Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Website Repairs and Contact Info

Our website is currently down for repairs but I can be reached at:

BCStudios@TaraMcClung.com

Thanks for your patience!

And also, as you can probably see, blogging has fallen to the very bottom of the to-do list, but you can keep up with the Bad Cats and other studio happenings on Instagram at:
https://www.instagram.com/taramcclung/ 




Sunday, July 26, 2015

What's Happening in the Studio?

So, in light of the fact that this is the ART and garden blog, I should probably talk about what's happening in the studio. It's late July and I'm still trying to settle into a routine. LOTS of distractions around here. But, I have been working on one painting pretty regularly.


Sparrow House Pottery is a little shop in Plymouth, MA. It is part of the Richard Sparrow House, the oldest remaining house in Plymouth. This is an in-progress shot of the painting I'm working on of the shop.


Distraction usually sets in around mid day, or whenever the clouds look really pretty.



Time for a walk!



And then back to work.





Thursday, July 23, 2015

Summer Garden Critters part 1

Our chipmunk friend who is pretty sure I'm up to no good as I head out to the clothesline with my big laundry basket... Oh, how he hates laundry day.


Tuesday, July 21, 2015

July Gardens

 As promised, here is a morning garden tour for your enjoyment! Grab a cup of tea and let's see what's growing...


The hydrangea bush is new this year. I can't believe I don't have dozens of these. If I'd known they would grow so well here, I'd have been putting them in all over the place. Well, no time like the present, right?



Hosta flowers








Phlox




One of the Hot Portugal peppers that the rabbits didn't snack on



Container garden on the front porch





Some of my handmade ceramic garden art



The birch tree garden



Ceramic bunny by Candace Rhea



And someone enjoying the deck gardens and morning sun!


Monday, July 20, 2015

Night Time Garden Walk

I'm planning to take you on a little morning garden tour tomorrow, and I thought it might be nice to also show you the gardens at night! I've slowly been collecting lights to add to the garden. I started out with mostly just little ones from the hardware store, but my aunt is a QVC-aholic. She has found all kinds of different solar garden lights that she likes to get me for my birthday. I have no complaints about this!


The herb garden at night



The St. Francis bird bath




My new favorite!

Day time garden tour tomorrow! Weather permitting... 




Sunday, February 22, 2015

Snowed in!

Ok, so let's try this again... I haven't posted in a LONG time, but I've been working away in the studio and thought I should share. We've had some pretty wild weather here for the past month or so. We're nearing three feet of snow outside, and with the way-below-zero wind chills it's been the perfect excuse to stay inside and get lots of work done. Here is a painting I created this week. I started by painting over a piece that had been sitting in the back of the basement for a few years that I was never going to finish.

Then I added a few layers of color, the trees and a pair of foxes...





And a look outside- freezing but beautiful...









Friday, February 15, 2013

Pawcasso 2013

Grand Entrance

"They made their grand entrance together, but Miss Ginger Kitty and Rex had fought like cats and dogs all day. They would make their peace later, but for now Rex was only interested in showing off his new Arrow collar and nibbling on imported biscuits with the retrievers from Good Dog Park. It was no matter to Ginger. She had already made eye contact with a svelte American Shorthair standing near the ice sculpture. " 

“Grand Entrance” is a painting I created to be auctioned at Pawcasso 2013 to benefit our local spay and neuter clinic, SANS. It's based on a painting by J. C. Leyendecker that was part of an ad campaign for Arrow collars in the early 1930's.
Pawcasso has grown quite a bit over the past 7 years and, while it's not necessarily black-tie, I really wanted to portray the essence of the elegant event it has become. Leyendecker's “Couple Descending Staircase” seemed like the perfect fit.



I started out with a rough sketch and a sheet of photo reference to work from. I did a black outline in acrylic paint on Gessobord.





Sketching out the scene was fun and even kind of relaxing. I was really happy to be getting back into a bigger painting. But the whole time I was working on it, I was pretty sure that painting the staircase might kill me. So I started out with the black background to ease into it. Then I worked on the cat. By the time I got to the staircase, I was pretty nervous about it, but I'm really happy with how it turned out. 




As always, I had lots of studio helpers assisting me. I don't have pictures of the cat helpers this time, but I promise you, they were there.


I ended up doing the chandelier last. Once I worked out how to do the staircase, I figured I could handle the chandelier. 



Here I have the tassel on the chandelier in red, but I didn't like it. I changed it to a gold color.


And here is the finished product, framed by Tarn's Place with my Valentine's Day flowers!