bigger IS better!

So many changes since I last reported (in November? how embarrassing!)

But one discovery made is that in fact, bigger is better. Bigger paintings, bigger paint squeezers, bigger studio! Yes, Same studio building but another artist moved her studio so I was able to expand, nearly doubling my space. 

I'd done my due diligence, looking for outside space. Alas, I was fretting over this decision as I've been in my current location for nearly six years. The folks around me are my family now and frankly, my line of work can be isolating and moving to a more isolated space would not benefit me.

In fact, that's when trouble happens. Just sayin'.

Yup, even bigger paintings. This one at 7 feet high had to be transported by truck to the gallery. Is this my future? Is the purchase of a truck or gasp, a van in the cards for 2014? Yikes.

 Bigger paint tubes? nope, but as the 200 ml tubes are difficult to squeeze the entire contents onto the palette with my hands, a friend helped fashion a paint squeezer from a pasta maker...genius.

 This shot is me at the other end of the expanded space...I finally have north light (again) I've moved about four times in this studio space, ultimately ending up with the darkest space before this expansion. I can't tell you how happy I am with my larger digs.
(I think this shot of me jumping for joy pretty much explains how I feel)

I hope your 2014 has gotten off to an equally big start. I'm so excited about all of the prospects of this year!
Kate

from the back seat

from the back seat:
"I like cats"
"what's your favorite color?"
"knock knock" (who's there?)
"smell mop"
(smell mop who?)
"what's love?"

Really?
I love so many things. Wind, the color green, and yellow and blue. smelling flowers, french press coffee, my passport, maps, oil paint, my boys, gardening, a long bicycle ride.

"I love pie"

Since the last time....

September, really? Yes. Now it's the holidays. Just after thanksgiving.
Even blogger has changed and I'm growling as to the difficulty in posting a photo from my iPad.

Positive steps? Yes, indeed.
My art business? Very good.

But, alas, things also happen along the way, whatever ones destination.
My biggest and worst "happen"? My mother passed away in September. And though this blog is on a public forum and that is very private news, I write and post about my art and what affects my art? My life.

I won't go into my feelings about my mother here. Everyone has one, some good, some not so good. I am one of the very fortunate and loved daughters as my mother loved me like a mother should. Others, when meeting my mother, wanted her for their own.

What else? Business continues to grow: a hotel in Singapore wants a giant painting executed....and other promising projects that I'll write about in the coming months.

I also moved within the studio, creating a larger space. My paintings, up until about 8 months ago, were up about 36x48" but now that has shifted as I introduced a 4'x5' size and they're extremely popular size but are making my space feel smaller and smaller. So I continue to look for more efficient ways to work in my studio as well as having one eye open to the possibility of moving my whole studio ... Scary words, but there you have it.

Oh the places you'll go!

In speaking of potential...

Which I wasn't. But so much goes on at G studio, where I work, I have to share.

Shahin Gholami, filmaker has just completed his latest indie flick, "Rabbit trap" and is now raising funds through indiegogo- click here to go to trailer.

So many perks like spa products, wine, art, baseball caps and more. Give a little, get a lot!

In other news, we are in full swing what with Napa Valley Open Studios during the last two weekends of September.

The open Studios tour is such a wonderful opportunity for the public to see inside of an artists studio.
Speaking for myself, I work at the studio every day, but once a year I open up this private work space so that those interested in my art and the art of the people around me can meet me, see my art and get an inside glimpse into what I do and where I do it.
The open studios also provide an opportunity to acquire unique, one of a kind art directly from the artist.

What could be better than that?

Balls in the air

I suppose that everyone is crazy busy. I woke up at four this morning. My first thought was "great, I can get in two hours finishing a painting before the boys wake up, go get a coffee, stop back home, change out of jeans, stop by notary to give a signature, pick up a package at ups at the other end of town, say hello to a friend that  was in the parking lot, pick up some product from my hairdresser, then to the art store to pick up 20 canvases and bring them back to the little studio. All of this before 11:30 am.
Of course, all good "problems" as they are the opposite of problem: business is great, my kids are great, my house is great, life is absolutely great.
Of course the image here is not balls in the air but rather, plums. It's a difficult painting to appreciate in this small format on the monitor, as each plum is about 2 feet wide. Very ripe and luscious.
The painting reminds me to stay solid and steady. Even when my schedule is packed. Small things can be let go. Focus on the important, because they feed my heart.

New day

New day, new ideas new work.
When I finish up a large body of work, over weeks or months of preparation, painting and finishing/ delivering a final painting or series of paintings, I have a definite sense of not only letting go, but excitement for the next thing.

A friend tried to compare the delivery of a body of art with a childbirth metaphor.
Uh, no.
I've done both and the experiences shouldn't be in the same sentence. Or planet.

So, no, creating art is not childbirth.
Creating art is something altogether different, but I'm actually not delving into creating with this post but rather that space of transition when art leaves or empties the studio and filling the studio back up with art.

This morning I had the pleasure of attending a once a year prop sale that a local event company holds in order to clear out unwanted inventory. Items like 9' Oscar statue cutouts, full size tiki huts, yards of batik fabrics and vintage diner seats are for sale. Last year I scored a complete set of bowling pins and ball.

Needed additions to my life? Of course not. Amusing ephemera? Absolutely.
That is, after all, the point.

It is these items often that hold my attention.
Last year, after I'd moved into my very little house, the neighbours on the north side of the fence line introduced themselves by way of a very loud party which came to its conclusion with police, streaming and paddy wagons. (That's a van to you younger folk)

After the questionable party guests were removed, the lasts of the guests found their way to the backyard and into sleeping bags.

My backyard, long and narrow, served as an exceptional place to try out my newly acquired set of bowling pins and heavily weighted ball.  At 7 am.

Here's what I noticed: the distinct ball rolling on concrete and subsequent cracking sound when said weighted ball meets or strikes the twelve plus ( did I mention the extra pins?)  pins is one of the most distinctive sounds on the planet. Unlike any other sound I know, it is isolated in its specialness.

Incomparable to any other sound. Like an ice cream trucks trilling music or the old fashioned bell on a bicycle, or the ring of a dial phone announcing the incoming call.

I don't spend much time in bowling alleys as a rule, but I have been known to throw a few strikes. But the best part of this particular early morning sporting activity was that I didn't need to bowl a perfect game to feel and hear the satisfying sound of this unique early morning alarm system.

And there, as my eyes raised up to the heavens, smile on my face, was the inspiration for my next series. A beautiful specimen of a conifer. What would be the starting point of a new series or body of work.

Thanks to my neighbours.

This

This.

On a routine visit to a gallery to drop by paintings, I saw this book. The book of art books.

Artist Gustav Klimpt has had the most influence on my work since, since...the beginning.
Attracted to his ongoing occupation with opulence, I've always been attracted to his more is more style.

And then,  on a routine visit to the gallery, I spotted the book.
Overwhelmed by the size and weight, I knew it was something special.

At two hundred bongos, I'd resigned myself to the practical: no. "you may not buy that book." I told myself repeatedly.
After all, I have 4 other Klimpt art books in my book case.

On a return visit to the gallery, there it was again. I sat down to flip the pages and realized just how spectacular it is.

Due to it's size:  approx 20" tall, 18" wide and 4" deep, it requires a hefty commitment of time and lap space.

Flipping through the pages, although I was unable to spend the hours I'd preferred to pore  over it's pages, I knew at once that I must have it. The book. It had to be mine.



Once back to my computer, I discovered it's $60 discount thanks to Amazon (thank you amazon)

ordered. done. arrived.

bliss.

It does not disappoint. In fact, dare I say...it has exceeded my expectations.