Trees- In My Drawers

Day #29 (one more to go!) of What's in My Drawers.

Trees
oil pastel on paper
14" x 11"
©NanciHersh
$85.00

             

Vrksasana or Tree Pose in Yoga is one of my favorite postures- and can also be quite challenging. Finding balance standing on one leg arms up and open, we sway, try not to flail, and often stumble.

When our minds are calm and relaxed it can seem effortless, but with chattering or "monkey mind" it can be much more difficult.  And that, is when we need it most.

So I plant myself in front of a window and look out at the trees who are stark and still beautiful this time of year and remember to plant my roots and lift my heart.

Click here to see the post about What's in My Drawers and be in the loop for the rest of the art and stories in this blog series.

Stepping Out - in My Drawers

Day #28 from What's in My Drawers.

Stepping Out
Monotype with image transfer
30" x 22"
©NanciHersh
$200.00

                                                         

This piece was created for the Image Transfer Workshop I led with photographer Catherine Hartigan as part of our Catching Up Exhibition at Transformations Gallery in Metuchen, NJ, September 2013.

I combined the image transfers of inkjet prints of koi and magazine fashion shots for this monotype, layering stencils of nets with many passes through my table top etching press to take another view of life beneath the surface.

Click here to see the post about What's in My Drawers and be in the loop for the rest of the art and stories in this blog series.

Final Week for What's in My Drawers

Day #27 of What's is My Drawers.

 Fork and Shadow
Acrylic, Carborundum grit, pastel, collage on paper
30" x 22"
©NanciHersh
$250.00

                                                        

The work is often about the materials as much as the imagery or subject matter. The fork was a departure point to move paint around and use line to draw in space. The dark grey grit of the Carborundum grit mirrors the Fork in the foreground and adds texture to the surface.

The journey is the destination.

Click here to see the post about What's in My Drawers and be in the loop for the rest of the art and stories in this blog series.

LBI #1 - in My Drawers

Day #26 of What's in My Drawers.

LBI #1
Watercolor pencil on paper
6" x 6"
©NanciHersh
$36.00

                                                         

Bring on the sun... the summer of 2011 was full of challenges - and blessings.

So when a  friend of Nate's from NJ invited him to spend a few days on Long Beach Island with the family I took the opportunity to drive him there and spend the time with my friend Donna who also had a house on the island that summer.

Long Beach Island has always been a favorite place of mine and I appreciated the time to boogey board, read, bike and relax with my friend.

I had my small block or Arches watercolor paper and my Caran D'ache watercolor pencils and let the warmth and the beauty of the island flow through my body and onto the paper.

Click here to see the post about What's in My Drawers and be in the loop for the rest of the art and stories in this blog series.

Buttoned Up- in My Drawers

Day #25 of What's in My Drawers.

Buttoned Up
Acrylic, collage on paper
10" x 14" image size
This piece is matted
©NanciHersh
SOLD

                                                  

My Nana Ceil gave me a sewing machine for my Bat Mitzvah. My Singer sewing machine moved with me from NJ to Brooklyn to Manhattan to CA to HI (and at least 5 times on the island of Oahu!), then back to NJ. Finally sold it before we moved here to PA.

Talk about some heavy baggage. Metaphorically, not physically, though moving anything you no longer use is pointless.

Buttoned Up is a piece post surgeries having learned I have the BRCA2 gene which increases odds for not only breast cancer but ovarian cancer. 

I think in this piece a picture says a thousand words.

Click here to see the post about What's in My Drawers and be in the loop for the rest of the art and stories in this blog series.

Red White Blue and Happy- in My Drawers

Day #24 of What's in My Drawers.

Red White Blue and Happy
Monotype with collage
11" x 7.5"
©NanciHersh
$85.00

                                                      

Nothing heavy or serious, just a day in my studio with a friend. Pulled out the inks, the textures and we both made some monotypes on my table top press.

Some red
some blue
some collage ...

happy.

Click here to see the post about What's in My Drawers and be in the loop for the rest of the art and stories in this blog series.

Chrysalis 2- in My Drawers

Day #23 of What's in My Drawers.

Chrysalis 2
Etching, aquatint with gold embossed
rubber stamp
Image size: 7" x 5"
Paper size: 12.5" x 9.5"
Edition of 20
©NanciHersh
$150.00

                                                             

This etching with aquatint started out as a demo plate for my class when I was teaching printmaking at Monmouth University in Long Branch, NJ.

A highly personal piece (I do wear my heart on my sleeve) it later became the iconic image for the Art of Survival at Herspace, an annual art exhibition honoring women who have been touched by breast cancer.

Following my bilateral mastectomy in 2003,  I felt tight and sore, and was scarred physically and probably a bit, emotionally. I saw myself creating a healing cocoon around my raw body.

And like a butterfly who emerges from her cocoon when the time is right, I trusted, that I, too would emerge and take flight.

Click here to see the post about What's in My Drawers and be in the loop for the rest of the art and stories in this blog series.