Paul Rahilly 1933 - 2024 RIP

Paul Rahilly, artist, teacher and good friend to many aspiring artists in the Boston area, died yesterday, July 15, 2024. He was one the few keeping the flame of figurative art alive during the late 20th century, and taught several generations of students the figure drawing and painting skills to build their own styles and approaches. I first encountered him at a life drawing class at Mass Art night school in the early 80's, and immediately realized that he was offering the knowledge and attitude to art that I had been seeking. It could be summarized as a method for identifying the intuitive, gestural sense of a pose and relating it to an armature, a "system of lines," that made it possible to record the essentials with verve and accuracy without wasting energy on aimless scribbling or getting bogged down in compulsive recording of detail. I went on to take his classes repeatedly, and with a few fellow recidivists established a painting group (the "Rahilloids") to continue to develop our skills with this knowledge. He became a good friend to all of us, and his influence is present with me to this day, as are the close friendships I found in his classes.

 Three Women

etching

8 5/8" x 10"

Loosely based on my painting of the same name.

I fixed a few things that bothered me, mostly places where the the lines were either etched too deep or had run together to create blotches. The grandmother's right eye is probably the most noticeable example.

The way I made the corrections is something I hit on myself. They were too deep to scrape and burnish in the traditional manner, so I carefully applied epoxy to the offending lines, let it harden, and then sanded it down and burnished the area. Seems to work pretty well. I don't know if other etchers do something like this.

"Backyard Snow" in situ at the Academic Artist Association 74th Annual Exhibition of Traditional Realism. There's a lot of great artwork on view by excellent artists with whom I am honored to be sharing a wall. Well worth a visit if you're in the area.

June 16 – July 14, 2024

Thursday - Sunday, 1 to 5 PM

Arts Center East

709 Hartford Turnpike, Vernon, CT ~ 860-871-8222

https://www.academicartistsassociation.org/

Horseshoe Crab

 On our last morning at the Cape I found this recently deceased horseshoe crab on the beach. It was studded with little white shells.

Pen, ink wash, white ink on toned paper

4" x 6"

Atlantic Spice Company Pallets

 Atlantic Spice Company Pallets

Pen, ink wash, and white pen on toned paper

4" x 6"

Long Point Lighthouse from Truro, MA

 Long Point Lighthouse from Truro, MA

Watercolor
4" x 6"

Truro Breakwater sketch

 First 2024 Cape sketch as well as first sketch in new Montanapolitancroptic sketchbook. I've done this breakwater many times before, but this time I was trying to work methodically with the reality of the constantly changing tide. The problem is that there is no stable baseline to use as a reference, and the overall visible size of the subject is changing, making it hard to judge proportions. I knew that the tide was going out, and that I had about an hour and a half before it reached low tide, so I made sure to use the parts that were visible and that would remain constant as my reference points, and gradually added to the drawing as more of the subject was revealed by the receding waters.

The gull showed about about halfway through, and I was of two minds whether to include it. Would it make the image too hokey? However, the way it stayed there posing for so long made me think it really wanted me to put it in the picture, so I did. I think it provides a nice accent.

Academic Artist Association 74th Annual Exhibition of Traditional Realism.

 "Backyard Snow" has been juried into the Academic Artist Association 74th Annual Exhibition of Traditional Realism. This exhibition always attracts top notch artists from New England and beyond, so it should be a great show.

June 16 – July 14, 2024
Thursday - Sunday, 1 to 5 PM

Arts Center East
709 Hartford Turnpike, Vernon, CT ~ 860-871-8222

Opening Reception Sunday, June 16, 2024, 1 to 4 PM
Awards announced at 3 PM

https://www.academicartistsassociation.org/

New MontanaPolitanCroptic sketchbook

Time to make a new MontanaPolitanCroptic sketchbook. It's been ten years since I designed and built the first of these.  Also,  some pix from the old one, selected with an eye to repeated places and subjects.

 Backyard Snow

Oil on linen panel

9.5" x 12"

I started this back in January, during the only decent snowstorm of the winter. There's also a shot of the first pass, showing how I was trying to get the movement and feeling of the snow down first, filling the details later but always referring back to the initial sketch; and my snow painting setup, Artistic In Tent.

MICAfest 2024

 Sunscreen and Three Women are up at the Bombyx Center for Arts & Equity as part of MICAfest 2024, Art for Change: The M/others’ View.

There's lots of other interesting artwork on display, connected to non-traditional conceptions of motherhood. Unfortunately the gallery is currently only open during other scheduled events and performances, so if you happen to be attending one of these during May be sure to traipse down the hall to the Peacock Gallery during intermission. There is a possibility of scheduling additional viewing times which I will announce if they pan out.

There is also a reception May 25, 2:00 - 4:00, which I won't be able to attend, but which should be fascinating. The reception is free, but please RSVP so they can plan accordingly.

https://experiencemica.org/event/mica-unveiled-art-reception-2/

May 1-31, 2024

Bombyx Center for Arts & Equity

130 Pine St, Northampton, MA 01062

experiencemica.org/micafest-2024-northampton-ma/

Hartsbrook Farm pano

 Another favorite bike destination is this afternoon view of Hartsbrook Farm against the light. I've done it several times, but this time I decided to try a pano of the whole scene. 

Racor switch

 I sketched this endearing personage on a walk today. Subsequently learned that it is a Racor switch.

Power plant

 I've done this power plant a few times looking south from a ways up the river, but yesterday I found myself right opposite it, and did this watercolor sketch.

Mount Toby

 A nice in just spring day so I biked up to Mount Pollux and did this watercolor sketch of Mount Toby.

PCC Memories etching

I think this is the final state for the plate. Not that it couldn't be improved, but there are flaws that have been baked in from its inception and that will likely get worse with each trip through the ferric chloride. I've also done a lot of scraping and burnishing and filled some unintentional pock marks with epoxy. Next step is to work on the printing part - using inking, wiping, and printing to get a consistent, predictable result so as to be able to print an edition. I've learned a lot from this first attempt at a larger scale, complex image which I'll apply to the next one.

Moon, mountains, humans

We went up north to see the eclipse! I got a decent-ish shot of the totality by holding a phone camera filter (which didn't work with my admittedly old phone) up in front of my real camera. While waiting, I did a watercolor sketch of the mountains and some vignettes of my fellow humans gathering for the event. 

MICAfest 2024

M/others Institute for Collaboration and Art presents MICAfest 2024

MICAfest 2024 Art for Change: The M/others’ View

Visual/Performing/Literary Arts

I’m a Featured Artist!

80 m/other artists

May 1-31, 2024

Northampton, MA

Tickets for MICAfest are now open!

experiencemica.org/micafest-2024-northampton-ma/

My pieces, Three Women and Sunscreen, will be on display at Bombyx  Center for Arts & Equity in the Peacock Room.

Abandoned golf course

 Took the bike out to the abandoned golf course, which was partly flooded from recent rains, and did this sketch of ex-farm buildings, subsequently repurposed by a landscaping company. Actually the golf course is also in the process of being repurposed as a recreational area/solar farm, so may lose its wild and melancholy aspect.

Pen, inkwash, white gouache and white Sakura Gellyroll pen on toned paper.

4" x 6"

Hydrometer!

I recently invested in a hydrometer, which measures the density of a liquid relative to water. In etching, it is used to measure the ratio of water to ferric chloride in the etching solution, in degrees Baumé, or Be. Counterintuitively, the relationship is not simply one of more water diluting the strength of the solution; instead there is a useful range centered around 35˚Be, tailing off in either direction. The ferric chloride I buy comes as 42˚ Be, which is recommended for a “careful etch,” but other products I use were recommending 34˚, so I decided to adjust the Baumé with the hydrometer as a guide.  

. 

The hydrometer is basically a closed glass tube, weighted at one end with what looks like birdshot and glue, with calibrations on a paper roll inside the tube.

Floated in plain water, it reads 0.

 In the ferric chloride out of the jug, it reads 42. 

I gradually diluted the solution by removing ferric chloride with a turkey baster and replacing it with water 

until it read 34.

Finally, I wanted to determine the Baumé of the solution I had removed, which had become slightly diluted in the process, and got about 41.

PCC Memories etched with 34˚ Be ferric chloride.

I don't know how much it will show up here, but it made a noticeable difference to etch with 34˚ Be ferric chloride - the lines I added were darker and sharper.