Mom and I were talking about low country authors with her love of reading and the recent death of Dorthea Benton Frank. Frank was from the low country, graduated with fashion degree in the 70’s got married, moved to New Jersey, had children and wrote her first book in 2000 after her mother died. The book went on to the New York Times best seller list and Frank was determined to buy the childhood home with the money she earned. Mom got a degree in interior design and has always been a great reader. My room is now her office with her ‘low country library’. There have been times when I have been interested in reading, like Adriana Trigiani books, who is from Big Stone Gap, Virginia that is within in an hour of my hometown Johnson City Tennessee. I read lots of her books during the summer in Clayton, Georgia.
The desk now is important to me because there is finally a space in our new home in Savannah where I can keep track of everything. We did not have space in the 900sq ft home in DC, just a drawer. My library shelves are mostly art books, childrens picture books, framed photos and art supplies, but I had just said to mom during the recent Frank conversation, “I would love to see what a ‘low country author library’ would look like.”
Process: Using the blue, orange and yellow as the main colors I sketched composition in pencil and then chose to mix a buttery yellow to showcase the books. I still love the way pencil line and fine black lines look with paint, so outlined imagery and wrote the names of low country authors on book spines. An idea borrowed too from Kerry James Marshall to promote what he reads. In this painting study, I would like to try again with the palette of Giorgio Morandi . Classmate Lily Morris recently shared his work with me as a suggestion to check out and I am most appreciative!
Paige P. Byrne 