Interesting Times

I am chuffed. The news is terrible right now and the air in Philadelphia feels like wet sock, but yesterday evening the Firehouse Art Center posted this little video and ever since then I have had a very specific kind of happiness blooming in my heart that is pretty much summed up by that great British understatement of a word.

Here it is. The pieces shown are from my Saga Series, and they are part of  their Interesting Times exhibition.

This video thrills me largely because there are three pieces on that wall. I paint these pieces so that when they are hung end to end they flow together. I carefully make sure that the colors in left edge of each new piece line up exactly with the right edge of the last one, but I can only hang two of them at a time in my studio, so I've actually never seen them all in a row before. They work just like I'd hoped, and I couldn't be happier to see how beautifully they were installed.

I'm also delighted to see them out in the world. These pieces take a long time, and although I've shown them to people in my studio, this exhibition is their first. The curator, Brandy Coons, did a great job of picking the other artists in the exhibit. Kathryn Jill Johnson and Robin Hextrum both make wonderful work. If you're in the Boulder area, check it out!




I've written in past blog posts about Saga 1 and 2, but I didn't have time to post about Saga 3.


Samantha Simpson, Saga 3, Ink and watercolor on paper, 92" x 51", 2018

There is a lot happening in this piece and you can see details on my website here. 

One thing that people might not guess is that this piece references Monet.




Call it a remix.



Samantha Simpson, Saga 3 detail, Ink and watercolor on paper, 92" x 51", 2018

If you're interested in seeing updates on work in progress, please follow me on instagram! I'm slow about updating this blog but I'm better over there, where I post as the_drawist.  There are even details of Saga 4, which I'm working on right now.













*I am Canadian, so I feel I'm entitled to be chuffed by virtue of our association with the Queen.