Drawing Mary

First published November, 2009.

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

At the Easel

I like studying the master works of artists like Edgar Degas. This work is a copy of his well known Portrait of Mary Cassatt.

Hottest Blogs for 2011 - Sonya Johnson

When you see the big molten-lava orb, then you know it's time for a Hottest Blog entry.  This is where The Colorist points out the hottest artist's blog that you may not be reading yet.  But should.


The Hottest Blogs for 2011 will also be noted one at a time, or maybe sometimes two at a time.  Look for the molten orb periodically throughout the year.


Have you seen Sonya Johnson's blog, Sonya's Daily Art Journal?  Her oils and pastels of the Durango, Colorado region are an instinctive and accurate fit for the four corners area, a high and arid region of the American Southwest.  She observes this area effortlessly, and also has no problem with the estimable bigness of the desert and the mountains of her home.  Sonya's blog is one to watch for 2011.

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