Back to work...

Although I am truly enjoying the holidays, I will be happy to (hopefully) next week get back to the normal pace of life and work on some new paintings. I have been dreaming up compositions while tossing and turning in bed at night but haven't had the time or energy to put these images into production thus far. For now, I will simply show some older works.
"Softening IV" 12x12 acrylic Sgraffito Painting from "Softening" Series. Created 2006 and featured in "The Other End of the Brush: Sgraffito Paintings and Other Works by Meghan Henley", Tomato Head, October 2006.

Holiday Showcase of Artists this weekend!!!

I will travel to South Carolina this weekend to be a part of the Walhalla Auditorium Holiday Showcase of Artists which will be held both Saturday and Sunday in the Auditorium in historic downtown Walhalla, SC. Please stop in and say "hi" if you can!
I will be selling small original watercolors, acrylics, metallic paintings, handpainted gift cards and tags, and much more. Although most of my stock is original, I also have prints of older larger works and of works that have been sold. For more info on the Showcase, email me at artnoufauxbymeghan@gmail.com.

Eva Magazine's New Issue is out!!!

Meghan is Eva Magazine's Featured Artist for December. Please pick up your December issue of Eva Magazine beginning today all over downtown Knoxville. Please note that shown to the left is not Meghan's artwork. This was last month's issue.
Distribution list of Eva Magazine found at: http://mail.google.com/mail/?realattid=f_eue66e29&attid

=0.1&disp=vah&view=att&th=10ed79f576274e6d

Jumped on the Etsy Bandwagon!

I was referred by contemporary artist, Jessica Torrant, to a fabulous new site for all things artsy called Etsy! I will soon be closing up shop with Ebay and moving all large works to my Etsy store. I have already met tons of wonderful people and have had such fun breezing through all the wonderful stores featured there. In the meantime, you will be able to find some of my smaller most recent works here,
Link

at www.meghanhenley.etsy.com. Check it out!

Featured Painting: "Eye Candy", Watercolor and Ink, Meghan Henley, 2006.

Making Original Art Affordable!

Annually, I travel to the quaint town I grew up in, Walhalla, SC, to be a part of the Walhalla Civic Auditorium Showcase of Artists. I am so proud to be a part of this wonderful, charming holiday exhibition. The Showcase features artists and craftspeople from all over the world during the holiday season. The Showcase is to support the Holiday "Tour of Homes" for historic downtown Walhalla. It is such a beautiful, quiet german town with the famous "Steakhouse."
Each year, I try to create small works that are afordable to most everyone so that I can extend an offer of quality, original fine art to anyone with $10 in their pocket. I even go further to make sure they will fit in standard frames and matboards. This way the customer won't take it home and place it on the dining room table and never actually have their original, signed artwork professionally framed and hung. They can just put it in a frame found most anywhere and hang as soon as they get home. Original art is also such a wonderful idea for a holiday gift. Just thought I would share some of the small Sgraffito paintings I have done recently in preperation for the show. The paintings are acrylic on 4x6 Metallic Wallcovering with pencil. For more, please visit:
Link

"Rockettes", Meghan Henley, 2006.This year's holiday card design is ready! Please contact me if you are interested.
www.meghanhenley.com

I do hope I am not boring you people with all this "Sgraffito" talk. Just thought I would share some more...


I am working with Eva Magazine, Knoxville's local Women's magazine, on a piece about my Sgraffito work. Thought I might post how my scratching started.

I had been struggling for a long while with my style; not really knowing which direction I needed to take, when I realized that I was most interested in actually including the viewer in the process of my painting. I just didn't know exactly how to go about this.

In a fit of frustration in my studio one day, I took my palette knife to the canvas and began removing the oil paint from the canvas. Below the paint was my underpainting using oil pastel and pencil. The effect was marvelous. I realized this removal of the paint added much more interest to the overall effect of the painting. I also decided this was how I would be able to involve the viewer in the process of my forming the work. The viewer could actually see the technique; layering, removal and final result in each of my paintings. I even began to transform the images in front of my eyes by removing the paint and surprising myself with a fresh viewpoint that I was previously unaware of. After much research on the internet and books on painting techniques, I realized I was interested in Sgrafftio Painting. The word sgraffito derives from the Italian word "sgraffire" which literally means "to scratch". Although I began using a palette knife, I started to explore different ways to remove the paint. I have used old credit cards, paper clips, forks, pens and pencils.

I now actually use the scratch marks as the linear elements in paintings. I also sometimes scratch away portions to reveal shadowing. My latest focus of sgraffito is what I refer to as "building and painting out." Layers of glaze and paint are built in steps. I usually end up painting out most of the composition in the last stage of work to reveal what I think of as the final piece. I enjoy the freedom of Sgraffito and each time I create a work, I feel more involved with the composition because I work in stages with the glazes. I am glad I am finally able to show the viewer the process in which I am so interested.

I am greatly inspired by Austrian painter, Hundertwasser, who was also intriqued with the Austrian Baroque era's voluptuousnous. He broke away from the spirit of the human form and began focusing on the pieces that make up life and shaped and formed compositions from his ideas. Hundertwasser's compositions are compelling, mainly geometric type forms and based on his idea of "vegitative painting" and organic inspiration.

http://www.kunsthauswien.com/english/hundertwasser.htm


Klimt, of course, may also come to mind as his style can sometimes be seen in both my work and Hundertwasser's. Klimt's mosaic styled geometric collections seem to interest me. I enjoy his use of repitition but feel it is sometimes too much for my own style. I prefer to paint landscaped compositions including the geometric designs.

http://www.expo-klimt.com/

And now I am able to breathe again...
The show was a hit! A great turn out, tons of great food, wine, and conversation. A big thank you goes out to all of you who helped me out for my big day. A super big thanks to Katherine for her fantastic PR skills! Now for some pictures...

Cover for Delta Fashion Apparel's Dealer Book. 2006

Although I was drinking decaf when I worked towards this, I felt the uncomfortable buzz I get sometimes while anxiously working away while drinking coffee. For hours I forced pages into crumbled balls on the floor until finally I realized I was trying too hard. Just paint as you normally would...It worked. They loved the final piece.

"The Other End of the Brush:Sgraffito Paintings and other works by Meghan Henley"

Please come check out the opening of my Exhibit at The Tomato Head in Market Square, Knoxville TN. The show opens this Saturday October 7 and runs through November 3. An Art Reception will be held on Sunday October 29, 2006 from 5:30-7 pm. Food and wine will be served and 4 of my paintings will be away! Please come support your local artist!

Meghan Henley Modern Fine Art


I have been working hard to create some new sgraffito paintings to enter in my upcoming solo show as my most recent work. I am focusing on abstracting even further and creating patches of color from my memory of working closely with fabric swatches for so long. This series hasn't been quiet the abstract struggle. I can identify with the subject matter and form the paintings from the combination of past sgraffito works and a memory filled with colors and textures of fabric swatches. I am finally able to take what I have learned about my sgraffito style as an artist and merge it with my everyday. This has not only been a maturing experience as a painter, but a sort of release as an individual.

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Meghan Henley Modern Fine Art
So, now I am expecting another angel. There are no words to express how I have been feeling; well, okay I will try:
Alive again, sick of course, secretive, mysterious, the opposite of sexy, as excited as I remember being with my first. I am sure next trimester, I will be able to think only positive, sexy, loving, bonding, maternal thoughts...but for now I am just trying not to throw up.

Meghan Henley Modern Fine Art

Another night of tossing, cold feet in July?

Strange feelings and emotions just surfaced. My dear ones cannot possibly understand. They are men.

Sleepy days and such an aching head...

I thought I was a positive thinker, I guess not so much today.

Tonight I will sleep and tomorrow I will return to myself...focus.

Linear Thought

Oil and pastel on canvas

2004

Meghan Henley Modern Fine Art

I Will Wait For You
Sgraffito: Oil and undiluted gesso on canvas
2005


Funny sidenote: When I told my husband the name of this creation his response was, "Who the #$*## are you waiting for?!"

Meghan Henley Modern Fine Art
Is it morning now? Have I slept at all?

These dreams I have are set in a past that I barely remember before my scattered thoughts make me miss you for a moment.

If ever our lives overlap again…
I just wish that we could be friends.

From what I hear, this is just not a possibility for you.
I gather your life and mine are no longer compatible.

It almost feels like I imagined all of those years sometimes.
It wasn’t so long ago, though, you know?

Wounds can heal and although many promises were broken, I have healed.
I hope you have as well.

I would have liked for you to meet my son.
So that he would be able to possibly understand the girl I used to be.

I would like for you to know the woman I have become.
I would like to know you as the person you are now.

I still feel a connection with you. I still feel that you know that somewhere out there, something big is happening to me.

I still worry about you. I still dream that there is no distance. No more tears, no more blame.

Are all of these thoughts just shadowing Nostalgia, or do I really still care? I never was able to mourn the loss of our relationship.

Is it mourning now?

Nostalgia

Oil and pastel on canvas

2005

So there I was, sitting cross-legged without you…
thinking that if only you would drive 6 hours to let me cry on your thin shoulder…
what I would give sometimes.
How can I feel so lonely with such an amazing friendship?
It often gets to be way too long between our phone conversations…
and our visits… well that is beginning to get ridiculous.
What happened to those nights when we would smoke cigarettes on your parents picnic table and watch stars fall?
Oh…
we grew up…
moved away…
and I quit smoking…
Do you blame me, I wonder.
I am sure although you would never admit it, you sometimes do.
I guess sometimes when we are arguing over something that we won’t even recall the next day…
I blame you a bit for not changing your life as quickly as I did.
But, I want you to remember, I was forced to make that unusual change.
It took all I had to admit to myself that I had to become someone else in order to be a mother.
I had to go from being very selfish in my everyday actions to being so absolutely selfless.
But I am still the same girl.
I still sleep with a baby pillow although my real baby is sleeping quietly down the hall.
I still love you.
I still need you to be my best friend.
So there I was, and that is what I was thinking…
Just thought you might want to know…
I love you,
Meghan
Originally written:
1-2-04