Quiet Spaces

I will be taking part in a two-person show in Laguna Beach in September. The owners of the gallery - Kelsey Michaels Fine Art - have given me the opportunity to show work which explores spaces, mostly interiors, which have resonated with me for different reasons. Some are energetic (loading docks and construction areas) and some are calm (empty corners of abandoned buildings). The common thread is that they are spaces which generally go unnoticed by their users.

Because I always paint from my own experience (with the help of sketches and photos) each space has a personal story for me and I'd like to share a few of those stories here:

Blue Door

Several years ago, while visiting artists' studios in the American Industrial Building in San Francisco, I got lost while looking for the exit and stumbled upon this loading dock. The light coming through the upper window created a cathedral-like atmosphere and the Orange traffic cone was a jewel sparkling amidst planes of concrete.

Between the Piers

I have walked the length of the Embarcadero in San Francisco many times but only noticed this scene when I was looking for the entrance to the Pilara photography collection in Pier 24.

Passing through a gate between Piers 24 and 26 I found the old rail tracks which used to bring goods into the warehouses from ships on the Bay.The gap between the buildings feels so narrow and intimate that I think this almost counts as an interior.

Sunday at 1890 Bryant St.

The building in which I have my art studio has been under construction for many years, and the works continue. On weekdays there are workers everywhere and it can get pretty noisy. But at weekends everything is still. Late last year I started to go to the building on Sundays and I would walk around looking at the half-finished projects. I've always loved the colors of old plywood and the Green backing on sheetrock so I was in heaven when I discovered an old sofa and a coffee table positioned in a place where I could sketch in undisturbed comfort. 

Old Market

Fes, Morocco, 2012.
Exploring the old Jewish quarter a friend and I found an enormous old produce market which was empty except for a few vegetable stalls. The space was stunning. Sunlight poured through circular lights in domes supported by high arches. It felt almost religious. I wouldn't have been surprised to find banks of votive candles but all I got was a motorbike and some carrots.

Old Barracks (unfinished)

I'm still working on this one in my studio but seeing as I'm in the story mode I thought I'd include it.

Mare Island CA. 2007. Abandoned naval barracks building.

I was in this building with an architect friend. We were the only ones there and the spaces were vast. This long, wide, covered veranda faced West and had been glazed for protection from the winds coming off the bay. What struck me was the echoing emptiness with the wind wailing in the background.

New York Show

Prince @ Broadway (detail). 36" x 48". Oil and mixed media on wood panel

Above Manhattan

If you are in New York this month and would like to see my new work I will be taking part in a three-person show at Stricoff Fine Art in Chelsea.

May 7th - 19th

Stricoff Fine Art

564 W 25th St. New York, NY 10001

Opening Reception: Thursday May 7th. 6-8pm

This new body of work explores the rooftops of Manhattan.  Mackey has made use of Google Earth to explore the city, looking for perfect compositional combinations of form and shadow - a keen eye and careful cropping reveal a luxury of potential abstract paintings.

This work is a continuation of Mackey’s interest in the color and texture found in the urban environment, as presented at her solo show “Patterns in the City” in New York in 2013 (Stricoff Fine Art). Only this time, instead of using her work to remind the viewer of the beauty of things seen every day, she is showing us what remains mostly unseen above street level.

Mackey’s creative process always involves the build-up of several layers of paint and collage before the final image is allowed to emerge. In this new body of work every painting contains fragments of posters appropriated from the streets of Manhattan within the last twelve months.

See more images from the show.

Open Studio

New York Rooftops - West Coast Preview

My "Rooftop Paintings" are about to be shipped to New York for a show at 

a gallery in Chelsea. It just so happens that this coming weekend my studio 

building is open to the public, with over 40 artists displaying and selling their work .

So... if you can't get to New York in May come to my studio in San Francisco 

for a glass of wine and a preview of the new pieces.

April 18th &19th: Noon - 6.00 pm

Preview evening: Friday April 17th 6.00 - 9.00 pm

1890 BRYANT ST, # 204, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110

Yellow

Yellow Pier. 48" x 60". Oil and mixed media on wood panel.

Recently one of the galleries which represents my work requested that I do a large pier painting for their inventory. I spent three weeks working on the piece and was pleased with the result. So when the gallery told me they couldn't accept it because it was too Yellow I was surprised and disappointed. To be precise, I was told that they found it difficult to sell paintings containing a lot of Yellow.

So, what is it about Yellow?  Many years ago a gallery owner in New York told me “Don’t paint Yellow – it doesn't sell”. Soon afterwards I painted a Yellow piece and it sold – very quickly - so I dismissed the rule. But here it is again.

The problem isn't that the painting has been shown and remains unsold. It’s that the gallery owner, who sells many of my pieces very quickly, is nervous about the color because she assumes that her clients won’t like it. So now her clients won’t get the chance to see it and, consequently, won’t buy it.

.

I told this story to an artist friend who immediately asked me if I could put a white “wash” over it. That surprised and saddened me. Should I paint what I know will sell easily? Or should I expect my representatives to take a leap of faith and try something slightly different every now and again? It’s that never-ending quandary: Do we allow financial imperative to influence our work? The short term gain (paying the rent!) is good, but in the long run do we put a lid on our careers by compromising?

Fortunately this story has a happy ending: A gallery in Laguna Beach loves the piece and wants to include it in their summer show. So perhaps Yellow is just a little too brash for the subdued palettes of San Francisco and New York but perfectly fine for sunnier Southern California.

Loading Bays at 1890 - Painting Development

As many of you will be aware, I have my art studio at 1890 Bryant Street in San Francisco - the old Best Foods mayonnaise factory. The building has been a work in progress since I moved in in 2007 with a new floor of studios being built on the roof. The downside of all this has been noise and other inconveniences. The upside, as far as I am concerned, is that I get to wander around the working areas, looking at piles of building materials, holes in walls, and new elevator shafts. 

Earlier this year I started to work on some paintings of my favorite spaces in the building. I have just finished a diptych of the loading bays beneath my studio. Below are the stages the piece went through:

Architectural plan: Diagonal loading bays in a rectangular building.

Too much to get into one drawing without losing the drama...

...so I decided to do two different drawings from the same view point.
The painting would now be a diptych.

Old posters were applied to two wood panels
to create under paintings for the diptych.

I copied the perspective lines onto the panels.

The composition was built with acrylic paint.

The paintings were finished with oil paint. At this point I felt that the diptych was too
 "busy" with all the perspective lines, but I wanted the panels to stay close to each other.

By adding a Red panel to the side of the larger piece, suggesting the columns on
 the outside of the building, I provided breathing space between the two panels.
Total painting dimensions: 48" x 72".

Finished! (I think.)

Fall Open Studios

Open Studios

November 1st & 2nd 11.00 - 6.00 pm

Preview and Pumpkin Carving: 

Friday October 31st. 6.00 - 9.00 pm

1890 BRYANT ST. @ MARIPOSA # 204

SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110

It's that time again. The leaves are turning, the clocks are about to go back, and there are people on the streets in funny costumes - it's time for my Open Studio!

Come and enjoy the delights on offer by the artists of 1890 Bryant Street. And don't forget to visit me in studio # 204. This year I have many small affordable pieces and will even be selling sketches straight out of my Morocco Travels 2014 sketchbook.






And for that extra creative experience put on your Halloween costume and join me for some pumpkin carving at the Friday night preview.

Pier 26 (South side)

Pier 26 (South Side) is one of my paintings which will be on view at this weekend's Art Silicon Valley art fair. See them at booth # SV26.

Here are some of the stages the panels went through before the painting was finished:

Pier 26 (South) 48" x 84" Oil and mixed media on wood panels.