#ECStrong

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I wanted to update everyone about our situation in Ellicott City. My little town, where my studio is, experienced the worst flooding since hurricane Agnes in 1972. Two people lost their lives and the town in uninhabitable. Many folks lost not just businesses, but livelihoods, memories, keepsakes, and lifetimes of hard work and memories. But worst of all, two people were swept away that night.  Most of the buildings will have to be condemned.  The waters ripped away whole sidewalks, part of the street, cars were swept through culverts from a half mile up the road where they popped out at the other end of town.  6 inches fell within two hours.  One of the reading stations on the river went from 65 CFS (cubic feet per second of water) to over 21,000 CFS!!

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This video was taken by my friend Sara Arditti who owns a gallery on Main Street, Still Life Fine Arts and Custom Framing:

https://youtu.be/wfNX6bBuIVU

For a bit of background, Ellicott City was built in a quaint and picturesque valley that some remark as reminding them of a little European town. It was founded back in the early 1700's by the Ellicott Brothers as a mill town, attracted by the Patapsco River. On a normal summer day the rivers are no bigger than creeks. Its simply in the background while folks enjoy shopping and dining, smelling honeysuckle growing over the rocks, watching live music in the courtyard or catching up with friends at the local watering hole. But when it rains, the floodplain drains into these branches which run through Main Street, under buildings and roadways, daylighting here and there, until it flows into the Patapsco. And when it pours, everyone who knows the town keeps eyes on the water. I am ever grateful for our community. We are a tight group and we look out for one another. We rally when someone is in need, we celebrate the good things, and commiserate the bad. But when things get epic, we are unstoppable.

Just the night before the flood we were carefree. My friends Josh, Brian, and Cecilia.

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Many people have asked how to help. There are a few ways. One is to check with the Ellicott City Partnership at ecpartnership.org. There you will currently find what is needed and where to donate.

Here are some more links for help and donations:

Help Ellicott City

Food And Drink Fundraisers

Volunteer Sign Up

On a personal level, my studio suffered some major flooding. I first became aware of the situation because of the commUNITY facebook page where I started seeing friends' posts about the flash flood. I didnt think at first that my studio would be affected, but then I saw a post by a friend who is also a neighbor showing her front yard. The river that normally runs under her front yard WAS her front yard. I panicked thinking that my studio which is further upstream, and sits directly ABOVE the Tiber, may have sustained some damage. It did flood back in 2011 when Tropical Storm Isabelle came through but luckily I hadn't moved in yet. I drove over hand had to sneak in the back way because all of the medical and emergency personnel had the road blocked. I walked up and around behind the hill then down to my shop. I noticed the black top had shifted and buckled and my neighbor across the street's car was sitting nearly on her front porch. I said a prayer then opened my door.

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The smell of paint hit me first, then I put on my phone flashlight and my heart sank. Paintings were floating, chairs were upside down, and as I walked down and in further I saw papers were all over the place, cans, bottles, equipment; all floating in a sea of brown, muddy, smelly water.  I quickly began grabbing my paintings, the ones that were for my show "Still Standing" and placed them on tables, I then walked around surveying the rest of my space, I was dumbfounded. No one predicted this!! I could do nothing more than go home and try to sleep before returning in the morning to face the most awful clean up I could imagine.

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At the same time as I was discovering my studio, I found out later that friends were trapped in apartments by rising waters and cars blocking entrances. Howard County Fire and Rescue had to evacuate residents and visitors stranded by the torrent. I realized quickly that I was one of the relatively lucky ones. Two people were swept away and perished in the Patapsco, only to be found miles down the river.

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We have been washing out and sorting through the contents of my studio to see what I have left. My insurance does not cover flood so I will have to rebuild from my own pockets. I did start a Go Fund Me page to help with repurchasing materials and covering bills while I'm out of commission.

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And to top it off, yesterday I sliced my hand open carrying a flat file out to be sprayed off. I tripped on my own feet (not an uncommon thing) and I didn't want to drop and potentially dent the drawer so it slid off my hand and onto the ground. Thank goodness for the EMT that was driving up the road in a gator, he wrapped me up and then dad took me to All Care for 8 stitches. Thank goodness it missed the tendon, but it was still pretty deep. Almost to the bone.

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I am so thankful to live in such a loving and strong town. So many friends and neighbors came by to see if I was ok. Its devastating when something like this happens but its beautiful to witness how we rally around one another.

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Here are some more photos taken by my friend Joe Pulone and Chris Winslow. Others were taken by 1304 Photography

The first responders were amazing, they came in and began helping people stuck in buildings, high in trees, and trapped in cars. Friends were rescued through second floor windows, some even having to punch through walls, others crawling out from under cars that blocked their doors. The clean up will continue for months and my hope is that people will continue to offer help and support long after the mud and debris has been cleared.

#ecstrong

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Jumping in Head First; An Art Piece Like No Other (for me at least)

When I proposed this project almost two years ago I had not a clue as to who what I was getting myself into. My client, referred to me by Wendy Appleby, has lived in this house for over 20 years and hadn't figured out what to do with the giant overmantle that loomed over the front room. She is a collector of great art and owns a few Picasso's, Chagall's, and Matisse's. She also collects glass and so when I proposed  that we do an abstract glass piece she was sold. "Great!" I thought, then "What the hell did I just say I would do??"

The first thing was to figure out if the glass could be cut in the way we wanted. I went to several places but the only folks who could help me out were Sherry and Len Berkowitz from Great Panes in Old Ellicott City. They had the glass water jet cut to my template. I was stoked that they were able to help me out. Its also nice to be able to use the talents of friends.

So on to the next task of figuring out how to go about executing what was in my brain. Enter my friend Annie Lemarie, an expert at gilding. I took a trip out to her house in Sharpsburg and spent the day playing in her studio. She lives directly across the street from the Antietam Battlefield, a beautiful setting for a fun filled day. We figured out the method of application of colors and metals, an oil based paint would suffice.

Back to the studio and my friend Ewan Tulis constructed this easel that would serve to allow me to study the front as I was working along. I had to work on the back, a technique called "reverse painting" or "reverse gilding." I was essentially flying blind with the first layers of color. It looked so awful until the leaf and mica powders were applied. Then the whole thing came to life.

Finally, the last task was mounting it. Bill Knapp, yet another friend, who works in found object metal sculpting, built an armature that would allow the glass to be suspended from the wall as if it were floating. It was heavy and would be hung on a travertine tiled wall. We couldn't really figure out where the studs were so we hoped that when the client decided she was going to replace the wood burning fireplace with a gas insert that we were going to be able to look up inside to see where we were going to tap in. Luck was not in our favor but thankfully the way Bill made the armature, our pilot holes would be covered over.

Finally! The day came for it to be installed. Ewan and his assistant Matt worked smoothly and professionally to place my work perfectly over the fireplace. It was such a treat to see it in its place after so much planning and work.

The best compliment came from my client when she said, "That's cool as S***!" I laughed out loud. The icing on the cake was an email she sent that evening. "[My husband] walked in the door and saw the painting and his comment was "spectacular"! He sat down on the sofa, stared at the painting and said to tell Dee the painting was well done. The funniest comment he had was that it is a lot more colorful and stands out more than what we had before. I laughed and told  him I sure hope so because there was nothing on the wall before. It is truly am amazing piece of art!"

That makes me happy.

Raving about the Ravens

Recently I was asked to paint some murals for a library renovation being funded by the Ravens Foundation for Charles Carroll Barrister Elementary in Pigtown, Downtown Baltimore. I was thrilled! I was able to paint four areas, all on canvas, and help create a warm and inviting environment for the students of CCB to read and learn. Special thanks to Nancy Pascale and Warren Wunder for having faith in me to accomplish this project in such a short amount of time. And special thanks to Mary Landavere for helping paint all those stadium seats! Oh, and I can't forget Shelly Wilkins and Larry Stroup for their work hanging the murals.

Never Say Never

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Yeah, well...so I said I'm done with painting cabinetry. Its tedious, difficult, smelly, sweaty, and dirty. BUT after figuring out the nuances of my new system I think I'm ready to go again.  I decided to try out a new sprayer and use lacquer after hosting the Faux Team's class at my studio. You can read about that here.

I hit a few hiccups along the way. The first was getting to know my new sprayer. With a little help from a friend I was able to get up and running. Then I didn't realize HOW MUCH paint you had to use just to get the hose primed! Then something went "fishy" with the paint on the doors. Turns out there was a certain cleaning product that was used on them and it repelled the paint. Mind you I had SCRUBBED these doors well with TSP and wiped them clean then sanded and wiped clean AGAIN but the problem persisted. The only solution was to keep layering thin coats of paint and sanding back between each coat followed by a wipe down each time with Xylol.

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After the doors and drawers were completed it was time to tackle the kitchen itself. It took about two days to fully mask everything off. My intern's back was out so I was on my own. But once that was finished the spraying was cake. Not as many issues on the boxes so thankfully this portion went much more smoothly.

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Re-installation took about a half day and the results are stunning. I will never use anything else on cabinetry. The feel and durability of lacquer far outweighs the extra time and effort of setting up and spraying it, as well as the smell. It looks so professional.

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So....the clients have asked me back to do some other areas of their home. Never say Never!

Adventures in Portrait Painting

Taking classes to continue my personal artistic growth is something I always love doing but finding the time (and money) is difficult. Last month I took the third class offered in William Cochran's Trompe L'oeil Mastery Program- Portraiture. Each time I take a class with William I find that take away something that doesn't present itself until later. The immediate return is usually that I suck and I should hang up my brushes. However, after a few weeks the information absorbed at the time somehow begins to come together. Our first day was revisiting color theory. Elementary as it may seem, there are hundreds of pigments and we each chose a palette to work from. My colors were Hansa Yellow Opaque, Phthalo Blue Green Shade, and Pyrrole Red Dark. Adjusting for the intensity of the pigments, we each created a value scale moving through each color as well as across the wheel through neutral grey. Once complete, we began the portrait workshop in earnest.

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We worked from a live model as well as a photograph. This was extremely difficult. Ideally the model would be present the entire time, but that isn't practical. We began with setting up the backdrop and her attire, changing things based on how they reflected against her skin and hair. Once we settled on the look we shot a series of photos. This whole process took an entire day. The photography process could be a class in and of itself because there is so much to understand like lenses, lighting, distance, etc.

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The difficulty in this class was having to move from the photograph to the model when she was present. In the photograph the values and temperatures were completely different. In real life these things were much clearer and more vibrant if you really studied her. In starting out I did my usual thing of blending tiny brush strokes and by the end of the first day it had no dimension. Up close, yes, but when you stepped back everything collapsed. So I began round two and finally hit my stride. I stood back at arms length with a long handled paint brush and contemplated each stroke of color. This also made it easier to paint with the type of paints we were using; Golden's Heavy Bodied Acrylics. I'm used to using Golden's Proceed line of mural paints which have a much longer open time and are less opaque, thus requiring a different method of application- multiple translucent layers.

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Painting skin is a whole different ballgame than painting other surfaces. There is a luminosity and depth that is hard to achieve. The tricky part is capturing the subtle temperatures of the values; warm darks, clear and vibrant midtones, cool lights. And this can all change depending on the lighting. I spent more time looking and studying than I did putting paint on the canvas. I hope with practice I'll be able to identify these types of things more efficiently.

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I am usually a fast painter and I think that I should have stopped while I was ahead but having about a day and a half left I continued to tinker with it. Which is fine because no one is paying me for this! I switched over to Golden's Open Acrylics which are similar to the Proceeds but have a heavier body like their regular line. This allowed me to blend a bit more and smooth out some values. But stepping back again, things began to fall flat. I wasn't worried as much this time because I felt I had gotten what I wanted from the exercise.

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My dear friend Jeanne stayed with me during the week and we had amazing philosophical discussions about art and life. Jeanne and I met while working for William on his project, The Dreaming, in Downtown Frederick, MD in 2006.  She came up a few summers ago to help with the Extreme Makeover Project I was involved in. Jeanne is a free spirit, full of energy, extremely talented, and I wish she lived closer.

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On Saturday after the class, Jeanne and I headed down to DC to visit the National Portrait Gallery. Its a shame that I live so close to such amazing museums and I've never been to this one. We spent the day there, seeing as much as we could. With new eyes, I was able to really study the brush strokes and color. Some of my most favorite are below.

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Aaaaaaannnnnnd..........done.

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