Open Studios 2016 this weekend

Open Studios at the Allied Box Factory next weekend, November 5 & 6; 11am - 6pm!

2169 Folsom Street between 17th & 18th

Our beautiful complex will have five very varied artists:


Celine Germain

Tide and Tied jewelry

https://www.instagram.com/tideandtied/

Miju E. Han
babysnake, ink and neural networks

instagram.com/hallucinationsanddreams/

Hadley Northrop

paintings

hadleynorthrop.com

Jeff Petersen

paintings, prints and carvings

jeffpetersen-art.com

Sean Vallely 

photography

flickr.com/seanvallely

In some shows again

Here's my wall at Blackbird Bar, where three artists are showing through San Francisco Open Studios this year.
I've also dropped off my painting at SOMArts Gallery for the ArtSpan Open Studios Exhibition. That's work by hundreds of artists, and a good way to pick up a guide and figure out who you want to visit by seeing one piece in person by each participating artist. The show is open Tues. - Fri. noon - 7pm, Sat. 11am - 5pm, and Sun. 11am - 3pm through November 6. The Dia de los Muertos exhibition is concurrent with ArtSpan until November 5, right next door. See the link for information. I hope to see you next month!

Blackbird

I'm really pleased to be included in this show at Blackbird, a beautiful bar on Market Street. You know I love my beautiful bars, especially if they have good snacks. A Hub Exhibition means it's a neighborhood space highlighting ArtSpan Open Studios artists, and will be up through Open Studios, so until about November 7. 

A Painting a Day (sort of)

I finally did it and started an Instagram for my paintings. I put out a painting a day, and in return I get to see beautiful photos of delicious food in fancy restaurants, or that one of the coolest couples in rock and roll was in my neighborhood and I just missed them. Please follow me at https://www.instagram.com/hadley_northrop_art/

Print

Countdown to Open Studios! Less than three months to go, if you can believe it. Postcard done (thanks to the Modern Postcard summer sale), ArtSpan guide ad sent in (no Velvet Underground style this time), and now to do the online banner ad and our Christmas card. Then maybe, if there's time before November, a magnet! None of this would be possible without Sean's incredible graphic design and Mac skills, because I'm stuck in the 19th Century. What's a computer?

Girls

Work in Progress 30 x 30 in.

I took some time off from the studio because I got a puppy! She came in with me a few times because I had to finish a project, but mostly we stayed at home and took naps on the floor. My long walks, daily work momentum and energy level have been seriously disrupted. Today it felt great to begin a large new painting with a thick brush and new Gamsol thinners.

Made in USA

There's nothing like getting a new container to organize your stuff! I deserved this - I kept my paints in the same Plano tackle box since college. It finally gave out and I got a nice, clean new one. It was made in the USA, too.

And I love foxes

Almost finished: Bolinas and Mercey

Still obsessed with my studio - all I want to do is paint - and pressing forward with many slow pieces approaching the finish line together.

I had the idea to paint a fox for a new vegan restaurant that was supposed to open near my studio called Citizen Fox. Before I could even start or talk to them, and after three years of sporadic construction, the project was called off and they're closing their two pop-up locations. I don't know what to think. This neighborhood doesn't need any more fancy restaurants, bars or cafes, but it definitely needs more vegetarian places. They feel like a refuge to many of my friends and me. You always know they're going to be kind of groovy there!

Quagmires

Pond in the Woods oil on canvas 9 x 12 in.

Pro: I love walking to my studio

Con: I have a sore ankle and wrists (the "Mommy Thumb" probably from carrying shopping bags home)

Pro: When I paint I feel no pain

Con: The chemicals I paint with could be making me sick

Pro: Soon I will be finishing a dozen paintings all around the same time, and after that I can switch solvents

Con: I don't have any shows this year besides Open Studios

Pro: I do have commissions and they're going well. 

Numbers and cartoons

Dog on Rug oil on canvas 28 x 20 in.

Lately I have been working on over fifteen paintings at once, which was getting a little overwhelming - seven or eight is more normal for me and feels more manageable. So I assigned the paintings numbers 1 - 15. I keep a log where each day I write my hours and what I worked on, and the number system makes it easier to scan back over and cycle through, so for example if I work on two paintings a day for a week, I've put in time on 14 paintings and can start at the beginning again on a piece that's had time to dry enough to not go muddy. It's still as slow going as ever, but I feel like I'm getting somewhere.

Another thing that makes me feel like I know where I'm going is black lines. I've been told to avoid them in paintings, but after years of taking that advice, I'm kind of letting myself throw it out the window. Anyway if someone asks me to describe my art, I've often said it's like a cross between Impressionism and comics! A black outline feels so definite and right. 

Was about to donate a loyal hound to a fundraiser when I noticed they required items created in the last three years. Wow, this one is from 2000. OK, never mind.

Scones and Mojo

I found a British program called Portrait Artist of the Year on Ovation TV and am amazed not just by the enduring fascination with portraiture, but that there could be such thoughtful discussion of painting on television! I hear that's the appeal of the Great British Baking Show:  no drama, just appreciation for the craft and the quiet concentration of those who do it well.

Past 3 person show at Glama-Rama

Happy to say I have done some curating, putting together three artists who will show at Glama-Rama Salon & Gallery early next year. Each artist's work is so distinct, so personal, and yet I think they'll be magic together and in that space. I'll keep you posted on this matchmaking venture and their colorful and surreal adventures!

Stars

Starlight Caravan oil on canvas 7 x 5 in.

Happy New Year - well, not very happy, as this is now a world without David Bowie. I don't think it's completely sunk in yet.
We also lost Chicago musician Kevin Junior, who was only 46 (my age). I always used to look forward to his band the Chamber Strings playing San Francisco, and how he'd look so cool I'd think, too late, "that would make a good painting!"