Picasso Biography Videos

This series of biographical videos on Picasso is very informative.  For some reason my mind works better with the chronological revelation of what happened, versus the all-at-once story that you get when you read a one page bio.


Now, I am beginning to get a handle on what Picasso did.  The link to the first vid of nine is here.

Dusk With Orange

Dusk With Orange

@ 5" x 7"

Pastel

Casey Klahn

Elements of Art

Deborah Secor: Today's Art Class

Deborah Secor has an art class blog, and has done me the compliment of referencing The Colorist as a resource.  That's a nifty thing, since I admire her pastels, and her teaching.  I recommend you look at the link, as her list of  Basic Art Elements, and artists who emulate them, is noteworthy.

Tuesday Tree

Tree Rous
3.5" x 3.75"
Charcoal & Pastel
Casey Klahn

On re-claimed la Carte.

Charcoal River

Charcoal River

@9" x 14"

Charcoal, Chalk & Pastel

Casey Klahn

Charcoal, chalk and pastel on Rives BFK Heavyweight.

These tools allow me to express more than any other media.  Maybe they are the reason for the deep, dark passages in my finished pastel paintings.

Courage In The Breed

Here is an essay first posted in early 2009.  Inspiration for the artist, I hope.

I was driving to the city yesterday, past snow-clad fields, and I noticed a farm dog running like his tail was on fire. I thought to myself, "I wonder if he's...he is! " He was facing down a coyote intruding in his domain, and then I noticed that it was two coyotes.

"...courage is essential to the artist." Henri Matisse

I regarded that as an amazing display of courage by that dog. A pair of coyotes can easily defeat even a full grown deer, and the matter was simply that the dog had his range to defend and nothing was going to keep him from doing that! 

The antipathy between farm dogs and coyotes is well known, and as a matter of fact the dog's behavior was common to his breed.

What characteristics are common to your own breed? The artist is known for artistic integrity, and presenting an abundance of that is having courage.

For a review of these traits, see the following posts: Artistic Integrity and Artistic Courage - Get It!

Have you defended your artistic space lately?

Motivational Poster Time

Make your own  Automotivator.

Or, Maybe This Draws A Picture Of My PC

BTW, My PC looks Like This

Tech Issues

I'm having tech issues here at the studio.

Let's hope they end sooner, rather than later.  I'll try to post as I find internet kibbles available.

The better news is, I do have a dozen or so new pictures to post and you'll get to see those when The Colorist gets back up.

Struggle

Studio and Struggle

My current studio work.  

I have been working diligently on the Hoquiam River series, because I want to have at least twenty paintings come the exhibit.  So far, so good.  Maybe there is a thread that unifies them.  They have been spread out over time, so I wonder.

It was time for a break, and so I tried to develop an image from Italy.  I was happy, but with reservations. That isn't too bad for a genre I don't specialize in.  

Riva Practice

Today, I had a short day in the studio, and had to call India for you-know-what.  The technician says my internet dish is old.  Good one.  Anyway, I got into doing some people on the street, in the Margaret Dyer style.  I want to explore those some more, as I am a huge fan of hers.  There is a thread of unity in her work and the work of Edgar Degas.

I liked the way Celeste Bergin mentioned at her blog that she does paintings for practice.  Then, she whips out a fantastic piece of a mother and child on the beach (see the link).  Hello.  Genius at work.

File this under miscellany.  I only found it the other day, and yet it is a series of posts done in the summer of 2009.  Sadie J. Valeri attended a residency involving the Hudson River Fellowship, and worked en Plein Air in upstate New York for a month.  I read the whole series with my mouth wide open.  That means I am in awe of the wonderful work done by Valeri, and I especially loved the use of graphite and chalk, and pen and ink washes.  Beautiful.

Cheers!  I'd better post this before my satellite dish falls over.

Top Ten Posts on Artist's Blogs - 2010

Who put the best posts on an artist's blog this year?  The following ten caught my interest, and this is the post where I remember them for their excellence in blogging.  There are no repeat artists from previous years, although I have to note that Claudia Hajian, Museworthy, and Gregory Sullivan, Sippican Cottage, whose blogs won this award in the past, continue to bring forth superior blog posts on a regular basis.


See the Top Ten, 2008 and Top Ten, 2009.


Award winners are welcome to copy and paste the award jpeg on their blog. No attribution is necessary.

Here are my choices for the year 2010, Top Ten Art Blog Posts.

Delta Towns
July 22, 2010
Studio Notes, Terry Miura

A painting trip through rural and small town California.  Oil paintings, summer heat and tonal poetry.

Black Painting#7, 

2010, 20x28, 

Oil on Gessoed Paper

Tracy Helgeson

Vermont Residency Plan B

February 10, 2010
Works by Tracy Helgeson, Tracy Helgeson


Tracy goes to the Vermont Studio Center Residency in the wintertime and paints like a hermit.  She gets in artistic trouble, paints her way out and makes the brilliant.  This post is an in-studio look at The Black Paintings.

Reply to Artelasticum PepsiCola

May 10, 2010
Stapleton Kearns, Stapleton Kearns

"Ask Stape," is the tag line that Stapleton Kearns uses at his blog. In his own words, "I present some essays on painting, art, and hopefully amuse you some at the same time." More than that, this artist's blog is one of the best teaching blogs out there. Stapleton also received the Making a Mark Award: The FAQs and Answers Really Useful Medal for being an all-around great resource to artists who blog.

Who's Made A Mark This Week
17th. October, 2010
Making a Mark, Katherine Tyrrell

Every week I look forward to Katherine's report of what has happened in the art world, and on art blogs all over the world.  Her posts tell about important and interesting exhibits, especially those in her home city of London.  Also, she looks at what has been posted on artist's blogs, what's up in the art economy, and on the internet of particular interest to artists, arts professionals and collectors.

The Red Studio

1911

o/c, 181 x 219.1 cm

Henri Matisse

MoMA

Mattise Works Red (the briefest of fiction)
March 12, 2010

Aesthetic Work, Kelly E. Marszycki

Prose from artist Kelly Marszycki, and an hommage to Matisse in a red theme..  Savor this.


     "I cannot breathe. I feel myself drowning in this desire to create something..."

Woman reading, "Illustre" after Edouard Manet

2010, Oil on 12 x 12 stretched canvas.

Celeste Bergin

Painting over an old painting...again
August 22, 2010
Celeste Bergin, Painter, Celeste Bergin

Celeste is a powerhouse of an artist who lives in Portland, Oregon.  She is great at posting daily, and her process is what it's all about.  She portrays the fun that she has living the artist's life.  I had the pleasure of meeting her in August when I made a road trip to California.

"Painting with black is delicious fun."

From Gig Harbor!

May 18, 2010
Art and Music, Katherine van Schoonhoven


This year I noticed more posts by artist bloggers written as a series.  First up is Katherine van Schoonhoven.    Katherine took a sailboat trip to Alaska via the Inside Passage, and live blogged the whole thing!  That has to be the greatest adventure posted this year, and her paintings, journal sketches and notes are a must see.  I chose one post as representative of her live-blogging series.

Eva im Bad (IV)

2010, Pastel 

21x23cm

© Astrid Volquardsen

Demo With Margaret Dyer
May 31, 2010
Astrid Volquardsen, Pastellbilder, Astrid Volquardsen

Astrid went to Paris and took a long workshop with expert figure artist, Margaret Dyer, of Atlanta, Georgia. What else do you need to know? A dream workshop for an artist. Astrid's wonderful work can be seen here.

Telluride Plein Air - Day Four
July 1, 2010
DEBORAH PARIS, A Painting Life, Deborah Paris


I took an online class from Deborah this year, and have been a fan of hers for many years.  Her annual trip to Telluride, Colorado is live-blogged in this post and others in the series. The prestigious event: The Telluride Plein Air Festival.


Albala Worksop - Foggy Mornings
July 31, 2010
1,000 Paintings, Lisa McShane


Washington artist, Lisa McShane is always up for a workshop, and does yeoman's duty reporting her trips on her blog.  This series features the Mitchell Albala workshop in western Washington.  Lisa is a successful landscape artist whose work is a treat to look at, and I enjoy following her blog.

Snowed Real In, Again

 Looking North Towards Canada

Back Towards The House

Early this morning, I had to break into my studio, since the door had literally frozen shut!  Someday I will build that overhang so water won't drip on the threshold.  A whole foot of snow fell since yesterday, and it stayed well below freezing all day today.  Brrr.

Happily, my studio is warm, and I feel good about getting back to work after the holidays.  

Best wishes.

Oh, in the next day or two I will be posting my choices for the Top Ten Posts on artist's blogs for 2010.


Photos: Lorie Klahn

MAM Awards - Time To Vote

Time to pick one! One from each category, that is.

Katherine Tyrrell, at Making a Mark, has posted the finalists for the Making a Mark Awards, 2010. You have until very early December 30th. to enter your vote for each category.
   
Vote for the best artwork on an art blog in 2010.

I'll Post It Again This Year Since It Has Become My Favorite Hymn Video

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.

Washed Light - Year In Review

First published in August, 2010.

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 in the world, 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.

Met on the HRS.

In Review - Art From 2010

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.

I am continuing my review of some of this year's artworks.

Make sure to visit Making a Mark, which I'm sure most of you do regularly.  Katherine Tyrrell has reached her 5th year blogiversary!  She shares 12 secrets to blog longevity, and it is worth your read.

A Letter for You - Four Years of The Colorist

Text of letter:

Four Years of The Colorist

December 16th., 2010

Dear Readers,

This special greeting is my heart-felt thanks to you for your visits and participation over the past four years.

With over 82,000 page-loads this year, 16,000 per month at this point, and one day with 892, The Colorist continues to grow in many ways!

See more bench marks about The Colorist in the post that accompanies this letter.

All my best,

Casey Klahn

This is the four-year anniversary of The Colorist blog. There would be no blog here without the intelligent, kind and consistent readership that you provide. Please accept this handwritten note as my thanks.

With 847 posts here at The Colorist, and 220 at Pastel, there have been many fun and thought-provoking exchanges between you and I in blogland. When I met artist blogger Celeste Bergin in Oregon this year, she chided me that she had once gotten lost in the loop that is all of my many blogs. Hey, they're free, so I take as many as will fit in my pocket.

I also met and painted with Maryland artist and blogger Loriann Signori this year. Other highlights of the year for me include exhibiting in a new gallery, and receiving a national first place award for my art.

On The Colorist, one post went viral (Jackson Pollock) and the number of Blogger Followers ticked over 300. I introduced The Prairie Series, Mind Mapped my blog and studio direction, and was selected as one of 27 Art Blogs to Watch in 2010.

Popular posts and series' included:

• Live-blogging the Sausalito Art Festival
• A close-shave bear encounter
• 100 Things I Love About Art
• Artist's Quotes posts
• Ten Life or Death Studio Tips
• How To Make a Blog Banner
• Degas copies
• The Artist's Ideas series

I look forward with joy to the next year of sharing my studio life and art with all of you.

Casey Klahn

Photography - Local Scenes

My wife, Lorie, is a talented photographer.

Gruh-heeen-uh!

Green Grass Landscape

7.6" x 9.5"

Pastel

Casey Klahn

Here at The Colorist, I have been posting some of my paintings from the past year. Kind of a year-in-review.

Upcoming: a blog birthday, more of The Artist's Ideas, and the ever-popular Ten Best Artist's Blog Posts of 2010.

Pastel Corner at The Tinman Gallery

Winter Light
11.5" x 14.25"
Pastel
Casey Klahn

I am pleased to be hanging at the TINMAN GALLERY in Spokane for a group show. Sheila M. Evans sends these photos of the "pastel corner," the bottom one of which features Sheila's works to the left, and mine on the right.

Photo Credits: Sheila M. Evans

Aperture Bright

Aperture Bright

11" x 14"

Charcoal & Pastel

Casey Klahn

The Christmas season is here, and the Klahn household is abuzz with activity. My children, ages 9 and 7, are being as good as they are capable of being under the threat of coal in their stockings on Christmas morning.

I'm in the studio as much as possible, too. This year, the snow has played havoc with the control of the light in there. It is so bright, even with the windows facing north, and the blinds at half mast, that I am having trouble getting what I want. Maybe I'll have to go nocturnal, when the light is all artificial. I recently added another track light, which is a big help.

I am working on a series, and it has been a real joy. Some finished drawings are included in this, using mixed media of charcoal, chalk, and pastel. Also, there are some graphite works. Pictures to follow, soon, I hope. One direction is that these images are a little bigger than my normal fare, and the last few images have included more neutral colors.

Today I'm picking the kids up after school and together with Lorie we'll be shopping for the tree. Merry Christmas!

Opening - TINMAN GALLERY

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

Tonight, and through the month of December, see The Best of 2010 at Spokane's Tinman Gallery. My pastels will be there, along with the fine works of multiple Northwest artists.

The reception is tonight 5-9PM.

Snowww, Snowwww, Snowww, Snowwww

Picasso Cache - Truth or Theft?

Poor Pierre Le Guennec. All he wants is the almost eighty million dollar windfall that ought to come with his recently revealed cache of artworks made by Pablo Picasso. Unfortunately, few believe his story that the master artist gifted him with an enormous treasure of drawings, paintings, collages and more. Generous the artist was, but $80 Million? That was some great electrician-client relationship that Guennec had with Picasso!

For my part, I want to believe the French working man. I even hope he gains profit from this somehow, but hopes don't make proof. I advise anyone giving their art as a gift may want to provide some documentation along with it. Who knows who will accuse the beneficiary of art-theft in generations to come?

Reader Traits & Matisse Bits

Originally posted November, 2008.


The faithful readership of The Colorist are responding with some well thought-out Artist's Traits. These are responses to my Artist's Traits series, and represent the desired character traits these artists feel would bring them growth.



First, I will list the traits, and then a blurb from each respondent.

Doubt

Genius

Authenticity

Perseverance



Adam Cope, of Dordogne Painting Days, France, writes the following:

"Well then can we say that doubt & questioning is part of the mix of ingredients?

Doubting is part of the critical functioning & must work in a way that is constructive to creativity. When it works well it is analytical & opens up the artists to new opportunities. However, in my experience, the suspensions of the doubting, critical self in the beginning phases of making a painting is important, for if the artist is to dig deep within himself (herself) & tap into the authentic, the natural - 'le Propre du Soi' - then this is more of an affirmation, a kind of YES as it feels natural & as if it always were & will be. The opposite of doubt maybe?

Do some research into the the idea of Genius as the Ancient Greeks meant it.

So my traits are doubt & genius."

Deborah Paris, of Deborah Paris-A Painting Life, Texas, says,

"High on my list of traits for myself as an artist and for my work is- Authenticity. By that I mean possessing an aesthetic which is 'of its own time' (reflecting both the time and place of its making) as well as one that successfully announces the unique passion of its maker."

Lisa Bachman, of The Studio News, Maryland, explains,

"I admire perseverance. That ability to persist towards a goal in spite of frustration or self-doubt. If I could use only one word to describe Van Gogh, this would be it."

Julianne Richards, our ever-faithful Colorspeaker, New York City, writes this comment, too,

"Here are some of my thoughts on 'traits and...'
First, what I call 'a strong (very) work ethic'-which falls under the already mentioned 'discipline' is the first thing that comes to mind whenever I think of a trait of necessity for the 'artist path.'
In staying with artistic traits, in addition to self awareness, I would definitely add having a keen awareness (and interest) of one's environment-both on the small and larger scale. As your posts are reflecting, being open minded to learning and change, ultimately makes one a better artist as well as a better person."

Thanks, also, to Martha Marshall and Zoom (who added "Love, faith, hope, courage, persistence, generosity and a sense of humour") for checking in. Also, a special thanks to the others who have commented throughout this series.


More Matisse Bits

I will be noting some fantastic Henri Matisse trivia as I come across such. See my study of the great Modernist here, here and here. Also, if you select my label, "Henri Matisse", you will see all of my posts on the keener, but several of them overlap with the Artist's Traits posts.

I mentioned before that Matisse's progeny are involved in arts, but I also notice that they don't seem to flaunt the name. With some propriety, I send you to this young man's very nice blog.

This fantastic blog, the Quip TORUM, entertains me much. Today's Matisse post led me there.

Laura K. Aiken writes A MOSAIC STUDIO, a "Mosaic and Visual Art Blog sprinkled with Henri Matisse".

I am gob-smacked by children's art, especially since I am a father of two young ones myself. I came across this really enjoyable video of some young student responses to Matisse.

Speaking of the wee ones, my own were watching some Bugs Bunny cartoons, and I happened to see one that is a tribute to Matisse. "Wackiki Wabbit" not only features landscapes with Matisse patterns, but the castaways are drawn in the linear style of the great artist, too. I post it here, but keep in mind that this gem is 6.41 minutes long! Sorry about the Google ads.

T Day T Dump

"T Dump" meaning Tab Dump, which is internet speak for, "Here's what came in over the transom." Enjoy these links to Thanksgiving Day posts. We'll be going to dinner at Grandma's house, but only after I recover Lorie's pickup truck with the dead battery and the frozen-shut hood. Minus temps do things like that.

Jane Librizzi, The Blue Lantern, Thanksgiving.
Margaret (Peggy) Stermer-Cox, Drawing 329 And Meet Sid The Cubist Turkey
Sippican Cottage, He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven
Katherine van Schoonhoven, Art and Music, Thinking and Thanking
Elizabeth W. Seaver Fine Art, "And Then HE Said..."

The Artist's Ideas - The Artist's Ethos

Edvard Munch
The Scream, 1893
o/c, tempera & pastel

A work of art can't be questioned or dismissed. Saul Bellow.


The obscure word ethos has a different meaning today than it did seventy years ago, and it has traveled a malleable path since the days of Aristotle. Whereas, today, it is a corporate creed, it formerly held a deeper meaning. Pre-war artists owned the word - it was the artist's ethos. My 1936 Webster's dictionary has the following:

Webster: From the Greek, ethos, ἔθος, character. The moral, ideal or universal element in a work of art as distinguished from that which is emotional in its appeal or subjective.

How do the artist's ideas exhibit themselves in an artwork? Is it important for an artist to express an ethos through the making of art?

We have been considering The Artist's Ideas, with these previous posts:

Have Ideas
Quotes - The Artist's Ideas
The Inner Meaning
The Artist's Ideas
Paint Better Now


The Artist's Ethos.

The Greeks saw ethos as the first proof of debate, and it had to do with trusting the moral competence of the rhetorician. Fast-forward to our concerns and the artist's ethos. Let's unpack the definitions of moral, ideal and universal elements.

The Moral Function of Art.

Webster describes a moral element in a given artwork, which is, by definition, an illumination of right or wrong. As concerns the formal parts of art, there is no right or wrong. "There is no must in art because art is free," Wassily Kandinsky. So, we are left with artworks that reveal a moral quality intended by the artist, such as in the case of Sacred Art. See below some artworks that reveal strong moral qualities in a broader context. See The Sistine Chapel for Sacred Art.

John Dewey said that “Art is more moral than moralities.” Artist and blogger Katherine A. Cartwright is reading Dewey's important 1934 book, Art as Experience, and hosting a community discussion on The Moral Function of Art. See here, here and here, and remember to read the comment fields.

Here is the "see below." For my part of the discussion at Katherine's blog, I have been illustrating the moral function of art by identifying individual artworks that I see as strong moral forces in the canon of Western art. Blogger/artist Linda W. Roth had the idea first, and she chose Edward Munch's The Scream for its moral content. I think she's right on with that, and I thought of Andrew Wyeth's Groundhog Day, and Willem deKooning's Woman 1. These artworks are linked below.

The following opens a window into Dewey's thinking: Art is morally powerful because it is indifferent to moral praise and blame (loosely quoted). Do you agree?

Ideals - The Artist's Ideas.

Notice that the Websters definition relates to a work of art, and not the group known as artists. My understanding of "the ideal" is that an artwork must, to be true to the artist's ethos, reflect his ideas. See these quotes on The Artist's Ideas.

Universal Elements.

Art is a universal mode of language. John Dewey. Philosophers will tell you that language is wanting in descriptive power - it falls short of expressing what man is able to think. Art is a huge bridge in "speaking" to mankind aught words.


Edvard Munch, The Scream.
Andrew Wyeth, Groundhog Day.
Willem de Kooning, Woman 1.






Ethos at Wikipedia.
John Dewey, Art As Experience.

Links and Studio News

November 15 in the Studio, Hoquiam River Scenes
Casey Klahn

Jeanette Jobson, who does Gyotaku Prints, has published an interview of me at her newsletter. Jeanette blogs at Illustrated Life. Go here to find out about my studio secrets.

Katherine Tyrrell, of Making a Mark, has linked me on her popular Sunday feature, "Who's Made a Mark This Week." If you don't already make a habit of reading her Sunday entries, you should. I consider it the artist blogger news.

Here at The Colorist, I am continuing to think about The Artist's Ideas. If you haven't found your answers as to what your art ideas should be, that's good. Keep looking, and use my essays as fuel for your thoughts.

Also, in the world of blogging, I wonder who will become my three-hundredth follower? Next month will be the fourth anniversary of The Colorist, and I think you can appreciate the effort that requires. I appreciate each reader at my humble artist's blog.

I am becoming active at the ning community, Artistes de Studio. Jennifer Evenhus, a great artist from central Washington, is the driving force there. I enjoy the status of a Master Artist in the group.

Studio Panorama

In the studio, I am going forward with the long awaited Hoquiam River Series. Consider it like Twilight, only more moody. My representation of the rainy, coastal little river is a passage I am making by means of strong pastel paintings. Are these paintings of one of the most interesting places on Earth good representations of the scenery there? Only if you look at them through the heart.

I hope to have an opening in Hoquiam, my hometown, some time next year.

Apple Pie and Veteran's Day

American cemetery
Florence, Italy
Photo: Casey Klahn

Today, my children are enjoying a day off from school for Veteran's Day. Yesterday, I was invited to attend an assembly at the school in honor of veterans. It is a good thing to have a community memory of the military service that some have provided. I came home with an apple pie, given to each vet who left the ceremony. That was nice.

Have Ideas

Hoquiam River Bright
10" x 14.75"
Pastel & Charcoal
Casey Klahn

Here are some thoughts on painting:

• A painting must become more than the sum of its parts.
• A painting is a history of what happened to the artist.
• An artist should communicate his ethos through his art.
• I believe that a painting should affirm the personal.

I made a map of my art ideas. My 7 year-old daughter added her input, too.

Here is the theme music for this post ( Right Click to open a new tab). Open in your media player.



You might need to update your adobe reader to view my illustration.



Previous Mind Maps
Map Your Ideas