Hello Again

Well, I don’t know about you but I miss the ability to leave my house and go wherever and whenever I want. What a luxury that was and I didn’t even realize it. I’ve essentially not seen anyone in a public setting since March 13th or so. At first it wasn’t so bad. I mean, I have a studio in my home, I’m used to working in it pretty much everyday, alone (except for my furry studio companion). I remember thinking, "How bad can it be? It’ll be just like a normal work day. Won’t affect me.” Uh huh. Not really.

Being of the creative persuasion has always provided me with glorious amounts of material to entertain myself and others. After the first week of quarantine I decided to finally learn to crochet. Why crochet? Because my grandma, mom, and almost every female relative in my family can crochet. I never had the patience to learn and so have been frustrated with my lack of ability. It would also be another way to be creative but would give me a break from all the painting and sculpting I usually do. (Yes, I know; I’m not very good at relaxing).

So, I’ve learned to crochet. Monsters. Of the Coronasaurus variety. Why? Because creative me thinks they’re funny and they make me giggle. In the beginning of our isolation the news stream was a constant source of anxiety and worry for me. It was hard to sleep, to eat, to function. I didn’t feel like doing anything. My husband began working from home. My adult daughter is home. There were people in my house during the day and I wasn’t used to it. Monsters in crochet were my way of finding an outlet for my energy. When I caught myself laughing out loud I realized I was onto something. Squeezing a soft squishy monster with horns and tails provided me with comfort and laughter. Stress relief nirvana.

These little monsters have slowly begun to multiply in number as I continue to practice crochet. Each one emerges with bits of strangeness and personality and now provide my husband and daughter with giggle opportunities. Sometimes I post pictures of them on Facebook, so keep a look out for them. I even give them interesting names. Right now Professor Frédéric Von Whiskerschtein is coming along quite nicely.

This quarantine bit eats away at my usual hyper self sometimes. It’s like walking around in a fog when I can’t seem to focus. As it probably is with most everyone. We have so much stuff to do and yet at times it’s so irrelevant. We want to talk to each other, to connect on that personal level, to look into the eyes of our friends and loved ones. To breathe in the scent of momma’s perfume. Not through the lens of a computer screen. Don’t misunderstand me please, I’m all for the safe protocols we have in place and will continue to practice physical distancing. Designer face masks may be a fashion trend for awhile yet.

In the meantime, I give thanks for the ability to continue my art practice, and to hug and squeeze my monsters. All of them; hubby and daughter included. Stay safe my friends!

New Plein Air Artwork

This is my newest plein air piece, I did it in the Adirondacks at Flume Falls in the High Falls Gorge area. It's 6" X 18", acrylic on AlumaComp board. It's currently hanging at Blue Mountain Designs, 8940 NYS Route 30, Blue Mountain Lake, NY (518-352-7000), in their Moss Cottage gallery.

AlumaComp is an archival painting and mounting panel. These aluminum composite panels are .4mm (5/32") thick. Each panel is a sandwich of two aluminum surfaces with a 1/8" polyethylene core. They're lightweight, extremely rigid and will maintain their structural integrity. 

This is the first painting I have done on an AlumaComp board and I really enjoyed working on this panel. The paint went on very smoothly and took to the surface quite nicely. I gessoed the panel this time, but am curious to experiment with an ingested surface. I think it might be kinda cool if some of the surface showed through the paints. I'll let you know how it works out.

In the meantime, get on over to the Adirondacks, the trees were just turning vibrant reds Wednesday when I was there, and check out my painting while you're in the neighborhood. 

Vacant Mural Project Piece

Recently I completed my panel for the Syracuse Landbank, "Vacant Mural Project". I dropped the panel off to the project coordinator, but not before making sure to get a professional photo taken of it. This is a really important step in the creative process; recording my art is vital and I use the images in a variety of ways. Not just as a photo record of my work, but also so I can offer re-prints, etc. 

I titled the piece, "Birds In The Garden" and completed it in acrylics. Using whimsical garden ornaments and old toys as my models, I created it in the hopes that the bright colors would attract and pull the viewer in closer to take a better look. Once your eyes begin to wander through the piece, you'll become aware of a darker undertone in the action portrayed. I giggled quite a bit while I was painting this piece and can assure you of my sanity. I'm not going to try to explain the why I painted this image because in creating it, it brought me laughter and joy and it is my hope that the viewer will enjoy some giggles too. 

If you haven't checked out the recent Women of Upstate NY magazine article about yours truly, here's the link: http://womenofupstateny.com/meet-eva-hunter/

You can also like my Facebook page (please) www.facebook.com/evahunterart

Thanks!

Article in local magazine

Look who's in the Sept. issue of "Women of Upstate NY" magazine. It was pretty interesting being interviewed for this article and talking about my artwork. I hope you enjoy it. http://womenofupstateny.com/meet-eva-hunter/

While you're clicking please be sure to like my Facebook page too: www.facebook.com/evahunterart

Thanks-Eva

Quick Post Update

    It's been quite a busy few weeks: I went to the Adirondack's for the annual long weekend plein air trip, had my artwork accepted into two juried exhibits, became a social media "expert", attended a couple of art receptions, stopped in New Hampshire for a quick plein air trip, (I wandered through the woods of Vermont along the way there and back home for additional inspiration), and during all this time I've continued to paint and draw to my hearts content. Remember the checklist I was working on last time I blogged?...Still working it baby. Plein air trips and local exhibits.....check. I added "get interviewed by local women's magazine" to the list, and checked it off yesterday. I'll be the featured artist in the Sept. issue of ............stay tuned for an update on that!

    As the warm days of summer have turned even more humid I find it challenging to keep my acrylics wet. Being the creative thinker type that we artists pride ourselves in, I attempted to use hard pastel sticks instead. Alas that didn't turn out very well either. The spray from the close proximity to the waterfall I was trying to capture combined with the humidity of the day turned my hard pastels into mushy bits. Well, actually it turned my painting into a water spotted, muddy mess of artistic disappointment. Sometimes it's better to put the art supplies away, remove your shoes and dip your toes into the water, rather than the brushes you brought along to paint with.

    What about water colors you might ask? Well...I don't use them for plein air, I like the way oils and acrylics "feel" when I'm working outdoors. Water colors just don't seem to speak to me the same way. I know, I know they would solve my trying to keep my paint wet problem. Dried up paint? No problem with water colors, just dab on some more water and continue on your merry way, sigh. Maybe I should reconsider and give them another try? I'll add it to my list.

    Today I found out that two of my pieces were accepted into the Plein Air competition juried by OnLineJuriedShows.com and Plein Air Magazine! If you go to the website, click on the Plein Air Show, scroll through the images until you get to the "H's" and look for my name. "Badlands" and "Monadnock Waterfall" were both juried into the show. That's pretty exciting for me, it encourages me to keep doing what I'm doing, and it reminds me that it's never too late to fulfill your dreams. Write them down, set goals, work that list!

Staying Focussed Amidst Chaos

"Well, I finally did it" this simple statement can be applied to so many recent accomplishments in my life. I graduated from college (after a very long time away from school), I've set up/built my web site, created social media accounts to help generate business, learned how to use  the Creative Cloud suite of tools (OMG, there should be a warning for new users, "This product will consume many hours of your life!") All this has felt like chaos and as I take steps towards becoming financially independent, and a contributing member to our household funds, I keep reminding myself to stick to the list. Or in pirate speak, "stick to the code". Since I'm not a pirate nor do I play one in real life, I guess I must continue to keep my daily to-do list, sigh. Here's the thing about to-do lists; I don't like them, I think they're boring, and they make me want to pull my hair out. However, they do work. Shhhh don't tell my husband I just admitted that. Here's another little secret for you, I pretend to be a pirate when I'm working on my list.......where's the rum?

For awhile my list has been more like a jumble of runaway thoughts and ideas all focussed on being an artist. As I fine tuned and changed ideas to goals and untangled thoughts I realized, gulp, the leap of faith I'd need to take. I also realized I was already an artist, have been my entire life. What I was finally ready to do was to share my art with the world. Scary thought right there. We only get one shot at life and I say lets be happy while we're here. For me that means creating art and yes, sharing it with the world. I still have much more to-do on my list and I'm sure there are things I haven't even thought of yet. Stay tuned for more as I work my way through my list and the chaos it sometimes becomes..............

So with my list by my side the next box to check off is: write first blog post.