Blog Archives - Carol Skinger

The Grandeur of Power, Associated Artists of Pittsburgh Exhibition May 6- June 24, 2023

May 17, 2023

The Consequences of Losing

My watercolor and gouache cityscape painting of Seneca leader Guyasuta as he stands on pedestal in H.K. Heinz Memorial Plaza, Sharpsburg (Pittsburgh) was my submission to the exhibition:

The Grandeur of Power curated by Eric Shiner May 6- June 24 2o23.

Eric is now President of Powerhouse Arts in Brooklyn which opens later in May 2023.

Associated Artists of Pittsburgh Exhibition Space
100 43rd St. Unit 107
Pittsburgh, PA 15201

HOURS: Wed, Thurs, Fri — 11AM-6PM

I was thrilled just to have a piece accepted, and then at the art opening my painting was purchased (t.h.a.n.k. y.o.u. ) by well-known residential, workplace, and hospitality interior designer and friend, Becky Jarold of B Jarold and Co.

FUN opening party! Me with Becky in first picture!

Some of these photos are by Photos by Chris Uhren.

To see the full exhibit in his photos (if you cannot go or if the exhibition has ended) scroll to the bottom of this link.

I had my painting high-res scanned so while the original is sold, giclee $75 prints are available: prints available

For the show theme Eric wrote these words:

Power is a complex notion that energizes and subjugates in equal measure. Darwin, speaking on the seismic shifts in the Andes which gave birth to volcanoes there, describes it in terms of grandeur. Andrew Carnegie, patron saint of the arts here in Pittsburgh, referred to it thus: “Immense power is acquired by assuring yourself in your secret reveries that you were born to control affairs.” Of course, these two opposing notions create a central paradox: one based in human control; the other, based on the force and uncertainty of nature. Art, it seems, becomes the ideal interstitial zone between nature and culture, as it is both fully and radically free, yet it is authored by those who, by their very nature, so often oppose and protest systems of control. The selections in this juried exhibition examine notions of power from myriad viewpoints and through numerous media. In the end, they all share the common thread of urging us to question power, and ultimately to harness it to benevolent ends.
-Eric Shiner

I painted Guyasuta during a period of time just weeks before the COVID shutdown when I was busy painting nothing but paintings OF sculpture. As an artist, I don’t title paintings when I paint them, I think many artists do not. The title gains importance if I am having a show or submitting to a show, and then I have to think about it. For Eric’s show I read his words about power with interest, then looked at my pile of paintings from right before Covid shutdown till now. I selected Guyasuta, next to the annual Christmas tree in front of Guyasuta Lounge in Sharpsburg and I titled it “The Consequences of Losing.” You just have to use your imagination.

The most thorough and interesting history of the monument starting in late 1800’s, which I read after I submitted the piece, is here.

If you know where Redhawk Coffee Roasters in Sharpsburg is, you cannot miss seeing Guyasuta and as you might guess, this is not something Guyasuta actually sat for. It’s a generic “Indian Chief’. The is the third Guyasuta monument in that very spot and they are all modeled on “No. 53 Indian Chief”.

The capital of the original J.L. Mott Iron Works monument (sketch below) supported the statue of an Indian (Guyasuta) which was modeled from an original wood carving created by Samuel Anderson Robb. Born in 1851 in New York, Robb was the son of a Scottish shipwright. Robb apprenticed to a shipbuilder (probably Thomas V. Brooks) for five years, then went to work for a wood-carver, making figures for tobacco shops, and attending night classes at the National Academy of Design and Cooper Union. After his apprenticeship, he worked for William Demuth carving tobacco figures. Robb carved the generic Indian Chief for William Demuth & Co. who cast it in zinc and advertised it in his catalog as “No. 53 Indian Chief.” In 1873, the J.L. Mott Iron Works purchased the design and listed it in their catalog of statuary. In his right hand the Indian Chief holds an arrow, and in his left hand he holds a bow attached to a base near his left foot, which rests on a rock. Here’s what the first one looked like on this site in Sharpsburg (Pittsburgh). Horses, humans and dogs could drink from it.

Hats off to all EXHIBITING ARTISTS in The Grandeur of Power: Ruthanne Bauerle, Gavin Benjamin, Robert Buncher, Alan Byrne, Dino DeIuliis, Dan Droz, Rebecca Einhorn, Fabrizio Gerbino, Henry Winslow Hallett, Hannah Harley, Ulric Joseph, Renee Keil, S. Kessler Kaminski, Laura P. Krasnow, Alexandra Lakin, Deborah Lieberman, Ignacio Lopez, Christine Lorenz, Penny Mateer, Ben Matthews, Richard McWherter, Brent Nakamoto, Ellen Chisdes Neuberg, Thomas J. Norulak, Emily Paige, Brian Pardini, Paul Roden, Christopher Ruane, Nicole Renee Ryan, Patrick Schmidt, Ben Schonberger, James Simon, Henry J. Simonds, Carol Skinger, Becky Slemmons, Kara Snyder, Zim Syed, Mia Tarducci, Tresa Varner, LaVispera, Thomas Waters, Suzanne Werder, Hisham Youssef, Kathleen Zimbicki

Abstracting the weather channel in watercolor and ink

February 15, 2023

My new work on paper will be on display at Panza- 115 Sedgwick St, Millvale, PA from February 17th-26th, 2023. It’s just for two weekends including evening hours on Friday and daytime hours on Saturday and Sunday. Come see the fun exhibition of maybe 80 people’s work! I’ll be showing approximately 20 paintings on paper, hanging from clips. Sizes range from 9″ x 12″ to 18″ x 24″. Prices will range from $175- $350. This is not a gallery show where people buy things at the gallery so you will need to let me know if you want one. I’ll be at opening and on closing weekend I’ll be there one one of the weekend days for all the hours.

Opening reception Friday, Feb 17th, 2023, from 6-9pm. This will be crowded FYI as there are many exhibiting artists.

Saturday, Feb 18 11-4

Sunday, Feb 19 11-4

Friday, Feb 24 6-9

Saturday, Feb 25 11-4

Sunday, Feb 26 11-4

I love this annual creativity project which happens nationally called Fun A Day, as it’s different than a usual gallery show in that work is not framed, people attempt to work for one dedicated month on something, ANYTHING they wish to explore. I decided to MOSTLY work abstract and MOSTLY play with the colors I saw in the January sky, yet not make faithful pictures OF the sky. In this post I included a couple pieces that are actual pictures I painted of something recognizable. You might see 31 pieces by one person, or many less if they are simply working through January on a few pieces. At the opening you might hear a poet or musician who wrote new work in January to perform. First I was going to call it weather report, then winter sky, then I landed on the weather channel.

Some people will remember the year I did all goat paintings as a theme. I pulled an old one out and added sky colors.

Boyce Park, a great county park in Allegheny County

This last one is one of the first I painted in January 2023. It is sold but I want to include it in the show and then I will ship it. This woman is in her 90’s and she’s taking watercolor lessons on her porch from a dear artist friend of mine, Vicki Powers in Charlotte, VT. I got Vicki started on watercolor in the 70’s after her art major and at the beginning of our long friendship. I loved her photograph of her student and saved it in a file I call ‘future paintings’.

2022 New Work

January 16, 2022

January 2022 begins with some abstract works on paper using archival colored inks

Horizontally divided abstract painting on paper. Above the horizon is mostly blue with white flowing into it. Below the horizon a mostly pale light beige color flows into smaller amount of darker brown. It’s a flowing ‘wet-in-wet watercolor’ style. The painting is done in permanent archival inks. The colored inks separate much like watercolor. The large amount of pigment in the colored inks move beautifully in water before it dries. www.carolskinger.com — Imaginary Landscape 02 by Carol Skinger

Horizontally divided abstract painting in 3 zones on paper. Above the horizon is mostly pale sepia flowing to darker brown, including small bits of bright orange. Next zone at the center area is white. Below the white zone a mostly deep cool green and deep blue color flowing into white area at center. It’s a flowing ‘wet-in-wet watercolor’ style. The media is not watercolor but rather it is done permanent archival inks. The colored inks separate much like watercolor. The large amount of pigment in the colored inks move beautifully in water below it dries. www.carolskinger.com — Imaginary Landscape 05 by Carol Skinger

Horizontally divided abstract painting in 3 zones on paper. Above the horizon is mostly blue with white flowing into it. Next zone at the center area is white. Below the white zone is mostly darker brown with pale sepia flowing into it with small bits of bright orange. It’s a flowing ‘wet-in-wet watercolor’ style. The media is not watercolor but rather it is done permanent archival inks. The colored inks separate much like watercolor. The large amount of pigment in the colored inks move beautifully in water before it dries. www.carolskinger.com — Imaginary Landscape 04 by Carol Skinger

Horizontally divided abstract painting on paper. Above the horizon a mostly pale light beige color flows into smaller amount of darker brown. Below the horizon is mostly darker, then lighter blue with white flowing into it. The white area appears as a flowing white zone in center horizon. It’s a ‘wet-in-wet watercolor’ style, showing much flowing of color into each other or into white areas. The painting is done in permanent archival inks. The colored inks separate much like watercolor. The large amount of pigment in the colored inks move beautifully in water before it dries. www.carolskinger.com — Imaginary Landscape 02 by Carol Skinger

Horizontal abstract painting in blues, reddish brown and an ochre-like yellow on white paper. It’s a ‘wet-in-wet watercolor’ style, showing much flowing of color into each other or into white areas. The painting is done in permanent archival inks. The colored inks separate much like watercolor. The large amount of pigment in the colored inks move beautifully in water before it dries. www.carolskinger.com — Imaginary Landscape 07 by Carol Skinger

Crandy Grant’s cabin on a lake

May 15, 2021

winter scene of a cabin on a lake — Cabin on a Lake watercolor by Carol Skinger

I was so pleased to hear from an old friend from my ski racing years- Crandy Grant.

Crandy and I have kept in touch on social media where he follows my artwork via Carol Skinger Artworks.

In recent years Crandy built a delightful cabin on land his family owned in VT for many decades. He involved the younger generations of his family to help in construction and I feel sure they built some great memories together.

In the beginning of 2021 while the whole country was still dealing with the COVID shut down, I heard from Crandy through my contact page that he’d like to commission me to make a watercolor of the cabin on the lake. I do that.

Crandy is an ideal client: “I have been very impressed with your work and I’m especially fond of watercolors. My preference would be to leave you completely on your own for sizing, colors and however you feel best to depict this scene“.

I have to say I am very lucky that many clients feel this way and I appreciate it.

I made two paintings for Crandy in the end as I got stuck at a certain stage! Wondering how to proceed, I started a 2nd painting showing the cabin in winter. In the end both paintings came together, I sent both and he loved them. We agreed that one day my husband and I will come spend a night or two in the cabin.

It’s fitting that we connected over a cabin. My big experience with Crandy was in 1968 when he and Greg McClallen were the ski coaches for a small band of ski racers from VT including me, and we drove from VT to Colorado and stayed at the Tagert Hut 17 miles from Aspen. We drove out in 3 cars, one of them our VW bus. Parents out there, would you let your 16 year old with 2 month old driver’s license take one of the cars and do this? Grateful to my brave and independent mother!

Tagert Hut, an A-frame was located up a dirt road full of switch backs high above Ashcroft which is on Castle Creek Road. This was June of 1968. The hut was built in 1960 and it was under the care of John Holden in the 1960’s. He and his wife Anne had been faculty members at the Putney School in Vermont and they started Colorado Rocky Mountain School in nearby Carbondale in the 50s. I had been a student there for 8 weeks the previous summer.

When fellow ski racer Bill Farrell and I decided to get up before dawn at Tagert Hut and hike or hitch our way to the only ski race of the summer at Montezuma Basin, I recognized the Holden’s right away when they picked us up. Like Tuckerman’s Ravine there was no lift at Montezuma Basin so we both hiked the course with everyone and studied it on the way to the starting gate. I won! Greg and Crandy’s training camp was a great help. I was trying to move from a ‘B’ to ‘A’ classification and winning that race was the first of several to cinch leap.

Tagert Hut – Colorado 1968

Here is my summer painting of Crandy’s cabin which I started first and finished after completing the winter painting. If you drew a line west from there you’d be on lower part of Lake Champlain and to west of that, Lake George. The low mountains you see are in NY state. I look forward to seeing it.

Cabin on a lake — Crandy Grant’s Cabin in Summer by Carol Skinger

Many thanks for the interesting commission Crandy. It’s one of the things that made my COVID winter of 2021 memorable in a good way.

I was working on one of the paintings when I took a break and watched a (virtual) Red Bench talk via Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum in Stowe. It was titled Nose Dive- A History of Mt. Mansfield’s Famous Trail. Guess what? The 1967 Jr. National Alpine Championship Downhill on the Nosedive was THE LAST important National or International race on the Nosedive, that cold day in March ’67 when you won the Men’s Downhill and my sister Erica Skinger won the Women’s Downhill (and she won the overall Women’s title). So you both get that piece of Nosedive history.

Love this 1935 photo showing the Nosedive when that’s all you could see, 5 years before the single chair opened.

1935 Nosedive photo Stowe VT — Screen shot from Nosedive: A History of Mt. Mansfield’s Famous Trail

Tips for framing original art and prints

February 9, 2021

Commissioned house portrait by Carol Skinger

I’m going to describe best practices for framing here but caution you that using these methods is expensive. I myself sometimes use these methods for art in my own home and sometimes I don’t. Not everything needs to be handled this way. Not everything needs to last for 100 years. In short, if you have art or prints you have hidden in a drawer because you cannot afford museum grade framing, maybe you need to rethink the plan so you can enjoy the art you own now.

Archival framing methods are the way to go, which means 100% kozo paper hinges, 100% cotton rag, acid and lining free, alkaline pH buffered 4-ply mattes, and conservation glass or Plexiglas.

You can also go with plastic corner mounts and hinge the top matte to an acid-free foam core backing with acid free linen hinges.

There is some back and forth on buffered and non-buffered matte board, but with concerns about general acidity of the air, using buffered matte board is the more conservative method.

I have always found Japanese paper hinges (using rice starch paste) a real pain to work with, so I tend to use a middle ground:

Acid-free linen tape hinges
100% cotton rag, acid and lining free, alkaline pH buffered, 4-ply mattes
Conservation glass or Plexiglas
Acid-free foam core backing

For something that you want to be long lasting as well as reversible (so the owner can have the print or art re-matted later, etc. if so desired) you will want to avoid dry/cold mount methods.

If you insist of entire adhesion to backing for a totally smooth appearance, digital prints should probably not be heat mounted. Ask your framer or reprographics professional. In Pittsburgh, that is Modern Reproductions and Tristate. But lets face it lots of things can be fully mounted.

Pictureframes.com has a “personal frame shop” on their top header. This is a great way to try on mats and frames and you can even select a wall color behind the framed art. You have to upload an image from your computer. Because color can appear differently on a screen than it does in reality I still suggest using a local framer. In the Pittsburgh area I like (in no particular order) Boxheart Gallery, James Gallery , Framezilla , and Panza Frame and Gallery. And I think you should not feel embarrassed to take your big discount coupon to Michaels as well. They have archival and museum glass too.

If you decide to have any of my work framed via an online framing business, you must take the dimensions from my actual art once you receive it and not from my “approximate dimensions” listed for each piece.

Framing is up to you! Yes archival framing is best but expensive, just do what you can to get art on your walls and enjoy it!