Love, Triangle.

Sending some love out to the (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill) Triangle!

First off, John and I went to the National Women's Roller Derby Championships this past weekend here in Philly – unfortunately, we attended only the last day thereof, and therefore we missed the Philly Rollergirls playing (and, well, losing) on Saturday. Sadly, our beloved Carolina Rollergirls didn't rank high enough in the Eastern Division to compete in the event... but we did get to see Carolina player Eva Lye, who was at the event selling her awesome jewelry. Plus, John and I wore our Carolina T-shirts in solidarity with our original favorite team. Yay Rollergirls!

Roller derby! At the Philadelphia Convention Center

Also: I just read this really reeeeally nice post from fellow painter and awesome friend Alia El-Bermani - who I super-duper massively miss now that we're here in Philadelphia. A big shout-out to Alia, who I hope to drag up here to Philadelphia as often as possible until we convince her that she needs to be here permanently. Sigh. Anyway, check out the post - she started a painting of me before we moved, and she added in her AWESOME kitten, who is possibly the best kitten ever. Love that kitten, love that Alia. Sniff!

Painting by Alia El-Bermani: Diane with Kitten, oil on panel, 24" x 18".

Also – while I'm on the subject of great Raleigh peeps, here’s some nice news about the fabulous Megan Sullivan - she will be showing work at Jack Hanley Gallery in NYC as a part of the upcoming show "Four Women." The show is up through December 24, check it out!

Bottle Blonde, 2008, cotton and polyester, by Megan Sullivan

Last first.

This past Friday was my last First Friday here in Raleigh, as we'll be moving up to Philadelphia at the end of this month. Sad! But it was good to see some great people, and some great art. I'll miss you, Raleigh artists!! Sigh. I'll definitely miss Alison Overton, who had a great exhibit of new photos at Flanders 311:

Alison and her gorgeous photos from the series entitled "Secret Hours."

A real, live theremin! And real, live theremin player. Cooool.

A little blurry – but wanted to pay tribute to Tamar's curatorial awesomeness. It's hard to see here, but you should go down to the gallery in person to observe the excellent flow of the exhibition.

Things have changed around a bit at 311, where I used to have my studio. Good people there, all of 'em. Now they have another reeeeeally good painter there, in the space I used to share with Shaun (who is currently in residence at the Bemis Center in Omaha, and has moved into a studio at Artspace). This new painter - her name is Marianita Stevans - has work up at this link, and currently at 311. Here's Judy from 311 with Marianita's gorgeous painting in the background:

Also awesome was getting these paintings from Casey Porn: yay Raleigh artists!!

Little itty-bitty paintings by Raleigh artist Casey Porn

Drawlllllll.

Went to Alia's to draw on Saturday morning - had a great model. Here's the sketch I came up with:

Sketch by me. Thanks to Alia for hosting - this is one of the things I'll miss when we move!

Monster in the neighborhood.

So I came home from work this evening and found this out my window in the parking lot behind our apartment:

Perhaps you've heard of the Barrel Monster incident here in Raleigh from earlier this year? Well, as I guessed in this post, we are indeed neighbors of Joseph Carnevale, the guy who created the original barrel monster. The pic above is of his most recent creation, being built for this year's SparkCon event, a celebration of creativity and such held annually here in Raleigh. So, apparently this is a work-in-progress, a giant barrelosaurus of some sort... you can read more about it here. And go check it out in its finished form at SparkCon this weekend, if you're around Raleigh. In the meantime, the neighborhood kids are getting a sneak preview right in their own backyard, so to speak, as am I:

Carnevale, at right, with barrelosaurus-in-progress and interested neighborhood kids

Art recommendations - Raleigh/Triangle Area.

As usual, I have some art favorites I'd like to suggest that you check out - in this particular case, the geographical focus is the Triangle area of NC: Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill. Check it out:

Tonight is First Friday, and I think I will be lazy by directing you to New Raleigh's roundup/overview of the evening's events; however, I do want to highlight two exhibits which are only touched upon in their overview: be sure to check out Daniel Allegrucci's woodcuts at Morning Times on Hargett Street, and Gretchen Morrissey's show of prints Seed + Pollen + Nectar in the lobby at Artspace on Davie Street.

Also: if you are in need of something fun to do this Sunday from 1-3 in the afternoon, come on over to check out an exhibition of recent paintings by excellent artist and fellow Bryn Mawr alum Annemarie Gugelmann at Open Eye Café in Carrboro, NC (just west of Chapel Hill). Annemarie will be exhibiting a series of paintings of San Francisco, which of course melts my little heart, left high on a hill... here's a sample of one:

From Bernal 6, 30" x 40", oil on canvas, 2009, $380 (wow!! a steal!!) by Annemarie Gugelmann.

Exhibition entitled Images of San Francisco will be at Open Eye Cafe in Carrboro from June 1 - June 31, 2009; opening reception is Sunday, June 7th between 1-3PM.

Raleigh art goodness.

Something nice of late to distract us from the misery of limbo brought on by a sloooooww real estate market: the recent acquisition of two lovely artworks by two of Raleigh's finest artists, Rachel Herrick and Joyce Watkins King. Here they are:

Small Bombs, mixed media, 12"x12" by Rachel Herrick

Encaustic/mixed media painting, 12"x12" by Joyce Watkins King

'tis the season: les pivoines.

Man, I'll miss our awesome friends/fellow artists here in Raleigh when we move back to California. Some of said friends bought these flowers for ole Huey, having heard of his hospitalization:Very sweet, no? I told Huey that there were flowers for him at home... maybe that's what's speeding his recovery. That, and wanting to get the IV tubes out of his neck.

Speaking of flowers, my head was turned by some lovely peonies I spied during a trip to Whole Foods this weekend. Yay North Carolina peonies! I love peonies – I decided they're my second-favorite flower, a close second to lilacs. Apparently the peonies are in season here in NC currently, so I picked up some local fleurs with the intent to paint them. Naturally I did not end up having the time to do so, but I did manage to get in a little bit of sketching:

And here's a photo of the peonies themselves, lovely little peonies! Wish it could be scratch 'n' sniff, because they have a perfectly delicate scent. Rose-y, but not overwhelming.

More fabrication.

Here are some photos from the Artspace opening reception on Friday night, May 1st:

Chez Feissel, à vendre.

Anybody want to buy a comfy, wonderful 2-bedroom, 1.5 bath condo in Raleigh, North Carolina? We're trying to sell it before we move back to California, click here for details.

The front of our condo building. Click on this link for more photos and detail.

Glass fully half-empty.

Things that have been good of late:
1. Carolina Rollergirls bout on 4/11/09. Yes, their butts were whupped by both the Philly Rollergirls and the Austin, TX team, but Ladies, you are still winners in my book. Go Carolina Rollergirls! Woot!

2. Neko Case at Memorial Auditorium on 4/7/09. Neko, you are perfect and I love you. And man, whatta voice. Sigh.

3. Thanks to the awesomeness and generosity of my former studiomate Shaun, who gave me a groovy book on artists' materials and techniques (yes, I'm woefully ignorant about these things, it's true), I have learned how to marouflage – very simply, how to glue fabric to (wood or other) panel for painting support purposes. So far, my trial samples seem to be working out well, once I have some time to actually finish priming them and such, then *maybe* I will actually find the time to paint on them as well. Whooyeah!

Little marouflaged panels, which I shall one day paint upon. Fabric comes from French Connections in Pittsboro, North Carolina, an awesome place with awesome fabric (among other things).

Things that have been not-so-good of late:
1. Raleigh drivers, who are surely going to kill both John and I as we walk to work one of these days. Good God. If this blog goes un-updated for an extended period of time, please know that it is because I have been mowed down mercilessly by a clueless driver all hopped up on Bojangle's fried chicken. Until people learn to look both ways before peeling out into traffic or around a corner or anywhere, really, we the pedestrians of Raleigh are doomed.

2. Our refrigerator, which died an extremely untimely death. We currently appear to be living under the rule of Murphy's law when it comes to all things home-related, probably because we are trying to sell our place and move back to California. This, I understand, is the time when everything will go wrong and be costly and painful. Let the seller beware, or something...? Caveat venditor, baby.

3. The most recent Depeche Mode album ("Sounds of the Universe"). Now, to be fair, I need to give it another listen... if I can stand it. Man, is this a lousy album. Yipes. I think they were trying a *wee* bit too hard, and they ended up kind of tripping over themselves. Alas. Though I must admit the video for the song "Wrong" is good, in a deliciously disturbing sort of way. See it for yourself here.

Raleigh! Art! Yessss!!

Last night – First Friday here in Raleigh - was singularly pleasant: good art, good people, and good weather (finally! Jeez.) Despite my gripings about lousy bus service and the overall suburbanity (is this a word?) of Raleigh, some days it definitely comes through with Quality Stuff, artwise and otherwise. I stopped into Morning Times to catch the current show, featuring works by artists involved in the Bain Project. I was asking myself, "who is this Luke Miller Buchanan kid whose work I've seen all over lately and why haven't I seen it sooner? Because it's awesome." (In doing a little bit of research, I've found that he's part of the Bonded Llama posse, good stuff).

This painting by Luke Miller Buchanan

Next stop was Artspace; but first, a stop into Sosta Café, which I hadn't expected to be open so late – but they were showing some art, and therefore participating in First Friday. A funny discovery was made, which may speak to the smallness of Raleigh – it turns out that one of the two owners of Sosta is married to my dentist (Rebecca Schmorr). It was a nice discovery to make though, given that I love Sosta, and I love this dentist. A winning combination.

As for Artspace, good stuff going on there... loved the "Recreation" show currently in the upfront gallery by the awesome artists (and forces behind Visual Art Exchange) Sarah Powers and Rachel Herrick. I also stopped in at the studio of current Regional Emerging Artist in Residence (R.E.A.R., yes, this makes for an odd acronym) Megan Sullivan, who makes clever, whimsical and overall excellent fabric/thread-based art, an interesting combo teetering between 2-D and 3-D. Groovy stuff. Then I stopped by the studio of the awesome photographer Alison Overton, whose work grabbed me from the very first time I ever set foot in Artspace in 2007. Gorgeous, eerie work – we have one of her prints of an abandoned house, and I absolutely love it.

This photo by Alison Overton - title is Bending not Breaking, medium is transparent oil paint on silver gelatin print, image size 10" x 10", framed size 20" x 16, image is from 2008

After that I took a trip over to 311 West Martin Street to see the current show at Flanders 311 and in the 311 hallway, and to visit with the folks there. You may recall, this is where I’ve had my studio since December 2007, most recently sharing space with Shaun Richards. However, I've decided that I won’t be keeping a separate studio any more, for the time being... I do all of my painting in my home studio at this point, anyway. It's kind of sad, though, because I miss the people over there – Julie Niskanen, Susan Martin, Judy Jones, Shaun of course, Kim and Dan Chapin, Kristianne Ripple, all good people and groovy artists. I'll miss them (sniff!) In fact, another funny thing - in visiting Artspace, I checked out the current "New Works" exhibition, juried by Trevor Schoonmaker of the Nasher Museum over at Duke... and it's funny, because I realize that, out of the artists selected for the exhibit, 4 of them are from the ole 311: myself, Shaun, Judy and Susan. And, funnily enough, out of the 4 awards given by the juror, 3 were given to 311 peeps!! (Shaun got "Best in Show", Susan got third place, and I got an honorable mention). Whooo for the 311!!!! I'm so bummed that I'm not going to be there anymore... sigh.

One last thing, because this post isn't *quite* long enough – M Street Gallery, located within 311 but sadly closing at the end of this month, had a great show of work by Jenny Eggleston: surreal and meticulous nature studies rendered in graphite. Good stuff. Again, I should have taken note of her work sooner. And so should you!!

this drawing by Raleigh artist Jenny Eggleston.

In summation: Raleigh has some darn good people, and some darn good art. Yeahhhh!!!

Snow day.

Wait - did I mention it snowed this morning? For reals? Here in North Carolina? Before Thanksgiving, even? People in Buffalo and Moscow are laughing at me and my minor snow flurries, but man, after 9 years in California and a current zip code south of the Mason-Dixon line, snow is a BIG DEAL. Here's a video I took out our back bedroom window:

Lag.

Once again, falling behind on things. Sigh.

I had intended to get some things done downtown yesterday, and participate in this protest, but alas - felled by a headache likely due to crazy low pressure systems causing tornadoes and such across the state, I missed it, and am very bummed out. It also means that I had to go downtown to do some errands and studio re-configuration on a Sunday, which means taking a cab - no damn busses on a Sunday. Thank you Raleigh! So convenient, really.

Despite my Raleigh public transportation-related gripes, last weekend John and I engaged in a full-force effort to re-discover the positive things about Raleigh and the Triangle region generally, as we hung out with friends who are in the middle of transition and possibly looking for a new place in which to settle themselves. John and I hope they will re-settle here, which would definitely make Raleigh more appealing to us!! In the meantime, since we were trying to sell them on the place, we took them to Morning Times. Good ole Morning Times:

In other Raleigh-based news and art-related news, my studiomate and I partially moved ourselves into our new studio at 311 West Martin Street - at least more or less - in time for First Friday this month. (For those of you who are keeping track, YES, it's the third studio I've been in within the same building - 311 West Martin - since last December. What can I say? I crave change.) Here's a glimpse of the stuff I put on the walls, pretty much the same stuff I had up out in San Francisco in mid-October:

311 West Martin Street Galleries and Studios

Happily, one of these recent "fabrication" paintings sold (to a very good home, yay) - one of my favorites, the following:

global warming will bring us together, oil on printed fabric, 2008, 12"x12", by me, Diane Feissel

Sosta. with teeth.

We finally made it over to another spot of Raleigh awesomeness today: Sosta Café, located in downtown, right near Artspace, at the corner of East Davie Street and Wilmington. SO! YUMMY! Plus, the owner has a great apartment for rent in Avignon, France, and is having a raffle drawing for a free week there. Whooooo!!! Naturally, we entered that drawing. Overall, good menu - you can see it on their website – and the folks working in the café are great, and friendly, and they make a thoroughly excellent hot chocolate. I really, really hope they stick to this schedule of being open on Saturday... I will therefore probably be there every Saturday. Mmmm, hot chocolate.

Also: we finally saw the movie "Teeth."

It was actually better than I anticipated, though gruesome, though probably especially gruesome and creepy for male viewers. There were some angles of it plot-wise which surprised me, some were overly simplistic; overall a mixed bag, but a good one.

Did that make sense? Oh, just go see the movie yourself.

Wildlife.

I think I’ve found the ideal model for some of my next paintings, if I ever finish the commissions I’m working on:

Marché aux Puces, Raleigh version.

John and I wandered up to the NC Flea Market yesterday, for a walk and a peek at the wares.

As always, there was some cool stuff, some gross stuff, and some funny stuff. So, in no particular order, some stuff...

I believe chocolate is always worth fighting for.

Crosstown traffic! Circa 1950something.Can someone tell me why, oh why, that children’s toys are sometimes so creepy looking? I find these specimens terrifying:Let’s hop on the nostalgia wagon: lunchboxes from the ‘70s. Yessss!! Considering that I had both the Bionic Woman doll and Charlie’s Angels dolls, it’s rather surprising that I had neither of these series’ lunchboxes. Apparently it’s never too late, though...

Does it get more Southern than this?

I am back in the South for sure... check out this gigantic, enormous honking magnolia flower from a tree in Nash Square, downtown Raleigh, diagonally across from my studio. All I need to complete this experience is a big ole mint julep:

Raleigh = lush.

If one is going to come home off a stellar, divine, awesome, fun, beautiful, instructive, overall amazing time in Paris and Dublin, I’d have to say that arriving in the full bloom of a lush Carolina spring is not a bad way to do it. The weather today was absolutely teriific – and, likely due to the rain we had yesterday, it was actually less humid than usual. Glorious, glorious. The trees in our yard have once again plumped out with foliage to such a degree that one can’t see beyond our balcony, and when walking to work it is difficult to see oncoming cars exiting the I-440 off-ramp, as they are hidden by trees and shrubbery. Hence, it’s beautiful outside, but *slightly* more dangerous.

Awesomeness alert: there are honeysuckles blooming along the walk we take to work. Mmmmmmm, honeysuckles.

All bloomy! I *heart* spring.

Ahhhhhh, the trees, they are a blooming! Here are some in our neighborhood:

Vintagery.

There's a new (new for real, or just new to me? unsure) vintage shop on Wilmington between Hargett and Martin. I noticed it last Thursday as the TTA bus let me off almost right inside the front door... but otherwise, it's a little hard to find, probably because the shop itself is on the second floor. But they have a little sandwich board with their name, "Vintage Nation," at street level, along with this lady to point you in the right direction:

She's sassy, huh?

Anyway, it's a decent place and all, but it still can't tear my heart away from Stuff down near my studio on West Martin Street. Better selection, good ambiance. They don't have a sassy mannequin, but they do have a friendly dog.