Introducing The Colorist Daily

It gives me great pleasure to introduce my newest blog: The Colorist Daily. Original Pastels in the New School Color style, posted mostly every day and many at under $100.

Should I offer a drum roll? How about a theme song? I need a theme song for this. Although this one I found at You Tube is for The Blob, try to imagine it as "The Blog!" It is from my birth year, so I kind of liked that.




Need it more up tempo? Try another from my birth year; this one by Henry Mancini, who always did the best theme songs I can remember.



Man, I love that!

Too out there for you? Nothing says intro better than this one, also from that same year.



Anyway, you get the idea. New, fresh art in small and collectible sizes. The Colorist Daily. Feel free to subscribe or follow.

Banners and Badges

#1. New banner, gray with green.



#2. New banner, brown with green.



#3. New banner, green with orange.



The time has arrived to replace my aging blog banner. Here are some designs, and I am asking you to vote on your favorite. You might expect me to be a whiz at design, but I have too much respect for that profession to think that I can just rip out designs like a pro. It is a skill I struggle with. Help me out by voting for the one you think should top The Colorist blog.

There is a school of thought that says you should get straight to the content in your blog, and not delay everything with a big banner. The idea is to either dispense with the banner and go with text only, or place the thinnest banner at the top of your blog. My own view is that I write an artist's blog, and I want visual impact. The little picture icons that are now part of blog rolls do a nice job of headlining each new post, as does the post title. The majority of readers are fed by their subscriptions, and recognize the blog plenty well when they get here.

Except that now you'll be seeing a fresh banner. But which one? Please vote in the poll at the right hand sidebar. In addition, I will offer a brag banner for those who so desire to advertise that they are one of the smart readers who visit here often. Whichever banner is chosen, I will be complimenting it with a badge like the one below.





The How to Mind Map Your Blog post is written, but I need to tweak it a little more. Stay tuned, mind travelers.

Becoming Better

Intent, After Degas
@ 7" x 5"
Charcoal & Pastel
Casey Klahn

Degas Figures

One way for me to become a better artist is to study and copy master works. I am more interested in Degas' figures every time I look at them. When I copy them, I get a sense of his real mastery of the human form. He challenges me to get the stance and the attitude right. Above is a master study from a Degas painting. The photo, again, is from my point and shoot. I will provide a better photo when time allows.

This is the second one of these I have done copying Degas, and I noticed that he likes a dark area above the head. I am trying to see if it works for me, and I wonder if that element has more depth in real life versus the jpeg or book photo that I have.

Goals

The intent of my next few posts about reviewing my goals will not be to dissect each artist's trait one by one. See this reference for this thread. I just want to think about the words and see where to go next. Maybe some of these will remain on my list, but my new list will contain other traits I am thinking about. I aspire to improve my art, first and foremost. Are there some attitudes and behaviors that may help me grow as an artist?

Stay tuned, colorist readers. Speaking of reading The Colorist, I have made a little badge for those bloggers who want to brag about this (see below). I don't anticipate that artist bloggers will post this, since they have links to me already. But, my friends in other blog genres may like to post this handsome bling on their blogs - it's already sized to fit. Thanks!