This is the view in front of Many Glaciers Lodge in Glacier National Park, from last July. I was struck by the sunset over the jagged mountains, and the hidden glaciers on the slope. This is what’s known as a Contemporary Fresco. It is pigment on clay Aquabord, and is varnished and does not need framing under glass. It is 9 X 12”.
Asheville Vs. Hurricane Helene: Art Will Survive
A terrible thing has happened to Asheville, NC, where I live. Hurricane Helene landed here on 9/27/24 and brought death, destruction and despair. Like many, I have been in a state of shock and sadness to see the damage to this beautiful town. Like many, I wonder how we’ll recover. These are images from close to my home, the day after the storm. We still have no drinking running water, though we now have power.
However, the strength and resilience of the people of Asheville has already stepped up to clean up and rebuild. To contribute to these efforts, I am supporting the following fund-raising efforts through the sale of my work and direct donations. If you have the means, I encourage you to do the same:
https://www.riverartsdistrict.com/donate/
Or, buy my work and I’ll donate for you. I’ve already helped five different fund raisers, with the funds going to people I know and trust.
Thank you. We’ll be back.
"Leicester Studio Tour" 8/17 & 8/18; Meet The Artist!
I’ll be at 172 Old Macedonia Road, Alexander on 8/17 - 8/18, 10 - 5. Come on by!
"The Secret Forest" Work In Progress by C. Twomey
WIP of the secret forest. The intriguing thing about the distant light is that’s a wall of falling water that feeds the creek. Where bears roam. 18 x 24” oil on linen panel.
Oil, 18 X 24”, the forest below the dam. Where bears roam.
Studio Sale on etsy.com (catherinetwomeyart.etsy.com) Now!
Lots of "Thank you's (or youse)" lately to the wonderful people who support my artistic efforts and purchase my prints and/or original artwork. You're inspirational, motivational and downright kind! Grateful - more so than you can imagine. Etsy: catherinetwomeyart.etsy.com
Orbis: Improving Eyesight In South Africa
The people who may be interested in this post understand why I’m posting it.
For about a decade, when I was working full-time as a medical illustrator, I had a client that believed in working for good causes that coincided with my beliefs. As an independent contractor part of their team, I worked at a significantly reduced rate for a charity in New York, https://www.orbis.org/en. To better understand their mission:
“Imagine losing your sight in one of the poorest regions in the world. Where would you turn for help? With few quality eye doctors, hospitals or clinics, your chances of getting the right kind of care are small. As your sight gets worse, your chances of getting an education or earning a steady income begin to fade away…With your help and the support of our amazing volunteers, we can not only give people their sight back today, but help change the quality of ophthalmologists and build a lasting legacy of quality eye care that will ensure no one goes needlessly blind tomorrow.”
As a part of this effort, I created a large number of medical illustrations showing eye pathologies, including the ones shown here, which were distributed throughout clinics in South Africa. On my own dime, I few to South Africa to visit clinics to understand whether or not the work I was doing was being effective. The poverty and need I saw was overwhelming.
This is called giving back. It is most definitely not racism. I haven’t written about this until now, but now it needs to be heard. Thank you for your interest, and if you have the means, this is a very worthwhile charity.
"Blue Ridge Clouds Sheep No. 2" SOLD!
"Blue Ridge Clouds Sheep" has been SOLD to a buyer from New Jersey! Thank you so much. This original 22" X 28" oil painting on a stretched canvas frame is shipping out today. For additional originals and prints, visit my Etsy site here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1462408022/studio-sale-original-oil-painting?click_key=a1770be114ec0bc46f2e6c4906799988f8f406c7%3A1462408022&click_sum=8ea4385e&ref=shop_home_active_15&pro=1
“Blue Ridge Clouds Sheep No. 2” Sold, by Catherine Twomey
Catherine Twomey Contributes to a PAPA PBS Documentary
As a member of Preserving A Picturesque America (https://preservationthroughart.org/) yesterday I joined three other plein air painters at the Biltmore Estate on the Wisteria Terrace. As we painted we were filmed and then interviewed about our work and PAPA for an upcoming PBS Documentary. It was a most spectacular day, fortunately, and although I have almost no memory of what I said in the interview, I hope I did PAPA proud - I know they make me proud.
Painting, getting filmed and interviewed for a PBS documentary this morning at Biltmore. Four plein air painters for Preserving a Picturesque America hard at work.
Jeff the cameraman from LA, preparing to shoot with his 30# camera.
The wisteria that captured my heart and eye; along with Mt. Pisgah.
Almost finished, always one more thing to do....9 X 12" oil on Artefex canvas over aluminum panel with Michael Harding oils.
Public Service Announcement: "Mercury: Dangerously Fishy"
"The following is a personal Public Service Announcement - my first, and I hope the last:
Mercury: Dangerously Fishy by Catherine Twomey, FAMI, Emeritus
Thinking about ordering that lovely swordfish or sea bass, steaming and covered in capers? Or, how about that sushi? About to pop open a can of “sustainable, thoughtfully harvested” Albacore tuna to eat on a salad or for a delicious tuna fish sandwich? Think again; hard.
I’ve just been diagnosed with mercury toxicity. For the last two months, I’ve worked with an integrative, functional medicine doctor while she supervised and interpreted over 10 tests, ranging from blood to hair and lots in between.
What kind of harm is done by an excess of mercury? Without getting overly scientific, the overall scope is that it’s prevented my body from functioning properly for a long time. Mercury toxicity can be a root cause of a host of maladies that are otherwise attributed to things like aging or chronic disease.
I have stepped out of traditional medicine because it failed me once again. My general practitioner refused to do annual blood tests for me since 2020 - even though I asked him to repeatedly, telling me: “You’re doing just fine, you don’t need them.” Funny, he had no problem doing them for my husband. I found a traditionally trained physician whose specialty, functional integrative medicine, isn’t recognized by Medicare, yet who is one of the most intelligent, thorough and life-changing people I’ve met.
The mercury toxicity diagnosis has been pretty exhausting and frightening. Sure, I’d heard about fish and mercury - but it really can’t be that bad, otherwise I would have heard more about it, right? Wrong. I can no longer eat any fish or shellfish except a limited amount of salmon. As a small species fish with lower mercury, salmon is loaded with antioxidants; a good thing. At this point in the earth’s environmental destruction, every species of fish or shellfish has mercury in it. It’s just a question of which species does the most harm.
What’s being dumped into the oceans is much worse than it was just a couple of decades ago. I had been experiencing subtle, weird symptoms of various things and at least now have an explanation for them. My body is slowly healing and balancing, and I’m going to have what’s called chelation therapy to “liquify” what mercury is in my body with hopes of a full recovery. It’s going to take thousands of dollars and up to seven months.
Our medical system is broken; this story is just one tiny example. When I tell doctors about my mercury toxicity, their typical first response is: “that’s rare.” I suspect the opposite is true. How can you know if something is rare if it’s not even tested for routinely? Unfortunately, most physicians have had little nutritional education and we’re paying a steep price for that deficiency.
The amount of mercury and other industrial waste being freely released into the oceans has increased by about 30% just in the last 20 years - ah, those pesky environmental regulations - and is increasing exponentially. Yet there are no standard tests done to measure changing nutritional needs or toxic exposure. The tests are affordable, do-able remotely and could significantly alter the grossly mismanaged, unregulated supplement industry profoundly - and please, don’t even get me started on the pharmaceutical industry. Illnesses could be re-diagnosed, correctly; lives saved, improved and millions of dollars redirected towards better health outcomes rather than chronic diseases.
I loved to eat fish. I’d read, been told and thought I was doing the “right” thing and following a great diet full of everything you’re supposed to eat with very little of the bad stuff. Not anymore. At least for the foreseeable future, I’m all plant based. I’m actually learning to cook because at least I know what’s going into and can control each meal. I want to keep outdoor mountain painting, thinking clearly, horseback riding and being disease free as long as possible.
Lately I’ve mused on how ironic it is that, as an emeritus medical illustrator and fine art painter, I’ve focused on the complexity and beauty of nature and fragility of the earth’s environment. My brain calling out for help? Maybe. Or maybe the earth’s problems are now hitting home and I can no longer be in denial. It’s not fun being the canary in a coal mine."
“Accelerating” by Catherine Twomey; 30” X 30” acrylics, pigments
"Old Grey Jug" Sold! by Catherine Twomey
SOLD thank you to the collector of "Old Grey Jug"! #stilllifepainting #stilllifeoil #blendgallerync #catherinetwomey1 #oilonpanel #moonshinejug
"Island Edge" by Catherine Twomey Sold!
THANK YOU to Blend Gallery at 67 Biltmore Ave (Asheville) for the sale of "Island Edge." This original oil was painted plein air at Bass Lake in Blowing Rock, NC - obviously a beautiful, serene place filled with happy walkers as storms came and went.
"The Island" by Catherine Twomey
"The Island" is a plein air oil, 16" X 16" in Blowing Rock, NC. It was a blustery, sometimes rainy day, but there is nothing like capturing the light on site. Thank you to the collector from Hewitt, NJ for their purchase!
Maple Ridge Craggy Gardens Named To Collection!
The international gallery, Singulart, has named my work “Maple Ridge Craggy Gardens” to their Fall Harvest Collection! This piece is in oil on an archival panel, and is professionally framed and ready to hang. For additional information, please visit:
DaVince Horses Revealed: Walk, Trot and Canter SOLD!
Thank you to the collector of the three DaVinci Horse Revealed prints: Walk, Trot & Canter! Greatly appreciate the support from Fairfax, VA. For additional prints:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/catherinetwomeyart?ref=seller-platform-mcnav&page=2#items
Open Studio Tour! Oct. 8 & 9, 1 Plymouth Court, Asheville!
Hope you can come and meet me at 1 Plymouth Court, Kenilworth, Asheville this Saturday and Sunday. Starting at 10, ending at 5 - it would be such a pleasure to meet you! I’ll have originals and prints, snacks & spring water. The weather is going to be PERFECT! See you there, and thanks.
“The Marked Tree”, 12” X 16” on panel
"The Marked Tree" Vineyards by Catherine Twomey
A memory, a feeling, a brief moment of life - this was painted at Marked Tree Vineyards, where I was surrounded by the most beautiful scenery, happy somewhat inebriated people, a good panter friends. I was so drawn to the way the vines pointed at the namesake tree - and the colors, the rich colors of the countryside on a gorgeous summer day.
“Sequenced”, 24” X 36” pigments, iridescents, metallics on aluminum panel, framed.
"Sequenced" Original Painting by Catherine Twomey On Offer
The luminous sky and mountains at over 6,000 feet can overwhelm. Couple that with the late spring blooms of the rhododendrons, and there is a sense of floating high above the clouds as the sun descends. I'm inspired by the mountains and sky, of course - but the flow of the pigments themselves is so freeing; so abstract. It's like it helps makes sense of all of the complex layers and diffuse light spreading through the clouds. Each layer is constructed
separately using pigments, tools, an airbrush and gravity. Although the end result appears realistic, on closer inspection it's made up of pours, ridges and glowing pigment. This 24" X 36" original painting will infuse your room settings with good taste and luminescence. It is framed in a lovely copper and black floating frame.
"Between Storms" Plein Air by Catherine Twomey
“Between Storms” is an 8” X 16” oil on archival panel.
The weather is so incredibly variable in the mountains, and this day was no exception. I made my way around a lake, Bass Lake, in Blowing Rock, NC - Blue Ridge mountains. Surrounded by threatening cumulous clouds, I quickly set up and immediately planned out the composition. Suddenly, sunlight flooded the island in the lake's middle, and I knew I had my painting. The flashes of light green and blue highlighted the dark pines against the mountainside. The light fell on a downed log, prompting a highlight that finished the piece. As dozens of people made their way past and around the lake path, it felt like we were all in it together - a race against the lightning in an electric moment.
"Altapass Apple Orchard With Cloud Shadow" by C. Twomey Available!
An hour's drive up to a mountain pass proved to be well worth the trip. I spent a day at Altapass Orchards in North Carolina - and what a sight it was! The day was clear and unusually warm, so I was able to set up for some long range views. The apple blossoms were just coming out, adding to the scene's delight. This original watercolor is 6" X 12" on archival Canson board.