Virginia Canfield Drawings & Paintings

In 1965-66 there was a small entertainment magazine in Charlottesville named "MAGAZINE." It was published by me three times a year, to coincide with the three major dance weekends at the Univ. of Virginia. We thought it was a nice souvenir for weekend visitors, but few bought it. After the first issue bombed at Mincer's, the best magazine outlet, they were distributed free in motel rooms to benefit advertisers. Copies of "MAGAZINE" no longer exist, aside from my office copies and the file at Alderman Library at UVA, unless they threw it out. Printers are the best people in the world. Jim Finley of JF Printing taught me the arts of photo-offset, and let me use his facilities to produce the mag. Stoney Stoneburner of Wayside Press made a gift of two large cases of Phototype left over from his switch to true photo-composing. Composing with Phototype is a 19th century graphic chore rather than a graphic art, but I used it for 30 years. Albemarle County artist Virginia Canfield illustrated the Fall 1965 issue. A native of Chicago, by then Ginny had been in Keswick for 12 years. We were friends from 1964 until her death in 2003. I always carried something in my wallet for Ginny. You never knew when it would be needed. Guitar picks. She often lost them.

This was the cover illustration. Subject unknown.

Patrick McKelvey was a talented 12-string bluegrass picker.

This was not her self-portrait, but some thought it was.

Her rendering of President Kennedy.

Maybe it is, maybe it isn't the self-described "cocoon person,"
poet Courtenay Peter Graham [RIP 7/19/2014]

And a couple of telephone doodles ...

It was Ginny's oils and washes that built her reputation. This is one of her last major works, a 1981 family-based theme painting. She offered it to Martina Navratilova. The Czech tennis star said it reminded her of bad times in her native land and turned it down, so I bought it. On rare occasions she made use of whimsey and it could be irresistible, as this one from 1987. My daughter, Apple, got this 1972 Canfield from family friend Mac Woodward. Subject unknown. Apple took drawing lessons from Ginny. There are scores of Canfield works in private hands. They are not marketed. Neither ebay nor the auction indexes list any of her works. This small one was sold May 3, 2015, at the Port Townsend, Washington antique mall. Also in the Seattle area is this 1964 Canfield work Ginny gave it to a friend, then medical student Sandy Rock.

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