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Posts Tagged ‘Gina Pfleegor’

Demo Prep/ Sand Dabs, Five

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on April 24, 2025| 2 Comments »

Eye to the Future— At West End Gallery

You can have the other words-chance, luck, coincidence,
serendipity. I’ll take grace. I don’t know what it is exactly, but
I’ll take it.

— Mary Oliver, Sand Dabs, Five

I am getting ready for a painting demonstration I am giving on Saturday at the West End Gallery, beginning at 10 AM. This event is part of the Arts in Bloom Art Trail of Chemung and Steuben County which involves open tours of artists’ studios and events such as this in the area’s art galleries.

As I mentioned before, I seldom paint in front of people and am a little self-conscious as a result. Even more so when at one point on Saturday painters Trish Coonrod and Gina Pfleegor will also be showing off their prodigious talents. Both paint in a more traditional manner at a very high level of skill. I think of Trish’s talents as one would of a grandmaster pianist and Gina’s as that of a highly trained operatic soprano or a golden voiced chanteuse.

Me? I think of myself as a guy with an old and out of tune guitar who knows maybe three or four chords. Sings a little off key. What I lack in skill I try to make up for with the 3 E’s— effort, emotion, and earnestness. 

I do whatever it takes to find something on that surface in front of me. It’s kind of like the line at the top from poet Mary Oliver— I’m forever looking for serendipity or, on those special days, grace to show up before me in the paint. There’s a lot of time when its appearance is an uncertainty and it can take some time to coax it out into the open. 

My hope is that it will choose to show up during the few hours I will be working on Saturday. I am still trying to decide if I should have a plan on how or what I will paint or if I should just let serendipity and grace decide for me. I am leaning toward the latter just because that path can sometime be the most exciting.

We’ll see what happens Saturday morning. I am hoping grace shows up for a brief visit.

I am sharing the rest of the Mary Oliver poem, Sand Dabs, Five, from which the line at the top was taken. I think that I could apply much of what it expresses to what I am trying to say as an artist., particularly those final lines.

 

Sand Dabs, Five

Mary Oliver

 

What men build, in the name of security, is built of straw.

*

Does the grain of sand know it is a grain of sand?

*

My dog Ben — a mouth like a tabernacle.

*

You can have the other words-chance, luck, coincidence,
serendipity. I’ll take grace. I don’t know what it is exactly, but
I’ll take it.

*

The pine cone has secrets it will never tell.

*

Myself, myself, myself, that darling hut!
How quick it will burn!

*

Death listens
to the hum and strike of my words.
His laughter spills.

*

Spring: there rises up from the earth such a blazing sweetness
it fills you, thank God, with disorder.

*

I am a performing artist; I perform admiration.
Come with me, I want my poems to say. And do the same.

 

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The Bears/ Demo Update

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on April 16, 2025| 4 Comments »

“Oh well, bears will be bears,” said Mr. Brown.”

― Michael Bond, More About Paddington

We’ve been visited just about every night recently by a family of bears, Mom Bear and her 3 young ones. I believe they are yearlings, probably not far from the time when they will be set out on their own by Mom. The photo above was from the night before last, right around 7 PM. It was a little earlier than their usual as they normally come under the cloak of darkness to invade our bird feeder, so I was able to get a few shots of the group. This shot was taken from a window in our dining area.

We normally get visits from bears several times a year. They usually tear down and empty our suet and hummingbird feeders or destroy two hanging feeding platforms that I continuously remake from old picture frames. Our large main feeder is on a pole that is about 9 feet off the ground because over the years bears had destroyed a few of our previous feeders on the shorter post that was then in place. We wrapped the pole with stovepipe because the taller post alone didn’t dissuade the bears from climbing up to get the feeder. You can see how crunched and dented the stovepipe now is from years of their attempts to climb it.

This group has made our feeder a regular stop on their dining schedule lately, to the point that I now go out as it is getting dark to stow away our platforms and the suet. They came this night before I had chance to get out there. Mom was not really feeding this time and seemed to be just showing the gang the ropes. She was super attentive to noises up in the woods and down the driveway and would sometimes lumber off to a point higher in the yard to sit and watch over the young ones. 

We gave them quite a while to feed off the fallen seed on the ground. But when one of the little guys finally stretched up and was able to grasp one of the platforms, spilling the seed all over its head, we decided it was time to head out to disrupt their party before they destroyed the platform and crushed the suet cages.  Merely opening our backdoor caused them to scatter, Mom and one of the small ones quickly heading up into the forest and the other two setting down through the yard toward our pond in full sprint mode. They might seem to lumber around but when they need to move their speed over open ground is startling. I don’t know that many large dogs could run faster.

We were worried that they might be separated but a few hours later they were all together again and revisiting the bird feeder.

We enjoy having them around even though they tend to periodically tip over our garbage and compost bins or invade our feeders. Or when Mom leaves big piles of, uh, let’s just call them calling cards all around our yard and bird feeder. Though I admire their resilience and love seeing their natural beauty, I find myself worrying for them. They have such a hard existence that it’s easy to overlook their occasional transgressions.

After all, bears will be bears.

I also want to remind everyone that I will be doing a painting demonstration at the West End Gallery on Saturday, April 26. My demo begins at 10 AM and runs to about 12 noon. Maybe a little later than that depending on how the painting I will be working on is progressing.

Gina Pfleegor-Unbound at West End Gallery

This event is being held in conjunction with the Arts in Bloom Art Trail of Chemung and Steuben County which involves open tours of artists’ studios and events such as this in the area’s art galleries. I mentioned in the earlier announcement for the demo that painter Trish Coonrod will also be giving a demonstration of her immense talent beginning at 11 AM but failed to mention that the wonderful Gina Pfleegor will also be giving a demo beginning at 10 AM.

So, at one point you can see three painters with three distinct styles at work.  I’ll certainly be taking a break or two from my own demo to watch Trish and Gina ply their talents as I am big fans of both.

Hope you can come out to the West End Gallery to spend some time with us, maybe ask a question or just chat while I smear paint on stuff. Could be fun.

Trish Coonrod- Still LIfe with Eggs and Shot Glass, West End Gallery

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A Different Ring of Fire

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, Painting, tagged , , , , , , , on December 29, 2019| 1 Comment »

Ring of Fire- Gina Pfleegor 2019

We’re moving into a new decade in a few days and I though I would play some music this Sunday morning that reflected that fact. My personal opinion is that this could be a momentous year with ramifications that could echo down through whatever history we have left here. You can interpret that however you wish, be it with cheery optimism or dark pessimism. It could go either way at this point.

You might get a hint of my own view from the song selection: the Johnny Cash classic, Ring of Fire, written by June Carter. However, this is a different take on the song. Where the original is uptempo with a mariachi guitar band feel, this version from former Animals lead singer Eric Burdon in 1974 has a driving military march feel.

I first came across this version many, many years ago when I found the Eric Burdon album it was from, Sun Secrets, in a bargain bin of 8-track tapes at the old J.J. Newberry five and dime store in Elmira, which, if I am not mistaken, has been closed for decades now. I think I paid a quarter for the tape, which appealed to me had versions of many of Burdon’s earlier Animals’ hits such as It’s My Life and When I Was Young.

Hey, it was a quarter and our car at the time still rocked a player for the massive 8-track cartridges. I was always afraid that if I slammed on the brakes too hard that one of them might fly up and crush my skull.

It turned that some of that album was meh but some of the songs, especially the reworked versions of older songs, really worked. I especially liked this version of Ring of Fire even though the Cash version is perfect as it is. I just like to hear new interpretations, I guess. Give a listen and see for yourself.

The painting above is titled, of course, Ring of Fire. It’s from artist Gina Pfleegor, who also exhibits her work at the West End Gallery. I am proud to have this piece hanging in my studio.

Gina has been a tremendously talented painter of realism for a number of years but has really blossomed in recent years, moving to new levels with a series of metaphorical paintings with female figures as their central focus, many using her daughter as the model. These pieces have a unique quality that make them really sparkle on the wall and engage the imagination of viewers, myself included.

I always look forward to seeing what’s next with her work. You can check out her work on her site, Gina Pfleegor Fine Art. You can best see her newer work by clicking here which takes you to a Google images page with her work.

Just plain good stuff. So, take a look her Ring of Fire, give a listen to Eric Burdon’s version of Ring of Fire then brace yourself for whatever 2020 might bring.

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