St. Claire Art | This blog is for posting photos of new pieces and for posting the random thoughts of the artist. | River Arts District | Asheville, NC
Last week, and again yesterday, some really nice folks from the Asheville Channel came out to my studio for an interview (so I tried to sound like I was super interesting) and to take photos and video. So if you're interested in my work, or interested in practically anything to do with Asheville, check out the Asheville Channel: https://ashevillechannel.com/blog/st-claire-studio/. And...thanks Mario! You're team is awesome!
"Transfiguration"
The concept of visibly morphing from what you appear to what you really are...that is to transfigure. That is the concept that led to the creation of this painting.
So from the ground we felt that virtue branch
Through all our veins till we were whole, our wrists
As fresh and pure as water from a well,
Our hands made new to handle holy things,
The source of all our seeing rinsed and cleansed
Till earth and light and water entering there
Gave back to us the clear unfallen world.
We would have thrown our clothes away for lightness,
But that even they, though sour and travel stained,
Seemed, like our flesh, made of immortal substance,
And the soiled flax and wool lay light upon us
Like friendly wonders, flower and flock entwined
As in a morning field. Was it a vision?
Or did we see that day the unseeable
One glory of the everlasting world
Perpetually at work, though never seen
Since Eden locked the gate that’s everywhere
And nowhere? Was the change in us alone,
And the enormous earth still left forlorn,
An exile or a prisoner? Yet the world
We saw that day made this unreal, for all
Was in its place. The painted animals
Assembled there in gentle congregations,
Or sought apart their leafy oratories,
Or walked in peace, the wild and tame together,
As if, also for them, the day had come.
The shepherds’ hovels shone, for underneath
The soot we saw the stone clean at the heart
As on the starting-day. The refuse heaps
Were grained with that fine dust that made the world;
For he had said, ‘To the pure all things are pure.’
And when we went into the town, he with us,
The lurkers under doorways, murderers,
With rags tied round their feet for silence, came
Out of themselves to us and were with us,
And those who hide within the labyrinth
Of their own loneliness and greatness came,
And those entangled in their own devices,
The silent and the garrulous liars, all
Stepped out of their dungeons and were free.
Reality or vision, this we have seen.
If it had lasted but another moment
It might have held for ever! But the world
Rolled back into its place, and we are here,
And all that radiant kingdom lies forlorn,
As if it had never stirred; no human voice
Is heard among its meadows, but it speaks
To itself alone, alone it flowers and shines
And blossoms for itself while time runs on.
But he will come again, it’s said, though not
Unwanted and unsummoned; for all things,
Beasts of the field, and woods, and rocks, and seas,
And all mankind from end to end of the earth
Will call him with one voice. In our own time,
Some say, or at a time when time is ripe.
Then he will come, Christ the uncrucified,
Christ the discrucified, his death undone,
His agony unmade, his cross dismantled—
Glad to be so—and the tormented wood
Will cure its hurt and grow into a tree
In a green springing corner of young Eden,
And Judas damned take his long journey backward
From darkness into light and be a child
Beside his mother’s knee, and the betrayal
Be quite undone and never more be done.
"Sacred Space" (18" x 24") Sometimes when I'm walking in the hills of western North Carolina, far from the hustle and bustle... just me, trees and God...I come across a space that feels like it's holy. Sorry if that sounds metaphysical. I don't know if it's the angle of the light or the placement of trees or what -- it just feels like a place where the veil between me and heaven is very thin. This painting depicts such a place and when I saw it, I had to paint it.
"Sacred Space" (18" x 24")
"Omikron" (18" x 24")
This abstract oil painting is one of those "fire & ice" color combos with flex of gold leaf embedded in the resin coating, floating just above the surface of the artwork.
"Veridian Collision" (24" x 24")
I always know exactly what I want to paint. Generally, the texture underneath all the aluminum leaf and paint determines everything, except...except with abstracts. With abstracts, I never EVER know where it's going at all. When I try to figure it out ahead of time, I ruin the painting. Been there, done that. Abstracts are so different, and an really therapeutic exercise because I CAN NOT plan it out at all...it comes together as it comes together. They really literally have their own voice (and you need to know the secret artist password to hear the voice). This painting makes me happy. Every time I look at it I see something different. I like it when that happens.
"Golden Pathway" (4' x 5')
#4 of 4. This is the last panel for the Oklahoma City commission I have been working on. I poured the first layer of resin on this one and embedded thousands of pieces of broken up gold on top of the tree texture on the canvas. It's pretty sparkly now. Tomorrow morning, we're packing up a cargo van and headed west for the delivery.
"Field of Tulips" (4' x 5')
This one was just a bit challenging in that it features about 3000 tulips, first sculpted in modeling compound and then painted. Good thing I love my job. This one is also part of the Oklahoma City commission (painting 3 of 4).
"Smoky Mountain Vista" (4' x 5')
I'm just finishing up the painting process of one of four 4' x 5' panels headed west for Oklahoma City in a few weeks. The four paintings requested are really fun for me because they're each a re-visiting of some of my favorite paintings I've completed in the past. The painting this was based on originally was very long and horizontal, whereas this one is vertical, allowing me to depict many more mountain ranges. More to come soon...
A year or so ago, I did a painting that was sent to the gallery in Charleston that represents me (Mitchell-Hill Gallery). It's title was "Through Gates of Splendor". The painting was inspired by a photo I had of a road through coastal pines (originally taken on a road on the central California coast). Living now in the south, I tweaked the pines and transformed them into gnarled old oak trees. Now it's reminiscent of a road to any number antebellum plantations (pretty tricky, eh?)
Well, I recently had some clients from California and they loved the original painting, but asked if I would be offended if the color scheme was changed to a more "autumnal" feel. I explained that I am NEVER offended when I client gets involved. That's really the fun of a commission -- people can have a hand in their artwork and then it's not just "my" painting -- they have ownership of it as well.
There is this prevailing idea that artists are super-sensitive about their creations (because by and large, people are very reluctant to ask me to change this or that in their painting). The opinion seems to be that since I am an artist, I am probably temperamental (hence the term 'temperamental artist'). "You are the professional, and you painted coastal evergreens and maybe it would insult you to ask for autumn colors (since pines do not turn orange and red, hence the term 'evergreen')." But as an artist, I can look at a beautiful road through Monterey coastal pines and see southern oak trees. Why couldn't we bring autumn's mantle to the trees? That's really the joy of being an artist...you can create.
So NO, I'm not temperamental about taking an idea and tweaking it. I do that myself all the time, and at least in this case...I am extremely please with the result.
"Through Gates of Splendor"
"Autumnal Arms Enfolding"
Because my panel is actually larger than any canvas I can get my hands on, I had to prep the panel itself to receive the texture, inventing the gloppy substance that will readily receive the texture I will apply. So here's the recipe: 1 c. gesso, 1 c. wood glue, 1 c. modeling compound plus a tablespoon of secret sauce. Mix thoroughly (no tasting), pour into paint pan and roll on the panel. Viola! (see -- half artist, half mad scientist).
St.Claire Art
ASHEVILLE, NC:
344 Depot Street, #104
Asheville, NC, 28801 USA
(828) 505-3329 | stclaireart@gmail.com
DALLAS, TX
Open by appointment
PITTSBURGH, PA
Our new satellite studio is in South Side, and is open by appointment.
