Figure Drawing

Lead Climber
11" x 6.75"
Graphite on Paper
Casey Klahn

The figure used to be my primary subject back in my drawing days. This one of a rock climber, drawn from the imagination, was done about ten years ago.

Why don't I do the figure now? When I decided to go full time, and professional, in fine art, I reasoned that I had not explored the landscape very much. Also, my knowledge of color was shaky, I felt. So, the colorist landscape developed as my "growth subject".

The figure is, in my opinion, the pinnacle of artistic subjects. Nothing expresses so directly to the viewer what an artist is saying than the human form. As far as mastery is concerned, the lack of it is never more obvious than in a rigidly drawn figure. Rendering the human form is basic to my own "inner artist". Without it, I would always wonder, "can I draw?"

As I slowly move my studio to it's new location (across the lawn), I hope I can uncover some more of those old drawings and share them. I like what they say about process and my own philosophy of art.

Reaching for Motivation

Photo credit: Lorie Klahn

Finger Crack,
Leavenworth, Washington

It's good to reach back in the memory files for personal motivation. I have so much to do, and the progress feels like one inch at a time. Packets, printing of materials, follow-ups, planning, and (Oh Yeah!) art all vie for their place in my priorities.

Ah, for those halcyon days of granite climbing in fair Leavenworth! Adventures galore in the stunning North Cascades! Concerned only for gravity and friction, sun, wind, snow and rain!
The impossible was at hand, in those days. Maybe it still is today, huh?

This is a great Hollywood style photo taken by my wife and climbing buddy, Lorie. Too bad I never could figure out what that rope was for.

Content Poll

What subjects speak to you here at the Colorist? Which one is your favorite? Based on my past stats, one subject that was superstar great was Vincent van Gogh. The pastel medium gets high marks, but I think it's a narrow segment of this audience. What about my art process (the only area where I can claim any authority)? The truly strange among us read here for jokes about royalty and their pet monkey.

Where do you come down on the content of this blog? Vote the poll to the right top margin, please. Your friendly author will make every effort to consider these. If you have other ideas, post a comment here.

P.S. : My quick thinking readers have pointed out to me that they cannot vote for "subjects" in the plural, as the poll only accepts one answer. I'll have to go back to the code and change the word to "subject" because I need a hierarchy showing the most popular on down. Thanks for voting and sorry for the mistake.

New Blog Banner

Thanks for your patience as I test these new blog banners. I am trying as hard as possible to get one that doesn't require scrolling, but so far this one just needs a minimum of that.

Not sure about the font, but we'll rest on this for a while.

Addendum:

Why post a new banner design at 3 AM? Obsessed with graphic perfection? Maybe. Or, maybe it's just that my Kindergartener has a bug from his first week at school, and slept in our bed, and then wet same. So, I already was up nursing my sore shoulder, anyway...you get the picture.

The new banner really needed to be a "no scroll" banner, anyway. I only worry, now, that people can't see the first post because of the mega banner being in the way. Hmmm...I wonder if I can re-do it until the sun comes up?

Casey Klahn Fine Art

Casey Klahn Fine Art

You are invited to see my web site, post-makeover. I spent an intensive week of online fussing, with a group of about eight other artists and crafters, and moderators Alyson Stanfield and Patricia Velte. The professional and peer critiques were useful, although when I went about giving crits to my peers, I felt like a drive-by shooter. The whole process ends up well, though.

If you're after a "from scratch" professional design for an art website, I highly recommend Pat's White Wing Designs. She knows her stuff and will make for you, I am sure, a very spiffy web presence.

The free side of the house would be to go to Google Page Creator and "do it yourself". My Google web site is here and here. Notice the links are dead because I am not using the tool as a web site. What I have done there, is to create some extra pages to link from my web site, which limits the number of pages I get.

Then, I also favor my own choice, which is a template site (like the blog). It is Fine Art Studio Online. Not much money, and relatively easy even for an old fart like myself.

Try Two Point One

The Colorist
New School Color
Casey Klahn

Now compare this one. Thanks, Kristina!

Two Point Oh

Let's try this one, with a Colorist American landscape in there, instead of an abstract. And, with a white frame.

Is the whole graphic presentation more coherent?

New Tagline

The Colorist
New School Use of Color
Casey Klahn

Your responses are requested. I am re-tooling and re-working my website, and this collage resulted in an effort to post a descriptive image of my blog. The word "Artspeak" in the old tag line was a stumbler for many - especially because I use a lot of artspeak, myself!

Anyway, the goal has been to communicate my art philosophy in process. The less "wordy', the better, I feel. What are your critiques of the collage, and of the tag line: "New School Use of Color"

Bring Your Own Tissue

My son started Kindergarten today. See the post and pictures at Endless Summer Art Fair, but keep a hanky close by.

I am taking an online class this week related to the art business, through Alyson Stanfield. I will still try to have a post or two, but patience, dear readers...

Mailing Large Fine Art

Unwrapping the Big Strongbox

Logo

My artwork, Large Tri-Color Forest (framed size is @42" x 35" x 2.5"), needs to be shipped to Dayton, Ohio. That's half way across country! In this post, I will detail the professional method for handling this big task.

Full of Foam

Masterpak is the company where I get my puncture proof, and properly insurable boxes. The product itself is known as The Strongbox. Basically, the heavy corrugated cardboard box has two sandwich layers of egg-carton foam, and a cunning middle layer of foam that is die cut both on the rank and file.

They do cost a pretty penny, in spite of the advertisement to the contrary, and they are also expensive to ship EMPTY. The insurance people would frown hard, in the event of a damaged frame, if you don't do your part as an artist to use the professional materials at your disposal.

Mark for Size, Then Rip Along the Die Cut Line

Clean, Shrink Wrap the Frame and Update Your Business Card

Almost Ready

I Add Bubble Wrap

My patrons pay the shipping for the art, and I pay for the box itself, and the return bill for getting my expensive Strongbox back. Also, I charge the patron for the insurance in case of damage or loss to the artwork. In the event that the art is damaged in shipping, I will eat the insurance cost and, of course, refund the patrons for everything.

So far, I have had good experiences with shipping framed (glazed with glass) art cross-country. My carrier, until they screw up, is FedEx.

My strategy in shipping is to use next day air, since the fastest method involves the least handling. As a good example of the perils of slow shipping, I received permission from my kind patrons in Ohio to ship the box itself from their company (based in New York, but shipped from Mississippi) at the lowest rate to save myself money. They were fine with that, but the Strongbox did arrive at my door with a thick layer of dirt on it. Luckily, it was shrink wrapped and the cardboard was sufficiently clean.

I have explored kid glove shipping, but the expense is way prohibitive. Even if my works of this size went for $10,000, I still wouldn't be able to afford the custom shipping offered by carriers such as FedEx or UPS.

If you live in a large, Metropolitan center, there are services available that handle the shipping of fine art, door-to-door. Look into that yourself, as I am going to continue to live in my nice, remote corner of the planet, thanks.

Lastly, I phoned FedEx to pick-up this big item at my door. It's the quickest method, and it also allows me to have a second person here to handle the load-up of the clumsy large box. The weight is nothing to speak of, but the size is difficult to manage. When the delivery guy shows up, I will make out the return bill to put in the box, and the shipping bill to Ohio. Then, the 2" inch tape gun, and a layer of shrink wrap. Don't forget the prayer!

I'll let you know the results in the next few days.

Postscripts:

1. The art and package arrived beautifully. The art is hanging in my patron's office, and the big box has been returned via FedEx.
   
2. Apparently, the Strong Box is not made in Tupelo, Mississippi and the tag pictured above is not correct. The box is manufactured in New Jersey, somewhere, and I will be updating that picture soon to reflect the actual source of manufacture.
   
3. My personal opinion, based on my good results to date, is that these boxes are well worth the price. I am also getting a refund on my shipping cost for the original ship of the big Strongbox. It turns out that the shipping rate is not cheap, but fair compared to other really big packages that one gets.

When Bloggers Meet

Meg Lyman, of CrashOctopus fame, stopped by on her family vacation. She was driving between the Spokane Airport and Leavenworth, Washington.

She got the inside scoop on my art fair summer, and I'm afraid had to step around a lot of construction in my new studio. I heard how her Pittsburgh show went, and a little bit about her pastel work.

Everyone Loves a Good Mystery

Home, Sweet Home

While everyone does love a good mystery, the insurance adjuster is less pleased with not knowing the source of my basement flood. We had a service vacuum out the 6 inches of standing water, and after a few days of being at grandma and grandpa's house, we have the water hooked back up and are trying to get the house back in order.

Does the cistern have a surplused service to the house that broke? The pipe from the well might have failed somehow. An underground body of water might be pushing against the basement wall. The pipes and interior walls all look good. It has been a hot, dry summer. The never-ending joys of home-ownership just keep giving and giving.

So, I did what any home handyman would do, and began the process of functioning every appliance or service in the house one at a time, just to rule out internal sources of this enormous inflow of water. Ta Da! The bathtub! Our lovely, antique, claw foot bathtub holds water just fine. But when the plug is pulled, the whole shebang pours into the basement. I never thought I'd be happy to see a flood, but resolving the problem is a relief.

There is a personal and human component to the artist's life. Especially with one's studio being at the home. And with small children, a career-person wife, and the rigors of rural life...well, let's just call it a full plate.

I'll try to bust out some time for a report on my framing soon. You'll understand if it takes a few extra days, though.

PS: On the blogosphere news, I expect Meg Lyman to drop by today. Her dad lives in Eastern Washington, and she is visiting from Georgia, where she is the CrashOctopus.

Pipe Wrench

Hold on just a bit more, folks. Yesterday, after essentially a month away from home, I started the task of putting the house back in order for a series of visitors soon to come. For some reason, I needed a tool from the basement, and guess what I found?

Water! Six inches or so, standing in the basement. O, the joys of home ownership! We spent the night at Grandma & Grandpa's farm, since our water is off now. The kids slept on the floor. Poor Lorie went off to work at her usual 5 or 6 AM, but at least she had a shower at her mom's.

Did I mention that Grandma & Grandpa are in harvest? Those of you with a little knowledge of the rural life know how stressful a time that is. We just added some more!

Anyway, I'll be at the computer very little. Maybe I'll have to bust out that old tool we used to call a pen and pencil, and write my posts the old fashioned way for a while.

Blog Direction

Slowly, now, I return to the land of blogging. My art fair blast is through for a while, and I am re-entering home and studio life in beautiful Davenport, Washington.

Family life, the never-ending maintenance cycle of our old house, and soon-pending guest visits are priorities, now. The blog will be a little less so. But don't worry. I always have something to say.

Katherine Tyrrell has asked for a (detailed!) post on my framing, which you have been able to view at the Endless Summer Art Fair for the past several weeks. That will be fun and easier for me now that I have some photos to show of my framed work.

New directions with my art are on the docket. Also, I wish to continue with my Abstract Expressionists. Perhaps they will need to be interspersed with my personal stuff, since I have so much to post on. Also, look forward to seeing my posts on "our men" here in the Pacific Northwest, the Northwest School (Mark Tobey, Kenneth Callahan, etc.).

Stay tuned, kind readers.

New Look

It's a new day at The Colorist. Since my art is mostly "sold through", I get to begin the process of finding my direction anew. Do I have more "colorist" works in me? If so, what will the focus be? I have a number of ideas, including advancing the blue-centric series, and creating a series of works based on a new color wheel that I am dreaming up. Then, for the future I am thinking of a yellow series.

While the market has a say in my direction, I very much feel that the direction I will take won't be slaved to it. The new directions have more to do with artistic seeing, based on spending a lot of hours looking at my works hung together at the art fairs. I loved the newest set of all blue works, including Blue Wandering, which is now featured in the "stuff" column at the right of this blog page.

It has been so long since I functioned these template tools, that I have forgotten how to format jpegs to "fit" properly. After a few failures, I discovered a very cool detailed view of the image, which you see as a tall image there that I'll entitle "detail". I think I'll leave it up for a short while as a good example of some scratch marks, and scumbling details of my technique. Enjoy it while you can.

Back

Back from Summer Camp with the family and done with the fairs (I think) for the year. Will post here soon.
I am eager to get caught up on everyone else's blogs, too!
KC

Out of Pocket

My Booth

Home via the Sawtooths in Idaho

Like all of you, I have the summer to enjoy. I'll be "Out of Pocket" for another week while my family and I go to the lake for "Family Camp".

See you next week!

Where the Action is

See my posts at the Endless Summer Art Fair to see what I'm up to these days.

Art Theft and Vandalism

How creepy is it to steal an artwork? Is it a crime against society, in some way? This interesting theft happened recently in Bellevue, WA. I wanted to go in and give the owner a hard time, since he's fun to talk to - but I noticed the gallery had been re-flagged under a different name. That, in itself, can be sad. Maybe the organized thieves saw the new owners as vulnerable, too.

I did suffer an organized serial theft of a couple of my works a few years back in Tacoma. Am I flattered in a back handed way? Maybe a little, but not amused in the least. I was compensated by the venue both times this happened.

Interesting blog on Art Law (also has some good input on the kissing incident):

http://theartlawblog.blogspot.com/search?q=bellevue

Road Trip

Not a Yard Kitty

One of the challenges of living in the country is this neighborhood cat. As I was pulling out from home, my in-laws drove by and stopped to let me know that they spotted a cougar by my house the day before. Only, this one spanned the whole lane of the highway. That makes him @ 7 feet long from nose to tail!

The things I gotta worry about while I'm gone on my road trip...

Tune in here for an update.