Sedona Day's End Oil Painting Auction

Sedona Day's End

To view Sedona Day's End Auction (starts on 2/4/14) click below:

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/197485

As the sun climbed down thru the sky, I was on a bluff painting en plein air (live) as quickly as I could. This was my first trip in 30 years to Sedona, Arizona, but oh, was I glad to see such a sight. 

The rocks really are that color, the mist hangs over the valley and I only had about an hour or so to get my impressions down. I was surrounded by fellow artists, equally inspired, and we were so focused on nature's brief gift of a spectacular sunset. 

I'm heading back to Sedona in May, and can't wait to relive the other-worldly red rock offerings. 

This original oil on archival linen board is 8" X 10", and is unframed.

This painting would look like this if framed:

Sedona Day's End Sample Framed

Rural Landscape With Plantation Barn Auction

Bleak House Plantation Barn 3

Auction listed at http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/197172

This gorgeous, symmetrical barn is just down Buck Mountain Road in Earlysville, Virginia, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was irresistible, it had to be painted; and what I like about this oil is how free the brushstrokes became. The structure became a dreamlike symbol of it's history, and it's history is deep.

The Bleak House Plantation was built in the 1700's and covered hundreds of acres planted in corn, tobacco, wheat and other crops.

This original oil on archival linen board is 7" X 5", and is unframed.

This painting would look like this if framed:

Bleak House Plantation Barn 3, Sample Frame

5 Ways To Identify A Painting For YOUR Taste

There are so many choices of painting styles - when you're in the market, it helps to quickly narrow down what appeals to your individual taste....(continued below)

Bleak House Barn III

Working on a series of the Bleak House Plantation Barn located in Earlysville, VA. What I'm liking very much about this painting is that I'm loosening up. A dream like, luscious quality is infusing the structure - a quality I very much feel when I'm looking at this venerable barn.

This original is available for sale as a 5 X 7" oil on archival linen board. Framed in a gorgeous custom gold and black floating canvas frame. 

Helpful purchasing guidelines:

1. What's your budget? You can purchase original pieces of art - art that will increase in value - for less than $500.

2. When looking at art samples, what draws your eye first? This includes identifying that eye-grabbing trait: A color or colors? Subject matter, pattern, abstraction? The stroke (or lack of) of the artist's hand?

3. What size? This seems obvious, but are you open to whatever appeals? Or are you trying to fill a big space over the sofa? 

4. Will the artist's work appreciate in value? If this is important to you, take the time to look at their awards, their statement about their work, their Biography. These will tell you if they're in it for a quick fling or have the staying power needed to increase the value of their art.

5. Are you buying from your heart? If so, that magical quality that drew you in is likely to capture others as well. Successful collectors bring their hearts, their instincts AND their minds to the table when making an art-purchasing decision. 

How to Paint An Emotional Icon

Bleak House Barn 2 I have to have a reason to paint. There is so much local history here in the foothills of the Blue Ridge that's it's tough to focus on just one thing. A focus on the barn at Bleak House Plantation tempers an impending sense of overwhelmed-ness that comes with so many choices.

Having just seen Twelve Years A Slave, that's what I'm thinking of as I read about the history of this plantation. I'm revisiting this barn series at the Bleak House Plantation in Earlysville, VA. Built in the1700's when slaves worked the plantation's wheat, tobacco, corn and livestock. 

I wandered around on a hot spring day, capturing many opinions of what this barn meant to the surrounding landscape. It was silent but for the birds in the country, yet I could hear the voices of past inhabitants and the earth gave up hints of previous homes and outbuildings. Google search was an enormous help in finding obscure references to the slaves that worked here, their names, position, ages, value, etc. 

This particular viewpoint is the third in the series. I simplified the structure, concentrating more on the light and shadow colors and shapes. Emotionally I wanted something beautiful but imposing, as this barn was a symbol of prosperity and enslaved toil. 

This original is available for sale as a 5 X 7" oil on archival linen board. Framed in a gorgeous custom gold and black floating canvas frame. 

Huckstep's Garage and Store: Nostalgic Icon

Huckstep's Garage Front View

This iconic now defunct store and garage located in Free Union, VA represents a disappearing time and place. As I consider what I want to say with the paints, I'm experimenting with the filter galleries in Corel Painter as well as Photoshop to enhance the emotionality of painting.

Driving into Free Union (love the town name, too) in central Virginia is a trip back to the nostalgia of my grandmother's youth. There are so many buildings in the Virginia countryside that one glance on a quick drive by takes you back.

This part of the Charlottesville area was settled in the 1700's. The original Mitchie Tavern wasn't far from here. Here, the mountains are bigger, bluer and you're in their foothills. Vineyards are starting to spring up and the wine business is just gathering steam.

I picture filled rocking chairs on the porch, neighbors throwing hello's, original Fords filling up.

Huckstep's Store Oil Painting

Original 5" X 7" Oil on linen board, C. Twomey

Working on a new series, starting with the iconic Huckstep's Garage and Store in Free Union, VA. Just to get there is a pleasure. I head west along Buck Mountain Road, which is on a high ridge overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains on either side. Rolling farmland, critters in the fields, the sun baking the grape vines - all of this leads to the charming and somewhat dissolving village of Free Union.

Having worked on computers since 1978 (Apple II), I've worked a lot with the Filter Gallery. I realize that it is influencing and helping to infuse my paintings with light that I control - light that can suggest a nostalgia, a dreaminess unlike anything else. This exploration is how I arrived at this view of Huckstep's - real, but not quite; a play on emotions and longing for the way things were.

Planning 2014; Sheep Cloud Mountains

Blue Ridge Blue Skyline Sheep Cloud Above, 5" X 7" oil on linen board; painted live along Skyline Drive in the Piedmont Area of Virginia, in Shenandoah National Park. Made me feel like an angel as the warm summer breezes overcame my easel and me. I loved the patterns; the repetition of shapes and most of all, the color of these mountains. See the sheep cloud to the upper right? My eye finally found him after I thought I was done, but he's welcome to stay.

Today: an auspicious start to the New Year 2014, Year of the Horse, spent meeting a lovely group of fellow artists. We're planning an upcoming Studio Tour for northern Albemarle County, north of Charlottesville, for either the spring or the fall. Cannot wait to get to know such an inspiring group of fellow artists, including watercolorists, painters, weavers, art manufacturers and more.

All In The Family

• Sister-in-Law Kathleen Carroll, Associated Press Executive Editorand Pulitzer Board Chairperson
• My BrotherSteve Twomey's Recent Book On Morning Joe
• Steve Twomey in the Smithsonian Magazine
• Steve Twomey, Pulitzer Prize winner
• Kathleen Carroll in North Korea
• My Saturday Night Live very talented comedian cousin Julia Sweeney 
• My Fabulous Cousin Julia
• Francis Foy, An Inspiring Artist Who Painted My Grandmother

Artist's and Professional Sites

• ArtInPlace, the Arts Organization
• A Useful Site for Artists
• Catherine Twomey Prints on Demand
• Suzanne Crane's Mud Dauber Pottery
• The Association of Medical Illustrators
• Twomey Facebook Fan Page

Community and Volunteerism

• Help A Child Learn To Use Computers
• Giving Confidence to Patients
• A Fellow at the Association of Medical Illustrators
• Charlottesville Area SPCA & Chance the Hound

Resume/Curriculum Vitae

Curriculum Vitae

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

• One Person Show, Mud Dauber Gallery, Earlysville, Virginia, October 2012 - current. 

• TED Conference: invitation and exhibition of work in the medical division, TEDMED (Technology, Information & Design) (http://www.ted.com) as a participant, San Diego, California, 2011

•  Winner of the 2010 ArtInPlace Mural Competition (http://www.artinplace.org) Charlottesville, Virginia; Barracks Road, Charlottesville, 12 X 24' on Aluminum

•  Fellow of the Association of Medical Illustrators (FAMI), 2009

• Exhibition at the William H. Benton Art Museum, Connecticut

• Numerous works in the collection of The LLoyd Library and Museum. The Library holds, acquires,  preserves, and provides access to a wide variety of disciplines that fall under the following subjects: natural history, botany, pharmacy, medicine, scientific history, visual arts.

• Winner of the American Horse Publications Annual Awards, First Place in Illustration for "Da Vinci Horse"

• Exclusive medical illustrator for Roche Pharmaceuticals interactive multimedia program, OTIS: Organ Transplant Information Systems –Award-winning program distributed worldwide for heart, lungs, liver and additional transplant patient education

• Founding Member, Illustrators Partnership of America, (Top 100 Illustrators nationally)

• Salon judge and presenter, 2007 Association of Medical Illustrators Meeting, Bozeman, Montana

• 17th Annual International Exhibition of Animals in Art - University of Louisiana Veterinary School, entry juried in - only 85 accepted out of 900 applicants

• American Horse Show Association "Buy" review of The Guide to Equine Electrolytes: What Every Owner and Trainer Should Know

• International Museum of Surgical Science, juried invitational show

• Association of Medical Illustrators, Award of Excellence; Concepts in Biology

• The RX Club/Art Directors Club, NYC, Best of Medical Art, Award of Excellence

• Association of Medical Illustrators, Award of Excellence; Human Anatomy

• Association of Medical Illustrators, Award of Excellence; Biology: Visualizing Life

• The RX Club/Art Directors Club of New York City; Award of Excellence

• Association of Medical Illustrators, Award of Excellence; Human Anatomy and Physiology

WORK HISTORY (edited)

CATHERINE TWOMEY, LLC 2009 – 2013

Fine artist specializing in plein air, landscape and equine, interpretations. Board Certified Medical Illustrator, Fellow of the Association of Medical Illustrators, Founding member American Society of Illustrators Partnership.

ARTISTS ART, LLC 1999 - 2010

Founder, President

Specializing in the logical, concise conveyance of medical illustrations 

and communications for the healthcare industries.

Clients:

• ·  United States Dressage Association
• ·  National Science Foundation
• ·  EndoArt Corp., Zurich, gastrointestinal gastric band illustrations
• ·  Roche Pharmaceuticals Organ Transplant Information Systems
• ·  Pfizer Animal Health

SYBERACTIVE, A DIVISION OF HEALTHWORLD, INC., 1996 – 1999

Interactive Managing Director

Clients:

• ·   Healthworld Intranet Website, medical advertising agency
• ·   Clinical Challenges in Decompensated Advanced Heart Failure, Sanofi-Winthrop
• ·   Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Interactive Sales Training Program, Zoloft
• ·   Procardia Pfizer Pharmaceuticals sales training program

MEDPRO COMMUNICATIONS, INC. 1991 - 1996, 1999

Founder, President

• ·   Acquired by Healthworld, Inc., in 1996
• ·   Production of pharmaceutical illustrations and audiovisuals
• ·   Medical consultant to film production companies, physician practices and law firms
• ·   Art directed and illustrated major chapters of numerous college textbooks and reference manuals
• ·   Illustrations published in The American Journal of Cardiology, Resident and Staff Physician, NBC/HOME Show and Self Magazine
• ·   National Feature Editor, A.M.I. News

ADDITIONAL

• ·    Member, American Horse Publications Organization
• ·    Board Certified Medical Illustrator, member of the Association of Medical Illustrators
• ·    Fellow of the Association of Medical Illustrators (FAMI)
• ·    University of Illinois, B.S. in Biocommunication Arts/Medical Illustration. Coursework in instructional design, illustration, design, surgery, exhibits, audiovisual production and photography.
• ·    U. of I. Medical School Sciences: human gross anatomy, physiology, neuroanatomy, histology, embryology, pathology.
• ·    Northern Illinois University Graduate School, M.S. in Art Education, Summa Cum Laude.

There's A Lot To Be Thankful For….

Sneak Preview, Equine Sculpture

Here is a first preview of a sculpture (equine ecorche) in the planning stages. It's been a long time coming, but finally the timing is right. I've worked out the skeletal system, cervical region. I've studied the muscles, origins and insertions as well as the proper bend at the poll. Yes, this is going to be the "This is how your horse should look" sculpture, the first in a series comparing correct versus incorrect riding. It is very exciting to finally have arrived here, and I've got a sample of the porcelain I'll think I'll be working in.

At the moment, the other side of the head and neck will be aesthetically realistic. I'm thinking this will be the size of a bookend, and can be used as a teaching tool and/or as art. Cannot wait to get sculpting!

"In The Master's Hand" Oil on Canvas

In The Master's Hand

Been working diligently on this commissioned piece, and starting to get it to the stage where I'm satisfied. The light has been a challenge but I'm starting to like the warmest color on the horse's hind end, as well as the tail highlights. I've also emphasized the little "flip" at the bottom of the tail that emphasizes the cadence of this dressage movement.

I love the attempts by this young warmblood gelding to piaffe by lifting his left hind as high as his right front foot. That, and the fact that the trainer patiently waits for the response to his aids. There is nothing quick and easy about dressage, but patience certainly helps and this image shows that.

Dreaming Beyond Cancer

Dreaming Ocean

I had to get out the paints this morning to get down a dream vision. What a contrast my dreams have been lately to those before September 18, when kidney cancer was still a part of my husband's body. From dark and unsettling to calm, beautiful, light and well, dreamy - I much prefer the most recent dreams.

This is a watercolor on Arches watercolor paper. The swelling wave behind the breaking one brings an anticipatory tension to the seascape. It's difficult to describe the sense of relief we carry today, and how previously "critical" problems have been minimized.

Piaffe in Hand

Piaffe in Hand

Since late August, my family has been in unexpected, unwanted yet very instructive crisis. My husband was diagnosed with kidney cancer while being checked for a minor intestinal upset. That led to surgery, which was unbelievably successful, and now a peaceful recovery.

In the meantime, I have been working on this commission of a master German dressage teacher in the initial stages of teaching a gorgeous warmblood to piaffe. I love the intimacy between the two as well as the light cast over the hard working pair. This work was a wonderful distraction during a very difficult time.

I am slowly coming to some conclusions and insights about what we just went thru, but that will make a later blog post. For now, I hope you enjoy this painting and the mysterious connection between humans and animals.

Making It Thru Kidney Cancer

Post Surgical Recovery Floor 9, Cleveland Clinic

This was the infamous day of September 18, 2013, followed by recovery and the trip home.

My husband was admitted for surgery at 6:30 a.m. at the Cleveland Clinic. Surgery with the Director of Oncology, Dr. Andrew Stephenson, began at 9:27 a.m. Here is a synopsis of that day as it unfolded:

12:20 p.m.: "At the Cleveland Clinic, surgery is about to end and all has gone well. Will talk to the Dr. soon. Thanks for all your thoughts, prayers, mantras, etc.; this has already been a very long day but we're encouraged. Listening to a beautiful violinist next to a waterfall helps soothe the soul."

1:45 p.m.: "Dr. able to save over 90% of the kidney. Clean margins all around, a very good thing. Rick is sleeping & I can see him soon. 

Joyful! Cannot thank everyone enough for pulling for him!"

September 19, 11:00 a.m.: "Rick is doing great! Rick is now in a regular room and has walked a couple of times today. 

The now-removed tumor on the kidney had been pushed up very close against the inferior medial lung/pleura, and when they removed it the very bottom tip of the lung was "pin-pricked" causing a 10% collapse of the lung, called a pneumothorax. They didn't even know it had happened until after surgery & an x-ray. He was breathing just fine, but was put on oxygen just in case.

When I arrived today the oxygen was removed and Rick was alert and conversational. The lung should quickly heal by itself. He's only in pain when trying to get up, but that's to be expected. Rebuilding the core muscles will take some time, but he's on his way already.

We're heading in again tonight to see him. Had a good cry of relief last night, and a long nap this afternoon. No word yet on when Rick can go home, but possibly Saturday or Sunday. Rick is promising not to over-do it, and at the moment I'm personally controlling his electronics. That is, unless you've already received an e-mail from him from yet another new thingy he'd hidden under the gurney!

Thanks again for your thoughtful and delightful notes; it's hard to describe how much they mean to us."

September 21, 5:00 p.m.: "I'm on my way to pick him up and bring him home. All systems are go, and the Dr. has now given him a 95% cure rate. I have nothing but great things to say about the professionalism, thoughtfulness and service we've gotten from the clinic since Wednesday.

I know Rick is feeling much better because he's now starting to ask for his electronic devices (music & earbuds first), which he'd banned from his sight until he could handle them. I bet he'll be commandeering the TV for football when he gets home, and that (for once) will be music to my ears.

Thank you all for your well wishes, flowers, upbeat messages and positive vibes. You've helped enormously and we will never forget it. Hug the ones you love and tell them that. You never know."

And then the bomb dropped....

Baseball Flying

Football Flying

Well it's been a while since I've been able (or wanted to) post. I spent the start to middle of the summer working on a long-awaited project: a horse sculpture project that I will eventually launch on a crowd funding site. I've also been taking a ceramics class. Then, another unexpected bomb dropped.

Three weeks ago my husband called from where he's working in Ohio, starting out with: "I've had a really bad day." That was the understatement of a very up and down year. He'd experienced some intestinal pain, and needed to see a doctor. Not yet having a GP in Ohio, he was sent to an ER. That happenstance probably saved his life.

A CT scan revealed a minor intestinal infection. It also showed a 4 cm probably malignant tumor on his right kidney.

Fortunately, I have friends in Cleveland with deep medical backgrounds. They referred us to the Director of Oncology/Nephrology at the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic. If my husband was going to have to have cancer, this was the best place to be: they perform over 4,000 of such surgeries a year, and it was caught early. A very unlucky event just became manageable.

We are now two days out from surgery. When I arrived here in Ohio with the dogs, I was not only in shock, but uncertain about what to do with the three weeks we had to wait until surgery. Rick lives in what I fondly refer to as a man-cave, so to cheer us both up I painted the above baseball and football now proudly hanging in his otherwise nondescript house. My brother arrives tomorrow and from there, the rest is anyone's guess. Oh, yes - there's a well-armed friend staying at the house until this is over. And a hungry mama bear in the neighborhood as well, just for added security.

A 90% cure rate isn't a bad deal, however, so I'm pulling for this all to be just a rough, vivid, past memory that jolted us to the reality that no one lives forever. Please think good thoughts. We have no other choice.

Kathleen Carroll at the UN Security Council

Kathleen Carroll (my sister-in-law) briefed the United Nations Security Council on the protection of journalists yesterday. I have seen and been very moved by the AP Wall of Honor which shows those who have given their lives while on assignment, often being ambushed, tortured and shot. Written with some editing help from my brother Steve Twomey:

http://www.ap.org/Content/Press-Release/2013/AP-Exec-Editor-addresses-UN-Security-Council-on-protection-of-journalists

Despite the sport of media-bashing, I'm so glad there are people willing to do these very difficult jobs to bring accuracy to reporting.

AP Exec Editor addresses UN Security Council on protection of journalists

www.ap.org

Press Releases201320122011printAP exec editor briefs UN Security Council on protection of journalists July 17, 2013 EmailPrintTextAssociated Press Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll addresses the UN Security Council on the protection of journalists.Prepared remarksKathleen C...

Goodbye, Mr. Killian

Goodbye, Mr. Killian. Thank you for bringing such joy into so many lives, especially Lizzie's. Thanks for patiently letting me learn how to ride, and to finally learn a soft hand and quiet mind. You were the best horse in the entire world, and you are already sorely missed. I will remember us best cantering thru the fields of wheat without a worry in the world, free and as one. And I'm really glad I didn't name you Fabio: for you were always a Killian's Red, a true Irish thoroughbred.

Out of Africa

Zebra, Sabi Sands Game Reserve Safari

Back from weeks in Cape Town and two safaris in Sabi Sands and Timbavati game reserves near Kruger National Park. Just starting to get my rhythm back, and still somewhat jet lagged. What an experience.

Of course, I start with a horse's close relative, the zebra, and I met lots of them. And lions, leopards, hyenas, warthogs, elephants, Cape buffalo, wild dogs, baboons, and on and on. Never got to meet so many animals, in their world, with no barriers between us and them.

I tried to paint in the field, but that proved to be too challenging most of the time. Have tons of reference photos, however, so much more to come.

I've already started on a clay sculpture of a giraffe, and hope to continue in the sculptural vein for a while.

Baby Camouflaged Giraffe

Thrilled for the chance to go, but SO MUCH more appreciative of what I have and what the USA is.

Africa Here I Come

Heading to Africa tomorrow, visiting Cape Town, Arathusa and Kings Camp Lodge(Kruger National Park) for a trip I've been waiting for my entire life - a definite bucket list item. Watercolors & cameras coming too. Oh, & the home turf is being guarded by a huge Vietnam vet, just in case; along with two highly trained attack dogs. Just sayin.