Why Write?

"Artspeak" is a bewildering mess of verbiage and mental calisthenics.  Kathy Cartwright asks: why write essays about art at all?   It's good to think about why we write. Someone once said that if you don't state your artistic direction then others will do it for you.  That's why I like to write about art and my own direction.  


One reward for writing about art is that on occasion you get some recognition.  Over the weekend, ArtSlant posted my article on Matisse on their Facebook page.


I think that someone who spoke about one's art direction was Alyson B. Stanfield.

Cup of Joe Update

Cup of Joe, anyone?

Best to stay warm in this winter of spotty electric power, and heavy snows. I saw my life flash before my eyes the other day when that power pole split! Then, I realized it was just an arc of electricity shooting up from the insulators. Today, the furnace repair man will come to look at our oil furnace. I hope he can get that back up to speed, especially with temperatures under 20 degrees F.

I'm almost finished with Blogging Tips for artist bloggers. I promised to "type" my own blog, which I have done but haven't finished the copy on that post. One blogger friend has The Colorist designated as an "e-zine," which is close, but I have a slightly different take.

More Coffee? What else has been keeping me busy has been my return to the studio. After being sick, I am now able to re-start my productivity. Last year's art had its ups and its downs, but mostly I wasn't that active in the studio. The three months leading up to my December operation saw no artwork created at all.

I choose to see the good in this. Cup half full. No, I mean is you cup half full? Here's more coffee.

I have been in the searching stages to define my art directions, and the break gives a time for reflection. We'll see what happens. I am happy to be getting some blue landscapes finished, as well as some still life works. Photos pending. For purchases please look to my blog, Casey Klahn dot blogspot.

And on the Internet and blogging front, my ArtSlant profile continues to grow and receive viewership. The blog Pastel is featuring a series on how to draw/paint trees. The latest installment, Tree Admiration, takes you on a chef's tour of different artist's styles and how they treat trees.

I found Pam Farrell via Joanne Mattera, and she has a series of studio visits posted as the ISBP (Interactive Studio Blog Post). Studio inspiration, anyone?

Finally, I want to make sure you know that two local pastellists are now writing blogs. I enjoy exhibiting with these two superb artists, and I know you are jealous of my getting to view their art booths at the fairs. So, to make it up to you, I provide you with these links to their new blogs. Marla Baggetta blogs here, and Sheila Evans here. Enjoy.

Looking Out

Looking Out
Photo: Casey Klahn

This gouge is our road to the outside world. I believe in the outside world. Really, I do.

If you wish to make contact with this "Robinson Crusoe", a valuable way to do this for me is to click the Big Orange Box in the sidebar at the right side of your screen. It is my ArtSlant profile, and it sums as exposure for me (elsewhere) if you do. That's why I have been hammering it every day this week. Thanks. More Art Blogging coverage soon.

Winter Yard Birds

Winter Yard Birds
Photo: Casey Klahn

The little ones are climbing the trees. Cooped up and stuck in snow world for a couple of weeks, and today makes the second day they should have been back in school. Canceled.

Personal subjects in art blogging are a matter of taste, I think. Is it the right subject matter? Isn't it supposed to be about the art, after all?



Your Blog Style: Lifestyle, Art Form or Spare?

The answer lies in your own style. Some artists thrive by blogging about their life as well as the studio, and it is a very successful strategy. A perfect example is Tracy Helgeson, who just completed a month of daily postings challenge. Of course, having the world's yummiest studio, a beautiful farm house in upstate New York, chicken-coop full of joy, and fantastic colorist oil paintings doesn't hurt her profile, either. Her blog style has created a story line that is compelling, and authentic. Yours will be your own individual story, of course.


Tracey Ullman with a paintbrush


This leads to another style of art blogging: the art blog as an art form. First in mind for me is Jafabrit's Art. Jafabrit tells the story of an artist's life but keeps it stylized by writing spare, centered copy. Her work is dramatic, with skulls, ravens and crows, and screaming faces on rocks. Her humor is dry British wit, but tends towards the outlandish kind. Think Tracey Ullman with a paintbrush.

Corrine (Jafabrit herself) knits tree ware, gives art to the cosmos on Fridays, and commiserates with her greater art community in her Ohio locale. Well, actually she does this worldwide, too. Her "Your Documents,Please" piece has circled the globe, and don't forget these blogs go out to the world wide web. As an added bonus, because her blog is an art form, she peppers the format with music widgets, talking heads, and occasional videos - always funny. I consider Corrine's blog, and her art, to be absolutely among the most authentic and original out there.

If you are considering the absolute, most spare art blog that you can manage, think twice. The SEO gods want you to add copy to those pictures. This is the way their robotic algorithms compute. Picture...BZZZZZt-TzT (flicker, sput); Words...HzMMM nng- BTZ, AHHHHH. And the SEO deities like certain words better than others. Call it alms, or perhaps a dogma. My favorite SEO tripwires are Donny Osmond, Michael Jackson, Terri Horton, Vincent van Gogh, pastel, you get the idea. The problem is, these words don't all fit my narrative, except on very narrow occasions. OTOH, the posts live forever on the net, and garner traffic in perpetuity.

I will back up and say that images have their own pathway to the search engines such as Google Images. Here is a little research on this. Also, learn a bit about the alt attribute, and the title attribute of your images.

have a tissue handy as you cry at the results

If you have been blogging for a while, try a search of Google Images with the search query as your name, or as the name of your blog. Have a tissue handy as you either laugh or cry at the results. But, copy is still king on the Internet, since the default page on Google is text based.

Anyway, my vote for the best spare but extremely effective style is Robert Chunn's Alla Prima. Cunning and colorful still lifes posted on a consistent basis are his fare, but he has a program far more thoughtful than art only. Robert posts an art-related quote with every post, and try that sometimes if you think it is easy! Additionally, his spare motif includes his sidebar design. Precious few widgets, text all lined up and justified, and links. That's it. Think that's all? Have a closer look at his links - very exhaustive and organized. The outcome is a blog that very much matches Chunn's art, and tells the story he's after.

And you thought daily painting was the only format for art blogging! What is your art blog style? Next time: more tips, and types of art blogs.


Monetize Me, Bro:

Visit my profile page at ArtSlant here.

My art for sale is here.

Snow Planet and Kudos Inbound

Snowed In
Photo: Lorie Klahn

Home Front

Friday, January 2, 2009.
The neighbors called tonight to say that they were plowed out for the first time in several days. I thought that we (who live alone at the end of our road) were the only ones isolated. The interesting part is that the snow excavation for our neighbors, at our "road head", required a large plow (read: diesel locomotive-sized snow blade in front of a grader), another road grader and finally a bucket loader to do the job. Sheeesh!

Oh, so the upshot is we are still isolated. I have been harvesting game birds for dinner.

Saturday, January 3, 2009.
The plow came this morning and just cut a swath through the snow. Whew!

I had envisioned skiing out to the neighbors for groceries, and pulling them back on a sled, as I used to do mountain climbing. Instead, Lorie went out to the grocery and that was an interesting event. The one she wanted to shop at was closed for snow load issues with its roof. When she did get to a supermarket, everyone was commiserating about being snowed-in for up to seven days. It was a group of snow refugees, busted-out and getting provisions!

Barn, Sun & Snow
Photo: Lorie Klahn

In Blog Land

Welcome readers from Making a Mark. I am very happy to share two other recognitions from bloggers this week; one from Julianne Richards, and the other from Miki Willa.

Miki is participating in the portrait challenge at Different Strokes. I am amazed at the fun of seeing so many portraits created by talented artists, and Miki's first effort is a huge success, IMO. Seems this first-timer effect is going around - first Robyn Sinclair creates an etching that is first time genius, and now Miki has done the same thing with her first pastel portrait. Give me some of whatever these two are having!

Miki said this kind thing about The Colorist:

The Colorist: Casey Klahn has more than one blog, but this is my favorite. He shares information about artists he admires, ideals he aspires to, and he promotes other artists whose art inspires him. I especially enjoyed his series about artist's traits. Casey and I have very different styles, but I am learning from him about stretching my usual color boundaries once in a while. That is a good thing. He is also good about responding to comments.

And, Julianne, The Colorspeaker, has introduced me to ArtSlant, which is an art networking site that allows you to post your blogs and other linky things. See Julianne's profile here, and mine here. See my blog post at ArtSlant here, which I swear took me all of about 3 minutes to cut and paste from The Colorist.

Julianne says the following about The Colorist:

This is a blog by an artist for artists. He will often do series of posts of which I have highlighted and given the link to a personal favorite. Anyone serious about living a life of creativity, aka "as an artist" will benefit from Casey Klahn personal insights, thoughts on becoming a better artist, for ARTS sake, and much much more. And last but most definitely not least, is his own artwork, of which most certainly is extraordinarily unique and not to be missed. The rest of everything is what they call in the south, "just gravy." Stop by.

Thanks to Miki and Julianne.