DOG BEACH, WILMETTE, ILLINOIS

Dog Beach, Wilmette, Illinois, 10 x 14 inch watercolor by George C. Clark   SOLD

Wilmette, one of Chicago's North Shore suburbs, has a beach for dogs in its Gilson Park on a peninsula between Lake Michigan and the channel leading to its harbor.  Masts of sailboats in the harbor are visible in the background at the right.

PAPER DEMON, HONG KONG

Paper Demon, Hong Kong, 12 x 9 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

In 1986 I was working on the first exhibition at Evanston Art Center of my series A Year in the Tropics: Images of Vietnam by George C. Clark.  In that first version of the show I included images from the two 5-day R&Rs I got during my tour, visits to Hong Kong and Singapore.  I showed a few of my photographs and I painted a street scene from Singapore and this drawing of ladies putting the finishing touches on a paper and bamboo demon for a street festival in Hong Kong.  The series or parts of it have been exhibited in various venues since then (including the Thompson Center in Chicago, the Milwaukee Art Museum and the National Veterans Art Museum), but in subsequent exhibitions I didn't include the Hong Kong and Singapore material as being not quite germane to the Vietnam War experience the rest of the art dealt with.

I made the Paper Demon ink drawing on paper that wasn't suitable for watercolor, so I used the silkscreen printmaking process to transfer the drawing onto a couple of sheets of illustration board and hand-colored both of them, producing two similar but not identical paintings.  This enabled me to include the image in an exhibition of travel art at the same time as my A Year in the Tropics show.

         

ECSTATIC ANGELS FROM BERLIN AT JACKSON JUNGE GALLERY

Ecstatic Angels, Nikolaikirche, Berlin, 10 x 13 inch ink drawing by George C. Clark    SOLD

I drew these baroque carved-wood angels in the reconstructed Nikolaikirche in Berlin recently.  It has been selected to be in the exhibition ANGELICIES: A LOOK AT THE MODERN DAY ANGEL at Jackson Junge Gallery, 1389 N. Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago.  The exhibition opens Friday, November 18, 2011, with an artists' reception from 6 to 9pm, and will run through the holidays.

I did the drawing on a single sheet of paper that formed facing pages of a bound sketchbook.  I made a copy print of the open sketchbook, retouched out evidence of the center crease, and signed and photographed the print to make the digital image posted above and at What's New From George C. Clark.  At the gallery I will be showing the original drawing which I have taken out of its binding and am now flattening before I frame it.  I will sign it with the date I drew it instead of the caption "Ecstatic Angels."

Update 10pm November 18:  I just got back from the opening reception and I am happy to report this drawing is sold.

ANOTHER SKETCH FROM THE VILLA-LIEBERMANN IN WANNSEE

Villa-Liebermann am Wannsee, 7 x 10 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

This is another sketch I drew at the Villa-Liebermann, now a museum.  I recently posted a drawing I made in the formal flower garden on the landward side of the house.  This is the opposite side of the building where a big lawn runs down to the Wannsee lake.  There had been a brief shower during the train ride out from Berlin, but by the time I drew this in late morning the weather had turned sunny and pleasant and museum visitors were enjoying coffee and pastries at Cafe Max on the lake-facing terrace of the villa.   

BERLIN CATHEDRAL FROM THE SPREEUFER

Spreeufer, Berlin, 10 x 7 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark    SOLD

 I drew this from a riverside table at the Spreeblick Cafe in the Nikolaiviertel section of Berlin.  This is an old part of the city reconstructed after WW2 devastation by the East Germans in the 1980s.  Some of the buildings were restored where they originally stood, some were moved from other locations, some are new copies of totally destroyed structures, and some are new buildings designed to blend with the old.  When I visited Berlin 20 years ago right after the Wall came down, the Nikolaiviertel struck me as having an artificial Epcot Center quality, maybe because it was such a contrast to the rest of East Berlin which was grey and dingy and still pock-marked with wartime damage and full of ugly new concrete Soviet-style structures.  They are the same buildings and it is only 20 years later, but this time they seemed more natural and lived-in, and the former East Berlin is the most happening part of the city.

I started this drawing while waiting for my lunch, then finished it after the meal, which was very tasty, by the way.  The German restaurants and cafes are very good about not expecting you to leave until you ask for your bill, but I felt guilty occupying a prima riverfront table so I ordered a gooey expensive dessert.  Chocolate sauce and several flavors of ice cream were involved.  I had to do it for my art!

Starting my drawing at the Spreeblick Cafe, Berlin

GARDEN IN WANNSEE

Garden in Wannsee, Germany, 9.5 x 6.5 ink and watercolor by George C. Clark    SOLD

One of the most interesting places I visited on my recent trip to Germany was the house the great painter Max Liebermann built on the shore of the Wannsee outside of Berlin in 1910 and where he worked every summer until his death in 1935.  After decades in private hands, the house has been acquired by the state, restored to its ca. 1912 look, and opened as a museum, the Villa-Liebermann am Wannsee.  It features changing exhibitions (currently a show of Liebermann's on-site art from various northern European beaches), but in the the second-floor room that was Lieberman's studio there is a permanent display of paintings he created in the house or on its beautifully landscaped grounds.  It is rare to see art displayed at the very location it depicts.

JET-LAGGED IN BERLIN

Jet-lagged in Berlin, 9.5 x 6 inch ink drawing by George C. Clark

Just back from two weeks in Germany.  I arrived in Berlin at lunchtime after having slept only a fitful hour and a half on the transatlantic flight.  Had lunch at Savignyplatz and reacquainted myself with the neighborhood before returning to the hotel for a 90 minute nap.  ”Must stay awake until local bedtime,” I told myself, then headed for a Helmut Newton exhibition at the new Museum für Fotografie located in an old imperial court building behind the Bahnhof Zoo.  Fortunately it was Thursday, the day most Berlin museums are open late.  Then I had a late supper and finally crashed at 10pm local time.  What do you do when you find yourself suddenly wide awake in a foreign city at 3 o’clock in the morning?  If you’re me, you go in the bathroom of your Kurfurstendamm hotel room and draw a portrait of yourself reflected in the mirror and the adjustable round magnifying mirror.