Painting – Page 3 – Deidre Adams

Sold – Epigraph I: Dark Field

Epigraph I: Dark Field installed at the Denver offices of Gordon & Rees law firm

Epigraph I: Dark Field has been sold to Gordon Rees and is now hanging in a lovely spot right off the elevators. This shot doesn’t really do it justice, but it looks awesome with the lighting they have there, and the dark background is perfect for it! Thanks to Point Gallery and Lewis & Graham in Colorado.

Epigraph I: Dark Field, 48 x 48 inches, acrylic & mixed media on panel. ©Deidre Adams

Epigraph I: Dark Field, detail. ©Deidre Adams

Posting about this installation made me realize I never did a blog post when Pseudocode (below) was sold, although I was thinking I had because I did post it all over social media. I think having both Facebook and Instagram has made me too lazy about keeping up with the blog. But I want to be better about that. Social media seems too ephemeral, and the blog is a better record.

Pseudocode, 48 x 72 inches, acrylic on panel. Installed at Denver West.

Full and detail images of Pseudocode, along with a write-up of my process, are available here.

May 15th, 2016|Installations, Painting|Comments Off

The Original Meaning of Memory

The Original Meaning of Memory, 40 x 90 inches (triptych), acrylic on panel. ©Deidre Adams

Here is another recently completed work. The title comes from some reading I’ve been doing on the malleability of memory, and how memories are formed and stored in the brain. Concepts and stories of repressed memories and false memories are fascinating. I’ve often thought of the brain as a room full of filing cabinets, maybe not too well organized, where some things are kind of hidden in the back and have gotten rather dusty over time. This idea recurs whenever something happens to trigger a memory from many years ago that I’m surprised I still have. But the neuroscience of how memory works is even less organized:

We often talk of memory storage and retrieval, as if memory were filed in a honeycomb of compartments, but these words are really only metaphors. If memory is the reactivation of a weblike network of neurons that were first activated when an event occurred, each time that network is stimulated the memory is strengthened, or consolidated. Storage, retrieval, consolidation — how comforting and solid they sound; but in fact they consist of electrical charges leaping among a vast tangle of neurons,

In truth, even the simplest memory stimulates complex neural networks at several different sites in the brain. The content (what happened) and meaning (how it felt) of an event are laid down in separate parts of the brain. In fact, research at Yale University by Patricia Goldman-Rakic, Ph.D., has shown that neurons themselves are specialized for different types of memories — features, patterns, location, direction. “The coding is so specific that it can be mapped to different areas…in the prefrontal region.”

—From “It’s Magical, It’s Malleable, It’s … Memory,” Psychology Today, Jan. 1, 1995

Apparently, I only took one in-process photo while working on this painting, and it was more about getting a general shot of the studio. This is from October 2015.

This one came together for me less painfully than some of them do. I enjoyed experimenting with some new markings and techniques, and I was really happy with this combination of colors. I’ve always loved turquoise, but I didn’t want it to be too “pretty.” So I decided to use some gray, created by blending the turquoise with its complement. I like the retro feel of these colors together.

Here are some detail shots.

May 12th, 2016|Painting|2 Comments

3 things

Thing 1 – I have been working hard on some new paintings. Here is one you’ve seen before, but at that time it was called Suspension of Disbelief. I had it out because I was thinking of putting it into an upcoming show, and I realized that I really was not at all satisfied with it. I won’t bore you with all the painful details, but I’ll just say it underwent several interim transformations before I got to this place. At one point I had what was more or less the background in the piece above. It wasn’t awful; just kind of plain and not all that exciting. I was living with it like that and trying to decide if it was finished.Then, I was looking at some other artwork in magazines and online, and something gave me the idea to add the red line. I knew there was a pretty good chance things would go from OK to really terrible, but very often, overcoming a state of fear like this is when something really good happens. I’m quite pleased with the result and I think it may become part of my working method for the future.

Thing 2 – When I last wrote, I mentioned wanting to have a studio outside my home. I’m happy to announce that after a bit of a search, I have found a space. I’ll be sharing it part-time with another artist. I’m hoping to be able to move in within the next week or two. The not-so-great part is that it’s about 20 miles from my house and a 30+ minute drive in non-rush hour traffic. So I’ll no longer be able to just wake up and start working, or to keep going well into the night if the spirit moves. But my hope is that once I’m there, I’ll be very focused and less tempted to waste time on the computer. So it remains to be seen whether I’ll actually get more done, or less. In any case, I’m excited beyond words and can’t wait to move in!

Thing 3 – I will be exhibiting some of my paintings in an upcoming show called Texture, Form & Function, at The Art Gallery at the Denver Performing Arts Complex, Jan. 31 – March 15. The other artists in the show are Bonnie Ferrill Roman, Mary Hertert, and Sally Converse.

Texture, Form & Function – Jan. 31 – March 15

The Art Gallery at the Denver Performing Arts Complex (next to Backstage Coffee)
100 14th St., Denver, Colorado
303.623.1300 – info@[email protected]

Opening Reception: Friday, Feb. 7, 7:30–11pm
Fashion Show: Friday, March 7, 7:30-11pm
Artist Talks: Sat. Feb. 22 & March 15, 10-11 am

January 13th, 2014|Painting|8 Comments