Up Close in the NYC Subway

For the first time, I had the pleasure of taking the new Second Avenue Subway line (known as the “Q”) from 88th Street. I was staying at Laura’s apartment for a long weekend, and was in a big hurry to get to a new age musical event 60 blocks south. 

So I wasn’t paying too much attention to my subway surroundings (not a good thing in NYC), until I saw this huge, vivid, in-your-face image staring at me from the wall. I stopped in my tracks. “Could it be a Chuck Close self-portrait?”, I asked myself.

I walked closer and touched the mosaic, which I always wanted to do in museums and never could. “Could this be Chuck Close’s eye?”


Yes, it could. And it was. Suddenly I remembered reading about major public art installations in the new subway line, including the Chuck Close “Subway Portraits”, but had long forgotten about it living in the suburbs.

The mosaic installations are amazing! How does Chuck Close do this? From short distance away (I’m trying not to keep repeating the word close; what a coincidence that’s his name…or is it?), the mosaics look totally abstract, but far away they form a realistic portrait. 

On the way home, I come back to explore, and was glad I did. 

I found another Chuck Close self-portrait, this time gigantic and more detailed, showing every facial imperfection that helped make him famous. 

Compare the eye to the one above. Take a look at Chuck’s mustache. It’s hard to believe this is made out of pieces of glass or ceramic tiles rather than being painted.

The striking mosaics are placed strategically near the escalators, elevators and exits. This well-known portrait of the composer Philip Glass was a welcome relief from that steep escalator ride.

Then I came upon this delightful child. To keep the body parts theme going, here are close-ups of an eye and mouth.


I didn’t want to leave you without including a few of the women. The detail below shows how Close used circular mosaic patterns too (maybe of the ear? Your guess is as good as mine…).

By now you’ve had enough scrolling, so I’ll end by saying this is public art at its finest. There’s a lot more where this came from at 88th street and other Second Avenue stops on Manhattan’s upper east side. 

It’s art you can experience  – up Close and personal – by one of the rock stars of American art. And it’s free (almost)!

Tips on Displaying Small Paintings

Today I wanted to take a few minutes to share my experience hanging little panel paintings with you.

Problem: Now that I have over 60 small panel paintings, displaying them has become challenging. For several years, my piano did double duty as a display case. But it only holds 20 panels.

Solution: My framer, Joe Sablow at Artistic Services in White Plains, NY, came up with a solution for displaying small panel paintings, similar to display concepts at crafts fairs.

He made large wooden boards that hung on the wall, and glued black fabric down to velcro the panels to the fabric.

Next Problem: As a test, I tried sticking a few panels on and they were so crooked! (And every time I put them down, they kept sticking to my tablecloth!)

Next Solution: In the middle of the night, I came up with the idea of wrapping the boards with black yarn as guidelines for the borders, rows and columns. So I tried it. And it worked.

The End Result: These two panels were the first I put together on Thursday, 2 days before the Open Studio. I was pretty proud of how straight the rows and columns were. Not perfect, but pretty good. You can’t even see the black yarn against the black fabric.

The Details of Process: To my fellow artists out there seeking solutions to their own display problems, my apologies for not taking photos of process (what a mess it was in the dining room for 2 days!). I was so far behind in getting ready for the Open Studio that this post was the furthest thing from my mind.

The morning after I came up with the yarn idea, Jay ran to A.I.Friedman to get supplies, while my friend Eve and I put black velcro on the back of all the small panel paintings. First we had to peel (using pliers!) the old velcro off. I had being used the loop side instead of the hook side!

My advice when using velcro: plan ahead and put the hook side on the panels to  leave yourself the option to hang your panels on fabric.

The yarn placement took a lot of measuring and experimenting to figure out.

In the end, I wrapped 8 pieces of yard, 4 vertical (2 on the borders, 2 between the columns) and 4 horizontal (2 on the borders, 2 between the rows) around the first board – being careful to run the yard under the picture wire in the back.

By Friday night, I finished 5 boards and we had a family bonding experience hanging them.

Since I was still nervous about pounding nails in my newly painted walls, I approached this task gingerly – actually using a tape measure instead of “eyeballing” the placement.

Each family member was in charge of holding a board as we explored spacing on the wall. As you can see, I ended up on the step ladder.

We got pretty lucky the first time. Here we are assessing our handiwork.

In the end, I was thrilled that I only had to punch one extra hole in the wall to adjust the left panel.

In case you think they are going downhill from the above photo, here’s how the wall with 27 panels came out. 

I still had the piano and two other boards like this one for my non-dessert Challenge pieces.

So I’m ready for next year!

If you have any questions about specifics of the process, let me know and I’ll do my best to help.

It Takes a Village

I know I say this every year after my Open Studio, but I could never do this alone. There are always so many moving parts. This year felt more rushed since I repainted my studio and tried a new display system for my small panel paintings.

Here is the family crew, Bonnie, Jay, Laura and I. We sure do clean up well!

From previous years, you probably know our friend Maritza, who is an indispensable part of the team. Somehow she just knows what I need to do before I do! Maritza, I am grateful for your friendship and your ongoing support.

Here Maritza is with Bonnie putting the finishing touch on the dessert table.

And here’s Bonnie’s handiwork. If Bonnie ever wants a second career, I think there’s a place for her in the food world.

And a special thanks to my friend Eve, who spent hours here in the two days leading up to the event helping me velcro, label and arrange 60 panel paintings.

Eve and I were so busy that I didn’t even think of taking photos of her and the process, which would have been interesting for all of you to see. What a mess the dining room was! In fact, I would have liked to see the pics so we could all give ourselves a pat on the back for getting everything together in record time. Next year.

Until then.

A Fun Oreo Cookie Contest!

This year’s Oreo Cookie Contest started off quietly enough, with these three boys carefully plotting their strategies and taking their bites.

The contestants kept on coming, and the bitten Oreo Cookie Contest entries rapidly piled up on our kitchen table.

Then on Sunday these two biters arrived, Jill and Rick. This was Rick’s first visit to my Open Studio, and he was a willing participant. He had talked about coming since last year, so he was ready, as was Jill.

After taking a look around, Rick sat down at the table and started chomping down, holding his plate under his chin to catch the crumbs. (Notice he didn’t have an audience yet…)

He was so disappointed in his first entry, that we encouraged him to try again. He got fancy with this cookie, and basically crushed it… and let all the crumbs fall out of his mouth. Clearly he knew I liked crumbs.

As Rick was assessing his entry, and writing his name on the plate so I would know which bite was his (as if I could forget!), he described his entry as regurgitated crumbs (spoken like a true doctor!).

The regurgitation comment really caught us by surprise. You can see his wife Jill laughing hysterically in the background at that comment.

It was a very funny moment that had us all belly laughing, including Rick.

Bonnie was having a hard time holding it together at the other end of the table.

All of this biting worked up Rick’s appetite for carrot cake, and he suggested I sponsor a second contest…

Rick certainly has a knack for biting Oreo Cookies, which you can see here (maybe carrot cake not so much…). How he got all that icing to hang out is a mystery to me. So to Blake, the 2015 Oreo Cookie Contest Winner, I say, “Watch out!”

I’m definitely not declaring this cookie the winner – especially since I haven’t painted any of the Oreos yet. I am suggesting that it’s interesting, along with entries from many other contestants. It was a good contest and I am inspired to get to work.

However, I will say that Rick won my Funniest Contest Participant Award! And for that, there wasn’t even a close second.

Rick, you should be proud!

2017 Open Studio

Thank you all for coming to my Open Studio!

For those of you who couldn’t make it, here’s a mini photo-blog tour. FYI. I meant to take an action video once people arrived, but I was too busy – and forgot to ask anyone else to do it.

When the big day arrived last Saturday, Bonnie and I were ready and waiting for our first guests, who arriving promptly at 11:00am.

My studio was amazingly clean, with just one table of oil paint tubes and brushes. I even surprised myself!

This display greeted everyone at the front door, totally arranged by Bonnie. Bravo! My big Confection Obsession painting was in the front hall too.

Confection Obsession by Beverly Shipko, Oil, 36 x 48 inches

With the new white walls, it really felt like a gallery.

And can you guess what got the most comments of all?

The broccoli, of course! Over the mantle and on the easel.

This panel of sweets attracted a lot of attention too.

It’s always fun to see who walks through the door. There’s never a dull moment. Here we are with Theresa, who made the first purchase of the weekend.

Liv of Riviera Bakehouse thoughtfully arrived with a box full of her tantalizing mini-cupcakes for our dessert table (yes, we had real edible desserts!). Perhaps there’s a mini-cupcake painting in my future…

Of course, our traditional donut holes were on hand from Dunkin’ Donuts – ostensibly for the kids, but downed by adults. Naturally, Jay dug right in.

We had neighbors.

Friends.

Loyal fans who come back annually. Somehow Samantha magically grew up into a young lady since last year!

After a whirlwind two days – including an artists party on Saturday night – our last visitor arrived on Sunday. Here’s Kathy, from my Kraft General Foods days. How nice it was to finally sit down and catch up!

And how funny it was that Bonnie looks like her daughter in this photo with all the curly hair.

Oh yes, did I forget to mention all the kitchen action with the Oreo Cookie Contest? We’ll get to that in my next post.

I hope you can stand the suspense.

Happy 75th, M&Ms!

Here’s a little painting that I had sketched for the January Challenge. It was just waiting patiently on its easel, crying out for me to finish it before this weekend’s Open Studio.

Happy 75th, M&Ms! by Beverly Shipko, Oil on wood panel, 5 x 7 inches

This painting turned into a commemorative painting marking M&M’s 75th birthday, and the special pack marking this milestone.

It took a few mistakes for me to internalize how much the package changed. At first, I didn’t realized that the logo color has been reversed. The M&Ms logo in the special pack is white instead of the standard brown.

Out of habit, I started painting the logo brown late last night. I was struggling and I didn’t know why. When I finally figured it out, I wiped off the brown. This morning I repaired the damage.

Happy 75th, M&M! makes me smile. I’m not exactly sure why. Do you?

Anatomy of a Series

Working in a series is often more complex than you might think.

Take my candy vending series, for example. On a whim, I decided to add a panel with the largest piece of broccoli I have ever painted – almost 2 feet tall. Here it is before I painted in the vending machine rings.

Since I wanted it to mesh with the rest of the series, I put it up on the mantle to compare shading, color and size of the dark rings going any further. The mantle ended up doing double duty as an easel.

This worked for a while as long as I was painting near the bottom. Eventually I got the kitchen step stool out.

Here I am looking happy – right before I got black paint on my newly painted fireplace mantel… Now I know why artists keep so many easels in their loft studios.

I’ll have to look for a better strategy if I want to keep the pristine look of my newly painted studio, which you can check out this coming weekend.

Here’s the finished painting. 

Vending Machine Broccoli

It fits in very well with the rest of the series visually. Maybe a little paint on the mantel is a small price to pay.

One thing is certain: The addition of the broccoli sure does make me think differently about the whole series. It will be interesting to hear what people have to say about it.

What do you think? Feedback is much appreciated.

Two Flower Artists

Art isn’t just for the canvas today – it’s for the flower pots.

Webmaster Laura came home for the weekend, and was kind enough to help me plant these pansies before my Open Studio this coming weekend. We dressed the part in our matching Mickey shirts. (Aside: Laura’s first word was Mm-key)

This year I went to Carlsen’s for flowers before Easter so I could handpick my favorite pansies with the little “faces” on them before they disappeared.

Jay went out and bought topsoil – an important tool of the trade. One of the perks of participating in the Studio Tour is that everyone pitches in so the outside and inside of the house look good. The landscaper is on the way this week too.

Here I am in action, starting with the vinca and then moving on to the pansies. It actually felt great to garden again.

As we were arranging the pansies. Laura commented that we’re flower artists. And that we were.

The artistry comes in here – more white or purpose? Or maybe we need to go buy more yellow? Should we add more topsoil so the flowers are visible from the street?

While you can see we were having a good time, all was not a bed of roses. There was a little complication.

With the help of Jay’s giant Pepsi umbrella, we powered through this minor setback, and finished the job. Here’s a sample of our handiwork, which you can see for yourself next weekend.

Our four planters are good to go for the Open Studio. Laura asked me if they spark joy. Yes, they do. And lots of it.

Signed,

Two Flower Artists for a Day.

Happy 100th, Mr. Peanut!

Happy 100th Birthday, Mr. Peanut! will be making its debut at my Open Studio.

“Happy 100th Birthday, Mr. Peanut!” by Beverly Shipko, Oil on canvas, 11 x 14 inches

This was my first depiction of a relatively healthy snack in a vending machine. I deliberately chose Planters Peanuts (founded in 1906) to complement my more typical choices of M&M Mars candy bars for sentimental reasons – and I’m glad I did.

As previously mentioned in the Story Behind The Eggs, my grandfather owned a gourmet grocery store in Detroit. One of the perks was an endless supply of freebies, such as this Mr. Peanut mechanical pencil, with its pocket clip that all grocers seemed to use. Mr. Peanuts become the beloved spokesperson for the company 10 years after its inception.

Boy, did I love these pencils! As a little kid, I thought they were the cutest things ever. Apparently so did adults since my mother kept hers for over 50 years before giving it to Webmaster Laura.

As fate may have it, I started this painting for the Studio Tour last April, 2016, just as the iconic spokesperson, Mr. Peanuts, was turning 100 years old. In fact, I used the painting as a demo during last year’s Open Studio to show the process, and explain how I approach vending machine paintings.

And so it’s appropriate for several reasons that I dedicate this painting to Mr. Peanut and his 100th birthday. It’s time to celebrate. Let’s break out the peanuts!

My Studio Reveal: Before and After

What a difference a wall color makes!

When you come visit during my Open Studio, you’ll see the space has been totally transformed by a fresh coat of white paint.

Before.

After.

It’s like starting all over with a clean slate – for myself and my paintings, which will look very different! Here’s a sneak peak.

Before.

After.

My new white walls were inspired by Marie Kondo and Agnes Martin. There may be 50 Shades of White, but I only needed two – Decorators White for the walls and Super White for the trim.

While the new white walls really spark joy, getting there didn’t.

That mess is behind me now. It’s time to move forward and hang paintings – if I can only get myself to put that first nail in…

Message to self: Get over it. Embrace the positive change! Right?

RiverArts Studio Tour Events

You might think that my upcoming April 22 and 23rd Open Studio is just a weekend event. It’s actually part of a large and ambitious annual local program, the RiverArts Artists Studio Tour.

The first event was an Artists Welcome Breakfast on March 17.

Most recently, Jay and I went to a RiverArts kickoff event for the 2017 Studio Tour (Hastings-on-Hudson Municipal Building, 7 Maple Avenue). Every artist on the Tour was invited to submit a work for this exhibition (open all of April).

This attractive banquet table greeted us as we came through the door. There was quite a crowd. Of course I whipped out my camera at the sight of food…

Kudos to Doug Coe, Executive Director of RiverArts, for shepherding this entire event, and to active Board Member Kara Lenkeit, who always has a smile on her face.

A special thanks this year to Peggie Blizzard (with her artist husband Larry) for bringing back the Dobbs Ferry ArtWalk. Due to her initiative, along with Ellen Crane, I’ll have a painting in a Dobbs Ferry store for two weeks to gain awareness. (Now I just have to pick which one!)

This year I chose to show Oreo Mandala: Studio Tour Oreo Cookie Contest Entries since its concept is inextricably bound to the Studio Tour itself.

This original print is a composite of 9 unique Oreos bitten by 9 different people who all came to my Open Studio in previous years.

Let me introduce you to Marisa Silverstein, another participating artist, who kindly took this photo. She and I both attended a timely and informative workshop on “Artists Using Social Media” – tips and tricks to increase your web visibility around special events like the Studio Tour. Luke Joerger of Hastings Digital hastingsdigital.com presented a lot of useful information which Marisa and I are still processing.

The workshop and a post-workshop discussion with Marisa inspired this post.

With only two weeks to go, it’s time to hunker down and get my studio in shape. Easier said than done since the room was dismantled by the painters last week. Wish me luck!

2017 Open Studio Invitation

You are invited to my Open Studio Weekend
for the RiverArts 2017 Artists Studio Tour
Saturday and Sunday, April 22nd and 23rd
11am – 5pm
Beverly Shipko’s Home Studio 
36 Sheldon Street
Ardsley, New York 10502
 
Where else can you bring your whole family to eat Oreos and look at art in one time – and be happy about it?
Stop by and participate in the Oreo Cookie Contest. Just take a bite out of an Oreo to join the fun. If I select your cookie to paint, I’ll name the painting after you since it’s your unique portrait.

Bring your kids and grandkids too! Feel free to invite your friends and family members.

They’ll be plenty of paintings to look at too. And desserts galore to go with the paintings, of course.

NOTE: Since there’s construction on the Sawmill River Parkway Exit #17 to Ardsley going north is closed, please exit at Lawrence Street Exit #16. You can e-mail me at beverlyshipko@mac.com if you have any questions.

Printed tour maps will be available. 80 artists from Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, Hastings, Irvington and Tarrytown will be participating in the tour. Or you can go to www.riverarts.org to print the tour map.

I look forward to seeing you!

 

$1 Art Vending Machine

After 2 days visiting hundreds of exhibits during Armory Art Fair Week, there’s one interactive installation that stands out above all others  – and that’s Art Vending Machine $1 Paintings. 

Booth 512 on Pier 94 at the Armory Show, Gallerie Forsblom, Helsinki, Stockholm

I love it! Apparently so does the Guggenheim who is thinking about purchasing this.

Located on the 94th Pier (Booth 512) at the grandaddy Armory Show (through Sunday, March 4), Art Vending Machine $1 Paintings attracted long lines whenever it was operating. The novelty of watching an original piece of artwork pop out of a huge vending machine for $1 was irresistible.

Simply put in your dollar, choose the concept you want from the list, tell the representative who talks to artist through a cardboard tube in the wall, wait a bit, and out it comes. Then you have your photo taken with your original art.

The buyers all walked away with big grins, proudly holding their abstract compositions, many commenting they were going to frame their creations.

This was one of the most innovative and memorable installations I have even seen at an art fair. It has special appeal to me as a painter of vending machines (Icons of the Candy World, Icons of the Chip World), my most recent being Super Foods.

“Super Foods”, Vending Machine Series, by Beverly Shipko, Oil on wood panel, 5 x 7 inches

With 10 paintings in the series so far, Art Vending Machine $1 Paintings opened up the world of possibilities to explore further. I plan to go beyond broccoli and think broader. As the metaphorical visual below implies, this theme can incorporate any material – even the kitchen sink.

So can I.

Reflections on the Challenge

I miss the Challenge.

There’s great satisfaction in starting a daily project and finishing it in a short period of time, with a clearly defined beginning, middle and end. After 10 days, I’m still working away on this Blueberry Cheesecake painting, a unfamiliar time frame in the post-Challenge world.

Admittedly, I’m not painting 8 hours a day. I had set a goal to finish this today, and missed it. Unlike the Challenge, there are no immediate consequences.

So I’ve been thinking about why I like doing the Challenge, even if the pace is grueling for 30 days – and some people think I’m nuts. Here’s what I came up with:

  1. Structure. The Challenge imposed a clear external discipline on my daily routine. You know what you have to do, make a plan, execute the plan.
  2. Single Focus. I’m the kind of person who likes working one one thing at a time. With focus, I really internalize and see what I’m painting. Multi-tasking is overrated when it comes to my painting.
  3. Escape. For 30 days, I put the mundane chores of everyday life on hold (thanks to Jay and Bonnie). January was my stay-cation. I lived in a proverbial bubble – and didn’t want to come out.
  4. Momentum. The more I paint, the more I want to paint, and the better I get at it – and more confident.
  5. Experimentation. This is a low risk (defined as low time commitment) way to explore a variety of subjects, within the world of food and beyond. I pursued variations on some of my favorite themes (Stack of Oreos, Egg on Stove).
  6. Dialog. I enjoyed the exchange with other artists and explored new concepts (Super Foods aka Healthy Choices by so many people) while getting feedback from fresh eyes.
  7. Wet-on-wet. While I often talked (sometimes complained!) about paintings getting too wet, I love painting wet-on-wet (aka alla prima in Italian). I miss the flexibility and ability to wipe the slate clean with a paper towel. I’m getting frustrated with the fact the blue paint on my blueberries dries so quickly, decreasing my ability to make big structural changes.
  8. Memories. The Challenge gave me the excuse I needed to spend time going through my large photo collection (rationalizing all my picture taking…) and relive so many forgotten moments. I chose images that resonated with me, and in doing so took many trips down memory lane.

This Challenge felt easier than others. Why you may ask? Here’s what I learned:

  1. Planning was everything. In December, I printed out hundreds of photos that inspired so many ideas, and ordered all the materials I needed.
  2. Practice makes perfect. I knew what to expect from previous challenges and how to pace myself better (i.e. limited social media).
  3. I kept an open mind and found inspiration where I least expected it (in a Lobster tank!)
  4. You can’t always anticipate when a painting will be successful (Koi)
  5. Keeping my cool paid off and got me to the end with all 30 paintings (ok, ok, 2 drawings out of 30).

Bottom Line:

While I was off the grid for a month, and passed up an evening with Charles Osgood (someone I admire tremendously), I would do the Challenge again next January.

What a wonderful way to spend the heart of a cold NY winter!

Now that the official Challenge is over, my unofficial challenge begins: applying this newfound insight to the process of creating art on an ongoing basis.

Collage from 30/30 Challenge, 2017

At the end of the 30 Day Challenge, it’s traditional to make a collage of all your images. It’s an opportunity to look back and feel a sense of accomplishment for a job well done. It also brings a sense of closure.

This time around, I was determined to include all 30 paintings. Here’s what I came up with.

Assembling this collage took a lot more time than expected given I had done this before. There’s a learning curve to www.PicMonkey.com, as there is with any new software.

When I went back to previous collages (Collage of 30/30 Challenge Paintings, Collage from the 30/30 Challenge, My January Personal Challenge Collage), I realized that none of them had 30 works in them. Either I didn’t make it to 30, or I left out a few in the interest of the overall design, as I did below with this 17 painting experiment.

 

To include all 30 paintings, I used a simple 5 x 6 grid of 30 squares, a basic format that was provided free online.

Every painting has equal weight and a square format, irregardless of the original painting format.

As I got used to the software, I came up with a collage that somewhat preserved the horizontal and square formats. Some of the images are larger at the expense of others. I thought this might be more artsy (artsy PicMonkey formats required payment so I had to build my own). Maybe it’s more cluttered. But it’s time for bed.

So I ask you: What’s your favorite version of the collage? That will give me a starting point for the future.

Thank you all for coming by, and for all your encouraging support and feedback during the Challenge. It’s much appreciated and kept me going strong throughout January. Every once in a while I got discouraged, and your reassurance helped me regain momentum – which I’ll now use to explore new avenues in 2017.