Here you are. MLJ Feb. 19 Broadcast

I suspect Friday evenings' end-of-the-week clarion call let the actual viewing of Mountain Lake Journal slip through everyones consciousness. That's ok, I get it. Here is the footage Josh took while he talked with me about Face to Face.

It isn't about me, as much as it is about the people and the project. I hope that shows. Thank you to everyone who helped, who I missed mentioning, who gave me their time. Face to Face belongs to you.

Mountain Lake Journal Interview


Stay tuned. I'll talk about Arenal in Costa Rica later this week,  the March pastel of the month.

Artliveslong, D

Face to Face with Josh, October 10, 2014

Mountain Lake PBS interviews Diane Leifheit Feb. 19

PBS Mountain Lake will be featuring an interview with Diane Leifheit at 8 pm, this Friday, February 19th on its program Mountain Lake Journal with Josh Clement. The interview considers Diane's project, Face to Face, Drawn to Saranac Lake, exhibiting in August in 4 venues in Saranac Lake. http://mountainlake.org/programs/tv-schedule/schedule#page=schedule&day=20160219&provider=Broadcast

Poster for 2015 exhibit

Behind the scenes … or is it just behind?

Just about wrapped up a purge month of January. No. No diet or crazy exercises. A purge of the corners of my computer/card making/sewing/bookkeeping room month. Got through about with half the magazines out the door - a lot! - and some books and paperwork of zero relevance.

Baby Sleeping Bag Quilt for Emin.

Five garbage bags later – I found my sewing machine and got to making the long promised quilt for No. 1 grand boy born November 29.  I am no match for quiltmakers of days of yore but it is a fine way to celebrate his birth with scrapes and pieces of memories. Hopefully it will be used til falling apart long into the future.

The same purge mode is beginning to happen in the studio. Corners are being vanquished and some cupboards will be reduced to clarity again. Children and grand kids will do that to you. Why leave all this junk for them? Granted some is bonafide memory stuff, but really they do not need to deal with: "Mom why did you save mini cigar boxes or six pane storm windows?"

Creatives know why but can't always explain. Some idea at the time seemed to take hold but vanished into the ether when a season changed or other distant emergencies arose.

Chilly and Bright, South Creek

Then there are the priorities. Gotta paint. Yes that is what I have to do. The clarity of a semi straightened out space gives me permission to head into work that has needed to get out of my head and on paper.

Grapes and Roses (seen last month) was inspired by that distant trip I made to France some summers ago. There are other images that need outing from that visit and I have to get to them. Then Chilly and Bright began this past fall as noted in the "Yellow Day" edition.

So it has not all been garbage bags and thread snipping.

Stay tuned for new work.

Artliveslong, D

What's with the Trucks?

"Toys Awaiting Boys II" February painting for 2016 calendar

"Toys Awaiting Boys II"  is the second time I approached this subject matter. Same spot, different arrangement, one character is missing or out playing. One of these trucks was really red the first time around. Now it is faded pink. What kind of paint was used, I wondered.

Each vehicle has its own character, a lot like Don the farmer who stopped by on his little John Deer while I was painting that day. "I'm 99 years old.", he told me that day, "Not long now."  Wasn't sure of that. Later, sure enough, his daughter-in-law disavowed his claim, "He's 89." One never knows about stories made during a painting. But in that moment, Don was 99.

That was a windy day. My shade umbrella was pulled inside out. That makes things tricky as far as seeing color. Bright days are a bit of a hazard for me. I cover up head to toe and use the umbrella to shade the work so direct light does not glare onto it and the pastels. The umbrella limped along for the rest of the season but will need to be replaced for the 2016 season of plein air.

****

"Toys Awaiting Boys I" sold to someone who had to have it because it made her smile. She had come back into the gallery a second time to purchase it and it was GONE! Sold, she was told.

Disappointed, but not discouraged, she wrote me to find out if she could get a print.

Sure I said and started the process of printing the work.

Then another email. "Wait! I just found out - my husband bought the painting for a Christmas present!" she wrote. Ha! What fun. He felt he had to tell her.

Needless to say I didn't make the print sale that day but the work went to the right person.

Back in the Studio

Happy New Year to all!

To celebrate here is the first piece in the 2016 calendar.  Yes the weather outside is frightful but I find hope in featuring flowers at this time of year.  This batch of tulips begged for the aqua vase and spring light illuminated them. I am not convinced electronic viewing does it any justice.

Getting back into the studio this week, I've been working on a still life started a couple of months ago. Inspired from a workshop from 3 years ago, the color and light has me thinking warm thoughts.

The last piece from 2015 is Grapes and Roses. The unusual juxtaposition of the roses caught me. The sculptural quality of the leaves dipping in and out of space and light yet tethered to the vines unseen pulled me into the work.

Let it snow.

For one reason or another… and best reason.

Some where in September I started a painting. I'd been waiting for the right day to go to South Creek, a favorite place of mine, to catch the color.

Meantime I was framing Face to Face like crazy and with some help from my friends Jeanne and Shawn. It got finished in October. I basically have missed the tiny window for Adirondack Autumn which was very slow in coming this year, very Slow.

The business end of this huge art project has been nearly all consuming. The painting of South Creek is on my easel waiting, tempting and scolding me. It will be there for a bit as the Face to Face exhibit will come down next week for one reason. For another wresting the studio into a holiday flavor for the next 3 Sunday Open Studios is on the agenda.

Then most important–my grand boy was born on November 29. He needs some grama time though I am pretty sure it is me needing grand boy time. Travel, holidays, family, life is full.

Here is a piece of work made in September, a challenge for myself. The color of the wild apples in the the ceramic bowl pulled me out of the kitchen, into the pastel box.

This little painting and others are available at the Holiday Open Studio Sundays December 6, 13, 20 12 -5 at my studio in Gabriels. Stop in to see it up close. Cider and cookies too, a small thank you for my friends and patrons.

Best of the Holidays to All!

Tick, tock. Tick, tock…

Barrie wrote the croc as a she. Hmm…

" I suppose it's like the ticking crocodile, isn't it? Time is chasing after us all."
J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

There. It is official. Standard time arrived at 4:59 am. Digital clocks corrected.

The Project wakes me,  roaring with to-dos. Tea, and stream of conscious listing. The ten day countdown begins tomorrow. Posters, postcards, pr, labels, signage, reception, installation, lighting, bodies - need bodies.

Other life: cat asks for breakfast - she doesn't care what time it is. The bowl is empty. Dishes away. Tea is hot.

Back to roaring lists. Writing smooths it out. Schedule bills now - can't think about them later and won't give them the satisfaction of a late charge just because Life is going pretty fast this month. Ads for now, ads for later, calendar - finish-order, print more posters, exhibit design, list participants, backers, history, future.

Oh yes, laundry.

Standard time gave me an extra hour today as ephemeral as autumn. It is evaporating with the steam of the tea. To work.