Art Muse Contest

I'm delighted and surprised to share that my painting Catharsis (previously titled, I Tried--but that seemed to lead to confusion and a lot of questions most of which were answered by the word "catharsis," so I swapped) won Art Muse's December contest in the category of Emerging Artist. The piece will also be included in a group exhibition at Jack Meier Gallery in Houston, Texas next month. I'm also finding this a teachable moment, because apparently, in my hurry to make a last minute entry, I misspelled catharsis (cathersis just doesn't have the same ring to it) on my entry, and that's just terribly embarrassing. Proof your entries, children, you'll thank yourself later. 

Playing with light

I think I'm about done with this piece. It was an experiment of sorts, trying to push myself outside of my usual, working with photos (mine) and extrapolating my imagination all over the place. It's painted a lot more loosely than my usual style (you can't quite tell from the photo, because the painting is rather large so it reads more tightly painted than it really is), and I left off a lot of detail work I'd usually get caught up in. It was fun to see how much I could push the color in the moon light--even now, looking at it, I think I could have gotten away with more, but I think it's time to move on. Anyway, more updates soon, most likely involving sharks and foxes (guess which ones Sebbie is playing with?) as those are the current works in progress.  

Root to Bloom, take two

It's such an honor to see my name listed in such good company! If you're in the DC area, don't miss the show!

Open studios

It's about that time again. Open studios is almost upon us, and this year I'm doing two at once. I'm not even remotely ready, but I do have plans to fix that before the 4th of November. Come visit.

American Artists Professional League

I'm delighted to share that my piece, "I Tried," has been accepted into the 88th Grand National Exhibition of the American Artists Professional League at the Salmagundi Club in New York. It's the first time I've ever had work show in New York City, and despite everything they say, these days, about the art world no longer centering around New York, there's a little part of me that's totally disproportionately excited about it.

Root to Bloom

I'm delighted to share that this little painting of my studio sink has been accepted into Principle Gallery's juried exhibition, Root to Bloom: The Places Artists Call Home, opening November 11th. I started doing studies of the studio because I was thinking of moving, and in thinking of moving I suddenly realized how much I loved where I was. My favorite part of my studio, the part that stops me mid-task to just lust with my eyes, has always been the sunlight showing off, making ordinary things beautiful in the passing.

How (not) to write an artist statement.

Me, sitting down with a cup of coffee, my brain and a computer:

Brain: You can do this.

Me: Right, focus.  Okay, *reading* “please submit a short artists statement (around 150 words)” —haha, they left off the apostrophe.

Brain: Stop being mean.  At least they wrote something.

Me: Yes, okay.  Let’s see…This series of paintings is a series of paintings about… God, that’s awful.  *grabs sticky notes, writes “Try and sound human” and sticks to monitor*  That’s better. The painting is one of many in a series about whimsy…I wonder if politicians have similar post-its stuck all over their houses and offices?  Ha.

Brain: Focus.

Me: Right.  Sebbie and Oma’s Teapot is the most recent painting of paintings of Sebbie…  *stares off into space*  Is devenir how you say “to become” in French?  Or have I bastardized the Italian word, “devenire” by chopping off the e at the end and pretending it’s French?  

Brain: seriously.

Me: No, no, it’s okay, I’ll just look it up quick; it’ll bug me if I don’t check.  *googles*  Devenir.  That’s right.  I think I bastardized the French to make fake Italian actually.  Just look that up quick too.  *more  googling*  Diventare.  Yep, I did.  I’ve been living an English speaking country for too long.  How can I pull off moving back to Europe?

Brain: ARTIST STATEMENT

Me: Right.  But do I remember how to conjugate devenir?  

Brain: NO.

Me: Alright. Tanya Harsch is a person with fabulous hair.  Her paintings are images without polkadots. 

Brain: Try again.

Me:  Fine.  Sebbie and Oma’s Teapot…  Something.  This painting is one of a series of paintings depiction my childhood toy puppet, Sebbie, encountering adventures.  In this piece, he is asking for tea from a teapot styled as a cat.   The teapot has particular sentimental associations for me, as it belonged to my grandmother and I spent many a childhood meal, seated at her table admiring the teapot on its shelf.  I’m out of coffee.  I wonder how many paintings a year I’d have to sell to be able to afford to pay someone to write these things for me? 

Brain: You’re so close, just focus, just get it written, and then you can ignore it until tomorrow when I make you re-read it and proof it.

Me:  A secretary would be nice.

Brain: This is why artists drink.

Me: Oh, shut it.  How many words is that?  *counts*  Sixty three.  Bollocks.  What else do I say?  Let’s see… I paint toys because they bring so much happiness to people.  I started painting them nearly accidentally, bored in the studio one day, and found it to be so much fun.  I thought, “I’ll paint another, maybe a series of three…”  Little did I know, 50 paintings later, I’d still be happily playing with toys.  Does that sound stupid?  

Brain: Shhhh, just keep writing.

Me: I find people often connect to my work because they find a nostalgia in it, a connection to their own childhood.  I don’t even know if that’s true.  Most people just say, “wow, I love your paintings!”

Brain: Then leave it out.

Me: Yes, but word count.  Who invented artist speak, and how do I find them?  

Brain: Why?

Me: I’d like to send them a box of crickets.

Brain:  What?  Wait, never mind, I’m not getting dragged into this, let’s get back on task.

Me: I hear crickets are particularly hard to find and get rid of once they’re in your house, and they make that lovely noise to annoy you.

Brain: *through gritted teeth* ARTIST STATEMENT

Me: You do realize, in this hypothetical argument, I’ve just given my brain its own set of teeth?  Where does it keep them? 

Brain: Shhhh.  Quiet time.

Me: Oh, do I have 150 words already?

Brain: No, of course not, you didn’t have them before, you don’t have them now.  They don’t magically write themselves.

Me: Oh, magic self-writing artist statements, I’d be all over that.

Brain: I give up.

Me: Maybe I’ll just go paint for a little bit, come back to the writing when fresh… Don’t know why these things take me so long.

Brain: *hides under covers.  plays dead*