WORK IN PROGRESS – Window Seat © 2009 Michelle Basic Hendry
With only days remaining until the paintings go down to McMichael, I contemplate whether or not I will be consumed by the dust bunnies growing and wildly reproducing on my laminate floor before ever getting out of the building. I have let the house cleaning slip as I struggle to keep everything else on track. The work in progress above is the last painting to be completed before the Show. It is the latest painting from the Livingstone House – the story I have been promising my readers for much too long and I managed to forget to put it in the newsletter…. I need a secretary!
There is still one nagging question I have yet to answer about the property in the early part of this century and it will require a trip to the Land Registry Office. That is unlikely to happen this week. So here’s the deal… I will post what I do know with the finished painting in 3 or 4 days. The rest will be in the November Newsletter scheduled for mid-November. I promise! (ducks rotten tomatoes)
It has been slow progress the last several weeks and I was hoping to have accomplished a little more, but, physical limitations needed to be respected. One lesson I will take away from this is better stress management! Between my schedule and the rotten weather, which included snow last weekend, I don’t even have any good Autumn photographs from this season. So instead, I am attaching a shot of some leaves from a few years ago. In a little over a week, they will likely all be gone.
Autumn Leaves © 2003 Michelle Basic Hendry
GREAT NEWS!
Thanks to the superb work of the “Save the Southwood Church” people, Gravenhurst Council has agreed to rescind the order for demolition. Congratulations! There is much work to be done, so if anyone is interested in being involved, here is a link the the FaceBook Group. For my post on the visit to Southwood, Muskoka… here.
Have a Historic House or Cottage?
If anyone has a historic house or cottage or knows someone who does, and is interested in letting this artist paint it, please feel free to let me know. You can contact/e-mail me via this link.
Oh dear Michelle, I still don’t fully know why, but your paintings just make tears spring almost immediately to my eyes. I think it’s that they take me back to my childhood where I grew up with these old houses. That’s all I can think it is. Because you capture so TOTALLY the feel of these places. I can smell of the old paint and dust, as I’ve told you before. They REALLY do have a feel all their own.
Unless one has lived back in the northeast and grown up with these type of houses, it’s almost impossible to imagine the feeling they give off.
Anyone could paint then and I’ve see many that have, but I have NEVER seen anyone capture SOOOOOO strongly the feeling of these old places.
And it is a palpable feeling distinct to this area. It’s as if you’ve captured their way of life, their beliefs and their whole culture, right down to the family structure in all your paintings, through the lighting, the peeling paint, the dust, the sense of both beauty and sadness. And I’m not sure HOW it is that you capture that. Your paintings really are alive.
This “Window Seat” made me gasp and it put tears in my eyes almost at once. I think it is one of my absolute favorites. I wish I could better convey how your work effects me. But I don’t yet fully understand it all myself.
You do realize that you are a very gifted artist and human being.
Hugs,
Robin
Wow. I love to see the wip, and thanks for taking the time to post it while you’re scrambling for your exciting show. Need to see if I can talk my husband into taking a day off to go. Hmmm…
Congrats on the saving of the church. Now I’m thinking sadly of the ice-cream parlour that got torn down in Stouffville to make room for the road. 100 years old and still in business, now just an empty lot and soon to be pavement.
Great news about the church! The leaf photo’s awesome, too. Love the complimentary oranges & blue!
Can’t wait to see the “Window Seat” finished…
Striking photo…fabulous autumn colors even if it is from a few years ago!!!
Cheers