Friday's Art

The light over the table in my hotel room at the Alexis - Seattle.

Best Part of the Day

I'm now in our UK office in Stockley Park (near Heathrow). I'm here to review how we are approaching safety and compliance for our European operations, which is a thrill to finally be doing in my professional, engineering career.

However, the high point of the day was when my sponsor, the Dir of Facilities, asked if I wanted to see some of the art they were considering for the office expansion. He introduced me to Shirley Hudson, who has an art consultancy practice here in the UK.

Shirley had a nice selection of mostly prints in limited editions, including many by Anita Ford, including the one shown above.

I was so excited to see some original art up close and instantly imagined myself in Shirley's job, which reminded me of the resume I wrote for myself over the holidays:

Resume

Laura D. McHugh, PE, MBA

• Ms. McHugh is retired. As such, Ms. McHugh accepts only short-term management consulting projects where she can limit her involvement to activities that genuinely interest her. If art and/or travel to EU countries are involved in any way, your project has a much higher probability of being accepted.
  
  
• Ms. McHugh is only considering opportunities that allow her to work flexible hours, with minimal or no attendance at routine staff meetings. She is very comfortable making interesting and engaging presentations, if required, and is happiest when she can work in the background to provide high quality value-add results that you can integrate into your planning and implementation without continued reliance on her services.

• Ms. McHugh is not interested in reporting to nor supervising anyone. She works best with no supervision and appreciates the opportunity to develop a clearly defined work scope, which is most enjoyable when it is a non-linear, creative process. She enjoys situations where there is continual feedback and collaboration throughout the term of the project.
  
  
• Ms. McHugh’s hourly rate may be higher than what you are accustomed to for senior level consulting. However, you can rest assured that Ms. McHugh is interested only in efficiently completing your project quickly and completely to your satisfaction so that she is available to return to traveling, creating fine art, and moving on to the next interesting gig.

650.743.2791
lauramchugh@mac.com

Trinity College - Dublin, Ireland

Today I travelled from Cork to Dublin. Because of delays in rail service, I didn't get to Dublin until about 4 pm. Luckily, my hotel was right across the street from Trinity College, which was on my list of "must sees." This is the best photo of the day - a porcelain vase in a window, inside one of the oldest gates at the college.


The gate, and the red door.

Architectural Art in Cork Ireland

I'm in Cork on business and staying at a new hotel. The exterior is modern and I don't feel it is attractive. It's important to be curious and open-minded about art, I think. But my judgement intervenes when I drive up to the outside of this place.

However, it is a beautiful and well-appointed facility. There is a full spa, pool, and grounds surrounded by a wildlife refuge. Out the windows are green, gently rolling hills so typical of Ireland, complete with the bleating sheep that have full coats, pregnant for shearing in a few weeks.


This photo shows the FRONT of the hotel, quite unspectacular, and what's up with that big green facia? The whole modern-ness of the building and stark landscaping really distracts from the countryside. But then, maybe that discontinuity is the point - the building definitely does not compete with the natural beauty.

Inside is another story. The reception area is sit-down desks, like when you open a checking account, except that each of the three desks is in it's own private alcove with beautiful mossy green curtains hung back on either side. The rooms are also beautiful and environmentally friendly. You have to put your door key into a slot on the wall just inside for the power to go on. The bathroom is the gem in the room:

European in design, the shower has only a wall, no door. The first shower I had flooded the entire bathroom because I don't think the drain is working properly, so I put a towel across just in case. There are two shower heads, one of the huge rain type, and a second traditional head. Not shown is a huge tub, plenty big enough for two, with two headrests and a waterfall-type water spout on the side.

The glass panel in the shower divides the shower from the rest of the room. This architectural feature is repeated in the bar area of the lobby, where you can see the bottles of Irish whiskey lined up behind the frosted glass.

Viewing Art, Not Quite the Same as Doing Art

Some days, all I can squeeze in is a little bit of viewing art. Doodling during meetings may be too conspicuous and there's no down time between 7:30 when I left the house to vote this morning and 9 pm when I get home tonight.

So, I saw this bit of creativity - living art - and thought it worthy of posting.

The Four Core Value Figs

This is a sketch from a painting I did in 2004. The painting hangs over my fireplace in my family room. Today I was working with how my core values of Ease - Flow - Connection - Fun show up in my artwork and I realized there are four figs and four core values.

So - I will call them the figs of ease, flow, connection and fun.

Art Van

I now have a beautiful used Eurovan to haul art supplies and finished art around in. Yay! I was worried about messing up my beautiful little convertible Beetle. The Eurovan, which was sold to me by a lovely couple, Yula and Luda, in SF at Discount Auto Sales was a real deal and the transaction was actually a pleasure.

They were straight with me about the price, fun to talk to, and Luda and her sister who was visiting from Sacramento even helped me drive the van home. They were a delight to interact with and now we have a good car for hauling the dirty dog around in, a way to go camping, and something I can use to pick up people (and all their luggage!) from the airport.

She's a beauty!

Not in LA

Today I made a mistake and almost went to LA for a meeting that isn't happening until next week. To make the most of it, I'm saying I had breakfast at the Oakland Airport. First time in my life I left without getting on a scheduled flight. Weird.

I ended up back at work and in a meeting where I did this doodle to settle myself down and work through feelings of waste and stupidity. I call it "spikey tomato."

Music is Art

Tonight, we went to see jazz at the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society. It was raining like crazy and at one point, the rain seemed like it was louder than the music.

We saw The Michael O’Neill Quintet featuring Kenny Washington, a virtuoso singer with an awe-inspiring four-octave range, and special guest, Joe Locke, regarded by many to be the most gifted vibraphonist of his generation.

The BDDS has a long history of being home on Sundays to many great jazz artists who were up in SF playing on Saturday night. The list of people who have played at BDDS is impressive, including Count Basic, who I remember meeting when I was 4 years old in Ohio. It is an intimate club and with the music being in the afternoon, it is suitable for bringing along your kids to expose them to jazz.

The BDDS founder, Pete Douglas, has this to say about music and art:

The best Jazz is art and entertainment going on at the same time.

Collage Layout Decided Upon

My collage from last Saturday was "resting" all week. I wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to do with the images I pulled. I liked the round box, but the images seemed lost sitting inside it.

Today I went to a Treasure Mapping event. Treasure Mapping is a day to think about where you are going for the year and create a collage to guide you to that place. This group always does the most amazing artistic collages.

I was pulling out my images and looking through them, and putting them onto 7x7 pieces of paper. The lovely woman across from me asked if I was making a quilt. I got the direction I needed from her to finish my piece. I ended up with 25 squares, for a lovely 5 by 5 paper quilt.



I put each image onto a sheet of the paper, then augmented with watercolor. This was really fun and it enhanced the images. I think to finish this off I will write some lightly colored text onto each image. This may be how the image lands for me, or poetry. I'm not quite sure on that element yet.



After I got the collage squared away, I moved on to encaustics and created this 12x12" piece titled "Do you really think people who look like me play the flute?"

Today is a New Day

There was not much time for art today, unless you count bowling. I bowl once every four years, and I really enjoy it. I like the act of focusing, breathing, and then throwing the ball and watching it go right toward the pins. The strike is especially exciting. We were all whooping it up and having a great time.

When I doodle, I like to draw spheres, which are like bowling balls. I come back to the sphere over and over again. I'm not sure why it is so attractive to me. It's important that it be a sphere, not just a circle. This means it has a spot where the light source hits and a shadow opposite the face with the light on it. The cast shadow is always the most interesting part. The shadow is darkest right at the point where the sphere intersects with the table/surface. I draw a short horizontal line right there, pressing the pen or pencil hard to get the darkest dark I can.

My other favorite part of the sphere is that space between the sphere and the shadow, just to either side of the dark line part. I also like the space between the bottom of trees, like in orchards and the black dark soil. I like any crack or crevice because it represents the edge of possibilities.

Today I liberated myself. I have the whole world in my hands, like a sphere full of possibilities.

Tomorrow Is A New Day

Stumbling on Art

For a little "art break" today, I stumbled. One of my categories is art. I happened upon this site.


It reminded me of a time about 25 years ago when I was doing consulting work at a nuclear power plant in Nebraska. I was inside the plant and able to go to an area at the top floor where I could look down on the spent fuel rod storage pool. The water was a beautiful turquoise and I was mesmerized.


They are quite similar! Twenty five years ago today I took a break from that NE field assignment to meet my husband and ski in Vail Colorado for our 1st Wedding Anniversary... I met Ed Bradley on the slopes.

More Good Things About Working With Encaustic

It's really cold out right now. About 42F here and I swear it might snow on the beach - at the Pacific Ocean! So working in my garage studio is not much of an option. The concrete floor is too cold and hard, and even though initially I feel like I can deal with the temperature out there, after about 30 minutes, I am cold through to my core and it takes about 3 hours to warm back up.

So, working inside with hot wax is a good thing to do this time of year. Tonight, I opened boxes from Encaustikos (wax pellets and damar - and get this, the store is maybe 1 mile from where one of my daughters lives in Rochester NY!) and pigments from R&F Paints.

I made the base wax using the 80:20 formula in the electric griddle. I melted chunks of the damar resin first, and strained it through the cheesecloth. Then, I added the wax pellets and made a big quantity of the base wax, which I then poured into the aluminum loaf pans.

The dog will be happy with her four helpings of chopped clams for breakfast tomorrow - I just wanted the cans. Into each, I poured about half full of the wax base, then melted some pigment into each one: chartreuse, quinacridone red (hot pink - my signature color!), white and aquamarine blue.

It was like cooking, but art!

Preview of Women's Building Exhibit

A little preview of the April exhibit.


These are two 15' long scrolls titled "Always - Enough." The top one is acrylic and pencil on watercolor paper.


These are four 6' scrolls with writing all the way down each, on oakboard (like manila folders), coated with paraffin wax.

The middle painting is a watercolor on heavy (300#) cold pressed watercolor paper.

Along the floor are 16 6x6 in paintings of candles on paper and coated with paraffin.

I can't wait to get this displayed!

Sometimes Art Isn't What It Looks Like

Sometimes, doing art is the business of doing art. My "art" today was visiting The Women's Building to talk with them about putting up my art.

Here's a photo of the blank "canvas" - walls in the lobby near the entrance to their large meeting space. I was thrilled to be offered this space. I was thinking I would be offered some space on the 4th floor, near their offices. This lobby space will get a lot more traffic!

So, it is a GO for April! I'll be exhibiting six large pieces and sixteen smaller pieces. I'll have plenty of time to work on fixtures to hang and protect the art.

Tuesday - Women's Building Interview

Tomorrow I'm very excited to be meeting with the Exec Director of a non-profit in San Francisco to see if my artwork that I did while at the Women's Art Intensive summer 2007 retreat will be accepted to be hung in their space.

Since the installation is large (4 pieces that are 6' long scrolls and 2 pieces that are 15' long), it is challenging to find suitable places to put the art.

Wish me luck!

Artwork to be Donated

Well, I didn't get any art done today, and I am still at work, so that is understandable. But, I did get an opportunity to donate two pieces for an upcoming conference in July. I haven't made them yet, but I will get working on something soon, unless I find something suitable in my "inventory."

Last time I donated something, it got fought over and ended up selling for $500 to raise money for my niece's elementary school. The principal got outbid and I ended up doing a second piece for her.

MLK Day

Today is MLK day. It's dreary out, intermittently raining with cold sunshine.

This is a motel sign you can create yourself.

Paperless, portable art!

His & Hers

Here are my first encaustic painting results I'm willing to share.

I titled these "His and Hers." They're made from leftover wax scrapings I received in class last week. I especially like the pink which is a mixture I probably could not have come up with on my own, and it is a color I'm really attracted to working with.

The set up with the new griddle and sardine cans worked great. I didn't blow any fuses or catch anything on fire. (Note to self: get a fire extinguisher for the kitchen and garage. My house has a fire alarm and sprinkler system, but I'd hate to see it go off with all the water damage that would ensue.)

These pieces are 9x9 on cradled gesso board. I used the Holy Grail as a primer, then 2 coats of clear beeswax (without damar; that hasn't arrived yet). A tracing paper drawing of gears went on top of those 2 coats of wax, after a good fusing. I was able to get a very nice smooth and milky surface, which I ended up covering up, but fun to practice with the heat gun to get rid of all the bubbles.

The stripe is a combination of wax pastel overlaid with the wax paint. When I went to fuse these areas, the wax pastel broke up underneath. The detail is gorgeous - very ephemeral - but hard to capture in this photo. (Tip: click on the photo and it will pop up in a new window, enlarged. I can see the speckly details on my iMac; can you?)

Now on to a couple of little pieces on the press.