New Alders

Alders on Winter Ground

12" x 9.5"

Pastel on PastelMat

Casey Klahn

Summer Out of Phase

Summer Meadow

@11" x 8"

Pastel

Casey Klahn

You want it to be summer, don't you?  I must have gone there in my studio this past week.

Winter Alder

Alders on Winter Ground

@11" x 8"

Pastel

Casey Klahn

informal iPhone record

Tree in Green Light

Tree in Green Light

5.25" x 6" 
Pastel

Casey Klahn

Available $150, unframed.

My goal is to say something new with color every time I pick up the pastel stick and address the paper.  

Sketching Cold

Snow in the Draw

@8" by

Pastel & Charcoal

Casey Klahn

iPhone record

Cedar Shed, Sketch

Cahrcoal & Chalk

@7" x 4"

Casey Klahn

Individual Tree, Charcoal Study #2

@ 9"x 9" 

Charcoal & Chalk 

Casey Klahn

The Facebook Challenge Group for this image is found here.

Next Facebook Challenge Posted

Individual Tree

Nikon D80 Photo by: Lorie Klahn.

The Paint The Barn In Winter Group is here.  This is an open challenge to enjoy creating a new artwork in response to this photo.  Last month we did the barn image, and there were dozens of submissions.

Painting Challenge Group at Facebook

The idea behind the Paint The Barn in Winter group is to render an image with a particular photo as the genesis.  An artist may produce an entirely non-representational piece, or a colorist piece, or what have you.  This past month we have been working on this iPhone photo of my barn in a snowy landscape. In a few days, I will post a second challenge photo.

Not my idea, by the way.  More than one person was interested in having my permission to paint from the barn photo, and so I opened it up to the whole world to participate.  The results have been great, with about 40 artists participating so far.  

Here are some of my favorite images from the Paint The Barn In Winter group.

Arlene Richman

Cindy Crawford Day

David Wang

iPhone Photo - Casey Klahn

Design Blog Banners and Graphics

Let's look at blog banners. Photoshop is a popular tool for making these, and banners and designed graphics add a great touch to your blogs.  I can't tell you how to make them, but I will post a video I found that gives an adequate start to your efforts.  After the video, I'll mention some easier methods I have found.

Whenever I want to find a quick recipe, or for any other "how to" task, I now go to You Tube.  Sometimes finding the right tutorial is elusive, and I think this is especially true of Photoshop tutorials.  I learned my Photoshop skills by taking an online course for about thirty dollars, and it was money well spent. I'd link you there, but I think she quit running the course.  If anyone has a good course they run or know of, let me know and I will share that here.  Also, if you have saved any good tutorials on You Tube, I'd be happy to link those as well.

Thanks, Jennifer, from GoodEye Vintage, for this video.

My extra tips are to open your image in its file, right click that and select "open with: Photoshop," and this is quicker than browsing from Photoshop. Also, in selecting background and text colors, I use the eye dropper and find a color from my artwork or photo. 

I don't copy and paste photos into the new banner background.  Instead, I open all the content and view multiple files at once, then I drag and drop like making a puzzle.  For instance, I'll open a banner sized at about 800 x 200 pixels, then I will open a photo; select the Arrange Tool, which on my version is in the absolute upper left of the page, next to the pse icon. Now I select the jpeg, and then the Move Tool, and drag the photo jpeg to the banner.  

Instead of stretching the text, I prefer to crop the banner to achieve a fit. How to get the text to overlay the images?  I work with layers, which is the critical knowledge you need in Photoshop, and then I very carefully go around the letters with the Eraser Tool.  There must be an easier way, but that's my solution.*

Linda Rosso, of Mill Valley, CA, has a new blog about plein air painting and art marketing is also her area of expertise.  I follow her new blog, and I liked her footer signature block so much that I went into Photoshop and designed one for my blogs. I know The Colorist gets a lot of random traffic, and this is a good way to provide an introduction within each post.

Plein Air Liason, by Linda Rosso.

* Artist Gary Huber informs me that I should try a setting where the text background is transparent.  Goodbye Eraser Tool!  I tested his solution, however when I opened the text layer it was transparent by default.  Go figure.  At any rate, the solution does work and you need to work with Layer and Arrange, then push the picture to the bottom layer.  Also, another tip: remember to merge or flatten your finished image.



My new signature block:

Modigliani - Love, Nonsense & Life (Updated)

Modigliani, not looking well, 1919.

Here is The Modigliani Suite:


Amedeo Modigliani (July 12, 1884 – January 24, 1920) has been the subject of a couple of feature movies.  Mostly, they cover his love life, which lacked no drama.  I take that back - the more recent flick, Modigliani, 2004, by Director Mick Davis, is also very much about the artistic process.  Critics and the public hated it, but I loved it.  The metaphor of his grand premier compared to a bloody mugging in the snow is rich, and I liked the way he consulted his boyhood self from time to time.  

Watching the 1958 film, Les Amants de Montparnasse, in French, is a nonsensical treat for me, since I don't understand the language.  I had a couple scenes posted before, but they have vanished from YT. Try to find it sometime and enjoy. Tragically, both the first director and the star died during and shortly after the making of this movie. 

Here is a You Tube of his paintings streamed to some music with an Italian title about love's consequences.  I like to watch these with the digital projector on the big screen.  Maybe some of his great style and visual grace will rub off on me.

Snow Deep and Notes

  Autumn Slope Drawing

12" x 13.5" 

Charcoal, Chalk & Pastel

Casey Klahn

With my world full of snow, I have taken to drawing in a serious way. I have quit a lot of pastel works in storage, and with a head full of ideas I want to make hundreds more. Anyway, I felt the urge to simplify and sharpen the charcoals a bit. This one, posted above, devolved from a finished pastel!

My children are snowed in from school, and my wife is down with an awful virus of some kind.  My time is not very plentiful, but I do get to the studio almost daily. Maybe today I'll wear snowshoes to get there since yesterday I was plunging to the knee in snow!

Another bother is that we have misplaced the battery charger for the Nikon camera and will have to order a new one.  So, no new photos of pastels for a while, even though I have probably 20 or more to show.

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In other studio news, I am forming an idea for a large work and it may take two over-size sheets of La Carte that I have squirreled away for a special occasion.  I'm imagining them just mounted together, seam and all.  If Degas did it, I think I may try the same. I know I could unroll some Wallis, or even get a piece of Gatorboard that big, but the dream I have is for La Carte.

Another fun pastime has been virtually framing art in Photoshop.  Here is one that worked well.

Fantastic Italy in Faux Frame

Artists in Pastel and Events Around the Web

Niall O'Neill, at Artists in Pastel, writes a blog that fills a very unique niche.  It proposes to review the websites of artists who work in pastel.  I like the global reach of his blog, and the eclectic manner that he ticks one pastellist at a time off his list.  If you think you know all the active pastellists in the world, think again!  You will discover much to keep you inspired at this wonderful blog.  Hint:  if you don't have a blog or a website, how will reviewers find you and expose your art? See the post on my websites, art, and bio here.

More grand benefits of exposing your art on a blog are contests and events. In that vein, Katherine Tyrrell has been busy with the Making a Mark award series which offers readers the chance to nominate and vote for the best artwork posted that year in several categories, such as landscape or nature.  Other awards are also given, such as the best book published by an art blogger and one for "stickability," which highlights consistency in posting art.

In the realm of art events, my page at Facebook, Paint The Barn In Winter, has been a popular place where many artists have rendered a scene based on an iPhone photo I took while skiing out to recover our stuck van. When the event concludes on January 15th., or perhaps a little before, I will post some of the artworks that I want to highlight. 

You never know what will happen next around the interwebs!

The Barn in Winter

iPhone Photo, Casey Klahn

Happy New Year!

Arc of Flight on the Shortlist

Arc of Flight

 24" x 14"
Pastel
Sheila M Evans

Every year at this time Katherine Tyrrell at Making a Mark runs an awards event that I always enjoy. You can vote for any of a number of Best of The Year artworks and blogs in several categories. I try to nominate what I feel are the best images I have seen each year, and this year I feel strongly about Sheila M. Evans' work Arc of Flight.

Here is what I wrote about this pastel in the nomination:

This multi-award winning artist from Spokane, Washington, is possibly the most talented artist I know. Her idea of presenting leaves, illuminated in sunlight, is such a fine focus that you feel immediately the warmth. There is some tension in the life cycle of her subject, and she sometimes paints them in browns to drive this home. Her handling of pastels is superb.
Arc of Flight caught me with it's unique portrait aspect, subtle coloring of the leading edges, and the simple arc of color that travels the yellow to green field. Very graceful.

Voting ends in a few hours from right now.  If you agree with me, go ahead and add your vote.

Making a Mark Vote Here.

Violet Pathway

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Violet Pathway

5" x 5.75"

Pastel

Casey Klahn

Goes Like This: Ho Ho Ho!

OOO

Make It New

OOO

Christmas is Upon Us

For those who didn't see this holiday greeting card a few weeks ago, here it is again.  I offer you warm wishes, and I pray you have good health and hope you will take time to rest and reflect.

The image in the card is an interior scene of my barn.  Speaking of which, I have started a Facebook page painting challenge and have offered a photo of the barn in winter snow as the subject.  It has taken off and looks to be very fun.  You are all invited to give it a go, and I think the deadline will be Jan. 15th, 2013. Paint the Barn in Winter.

This was my review of my art year in the form of my favorite 12 works of 2012.

I always enjoy examples of courage, and the soloist in the video below is a youngster whose poise and talent burn strong.  Gives me hope for a better world.

  

My Top 12 of 2012

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To commemorate the outgoing year, I have judged my own favorite "Top 12 of 2012" artworks. Some of those that didn't make the cut I still love very much. It feels a little like the process where you send in an image to a juried show, and the one you really love yourself is not accepted. It is a good exercise, and I recommend you try it on your own body of art from the year.

The blue lettered images are still available.  Inquiries here.

 All the Colors Field

5.5" x 10.5"

Pastel

 Bald Ridge at Dusk

12.75" x 10" 

Pastel

 Barn Interior Color Sketch

7" x 6"

Pastel

 Field Colors

6" x 7"

Pastel

 Diptych

Forest Deep 1 and 2

12" x 7" each

Pastel

 Forest Pond

8" x 12"

 Pastel 

 Multi Tree

7" x 4.5"

Pastel

 Soft Canola Yellow

5" x 6"

Pastel

 Umber Fields

8" x 6"

Pastel

 Violet in the Treeline

9.5" x 6.1"

Pastel

 Violet Mountain

3.5" x 3.75"

Pastel

Windbreak

6" x 12" 

Pastel

Death and a Woman Struggling for a Child, 1911

Death and a Woman Struggling for a Child, 1911

16 1/8th. x 16 3/16ths. inches.

Etching

Käthe Kollwitz 

Yes, It Is The Bleak Midwinter, Now That You Mention It

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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.