Archive for July, 2011
I have to admit my favorite part of Ozark culture is the “hideaway” part. The part where you run off to the mountains with your special someone, get a room, and basically stay in the room except for the occasional trip out for food. If that kind of living is up your alley then you too should visit Eureka Springs, Arkansas just south of Branson, Missouri. They’ve got a fancy old hotel that I just love. I love it because the floors creak when you walk on them and the hallways all seem off kilter and it feels like going back in time. And they have a spa in the hotel. Need I say more?
Eureka is a totally laid back place. Most of the people you see there are hippies, bikers, or tourists. And everyone is nice. Except this one old gal that works at Two Dumb Dames (a candy store) who was anything but polite about cutting up some fudge for us. Anyway – Eureka is a small town based on the idea of healing spring waters. I’m not sure if the water is drinkable anymore but there are a surprising amount of spontaneous water holes all over the town. That and a lot of stairs. A lot. Bring your tennis shoes. You’re gonna hike.
Do as I say, not as I do (those are not very good tennis shoes I’m wearing). Another cool thing about Eureka is it’s a totally animal friendly town. I can’t count the amount of cats, dogs, deer, and butterflies I saw on my morning walks. It was nuts. I am not a huge fan of animals just running up to me but this cat was very friendly. In fact it lives in the hotel we stayed in and it followed me for a good part of my walk. Did I mention there are butterflies? Swarms of them. Not kidding – like X-files style amounts of these insects were everywhere we went. See?
Well, that’s just two, but believe me there were many more. I’ve been visiting Eureka for about 6 or 7 years now and each time I find something new that I love. This time, I fell in love with some of its foods. We ate great stuff at Bubba’s BBQ, Chelsea’s dowtown, Lovin’ Oven on the highway (where a 20-year old will always call you and everyone “darlin”), and nothing tops dessert at Dr. Baker’s Bistro after 9pm on the roof of the hotel looking out on the town. Each morning our hotel provided free and delicious food. Hot food, cold food, all kinds of food. And a variety of fruits in jars like this:
And they sold those jars in the lobby. Hooray! I decided to take a jar of Blueberry spread home. But at home last night I found myself alone….bored….hungry….with just a jar of blueberry fruit spread. This could only mean one thing. I made some dough and let it sit overnight so that in the morning I would have fresh, delicious, piping hot, toasty English muffins. With fruit spread from my favorite place in the world.
Oh the joy. The pure sweet tasty victory! Try making your own English muffins. If you’re intrigued enough about my very delicious blueberry jam – buy it here. If you’re in the Ozarks make sure you get to Eureka Springs. Then come back here and tell me about it!
On the Line - Archival Giclee Print 4x6 by Lauren Alexander on Etsy
That is the question.
You see in my quest to never sound fancy I tend to not use fancy words like giclee (pronounced zhee-clay). It just sounds so….full of itself.
Based on the definition, giclee is the only word I can think to use to describe the finer quality of these amazing prints I have had made of my newer paintings. My newest paintings are kind of a break from traditional “Lauren style” of birds, owls, and other cute-sy things. And they deserve to be in a print category all their own. Enter the fancy print on fancy paper. This paper can only be described as the closest thing to the real watercolor paper. If you know anything about watercolor you know how important it is to have a nice tooth or texture to your paper. It just makes the pigment absorb better.
Turning Point - Archival Giclee Print 4x6 by Lauren Alexander
These prints are just about a perfect reproduction – equal in beauty to the original quality. It’s …..ahhhhhhh fancy…..err…..finer. Oh what the heck. I’m just going to have to accept that I am now a fancy gal with prints that have a snooty sounding name. Please enjoy my new section in my Etsy shop titled “Giclee Prints” for all the newer paintings you have seen here.
Three Sisters - Archival Giclee Print 4x5 by Lauren Alexander
And I will go now in search of a fancy breakfast…home made english muffins? Perfect….
For years now I have worked with a printing company that delivers outstanding prints and customer service. They are currently holding a contest to select artworks for their promotional materials. One of my paintings has been selected for the chance to be featured. But I need your votes! It ends tonight at midnight (July 29th) so pretty pretty please find it in your heart to go to their facebook page, “like” the page and then vote for my painting “At the Seams”. It’s a waterlily and a sun and is the very first image in the photo album. To vote click here.
And if you are looking for great quality art/photographic prints give them a try! You won’t be disappointed. Promise. http://www.iprintfromhome.com is the place to go.
Lace; original watercolor painting 4x6 by Lauren Alexander on Etsy
This painting, Lace, got it’s name from my fantastic guess work. While walking in Iowa (before the bird attack) I commented to my dad how the roads were totally lined with beautiful snow-flake looking flowers. I guessed that they were called Queen Anne’s Lace – Dad said he had no clue. I looked it up when I got home and yes, I was right, it was in fact named that. I’m a useless information genius! This painting celebrates my victory. I think the blues are quite soothing, no?
Divination; original watercolor 4x6 by Lauren Alexander on Etsy
At first glance you might see a yellow fish spitting some kind of purple shape but really when I painted Divination I had a snail shape in mind. When I got started the purple brush stroke in the white shape on the lower left reminded me of a snail or slug head. I did all the other stuff around that particular part – sort of an “automatic painting” process or what I like to call paint-doodling. When I looked up snails on wikipedia it said snails are often linked to divination – a word I didn’t know and was pleased to read this: “divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of a standardized process or ritual.” I suppose painting is my divination.
Crystalline; original watercolor 4x6 by Lauren Alexander on Etsy
Finally, Crystalline, is my new favorite painting. It’s all about the colors. I’d say this painting is a reflection of my interest in a new sculpture I was visiting in my art classroom at the Nelson Atkins Museum; Roxy Paine’s Ferment. It’s a silver tree – everyone refers to it as that. “It’s a tree that is not a tree,” we tell our students. This painting is Roxy meets Diebenkorn (see this post) mixed with my uncontrollable impulse to decorate. I wanted to create shapes that are sections of beautiful layers of pigment and meld it with something natural and pretty. I want to live in that icy blue triangle just below the branch. Looks nice in cool on this hot summer day.
Summer work (the official kind with a real paycheck) is over for me. For the next two weeks I can be an independent artist/amateur foodie/domestic goddess – all of which reap different but worthy “paychecks”. Then back to the real grind when school starts back up. I don’t want to think about that…look at my pretty veggies. I grabbed a feast from the Merriam Farmer’s market this morning. I will have to use it up before I leave town for a couple nights on Monday. Any good tomato recipes out there? Eggplant? I also got something called “noodle beans” from the Thai farmers.
Also of note this weekend are these three paintings I am working on. I think they are almost done. They are in the stage of painting where they just have to set there for a while…let the flavors blend….tomorrow I’ll figure out if they have reached their full potential. Kind of hard to see…but basically I was working on a snail, a flower, and a tree branch. And of course adding all kinds of crazy colors, lines, and shapes.
What are you doing this weekend?
Near the corn fields of my Dad’s house is Davenport, Iowa on the Mississippi River. They have a great museum there, the Figge, (like Figgy) with an impressive collection of artworks. Artworks like Richard Diebenkorn’s Ocean Park #17. Don’t you just want to jump in and swim inside those yellow pinkish gray blocks? Of course not because this is a small picture and to truly love a Diebenkorn (or any painting) you have to see it with your own eyeballs and breath the same air that it does. It’s the rules. Read more
My first post-attack bird painting: On the Line 4x6 watercolor
A couple family members of mine were concerned that traveling to New York City alone would be unsafe. I told them I never felt unsafe being around so many people all the time. No one asks if you’re going to feel safe on a walk alone through the rural roads of Eldridge, Iowa. They should.
Because I never felt to so alone out there. And because when I needed someone more than anytime, no one was around to help me. There was this bird. An angry bird. It wanted me dead. Read more
Last weekend I found myself in the middle of a Thomas Hart Benton Painting. Or perhaps more accurate would be a Grant Wood painting. I visited the wonderful land of Iowa; home of a zillion corn fields and the cleanest interstate restrooms in all the land. It only took me 6 hours in the car. Luckily my child in tow was sleepy most of the way there and she did not blow chunks in the back seat (thanks to Dramamine). We were visiting family and relaxing and enjoying ourselves. I got to go to a museum – my new favorite thing to do. The kid got to play in a pool with her cousin. Grandparents were in charge. Win-win-win situation. Oh and there was pizza. Very delicious juicy pizza.
There was only one major setback for me. What started as a serene and peaceful stroll through a mid-west mid-century landscape painter’s dream turned quickly into a nightmare, horror movie style. More on that soon. Very soon.
It’s been a work week for me. The kind when you have to go somewhere and punch a clock, get a million messy art supplies out, make things, wait forever to eat lunch, run around like a crazy person, and speak nonsensical jabber about the life and times of 5 year olds. So during a week of such nonsense it makes perfect sense that I would paint another picture of not really anything. It’s non-objective, I tell my husband. But there’s fish in it…he thinks…yes, there are fish in there…and that’s why I called it Tank. So maybe it’s abstract…I don’t know – not sure I want to get hung up on such grown up terminology. Look at the pretty colors…look at the diagonal composition….doesn’t it just excite your eyeballs to no end? Me too.
Something unprecedented as happened.
I made this “fancy flying insect” as an example project for a class I taught at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art. It’s a brilliant project (brushes own shoulders off); slap three pieces of cardboard together, glue all kinds of papers and doodads to it, smack a stick on the back…you got yourself a bug on a stick. Kids love anything on a stick. But that is not the unprecedented part! This is: Read more
