October Open Studio

Catherine Mackey - Open Studio

Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th October

11.00 - 6.00 pm

1890 Bryant Street Studio # 204,

San Francisco, CA 94110

Between my return from New York, where I opened a solo show earlier this month, and my Open Studio this coming weekend I have had less than three weeks to prepare enough work to make my suddenly-empty studio look interesting and busy. But I've done it! 

I have finished two new paintings and have retrieved several recent paintings which were showing elsewhere. But the really fun thing I have done is to delve into my sketchbooks and pull out some of my favorite sketches related to my exploration of the waterfront in San Francisco and Sausalito.  Some are studies for paintings and some are drawings for the sake of drawing. They are framed and for sale at my studio this weekend. Here are a few examples:

Fisherman's Wharf. 8" x 10". Pencil crayon on paper.

Sausalito Houseboat. 10" x 8". Pencil crayon on paper.

Sausalito Houseboat. 10" x 8". Pencil crayon & marker on paper.

Sausalito Houseboat. 10" x 8". Pencil crayon on paper.

Sausalito Houseboat. 10" x 8". Pencil crayon on paper.

Four Days in New York

I've just returned from four days in New York. I went primarily to attend the opening of my solo show "Patterns in the City" at Stricoff Fine Art in Chelsea but I managed to squeeze in some art shows, sightseeing, and lots of walking. 

The show:

 

 

It turns out that I got to New York before the paintings did!

At 11.00 am on the day before the opening the paintings still hadn't arrived. Something had happened during the two weeks transit period and nobody could say what. They arrived later that day and Michel had to work hard to hang the show and arrange the lighting in a short period of time. There were sighs of relief all around!

The opening the next evening was busy and fun, and several of the paintings were sold before the end of the event.

The Whitney:

The Drawings of Edward Hopper.
I've never really been a big fan of Hopper's paintings but seeing these drawing studies
has given me a new respect for his development of composition and contrast.
The drawings are gestural, layered and wonderful.
 

 

In The Air - T. J. Wilcox

An amazing in-the-round video installation telling the artist's story of Manhattan.

This took me by surprise and I ended up being absorbed for at least 30 minutes.  

 

 

Walking around:

 

Sheep Station - Francois-Xavier Lalanne
An installation at an old gas station on West 24th at 10th Avenue

 

Pier 92 - NYC
Walking along the waterside on the West side I discovered that not everything
has been fixed up and re-painted. This pier will definitely inspire some paintings!

 

Visual chaos:
The Brooklyn Bridge approach by the old Fulton fish market.

 



Dia Beacon:

 

The view of the old Nabisco box factory on the walk from the railway station. 

 

 

Michael Heizer's Negative Sculpture

 

 

Spider sculpture by Louise Bourgeois
(I wasn't allowed to take a photo so I had to draw it.)
I've recently watched a video of her in her studio and her powerfully knarled
hands feature strongly in her work. When looking at this spider I saw that the
junctions on the legs look a lot like her hands. She is one of my favorite artists.

 

 

Richard Serra
Inside one of the four enormous structures housed in one long gallery.

 

 

 

 

 

Patterns in the City - Opening Reception

 

PATTERNS IN THE CITY

A solo show of new works by Catherine Mackey

 

Opening reception:

Thursday October 3rd  6.00 - 8.00 pm

 

Stricoff Fine Art

564 W 25th St. New York, NY 10001

(212) 219-3977

 

Tahoe Pier Commission

I recently completed a small but surprisingly difficult commission painting for a client who lives in Tahoe and who wanted  a painting of one of the piers in the lake.

I have painted MANY pier paintings in the last few years. My works have always explored either the relationship between the posts and the industrial architecture above, or the deep shadows between the water and the decaying, salt-stained posts. The piers in Tahoe have neither industrial buildings nor dark shadows. They are generally light, clean and well maintained. To add to the challenge, my client needed a vertical painting.

On exploring the North shore I was relieved to find a pier with a wood shingle hut at the end, and some strong shadow in the afternoon light. I had my subject!

Here's what happened:

Sketches and photographs on site.

Back in my studio - collage is applied to a painted wood panel.
The client is half French so I selected some posters recently
brought back from France for me by a friend.

The painting takes shape - detail.

Tahoe Pier. 42" x 24". Mixed media and oil on wood panel.

Solo show - NYC - Save the Date!

 

Pier 64 # 2  36" x 72". Oil and mixed media on wood panel.

If you are planning a trip to New York in the fall don't forget that I'm having a solo show:

Patterns in the City 

Stricoff Fine Art 

October 1st - 16th.

Opening Reception:

Thursday October 3rd - I'll be there!

Stamped Ripple Technique

 

Evening at the Ramp #2  48" x 24"

The painting above depicts part of a large merchant ship basking in the evening sun on the Eastern / industrial side of San Francisco. We only see a fraction of the ship's hull but the reflections on the water below tell us more about the funnels above deck.

Over the past few years a lot of my work has explored waterfront architecture, mostly piers, and I have gradually developed a technique to suggest the water and reflections. My process, which I will now call the Stamped Ripple Technique, has attracted a lot of attention and many questions.

The photographs below show how I created the water on this painting:

Using oil paint I prepare several colors on my palette
which is placed on a surface adjacent to the painting.

 

A strip of wood is then dipped into the paint....

 

....and pressed onto the painting.
(The painting is on wood panel which offers stability
for the stamping pressure.) 
Different color ripples are built up, the edges of the
stamps creating three dimensional ridges which catch
the light when the painting is lit from above.

 

The stamping process allows me to leave parts of the under - 
painting/collage showing through the water.

 

“Images courtesy of Hill Physicians /Stephan Hookano.”

 

For James Gandolfini:

Tony's Journey. 24" x 240". Mixed media on wood panels.

 Back in 2009 I was hooked on the Sopranos - great story, great acting, and great visuals. I became fixated on the introductory sequence to each episode which took the viewer through the different neighborhoods between the Jersey Turnpike and Tony Soprano's suburban home. It was so compelling I felt I had to make a painting which described that journey.


Tony's Journey. Stricoff Fine Art - New York. 2009

Many of you will have seen this piece either in New York or at my studio. It measures just over twenty feet long. I was looking at it today and remembering James Gandolfini who played Tony Soprano - he was a great actor. But more than that he was a good man. He cared deeply about war veterans and made documentaries about their struggles, especially with PTSD. His death is a sad loss.