After the Exhibit

Once again, it seems a long time since I've written.  My show, The Art of Tea II, at AVA Gallery in Lebanon, NH, has finished.  After all the work that went into putting it together, it feels good now to be back in my studio, working on some new pieces.

I reflect back on the highlights of that venture.  It was very satisfying to work with AVA staff to hang the exhibition.  The pieces chosen very well fit in that lovely venue and I was pleased with how it showcased a variety of work created over the past three years.  I also found that giving a gallery talk was an excellent experience.  With Carol's help I learned to use Keynote to prepare a slide show that highlighted the influences in my work, my process of learning to use tea stained paper, and what I have learned.  It was very gratifying to experience the appreciation of many who viewed the show.

Above are a few photos from the exhibition.

Book Art

I'm off on an early morning flight tomorrow to go to Brisbane to participate in a 2-day workshop in making pop-up books! My friend Lisa is a big influence in my new found interest. On Friday night we went to an opening of a fantastic Book Art show in Manly (across the harbor on a ferry, my favorite way to travel here) where we saw 50 beautiful, unique "books." It was amazing to see the range and the wild creativity that artists have used in their interpretations.

The teacher of this workshop is from the UK, here in Australia in various locations to share his craft. He's supposed to be an amazing teacher, which is why I'm going. It should be great fun.

Meanwhile I am still with the piles of tea bags, preparing lots of pieces for completion back in Woodstock. Only a couple of weeks left here....I hope the snow will have melted when we finally touch down.

Starting Over...

How can it take so long, require so much energy and eclipse everything else to move from Gaysville to Woodstock?  It's barely 25 miles but it might as well be 2500 miles because everything you own has to be picked up, considered,  discarded or packed, moved, unpacked and installed somewhere in the new house.  And that's after the new floors and walls have been sanded, patched, painted and painted again.

The most fun painting was the dining room floor which was painted with a checkerboard "rug" using the colors of the walls in the living room, dining room and office.  Here's Sandy working on the Rockport Gray squares (thank you Sandy!) using Carol's little stool (thank you Carol!).

And here is the finished product....

Now that the really necessary curtains are up and only a little tweaking here and there is required, I am back in the studio.  Two months and fifteen days since I last posted, I am starting over!   And having a studio at home again will be lovely....

Into the new year

The long trip, Vermont to Sydney, always gives me time to think....not always too clearly, mind you, but the brain does wander as the miles slide by. So I reflected on the work of 2010, which consisted almost entirely of tea bag creations. I am amazed that I am still loving this process and quite captivated by the beauty of the stained paper and what is possible to do with it. Here are some patterns taken from the clothing I've made.











We use my studio in Sydney for storing our personal belongings while we are gone and the house is occupied by others. So to be able to get back to work I have to clear everything out.....how motivating for getting the job done quickly! Two days of unpacking and filling the pantry and the house is in order and I am beginning again.

On the plane I thought about layering, lots of layers, almost like feathers on a bird. So the new work will begin with experimenting. Luckily I have hundreds of bags, all emptied and ready, thanks to my dear friends and family back home. Here's my studio, ready for action!

All the Tea in China......

I've just returned from Yunnan, China, a stop on the way home from Australia. What a fantastic place! Naturally I wanted to have a tea experience there after all the tea I'd consumed in Sydney.

Tea is taken very seriously in this part of the world and I was fortunate enough to visit tea houses that featured dozens of kinds as well as tea shops where sampling tea is an integral part of the entire experience. Here a friend of our son Nick treated us to a wonderful 15 year old tea grown on her family's plantation which we drank in tiny glass bowls that were filled with freshly brewed tea numerous times:



Teas are general sold in large, solid cakes that are gently broken apart when the tea is prepared:


So I didn't collect any tea bags for my work, but I wasn't disappointed. The tea we drank was rich and delicious and certainly will inspire more tea pieces as I clean the cobwebs and dead ladybugs out of my studio and get back to work.

it all comes together

I had no idea that a blog would change my life. It has changed what I do, where I do it and who sees it all.

In less than a year I have gone from being a nearly full-time painter to being a nearly full-time writer. I have learned to deal with a camera and use my paintings and photographs to illustrate what I write in newspapers, magazines, blogs and websites.

My writing has brought me to Siracusa in Sicily where I cook and have a table that overlooks the Mediterranean where I paint. The fava beans in the photo were the featured in a recent post on my food blog, CarolEgbert.com.

--Carol Egbert

Magical Gum Trees

On New Year's Day we hiked in the Blue Mountains National Forest along a fantastic Red Hand Cave trail. We started out in a gentle rain and the gum trees surrounding the overgrown trail seemed almost to vibrate with color. Some were charred from bush fires that must have moved through the area some years ago and others were in the process of shedding their bark, creating fantastic patterns on the tree trunks.

I'm always inspired by trees in Australia, which seem so much more exotic than the usual (wonderful, of course) trees of the US Northeast. Some of those that I met on Friday filled me with inspiration and a mad desire to paint. I share of few of them with you.........

Landed in Australia

I'm happily landed in Australia and finally quite settled in. I keep hearing about the wintry weather back home and find it hard to imagine, given the heat that has taken over here. With Christmas just a few days away it seems odd to contemplate celebrating the holiday feeling perhaps too warm!

But on the topic of art, I'm back in the studio. It was all waiting for me just as I left it eight months ago, everything neatly stacked away. It's been interesting to see the work that I did earlier in the year...I actually quite like some of it that I wasn't so sure about in April. Distance can help!

I know I won't have much time to work over the next couple of weeks with a houseful of family to play with, but at least I've taken out the paints and gotten a start! It definitely feels good and is quite a change with the windows wide open and the sunlight pouring in.

Here are a couple of photos of the studio....quite a change from the space in Vermont!

Cards, anyone?

I'm almost finished packing, what seems like way too much stuff as always. In a few days we'll be in sunny Sydney and before long I'll be getting my studio there up and running.

I don't usually take much work Down Under, but I am packing an old deck of playing cards. I've recently been creating collages on playing cards as the background. Not only is this tiny size very transportable, but it's an interesting challenge to create images on such a small scale. I've finished five so far, so have at least 47 more possible works in store.....we'll see where that all goes.

Here are two that are completed:


Barbara Bartlett

Looking Back

It's time to update my website.....in fact it's way beyond time to update my website. It is one of those things I procrastinate about. But the good news is that it is offering me an opportunity to look at the work I've created in the past 12 months. I am being forced to consolidate and evaluate what I've done and decide what I'd like to present.

I'm also for the first time seeing images of work I did nine months ago in Sydney and remembering the process and experience of being in that very different place. Having two separate studios is a special experience and allows me to work on various projects in each place that may have no resemblance to one another. And because I don't carry much work between the two spaces I can create works unique to each.

So here are a couple of images of pieces from earlier in the year that I will probably include on my website. Now just to do it!

Blind Love

This past week I worked on a piece to send to my daughter Liz for her new apartment. She needed something to cover a green wall that seemed a big overwhelming, so the work had to be large, neutral in color, and something I could easily send.

I decided to paint on a length of an old bamboo blind that I had started to work on a couple of years ago. It never seemed to go anywhere, so I was happy to cut it into a manageable 3 by 4 foot size and begin again. I continued to use acrylic paint and also integrated some interesting papers that I bought in Korea years ago.


The finished piece was easy to role up and ship. It is now on the way to its new home in California. I hope the green wall will be more appealing with "Blind Love" hanging on it!
Barbara Bartlett

Fall Pasture

Two weeks ago when I went out for that last plain air session with Sandy, this is the painting I started. I worked on it in the studio yesterday and thought I would share it with you today. Compositionally, I'm not sure how successful it is. I wanted to show the emptiness of the pasture and the changing colors of fall. But it turned out kind of a half and half piece--the bottom half, empty pasture and the top half, busy fall scene.

Fall Pasture

I've thought of lopping off some of the grass at the bottom--just re-stretching the canvas--but that feels too much like cheating! So, here it is just as I planned it. Successful or not!

A Field Trip

Feeling the need for some art stimulation, last Friday I decided to take a field trip to the Hood Museum of Art. (Remember those school trips on noisy yellow buses?....well, this was much more enjoyable!) I'd read about the exhibition "Modern and Contemporary Art at Dartmouth" and was curious. It was well worth the visit with some extraordinary works on display!

My favorite piece was right at the entrance, a massive (about 8 feet high and 14 feet long, I'd guess) wall sculpture by African artist El Anatsui. It was made with aluminum bottle tops that had been cut and flattened, then painstakingly held together with copper wire. I've never seen anything like it! The artist made use of the two sides of the bottle caps, one side silver or gold, and the other, some variation of red) to create beautiful stripes mimicing fabric native to his region. The entire piece hung in huge undulating folds and seemed to move out from the wall.

I can't imagine the patience and vision that went into creating "Hover". How many bottle tops were collected and how could the piece have been constructed with such delicate materials? How was the artist able to evoke such emotion in me when he used such simple materials? Even thinking about it now fills me with wonder and I'm so grateful to have access to a wonderful art museum so close to home.
Barbara Bartlett

Is Painting Pumpkins Art?

It has to be October. Not just the frosty mornings, but the appearance of orange paint in my studio marks this month. Every year around this time my work table becomes covered with pumpkins..... wooden, cardboard, paper.... painted in bright variations of this otherwise seldom used color.

As chairperson of our church's annual Pumpkin Fest I really like to bring an artistic feeling to the experience. It's actually my favorite part of organizing the event. I don't think it really qualifies as art, but it's not "non-art" either. Painting huge pumpkins and curving vines in making a wall mural pumpkin patch seems to satisfy some creative urge in a time filled with other demands.


So I indulge myself, looking forward to the week following the Fest when I can put the orange paint away and get back on track with what feels like more serious art. Whatever that is.......

Barbara Bartlett

Eggplant - Help

My blogging life has intersected. I have found that it is easier for me to paint eggplant than to cook it.

After a trip to Sicily, I tried to make the classic Sicilian dish, Pasta alla Norma. I made an acceptable version of this simple combination of pasta, tomato sauce, eggplant and cheese, but I was not happy with the eggplant. It was oily and the skin was tough.

I need help. I would love to hear how you cook eggplant so that it is creamy and not too oily. What do you do about the skin? Do you salt it or soak it in salty water? What's your favorite variety. Please leave a comment or a question and if you want to know my 'recipe for painting eggplants'.

I'm confident that you have wisdom to share.

Ciao! --Carol Egbert

Vacation

We returned last week from a wonderful driving tour through the Atlantic Provinces of Canada--Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island, Prince Edward Island and New Burnswick. Nine days and 2,400 miles after we left, we pulled into our driveway, unfolded our bodies and rejoiced that we had made the decision to go!

Not only was the food wonderful, the music and dancing captivating, the golf courses amazing, and the people just so friendly, but the landscape was remarkable in its spaciousness and simplicity.

We visited Peggy's Cove, where the rocky coast is worn by the sea into smooth,

rounded shapes that invite climbing and meditation.

The Cabot Trail on Cape Breton Island, was in some places serene...

and in others, dramatic.

Looking at the spacious landscapes--so much sky and land--I only wished for more time and the opportunity to go out and paint, paint, paint!

Food for the Artist Soul

Watching the fog lift this morning was magical.....out of dense mist slowly unfolded the changing foliage right before my eyes. I may not paint it, but it's somehow entered my being.


This past weekend another kind of feeding occurred. Not only were there plenty of opportunities to eat fantastic food at the wedding festivities we attended in Washington DC, but the galleries called......and I answered.

I'm not quite sure how I managed to see three galleries in the space of 48 hours between lavish celebrations and family connecting, but it felt too good to miss. My brother Greg and I took off for the East Wing of the National Gallery as soon as we had settled in. It was my second visit to the fantastic space designed by Pei, with a huge majestic Calder mobile gently moving above, that pays homage to the truly wonderful modern work within. It was like feasting at a never ending banquet.

Saturday morning was a visit to the Phillips Collection with my mother. Again, my favorite period of work, mid-20th century, was there in abundance. I was definitely getting full!

Finally, Sunday afternoon just before heading to the airport, Chris and I stopped in the fascinating Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian. Their invitational show featured four contemporary artists whose originality and wit made me laugh and filled me with awe. (Just imagine a guy who knits body suits for superheros, then sits and knits while wearing his outfits as part of performance art!)

Home again, I am inspired, hopefully not too much slowed down by all the imbibing over the weekend. Experiencing new tastes seems to be so good for the soul!
Barbara Bartlett

Endless Possibilities

I'm going back to some work that's been waiting.....very patiently, thank goodness. My 35 small rectangles seem to be nearer to completion and I've arranged them differently on the wall so they have a little more breathing room. It seems to help.


(These colors are much brighter than in reality...I haven't been able to get it right with my camera, always a frustration.)

So the next steps will be adding final layers of paint, then playing with their positions to help them compliment one another. The possibilities are endless. Maybe the piece will end up being an interactive one, where viewers can move them as they want to. On second thought, maybe not! I'm not sure I'm willing to relinquish that much control.

Barbara Bartlett

Moving on?

It feels like it's almost time to move on to another kind of work. I may finish up the wood pieces that are in process and clean my work table, which is totally covered at this point. Impossible to do anything else until some things get put away! And I can always come back to these rather odd but satisfying explorations anytime I want to.



Barbara Bartlett

Although I'm not in my studio as much as I'd like to be, I am still wrapped up in the process of assembling from old pieces of junk. I've always enjoyed saving things from the trash bin and have amassed quite a collection of stuff that most people would definitely have thrown away. Luckily I have a very generous work space and can afford to not be very choosy about what I keep. Surely at some point this will catch up with me, but I always imagine I'll find some use for those old bamboo blinds, wooden (and beautifully stained pink) strawberry containers, all sorts of recycled papers, bits of fabric from old curtains and clothes. I feel a great deal of satisfaction when the "junk" can be somehow incorporated into a piece of what I call art.


So the wooden pieces continue to emerge and I seem to have plenty of materials that beg to be finally put to use. I may soon be ready to bring out the paints and brushes, but for now I am happily working.

Barbara Bartlett