I made it to Newcastle in one piece. The trip over was smooth except for a screaming baby and the woman in front of me who had too much white wine and threw up on herself. The wait at Logan and the layover at Dublin were long and exhausting, but I had window seats in rows by myself on both flights. I arrived on Wednesday afternoon and promptly went to bed after devouring a delicious steak pie from the Grainger’s Market’s Hunter’s Deli, and it has been non-stop ever since I got up the next morning. Saturday was all about a big teatime meal with friends that included quizzes which I held my own in. Friday we installed a washing machine and that was a bit stressful. Yesterday we explored the riverside across the Tyne in Gateshead and on Thursday we went to the local lumber yard to price wood for a work table Paul, my fiancé, wants to build and something suitable for a large drawing board for me. We wound up in the back looking at off cuts that were destined to be destroyed. One of the men back there offered to saw down a piece to 30”x36” for me at no charge. Paul joked later that it was because I was a right flirt, while I thought I was just being nice. Either way, I now have a huge, free, drawing board on an extra easel in the studio. Then on Friday we went to the Details art supply store after installing the washing machine and got several big sheets of paper for me to play with. In the meantime, I finished #23, above, but it is on the 12x12” watercolor block I brought with me. It has a new element I have been thinking about using - white acrylic paint. It was only a matter of time before I picked up a brush again although the charcoal and drawing are still the predominant components. The paint added a different texture and blending ability as well as a great base for more charcoal once it had dried. I’ll do a few more 12x12” pieces before going bigger but the white paint will come in handy whatever size I choose. I’ve also got a rich gold paint for backgrounds, could that be next? Stay tuned.

Two birds this week, #22 above, a mystery bird I finished this morning and #21, the macaw below. I’ve mentioned before how the charcoal pieces I like best aren’t always the most popular ones on social media. For instance, I love the macaw, but so far it hasn’t taken off like last week’s rooster or the stork from a few weeks ago. Baffling really, it used to happen with the painted birds, but with them I knew who would get the most hits. These two are a return to the smaller size the series started out with. I plan to do more in this size while I’m in the UK this month, partly because the paper, a smooth 12x12” Arches watercolor block, fits in my carry-on, and partly because I really like how the charcoal grabs the surface. In an effort to become a part of the Newcastle Upon Tyne art community, I have joined the Newbridge Project (https://thenewbridgeproject.com/) and am in touch with the Vane Gallery (https://www.vane.org.uk/home) which is having an opening the evening I arrive. And since I plan to also do much larger work while I’m there, I will buy some paper at The Newcastle Arts Centre (https://newcastle-arts-centre.co.uk/) shop where they have an excellent selection - although I’ll have to leave those pieces behind since they will be way too big for my suitcase. I’m taking a different route this trip since I loath Heathrow with a passion and got stuck in Amsterdam overnight after missing my connection on the last visit, I’m going through Dublin this time. The layovers will be longer but I won’t be tearing through an airport with minutes to spare because this or that airplane taxied around for an hour. I hate how these trips start with an hour and a half drive to the airport shuttle that may take two hours to get to Logan. And don’t get me started on being stuck on a plane although Logan can be easy or a total nightmare depending on things that are annoying and unavoidable. Given the US government shutdown and whatever may be happening with TSA searches and Customs, there are plenty of things that are out of my control. Fingers crossed I can get back in the country when I return in November. Onward.

Someone mentioned the other day that September is National Chicken Month. Is it true? I have no idea but it spurred me on to finally do one. I’ve never been interested in using chickens as subjects because the fleshy stuff on their faces bothered me even though I found their combs intriguing. I know people who have them as indoor pets or keep them outside for their eggs. These people often ask if I’ve painted one before or send me pictures of their birds. Occasionally I’m asked about doing this or that breed of parrot, but chickens have gotten the most inquiries. In fact, I received a request for more roosters after posting #20, above, on Facebook today. There have been multiple hawks and crows and owls over the years, so perhaps that will happen. After spending afternoon scrolling through chicken photos online, I found that as fascinating as the exotic breeds are, the basic white rooster with a grand red comb was what attracted me most. I did save a couple of images of fancier ones, but #20 is based on several haughty tough guys that caught my eye. With this piece, I wanted to get back to the lines and negative space that the Charcoal series started with and I’m happy with the result. Another result I’m sort of happy with is the outcome of the laser surgery I had Friday. I do see better in that eye - there’s still a bit of a yellow rim on contrasting edges like trees against the sky, but it’s not nearly as annoying as the obvious yellow halo that was there before. The yellow is only visible now in bright sunlight, and it may lessen even more as the calcium deposits that got zapped the other day continue to dissolve. Fingers crossed, it’s already a relief, and if not, I can learn to live with this thin yellow rim. They wanted me to come back for a follow-up in October but I had to postpone it until November since I’ll be in the UK next month. Unless of course the powers-that-be, who are rushing us towards the proverbial cliff, shut the airports down. Will they? Can they? Am I over-reacting? Maybe, maybe not. I’ll be pinching pennies this trip but am grateful to be going.

Only one bird this week, I’ve found having time and space between them helps the process. I also had the latest CoVid vaccine, almost as a political statement, and it knocked me out. These days, I feel like I’m living in an alternative universe and that what’s going on out there can’t really be happening. Then I remember this is why I started the bird series to begin with in 2017. They are, after all, at least to me, pint-size guardians and observers of us foolish humans. I did spend a few hours revamping my website (www.maureenmccarron.com) and dropped a page, moved another, then gave the charcoal pieces their own category. Also, since I noticed Archetypal Angels (archetypalangels.blogspot.com), my old Manhattan blog where I revise and repost these Substacks, has taken off again, so I put it on Linktree where more people can find it. Since then, my website stats took a big jump so all the SEO lessons a few years ago seems to be working. In the meantime, as I’m all about social media today, an interesting memory from 2023 popped up on Facebook this morning. It was from a post Kevin Sessums tagged me in about his visit with me at the gallery where I had a show. One of the paintings, Professor below, had a big spider meandering across the front. Here’s what Kevin had to say about it. "Her bird paintings have an eerie beauty, both otherworldly and of this world all at once. One even convinced a spider. I told her that was the definition of art: Convincing the spider.” Thanks Kev, onward!

Only one bird this week, #18, the raven above, because I’ve had a lot going on. For one thing, I was dismayed to read that Trump wants to take over the 9/11 Memorial the way he did the Kennedy Center and will soon do to the Smithsonian. I have already mentioned that the bird series started in reaction to his first inauguration. What I haven’t talked about is how I lived downtown and spent the Thursday following 9/11 at the police barricades on Houston Street handing out water and sandwiches to the first responders headed down the West Side HWY to Ground Zero. Mr Trump showed up in the afternoon because our crew was on the local news. When he tried to shake our hands, I turned my back on him. Then he pitched a fit when the cops wouldn't let him, in his long black coat and suit, through the barricades. I will not be showing you any photos from the 11th but here is one of the collages I did following the event when I was too upset to paint. There were a dozen in the series and ultimately I created a handmade book of them. This one is titled Femme Fatale, for I believe, obvious reasons. Onward.

Once again, there are three new charcoal pieces since my last post and because I can’t decide which one to leave out, I’m going to present all three. I have noticed how the ones I like most are not the ones that get the strongest reaction on social media. #16, the stork above, is hands down the most popular of the charcoal series and it has only been online for a few days. Not that I don’t like it, but I have to admit I’m surprised. These three in particular have shown me there is often a wonkiness - the oddly shaped head, eyes that don’t match, fantasy feathers - that keeps the birds from being anatomically correct. As I’ve said before, I’m not interested in imitating nature. A resemblance, of course, but my birds are about something more ethereal. In the meantime, I saw my cataract surgeon and I do in fact have calcium developing on the right replacement lens. He said it is not an uncommon reaction and I am now scheduled for laser surgery at the end of the month. It is supposed to be a much easier procedure with only a few days of drops instead of the month-long schedule I had to deal with before. It was a relief to find out I wasn’t over-reacting or being a difficult patient. And in other news, I’m happy to report that I was accepted as an associate member of The Newbridge Project, an artist organization in Newcastle Upon Tyne, where I plan to live once I get to the UK. My artist page isn’t up yet, but I have access to their events and programs, and hopefully will become part of the art community there. So, some okay news with potentially good results, and some good news for my UK future. Onward.

There are four new charcoal pieces since my last post, but today I’m presenting #14 to keep it simple. The others can be seen on my website at www.maureenmccarron.com but I think you’ll agree that #14 is more compelling, if not riveting. It’s the mark making, and my growing familiarity with my materials. I’d introduced a creamy pale pastel called Mummy to the mix last week and have been working to keep it distinct by not blending it into the charcoal. I also like to go into a section of black with aggressive erasing, which leaves interesting textures. The Mummy pastel is more for highlights and finicky details. I apply those marks much the way I painted the little wooden panel pieces I did when my 15 year old Facebook friendship with my now fiancé turned into a relationship two and a half years ago. Early into our romance, he told me about a dream he’d had in which he helped me hang a show. The pieces were much too big for me manage by myself and had ornate gilded frames. I was sure I would not be doing large work any time soon, but within several months I’d given up working on the little wooden panels to begin painting works on paper. They were still birds only bigger, not enormous mind you, but definitely not small. As I now unframe those works on paper so I can reuse the frames for the charcoal pieces, I am struck by how lush and intricate they are. They have a sense of wonder and exploration that’s not in the wooden panel paintings which I returned to last fall. This is probably because of my being accustomed to that process, but I’d also had the cataract surgeries and could no longer see the way I used to. They are good paintings, they just didn’t move me like before. However, I am moved now by the charcoal series, especially this new owl. I can see, like in my fiancé’s dream, there may someday be enormous birds in elaborate gold frames. I am currently limited by the size of paper available to me, 18x18” or 22x22," I prefer to work on squares, but I know bigger paper is out there. So, yes, onward.