New Painting

Summer is flying by. I was in Boston, Massachusetts for 3 days, great city. We took the ferry to Provincetown located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod for 1 day. Here's a new painting I just finished in the nick of time for a grant proposal.

Fenland, oil on canvas, 36 x 60 inches

It reminds me of the marshland in Provincetown where the ocean meets the land.

I'm preparing to teach my first ever Summer Art Program in my home studio. I'm so excited. I'll be teaching kids some fun, easy printmaking projects that you don't need a printing press for.

Inspiring Artist

I caught a show of Pat Steir's paintings in November at the Locks Gallery. I've been aware of work for years but it was a pleasure to see it in person. Her paintings are similar to mine because they are made with thinned down oil paint that is poured.

The scale of some of them alone was impressive.

This one titled Forest in Snow is 127 x 109 inches.

Interestingly her approach is very different from mine in that she sets a course for the painting in the beginning deciding what order the colors will be added and how many layers and then executes it. She says it's removing herself from the role as the grand creator and leaving some things up to chance.

Double White on Black, 84 x 84 inches

I on the other hand try to strike a balance between allowing and controlling in the making of my work. I really struggle with this, wondering how much to force my ideas onto a piece and how much to leave up to chance. It leads me to question how this applies to life. Is it an illusion that we are in control of our destiny? When we are fighting for control is it beneficial to loosen the reigns a little and see where things fall?

New Work

I'm excited to have finally started new paintings in my new space.

Peek Inside My Studio

This awesome panoramic shot was taken by my husband in February after I hung my show.

This shot was taken last week showing new paintings in progress and the sculpture hung in a new configuration. I'm busy working on the logistics
of hanging the sculpture from the hanging system in the Mezzanine Gallery where I'm planning to show sculptures and paintings in July.

Art on the Town Opening

I will be at the Buzz Ware Village Center in Arden, DE for the April 1st, Art on the Town opening. If you're a local friend, you are invited to stop by. I am planning to show a sampling of works in different mediums. Here's what I wrote for the brochure, so now I must deliver.

"Linda Celestian’s work although abstract is unmistakably inspired by nature. She explores many mediums and has chosen to show works in colored inks, oil paint, encaustic and fiber next to each other the way you might find them in her studio. Come out to meet her and learn how working in more than one medium aids in her to ability to express her feelings about the beauty of nature."

The work I posted paired together for the Duets show application inspired the idea for this show. I might even get some of my photos printed to have on hand. The idea is to present some work together that I'll probably never show together in a gallery setting but will highlight how I work. A photograph taken on vacation might inspire a painting which in turn inspires a sculpture, which inspires me to photograph something I find in nature that reminds me of the painting and so on. In the end it's hard to tell what came first and doesn't even matter. It's easy to see that it all came from me or so I think.

Here's a video interview done by my friend David Nordheimer at the installation of my February show, I'm talking about my inspiration and my technique in oil paint. It's preceded by an infomercial about Wilmington's Art on the Town:

Waterways Exhibition

This week I'll be installing my solo show Waterways at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts in Wilmington, DE. I'm so excited to see this group of paintings together in the white cube. Here's an excerpt from my press release and one of the pieces included in the show.

Spilling Over, 24 x 24 inches

The title of the show Waterways refers to the intrinsic qualities of water that are the subject matter for Celestian’s oil paintings.

She depicts the movement and energy observed in nature with layered spills, pours and splatters of thinned oil paint. The paint in its liquid form is allowed to run and puddle and form similar patterns to waterways. Linda is interested in portraying the energy and life force of water to elicit an emotional response. She is inspired as much by aerial photography, as by personal observations of the ocean, lakes of her childhood, and the creek in her neighborhood.

There is a correlation between these imaginary waterways and our own circulatory system illustrating the connection between earth and mankind.

If you are in the area stop by the opening on Friday the 4th, from 5:30-9pm. I'm also showing ink paintings on the featured artist wall on the 2nd floor of the studio building and fiber work in process in my studio. I hope to see you there.

New Year, New Work

I have a solo show going up in 3 weeks. So, today I did what any sane, rational person would do, I started a new large painting. My show at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts will be in the Elizabeth Denison Hatch Gallery for the month of February. I'm hoping that crazy winter weather doesn't keep people away for the opening Friday evening February 4th.

New Painting

I'm motivated by deadlines. While teaching the kids in Arden 3 hours a day with another hour of prep, I usually just collapse in the afternoons. This year with one of my kids away at camp and the other one spending most of her free time at the pool I was able to get to my studio once or twice a week. I was working on a new large diptych. I didn't know if I could finish it before the Delaware Division of the Arts grant application deadline but that was my goal. I photographed it on Sunday and the deadline was Mon. Here it is.

Running Forth, 48 x 92 inches

It's quite different from my last large diptych done 5 months ago but I think I like it. I'm suspending judgement until I return to the studio full time in a month. It's much more complex than Crash, Hush.. but it feels more expansive. You can really see the aerial photography influence. Here's a close up.

Remember the Ice

I'm in my second week working as the art director at Arden Community Recreation Association, Summer Program here in Arden. Last week we made spin art, dot art, our own art journals and printed leaves on fabric to make into pillows. Wow, and today we started papier mache. I will post pictures soon. I guess after I take some. I usually don't have a break in the art making frenzy to take any photos. At one point today I had to count how many kids were in the room and it was close to twenty. They're hard to count because they move, kind of like the fish in my pond. I came home exhausted today and took a long nap. It's only Monday, God help me!

Since it's been brutally hot lately I thought I'd take a moment to remember the cold winter storm, which I personally loved and thought was beautiful. While I was busy preparing the diptych and sculpture that comprised my June show I also painted 3 smaller canvases. These are 24 x 24 inches and were started on a black acrylic ground. The inspiration was icicles on shale walls that I always see along the highway to Syracuse, NY and some ice I photographed during our winter storm.

Rocky Shore, oil on canvas

Shale and Ice, oil on canvas

Layers, oil on canvas

Meagan Mika, an intern at the DCCA this summer has started a blog about the DCCA. She interviewed me a few weeks back. She wrote a really thoughtful post about my show and other work she saw in my studio, thanks Meagan. She happened to mention these canvases, in particular the one with rust in the composition that I titled, Shale and Ice. She stated that it was quite possibly her favorite piece.

Crash, Hush... Exhibition

There's still time to see my new work in person at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts. The show continues through June 27th in the Elizabeth Denison Hatch Gallery. Here's an installation shot taken by my talented friend Carson Zullinger, an amazing photographer.

There's a favorable review of the show on The Hunt Magazine website.

I experienced the post show blues for a few days after the opening. This is a completely normal let down after the final push of installing a show and everything that goes into promoting it. Even though I should expect this mood swing, it was difficult especially with everything else I had going on with my kids. I cleaned my studio for the opening so I took a few photos before it inevitable returns to it's normal chaotic, working state. "Where did I put the hammer I was just using?"

Inspiration, fiber work and encaustic paintings.

Fiber pieces, encaustic paintings and silk remnants.

I've accomplished quite a bit since September and should feel proud of it but I'm never comfortable to sit back and relax. On Sunday I experienced some severe nerve pain in my neck that sent me to the urgent care medical center. I guess that was my body saying "slow down". I'm busy ordering supplies and planning projects for my summer job as an art director at a camp that starts on Saturday. Meanwhile I'm still plotting how to get one more painting finished before my summer deadlines. I guess "slow down" just isn't in my vocabulary.

Delainey Barclay

Last week I had the pleasure of sitting down with my friend and fellow studio artist Delainey Barclay, to talk about her art. Her solo show in the Elizabeth Denison Hatch Gallery at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts continues through April 25th.

I asked Delainey how she chose to became an artist. She said her Mom is an artist and as a kid she was always encouraged to be creative and make things. When her Mom was making something she gave Delainey and her siblings their own supplies and they would be building right alongside her. She said birthday and Christmas gifts were usually art supplies. Secondly she credits her high school art teacher for knowing she was going to be an artist before she knew. Upon first meeting her he proclaimed her future was destined because of her awesome name. He encouraged her to apply to Art College and helped with every phase of the application process.

I asked her how she came to be using the materials she’s using in her artwork. She said the aforementioned art teacher introduced her to oil painting and using a palette knife. That early experience of painting with a palette knife is the reason she still likes to create texture in her painting with the application of thick paint. She also enjoys taking ordinary supplies that can be readily purchased at a hardware store and transforming them into something beautiful. A spool of string she bought 10 years ago at a garage sale has turned up in many different pieces.

In her show titled 100% Humidity, Delainey says she wanted to consider not just the paintings but the space around the paintings as well. The oil paintings in soft soothing colors include silhouettes of animals seemingly unaware of the viewer’s presence. She says she was striving for simplicity and beauty, like a really deep breath.

Her inspiration for the work is the Brandywine Valley on a hot and humid summer day. A day when the air is so thick you can see and feel it. The string spheres represent that air, hanging above your head and floating in front of the canvases.

Delainey talked about a painting by Tom Friedman with a full size shovel attached to it, that she saw years ago leaving a strong impression on her, and also Robert Rauschenburg.

You can see more of her work here.

Painting Exhibition at Sweet Basil

I survived the Craft Show at the DCCA, even with bronchitis and major sleep deprivation. The big hit of the evening was my felted rocks

and collage kits. It was a fun night and I made a lot of new connections. Thank you to everyone who stopped by my table to chat. Also, I just want to say that I'm very grateful for my studio artist friends that support me weekly in my artistic endeavors.

I have bracelets and wristlet purses available for gift giving, just drop me an email. I haven't had time to get more in my etsy shop yet. Check back soon.

I hung my paintings this week at Sweet Basil Thai Cuisine in Chadds Ford, PA on 202. Thank you Griselda and Paul, especially Griselda for putting up with me putting so many holes in her walls. The paintings look great there, Griselda thinks I must have painted them for the space. I think we've decided on Sunday, January 3rd for an artist reception. I'll post an update when I have a time. Here's a sneak peek of how it looks. Oh, by the way the restaurant is BYOB and the food is really good!

In the studio I worked a little bit on 2 fiber pieces for a juried show submission.

"Cerulean Water" 91 x 45 inches

"Red and Gold" 15 x 9 inches

Open Studio

Here's what I worked on last week.

This is 2 canvases that are 36 x 26 inches each.
I just don't know if it's finished, Im probably going to do one more subtle pour this week. It's almost there.
My studio will be open along with other studios and openings in the galleries this Friday evening 5:30 to 9:00 at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, 200 S. Madison St. Check the website for details www.thedcca.org

Picking Up Where I Left Off

September was a crazy month of painting fabric and nuno felting for my window display. When it was done I was exhausted and so anxious to get back to painting. Last week I cleaned and tried to return my studio to some kind of working state. I had these two canvases 26 x 36 inches that I decided to make a diptych and primed them a midnight blue. Boy, they looked dark. Today I took the plunge and did my first pour of oil paint on canvas since last May. There's some glare because the paint is wet.

It's a start and feels more successful than the messes I made in encaustic. I haven't worked in encaustic in a long while and I'm still struggling to get what I want. I feel like a foreigner or a child, or both. I feel like a child in a foreign land. When I first started working with it, that is what I liked about it. It was exciting, like traveling to a new place where you don't know the language and you don't know what you'll encounter. Now I'm finding I can work for hours without bringing a piece to completion. I layer, melt, scrape, and still no satisfaction. Frustrating. I guess it's like learning a foreign language. So I was thinking about how a child communicates. They have limited vocabulary but usually find a way to communicate their needs. Sometimes it's with a cry that communicates loud and clear. So I tell myself I need to simplify, resort to a limited vocabulary. I guess that can be scary sometimes, to drop the pretenses and just say what you mean. Another advantage children have, they don't mince words they just say what they mean without the superfluous adjectives. I'm trying too hard, I guess. I keep hoping the results will be worth all the struggle. Here's a few pieces I'm still working on.

Then I grabbed a small panel that had some colors smeared on it from when I needed to clean my brushes from time to time. I painted some dark brown circles, when in doubt paint circles, right? Then I layered and carved, drew with oil pastel, ran out of time and called it a day. I kind of like it, I mean I really think I like it. It's simple and to the point. What do you think?

New Work, Open Studio

I've been working on 3 new 46 x 48 inch oil paintings. This time I toned the canvases with acrylic before I started pouring oil washes which really jump started the work. Starting with a colored ground is an entirely different process. The goal was to break away from the phthalo blue based work, so I painted one canvas a golden yellow ochre color, one dark green and one ended up cerelean blue so I painted over it with orange letting some blue show through. So 2 of them have blue in them and then the third is the golden red one which I don't evn know if it fits in with the others. I'll let the work speak for it's self.

If you're in the area please stop by I'll have my studio open from 5-8:30 pm at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts in Wilmington, DE on Friday June 5th, check the website for directions http://www.thedcca.org/ There will be gallery openings, music and food. Somehow I'm going to arrange my studio so most of my new work will be visible including about 12 new encaustic paintings.