What goes around comes around: 2001-2011

Diana Thater 2001, Knots and Surfaces (photo: Dia Art Foundation)
http://www.diaart.org/press_releases/main/116

Katharina Grosse, 2011, One Floor Up More Highly at Mass MOCA (photo: Agnes de Bethune)
http://www.massmoca.org/event_details.php?id=545 

atharina Grosse, 2011, One Floor Up More Highly at Mass MOCA (photo: Agnes de Bethune)

Diana Thater 2001, Knots and Surfaces (photo: Dia Art Foundation)

Katharina Grosse, 2011, One Floor Up More Highly at Mass MOCA (photo: Mass MOCA)

Diana Thater 2001, Knots and Surfaces (photo: Dia Art Foundation)

Katharina Grosse, 2011, One Floor Up More Highly at Mass MOCA (photo: Agnes de Bethune)

Another Bird

Due to popular demand*, I am doing another (unidentified) African Bird. Got off to a good start last night and continued a bit this afternoon, but now I am looking at several days of day job so this guy will just have to wait. 

Unidentified African Bird #2, (Work in Progress), 

mixed media on paper, approx 36" x 27"

©2011 Agnes de Bethune. All Rights Reserved

*In other words, my brother liked the first one and asked if I could do another; which is what I was planning anyway. I already had this image ready to go, but it's nice to get acknowledgment and suppport.

Unknown African Bird

Unknown African Bird,2011 by Agnes de Bethune, 

mixed media on paper 36" x 33" approx.

©2011 Agnes de Bethune. 

All Rights Reserved

Unknown African Bird, (detail)

©2011 Agnes de Bethune. 

All Rights Reserved

The bird is finished, at long last. It could have been done days ago but for my obsession with the feathers. The more I worked with them, the more I wanted to. But it would have become a whole other drawing if I had kept going. The original idea for this series (on paper, mind you) was to develop imagery I might like to paint in oil on canvas. These are taking on a life of their own and have gone from quick and casual (the zebra) to this. Not necessarily a bad thing.

The Big Baboon

Finished! 

Primate,2011 by Agnes de Bethune, 

mixed media on paper 36" x 33" approx.

©2011 Agnes de Bethune. 

All Rights Reserved

Now for something completely different:

More later...stay tuned.

Next Up...

The buffalo is finished for now:

Buffalo,2011 by Agnes de Bethune, 

mixed media on paper 36" x 33" approx.

©2011 Agnes de Bethune. All Rights Reserved

Next up is the big baboon. Progress shots follow. It's not done yet, but the progession is interesting and I hope this record will help if I decide to paint it in oils.

More to come...

More Dead Animals

The hyena is pretty much done for now. And the buffalo is well underway.

Hyena, 2011 by Agnes de Bethune, 

mixed media on paper 36" x 27" approx.

©2011 Agnes de Bethune. 

All Rights Reserved

Hyena (detail), 2011 by Agnes de Bethune, 

mixed media on paper 36" x 27" approx.

I figure I've got another day on the buffalo, but here are the progress shots:

Buffalo, (in progress) by Agnes de Bethune, 

mixed media on paper 36" x 33" approx.

©2011 Agnes de Bethune. 

All Rights Reserved

Back to Work

It's been eight months since my last post and I am pleased to report that my health has improved enough that I am working again. Still get very, very tired with the result that I can't sustain concentration for the marathon bouts of yore, but it's good to be starting up a new series. These are studies on paper for some imagery I would like eventually to work with in oils. They are based on a visit I made to the African museum in Tervuren, near Brussels, just about one year ago. It's all taxidermy, but that's nothing new. I did a whole bunch of taxidermy back around the turn of the century, and the forms have always fascinated me.

I just started these yesterday and the zebra is pretty much done for now. The hyena is still in progress, but I like where it's all going. More to come. Stay tuned.

Zebra, by Agnes de Bethune, 2011

mixed media on paper, approx 36" x  24"

Hyena, by Agnes de Bethune, in progress

mixed media on paper, approx 36" x  27"

Out of Warranty

It's about time I got back here and posted something. My life has been consumed lately with mundane & grinding details having to do with physical disability. I'll never look at a limping person struggling along the sidewalk or up the subway stairs in quite the same way as before. I don't feel old enough for this, but my left hip has given out and I'd rather not go into the particulars about pain and immobility, but it's been a rather serious comeuppance. So much for yoga and my beloved walks. Looking back, I think this has been years in the making and I have to admit the last few slogs into Chelsea to see the galleries were miserable—and that was last May. Denial only goes so far. All summer I kept hoping it was some injury I could exercise my way out of. But now I've seen the evidence. No second opinion. There is not one shred of cartilage remaining in the joint. Surgery is scheduled for the end of January and life is a limbo in the interim. Mrs. Natural goes Bionic.

You can follow my progress on facebook: 

Mrs. Natural Goes Bionic