diane feissel

Philly ahoy!

2009-10-30T22:55:00.005-04:00

Sorry for the long absence... was away for a wedding and then managed to come down with the flu. Was it the flu? You know, that one? I don't know... all I know is that it hit me hard at a time when I had a lot to do and now we're moving up to Philadelphia tomorrow and after that I need a long, long, long nap. Anyway - more updates will be posted soon, once we're settled (and in possession of an Internet connection). In the meantime, here's a painting I did recently for one of Raleigh's most awesome artists:

Superaugie, oil on printed fabric, 10"x10", 2009 by me, Diane Feissel.

Another weekend sketch.

2009-10-14T10:12:00.004-04:00

We're headed up north for a wedding tomorrow... in the meantime, here's another sketch - this one in pencil - that I was working on late on Saturday (couldn't sleep, caught Drawing Fever. It happens.) Anyway, have a good weekend, Internet! And for those of you artists reading this, do any of you find that you have a particular time of day that you work best? I definitely seem to be most energetic and focused at night (and into the wee hours of the morning, unfortunately)... what about you?

Sketch of self in Afghan hat, graphite on paper, by me, Diane Feissel.

Weekend sketch.

2009-10-12T11:45:00.001-04:00

Been busy, trying to pull it all together for the move Northward. Here's a recent paint sketch - that's about all I have time for these days, unfortunately!

Portrait sketch of James, 2009, oil on panel, 6" x 6" (I think), by me, Diane Feissel.

Last first.

2009-10-05T14:13:00.006-04:00

This past Friday was my last First Friday here in Raleigh, as we'll be moving up to Philadelphia at the end of this month. Sad! But it was good to see some great people, and some great art. I'll miss you, Raleigh artists!! Sigh. I'll definitely miss Alison Overton, who had a great exhibit of new photos at Flanders 311:

Alison and her gorgeous photos from the series entitled "Secret Hours."

A real, live theremin! And real, live theremin player. Cooool.

A little blurry – but wanted to pay tribute to Tamar's curatorial awesomeness. It's hard to see here, but you should go down to the gallery in person to observe the excellent flow of the exhibition.

Things have changed around a bit at 311, where I used to have my studio. Good people there, all of 'em. Now they have another reeeeeally good painter there, in the space I used to share with Shaun (who is currently in residence at the Bemis Center in Omaha, and has moved into a studio at Artspace). This new painter - her name is Marianita Stevans - has work up at this link, and currently at 311. Here's Judy from 311 with Marianita's gorgeous painting in the background:

Also awesome was getting these paintings from Casey Porn: yay Raleigh artists!!

Little itty-bitty paintings by Raleigh artist Casey Porn

Uncovered, part deux.

2009-10-01T11:29:00.008-04:00

So, here are some more of my newly-discovered (yet not newly-drawn) figure sketches, for your amusement and for the historical record:

Obviously a very unfinished sketch, but I was always fond of this pose - great line there. Right on, model! Whoever you were. I don't event remember where I did these - Philadelphia? San Francisco? '90s? '00s? Who knows.

Ditto this one - one of those cool poses that looks comfortable but most likely was not very comfortable after about 2 minutes.

Awesome pose and twist, but dreaded foreshortening! Poorly rendered!! Arggg! The agony of defeat.

Cool pose, but there's definitely something off about my proportions in this one. Sigh.

Uncovered.

2009-09-28T11:54:00.000-04:00

In the process of cleaning, weeding out stuff, re-organizing my closet, and packing - all in anticipation of eventually moving, of course - I ran across some drawings that I frankly didn't think I had hung on to. Surprise! There they were, hiding in my closet. Most of them are just sketches and studies from figure drawing sessions of years past... tons and tons of them, not all good. I also ran across these two sketches I did from life of myself and John, though... the one of John is undated, unfortunately, but probably comes from around the time of the self-portrait, which is dated in early 2001. So, for your amusement:

Early 2000s charcoal sketch of John by me, Diane Feissel

2001 graphite self-portrait sketch, with a decidedly over-emphasized chin... we can't win them all, folks.

Phreaky.

2009-09-25T15:38:00.005-04:00

I was in Philadelphia earlier this week for about, oh, 9 hours or so? Even in that brief amount of time, I managed to encounter a stellar specimen of sheer, unbridled Crazy in the form of a peculiar insert found in a SEPTA R1 Regional Rail (the train that goes to and from the Philly airport) schedule. I've scanned it and posted it here for your reading, um, pleasure:

P.S. If you can find any logic in this whatsoever, please don't tell me... because that probably means you're just as crazy as the author of this unique manifesto. Haha. Just kidding. Mostly. But seriously, what's up with the cats?

Drawlllllll.

2009-09-21T11:37:00.003-04:00

Went to Alia's to draw on Saturday morning - had a great model. Here's the sketch I came up with:

Sketch by me. Thanks to Alia for hosting - this is one of the things I'll miss when we move!

Monster in the neighborhood.

2009-09-16T18:48:00.005-04:00

So I came home from work this evening and found this out my window in the parking lot behind our apartment:

Perhaps you've heard of the Barrel Monster incident here in Raleigh from earlier this year? Well, as I guessed in this post, we are indeed neighbors of Joseph Carnevale, the guy who created the original barrel monster. The pic above is of his most recent creation, being built for this year's SparkCon event, a celebration of creativity and such held annually here in Raleigh. So, apparently this is a work-in-progress, a giant barrelosaurus of some sort... you can read more about it here. And go check it out in its finished form at SparkCon this weekend, if you're around Raleigh. In the meantime, the neighborhood kids are getting a sneak preview right in their own backyard, so to speak, as am I:

Carnevale, at right, with barrelosaurus-in-progress and interested neighborhood kids

Location, location, location.

2009-09-15T18:59:00.020-04:00

As we gear up for another relocation this fall, eventually, hopefully, we've been a tad busy. Sigh. In between some brief forays into printmaking, I have had some time to work on a few Fabrication paintings... here's one of the latest:


here's looking at..., diptych (each panel 20" x 10"), oil on printed fabric, 2009, by me, Diane Feissel

The sound of silence.

2009-08-26T14:06:00.005-04:00

Sorry for the long absence... been working on stuff. Art stuff, to be slightly more specific. Here's a snippet from something I'm working on but may never finish until I'm old(er) and (more) withered:

...a work in progress by me, Diane Feissel, featuring Huey and Fanny. It's in oil on printed fabric, fabric I procured at an adorable little fabric shop in San Francisco which, alas, is around no longer - likely a casualty of the recession. Sigh.

The little prints.

2009-08-18T09:54:00.003-04:00

Last weekend I embarked upon an adventure into printmaking. To be specific, an adventure into monotype – or so I'm told. I'm new to this whole printmaking thing... I find it very intimidating, somehow – it seems oddly unforgiving. For example: you can make a gross mistake and then WHAMMO, that mistake is permanently imprinted onto paper. I think I can say this was pretty much the case for my very first print, and those thereafter as well. But it was fun... trying? I think? I think part of my issue is my aversion to bad drawing, and I did some very bad drawing in the course of making these prints. Part of the issue for me is this: in the same way that I would be really bad at watercolor painting and working light-to-dark, I am reeeeally quite unskilled at working reductively (or "subtractively"), I've noticed – pulling out the lights from a plate full of dark ink. Eeesh. My customary habit with oil painting involves thinking and applying paint from dark tones to light tones, and it appears my brain is stuck that way. Well, for better or for worse, here are some of the results, in keeping with the theme of "Painters Under Pressure" – the title of the show for which I was making these prints - I was definitely feeling the pressure. Ungh. Stay tuned for more info on the exhibit, which will be in Raleigh next month.

My first and second attempts at monotype, respectively. AAAUUUUGHHH!!!!

Joyeux Noel.

2009-08-13T15:31:00.006-04:00

Oh hey, when I wrote the recent post about our time in Philadelphia, I forgot to mention one of the best things about the trip – bringing home a pastel painting by fantastic Philadelphia-based artist Scott Noel. Yay! Here it is:

Pastel painting by Philadelphia artist Scott Noel

The central figure is me, actually, circa mid-nineties. So, hey! There's some vintage Feissel for you, right there (actually, back when I was still a Rollins). Anyway, Scott is one of the nicest people on earth and a tremendous artist - he shows through Gross McCleaf Gallery in Philadelphia, check his work out if you're in town. He also teaches at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, and at some point someone has captured some of his thoughts on painting and the like and posted a video to YouTube, here's a sample:

York, New.

2009-08-12T14:25:00.000-04:00

New York recap!! Finally!

It was brief, less than 30 hours, most of it spent in the northern suburbs. But it was pleasant, quite pleasant. First up: The Female Gaze... thanks to the heads-up from the blog of artist Nathalie Vogel, I decided to check out the exhibition entitled The Female Gaze: Women Look At Women at Cheim & Read in Chelsea (kind of right up the alley of the whole "Women Painting Women" blog, no?) Except of course it included other media than just painting, and the painting is what I tend to get the most excited about, so there you have it... case in point, the following Alice Neel painting:

Or this painting by an artist previously unknown to me, Judith Eisler:

You can see more of the show in the gallery's slide show here as there were plenty of C-prints and some sculptural pieces and mixed-media art and even neon (!) and so forth. I'm still up in the air as to the exact difference between the end product of the male gaze vs. the female gaze (as I touched upon in this post) - but still, without question, it's good to see some interesting work by female artists... especially considering that there still seems to be a depressing dearth of representation by women artists in galleries. Sigh.

Also in the realm of the arts (which good ole NYC pours forth by the bucketful, swoon) was a lovely little trip to the Frick Collection, which I have not visited since the mid-nineties. Now unfortunately, there was no photography allowed... so I will be forced to steal from the Frick website to share with you some of my favorites, including some more Whistlers (I had no idea this vacation northward would be so full of Whistler – but I see this as a good thing. A very good thing). The following was one of my faves:

Painting by James McNeill Whistler: Symphony in Flesh Colour and Pink: Portrait of Mrs Frances Leyland, 1871–74, oil on canvas, found at the The Frick Collection

For sure it has a different feel from the Whistler (and of course hails from a much earlier century), but I also found seeing this painting in-person to be very satisfying:

Painting by Hans Holbein, the Younger - Sir Thomas More, 1527,
oil on oak panel, found at the The Frick Collection.

Also art-related: I got to reunite with one of my own paintings on this trip – it probably goes without saying that it was not in the Frick Collection, however. Sigh. Here it is:

Iris painting by me, Diane Feissel

And now for some family: here's John with the lovely Ruth:

And here's Max and Ruth together, a wonderful couple:

I know I'm stating a well-worn cliché, but I ♥ NYC! And I love a city with a subway! Sigh. Anyway, more on life back in Raleigh soon. Phew!

Philly = Phabulous!

2009-08-06T10:16:00.000-04:00

Onward to Philadelphia and NY!

Let's start with Philly, City of Brotherly Love. And maybe Mayoral love, too: below is a mural in South Philadelphia/the Italian Market area of Frank Rizzo, much-revered-and-reviled mayor of Philly back in the '70s:

Here's some more 2-D wall art, this one at 11th and Chestnut. Apparently it is always sunny in Philadelphia... sunny side up, that is.

Here's another mural (there are tons of them, thanks to the awesomeness of the Philly Mural Arts Program), this time up at Chestnut and... 8th or 9th or so, I think? Trying to pretty up that parking lot, see.

Here are some of Philadelphia's finest people (at the Random Tea Room in Northern Liberties)... unfortunately they're headed for Baltimore in the coming week. Oof!

John and I took a quick dive into the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts... I've been in there a gazillion times before, but I always enjoy another look. Unfortunately I apparently misunderstood their peculiar no-photo policy, however, and got hollered at by a guard. Not before taking these photos though!! Wah-ha-ha!!

More public art in Philly: a strange, elaborate and vaguely disturbing graffiti piece in Fairmount Park:

Mr. Skeleton emerging from the sand outside the South Philadelphia Boat Show (a local art collective) exhibit down in... South Philadelphia, of course.

A lone balloon wafting outside the South Philadelphia Boat Show exhibit...

Here's the band "Jews and Catholics" from good ole Winston-Salem, NC, playing a backyard set at a friend-of-a-friend's place in Fishtown/Kensington, in Philly. NC represent!!

Two-headed monster (not sure which one) guarding over the party.

And now for some food: tamale-making at aforementioned house party:

Two of the best people on earth, at one of the best restaurants on earth (Beau Monde):

Quel horreur! A defenseless bagel, ripped apart into a million pieces. Such savagery!

A surprise treat: did you know they made a Rosie O'Donnell doll? Me neither. And yet, here it is – already an antique, apparently, as it is for sale in Antiquarian's Delight, the little antiques mall on South 6th Street at South Street. I'm sure Rosie would be heartened to know that she is considered an antique.

Here's the Incredible MAX, very new to this world at just 3 months out of the belly. Max's lovely mommy is in the background, but Max seems more focused on making sure the paparazzi get his best angle:

Alas, there's nothing sadder than a dawg left behind. Especially when they do that sad thing with their ears. Sigh.

Next up: the time in NYC, including time spent checking out the Frick Collection as well as the "Female Gaze" exhibition at Cheim & Read. Stay tuned!

District o' Columbia, part deux.

2009-08-05T10:28:00.015-04:00

As promised! Here are some more photos from the DC leg of the trip:

Sort of like Zazie in Zazie dans le Métro, I love a good Metro. (Fortunately I have better luck than poor Zazie in actually getting to the Metro.) Despite its recent (fatal!) failings, I still love the DC Metro... overall - horrible accidents aside - it's relatively efficient, clean and user-friendly. An added bonus is that it has this almost science-fiction-y, hyper-futuristic look which somehow never gets old to me. A bold vision of the future! Behold:

Diane dans le Métro:

And we can't forget DC's role as our nation's capital, no? Look! Gub'mint:

And hey! I ran into our First Lady. All over the city, in fact:

And as for other political/historical DC figures, here's a really waxy Lincoln for you (in the window of Madame Tussaud's);

Not really a political figure (unless you count any influence over ole JFK, of course), but certainly one of great historical import (I suppose) lording over Woodley Park/Connecticut Avenue:

Something cool that I had forgotten about in the Phillips Collection: they have an early self-portrait by Piet Mondrian, probably best known nowadays for these geometric paintings... but it's done in an entirely different style, seen here:

Oh, and this tiny Ingres gem is in the Phillips, too – this photo, alas, does not remotely do justice to its glow, however. Go see it for yourself!!

Okay, moving on to Philly and NYC in my next posts. Stay tuned! More Art and assorted stuff to come.

The Northeaster.

2009-08-03T21:57:00.002-04:00

Hey there, world. Sorry for the dearth of bloggage here, but John and I have been on a wee journey northward. In a whirlwind of train and Chinatown bus and subway and zipcar, we covered some of DC, Philadelphia and NYC and have lived to tell the tale. There was art, family, friends and lovely little animals abound – so let's tell that tale in photos. First, for DC:

Here's fellow artist Julie Niskanen while hanging her solo show at the Washington Printmakers Gallery in Dupont Circle. The show looked awesome, and will be up through August 30... check it out if you're in DC.

Caught some other art of course, including this special exhibition over at the Phillips Collection entitled "Paint Made Flesh" in which I got to see (and drool over) the first Jenny Saville painting I've ever seen in person (in the flesh, haha! So to speak) as well as some Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and some John Currin – I had never seen his work in person before either. Then I did some sketching and wandering around at the National Gallery, and finally found a bench from which to sketch a Rodin bust:

... a little sketch (by me) of a Rodin bust of Katherine Seney Simpson, 1902-1903

Also at the National Gallery: a really lovely Géricault (speaking of "Paint Made Flesh" I suppose):

I also did a quick zip-through of the Freer Gallery, just to get myself my RDA of Whistler and Dewing, here are a couple:

This one is by Thomas Wilmer Dewing

Here's a Whistler landscape

This one is a portrait of Charles Freer himself by Whistler...

In between art-time and going out to the wilds of Virginia to see Depeche Mode, I got to see the newest member of our extended family, little J.T., already six months old. Yay! Here he is with his lovely mamma:

Stay tuned for some more random images from the DC leg of the trip. Yay for our nation’s capital! Woot! Also soon to come: NY and Philadelphia. Check back in the coming day or two...

Woman blogging about women painting women.

2009-07-24T10:09:00.008-04:00

Yes, hi there, I'm still trying to catch up on portrait stuff. Sigh. Hence the absence from this here blog. In the meantime, during my non-portrait painting time, I've been really really enjoying posting artists to my friend Sadie's blog "Women Painting Women." There's an amazing variety of work out there, so many women artists, so much great work being made. Super-inspiring. Anyway, along the way, I've collected some observations (nothing profound, just thinkin'):

1.   A lot of the paintings I post, coincidentally, are self-portraits by the selected artists. I don't know if this is a factor of gender – if women are more likely to self-reflect in this way than men, for example – or if it's just a part of being a figurative artist... because it sure makes it easier to find a model, after all. Hmm.
2.   Maybe I'm dense and missing something, but I find most often that if you put a painting of a female figure in front of me, I'm not able to correctly guess whether it was done by a male or female artist. You'd think there'd be subtle context clues - but if there are, I'm missing them. What do you think? Does the fabled "male gaze" manifest itself differently in the actual finished image than the female gaze? Let me know if you have thoughts on this.
3.   It's awesome how many great artists we're finding from all corners of the world... South America, Australia, you name it. Recently I found a pocket of Dutch painters who are making great stuff – three of my favorites were Lique Schoot, Francien Krieg and Caroline Westerhout, click on their names to go to their websites.
4.   Though I haven't gone this route yet – because I feel each selected artist's work should stand on its own - some days I find I'm inclined to post images that fall into certain themes, as if trying to "curate" the day's posts (albeit in a loose and lazy way). Such as, historical/allegorical paintings, self-portraits (that alone would take up a lot of days), paintings with figures and animals, porn-ish images, images with "twins," etc. But then most times, I feel like I want to mix it up each day, and cover more of a variety of styles/approached. Anyway, I'm not used to thinking of things in any sort of quasi-"curatorial" sense, so this is all new to me. Whee.

So in case you're interested, here's my favorite painting from what I've posted in the past week:

Painting by Dutch artist Caroline Westerhout: de werkelijke wereld bestaat niet meer (the real world does no longer exist), oil on canvas, 70cm x 70cm, 2009.

It's beautifully painted, and deliciously creepy. And it also reminds me of a painting I did a couple of years ago, so maybe I'm relating to it in some other way as well:

restraint, oil on canvas, 24"x30", 2004, by me, Diane Feissel

Seven!

2009-07-20T10:06:00.004-04:00

Celebrating seven years of state-sanctioned wedded bliss with my waayyyy better half today. Whoooo!!! I'm very happy to be a Feissel, and to enjoy the infinite awesomeness of John Feissel.

July 20, 2002 in Healdsburg, California

It's a draw.

2009-07-13T13:26:00.004-04:00

Started to get my motivation back this weekend, and went to Alia's place for a session with the live model on Saturday, here's what I came up with:

I've been having a hard time with shading recently... well, actually, all of my life, but I only just realized it last year when I was in a drawing class at Studio Escalier. I seem to get the value scale out of whack, and my figures then end up looking wrong, or hairy. Sigh. Alas, always a work in progress...

Dormant.

2009-07-10T10:08:00.002-04:00

This week has been a not-great one, motivation is low and paint activity is slow. Sigh. I think a couple of things are getting to me, not the least of which is our current geographical limbo. Anyway, since I have little to report on the painting front other than ongoing struggles with portrait projects and my own work, I'll make this a "flashback" entry to a painting I did back in '06:

Botzaris, 2006, oil on panel, 20"x16" by me, Diane Feissel.

Phew x 2.

2009-07-07T10:40:00.002-04:00

Ok, bullet dodged. Data is fine, hard drive recovered. Backup external hard drive on its way to me. Wallet is lighter after this computer debacle/escapade, but so it goes. Now I need to decide if I can afford another laptop... sigh.

In the meantime, hope everyone out there had a great 4th of July. Mine was spent cursing the trend of planned obsolescence in the field of electronics. Happy Independence Day!

Phew.

2009-07-01T11:17:00.003-04:00

Okay, the painting got in (see my previous post). Phew.

And now for the other anxiety: my laptop died, and I'm now waiting to hear back whether or not a resurrection is possible. Stay tuned. Though blog posts may be less frequent until computing issues are resolved. Sigh.

A newer, cuter You.

2009-06-30T10:20:00.004-04:00

Cross your fingers for me that this painting gets into the upcoming juried exhibition "Seeing Red" at Visual Art Exchange in downtown Raleigh:

meet your replacement (a newer, cuter You)
2009, oil on printed fabric, 24"x36", by me, Diane Feissel

Anniversaire.

2009-06-28T18:01:00.002-04:00

38 years ago today, I arrived. Just in time for dinner, so I'm told: 6:01pm. Never was big on mornings, so arriving in time for a meal and the rest of the evening/nighttime sounds about right.

For my birthday weekend, I indulged a painting itch: I've been wanting to try painting on mylar. Now, I had always thought mylar was a substance more of the metallic variety, like those helium balloons... but it turns out that it is actually more vellum-y, a thin, translucent plastic-y sheet with a silky smooth surface. Sounds cool, huh? SO my first attempt was just a motion sketch in oil (see below). So far? Meh - the surface isn't nearly as fun to paint on as I would have hoped... just slippery enough to make the paint slide a tad more than I'd like, but enough tooth to keep things a bit sticky. Hmm. Anyway, here's what I have so far: