Sketches Inspired by Inspiring Friends!

"Peter's Flute" with Peter Fraterdeus

"Mortar & Pestle - found at Pinder Pottery" 3 x 5"

"One Sketch A Day." The top sketch was done with a marker, the bottom with my freshly flushed fountain pen.

4 Up

Spread of four daily sketches

Having some trouble with my fountain pen drying out and the thin paper of the sketch a day journal bleeds through. Still like the results on this four day stretch!

Two Daily Sketches

"Marty and Peter at the Grape Escape" Galena, IL and "Walnut Ink" 6 x 5" overall.

New Venture: Rendezvous Coffee & Tea, Galena

How time flies when you're having fun! Has it really been nearly 3 months since my last post? It's been many months since I spent any time at the easel. Too long for sure, but that doesn't mean I haven't been creating.

The news: We have decided to open a family run business - a coffee and tea shop, with gallery and music - in the historic town of Galena, Illinois. "Rendezvous Coffee & Tea" (temporary website/blog) is proving to be my most challenging work of art to date!

Last month, we purchased the 150+ year old building at 112 North Main Street, with two upstairs apartments and a ground floor shop. Galena is a thriving tourist town, with many upscale shops and art galleries, excellent restaurants, and a beautiful setting among the rolling hills of north western Illinois. We will be taking over the entire building for our work/live space, and we are fortunate that our building is located in the busiest section of town.

We are in the process of working on the build out for the shop, aiming for a grand opening sometime in early July. Our daughter Teagan is assisting me with interior design and is also working on our identity, logo, website (url coming soon) and signage. Teagan just completed her second year of art training, specializing in illustration and graphic design. She is also a talented painter and the shop will feature her work as well as my own, plus rotating exhibitions by some of my most respected artist friends from Chicago and around the world.

When he's not managing the business aspects of the coffee shop, my husband Steve will be playing his own compositions on guitar during scheduled live music events at Rendezvous, and also coordinating other regional music acts for guest performances. On occasion, there will even be sessions of my beloved Irish music!

Sons Alex and Nate will help manage and work the coffee shop, and Alex will also take charge of the computer and sound systems, supplying free WiFi for our customers. Alex will soon have his degree in computer sciences; and in the fall, Nate will be a junior at Galena High School.

We are working with Intelligentsia Coffee and Tea in Chicago for our barista training, and will carry their coffee, espresso and loose tea products at Rendezvous. We love Intelligentsia's philosophy that coffee should be grown, processed and experienced as one would fine wine. This philosophy shows up in their products and we are proud to present them on Main Street, Galena. If you are going to sell coffee, you should sell the best!

Our food menu will be simple, fresh European style baked goods such as croissant, brioche, baguettes, madeleines, tarts, muffins and biscotti, supplied by local Galena baker Cynthia Sedan at Cynthia's Extra Batch, along with fine chocolates and selected bottled beverages.

Intelligentsia fresh roasted seasonal and single origin coffee beans and blends, black cat espresso, and bagged loose teas will be available for purchase on sight. Classic to trendy brewing equipment and accessories will round out the offerings at Rendezvous.

It's been a great feeling working on this project as a family. We have always been very close, and it seems like we each have an important talent to bring to the table that we are excited to share with our new community of Galena, and her visitors.

One question I keep hearing, and I'll answer it here - yes, we are retaining our Chicago home and our important and loving connections with family, friends, and the Chicago art and music scenes. The commute is just over three hours, we'll be back in the big city often!

I saw some black butterflies on my walk today, and one of them lighted on my drawing arm for a moment. Could this be a sign? My drawing muse has returned, just in time for the dust to settle on our project!

Here are some photos - just after we moved in:

Something In Layla

"Something In Layla" charcoal on mylar, 24 x 20"

The perfect “Black Butterfly muse” subject – Pattie (Boyd) Harrison/Clapton.

So, here’s my tribute to THE muse of the London music scene of the 60’s and 70’s. This time I’ve flipped my symbolism, the model is the muse and the butterflies represent the artists inspired by her. I used several references for this work, all were very low resolution, and I took great artistic liberty and removed a sheer vest Pattie was modeling. I hope she doesn’t mind ;) oops. The photo of her face was most likely from the period when she was torn between George Harrison and Eric Clapton.

According to Wikipedia :

Boyd started her modeling career in London in 1962. She modeled in London, New York and Paris (for Mary Quant and others). Boyd, who was nineteen in 1964, met Harrison during the filming for A Hard Day’s Night, after being cast as a schoolgirl fan for the film. Boyd married Harrison on 21 January 1966.

Boyd says she served as the inspiration for one of George Harrison’s most famous Beatles songs. Boyd maintains that Harrison told her that Something was written for her but after she left him, Harrison denied Boyd was his muse.

In the late 1960s, Clapton and Harrison became close friends, and began writing and recording music together. It was reported at this time that Clapton fell in love with Boyd. Harrison and Boyd split in June 1974, and Boyd married Clapton in 1979.

Boyd is said to also be the inspiration to Bell Bottom Blues which Clapton reportedly wrote after he gave her a pair of blue jeans. In her autobiography, she claims he gave her the pair of pants after returning from a trip to Miami. It appeared on the same album as Layla. “Layla” took its name from a Persian tale of unrequited love that Clapton had received from a friend.

In the true story of Layla, Majnun fell passionately in love with her at first sight. He went mad when her father prevented him from marrying her; for that reason he came to be called Majnun Layla, which means “Driven mad by Layla”. To him were attributed a variety of incredibly passionate romantic Arabic poems. It may be the basis for the story of Romeo and Juliet.

On September 7, 1976, Clapton wrote the famous love song Wonderful Tonight for Boyd while waiting for her to get ready to attend Paul and Linda McCartney’s annual Buddy Holly party. He also reportedly penned other tunes for her: “Pretty Blue Eyes”, “Golden Ring”, “Never Make You Cry” (from Behind the Sun) and “Pretty Girl” (from Money and Cigarettes).

Mick Jagger also made some plays on Boyd, but she rejected his advances. She did, however have a brief affair with Ronnie Wood after her break-up with Harrison. This was apparently some hot muse.

Clapton and Boyd divorced in 1989. Of “Wonderful Tonight,” Boyd would say: “For years it tore at me. To have inspired Eric, and George before him, to write such music was so flattering. Wonderful Tonight was the most poignant reminder of all that was good in our relationship, and when things went wrong it was torture to hear it. “An exhibition of photographs taken by Boyd during her days with Harrison and Clapton opened in San Francisco in 2005, titled, Through the Eye of a Muse. Her autobiography Wonderful Today: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me, was published in England in August 2007 and in the U.S. (as Wonderful Tonight).

Derek and the Dominos

Guinness for Gobshites

Boston's Irish Pub band "The Gobshites" contacted me and commissioned me to do a group portrait, Irish session style, for their next cd's cover art. Here's the result.



Working on the washes, and drinking the leftovers.



I painted The Gobshites with Guinness!




Commissioned drawing for Boston's The Gobshites
cover art for their new cd "Songs Me Da Got Pissed To", 16 x 20" pen & ink with Guinness stout wash, by Alice McMahon White

The Gobshites will have you gobsmacked! Check them out.