In The Studio

As always, if you're here to see my artwork, click the My Artworks label in the right hand column.

Wall Easel in Action

Bald Ridge, Heath and Hut
Casey Klahn
Details To Be Posted

Bald Ridge, Heath and Snow
Casey Klahn
Details Later

Back in the studio for me! Mornings continue to be my personal time, when I can be up @ 4 AM (Oh-dark hundred, as we used to say) and making art.

Here are some images that I have been working on, and I may take some of them back down after I get the good camera photos.

The first photo shows my new wall easel in action. Yesterday I moved the big easel to the new studio, and this morning I re-assembled it.

H.S.P.D.

Saint Patty's Day! AKA Guinness Day!

Traditional:



ROTF not for the squeamish:

Link.

Have a happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Trumped Art

Most of you would never admit to watching reality shows, would you? I do. Since I've been indisposed, I failed to watch my fave last week, The Apprentice. That was my bad, since the episode I missed featured a NYC gallery opening, entitled "Painting by Numbers". I don't own TiVO, and my little TV may be obsolete in a few months, but there's always good old You Tube for catching that missed episode.

The pure voyeurism of watching a big city modern art opening is yummy enough, but the whole reason I watch the Trump show is to get my fix of cut-throat business competition and social psycho-drama. Add the art gallery part and that's the cherry on top.

The premise of The Apprentice is Donald Trump pitting contestants against one another during odd business tasks. The hopefuls are vying for rewards, and scrupulously trying to avoid being the target of Trump's famous, "You're Fired!" screed. More interestingly, the Celebrity Apprentice has celebrities winning large purses for their favorite charity.

What a gas to watch these famous persons struggle in the world of fine art! In this episode, the celebrity apprentices are Carol Alt, Supermodel, Lennox Lewis, World's Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Piers Morgan, Talent Show Judge, Trace Adkins, Country Music Star, Stephen Baldwin, Actor, and Omarosa, Reality Show Celebrity.

They operate as two teams of celebrities, and their challenge is to select and represent a modern artist's visual art at a high end NYC gallery opening, and sell the highest dollar amount of art. The task involves selecting the artist's work that they trust they can sell best, and the rest is pure promotion and on sight salesmanship.

Here's the rub. These celebrities express their own ignorance regarding contemporary art. In a funny and revealing way, this episode displays how intimidated these stars are to have to represent art.

The gallerist seems suitably snooty, although he may be just feeling the stress of spoon-feeding these celebrities through this task. The fine artists are nowhere to be found. They are, Shirley Shor and David Kramer. The gallery is the Moti Hasson Gallery.

What I gleaned out of these was that even the elites are hopelessly lost when it comes to art, which is a bad thing for us artists who wish to reach our audiences. Also, promotion is indispensable to getting the message out about one's art. Limited edition tactics created more wealth, and a higher per-piece price was a factor, too.

The full episode can be viewed here, although you endure a commercial. Otherwise, I have embedded three YouTube segments that cover the show.







Trump's Blog

Blogs About The Celebrity Apprentice:
www.theapprenticeblog.com/
Wordpress On Topic

Artist Interview - Julianne Richards

Glad to see Julianne Richards, The Colorspeaker, receiving great press. She deserves it. And, I hold her interview by Kim Rodeffer Funk up as the way it should be done. Now I know more about Richards, and her art.

Thanks for mentioning me there, Julianne. I appreciate it.

Excellence is as Excellence Does

Now, to respond to the excellent Kim Barker's meme, given to me here. My job is to rate 10 more blogs as excellent. BTW, my ratings & stats have come from "the tank" to "groovin'" in the past 2.5 months. I am happy for all of you who have linked me, blog rolled me, or just plain read this blog. My heartfelt thanks!

Some of you have eschewed these memes, and I have no way of knowing. Nothing bad will happen to you if you break this chain! Something good, as far as readership, may happen, though!

Excellent Blogs:

Meg Lyman - The Crash Octopus
Julie Oakley - Julie's Pictures
Maggie Stiefvater - Graywaren Art (I figure you don't do these, Maggie, but here it is anyway)
Tracy Helgeson - Works by...
Lisa Hunter - The Intrepid Art Collector (She's so droll, she'll probably take me off of her blog roll for this - but I love her blog!)
Joan DaGradi - Postcards from New Orleans
Robyn Sinclair - Have Dogs...
Elish - Art & Critique (Hmmn..Can't find a name for him, but I appreciate his work)
YellowSteph - A Roker Artist
Deborah Paris - A Painting Life

Kahn Project Report

So far in my Wolf Kahn Project, I feel that I have barely scratched the surface. The following is a mid course review of what I've observed/learned.


Going forward, I will be doing plein air drawings instead of copying the man's works. Let's see what we can do with what we've learned.

More in-depth observation could be made, but with limited time, I'll post this, and add more tidbits as the project continues.

WK Project #4

Wolf Kahn Project
After Wolf Kahn #4
@5" x 7"
Pastel on Paper
Casey Klahn

Paper it Over

If you aren't subscribed to Pastel yet, here's a heads up that the Five for Friday post is up, and we're discussing paper.

Doctor says things are going fine with my post-op recovery. I can taper the narcotic meds, and my body just has to break up a big hematoma. It's about the size of a small cell phone (hello!) and takes energy for my body to resolve.

The good news, at least, is that I won't be hampered by the meds in the studio. Maybe some art will begin to flow again. I think I'll start back with the Wolf Kahn project to loosen up, but I have a commission and an alternate-venue hanging to get done, and those are for big works. Luckily, I finally figured out how to mount my new easel on the wall so I can do full sheet works, now.

Birthday Artist

Michelangelo by Daniele Ricciarelli of Volterra

Happy birthday to Michelangelo Buonarroti, who was born on March 6, 1475, near Florence in Caprice, Tuscany.

I took the trouble of looking up Caprice on Google Maps, but it wouldn't be found this way. I had to use the comune of Arezzo as a reference. Suffice it to say, it is an Apennine backwater. However, they have rightfully named their village Caprice Michelangelo, after their favorite son who became known as the best artist of all time. Complimente!

Made Day

Thanks to Jafabrit for this touching blog award.

The easiest way for me to fulfill my obligations to my two current "viral" awards will be to list my bloglines feeds. These are the blogs I view daily. I am plodding along on some bed rest, you know, so I'll finish this post and ping these bloggers about this soon.


Today, we'll respond to the Made My Day Award. Let's pick a theme of abstraction, as these artists make me think:

1. The Colorspeaker - Julianne Richards, of NYC. She does colorful abstracts , Acrylic on canvas or paper. Medium sized works that include a combination of gestures, shapes and colors.
2. An Artist's Journal - Martha Marshall, of Tampa, FL. Another Acrylicist whose work is as notable for its rich textural content as for its compositions. You really need to see her website to get the breadth of her work.
   
3. NZ Art - Elizabeth Love, of Timaru, New Zealand. She is one of the best colorists on the internet, in my opinion. Elizabeth shares her Christian faith in an interesting interweaving of textual content with abstracted compositions. Her art involves canvases reminiscent of quilts or tapestries, and lavish, brilliant color.
   
4. David Novak - AE- Life in Flat Land. David's in Matthews, North Carolina. He is also very prolific. I linked him recently, but also added him to my feeds. His automatist work, he says, is akin to "shooting craps." He exploits the chance events in the abstract painting process. And, he's not afraid to think and write about his work, which I think is admirable.
   
5. deCloned - William Lehman. William lives in Newark, OH, and has his hands in more projects than you can count.
   

Here's the meme:

1. Write a post with links to 5 blogs that make me think and/or make my day.
2. Acknowledge the post of the award giver.
3. Display the “You Make My Day Award” logo.
4. Tell the award winners that they have won by commenting on their blogs with the news.

Artists Get Exposure

Just by way of news, here are some exposes of some of our friends in the art blogging community. You will be impressed and won't want to miss either one.

• Jafabrit - Guest Bio @ PTB Blog.
  
• Lloyd - Artist paints world as he remembers it - TV spot in Chicago.

Lloyd's TV spot wouldn't play for me. Perhaps some cunning expert could rip it and put it on You Tube for those of us without the absolute latest player.

Thoughts & Links on Abstract Expressionism & Color Field Painting

Yellow Gesture

18" x 11"
Original Pastel
Casey Klahn
CTA

The popularity of the Abstract Expressionist movement continues today. Although the conventional wisdom wishes to move on, the movement has legs beyond it's supposed demise.

In the light of this, I wish to ask a couple of questions. Why would an artist today wish to identify their work as Abstract Expressionist, when it is considered defunct? Is it actually experiencing a rebirth, then? Do contemporary artists "give a care," as the vernacular has it, whether a movement is alive or dead in order to be associated with it?

Are these contemporaries the ultimate nerds of the art world? Or, are they just blithely ignorant of conventional wisdom, and happy to make art as they please?

My own references to the Abstract Expressionists have been many:

• Helen Frankenthaler (sorry, but I associate you with this school broadly)
  
• Clyfford Still
• Cy Twombly
• Jackson Pollock
• Mark Rothko
• Wolf Kahn ("second generation")
• Lee Krasner

Here are some current blogs closely associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement:

• David Novak
  
• Pollocks the Bollocks

On a related fresh note, the Smithsonian is loving the Color Field movement right now (through may 26th):

• Color as Field: American Painting, 1950–1975
• Hue-phoria

Speaking of color field work, Peter Plagens, at Newsweek, wonders what ever happened to color in contemporary art? Oh please, Palgens! Click on Google and find me, for heaven's sake! If you'd do a little research, you'd see that it is alive and kicking in the New School Color theme.

• A Room with a Hue (MoMA)

Thanks, Martha Marshall, for the Novak link.

Blog Awards, Book Tour

Thanks to my awarders for these recent memes. Jafabrit made my day, and Kim Barker grades me an "E" for excellent.

Also, we will get a chance to interview Alyson Stanfield about her new book, I'd Rather Be In The Studio. That will be April 29th. , so be sure to look here then.

Alyson is a spunky, energetic dynamo in person, and prone to the occasional witticism. She has helping artists "in the gut", and it shows in her efforts at the ArtBizCoach, and at the ArtBizBlog. I have sought her help on a number of occasions. Her class on Get Organized is a suicidal month of labeling, trashing, introspecting and interacting. You will suffer. You will cry. You will be a better business person, and be more focused on your art in the studio with fewer monkeys on your back telling you, "what ya' gonna do with that room full of paperwork spread all over the floor?"

I am still convalescing, and wonder if a large hematoma may cause a second surgery. I'll see my physician this week, and may have better news. I am getting in the studio the past three days for @ 3 hour stints of time. Still in bed much of the day, with some pain and nausea. Anyway, that's my excuse for not linking through my obliged award memes, but I will do so soon.

The art is coming along, with a few successes and much discovery. I am developing a "reductive" method that is a lot of fun, but then again that might be my meds...

Behind the Pastel Curtain, Monty

This Week: Give it Up for the Grays

At the Pastel blog, I am giving up my secrets on pastel work faster than Mata Hari's dinner date. Hurry over and see my new series, called "Five for Fridays", before I get off of my meds and realize what I've done.

This Day in History Blog

Got History?

Try this Portugese Blogger's daily historical happenings.

Which Artist Lives Here? Abstraction vs. Realism vs. Process - A Tag Team Battle - Bump!

Ponte Vecchio - Old City
@7" x 6"
Graphite on 70gr. Sketch Paper
Casey Klahn

"Best Of" post with a little bit of navel gazing.

Quote from my post:

I have found that the requirements of good abstract work are more taxing on my brain, and simple compositional mistakes have a greater impact.

Print Your Own Pollock

Influenced Pollock

Don't try it at home this way, folks. I finally figured out how to save my own action painting and post it, here. But, since I am under narcotic influence after my operation, I have to let this one slip away as "not my masterpiece". Of course, if I were one of The Beatles, there'd be an excuse to use it as is...

I'll tell you how I did this in a minute, but first a little back story. One of my die-hard fans recently e-mailed me saying that something in my blog was causing a page or browser to open involuntarily. In checking my Stats, it seems like the one old page of mine that is getting a large amount of unexplained hits is a Pollock page.

Now, I'll admit, is was a great set of posts and a well written series that I did on Jackson Pollock. It had a nifty collection of links, and of course a jpeg or two of his amazing art. But, since I have ruled out my third party widgets as possibly causing unwanted page loads, I am wondering if the Pollocks are over-loading you, somehow. In further study, I see that the visitor hits are commiserate with the pageloads for those heavy Pollock days, so I still feel a mystery.

Well, one way to go will be to track this happy Pollock post and see how it does. Now, how to make an action painting. Find "How To make Your Own Action Painting" by Milos Manetas. You'll be in over your head before your know it. He doesn't offer an apparent way to save your product, but in my genius I discovered that I could use this funny button on my keyboard called PrtSc, but what then? Then I took meself to me desktop, opened up a new folder and then a new document and pasted that bad boy there.

My document allows an instant upload as a PDF, don't you know? Take the PDF over to your Photoshop and there you'll be able to play some more. I suggest you get the colors your own way, but that's just me. Have fun!

Convalescing

Thanks for reading, and I'll be in bed for a few days. I'll try to post these "Best Of" reviews, and at Pastel there is a new post up about Schmincke. I hope to add Five for Friday Tips there by Friday, which is already written.

The op went fine and I'll be on narcotic pain meds for who knows how long.

New School Color Philosophy

Light in Branches
21" x 13"
Original Pastel
Casey Klahn


Click This Image To Read The Text

Want to read more on New School Color as an art philosophy? Please consider the following posts:

Atonement & Automatism
Rough Drafts
Pink
Intuitive Choice in Art

Riva Ridge

La Ca, Italy

5.25" x 5.25"
Graphite
Casey Klahn

The Portal

4.75" x 4.5"
Graphite
Scene at "Riva Ridge," Italy
Casey Klahn

It was sixty-three years ago tonight, in Italy, that my late father and his cohorts in the Tenth Mountain Division fought at Riva Ridge. It was a seminal battle that became an epic story and started the landslide that undid the Nazi German forces in Northern Italy.

Truly a unique chapter in military history, and one that I heard first hand from my dad.

NBC Report 2006
NPR Report, 2007
Veterans

Van Gogh Bump

Vincent & Moi

Since I'll be out-of-action for a few days or more, for an out-patient operation, please enjoy the following "Best Of" posts from The Colorist:

Van Gogh Posts
Van Gogh Project
My Artworks

Studio Update

And now, time for an pictorial update in the studio.

Organization Low

I bought a new easel that is a table top style with hinges (not shown). It will be used for large, full sheet work, believe it or not. The studio trailer ceiling is too low for extending the masts on my regular easels! I may mount the new easel on the wall, or I may design a way to mount it on my largest easel, which is still in the house.
The insulation you see is an area waiting for a sheet of drywall so that I will have a white wall to show framed art against.

Snow Deep

Although we are plowed out, the thaw will likely wash out our gravel road. The travails of winter in the north country! New snow fell last night, which I hope will slow the thaw a little.
This photo looks north, where you can almost see Canada (with a little imagination).

Creative Spark High

With organizational hassles, weather worries and personal challenges (I have a day operation on Wednesday the 20th) it is a challenge to get to the studio. Still, I seem to be out there daily!
January and February have been great months for the Studio Klahn as regards patronage, and I am thankful for that.
Time for another pain pill, now. The op will put me out-of-action for a few weeks, possibly. But, I hope to be able to stand at the easel, at least.

Administrative Note: Either there is an enormous increase in interest in J Polock (intentional misspelling) in blog-land, or my post of JP references, dated 4 may, 2007 is involuntarily loading on my readers' browsers. Is this happening to you? I'll admit, it was a very well written and informative post, but I wonder if a something is wrong.

Wolf Kahn Project Number #3

After Wolf Kahn, #3
9" x 8.25"
Pastel on Rives BFK Heavyweight
Casey Klahn

Scanned and pieced together in Photoshop.

Wolf Kahn Project 2

After Wolf Kahn, #2

6" x 9.5"
Pastel on Paper
Casey Klahn

The Wolf Kahn Project will be posting here at The Colorist instead of at Pastel from now on. My intention has been to keep the general art and process stuff here, and my pastel art (especially "off target" art) over at Pastel.

Also, I am beginning another new topic thread at Pastel, which will be tips & techniques oriented. It will be a toe-dip into teaching basic pastel techniques. My e-mails and comments there have indicated the demand, and so I am going in that direction.

A couple of things that I am discovering about my WK Project are:

• Since my paintings already explore WK's color directions, and since I wish to scan these project drawings, I will be focusing my study on techniques of application, subjects and linear/mass compositional aspects and not much on color.
• The current study is focused on mark making, but as I do this I am made more aware of his broad compositional inquiries.
• Because subject is a big element, I may be moving very quickly to my own original subjects. Those will have objective titles, instead of "After WK," etc.
  

New Wolf Kahn Project

Even though I don't need another project at my blogs, I couldn't resist beginning my new Wolf Kahn project at Pastelsblog. Let's just say the time is ripe. See the project at this post.

After Wolf Kahn, #1

Jafabrit Wins Award

The Art Medal
Drumroll

It gives me great pleasure to inaugurate The Art Medal and award the first one to Jafabrit, CorrineBayraktaroglu, of Yellow Springs, Ohio.


Her online portfolio is here. She originates from England and had an artist's upbringing in that her mother was an artist. She came seriously to art making after the age of 40, and the maturity of her art shows because of this.

Our decorated artist is known for eclectic art, art philanthropy and is a community organizer for art concerns. If you reside in the Yellow Springs area, you may discover one of her creations in the nook of a tree or tucked beside the mailbox.

Her freedom of spirit is expressed in an art that approaches the disturbing, but never crosses that threshold. Instead, you are mesmerized and need to see more. No respecter of the figure, face or creature, she nonetheless offers these elements of her art as emblems of feelings. Her idea is to eschew medium as too limiting, but instead builds her artworks around subjects. She says, "This allows form to be dictated by the content and not restricted by discipline."

Corrine's courage in making, presenting and giving her art to the world has distinguished her, and it is a pleasure to recognize her for these reasons.

The citation follows:


Please take the time to vote the poll in my right hand column if you want to help name this new medal.

Art Medal

Introducing a new meme that I hope will cheer the blogging artist world this late winter of '08. Drum roll, please. I have coined a medal in my virtual foundry which will be awarded judiciously to artists who example artistic merit. The intention is to award one a month, at first, but to eventually reduce the frequency to one a quarter. The commendation is written in the quote below, and the merits are described separately.

The object is to commend artistic merit, pure and simple. This medal will be awarded by myself, by virtue of my authority as a rank & file fine artist with Photoshop and a PC. In addition, recipients of the medal may award other artists the medal, by virtue of their own authority as awardees.

What begins as a simple blog froo-fru may eventually have greater merit if the Order of Awardees justify well their choices, and limit the frequency of awards. There is an unmistakable authority in peerage, and an inherent virtue in selectivity and prudent judgment. The scope of those eligible will be limited to the fine artists (those involved in painting, drawing, pottery, sculpture) if for no other reason than that there are more awards these days for the other arts than there are for the old school disciplines.

One aspect of this meme is that there will be no link back to myself or this blog beyond one awarding. In other words: I (Blogger A) award the medal to blogger B. Blogger B will have to explain what they have received by referring to the awarding authority and will link Blogger A. But, when Blogger B decides (if they do) to award the medal to a Blogger C, there need be no reference back to Blogger A. The reason is that it is not about Blogger A. It is to illuminate the recipient of the award!

The medal needs a name. I have posted a poll so that any who wish may participate in naming this award. If you don't like any of these, write me a comment.

The following great virtues have been displayed by the receiver of the medal:

Artistic consistency
Unity of thought
Artistic courage

The following citation may accompany the award:

The recipient of this medal has displayed the finest of virtues in the role of presenting his (insert "her" when necessary) fine art. He has exampled the values of courage, creativity and expression.

This artist's work has inspired the public, and has brought human culture forward. His art has earned the praise of this authority and is hereby recognized.

Examples of art medals are as follows:

Wikipedia on Artist's Medals
American Art-Union Medal (America's first medal series struck in the US)
Gold Medal, American Academy of Arts and Letters
French Legion of Honor (example)
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Medal of Honor
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (SMFA) Medal Award
California Art Club Gold Medal
Pastelsblog Best Pastel of All Time
Others include The American Artist's Professional League Medal of Honor and The Allied Artist's of America Silver Medal of Honor.

Morse Medalled
Mary Cassatt Cited
Knip the Kitty Artist
Degas the Master

Decorated Art Heroes:

Artist Samuel Morse (of code fame)
Mary Cassatt
Henrietta Ronner-Knip
Edgar Degas

Self-Decorated Artists:



Future of the award:

Potential directions for the award may be to convene a board of awardees (Order of) to create nominees for the award. Other changes may occur so that, if this award has legs, it may need to be "brought along". I may develop a list of awardees, but will post it on a separate web page.

If the image of the award seems gauche, a redesign may be offered.

Various benefits and awards may accompany this award if it gains cache, and other evolvement may occur with time.

Now that the stage has been set, please stay tuned for the first awardee, who has already been selected.

Blizzard

Playing by the mail box - 1.5 miles up the road.

The Klahn's Farm in Winter

Will it ever end? Not according to Punxsutawney Phil, who calls for more of the same. But then again, I could've guessed that one for you.

Lorie stayed in town last night, given the predicted blizzard that came overnight. She gets some work days that way, and relief from the constant stress of wondering if she'll get out. I wonder if this is the way the islanders feel when they are stuck?