Art at the Howland

Opening next Saturday with a brief artist talk...

Persephone's bath and Proserpina's garden

Enjoying the flowers of my lover.
Two paintings- one 16 x 6 inches and the other 12 x 10.25 inches

Join the fun!

Another studio to stove seasonal workshop
March 20, 1-4pm

Explore the stirrings of memories while creating step-by-step trompe-l'oeil painted memory boxes and baking your own loaf of Irish Soda bread. You will be provided guidance in marbling and fool the eye painting techniques. Irish soda bread is about rising up with very little, which should generate some interesting discussions of what we have and hold dear.
50$ per person and please bring your own 8 inch round cake pan.
limited to 8 people. Lakeville CT location

save the date for April 17th's canvas and challah event.
email tillystudio@aol.com to reserve your spot.

mythologies are moving me

I just love the stories.
here is Phoenix rising from my head. Might not be done...
KEEPS CHANGING

HAPPY valentines day

It's one of my favorite holidays...
I created a book about it out of pink tissue and black lace with cut paper plates. What other holiday can you do that with? This is best enjoyed with fresh flowers and chocolates.

Some musings on my son's contribution to my art

Not only are my sons inspiration, but they have given me the material, literally, to paint on.
Here- eaglet, Mother bear and son, bird rookery, and Bald eagle totem are all painted on paper made from my son's over worn kahki pants, bits of maps, and small inclusions.

Under a bush

Is your heart hidden under a bush? Bring it out! There is a unique dance inside each one of us and we owe it to the universe to share it. I am going to be kind to my heart today. It's so easy to forget how fragile we are... how our hearts and bodies are just containers for star dust.

Mixed media on paper 8 x 10 inches

If you are in Florida... in St. Pete, come to Studio @620 central avenue for reception between 6-9pm tonight. See you there.

I have to, I have to, I have to...

I have to go down to Florida and attend a trust meeting where we vote on suspending the gift giving for at least a year. So sad, but we are out of money. And where I will run into my ex-husband and that always seems to make me sick. In fact, I feel quiet nauseous today. And I will see my mother and that carries some baggage too. I feel like Persephone traveling between worlds. Which is hell and which is heaven? It's not so easily labeled. I will also get a chance to catch up with my 15 year old son, and meet his school advisor. It could be heavy. I also have to attend an art opening that my Bed Song painting is in! Isn't it crazy how the timing worked out? I am in a juried group show in my mom's hometown that opens while I am visiting! So... its all about riches. But even riches are part of our luggage.
This collage painting is called- like the text in it says- A Cry For Help. When I made it it really helped me get through what I was in the midst of... (which ironically, to put it simply, was too much family). It's just under 6 x 9 inches and I've priced it at $75.
Though instead of buying it, if you should find yourself of similar mind, you should make your own and see what happens.
I have to go paint now!

Isn't this the time of year we do impulsive things?

I remember seeing the back of Malcom McMullen scooting off on his bicycle after I heard the door bell ring when I was in about 6th grade. At the door my nanny found a giant heart-shaped box of chocolates with a little silver bracelet taped on top. I still have the bracelet with Malcom's name etched onto it. How brave he was!
And dozens (30?) years later I drove my 11 year old son on an icy February morning to deliver roses to an unsuspecting girl. Just outside the door he had cold feet and we both realized the flowers were in danger of freezing before their prime effect was to be had. He flung them at the door- rang the bell- ran to the car- and as his chauffeur, I dutifully sped us away...
Ah! What speeds us on at these moments? Is it love?
Small collage with paint on wood. 3.25 x 6 inches, I call it "...loosing my mind".

Penny dreadfuls

Esther Howland of Worcester Mass is often credited with starting the commercial business of "penny dreadfuls" in 1847. By organizing workshops of women friends to each add their touch, to hand assemble, and mass produce a Victorian card, Howland created a cruel craze of sarcastic and insulting cards. These were seen as a response to the stuffy morality of the Victorian era. In spite of selling her valentines for one penny each, Ester Howland became a very rich woman!
Way to go Esther! She is one of my heroes.

Sometimes it's not politically correct to say it

But it leaks out!

Catharsis, 13 days to V-day

This wooden heart has collage with found text and is painted magenta and blue-green. The heart was a cold bronze model. Some of the words can still be deciphered through the paint, and they read like some contemporary poetry:

imagination
Punishment for the...
injured

we're probably guilty
play date
Howls of protest against the trapper

cheap dates:
economic turmoil, the hard work of finding a new job
Improves...but only bitter...

Passage... to be far worse
is a bad idea

>I won't tell you what I was up to when I made this...but I assure you it was cathartic. Using collage and random poetry as part of searching into your soul can tap into dreams, answers, possibilities yet unseen. Think about doing it! Better yet- don't think, just do it.

If you want, join us in Lakeville February 13th, 1-4 for a group creative studio-to-stove workshop.

14 days to Valentines

Sometimes I can say it with a rooster and a hen.
They (usually) fall out of my paint brush easy and with personality.
This Valentine has been in the works for years. See the postcards I made of it in 2005, the year of the Rooster. The original is made sewn layers of paper... a collage... of two hearts. Of course, there are issues here, and I recently shifted the value range with paint to lend it some extreme passages of light and shade. Still not sure. The chickens don't look committed as of yet... they appear to be waiting for me, or you, or someone to tell them where to go next. Do you see what I mean?