Clockwise from Top Left Corner:
Mom in the Afternoon, 16in.x20in., acrylic;
Mom in the Afternoon, diary sketch;
Kathleen in Paris, 16in.x20in., acrylic/canvas;
Artist, Abby Abrams, working with clay;
Judi's Birthday Party, '78, 14in.x18in., acrylic;
Judi's Birthday Party, diary sketch;
Mom in the Morning, diary sketch (detail);
Mom in the Morning, 20in.x10in., acrylic
Over the years, I’ve explored many different media; from embroidery to sculpture, including materials such as, leather, metal, wood, stone, ceramic, bronze, acrylic, oils, pen & ink, and watercolor. I’ve done illustrations for CBS Records, and Doubleday Books. I did the record inner sleeve for the Blood Sweat & Tears 4th album. I’ve worked as a “mechanical” artist for Columbia Records and spent time painting names and signs on the sterns of boats in boatyards in the Caribbean and L. I. I spent several years doing pottery while learning about ceramics and Kiln firing before moving to East Hampton, and taking possession of the first studio-of-my-own. I’ve been living and working here happily ever after.
I'm about a dozen paintings into a new project that has captured my full attention and am very excited by. Over the past 40 years or so, I have been sketching most anything that came in front of my face. (I've had a long time friend tell me that he always thought it rather anti-social of me) I drew on trips, in restaurants, on boats. in other peoples homes and many in my own home. Mostly of friends and family, and any situation I found myself in. It started off very much like an illustrated diary. The sketches in themselves are quite wonderful. My project is; I've started in 1978 and am translating these sketches into paintings. The trick is to make sense of a quick contour drawing in black and white into full color paintings. I'm calling the series "Memories".—Abby Abrams
East Hampton, New York