Heard today that Titiana was accepted into the Juried Exhibition at the Provincetown Art Association Museum. I've been in a number of these shows before, but it's always exciting to get in them. That background, by the way, is golden even though it's hard to tell here but it softens her totem fierceness. 

I have also confirmed dates for my solo show next September at The Commons here in town. And the craft fair starts next Friday - hope I'm ready!

 

 This is Claudio, yes I reversed the sketch of Claudia, the yellow female cardinal from a couple weeks ago, and painted it red for the holiday card I was thinking about making. Seems only fair since it has male cardinal coloration that I name him after her. When I posted his image on social media, I sold forty-five greeting cards that I hadn't even ordered yet as well as the original painting all in the first two days. Then I got an email from the craft fair people, who added more dates to my schedule so I will now doing every weekend after Thanksgiving through New Year's Eve. Guess I better order more greeting cards. I've already ordered mugs and giclees.

 

This is my studio. It used to be my bedroom, hence the rug and bureau, but I got sick of looking at a big art mess when I walked into the front room when I came home. It was everywhere. Now it's corralled where I can shut the door if it gets too bad. I still get dressed in here since this is where the closet is, but my bed is the main room. I like it in there, it looks good with the rest of the furniture and it's guaranteed to get made every morning. It is like I live in a studio apartment with an art studio attached.

Lots going on with getting a resale number for collecting sales tax at the craft fair and a business bank account. Everything I ordered last week has come in and needs to be inspected and packed. I framed those five birds on the wall as well, and they look glorious. Will be framing more - onward!

 

Besides all the usual activity going on - I just got confirmation and dates for the big Holiday Craft Fair here in Provincetown. Which means lots of ordering and administration to do to prepare. Later today I plan to buy a new, much needed granny cart, I've already ordered more mugs, greeting cards and giclees. I also spent the morning working on my online store and it's finally open - check it out. https://maureenmccarron.com/shop

Okay, back to work - Onward!

 This is Claudia, finally. I originally planned to do a cardinal for a holiday card, but decided to make it a yellow female instead. In theory, I could reverse the image and paint it red to make the card with and I still might, but now I'm painting a scarlet tanager. That's a red bird, it could work. Also, I'm now listed in the Paris Collage Collective Registry as well as having a profile on the Creative Ground website, along with updating my own website and Saatchi account. That's a lot of admin work this week on top of cleaning house, my job, doing an expense report for my accountant, applying for a spot in a craft fair in town, and oh yeah, making art. Got a little crazy today thinking I needed to order more frames, giclees and greeting cards without knowing if I'll get a booth at the craft fair yet. So, I didn't order any of it. What I did get though was a couple of Arches Watercolor blocks in 12x12", my preferred size at the moment - one in Cold Press for painting and one in Hot Press for drawing. I'm supposed to be making art, right?

Since I enjoyed posting about one of my CoVid collages last week, here's another. It's titled Swallows and has 5 elements in it - the artist, the window frame and desk, the landscape, the two swallows, and Whistler's Fireworks, which I xeroxed in black and white, cut up and then rearranged to create the background foundation to the rest of the piece.

I've been thinking about the lockdown because I just got vaccinated again and as usual, it knocked me flat. This time it was the Moderna version and as bad as I felt, it was not nearly as bad a reaction as what I've had in the past to Pfizer's. Was this the 6th or 7th? I can't remember, but that's a lot of shots to have for one thing in only a couple of years.

Known primarily for the bird portraits, I also do analog collage that incorporates birds into the imagery. Both approaches can be provocative and unworldly but each exists between mystery and fantasy in their innate if elusive narrative. This piece, titled Aria, is one of my favorites. And like most of the bird portraits, it has a gilded background.

Ah, winter's on the way - I feel an episode of collage making coming.