Laurel Fantasy
12×12 inches
Acrylic mixed media on illustration board
©2016 Lucinda Howe
$295

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I wanted to do a residency because it’s my art fantasy life to focus on an art project, walk and sleep whenever I want, and have someone feed me three times a day.

When I arrived at Wildacres in the North Carolina mountains on a Monday afternoon, it was a beautiful sunny day, much cooler than the 100-degree temperatures I had left behind in South Carolina. However, I heard the distant rumble of thunder and saw storm clouds moving in. Paul, at the front desk, gave me a key and map to Laurel cabin almost a mile down the gravel road from the main buildings. I had been to Wildacres several times for workshops, but had not seen the two new residency cabins.

As I opened the door to the cabin, the wind picked up and the thunder rumbled. It was a pleasant surprise to find a spacious high-ceilinged room paneled in knotty pine. Big windows on three sides opened to views of the woods. There was a bed, a rocking chair with a reading light, a big desk, and a standing-height studio table on wheels. On the other side of the room were the ADA-compliant kitchen and bathroom. The best part was the screen porch surrounded by green woods. I hurried to unload my gear and art supplies. For a moment I envied the writers who only need a laptop. Just as I finished unloading, the rain came down in torrents.

Laurel Cabin Bed, Wildacres

As I unpacked, I observed that the rain was not blowing in on the porch, so I set up my studio out there. I put down a dropcloth, set up a folding table, and prepared to get messy.

My temporary studio on the screen porch at Wildacres

During the week, I concentrated on two things: learning a new art technique and absorbing a sense of the environment. Along with looking for signature details like walls and plants, I enjoyed the lush surroundings of my porch studio. I wasn’t looking at the landscape and painting it directly as I might at a plein air event. Instead, I was steeping in the humid forest. As I worked, I heard sounds of insects and birds. The rains came and went. Occasionally I heard a few notes of music from the neighboring cabin where a harpist was in residence.

The weather pattern the rest of the week was sunny days with afternoon thunderstorms. As I worked with my Gelli printing process, I covered all the horizontal surfaces in the cabin with drying prints.

Laurel Cabin kitchen at Wildacres with drying prints

Toward the end of the week, I started trying to make sense how to use the stacks of prints. I made Laurel Fantasy (at the top of the post)  by combining a Gelli print with a black and white underpainting on illustration board.  My inspiration was the lush forest that surrounded me… light through the tops of the trees, the twisted laurel thicket in the lower story, and dappled shade on the ground. The humid atmosphere suggests the sense of growth and possibility that I brought home with me from my week at Wildacres.