"I refuse to confide and don't like it when people write about art," Balthus.
"Words may show a man's wit, but actions his meaning, " Benjamin Franklin.
"I had placed my stick on the table, as I do every evening. It had been specially made to suit my height, to enable me to walk without too much difficulty. As I was standing up, a customer called to me: 'Monsieur, don't forget your pencil.' It was very unkind, but most funny," Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
"But often it's doubtful whether the logic of the work itself and the words used to describe it really have anything to do with each other," Thom Mayne.
"Never trust the artist. Trust the tale," D.H. Lawrence.
"Stealing someone else's words frequently spares the embarrassment of eating your own," Peter Anderson.
Degas Copy - Ballerina 1
10.5" x 8"
Pastel & Charcoal
Casey Klahn
This post originally at Pastelsblog, March 7, 2010.
If I were to quit landscapes and just spend the rest of my days copying Degas, I would still be a happy man. Photos with a point and shoot - better quality ones to follow.
Hoquiam River Bright
10" x 14.75"
Pastel & Charcoal
Casey Klahn
pas camera
Hoquiam River Bright is equal parts imagination, observation, and things I learned from WK (you know who that is - I don't spell it out because the crawler brings people here when I do). I have been having quite a time getting some river pilings in that don't look dorky or sentimental, and then one day I think I figured it out.
Degas Copy - Ballerina Sketch
12" x 8.25"
Vine Charcoal, Graphite, Compressed White Charcoal and Pastel on Paper
Casey Klahn
This post originally published at Pastel, Ballerina Sketch. March 17, 2010. These Degas copies are helping me on the path towards my own voice with the figure. Meanwhile, enjoy these, and keep a good thought for the master, Edgar Degas.
Degas Copy - Ballerina 2
15" x 12"
Pastel & Charcoal
Casey Klahn
This post originally published at Pastel, Degas Copies - Irrelevant; Not Irreverent. March 11, 2010.
These Degas copies were done by free-hand copying from Degas' sketches, with some measuring for proportions. The one posted today was then transferred to a La Carte board the old fashioned way by making a charcoal negative and rubbing the backside to leave an outline. The color is added by imagination, and with heavy influence from memories of Degas' style and color choices.
I have decided that he truly was focused on the drawing component of his pictures, and his "candid snapshots" of figures relied on draftsmanship and his realist ideas.
On The Easel
These copies cannot be sold, or submitted for juries, because of their derivative nature. They may be irrelevant, but they are not irreverent.
The Evening Light (Bald Ridge)
7.2" x 11.2"
Pastel & Charcoal
Casey Klahn
pas camera
This image is from a view that I see out of the north window of my studio, quite a ways in the distance and to the side. It is a butte that is 3 or 4 miles away. I have done it, re-done it and done it again. Perhaps I have it, now.
There is some trouble with my new blog project, but my enthusiasm is growing even with these speed bumps. I can't wait to reveal it to you.
Orange Field
8" x 17.5"
Soft Pastel & Charcoal
Casey Klahn
point&shoot
The Prairie Series (soon to be renamed "Edge of the Prairie") continues. I hope that this series will be my main exhibition at my art fairs this summer. I am working on three series' at once right now.
Hoquiam River, Boulders and Prairie.
Kirkland Uncorked is July 16-18, 2010. I'll be there and hope to see you.
Sausalito is September 4-6, 2010. See you there! I am cooking up a new blog project, which should be ready to go live by the end of the week. Stay tuned.
Now my friends in the Seattle area can see my recent work at the upcoming Kirkland Uncorked. This beautiful event is held by the shores of Lake Washington, and is adjacent to downtown Kirkland. It will be held July 16th through 18th - see the hours listed here.
See you there!
Kirkland Uncorked
Kirkland Uncorked Facebook
I am offering a limited selection of my drawings and small still life images as prints and framed prints through the Imagekind service. Search "Casey Klahn" when you go there. Here is your chance, for a limited time (unless I like it a lot and extend the offer forever) to get prints of my drawings at costs starting well under $100.
Casey Klahn at Imagekind.
Tangled Color
7.4" x 12"
Pastel & Charcoal
Casey Klahn
point&shoot
Here is where I'm keeping my point of view close to the ground.
Boulders in Gray Woods
8" x 8.9"
Pastel
Casey Klahn
point&shoot camera
I may have a new series on boulders. Time will tell.
Sub Text Red
6.25" x 8.25"
point & shoot camera
Pastel
Casey Klahn
Abstract Expressionism, Art Criticism, Artists, Colorist Art, Drawing, History, Impressionism, Modern Art, Painting, Pastel, Post Impressionism
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