04 November, 2009

Clear River

Clear River
7.5" x 9"
Pastel
Casey Klahn


The River Series is an award winning exhibit of landscapes that fixes your eye on the picture plane, and has you wondering what's around that next bend.

You are invited to view River Passages at Northwest University, my alma mater, in Kirkland, Washington, from November 6th., 2009, through January 4th., 2010. Meet me there, Friday, November 6th., between 12 and 2 PM, for the opening.

River Passages, Currents in Landscape Art.

23 comments:

Deborah Paris said...

Congrats on the show, Casey!

Casey Klahn said...

Thank you, Deborah.

Kelly M. said...

Congratulations! Wonderful catalogue Northwest produced, too!

Casey Klahn said...

Thanks, Kelly.

Katherine Kean said...

Wow, this looks like beautiful show. Congratularions!

Eden Compton Studio said...

Congratulations on the show Casey! Love the painting on your postacard!

Katherine van Schoonhoven said...

I will definitely make it up to Kirkland to see your River Series in person. Sorry I will miss meeting you at your opening, though.

I enjoy your evocative use of color and obvious understanding of the landscape.

Congrats on the show. Very special, indeed, to hang at your alma mater!

Brian McGurgan said...

This is a beautiful one, Casey. Congratulations on the show - wish I lived just a little closer...

Casey Klahn said...

Katherine, be sure to call the University at 425.822.8266 before you travel, because I'm not sure they'll be open on a weekend. Then again, maybe they are - the HSC building hours are what you need.

Thanks, Brian, Katherine and Eden. I'll have to wrangle an east coast opening next time, Brian.

susan hong-sammons said...

This was quite unexpected when I went to open your pastel blog. It's so wonderfully rich and dramatic.

Casey Klahn said...

Thank you, Susan.

Lolly from b-uncut said...

Congrats on the show! Stunning work!

Carole Buschmann said...

Wow! Iwish I could see your show! The color and movement in your compositions look wonderful.

Casey Klahn said...

Thanks for reading!

Jala Pfaff said...

Gorgeous, Casey. What color was the underpainting?

Casey Klahn said...

Hi, Jala.

I guess this one is on La Carte, and the Sienna color is visible at the bottom peeking through the blue water.

I rarely do under paintings - but the toned paper of Sennielier "makes up" for that.

Jala Pfaff said...

Yeah, I meant what was the "base color," thanks for answering. I find it strange and interesting that it seems like Wolf Kahn's pastels are always done on very light-valued, non-sanded paper. I know at some point that's probably all that was available, but has he not changed his surface even now? It's strange to me that he finds a light-valued surface acceptable/desirable for any pastel painting he does. (I'm someone who loves experimenting with diff.colors and especially values, of base color.

Casey Klahn said...

I love love love WK's pastels - as you all know.

A fundamental thing is that he treats them as a drawing, in my opinion.

I know I am constantly trying to figure out his approaches. Built up scribbly (very intuitive and free) gestures are there. It seems like the stuff he values from Hoffman, such as pushing and pulling with values and colors. Esp. pushing down from the top or bottom of the drawing.

Anyway, those are my observations.

Toned paper helps a guy to unify a work, but really there are so many other ways to unify a work, huh?

Jala Pfaff said...

Interesting thoughts, thanks, Casey. So you think he thinks of them as drawings, not paintings?

Casey Klahn said...

w/out looking at them right now, I would say WK's drawings rely a lot on the line. He builds that line up so much that he gets areas of color.

A young staff member @ the gallery in NYC where I saw several WK pastels thought that he must be using oil pastels on top, because of this stunning blue line on one. Of course, his pastel ignorance was stunning, because it was probably a Sennelier ultramarine blue - so thin and pigmented.

It's great to be thinking @ drawing like this, because I organized (cleaned) my studio last night to get ready to do some drawings. Woo Hoo.

mansuetude said...

there is so much energy in your work; power to see the life force in objects. world.

Debora L Stewart said...

I do love you river series Casey. Beautiful paintings. I live on the Mississippi and don't know what I would do without the energy of the river in all seasons. And thank you so much for your comments on my website. They are very much appreciated coming from you.

Casey Klahn said...

Deb and mansuetude - thanks for saying these things and for reading here.

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