Workshop Basics

Need an introduction to art basics or just a refresher ?  For the benefit of my workshop students, I am creating some videos and posts at my blog, Pastel Workshop.  When I do critiques, these are the formal elements of art that are referenced.  


Video.
Line.
Shape.

More to come.

Homemade Pastels

From 2007 at pastelsblog.

Registering My Colors

Red, Yellow, Green, Ultramarine Blue, Blue-Green, Gray & Violet. I must have either skipped Orange, since I have several hand made ones that were done at a Kitty Wallis Workshop, or else I just can't find where I have them. I did make a color chart when I made them, but we had a basement flood and had to quickly put away my pastel making station, so I'm not sure where that is either!

This photo will help me decide where to go next in making my next set of sticks. I may have actually made a few more than this, but they are nubs by now and indistinguishable from my Diane Townsends and other store bought ones.

Blues

Use this post as a motivator to start exploring the craft of hand making your own pastels. Pigments differ in their qualities, and it can be a hit and miss process, I am told. With the method I use, though, I have been making consistent sticks that I prize.

Making Your Own Pastels.

Video Series Takes You Into Degas' Studio, Home and Head

Drawing: Casey Klahn

Go here for a six-part video series that is a great tour of Montmartre and Degas' studio in the form of a re-creation.  The focus is on his later works.  Warning: pastel exposure.

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

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

Overdoing It

Studio Life

Overdoing It

Artists always want to know when a painting is finished.  A questioner once asked Wolf Kahn when he considers his painting finished.  Kahn said, "When it is no longer a royal pain in the ass to me."  Intuitive art is often a process of painting oneself into trouble, and finding the way out again.

I wrote recently about reclaiming sanded paper.  I have been taking used paper from my "failed paintings" pile and re-working the images.  The great thing I have discovered is that when I start out with a ghost image, I begin the process already in trouble!

Degas, French Papers and Pastel Love

Do you need to save money on paper?  Do you have a pile of unfinished works on La Carte paper?  See my report on how I have been reclaiming this paper incorrectly identified as too sensitive to re-use.


While you are thinking about your pastels, indulge in some huge Edgar Degas visuals:

Trees On The Prairie

Prairie Bush
5.25" x 12.75"
Pastel
Casey Klahn

The Prairie Series is beginning to show a direction. I am starting to be able to enumerate the things that I am trying to say visually with these paintings. It is more about trees on the prairie than it is the open spaces. Perhaps the open spaces will be my next thing, but I feel these have a kinship with my last series, The River Series. It is a visual relationship - not a naturalist or descriptive one.

It could have been a series about abstract land masses, which is a great theme for these open spaces in the American west. But, I kept focusing on eye sumps, like dark masses and colored splashes in foliage. The relationship of the tree to the whole is also key in good landscape paintings.

I wanted to add some words - essays and texts - to this series. Then I realized that I already have a series about trees, called Tree School, at my blog Pastel. Please enjoy these lessons on rendering trees. I think you'll find them unique, and I will be bringing them here interspersed with my new prairie pictures as I get them photographed. I also hope to write new texts to the Tree School, and together we can watch the Prairie unfold.



Originally posted January 15th, 2009.

Tree Study in Turquoise
@ 6" x 5"
Pastel
Casey Klahn

The title "Tree School" sounds like it belongs at an arborist's convention, or maybe a logging camp. But, I want to offer my artist's take on rendering trees with pastel.



Trees can be an awful distraction in a painting. Especially if they are present but not the subject, and if they take up too much of your effort.

We all enjoy graphite drawings in detail of a beautiful tree. Great texture, perfect modeling, and wonderful presence are what please us. But, that is the tree drawing where the tree is center stage; the star of the show. What about when the landscape is about things other than how the trees look? What do you do then?

Additionally, you can face a problem when the trees are the main content, but not the subject. I mean by that the painting where a color composition is the subject of the painting, or maybe something like the motion of one's eye through the woods. Trees have a built-in drama to them, and I propose that too much detail can distract from the message.

Return here to attend my short course on trees in pastel, and I leave you with this hint: don't begin with green.

Wrap Up

Here is a wrap up of my past week. You may be here for a while, if you have a need to surf some interesting blogs and sites. Put up your feet and grab a cup of Joe!

My Posts. I have been posting a lot of my art, lately. I am thinking about offering prints through imagekind, and to that end I ordered a framed photo just to test them out. The return time was lightning fast!

My usual resistance to print media (photo reproduction, gicle, etc.) is breaking down. Some of that resistance has been due to the nature of my color palette, which is not reproducible by print means. But, there are also a number of my images that are reasonable to print. What do you readers think about this? Should I offer a few images in print?

My Artworks. The studio has been abuzz with activity, after my trip to the coast last month. I have begun a new series featuring riverine subjects, but the direction is more about dark things. I'll be posting these, soon.

Download Department. I printed out this article on genius, which came to me via Sue Smith. Also, there is a video which is going viral about genius. I am not sure that I endorse either one, but it's all food for thought, huh?

Man, I'm drinkin' a lot of coffee, here. It is still snowy white outside, with fresh stuff on the ground and 18 degrees. 'Nother cup, please.

My favorite subject - World War Two History. Found this post: My Father Asks For Nothing, at Sippican Cottage (Gregory Sullivan). One box of tissues, please.

Local Artist Blogs. I found out about this Washington artist blogger, Neece Clark. That's a nudge for me to update my Washington State Artist Bloggers utility. Any more out there?

When I Run Out Of Red, I Use Blue
Picasso

Publications. I always enjoy getting the catalog from Judson's Art Outfitters. Even if you prefer some other box than the cool ones they offer, you can't help but find some necessity for your plein air activities. I use the ThumBox with tripod, and it is awesome. Here's a picture of my last trip with it. They offered this quote that is a jewel: "When I run out of red, I use blue," Picasso.

They have a blog: Judson's Plein Air Journal .

The latest Pastelagram also came in the mail, which keeps me up on the activities of the Pastel Society of America. The art can sometimes look really different in print versus on the CRT, so I always love seeing what they offer.

In my e-mail came a PDF from David Jon Kassan, whose studies of the human skull inform his portraits. I love his handling of the pencil, which is evident in the following video. Warning: extreme art fun and good rock&roll, too.



Kassan's blog.

Pastel. I'm cooking up more guest posts at the pastelsblog. Stay tuned. Also, more tree school entries are forthcoming - you won't want to miss those!

Charcoal Jetty

Jetty
4" x 6"
Charcoal
Casey Klahn

I made an unexpected trip to the coast this weekend. See my painting set-up and how I handled the image that this sketch begins at Pastel.

In response to requests to reveal my lessons learned from another artwork, the Kahn copy, here is what I wrote:

(In short-hand)

1. Atmospheric.
2. Plastic, with a blue-black element that pulls one in.
3. Black trunks on blue-white.
4. Divided perspectives, like in Stan Miller's Venice "gate, canal and court" image.
5. High key ultra-marine "highlight" behind center of focus.
6. Gestural willow trunks.
7. Gray paper shows through as lane or roadway.
8. Cool paper tone/warm foreground is enough to counter-act this.
9. Back-light, but no cast shadows.
10. Apply this technique to new snow scenes?
11. "Winter Towpath, After Wolf Kahn".
12. Window-pane effect.
13. On sanded ground, not cold press.

Others have written to urge me to move on from WK, and I appreciate the input more than can be told. The thing about blogging is, an artist reveals much of his back story. Does it harm one's professional appearance?

If you think about it, we all have influences and artist mentors. I make no attempt to hide mine, but the flip side of artist blogging is that a public in-depth record is being revealed of the artist's methods and growth.

Plastic Color

Four works on the easel, awaiting good photographs.

The studio was humming this weekend, and I got four works done. Three sketch/studies, and one medium sized pastel. If you want to count failed works, then many more were done!

Four New Works

At Pastel, I posted some words on plastic color, as part of my Tree School series. Find out why I don't paint my trees green.

Plasticity in art is important to understand. "Plasticity is the quality of the presentation of a sense of movement in a painting," said Mark Rothko. Another less developed theory of plastic qualities in art refers to the three-dimensionality of the visual arts.

Deadlines for juries are looming, so I want to get a series done so as to submit four to five images that agree with one another. I hope to photograph them in a day or two, and you'll get to see them, too.

On another topic, I recommend Joanne Mattera's Marketing Mondays.

Tree School at Pastel Blog

A new series begins today at Pastel.

More Art Blogging Tips

Ponte Vecchio - Old City
@7" x 6"
Graphite on 70gr. Sketch Paper
Casey Klahn

Being an artist blogger is a many-headed hydra. Just like the traditional art gallery, you want to understate your presentation. Be fully functional as a sales vehicle, and yet keep a lid of decorum on it. The theory is that fine art is an exceptional thing - not base like most commodities or products.

Self-representing, but not grasping


This explains, in part, why art galleries can seem ostentatious and off-putting. (It wouldn't hurt the gallery staff any to greet each patron, BTW - just my 2 cents) Art bloggers, prepossessed with the rank of the fine artist, must not turn around and trash the reputation of the fine arts. Art blogs, like all Web 3.0 entities, suffer from the canard that new media has a lesser status. That is changing, and we art bloggers must be the agents of that change. High quality, but also revelatory. Decorum, without being stodgy. Self-representing, but not grasping.

self-importance and über-angst


Having said all this, here are some tips for being read. Previous posts in this series are here: Art Blogs & Art Blogging. What good is it to write and post, but not be found by your public? Don't do your own patrons a disservice, and stay hidden under a front of self-importance and über-angst.

Think of ways to get links back through your blog. Each page is a unique web entry, and you want readers finding your content throughout your blog. Organize and label your entries, and offer easy access to them. Do place active links within your posts to recent posts in a series. Remember to stay topical with internal links.

You'll notice that I use blogger's picture tool in order to create internal links in my sidebar. How to choose content for internal links? Your art, in it's different genres or mediums, is a good place to start. I offer My Drawings, My Artworks and My Abstracts. When I notice an unusual number of hits coming in for a certain search query, then I offer a tool for my readers to pursue that subject. Leonardo da Vinci, and Jackson Pollock are examples. Don't worry, though. I won't be creating a Teri Horton button soon. Another good internal linking system is the blogger recent comments tool.

I also list external links that are related to any other presence that I may have on the Internet. The Fine Art Department is a collaboration blog where I am featured, and Casey Klahn dot blogspot is my art-for-sale site. An artist profile and community website that I participate in is ArtSlant.

One major outside feed to The Colorist is my second blog, Pastel. It maintains a purpose and a life of it's own as a low key blog focused on the art and medium of pastelists.

meaty art and artist content


My favorite way to drive traffic is with meaty art and artist content. The Artist's Traits series was a recent lengthy thread. Past threads have included famous artists like Mark Rothko, Vincent van Gogh, and Henri Matisse. You need a true and genuine interest in your subjects, and these modernists are my favorites. A contemporary favorite artist is Wolf Kahn, and I once did a series of drawings after his style.

Out of Action and Van Gogh Post

Starry Night Over the Rhone
1888
Vincent van Gogh

Since I will be out of action for the next few days (or possibly even a month) I have put out the call for guest bloggers. If you appear on my bloglist, and are interested, I would be glad to review a guest post from you.

Pastelist Brian McGurgan has posted at Pastel, one of my other blogs, about his experience at the van Gogh exhibit in New York. His insight gets you close to the master's work, and I have also included some links to the virtual tour and other related goodies.

Advanced Composition Study

See my Five for Friday tips blog for an in-depth study of perspective today.

Studio Life

Self-Portrait in a Striped T-shirt, 1906
o/c, 79" x 59"
Henri Matisse

In my studio, several threads are being woven at the same time. I am reading a biography of Henri Matisse, who was a noted Fauvist and a pillar of Twentieth Century art and Modernism. I had just finished a couple large volumes on World War Two, and feeling like I needed another big tome, so I found this @500 page whopper on Matisse. Then, feeling all smug about myself, I realized it was the second volume! I grabbed the Taschen Book on Matisse to round out the visual side of my study, and I'll be hitting the Amazon site to chase down that first book.

When it comes time for me to post on Matisse, you'll see the heroic as well as the staid side of the great Frenchman. Would you be pleased to exhibit your painting at salon, only to be openly reviled and mocked? How would it feel to have the patronage smearing the still-wet oil paint with their fingers just to amuse themselves? Stay tuned for more on the colorist whose shoulders we all stand upon.

Because my exhibition schedule is through for the summer, I am taking advantage of this time to Get Organized. That means I am doing filing, computer back up and cleaning, studio organizing, goal-setting, calendaring and what not. I see by my notes that I took the G.O. class from Alyson Stanfield back in November of 2006, and that led directly to this blog and much coherent forward progress in my art career.

As a means of clearing my head, I am getting outdoors and refining my plein air methods. Look for a beautiful post on Eastern Washington farm country painting at Pastel, soon. You will be treated to my elaborate and Rube Goldberg talents of securing my easel against the ever-present wind. In the near future I will be putting together a workshop for pastels, and I am exploring the possibility of putting my less color-dependant (more realistic) artwork into print. You'll be the first to know about that here at The Colorist, BTW.

On the home front, my two Lieb Kind will be in grammar school soon, and that translates into three full-time days a week for Daddy Klahn to be an artist in his studio. Woo Hoo! Next year, when my littlest is in First Grade, I will finally be a full time artist - a life long goal. Now, I take the attitude of a full timer, which sometimes helps, and sometimes hinders, studio progress.

For a touching display of home life and sending the child to Kindergarten, see this post from last year. Also, next week will be family Bible camp, so I will be out of touch with you starting mid week. Sun, lake shore, a small amount of someone else watching the kids, camp fires, a little bit of plein air painting, some rock bouldering (a type of climbing), and no house chores. Ahhhh.

Applied Science & Your Color Choices

Pastel Collecting 101

For a fun exercise in choosing new pastels, see the following posts at my blog, Pastel. Hue, Chroma & Value Chart, and Purple Pastel Secrets.

These posts at Pastel will be informing our Colour Project when I research the color property: Intensity.

Deciduous Trees Series

Green Maple
May June 08
6.5" x 6"
Pastel
Casey Klahn

At my blog "Pastel", I have been posting about my series of deciduous trees. See them here and here. The second link includes some of my Five for Friday instructional tips exclusive from my studio. What that means is that I am opening my head, and disgorging thoughts about pastel technique.

My goal is to be roughly 75% - 80% original in these pastel instructional tips. I have received word that a venue may be forming soon which will allow me the opportunity to teach workshops. Put me in the school of those who take teaching as a strict calling, with no small requirement on the preparation side. These Friday tips at Pastel have been a lesson plan builder for me. And now you know the backstory on that.

Special Artist Alfred Waud

Battle of Beaver Dam Creek
Alfred Waud

Battle of Charles City Road
Alfred Waud

Alfred Rudolph Waud (1828-1891).

Battlefield sketching of the Civil War met pastellist Alfred Waud on the pages of the Boston Carpet-Bag, the New York Illustrated News and Harper's Weekly. Waud was probably the most prolific combat chronicler of the Civil War and likely the only artist present during Picket's Charge at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

When I visited the Civil War reenactment in Spokane this last weekend, I got the idea that I may blend in better in costume next year. The field easel is a red flag for attention in a crowd, and it takes some mental effort to work in those conditions. Add to that gusting wind, biting flies and cannonade noises and you get the idea. As luck would have it, I stumbled upon this web page demonstrating the latest in Civil War artist's acting kit. See a full crew of "Bohemian Artists" here.

For an example of present day Civil War field sketching, see my own offerings at pastelsblog.blogspot.