claire is in the new yorker!

woo hoo!

This is the third year the New Yorker has invited artists to submit their own takes on the magazine's iconic mascot, Eustace Tilley, originally drawn by Rea Irvin for the magazine's first cover in 1925.

12 winners were chosen from over 350 submissions.
One of my entries won, and was one of four to be featured in the Febuary edition of the magazine.



You can see a slideshow of all 12 on the New Yorker's website here.

gary also won, with a very funny take on grand central.

here are some of the other pieces I did this year.




and a piece gary and I collaborated on

new work - full fathom five

full fathom five
acrylic on canvas (diptych)
48" x 72"
click to see large

here are some process pics, showing some of the stages this piece went through.

stage 1

stage 2

stage 3

stage 4

stage 5

stage 6

stage 7

stage 8

stage 9

new work - dancer (resting)

(click to see image large)

dancer, resting
acrylic on panel
18" x 24"
price available upon request

exhibit and blog

I have a few pieces in an exhibit at the beautiful new art gallery at the santa rosa junior college, where I teach.

sonoma county is so beautiful this time of year...if you are up that way, stop in!

recent work by the SRJC faculty
dates: november 5 – december 12
opening reception: thursday, november 5, 4-6 PM
(campus parking is $2.00)
http://www.santarosa.edu/art-gallery/

for those on my regular mailing list, who don't receive daily paintings, you can see new work at my blog,
www.clairebcotts.blogspot.com

untitled (victorian lady)

(click to see image large)

untitled (victorian lady)
acrylic on panel
11" x 14"
price available upon request

two day painting
I repainted a one day painting I did last month.
I've included a "before" picture as well.

from a victorian "carte de visite", a calling card.

girl (madeleine)

click to see image large)

girl (madeleine)
acrylic on panel
11" x 14"
price available upon request

two day painting
I started this last month as a one day painting, but it wasn't quite getting at what I wanted.
Original, it was black and white, a harder expression, and flatter application of paint.
Picked it up and repainted it last night, I'm happy with the diaphanous quality of light.

Often, I completely destroy a painting when I try to work on it "just a little bit more".
I'm pleased when I take the leap of faith and risk of painting over a piece that's kind-of sort-of working, and it does turn out better.

memory (thea)

(click to see image large)

memory (thea)
acrylic on panel
11" x 14"
price available upon request

started this afternoon with a 15 minute study of my favorite model, thea.
she has a beautiful pre-raphaelite face.
the rest of the day's painting was from looking at a drawing, and pure fancy.

I have been thinking about memory a lot lately, the vaporous quality of what we can summon up in our memory, and what slips away.

mourning dove

(click to see image large)

mourning dove (profile)
acrylic on panel
5" x 7" x 1 3/4"
sold

woman with loose hair

click to see image large

untitled (woman with hair loose)
acrylic on panel
11" x 14"
price upon request

this started as a 20 minute figure study, at a life drawing session.
finished it off in the studio tonight.

rosalie (2)

I wasn't happy with the way the portrait came out yesterday...
it was nagging at me.

painted it out, and began again -
it's much closer to the beautiful expression in the original photograph.

rosalie crutchley

click to see image large

rosalie
acrylic on panel
9" x 12"
price upon request

I'm a sucker for masterpiece theatre/bbc/costume-y and english mystery channel 9 type fare. I was watching a corny agatha christie type mystery (the kind with a manor house, where everyone has a motive and is a suspect for five minutes).
There was an older actress, in her late 70's, I was noticing how beautiful her face was.

Sometimes, I like to look at the faces of old people, and try to see in their face what they looked like when young.
I found a picture of the actress, rosalie crutchley, as a young woman, a very beautiful image -
unfortunately, the painting didn't turn out very well, the eyes are too close set, I didn't quite capture the expression. Still, it's always interesting to spend several hours studying a face, really looking at it, and trying to capture something about it.