Subdued Light

Washed Light
5.6" x 12.75"
Pastel
Casey Klahn

Eastern Washington has tremendous beauty. Much of it is on the grand scale typical of the American west. Here is where immense dry coulees (cliff-rich basalt formations that bookmark dry valleys), deserts, the irrigated Columbia Basin, the Columbia River Gorge, vast orchards, and some of the richest wheat lands anywhere, all take your breath away.

This image isn't of the grand scale, or the Hudson River School genre, as Deborah Paris likes to say. But it hints of that. What peeks through those trees? What will I find in the next field over? What events await tomorrow? These are some questions I think of when I look at this painting.

The Cremation of Sam McGee

Let Zane regale you again, this time with a frightening pyre. He is my school chum from long ago.

Zane - The Quantum Poetizer.

Zane Carriker is Zane The Fabulist

I'll be camping out for the next few days. Here is a campfire tale for you. A classic, to be sure.

The Quantum Poetizer.
Zane The Fabulist.

Fan Mail

This is my opportunity to share the fan mail that has graced my e-mail in box and the comments at this blog recently. Here is where I give public thanks for these, and for all of the readers of The Colorist. I only mention the names of those I feel won't mind.

At the risk of embarrassing myself, I share these kind words.

"I don't know you, and it's been YEARS since I had any lesson in art. I just wanted to say I read and view your blog and art daily and am truly thankful for all that you do. You keep me going. Thank you, Casey."

"Thanks for all the inspiration and sharing thoughts about your creative process on your blog, it's a treat to read!"

"I love your Winter Light! Good luck with the exhibition."

"(...)liked your blog, and love your work. Such beautiful color and abstractions."

"Dear Mr. Klahn,

Thank you for your link to Roger Scruton's video on Beauty. I am currently drafting a catalog essay on the nature of joy and it is refreshing and delightful to hear how clearly he frames his argument.

By the way I have enjoyed your work & blogs for some time now. Please keep up the good work.

All the best..."

A comment from Katherine A. Cartwright to 100 Things I Love About Art: "101. Casey Klahn!"

"Congratulations Casey on your new blog. I have been following both (T)he Colorist and your Pastel blog for a number of years now and wanted to thank you for the incredible amount of information you offer up to your readers. It was your blogs that inspired me to fan the flame of my passion for the pastel medium and colorist painting. I was able to use much of the information for the creation of Canada's first and only pastel specialty shop, Pastel Studio Canada. In the spring I met Diane Townsend at her home in PA, and this November Isabelle Roche will be visiting the shop. Our future looks bright and I wish the same for you.

Warmest regards from Canada.

Edward Hanson

www.pastelstudio.ca"







Photo Credit:  Lorie Klahn

Red Sub-Text

Sub Text Red

6.25" x 8.25"

Pastel

Casey Klahn

This image has been updated, which means that it is the formal, high quality photo of this original pastel. I go into this detail, because there are, believe it or not, people who don't discriminate between photos and paintings. Example: the lady who walked into my art fair booth this summer and declared, "you've been hitting the Photoshop pretty hard on these!"

No, steam did not come from my ears, but I did laugh to myself. As long as we persevere with painting, we will have to continue educating the public on what we are doing.

Update - Update

You are owed another update of my studio activities. First, pour yourself a cup of coffee.



The studio is a buzz with framing for my upcoming show in California, the Sausalito Art Festival. I'm a little unsure of the number, but I may have around 35 - 40 originals for my upcoming exhibitions.



Have another cup? Dark roast, I hope. For some unknown reason my statistics at The Colorist have gone ballistic. Almost quadrupled on the best days. Much of this uptick is hits to this page. I cannot figure it out.

Other recent posts include 100 Things I Love About Art, and When Bloggers Meet.



Daily posting of miniature pastels, as well as an occasional medium sized work, is now going on at The Colorist Daily. This is the time to buy a small work under $100.



My search for gallery space and exhibitions may be yielding some fruit soon. I'll keep you posted when dates are firmed up. The Hoquiam River exhibition is penciled in for September 2011.



On the easels, I am developing my voice as a figure artist by studying the masters. Da Vinci and Degas are my current muses. I often post those at Pastel, but you may see some here, soon.

Two books I am reading are: Master Class in Figure Drawing and Degas, By Himself. Hale's classic instruction in Master Class has me drawing various parts of anatomy an area at a time. I am learning more stuff about the rib cage than I ever thought existed. My Nurse Practitioner wife brought home a medical anatomy book as reference material, too.




I continue to thrill at the works of Edgar Degas. His familiarity with proportion and anatomy are only the beginning. I never realized how much he departs from the real before. All because his gestures, forms and movement are so believable. The book - mine is published by Barnes & Noble Books - is richly illustrated, has a woven binding and nice, heavyweight paper. Lovely.

Edgar Degas
Dancer

Finally, in the subject of figures, our blogger friend Astrid Volquardsen, has posted one of her recent figure paintings: Eva in the Bath. Well worth your look.

100 Things I Love About Art

Winter Light
11.5" x 14.25"
Pastel
Casey Klahn

Why a hundred things? Because it is an interesting exercise in editing.

These are not listed in any order.

1. Color
2. Graphite
3. Willlem de Kooning
4. Paper
   
5. Art Studios
   
6. Galleries
7. Pastel Sticks
8. Outdoor Art Fairs
   
9. Art Societies
10. Form
    
11. Charcoal
12. French Easels
13. The Colorist Blog
14. Italy
15. Open Air
16. The Figure
17. Landscapes
18. Proportion
    
19. Collectors
20. Children
21. Henri Matisse
22. Cartoons
23. Wolf Kahn
24. Rocks
25. Jimmy Wright
26. Artist's Models
27. Wood
28. Trees
29. Blue
    
30. Sculpture
31. Love
32. Black
33. Pigment
34. God
35. Unity
36. Courage
37. Emotion
38. Mass
39. Mary Cassatt
40. Andrew Wyeth
41. Gesture
42. Books
43. Contradiction
44. Museum Collections
45. Weight
46. Patronage
47. Illumination
48. Rosalba Carriera
49. Florence in 1504
50. Flow
51. Instability
52. Countenance
53. The Agony and the Ecstasy
54. Balance
    
55. Bob Dylan
56. Lines
    
57. Creativity
58. Plastic Space
59. Analogies
    
60. Pollock (Movie)
61. Gray
    
62. Artist's Traits
63. Sketch Books
64. Abstraction
65. Realism
66. Helen Frankenthaler
67. Art History
68. America
69. Intuition
70. The Golden Rectangle
71. Pablo Picasso
72. New York in 1950
73. Master Copies
74. Art Stores
    
75. Edgar Degas
76. Exhibitions
77. Mark Rothko
    
78. Optimism
    
79. Rome in 1512
80. Dimension
    
81. Leonardo da Vinci
82. The Palette
83. Studio Easels
    
84. Paris in 1904
85. Taborets
    
86. Architecture
87. Caravaggio
    
88. The Twentieth Century
    
89. Scale
90. Openings
91. Vincent van Gogh
92. Artist's Blogs
93. Water
94. Clay
95. Cigar Boxes
    
96. Influences
    
97. Yellow
    
98. The Colorist Daily
    
99. Erasers
    
100. Vision

What are your 100 things?

River Red at The New Daily Blog

River Corner, Red
3.5" x 3.75"
Pastel
Casey Klahn

This is my personal favorite from my new miniature series. See these new works posted at The Colorist Daily.

Feel free to Follow Me via the tool at the bottom of the blog.

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.

Loriann's Slough Through My Eyes

La Conner Slough
11" x 14"
Pastel
Casey Klahn

Remember when artist and blogger Loriann Signori introduced me to her favored slough in La Conner, WA? My impression was different from hers, and somewhat driven by my choice of rough-tooth Richeson board. Sometimes I think I want to bring my outdoor works to a finish, and other times I want something to take to the studio. Other times, I have no idea what to do at all!

My new project. Grand opening next post.

In The Draw

In The Draw, Green
9.75" x 9.75"
Pastel
Casey Klahn

We just returned from a weekend at the lake cabin, and I actually got a chance to relax. That was much needed after an art fair the previous week. Now, I have the follow-ups from the fair to attend to, which includes a post for my readers here at The Colorist. Tomorrow, I hope to get to that for you.

You may have noticed that I have been sneaking in videos on art subjects in the right hand column. Lectures, usually. I like this tool because I can manage it, and it keeps the footprint there fairly small. Also, it doesn't have the big you tube design around the player. Anyway - they are somewhat neat. In the future I will post others that I like; maybe Kassan drawing, or Pollock painting. These lectures are often very long, so make some popcorn and save up your internet kibbles.

Glitch Marketing

Casey Klahn

I can't figure out why my stats went ballistic two days ago. It seems like an explosion of interest in just one page of my blog. I think Google has a glitch, where a redirect takes surfers to the Pollock page. I can't complain. For an early effort by The Colorist, that page lays out a lot of meat.

Not my art, though. And, not much original content. For more original art content, I suggest this page.

Anyway. Thanks for tripping into The Colorist, which is a newsletter blog about my colorist works, and essays on fine art.

Pollock Links & References - Updated

The Colorist
About The Colorist blog.

Galaxy, 1947
Jackson Pollock

This post was originally published in 2007. It gets enough attention that I brought it up to date.

See also The Jackson Pollock Researcher for the comprehensive and current links on Jackson Pollock.

Originality was the hallmark of Jackson Pollock's art. He found a way to both connect with, and yet break free of whatever else had been happening with art. It's a little hard to appreciate the originality of Pollock from our high horse of retrospection. I liken it to some of my experiences with rock climbing. Sure, a particular rock climb will have a difficulty rating and a status as severe or hard, but when you go to climb it, you feel that it isn't as hard as described. Well, put yourself in the sticky shoes of the very first ascensionist. What was the experience like for him?

So, imagine the first "pure" abstraction. How does one completely eliminate the subject from a painting? The Abstract Expressionists often likened abstract painting to getting "in touch" with your inner child, because children draw and paint with freedom and innocence. I argued with that comparison until I had my own children picking up pencils and crayons. Now, I completely believe in the childlike aspects of abstract visual expression. Now, I just have to work out my objections to the "primitive man" comparisons to painting abstraction.

My own experience with abstraction took place when I took a workshop from Diane Townsend, who happens to be a great abstractionist with ties to New York and my hero Wolf Kahn.

How do you begin painting abstractly? Townsend unlocked that door for me, and before noon on the first day I was having a great time painting "nothing". I hope to continue my exploration of abstraction in the near future. It actually can be one of the hardest styles to paint in and make anything really good. My abstracts can be seen here and here.

Let's follow some link paths for Jackson Pollock.




Steven Naifeh and Greg Smith have written a Pulitzer prize winning biography titled: Jackson Pollock, An American Saga. I have some serious misgivings about it's historicity, but suffice it to say that it seems to be the "go to" book now for looking at his life. Ed Harris brings it to our attention in his comments about his movie about the keen artist.

Harris also thinks Pollock may have been manic-depressive. Of course, my first inclination would be to look up the paperwork on his 4-F status, just in case that might reveal something about a diagnosis of this or something similar. I guess he also saw therapists, and the records from that probably reveal something, too. Shades of van Gogh.

Pollock's Studio Floor

Don't miss the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center in East Hampton (Long Island). This small property with rustic facilities was purchased by Pollock and Krasner with help from Peggy Guggenheim, who was Pollock's "super-patron". It was here that Pollock began his drip paintings, and you may visit this museum and walk on the floor where his drips are preserved. Could these be considered accidents?

I recommend the Pollock bio written by the director of the P-K House, Helen Harrison.

There is a Pollock-Krasner Foundation, which I think is a very classy move by the late Lee Krasner, who was left as a widow by her drunken and cheating genius-artist husband. Trying to figure out what made Krasner's relationship with Pollock tick is an exercise in head-trips that some may enjoy. We'll look at the wonderful Krasner a little later in our Abstract Expressionist study this month.

The National Gallery of Art in DC has a good site about the old boy. A quick look at his process is seen in this GIF - Video. Here's a Quicktime featurette of a Hans Namuth film of the Camel-smoking curmudgeon at his task of working a horizontal canvas.

I have to limit the scope of JP references found at the Museum of Modern Art, since they are numerous. Man, this stuff is knee-deep. How does one have an "itinerant childhood"? Uh, never mind the MoMA for now...

Of course, my favorite site for Jackson Pollock is the fun and interactive "Create Your Own" Jackson Pollock by Milos Manetas. It's an ingenious flash page where you drip "paint" on your CRT screen. Of course, you don't control the color - those come as accidents. My only advice is cut loose, don't stay inside the frame, and don't stop too soon!

Links referenced above:
http://www.amazon.com/Jackson-Pollock-American-Steven-Naifeh/dp/0913391190
http://naples.cc.sunysb.edu/CAS/pkhouse.nsf
http://naples.cc.sunysb.edu/CAS/pkhouse.nsf/pages/pollock
http://www.pkf.org/
http://www.nga.gov/feature/pollock/index.htm
http://www.jacksonpollock.org/

When Bloggers Meet

My set-up at Loriann's slough locale. She loves this particular spot, and I can see why. There are scenes wherever you look - but that generally describes Skagit County, Washington.

Painter in the mist. Loriann Signori is well focused on her art. Her post of the image is here.

Our favorite plein airist, Loriann, was be-nighted the evening before, looking for her lost house key in the tall grass with a flashlight. She didn't like the sounds of something big slapping the water, and beat a hasty retreat. I found the tracks and showed her what she'd been avoiding - a small bear.

When bloggers meet - a paint out adventure. Loriann Signori and Casey Klahn in La Conner, Washington.

I will post the artwork I did soon. I still haven't unpacked my big van since my Kirkland show. After seeing Loriann, I had a great time driving east over the Cascade Mountains and home after much arting and general hob-nobbing. Unusual for me, I actually enjoyed the hot weather in Leavenworth, WA - maybe after being cold at the painting location!

Next posts: galleries and art fairs and workshops.

Teasing The Posts

Loriann Signori at the Easel

Since my days remain at about 400% over-capacity for my ability to deal with my schedule, sleep, and blogging, I will put you off, dear readers, for another day. This post will tease the exciting posts I plan to make next. Bears. Galleries. Art Fairs. When Bloggers Meet. And, best of all, painting with "The" Loriann Signori!!

For the impatient, Loriann posts her version of this adventure here.

Be back soon.

Green, Gre-en, Green.

Green Grass Landscape

7.6" x 9.5"

Pastel

Casey Klahn

Scary green. Green in your eye. Green in between. That much Green.

Mr. Green Jeans.

The Green Hornet.

The Red Green Show.

Green Acres.







Kirkland Uncorked this weekend.

Waterhole Number One

Waterhole 1

@6" x 8"

Pastel

Casey Klahn

An item of interest: this one is on Townsend paper, which has a hand-applied sanded surface on Rives BFK. I didn't want to travel far from my prairie theme, but did try different surfaces this season.

See it at Kirkland Uncorked this weekend.

I Have a New Card

My Card

Over the horizon, I am planning for a set of exhibits, in my coastal hometown of Hoquiam, Washington. Mayor Jack Durney wants me to hurry up and exhibit, and has named it "The Return of the Native." To sweeten the deal, he has offered me a Get Out of Jail Free Card. There's a first time for everything - thanks, Mr. Mayor!

Hoquiam River Bright

10" x 14.75"

Pastel & Charcoal

Casey Klahn

On the near horizon, I am exhibiting in a new show in Kirkland, Kirkland Uncorked. The hours are as follows: Kirkland Uncorked Promenade (Free Festival) WA, July 16 - 18. Hours: Friday 2pm-8pm • Saturday 11am-8pm • Sunday 11am-6pm

This coming Labor Day, I will be exhibiting in Sausalito. September 3 - 6. Last year, I received the First Place Award in Drawing at the Sausalito Art Festival. That was for my whole collection, rather than a single image. The pressure is on to be that good again, but if my wife is a fair critic, she has deemed this year's art as better. I hope that's true.

How about it, Sausalito? Will you offer me a Get Out of Jail free card, too?

White Bunkhouse

White Bunkhouse
8.75" x 9.5"
Pastel
Casey Klahn

Nikon D-80

I seem to be doing about one building a year, and here is this year's.  This out-building is part of a neighbor's farm, and used to be the bunkhouse, I think.  

The fuel  tank I used in another picture a couple of years ago, but this is the actual scene as it appears in life.

I refuse to confide and don't like it when people write about art.

OTOH, Artist's Quotes

Everyone is wise until he speaks. Irish Proverb.

"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.

"Hear the meaning within the word,"  William Shakespeare.

"Self expression shouldn't be the goal,"  Wolf Kahn.

 

2010 Artist Quote of the Day.

Ballerina Sketch - Degas Copy

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.

Pastel

Hometown River Series

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. 

Ballerina Sketch in Charcoal & Pastel

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.

The Colorist

Degas Copies

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 Colorist

The Evening Light (Bald Ridge)

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 and News

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.

Kirkland Uncorked

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

Try a Framed Print

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.

Prairie Understory

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

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.

Subtle Sub Text

Sub Text Red

6.25" x 8.25"

point & shoot camera

Pastel

Casey Klahn