Michelle (Basic) Hendry - Fine Art

Work in Progress & Japan

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Work in Progress

Work in Progress - The View - 24x36 © 2011 Michelle Basic Hendry

This is the latest work in progress. It is a big one and it took some planning. Small things become glaring at 24×36 inches and I changed the composition and the canvas twice. I think I am finally happy.  Now the visible progress begins.

Details in a ruined house are a part of the composition, not incidentals to me. Peeling wallpaper, cracking paint, rotting floors – all these elements of slow decay are the painting. This one goes a bit further, incorporating the view of the abandoned farm. It will be a challenge to keep the details at the right concentration. So we will see how it goes…

I admit that it has been slow going. I have been torn away by all of the events and the news surrounding Japan. The shock of the utter devastation is not yet worn off. Events will continue to unfold for the people of Japan for many weeks to come before the rebuilding, emotionally and physically, begins; a reconstruction that will likely take years, even decades. I am overwhelmed and moved by the calm of the people amidst the incomprehensible suffering they are experiencing.

Nature always returns to claim her own. Sometimes it is with a slow absorption and an almost elegant creativity, other times it is abrupt and destructive. The cycles of Nature are reflected in many cultures and in the case of the 2004 tsunami, Kali comes to mind. In Japanese Shinto (The Way of the Gods), Susano-ô, a god of storms and destruction seems to be the deity that has raised his domain, Yomi-tsu Kuni (Land of Darkness), on the north-eastern coast of Japan.

In time, all our tears are absorbed into the ocean, our bones into the rocks and soil. I grieve with the Japanese people and look forward to when the sun smiles and when the flowers grow again.

My love and thoughts are with you all and in particular my friend living in Tokyo, Alexander. You are strong and courageous, my friend…

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Happy 95th birthday to my Grandmother and Happy St. Patrick’s Day to everyone.

Being Human and a WIP

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Red Chair - WIP
Work In Progress – Red Chair © 2010 Michelle Basic Hendry

So I decided the chair needed to be red….

This is the most raw form of the painting after the line drawing, which took twice as long as I expected! The perspective had to be corrected, the light and shadow lines simplified (some of which cannot be seen at this size – the finished piece will be 16×20). In line form, it looked so wrong. And yet once I got some of the paint down, it seems to be working. The complexity forced me to leave the non-architectural shadows to a minimum. I didn’t want to confuse myself when I can eyeball it more easily in the paint stage. This is lit at an extreme angle, and largely from another window.

There’s one way out and one way in
Back to the beginning
There’s one way back to home again
To where I feel forgiven…

With every painting, there is music to accompany it. The song for this painting is rather poignant and inspiring. It’s tone is slightly sad and yet moving and expansive. Painting is a physical, emotional and spiritual experience for me. Music can help bring me back to the mood of the place I am painting and help me to recall the feeling of a location and where I was emotionally at the time.

It’s only love, it’s only pain
It’s only fear, that run through my veins
It’s all the things you can’t explain
That make us human

While reflecting on the idea of this slowly fading place while waiting for the sun to return for the photograph, I thought about the hopes and fears of the people who lived here once and how they seemed bound up in this room, my favourite room in the Livingstone/Stephen’s house. There is one way in, one way out…

I am just an image of something so much greater
I am just a picture frame, I am not the painter
Where do I begin, can I shed this skin
What is this I feel within…

I thought I would share a video of a live performance with you here. When the painting is finished, hopefully in a little more than a week, you will see what I mean. Enjoy Civil Twilight ~ “Human”.

Still in Progress…

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WIP
Still in Progress… © 2010 Michelle Basic Hendry

There is nothing worse than discovering errors in drawing when working on a painting. It means that progress is slow in order to ensure corrections are made and the painting is finished as it should be. Sessions are going by with very little visible change. I have struggled with this one and yet I cannot seem to give up. In most any other circumstances a painting that has had so many stops and starts is left to the side and abandoned because the results will never be worth the effort. But, this one is different… There is a deep passion behind it that has been drawing on every resource I have lately.

As a work in progress, it is like me – it is like the real house! As we evolve, change appears slowly and is only noticed when there is a major shift in perception. So, I take another risk and post “Crystal’s Room” still in progress – a month after my initial WIP post. I have let days go by between sessions, as if I am not ready to finish it. I can’t see it yet. Perhaps I am not meant to see it until it is ready. Until my perception makes that shift…

Southwood Saved & WIP

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WIP
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
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.

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All text and images © 2001-2018 Michelle Hendry. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission is strictly prohibited.