ARTISTIC VISION LIKE NO OTHER

Detail of “Mud Time”, 1960 by Joan Mitchell

JOAN MITCHELL: ARTISTIC VISION LIKE NO OTHER

This past August I was awarded an artist grant to travel to the Baltimore Museum of Art to see the retrospective exhibition on Joan Mitchell, a first-generation abstract expressionist (1925-1992).

This exhibition provided me an opportunity to see works by Joan Mitchell in person for the first time. Seeing 70 important pieces by Mitchell helped me understand her subject matter, sources, and technique more clearly, as well as seeing the way her work developed and changed over time.

I gasped as I went through the show! All of it was mind-blowing, the enormous size of her paintings combined with her layered spectrum of colors, beautiful muddy hues within the harmony of white fields. The rhythm and energy in her brush strokes create a perfect balance of texture in each composition. Some of her paintings were on a single canvas, while others were diptychs, triptychs, and quadriptychs complimenting perfectly with one another. Her paintings are like no others, truly transportive drawing you in with the depths and layering of colors.

I came away energized with so many new and interesting avenues to explore. Back in my studio, I began to translate my process onto larger or multiple canvases and explore new color combinations with the beautiful effects of adding Mitchell’s “mud color”.

Paintings from the retrospective exhibition by Joan Mitchell.

SUMMERTIME OLD AND NEW

Painting “Passage of Color” 24x24

The day is long.

The watermelon is cold.

The summer feels effortless and free.

Music: “Summer Breeze” - Seals & Crofts, takes me back, and “Down by the Water” - Abigail Lapeli, inspires a sense of calm.
Taste Good: Happiness to me is eating tomatoes and cold watermelon all summer long.
Books: Recently, Vivian Howard {PBS host, chef, and author} spoke at the Cincinnati Mercantile Library and she signed my new favorite cookbook: “This Will Make It Taste Good.” Follow her on Instagram.
Comforts of Summer: The day is long and twilight is even longer. Nothing feels more like summer than a screened-in porch. You’ll find me chilling out late into the evening as I listen to the tree frogs and crickets.
Childhood Memories: Summers in Michigan with my cousins. Summer afternoons by the lake. The night we stayed up until 3:00 am to watch the Northern lights.
Advice: Watch more sunsets and starry nights then skip Netflix.