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posted on September 23, 2013 by mbs2013

Meandering Garden

1625 Garden-vert, 6/28/07, 12:11 PM, 8C, 7866×9803 (574+781), 150%, Custom, 1/40 s, R69.0, G51.6, B64.8

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megblackstudios

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uRzR4Hqhx6Y Meg Black is a New England based artist who works with natural fibers to create stunning works of art.

Day two. Follow me on my Youtube channel as I pain

Day two. Follow me on my Youtube channel as I paint my next painting and I’ll show you all sorts of tricks👩‍🎨👩🏼‍🎨. In this video I complete the background layers of the painting. The subject of the painting is an early morning sunrise over a small New England town. I am using pigmented abaca as my painting material. Abaca is an ancient fiber used to make paper, tea bags, PPE and in automobile manufacturing by Mercedez Benz. Like I always say, if you can’t afford to own a Mercedez, paint with one instead 😂😂😂 YouTube link in bio. and below. #megblackstudios #mercedezbenz#abaca #pulppainting #papercrafts#paper #paperartistscollective#topsfieldma #topsfieldhttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uRzR4Hqhx6Y

Next video available tomorrow. I will share the fi

Next video available tomorrow. I will share the final stages of painting the background section. In the meantime, watch the video from day one: getting started. YouTube link in bio.

Follow me on my Youtube channel as I paint my next

Follow me on my Youtube channel as I paint my next painting and I’ll show you all sorts of tricks. 👩‍🎨👩🏼‍🎨Here I am Laying down the background colors for my new painting, Morning Light, Cross Street, Topsfield. I am using pigmented abaca as my painting material. Abaca is an ancient fiber used to make paper, tea bags, PPE and in automobile manufacturing by Mercedez Benz. Like I always say, if you can’t afford to own a Mercedez, paint with one instead 😂😂😂 YouTube link in bio. and below. #megblackstudios #mercedezbenz #abaca #pulppainting #papercrafts #paper #paperartistscollective #topsfieldma #topsfield https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uRzR4Hqhx6Y

I painted this city scape Of Georgetown MA several

I painted this city scape Of Georgetown MA several years ago for the board room of the Georgetown Savings Bank. Had a heck of a time editing out the obstructions. Too bad-great architecture. @ebschultz1957

#nationalparkweek This is another one of my painti

#nationalparkweek This is another one of my paintings inspired by the National parks🌲🌲🌲🕵🏻🥾🧗🏾‍♂️The influence here is from Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. Celebrating the light shining through the trees was my intention for this work commissioned by a private collector a few years ago. This is #nationalparksweek. What are some of your stories from visiting our #nationalparks? #nationalparkservice #megblackstudios #rockymountainnationalpark #colorado

It's #nationalparksweek. Like many artists, I've b

It's #nationalparksweek. Like many artists, I've been inspired by our beautiful National Parks. I'm also the proud parent of a National Park Service employee🕵🏻🥾🌲🌳🚣🏼🧗🏾‍♂️. This is the perfect week to remind ourselves to keep the parks clean, healthy, and free for all to enjoy. Please join me in hash-tagging the #nationalparks #nationalparkservice and share your inspirational stories of the times you’ve spent in our parks. Embedded: Sea Glass, Cape Cod National Seashore. This is just one of many artworks I've created inspired by my time spent at the National Seashore. #megblackstudios #nationalparks #nationalparkweek #nationalparkservice #art #artist #capecodnationalseashore

Why am I beating head against the wall trying to g

Why am I beating head against the wall trying to get this to work? 😡Can’t I just forget it and take a day off? 😡Ever feel like that? This wall sculpture, Laura’s Prayer Shawl, personified that feeling. It took me three years of trial and error to get the two materials I was using, resin and abaca, to work together in the creative process and then fold together without ripping in the final process. And then I realized I wasn’t exactly sure how to adhere the work to the substrate so it could be people hung on the wall. 🥺The cost in labor and materials was extensive, but when it finally came together, I realized I had made a major breakthrough with my art. Some things just take time, lots of it. Keep going. You’re closer than you think to your own breakthrough. #megblackstudios #abaca #resin #resinart #artcurator #sculpture #wallart #womensculptors #art

I took this photo of Cross Street, Topsfield, MA.

I took this photo of Cross Street, Topsfield, MA. at sunrise on my early morning bike ride last week. I'm thinking of using it as an inspiration for a painting. Care to weigh in? I'd love to hear your thoughts. #megblackstudios #topsfieldma #sunrise #newengland #newenglandlandscapes #sunshine #pulppainting #paper

WHAT A DISCOVERY! It turns out that abaca, my pain

WHAT A DISCOVERY! It turns out that abaca, my painting medium that I used for this painting, was a key ingredient in PPE-masks, gowns, surgical bandages-during the COVID pandemic😷. This beautiful and durable fiber helped save countless lives. Let’s hear it for abaca💪💪🥳. More to come for other uses of this fiber. Hint: ever hear of Mercedes Benz? #megblackstudios #abaca #ppe #pulppainting #handmadepaperart #paper #artcurator #arnoldgrummerpapermaking #handpapermakingmagazine #mercedezbenz

Thank you to @kindraphoto for the photo session to

Thank you to @kindraphoto for the photo session today. You are the best portrait photographer in the world. And the kindest. 👩🏾‍🎨👩🏽‍🎨👩‍🎨🥰. #megblackstudios #pulppainting #papermaker #paper #paperartist #paperartistscollective #art #artcurator #bostonartist #coneflowers #topsfieldma #arnoldgrummerpapermaking #paintingwithpaper

“You’re terrible at using color” I remember

“You’re terrible at using color” I remember my graduate school painting professor telling me.👩‍🎨This was before the “self-esteem” paradigm so l’m pretty sure I remember it correctly. Having studied black and white printmaking as an undergraduate student it makes sense now, but it was pretty traumatizing to hear at the time. 👩🏼‍🎨 Anyhow, I went on a binge to learn how to use color. I humbled myself and took a color theory class with the freshman. How embarrassing given I was a big graduate student😩. I practiced for hours on end, years really. Looking back I can see he was right-I was awful at color🥺. But practice and determination are a good combination and over time my use of color improved. 👩🏾‍🎨 How to use color, materials, perfecting your chosen medium, all these things take time. Lots of it. But, don’t give up. The world needs artists (even if it doesn’t know it) and bohemians-many more bohemians from my perspective-so keep working on your craft whether it’s color, technique, style, or materials. 👩🏾‍🎨 After 30+ years, I can say with certainty that I’ve learned how to use color. Thank you to my graduate school painting professor, Rob Moore, for being honest with me and challenging me to push myself. I am grateful to you every day. 🌸Shown here is my latest diptych CONEFLOWERS 1 and CONEFLOWERS 2. Made with pigmented abaca and acrylic paint. #robmoore #megblackstudios #color #paperartist #pulppainting #coneflowers #artcurator #massart #artist #colortheory #blackeyedsusans #russiansage #bostonartist #artforsale #supportartists #paperartistcollective

Why paint with pulp? And what is pulp anyway? 👩

Why paint with pulp? And what is pulp anyway? 👩‍🎨”Pulp” can be made from a lot of materials but in my case I use abaca. Abaca is a fiber from the inner bark of the banana tree. It is extremely strong, acid free, and holds color beautifully. Another use for abaca fiber is to make rigging for sailing vessels and tea bags (ever wonder why yea bags don’t fall apart when dipped in hot water)? 👩🏽‍🎨 If you paint with oil on canvas, there is a good chance you are using abaca. Commercial canvas of the highest quality includes abaca fiber to ensure it is strong enough to be framed without glass. 👩‍🎨But why bother using this material when commercially made paint is available? The answer is simple: texture. My work is largely representational with nature imagery as my primary subject. Nature is not only 3D but full of a variety of textures. By using this versatile medium that has a textured quality, I am able to recreate the many textures of nature in my work. From still ponds to crashing shorelines to fields of wild flowers, abaca allows me to recreate these textures on a 2D surface. 👩🏼‍🎨 My slogan “recapture the emotion of nature” comes from using this wonderfully textured material as my painting medium. #megblackstudios #texture #abaca #pink #coneflowers #paintingwithpulp #paper #papermakingart #paperartistscollective #paperartist #capeann #art #artistsofinstagram #artcurator

Things to know about Michelangelo’s Pieta: 1. T

Things to know about Michelangelo’s Pieta:

1. The word pieta is Latin for pity. The idea that one can feel emotion, in this case, sorrow or pity, through viewing a work of art is in keeping with the Renaissance ideal of humanism, in which the human experience is worthy of contemplation and reflection.

2. The composition is in the shape of a triangle, a reference to the trinity.

3. The Pieta is a northern Renaissance concept. Mary holding her dead son after the crucifixion is not mentioned by any of the gospel writers.

4. If Mary stood up, she would be much larger in scale than Jesus. This is a compositional decision on Michelangelo’s part to ensure she remains central to the composition.

5. Mary is youthful, much younger looking than she would be if Jesus is said to be 33 years old upon his death. Her youth and beauty are in keeping with Renaissance ideals of beauty in art.

6. Mary’s breastplate reads “Michelangelo the Florentine made this.” This is in reference to Rome, where the sculpture was carved, being a separate City-State from the City-State of Florence, where Michelangelo is from. Florence and Rome were rivals at the time and Michelangelo wanted to celebrate the home team. This is the only work of art Michelangelo ever signed. He signed it because of rumors that the sculpture was the work of an older artist.

7. Christ’s left foot is already experiencing rigor-mortis, the stiffening of the joints upon death. Michelangelo was aware of rigor-mortis from dissecting human bodies, which was forbidden by the Church at the time. He felt enormous guilt for engaging in this practice, however, the knowledge he gained strengthens the emotional impact of the sculpture.

8. He believed the pieta was already in the marble, he just needed to help the composition release itself from the confines of the stone. He slept in the quarry at night so he could see the sunrise over the block of marble, and “saw” the sculpture within. Thus, he took little credit for actually carving the sculpture.

9. The finished sculpture was rolled on logs to St. Peter’s from Michelangelo’s studio by a group of carpenters during the night. #michelangelo #pietà #goodfriday

From my days as an art student in Florence, Italy.

From my days as an art student in Florence, Italy. How I miss those carefree days of figure drawing, gelato and all things Renaissance. I drew this model during one of our figure drawing sessions. I was thinking of how Michelangelo carved the hand of the dead Christ in his Pieta. What great memories I have of this time. ⁠
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#megblackstudios #michelangelo #florenceitaly #figuredrawing #gelato #pieta

👩‍🎨One of the most common comments I hear

👩‍🎨One of the most common comments I hear about my artwork is how much people love the textured surface. I am able to create texture because of the materials I use. I am a paper artist, that is, I work with cotton and abaca fibers beaten for up to 20 hours in my Hollander Beater. The Hollander Beater is designed after the water wheels of Holland-thus its name. The machine is able to beat fibers into finely textured pulp which is then pigmented with light-fast (non-fading) color and used as a painting or sculpting media. ⁠
👩🏽‍🎨This framed wall sculpture was made with mixture of cotton and abaca pulp beaten in my Hollander Beater for 23 hours. By beating the pulp for that long a time, it strengthens the fiber to an incredibly durable surface. ⁠
🤫What is Abaca you ask? Abaca was the original material used to make huge sailing canvases used during the Renaissance-you know, those ships that sailed the ocean blue. Eventually, some bright person got the idea to use a scrap of canvas to paint oil onto and the tradition of oil on canvas painting was born. ⁠
👩‍🎨So, while I am using this historical medium, I am using it not as a surface to paint on, but as a medium to paint with. This is why my work is so unique and yet becomes part of the historical use of this versatile material. ⁠
Shown here in situ in a home office, this wall sculpture, which I have named "Pops of Color I" because it is, well, very colorful, measures 40 x 20 x 3.5 inches and is framed in a custom made frame by my furniture maker friend. This large scale format fills a room with color and texture. ⁠1950.00 available on my website. https://megblack.com/galleries/pops-of-color/⁠
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#megblackstudios #wallart #wallsculpture⁠
#homeofficedesign #abaca #artcurator #sculpture #womansculpture #womansculptor #rasberry #chartruse #blue #orange #cotton #pulppainting #handmadepaperart #paintingwithpaper

Summer at the Seashore is the title of my newly fr

Summer at the Seashore is the title of my newly framed wall sculpture. 🌊 first, I chose this title based on color palette-blue, bronze, chartreuse, gold, and ivory. These are the colors one sees at the seashore during the summer months just ahead. 🌊 My second reason for choosing the title is due to the materials I used. I am a paper artist and this sculpture was made with abaca pulp beaten in my Hollander beater for 23 hours. By beating the pulp for that long a time, it strengthens the fiber to an incredibly durable surface. 🌊 Abaca was the original material for canvas used during the Renaissance for oil on canvas painting. So, while I am using this historical medium, I am using it not as a surface to paint on, but as a medium to paint with. This is why my work is so unique and yet becomes part of the historical use of this versatile material. 🌊Shown here in situ in a home office, it measures 40 x 20 x 3.5 inches and is framed in a custom made frame by my furniture maker friend. This large scale format fills a room with color and texture. ⁠1950.00 available on my website. Swipe in bio. to purchase.
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#megblackstudios #seascape #seascapeart #seascapepainting #wallart #wallsculpture⁠
#capecodnationalseashore #capecod #maine⁠ #homeofficedesign #abaca #wallart #artcurator #sculpture #womansculpture #womansculptor #gold #bronze #blue #ivory #sand

Displaying work in groups of three makes for a cla

Displaying work in groups of three makes for a classic composition according to the rules of the golden section and Fibonacci numbers of beauty and design. Here, three of my abstract paintings grace the waiting area of a healthcare facility in the medical distract of Boston. ⁠
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#megblackstudios #artforhealthcare #commissionedart #corporateart #artconsultant #bostonartist

Nature is the prefect subject-matter for healthcar

Nature is the prefect subject-matter for healthcare environments. A series of pond imagery makes up this multi panel original work of art for a healthcare environment. I was commissioned to create this through an art consultant a few years ago. If you are an art consultant looking to add nature based art to your current projects, contact me for a complimentary proposal. ⁠
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#megblackstudios #artforhealthcare #commissionedart #corporateart #artconsultant #bostonartist⁠

The Cape Cod National Seashore was the inspiration

The Cape Cod National Seashore was the inspiration for this painting. I created the painting a long time ago, back in the early 1990's. It is in a private collection where is has been loved and cared for by a lovely couple. I look at the loose brushstrokes, soothing colors and less polished, haphazard(?) way I am working in this image and it makes me want to add this technique into my current practice. Why not? Stay tuned as I try it on for size. ⁠
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#megblackstudios #seascape #seascapeart #seascapepainting #capecodnationalseashore #capecod⁠
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TEXTURE! One of the most common comments I hear a

TEXTURE! One of the most common comments I hear about my artwork is how much people love the textured surface. I am able to create texture by using spoons and turkey basters as my paint brush. This detail of a wall sculpture highlights the texture and vibrant color I am able to achieve by using well beaten abaca and cotton as my painting media.⁠
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#megblackstudios #paperartistcollective ⁠
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#supportlocalartists #artforsale #shoplocal #framedart #bostonartist #artoninstagram ⁠
#newenglandartist #handmadepaperart #art #handpapermaking

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Meg’s Blog

Ten things you need to know about Michelangelo’s Pieta.

April 2, 2021 By mbs2013

Pietà (c. 1500) Carraca Marble, 5’8”, St. Peter’s, Vatican. Commissioned by the French Cardinal Jean de Billheres as a tomb stone The Pieta references the … [Read More...]

Upcoming Events

Join me for my lecture Seascape Painting in the New England Tradition

I am happy to share that I have been awarded a Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant to present a lecture this June about the history of Seascape painting in the New England Tradition. Seascape … [Read More...]

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