in the process!). I had an idea to replace the wall going out to the new deck from the kitchen with a glass garage door. When I mentioned it to my husband, he (being ever the pragmatist!), was concerned about whether or not it could function as an exterior wall when closed. Our contractor, on the other hand, rather bluntly said “absolutely not!”. I was disappointed but not discouraged. As luck would have it, we found ourselves eating at a restaurant that featured a whole wall of glass garage doors. It was wintertime, it was snowing and it was very cold. Our table was touching one of the doors and it was warm, dry, and not the least bit drafty. That was the moment. I had won! The rest is history…