Sunshine Award

The Sunshine Award has cast light into my studio and my blog. Mary Anne Cary sent the award, and I want to thank her again.

Alyson Stanfield, my favorite Art Biz Coach, posted about the Geography of being a local artist, and at the same time I had the urge to illuminate my local blog dogs in a new post. I have decided to give the Sunshine away to the bloggers from Washington State. Some I know in real life, and others just online. I am supposed to recognize twelve, but I couldn't stop there.

If you want to participate, see the outline at Mary Anne's blog.

1. Sheila M. Evans
2. David Patterson
3. Angela Wales Rockett
4. Katherine van Schoonhoven
5. Rachel Maxi
6. Jennifer Phillips
7. Miki Willa
8. John W. Stinson
   
9. Garth Perfidian
   
10. Gabriel Campanario (Seattle Sketcher)
11. Donna Watson
    
12. Susan Ogilvie
    
13. Jennifer Evenhus
14. Kathleen Cavender
15. Lisa McShane
16. Barbara Benedetti Newton
17. Jason Waskey
    

More here.

Sorry if I forgot someone. Feel free to send me a comment and I will try to make amends as I do like to link to Washington artists.

Sometimes Weather

Sometimes Weather
9" x 7"
Pastel
Casey Klahn

27 Art Blogs To Watch 2010

Artist Donna Zagotta, of Notes From the Studio, Donna Zagota's Art Blog, asked her readers to name their favorite art blogs so that she "could create a list of hot art blogs to watch in 2010." The Colorist was one of the 27 Art Blogs to Watch in 2010, posted February 15th., 2010. If you follow the link you will be astounded by the many kinds of art blogs that she has noted. I am proud to be on the list and I had a great time reading and following the links. Thank you, Donna!

Artist Mary Anne Cary has also given The Colorist a Sunshine Award, which I gratefully acknowledge. I have an idea of how to pass on this sunshine, which I will be working on soon. Thank you, Mary Anne!

Next post: How To Mind Map Your Blog.

Mind Map of This Blog

Mind Map of The Colorist Blog. Click on the image to read in a larger format.

Cue the Twilight Zone Theme. We are going to mind map The Colorist.

Here is the theme music for this post ( Right Click to open a new tab).

The reason for this exercise is that Blogger has introduced tabs. You know the ones that make Wordpress blogs function so well? They take you to static pages that live (as I understand it) within your blog and I assume they accrue to your blog's statistical performance. I already use Google Page Creator (soon to be replaced by Google Sites) to direct readers to static pages, and the links have been via badges or icons that I place on the sidebar.

The mind map is my way of gathering the cluttered strings of this parachute that is my blog. I am trying to discover what sorts of things are interconnected. Which subjects would function better if found via tabs? Which want to be found via badges in the sidebar?

In addition to the mind map, I also listed my sidebar items by function. I look forward to reducing my sidebar to a more manageable affair. My plan is to use sidebar badges or icons to link to certain content, and tabs for other types. Now I just need one more important thing: some time.

Katherine Tyrrell has generously posted a How To for adding tabs to your blog.
Google Sites.
Mind Mapping.

Variegated Tree

Variegated Tree
@ 7" x 5"
Pastel
Casey Klahn

New Series Thoughts

Last Year at the Festival

Thanks to the following kind comment givers who wrote on my last post:

Sam Hannaway
Carole Buschmann
Alison Straite
Irina Rekhviashvili
Katherine A. Cartwright
Katherine van Schoonhoven
Trevor Lingard
Jala Pfaff
Mary Anne Cary

Also, a big thank you to Katherine at Making a Mark, where my roll-out of the Prairie Series was noted.

I am just as interested as everyone else to see which direction the new series will take. The reason not even I know the answer is that I started the series with a few works late last year, and have just recently started back on this series. Of course, things look different, now, and so I'll have to make a few and see which elements are speaking to me. When I get it all figured out, I'll post about it. Meanwhile, if you want some wisdom on the artistic process, I refer you to the Katherine A. Cartwright blog where she and her gang of readers are looking at the creative process loop.

For my part, I still await that axe man who comes to cull out my worst paintings. Seems I remember his name was "Johnny."





See a collection of pastels about snow scenes at the Pastel News. Some of us have had way too much snow, and others, like myself, have had way too little. No fair.

Prairie Series

Violet & Green Tree

5" x 4.5"
Pastel
Casey Klahn

Here begins the Prairie Series. The ideas will be like the Rivers, but with some significant changes. What are those changes? I'll let you know first, once I figure them out.

Today I have some time to actually straighten and clean my studio a bit. After a week and a half of daily work, the dust is beginning to reach my ankles. How many artworks did I finish? Maybe 8 or 9, but I'll have to wait for this man who comes in with an axe and destroys several of them before I can tell you the actual number.

Press Release

Photo: Lorie Klahn

Casey Klahn

Because, once in a while, I have to post a photo that doesn't have red or orange added.

Press Release.

Awards.

A Wolf Kahn Curriculum

After Wolf Kahn, #1
9.5" x 6"
Pastel on Paper
Casey Klahn

"Painting is easy, till you know how."
Edgar Degas. h/t Wolf Kahn.

Speaking of Kahn, I found an interesting lesson plan at the Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts: Wolf Kahn, A Curriculum of his Life, Work and Influences. I didn't like the section where a teacher assigns common meanings to colors, but if you stand back from the whole lesson plan, you see a nice hodge-podge of data on contemporary beliefs about color. Actually, it is a collection of various lesson plans on color, with an emphasis on Modern art and current artists. There are also a lot of art and education links embedded in this plan.

The Wolf Kahn images are enough to recommend this pdf. file to you.

Quote, Hoyt Center curriculum,

These lesson plans are the result of the work of the teachers who have attended the Columbia Education Center’s Summer Workshop. CEC is a consortium of teacher from 14 western states dedicated to improving the quality of education in the rural, western, United States, and particularly the quality of math and science Education. CEC uses Big Sky Telegraph as the hub of their telecommunications network that allows the participating teachers to stay in contact with their trainers and peers that they have met at the Workshops.

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!

Goals Review Time

Mary Cassatt, After Degas - detail
@ 32" x 26"
Charcoal
Casey Klahn

Time to review goals from the past bi-anum. I made the decision to make a two year plan back in September of 2008 because the handwriting was on the wall for the economic downturn. I took a chill pill, and one thing I decided was that the monetary economy would be less rewarding for me, so I made goals that would relate to an economy of reputation. Call it the "profile economy," if you will.

If financial kibbles weren't forthcoming, then I felt that this would be a good time to focus on exposure and reputation. In a strict art sense, I wanted to bring up the quality of my work. But how?

Blue Trees in the Middle Distance

7 - 3/8ths" x 5.75"
Pastel
Casey Klahn

Brought forward from 15 September, 2008:

Since my children are starting school, and my summer art fair season has ended, my goal review and new goal setting exercises happen now. One of the things that I learned from Alyson Stanfield, the Art Biz Coach, has been to think about and state your desired character traits along with your goals. In other words, what are the traits you aspire to along with your career progress?

The artist that I aspire to be has:

Commitment
Courage
Creative Integrity
Decisiveness
Excellence
Generosity
Knowledge
Self Understanding

These are loaded words and "heavy" language, but they have deeper meanings for me. I'll be posting on each one, to expand on what these attributes mean to me.

Need Motivation? Try this renowned article (soon to be a book?) by Gaping Void. Hugh MacLeod is the Gaping Void cartoonist, and a Marketing Strategist. Excerpt:

Ignore everybody.

The idea doesn't have to be big. It just has to be yours.

Merit can be bought. Passion can't.

Thanks, Katherine Tyrrell, for this link.

The navel gazing will begin in the next few posts. I hope to review old goals and write new ones. I already have some traits sketched out, but will have to mull them over. Thanks for reading.

Free Association

Pinks & Greens
7.8" x 6"
Pastel
Casey Klahn

Let's noodle around the net for a little on a Saturday morning. Very little focus, but I thought you'd enjoy some of this content.

Rarely, if ever, have I looked at the blogger site, Blogs of Note. For some reason I did take a peek and actually noticed a couple I have seen before. If you want some new ideas, this is a good place to go. And, unlike many other blog aggregates, they seem to find their way to artist's blogs occasionally. Here are a couple of eclectic art/craft blogs, Nat The Fat Rat and The Hermitage. Notice the follower bling and see the way blogging can be when you do it very well. Where does Rima find a plug in?

A photo/art essay on What is Beauty? is up at the TelegraphUK. Do you want to post your own version? I know I do. File that under soon.

Also from London, you can get a fine review of the Real Van Gogh art and letters exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts by reading Katherine Tyrrell's post. I followed the links to several newspaper reviews, and read Vincent's last letter, which was in his pocket when he committed suicide.

Why don't you go here and read Margery Caggiano's blog, From the Studio? It is a gem, with a wide view of fine arts. Need some figure painting and drawing blogs? Start with Tina Collins, at Starving Artist. You'll enjoy her blog, and she links to numerous figure art blog sites. Wonderful!



A new pastel web site out of Europe is the Soft Pastel News. A daily report covering pastel art, news and events, it is a rich read for those of us who enjoy the medium of angels.

Is your art broken? It might be, and you just don't know it, yet. Sorry to be so provocative, but I was hit with a clue bat, myself, when I read Micah R. Condon's art marketing site, ArtIsBroken. Read it and don't weep - get busy!

Enjoy your day.

Eddy Out River Sketch

Eddy Out River
Graphite
@ 5" x 7"
Casey Klahn

The sketch is a place to think through one's picture idea - the image you want to bring forth. Many times, the drawing cannot be improved upon by paint or pastel - color may or may not add anything to the story.

So, the questions begin. What will color add to this image? If anything more can be said by developing this into a painting, then which colors to start with? Will I change the idea too much by evolving this image? If it changes, will that new image be better than this?

What are your ideas on the transition of an image from a drawing to a painting?

Master Study and a ning Community

Master Copy
@ 15" x 25"
Conte, Compressed Charcoal, Pastel
Casey Klahn

This is a somewhat focused shot taken in my studio with my point and shoot camera. I'll post a better exposure when I get the professional photographer in there. It is a master copy of a drawing by you-know-who. I say that, anymore, because I cringe when I see my own art on the Google Image page one or two when I query another artist's name. I hate that.

I'm still suffering the cold and flu season infections - this is #3 in a row. Ugh. This will probably keep me out of the studio, today, and I just started what will probably be a break-through piece for one of my new series. Oh well, I think I need to transfer it to a new sheet of paper, anyway. Better left until I can get well.


Visit The Art of the Landscape


Leaving the figure behind for now, I have been invited to join The Art of the Landscape, which is a ning community that was started by noted artist blogger, Katherine Tyrrell (Making a Mark). Katherine was smart to add a blog to that: art-landscape.blogspot (The Art of the Landscape). Part of the concept is to raise the profile of landscape art, which is ubiquitous, but sometimes has gotten the short end of the stick in the "Art World." The tag line for this is "learning more about landscape art - by exploring, sharing and doing." I love the interactive theory, here, which describes real-world undertakings, not just ether-net stuff.

Here's to landscape art - long may it thrive!

Studio in the Mist - An Update

Local Landscape in Mist
Small
Graphite on Sketch Paper
Casey Klahn

You are long overdue for a studio news report, and so today we'll get caught up. But first, here is an around-the-blogosphere update.

A recent post at Observe Closely, by Jan Olsen, addresses 5 Elements of a Successful Artist's Blog. I am working on my response to her post, and recommend her well designed blog to you.

Over at Katherine A. Cartwright's Studio blog, Katherine and her readers have just finished a three post exercise in trying to define what art is. To do it right, begin with her challenge first, Is It Art?, then proceed to Results... and lastly: Summary: What is Art?, to see how it all shakes out. Well worth your time, and not a few chuckles will be had!

The Colorist is now coming to you formatted on my new laptop pc. Sorry Mac-heads, I just couldn't afford the time to relearn all of my hard-earned but meager e-savvy. The time savings I am enjoying is phenomenal - it's as if I have an extra 2 hours added to my day. My old laptop now serves merely to run my old Photoshop version 2.

Bald Ridge in Haze

Small
Graphite & Pastel on Sketch Paper
Casey Klahn

Studio News.

My studio is humming with activity. We have had snow, but now are suffering a mid winter thaw. This morning I slipped on a shield of ice and had to lay there like a beached whale for a minute wondering how stupid a guy has to be to step on 2" of ice with rubber boots. Ouch. Both kids are home with sinus infections, and I am sharing that with them, myself. Ugh.

There are a number of new works in the studio, waiting for the photographer to capture them. In the meanwhile, I have taken some informal photos of sketches with my point-and-shoot, and two of them are posted above. Enjoy these over the next few days, and don't be too critical of the focus. I am totally in debt to my wife and her fantastic skills with the lens.

Speaking of lens skill, Lorie has taken a series of portraits of your artist on the occasion of my recent awards. See one of them below. Time to get out some newsletters and press releases, and in the mean time you get to enjoy my "mug" in the next few posts.

I am working on three new series, and on my studio goals and direction. I will review my old goals for you, and we can walk through the new ones. But, as usual, I don't find this stuff easy and I am still at this task. Stay tuned.

The Colorist update.

A while back, I got rid of the blogger profile tool here at The Colorist. It was too blogger for my tastes - trite and dull. On the right, see my new link to a refurbished blog profile. More remodeling will be forthcoming here soon.

The Colorist blog is swinging along very well. Statistics are up and there seems to be some synergy developing as far as the popularity and readership here. Thanks to everyone who has been reading, and to those bloggers who link to me.

Casey Klahn
January, 2010
Photo: Lorie Klahn

Snow Subjects

Hut on the Heath
6" x 8"
Pastel
Casey Klahn


Ponte Vecchio in the Snow
4"x 4"
Graphite
Casey Klahn

Morning Buttress
4.5" x 4.75"
Pastel
Casey Klahn

Behind the Garage
7" x 8.5"
Graphite
Casey Klahn

Towpath in Winter, After Wolf Kahn
Pastel
8.5" x 11.75"
Casey Klahn

Snow is the subject of the latest Pastel Journal magazine. I got inspired by that, and decided to curate my own collection of artworks that feature snow.

Plus, finally having some snow on the ground helped me get in the mood.

Seattle Rain

Do take the time to follow Susan Abbott's A Painter's Year. Usually in Vermont, this watercolorist is touring the Pacific Northwest right now and is live-blogging by posting her paintings. Today's Seattle image, Seattle Street Corner, hits the nail on the head.

Did I mention it rains there?

gif by i karen

A Philosophy of Beauty

Are you looking for a coherent philosophy of beauty as it relates to art? Roger Scruton has offered the series, Why Beauty Matters, through the BBC. I post the first of six here, and you may follow the prompts at You Tube to see the rest of his excellent show.

My own take is that the presence of beauty in contemporary art is the strongest argument for the sublime in fine art. Beauty continues to please contemporary tastes, and so I would ask: if post modernists have proven that art is not contained by beauty, then why is there so much of it in art today?

View Mr. Scruton's series, and I believe you will have a clearer picture of art's value than was presented by Mr. Schama's series, which I linked to previously.

New Years Welcome

Prairie Bush
5.25" x 12.75"
Pastel
Casey Klahn

Happy New Year! Just checking in, before I take a road trip to the Seattle area to pick up my art from the show. It was a great success, and I have been invited for tea to view one of my works in its new home. That will be fun, and the rewards of having sold a couple of works are greater when you are friends with your patrons. Thanks, Northwest University, for hosting the exhibition.




Thanks to those who voted, and everyone who participated in the Making a Mark awards. Just about all of the bloggers know that I took an honor for best picture of a place (I'll call that the landscape category). It turns out that I was runner up for best picture overall, which is also a humbling but welcome achievement - thanks to my voters.

What I like about this MAM award is that it was a vote by peers and by the public, rather than coming from an arts professional or an arts committee. I also like that it was a very broad based award, with a worldwide venue, and originating from London, where Katherine Tyrrell blogs. Woo Hoo! Got to love the internet, and I will say that my first thought when I was nominated was, "I'll never win this award!"

Okay, I am set to go on the road for a few days, and hope to post/read while on the trip. Be good, and if you want to read the best in blogging, my previous post could keep you busy for an hour or more with awesome art blogging.

gif by Michael Hogue

Top Ten Posts - 2009

Last year, The Colorist inaugurated a new award in the spirit of "top ten" lists, named the Top Ten Art Blog Posts of the year. Posts that made this list were memorable, displayed one or more noteworthy pieces of art, or had expository merit.

What influenced me the most in my choices of the best post of the art blogging year 2009, was the quality of the posts as blogged. That is to say, they were great blogs - they had content so meaty you could chew on them. They stayed in my memory and lingered there. The artists made me want to write, post or paint as well as they did!

Awardees are welcome to copy and paste the medal jpeg. No attribution is necessary.

Here, then, are my choices for the year 2009, Top Ten Art Blog Posts.


Milton Caniff's Studio
February 28, 2009
Gurney Journey, James Gurney

Boyhood memories, task-oriented studio layouts and dreams. This post influenced me when I had an illustration assignment this year.

"Milton Caniff laid out his studio..."

My Father Asks for Nothing
March 3, 2009
Sippican Cottage, Gregory Sullivan

Respects. As seen through the eyes of his son, a WW II veteran relives, reluctantly but with quiet intensity, his days as a serviceman. Bring a Kleenex and use it. And if you don't need it, kick yourself in the ass.

"He rarely spoke about that. My father and his confreres considered themselves part of a thing greater than the sum of their parts in it..."

Stephen Haller: Remembering Morandi
March 31, 2009
Joanne Mattera Art Blog, Joanne Mattera

Mattera interviews Haller; Haller reminisces about the Italian master.

"...after that school year I set out to find Morandi in Bologna."

Opening Tonight at the Howard/Mandville Gallery
May 9, 2009
A Painting Today, Karen Jurick

This slide show of Jurick's exhibit, set to a Dean Martin track, gave me a vision for musical content in a blog post that is clear, and topical. It is an example of music illuminating painting. And it swings!



Leonard Cohen, Courtesy of Barney Davey, from Art Print Issues
May 23, 2009
Ancient Artist: Developing an art career after 50, Sue Favinger Smith

Age-immaterial powers. I wanted music on my blog after seeing this one.

Jeanne Hébuterne in Red Shawl, 1917
Modigliani

Modigliani Madness
July 16, 2009
Museworthy, Claudia Hajian

Claudia's post from June 18, 2008, Modigliani’s Muse – Jeanne Hebuterne and the “Rock Star” of Montparnasse, was a bell weather post for her blog, and sets the scene for Modigliani Madness. Tragic, funny and illuminating - Claudia's posts will fascinate you on many levels.

"Fortunately not every woman who crossed paths with Modigliani had her life devastated."

The Kiss
Klimt

Gustav Klimt Kiss Vienna
July 19, 2009
Fine Art by Kelly Borsheim, Kelly Borsheim

Unique, individual criticism of the masterwork.

"I had the distinct impression that she had just died."

Old Drawings #39
Boogie Street, Harry Bell
July 27, 2009

Harry's three artworks entitled Sunday Market, which are a charcoal drawing, a collage of mixed media, and finally an oil painting, reveal his process visually. The painting actually comes out stronger than the already awesome drawing, which is a a sign of mastery.

Reflections
Pastel, Mixed
24" x 24"
Loriann Signori

Love at First Sight
July 28, 2009
Loriann Signori's Painting a Day, Loriann Signori

A magical trip to Washington State, where Loriann live-blogged her workshop with master pastelist and teacher Richard McKinley. I chose this piece as my favorite, and you should take the time to read through all of her July posts to experience her "nirvana" experience of outdoor painting.



Working on the Same Subject in Different Media
October 23, 2009
My French Easel, Benoit Philippe

The same scene, done three independent times in watercolor, then in pastel and then in oils.

Another Christmas Hymn & Top Posts

As a teaser, I will let you know that The Top Ten Art Blog Posts for the year 2009 have been selected, and will be revealed next week. Last year, I posted the 2008 Top Posts before Christmas, and you can review those here.

Now, please enjoy another Christmas hymn.

Ear Day

van Gogh
o/c, 60 x 49 cm

Today, in 1888, our favorite tortured artist, Vincent van Gogh, lost the integrity of his left ear. Holiday pressures will take their toll, but sheesh.

Now, historical critics are disputing the self-mutilation narrative, and blaming Gauguin for the ear removal. I think the original theory is simpler, and makes more sense of his strange gifting of the ear to the lady around the corner in Arles. He did it, and he gifted it. He "owned" it, so to speak. Later self-violence, where he committed suicide, also makes the original ear story more believable.

The reason the right ear appears bandaged in the van Gogh self-portraits is that he looked in the mirror to reference them.

Christmas Hymns

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

Verses: Rossetti; Music: Cranham, Holst.

Hat tip: americandigest.

Edit Your Own Work

Pink Haze River
9.25" x 13.5"
Pastel
Casey Klahn

I doubled the quality of my art before I went to my show last September, by throwing out half of it.

This final installment in the How to Paint for the Prize series concerns your own ability to edit your work. Be brutal and hold up only the best works for show. The great American artist Willem de Kooning threw out almost everything he painted early in his career, and made a reputation for himself while doing it. He kept only the few paintings that he felt had merit.

Many of my own feelings on editing were posted here: The Axe Falleth.

I wrote:

"A thing I do is, after completing a run of artworks, I will spot a couple of dogs in the lot, and axe those. Then, I will look at the remainder, and axe the two or three weakest paintings, as well."

The post continued as a reprint of comments:

Carolyn L. asks:

"While you are 'axing' what questions do you ask yourself? What do you look for? Do you have a specific set of guidelines you apply? While I am sure the process is not entirely objective, there must be a thought process you pursue. Learning to evaluate one's own work is not easy. It is not a skill directly taught in art class. I would like to hear your take on the subject."


My response:

Good questions, Carolyn.

Sure, the first thought is something subjective. A niggling something that isn't right (usually a compositional problem). Often, the compositional issue has to do with proportion. Some element is too big, or too small.

The big problem is when it's close to okay, and then the struggle starts.

Distance of a day helps. I sit and look at my work a lot. I tape or tack the series on the wall and stare and evaluate. I use mats or tape to frame them. I get the rejects out of the way, although they still reside on the wall somewhere out of the way. A stack of rejects (or 2 or 3 stacks) sit around the studio, and I can refer to those for ideas later.

No guidelines. That's a little too static for me.

I look for strength in a painting.

I don't outright reject a work for technique issues. Some mistakes are okay with me if the point comes across. And, meanwhile, I am on a program to improve my technique! There's a contradiction there for you.

Some very important reasons for rejecting an artwork are if they don't fit the series, or my style direction. In that vein, I will get rid of works that have too many sharp or defined edges, or too much detail, compared to the whole.

Another issue can be dull spots where the paper just packed up too much with pastel.

Another problem can be value comparisons. Bad value progressions - too stark or too similar, are a bad thing.

Maybe a shape of an element isn't right. Too regular; wrong size or direction.

Endless...and people think art is easy!

Diane Wenzel then followed up with this question:

"Casey, your review of critical axing is very useful. But how is it when you begin a series? When you are in the heat of creation, what do you do with your critical hacking voice? If the hacker is asleep, I can see how you might become caught up in one place adding unwanted, useless details."


Me:

Well, Diane, it sounds like you are asking two questions. One: how to edit a whole series at the start. The other: do I get caught up in a the process and add superfluous stuff?

Or, perhaps you are asking that if the series is in its infancy, how can I tell which parts belong?

I never choose a series from an idea. The series presents itself based on a successful image that needs to be explored many times. So, the series is already a successful image and hopefully never contrived.

What are the qualities of that first successful image (or two)? These become my criteria. Also, my whole art statement comes into play (color - modern treatment - realism - abstract heavy).

Superfluous stuff? I go down that road often. That's why I have to edit the works after they are done. Interestingly, I will be in the groove and create nice works with new and fresh passages, and all is well then. Other times, I won't even know what I am doing in the studio!

In summary:

• Get distance from your art, by a day or two.
• Look at them upside down; squint; view through a mirror (okay, I added these).
• Make sure to focus on unity of thought, so the series doesn't wander or add extra, unnecessary clutter.
• Don't just look at technique, but rather the emotion or message.

In addition to these things, I will caution against self-criticism. The exercise of editing your art to save the best art is not a self-deprecating one. Neither is it a self-aggrandizing session. Possibly, you can step outside yourself a bit and see your art in new lights, and then you will sit in front of your exhibit of art, and be moved by it.

One telling story. The absolute last choice of my own art for my September show, one that almost got cut, actually was the first one that sold. Maybe I held the axe just right for my cuts.

Three Big Years

Turquoise Forest
13" x 9"
Original Pastel
Casey Klahn

“Color in a picture is like enthusiasm in life.”

Vincent Van Gogh


The 16th of December will mark the three year anniversary of this newsletter-style blog which I named The Colorist. That turned out to be a good move, because for some reason that name has struck a chord, and The Colorist is widely read and many have chosen to link here over the years. Why do people read The Colorist? Partly to see my art, and partly to read the process essays that I write. Occasionally, some nugget of interest brings a reader in via the magic of Key Words.

Did you know that I, personally, am not "The Colorist?" I may paint colorist works, but the name of this blog was meant to describe a place to explore, report and essay on the central theme of colorist art. Of course, anything else that interests me makes it in here, too. I styled it as a newsletter, with a mish-mash of interesting content, all held together under the central theme of "why make this art?"

Am I any closer to that manifesto? I would say, in retrospect, that I have written, and you have very kindly read, a number of things that are descriptive of the artist's process. If that draws someone in to take a closer look at my artworks, then I guess the words have helped. I am told (and the artists in my audience will attest to this experience) that the longer someone looks at my paintings, the more they see. It is like entering a room, and then somehow one finds another hidden room, and then another one, and so on.

So what is a contemporary "colorist?" Did the high mark of overly colorful art end in the nineteen hundred and oughts with the Fauvists in France? My very good blogging friend, Adam Cope, (who does brilliantly colored paintings of the Dordogne region of France) observed this week to me that we all use brilliant color now, and the inference was kind of, "so what?" I couldn't agree more - so what? The market for art supplies is sick with brilliant pigments, and we are rich - filthy rich - with paint intensities. Is it like eating that candy corn in the fall, or that sugar cookie in the winter, and rediscovering why you don't eat them all year? They are soooo sweet! Too much!

Not a few of the artists I admire in the present day use subdued color religiously, and to wonderful effect. Art cannot be "all about color," as these artists prove. But, why do I persist? To be honest - and maybe you've noticed - for the first time this past year, browns made it into my palette.

I think my favorite artist, Wolf Kahn, has said it best. He indicates that there is a knack, or talent if you will, for bringing colors together, that either you have or you don't. Put another way, I would say that the way to failure with intense colors is broad, but the path to success is narrow. High key colors are like dynamite - useful if you know what you're doing.

For those of you who've been around the whole 3 years, reading TC, I thank you. There are others who've been fellow travelers for one or two years, and I am equally thankful for you. As luck would have it, there are also more new readers lately. Welcome, and I hope the next three years will profit you as much as these past three have done me.

Get There Quick!

"Time...is running...OUT, old chum!!!"

Every artist wishes to excel in their work. The Colorist has been looking at How to Paint for the Prize.

Because I was seeking the prize for my art last summer, I was in a hurry. One thing I knew about myself when it came to painting for my show in California was that if I didn't complete all of the artworks in a narrow time frame, their look would be discernibly different from one another. As an example, the first few pastel paintings would not seem very much "like" the last few - they would still look to be done by the same artist, but they would convey different ideas.

If focus was a pathway to winning First Prize, then I would need to get my body of work done in the shortest time possible. Long days in the studio, with early starts and after dinner sessions would be in order. Since I knew the venue, I had a firm idea of how many works I'd need, which was about 25. Since I was at an art festival, and since running out of art is the big taboo, I knew that I could fill-in with paintings that didn't match my series on the last day.

One thing that worked against my goal was the danger of reworking the same idea so often that I might produce a boring inventory. Same scene - different day, so to speak. My belief is that returning to a scene will generate more good than harm, as the artist can actually better define his ideas by repetition. A stop gap for me, though, was the limit of about 25 works.

Narrow the time frame of your painting project to keep your works coherent and focused, and your audience will appreciate the results.

Congratulations to Tom Christopher, Images from the Iowa Greenbelt, whose pastel "Barely Alive," won first prize in the Arkansas Pastel Society competition. That's how it's done.

Remembrance and Honor

View down "Battleship Row," Pearl Harbor.

In 1975, when I joined the Army National Guard in Aberdeen, Washington, there were still a few World War II veterans in uniform. One of them had the opportunity to address us on the subject of survival. What did he know about survival? Just this: he fought on the deck of his navy cruiser (second in size only to a battleship for a surface warship) on that December 7th day in 1941. Pearl Harbor day.

You don't need to hear the details of it, but we listened closely to the brutality of this mechanized war nightmare that he was reliving for us. It was bloodstory and anything but pretty.

Of course, like men will do, especially in uniform, there had to be some humor to cut the sheer magnitude of war experience. Like the time his cruiser was thrice torpedoed in the Solomons, and he had to abandon ship. From the rail of the deck, it is a long way to the water, and navy training very specifically indicates that you must plug the first orifice that's going to hit the water. And the handiest and best plug is your finger - I'm not making this up. Anyway, he didn't do it, and it turned out that the navy was right - you get a load of sea water where you don't want it!

Speaking of threes, he spent 3 days in the water, with Japanese zeroes strafing him, sharks in the water, and of course you get to watch your crew mates bobbing around in all of this mess. I'm glad he made it.

Last Saturday, December 5th., the dedication ceremony for a monument honoring the service of my father's WW II army division was held near Denver, Colorado. I was pleased to be involved by providing the illustrations for the stone and marble monument. One is a depiction of the Colorado Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, where the Tenth Mountain Division trained. The other is larger, and of a soldier climbing the face of Riva Ridge, in Italy where the 15,000 man unit fought in 1945.

See my reports of the progress of this project here and here. See my artwork related to the 10th Mountain Division here and here. I'm proud that I was asked to be a small part of it, and happy to have it co-ordinate with Pearl Harbor remembrances here in 2009, sixty-eight years post the events of that infamous day.

The Smithsonian remembers PHD.
Some first person reports for you.

Northwest University Exhibit

Casey Klahn - Exhibit at Northwest University.
All Photos: Garth Edwards

Here is a photo report on my exhibit at Northwest University in Kirkland, Washington. The opening was November 6th. The funnest opening is the kind where you can barely greet everyone who attends, and the majority of attendees are friends you haven't seen in almost 25 years. It was an honor to be recognized in this way at my alma mater. I greatly appreciate Garth Edwards, a high school classmate whom I hadn't seen in over 30 years, for taking these photos and for taking the trouble to visit.

Garth's blog is here.



My River Series is on display at the Health and Sciences Center at NU until January 4th., 2010.